“I’m not fond of dresses.”
“Not again with that.”
On a sunny day, Luke sighed at the discordant sounds coming from beside him.
He had lost count of how many times Renie had complained like that already.
Today, Kail was set to receive the historical title of ‘Grand Swordsmaster’, so why was she being such a bother?
“But isn’t it true? It’s so inefficient. You know that since you’re a mage too, right? Dresses are useless.”
Renie continued to grumble, insisting on inefficiency.
This was certainly a claim that had the most persuasive weight in Renie’s judgment, as Luke valued efficiency as a mage.
“There’s so much to do before putting it on, and it’s uncomfortable to move in! Besides, this skirt is quite heavy. To think it requires multiple layers, don’t you think it’s a complete waste of resources for just one person to wear?”
“What a cunning argument, Renie.”
However, Luke knew very well why she hated wearing dresses.
In fact, anyone in this kingdom would likely be aware of it.
“But you just find it uncomfortable to run in that outfit, don’t you?”
“….”
Renie quickly shut her mouth.
From a very young age, even back when she was still a novice cleric at the church, she had loved running away or escaping.
She had fled so often that the church assigned part of its knight order as ‘Saintess Pursuers’.
So, she always received fruits and sweets as an offering, with the plea, “Please, just this week, don’t escape anywhere.”
After all, they couldn’t forcibly confine a saintess who was almost like a goddess to them.
But even with such bribes, she often went on ‘outings’ as she pleased.
Moreover, her actions seemed to be endorsed by the goddess’s grace, making her escapes far more complex and difficult than what one would expect from a child.
Thus, in Renie’s childhood, the knight order’s ‘tracking skills’ were better than at any other time.
“Still, this is just too uncomfortable! I’d rather wear armor! It’s cool and sturdy! I constantly have to be careful that this dress doesn’t get caught on something and tear!”
Renie sighed and looked at Luke’s nonchalant expression.
“Don’t you have anything to say, Lord Irushi? Normally by now, you’d say something like ‘Stop grumbling, how do you think people will look at you?'”
As Renie imitated his speech and grumbled, Luke replied unemotionally, as if to display her mockery.
“You already know well enough that there’s no need for me to say it.”
“How annoying! You should know how uncomfortable it is if you wore it too.”
“Hmm.”
Luke let out a silent snicker at Renie’s words.
In response, Renie seemed amused by his reaction and pounced on him.
“Lord Irushi, would you really like to try it on? You might surprisingly look good in it!”
“Unfortunately, no one wants to see a grown man in a dress.”
“You never know, if you shave, and trim your hair, it could be good…”
“Hmph.”
Luke stroked his neatly groomed beard and lightly poked Renie’s forehead with his cane.
“What nonsense are you uttering now? I wouldn’t do such a thing just for your amusement.”
Saying that, Luke lightly scanned Renie’s dress.
As it always was, it was quite beautiful.
Like a well-crafted statue.
Though inside, Renie was a spirited little troublemaker, if she just stayed still, she certainly had the aura of a saintess.
“A woman’s dress only truly shines when worn by a beautiful woman like you.”
“Ugh. But…”
Hearing Luke’s praise, Renie’s face flushed red with embarrassment, and she turned away from his gaze.
Then, attempting to hide her shyness, she raised her head proudly and declared in a clear voice.
“Well, still, it always takes so long to put on and take off; can’t the great mage do something about that?”
“…What do you think a mage is?”
He wondered if she perceived mages as some kind of all-purpose servants.
——–
Luke stopped reminiscing about his past thoughts while staring at the dress.
“Now I can sympathize with your words as well, Renie.”
“Hey, that bit is meant to go over there.”
“Oh, you’re right. Sorry! This is my first time doing something like this.”
“It’s fine. It happens.”
Luke sighed as he watched Mary’s maids floundering while examining the instruction manual on how to wear it.
If you were to ask why Luke knew how to wear a dress, the answer would be simple.
In the past, he had already mastered how to don a dress to find a way to easily put on Renie’s dresses.
Well, modern dresses had indeed simplified the process considerably compared to the past.
“Should I tie this a bit tighter?”
“No, that part needs to be a bit looser.”
“Oh, I see. Now I understand. But you really know a lot about dresses. When did you start studying this?”
“….”
Luke fell silent.
Knowing how to wear a dress since he was a man was hardly something to boast about.
“Alright, all done. How does it look?”
“This dress is harder to put on than it looks.”
“But it really suits you.”
With the maids wearing their uniforms, they wiped the sweat off their brows while looking proudly at Luke in the dress.
Given their expressions and feelings, it seemed they enjoyed themselves a little despite the difficulty.
“…….”
But Luke felt awkward as he looked at his reflection in the mirror.
This was his appearance? If Renie saw him like this…
“Sigh, it would have been better if she had seen it.”
Now that he thought about it, wasn’t the first time he met Renie also on a day like today, his tenth birthday?
Maybe the sudden desire for a birthday party was a reflection of that nostalgia.
Today was especially a day when he missed Renie.
————
“Wow, did Luke really prepare all of this?”
As the children entered the banquet hall in awe, Mary confidently replied.
“Not just Luke, my dad and I helped a lot too!”
“I helped too.”
As Shirud murmured as if he was interjecting, Mary smiled brightly and pulled his arm into the crowd of children.
“Yeah, Shirud helped too!”
“Don’t do that; it will wrinkle my clothes.”
But possibly not fond of such physical contact, Shirud shrugged off the sleeves of his arm.
After all, it was a pretty expensive outfit his mother had prepared for today.
“Thank you so much for letting us borrow your house, Mister Mary’s Father.”
“Haha! No problem! I wanted to have this kind of party at least once!”
In response to Yerna’s gratitude, Mary’s father, Thomas Eidel, laughed heartily.
He had quite an interest in Luke’s ‘birthday party’.
Running a children’s toy business, he enjoyed watching kids play, and he himself liked to play, making him positive about such a unique party.
Thus, when he first received Mary and Luke’s proposal, he immediately accepted it with enthusiasm.
“By the way, your house is really spacious. It seems bigger than the school I used to attend.”
Dayton admired as he looked around the mansion.
It truly was a grand mansion.
He had seen it while driving here, but he hadn’t expected it to be this impressive.
It was a magnificent house of overwhelming size, something you would see in the media.
Or perhaps it would be more fitting to call it a hotel.
With impossibly high ceilings, ornate chandeliers, sparkling marble floors, and wonderful landscapes framed in large, luxurious portraits…
The banquet hall exuded an aristocratic elegance that would immediately come to mind when speaking of ‘nobility’.
Furthermore, looking at Thomas, the house’s owner, he was dressed in an aristocratic costume with hair that curled in spirals beneath his horns.
He seemed just as sincere about the party as Luke.
“Really looks noble.”
“Haha, thank you. It’s rewarding to see the effort put into decorating. But this is all following the concept that child proposed. The sketches were quite impressive.”
As Thomas Eidel laughed heartily, watching Dayton admire, the mood of the parents exchanged compliments while a woman dressed as a maid called out in a dignified tone.
“The star of today is making her entrance.”
As the chatter around started to fade, all voices in the hall gradually quieted down.
A moment later.
Luke, dressed in the elegant gown, began descending the stairs.
-Clack, clack.
The banquet hall fell silent for an instant, and even the sound of those small shoes echoed prominently.
As everyone naturally turned their gaze in that direction, they spotted a girl clad in an incredibly luxurious and ornate dress decorated with frills and ribbons.
She was gracefully lifting the side of her gown with servants flanking her, and as she descended the stairs slowly, she appeared to embody the image of a lady from that era.
Moreover, she even managed to offer gentle smiles in return for every exchanged gaze, exuding an air of knowing exactly how to behave.
In that moment where everyone admired her, Luke thought to himself.
“I’m glad the scale of the party has diminished from the initial size.”
As he had felt by the seaside, standing in front of many people dressed in unfamiliar attire was quite a challenging experience.
The silence of the masses also felt significantly heavy.
It would be nice to receive some response, anything that would allow him to read their emotions, but the silence was oppressive, leaving him feeling somewhat anxious.
He couldn’t help but wonder if by receiving this outfit as a gift, he was unwittingly behaving in a way that didn’t fit.
Perhaps there was some social etiquette from this era that he violated without realizing it.
Ultimately, Luke began to focus on stepping down the stairs, lowering his gaze.
At this point, he could finally understand Renie’s feelings of not wanting to wear a dress.
The dress was undoubtedly beautiful, but it was utterly useless.
