Chapter 149: Chapter 141 – The Promise With Elli

Finally, the time of dread has come.

"This way, this way!"

There was only so much I could push back the inevitable. But today, I had reached my limit.

"Come along now! No need to be shy!"

Nothing could delay my execution anymore.

"You know, I talked to the others and got so many ideas!"

I was forced to walk the plank.

"And so many people eager to help out too! We managed to make a great collection for you to try!"

"Does it really have to be now?"

I looked on at the sun-like smile on Elli's face. And just like the real sun, it burned.

"We don't have much time left before you give birth. If we don't do this now, we'll have to wait until you've recovered, and even then you'll likely be too busy to try the clothes out for months!"

That was actually exactly what I was hoping for.

But alas, it seemed like the venerable elder had figured my plan out even before I did, and cut off any avenues of escape.

With my hand firmly in hers, I was lead by the elderly woman and her surprisingly strong grip to the same building where I had received my previous set of clothes from her.

The tailory had been expanded quite a bit. From the front, the wall had been reinforced and decorated. No longer was it just naked stone brickwork with the occasional large cracks that kept the place well ventilated. Now, All traces of wear and tear had disappeared and there was even a new outer layer of blue plaster added to the entire surface. Not only that, but the plaster had a nice wavy pattern sculpted into it, like tall grass that curled into deep spirals at varying heights. The grooves were filled in with a vivid green paint as well that sparkled differently depending on how the light hit it.

Of course, beyond the new decorations the biggest change was the addition of a second floor. The new level was built seamlessly in to the point that I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually a different building entirely and I was just misremembering the location.

It might have been possible. This city had changed quite a bit over the last year thanks to the massive influx of materials coming from the dungeon.

Not only this one, but all the surrounding buildings were newly repaired or rebuilt. Only the placement was the same and plenty of the structures were unrecognizable from before.

Elli, and consequentially myself as well in addition to Claret and Orphne who were tagging along as they tended to, boldly entered the building as if she owned the place.

For all I knew, she might actually have, but I never bothered to ask.

The inside of the building had changed quite a lot as well.

There were magic lamps all across the walls, forcing me to squint both due to the brightness as well as the heat of the [light magic].

(Maybe I should put on the shawl Elli gave me before...)

But considering the fact that I was going to have to change clothes in a bit anyways, it would be a waste of effort.

"Is something the matter Scarlet?"

"Ah, no. It's just the lamps..."

"Oh, right. They are pretty bright for a vampire, are they not?"

"Ah, no, well, they are, but...they're made with [light magic], aren't they?"

"Oh no. You are right, they are. I did not think that such weak [light magic] would still be harmful to a vampire. I see. Maybe we should ban all tools which use [light magic]?"

"No. That's fine. It just makes my eyes itch a bit. Something of this level is only a bit annoying. And there's probably some important uses for [light magic] enchantments, right? It would be bad to do a blanket ban just because of me."

Encouraging the use of alternative enchantments was one thing, but banning something which might have widespread use that didn't have good alternatives was another thing. Too dictatorshiply for my tastes.

"But it will not just be for you. Soon it will be the same for your baby, right?"

"Ah, you're right!"

I hadn't considered such a thing. Outside of combat, [light magic] wasn't really much of an issue. And I was already so used to wearing a fully body cloak to cover myself up from the usual sources of [light magic], I hadn't considered that Alicia would need anything more than that.

But realistically thinking, just that would be too risky. For such a small and weak body, even a minor source of [light magic] might be extremely harmful to her. I was going to give her my sunlight regeneration skill, but that did nothing when it came to sources of [light magic] that wasn't also composed of lots of light, and more importantly, the pain from having your body burned by [light magic].

"I'm glad I still have the clothes you gave me in the beginning. I think I can use that in the place of a more permanent solution until I have something more permanent made."

"Did I forget to tell you? Those baby clothes we gifted you. They have a powerful enchantment to resist [light magic]."

"Seriously?!"

I thought back to the baby clothes I had received during the baby shower when I didn't even have a visible baby bump. I had received a pair of baby clothes in the shape of black robes. They were the same style as the robes I wore, although simplified in parts. There were a bunch of underclothes as well, but those two stood out in particular due to the style.

At the time, I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I hadn't even noticed that they were enchanted. It was something which I needed to confirm before I went into labour.

"I see I had forgotten then. How unfortunate. Well, I will tell you now then. The clothes I had gifted were made with the efforts of quite a few groups. Fairy dust from some of the fairies, mana crystals sourced by several demons, hunter spider thread gathered by some of the dragonkin, many of the materials processed by a titan, and all woven and enchanted by my fellow dolkkalfar. And the enchantments placed on the robes are similar to the one on the clothes I had given you before, but many times stronger. I suspect that your child will have no difficulty tolerating all but the strongest [light magic] spells!"

While I figured that she was exaggerating, there was a part of me which suspected that she wasn't.

"Scarlet dear! What is the matter?!"

"Huh?"

I looked back at the dokkalfar elder's face to see the worry on it before it transformed into a gentle grin.

"You were not aware of your tears?"

She raised a wrinkled hand and wiped the wetness from my cheeks.

"I, I didn't...umm...I see. I'm crying huh?"

"Yes, you are."

I nodded and returned the smile.

"My baby and I really are loved, aren't we."

"Yes, you are."

Even though I had originally made the realization close to a year ago, being reminded of it made me weep tears of happiness.

"Master, we all love you!"

"Thank you Claret."

I patted my ever faithful familiar's hand as she tightened her usual hug from behind.

"Kya!"

A sudden groping on my belly almost made me jump on the spot.

"We all love you Scarlet! And your baby too!"

A little grinning head poked out from between the buttons of my undredress where my robes couldn't close due to the size of my belly. Rather than purchasing a new robe that I would only be able to use for a few months, I had opted to simply stop bothering to button up the lower half of my robes and just wear a dress to maintain my decency.

"We love you little baby! Hurry up so we can all see you!"

Orphne rubbed my taut skin with her arms while leaving her body flattened against my lower globe.

(Seriously, this girl.)

My fairy companion had such a strange fixation with Alicia. She even went to sleep on my belly most nights despite my protests. And due to the fact that I didn't sleep, I was forced to transfer her to the little bed I had made for her once she loosened her grip after falling sleep.

Though, I did wonder just how big Orphne thought Alicia's new body was, calling her little. Was she somehow mistaking the size of a vampire baby with a fairy baby?

(For that matter, I've never actually seen a fairy baby so far.)

That was a bit of curiosity which would have to wait for the time being.

"Well, I think that's enough of that for now. Let's hurry up. The others are waiting!"

And with those callous words, the tears froze in my eyes as I was mercilessly torn back to the present.

As I dreaded what was coming up, I turned my head away from the stairs which we were headed towards and glanced around the room.

Unlike before, this tailory was more set up to be like an actual clothing store now. While the number of display items was small, there were a few sets lining the walls, with a wooden counter splitting the front and back parts of the room. There were a pair of doors on one side of the room side by side, and another beside the staircase Elli was dragging me towards behind the counter.

There was a young looking dokkalfar woman waving at me with a bright smile with some sort of half sewn piece of cloth in her hands. I waved back with my free hand before peeling Orphne off of my belly while ignoring her protests.

(Wait, that isn't a baby sized dokkalfar shawl, is it?!)

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The black piece of cloth looked suspiciously like a wide ribbon, maybe a quarter the dimensions of the one Elli had given me.

(I hope she's not intending that for Alicia. She doesn't need more clothes. Not this soon.)

While it wasn't like I knew baby growth rates that well, or almost at all, but even still I seriously doubted that she would outgrow what she already had within a year.

When we reached the second floor, I started to really wonder why I was even here.

Not this building in general, or with Elli, but on the second floor.

A quick glance made it clear that this floor was the main workspace for everyone who worked here.

In one corner was a type of spinning jenny, a machine which stretched and spun raw materials into threads used for both weaving and sewing. It was powered by magic and only required a single operator to spin thread onto sixteen spindles simultaneously. Not only was it vastly faster, but the spindles were spun on in parallel, allowing a single operator to do the work of at least twenty spinners using the traditional method.

As great as the invention was, I could only take the bare minimum amount of credit. Not only was the design based on the basic principals which I read about on Earth, but I had merely relayed that information and someone else actually built the thing.

Not only that, but the loom which sat beside it was also entirely made by someone else after I described what one was like. I could take plenty of credit when it came to the shuttle though, as I didn't need an expert to make that. My own memory and basic crafting ability was enough for that. Though it wasn't quite such a massive increase in speed over the back-strap loom compared to the spinner in itself until it was modified to produce several sheets of cloth at the same time.

A full sized powered loom was particularly good at making wide sheets, but the dokkalfar preferred narrow ones, so the machine had to be modified to allow the weaving of multiple sheets simultaneously., each line being run at a different height to allow the shuttle to have enough clearance on either side.

Beyond that, the rest of the room wasn't too much different from the previous workspace on the first floor.

There was someone dying the woven cloth as well as bundles of threads in several vats, as well as a few rows of people either sewing or embroidering various works.

The sight reminded me of the work we put into making a sewing machine work, but getting the bobbin to operate right had been quite a challenge and I needed to visit the person in charge of that to see if we could make some progress on it.

Unlike the spinner and loom, a sewing machine could be used by quite a wide variety of crafters if it was strong enough to punch through leather.

Then again, the innovations made here were things that almost everyone could enjoy. Reducing how many people were needed to spin threads and weave cloth meant that the sheer output of the tailory had increased many fold, making clothing and any other products made from cloth cheaper by a massive degree.

The knock on effect of that alone was immense and effected all aspects of the nation. Not to mention the other inventions which I helped introduce.

But really, why I was brought here when the floor was entirely comprised of a single room. While few in numbers, there were men working here as well.

Elli wasn't going to have me change out in public like this, was she?

But after a few words, everyone in the room, all dokkalfar, got up and Elli pulled me back down the stairs while everyone followed after.

Many of the people following us were carrying clothes in their hands, making the dread well up even more than before.

We passed through the door at the back of the first floor, ending in a larger room with quite a few chairs and a few tables, along with racks of finished clothes and several doors lining one side of the room.

Finally, Elli let go of my hand, and hummed a tune I wasn't familiar with as she went through one of the racks filled with clothes.

(That's not all for today, is it?)

I sincerely hoped that most of the clothes stored here were for actual customers.

"Alright! Try this one out."

With a bright smile illuminating her face, Elli handed over a bundle of clothes and pushed me to one of the doors, opening then shutting it behind me. Now alone...aside from Claret and Orphne who managed to sneak inside.

The room itself was quite small, clearly some sort of change room. There was a small bench at the end and a full body mirror hanging on one wall.

I removed my robes, inner dress and footwear and stood there in my underwear as I held up the clothes which Elli had handed to me.

It was the traditional dokkalfar clothes, winter edition.

A pair of long sheets to be wound around the body, along with loops of cloth stitched together to form sleeves and pant legs to protect against the cold.

The outfit was quite tame, and for a moment I felt a little disappointed. Elli had gone through so much effort and in the end she went for something so ordinary?

But I quickly shook my head.

I had promised to wear something for her, but there was no way that simply twirling around in the common dokkalfar outfit would satisfy her. At the minimum, she was going to turn this into a full fledged one woman fashion show.

Wanting to get things over with quickly, I put the outfit on as best as I could. The chest and hip wraps were mostly the same as the usual summer wear, though a part of the shawl came down far enough to cover my midriff, even if it was a bit thin.

The arm and leg coverings seemed to be secured by tying them on both ends.

I looked to the side and spread my arms out.

The sleeves were really loose and hung halfway to my hips despite being secured snugly at the shoulders and wrists. In addition the way the materiel looped around as it spiralled down my arms caused quite the number of complex folds that broke up any obvious outline when I lowered my arms.

If the material wasn't pitch black with a slow gradient to red at the ends, the thing could have made for some surprisingly good camouflage. Maybe that was the real point of this design in the first place?

"Look at me! I'm Scarlet and I blaw blaw blaw!"

My line of thought was broken as my robes rose up on its own, or rather under Orphne's influence as she hid inside of the hood. Her hands were held out with her fingers pointed down, maybe in some weird facsimile of my fangs?

"I don't say blaw blaw blaw you know."

"Blaw blaw blaw!"

The little fairy yelled even louder as if she was trying to drive home a particular point that flew completely over my head as she gently floated back and forth under my hood like some five year old haloweening as a ghost.

After wasting a good minute gawking at the little pretend vampire, I silently turned away from her and exited the changing room...

Straight into a series of loud squeals and cheers, freezing me on the spot.

I tried to grab the hem of my hood, only to remember that I wasn't wearing my usual robes. I took a half step back inside the changing room before my hand was clasped tightly, stopping me in my tracks.

"You look wonderful! Come, come. You deserve to show it off."

I didn't know about such a thing being something someone could deserve, but the way she encouraged me greased my movement and I came out fully with little resistance. My cheeks felt warm from the compliment which even now I still hadn't gotten used to.

But pretty quickly, my cheeks went from warm to on fire with the way everyone looked at me. There was clapping and quite a few exclamations regarding my appearance.

"Turn! Spin around and show us all of yourself!"

Being a little overwhelmed, I simply did as I was told. With my arms raised a little, I slowly turned around. There were more exclamations and whispers. As to what they got so excited about, I wasn't too sure.

My long hair hung behind me since I wasn't wearing a hood to block it. Near the end, my usual pastel pink bow, gifted to me from Alicia so long ago, was still tied there like usual.

Before long, I finished my slow twirl.

"How about a pose now?"

"Huh?!"

I didn't expect that. Whether such a thing was normal in an actual fashion show or not, I've never actually seen one so I had no idea. The most I knew was the stereotype of walking down some runway then walking back. If there was anything else involved, I wasn't aware of it.

But then again, this was quite different from those fashion shows which occasionally showed up in the movies I saw on Earth. And for that matter, the culture here was entirely different. It stood to reason that any assumptions I had about this sort of event was completely off.

"Umm, like this?"

I held one hand to my side and thrust the other straight up, pointing my finger and all, while planting my feet a bit passed shoulder width.

"What sort of pose is that?"

"...I dunno."

It was just some sort of pose that got memed here and there. All I knew was that it was related to some sort of dance from before I was even born in my previous life.

My cheeks hot enough to melt iron, I tried to turn away to squirrel myself back into the changing room. Possibly to bury myself there until the next ice age.

But of course, Elli didn't allow such a thing and grabbed my arms before I could even reach for the door.

"Like this, dear."

With seemingly practised motion, Elli put one of my hands on my hip and the other outstretched at a forty five degree angle to my side. My legs were placed shoulder width, and my hips angled so I had to bend one knee to keep both feet planted. Finally, she turned my head so I was half glancing over the shoulder of the arm attached to my hip.

If the screams and whistles that came from that new pose was any indication, it was certainly a success for Elli.

As for me, it felt like my face could cause the solar winds to turn back and blow off the sun's corona.

Thankfully, I was allowed back to the changing room in short order.

Unfortunately, I had another outfit in my hands as I went back.

(This is going to be a long day.)

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