The Scam Magic That Revived a Dead Dress
The next morning.
The moment I opened my eyes, I checked.
The Frayed-Mending spell from last night, and the fabric scraps that had fused together perfectly.
It hadn’t been a dream.
I slept, and all my mana came back.
When I’d cast the spell the night before, my head had throbbed and my whole body had felt limp. I’d only joined two scraps of cloth no bigger than my palms, but my mana had been drained dry.
At that rate, using it even a few times a day would be a stretch.
Still, it doesn’t cost anything but the materials. That’s huge.
After washing up, I went down to the shop on the first floor.
“Oh, master! What are we going to do?”
Just then, a cold shout rang up from below the stairs.
The shop’s atmosphere was anything but normal.
What’s going on?
A middle-aged man stood at the counter with his hands clasped behind his back.
He wore a neat black tailcoat, and his eyes were sharp enough to cut.
I recognized him at a glance.
Valderk family butler Sebas.
The Valderk family was one of the great houses said to divide Rowen with Felix’s Bergen family.
And that house’s butler was standing there with a hard look on his face.
Beside him stood a tearful maid, her head bowed low.
“Please calm yourself, Sebas. There was nothing wrong with the fabric we supplied. There’s no way it suddenly went bad.”
“Don’t give me excuses! That tailor Ponpar told me everything before he left. He said the fabric had rotted and couldn’t withstand the stitching!”
Sebas’s voice was low, but it carried weight.
My father rubbed his hands together anxiously, at a loss.
Spread out on the counter was a red velvet dress.
The problem was the hem.
Something sharp must have caught it, because it was torn uglily for nearly a finger’s length.
“P-Ponpar did? That can’t be. He even praised our velvet as excellent...”
My father protested with an aggrieved look, and Sebas slammed a hand on the counter.
“That Ponpar fled in the dead of night yesterday! He bolted after being chased by debt collectors—shut the shop and ran!”
“Ah...”
My father’s jaw dropped.
Ponpar was a famous tailor, the kind nobles lined up to hire.
“Before he ran, he told me this much himself. He said he was blameless—that the fabric he received from Carter’s cloth shop was defective, and that’s why the dress burst apart!”
Sebas’s eyes glinted.
“The young lady is supposed to wear this to her tea party tomorrow. So what are you going to do about it? Pay compensation, now. The dress is worth 1 gold.”
One gold.
Converted to silver, that was one hundred silver coins.
A fortune equal to our shop’s annual income.
“Or restore it to its original condition right now!”
“Sebas... this is a cloth shop. We might manage a simple stitch or a small repair, but restoring a high-end velvet dress like this so no one can tell it was ever damaged is a tailor’s job. And only a tailor as skilled as Ponpar could do it.”
“Then I suppose paying one gold will do. You’ll have to answer for selling defective goods, just as Ponpar said.”
My father went pale.
It was a blatant scam.
But if he refused, he’d pay for it dearly.
With Ponpar’s false testimony about defective fabric on top of everything else, my powerless father had no way out.
I took a deep breath.
“I’ll fix it.”
I walked straight behind the counter.
Both my father’s and the butler’s eyes snapped to me.
“Hans? What are you talking about?”
“And who’s this now? The shopkeeper’s son? What does a brat like that think he’s doing, butting in?”
Sebas frowned, annoyance clear on his face.
I ignored the slight and examined the dress carefully.
The material was premium velvet.
The cut was irregular.
There were several stains as well.
Velvet had a nap, so if you handled the heat wrong, it would scorch or leave ugly marks where it had been pressed flat.
And it wasn’t just torn.
The whole dress had faded, and there were even stains that looked like wine.
That bastard Ponpar ruined the dress, blamed the fabric, and ran.
Just thinking about it made my temper flare.
But this wasn’t the time to get angry.
The tear itself is easy enough to fix with Frayed-Mending.
But that alone wasn’t enough.
I had to erase those stains too.
...!
In that instant, countless magic theories flashed through my mind.
As though a dam had broken, formulas linked together in perfect harmony and forged a brand-new spell.
1st Tier Transformation Formula: Trace Erasure
“This dress won’t take long to repair.”
I looked calmly at Sebas and continued, “Give me just one hour.”
“What? One hour?”
One of Sebas’s brows twitched.
“You’re a cocky little one, aren’t you? Even that so-called master Ponpar needs a full day to repair velvet. That’s if you want it done so well no one can tell.”
“If I can’t fix it, I’ll pay one gold myself... no, I’ll sell our shop if I have to.”
“Hans!”
My father grabbed my arm in panic.
“Father, trust me. I have a way.”
My confident gaze left him speechless.
“Hmph!”
Sebas snorted.
For him, there was nothing to lose.
Besides, even if he went to another repair shop now, it would already be too late.
“Fine. One hour. If you can’t finish by then, prepare yourself. I’ll make sure this shop shuts its doors.”
“Thank you for the opportunity, Sebas. Then I’ll see you again in an hour.”
I picked up the dress at once and headed up to the attic on the second floor.
“Phew.”
Honestly, I didn’t even need an hour.
By my estimate, three minutes would be enough. Maybe two.
Let’s begin.
I spread the dress out on the worktable.
Seen in the sunlight through the window, its condition looked even worse.
The threads around the tear had frayed, and the cuffs were stained with grime.
Doesn’t matter. I’ll make it perfect.
I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.
The formula I made yesterday, and the one I just created.
The two magic formulas combined in my head and transformed into a new one.
Here we go.
Thwish.
In the narrow space between my palm and the fabric, a blue geometric pattern unfolded.
There was nothing wasteful about it.
It was a mana circuit compressed to the absolute limit, built for function alone.
The moment its gears locked together and turned—
Sa-aah—
From the center of the magic circle, a thread of mana thinner than a hair extended and slipped between the torn cloth.
First, mend the tear.
1st Tier Composite Formula: Frayed-Mending + Trace Erasure
The threads on the left and right wrapped around each other and drew together.
At the same time, a faint vibration swept across the dress.
Sss.
The two edges fused flawlessly.
Now erase the traces.
Flash—
Dirt and stains buried deep in the cloth were thrown off by the mana’s rippling force.
The yellowed red velvet recovered its original, vivid blood-like color.
Ugh...
Cold sweat ran down my forehead.
Dizziness hit as mana drained out of me like an ebbing tide.
My fingertips shook, but I didn’t stop.
Hah!
As the final step of the composite formula completed, blue light flared like a flash of lightning and then faded away.
That’s done too.
The grime was gone.
The dress on the worktable gleamed like a brand-new item.
...I can’t believe it turned out this perfect.
Even I was surprised by how well it had worked.
I checked the clock and saw that it had taken exactly two minutes and forty seconds.
Should I rest for a bit?
I flopped down onto the bed.
I might as well spend the full hour recovering my mana before going back down.
If I fixed it too quickly, anyone would find it suspicious.
“Time’s up! Are you done yet?”
Exactly one hour later, Sebas’s dry voice came from below.
Only then did I pick up the dress and head back down.
“Fortunately, I was just finishing up. Here, please check it.”
I carefully spread the dress out on the counter.
Sebas and the maid approached with wary eyes.
My father couldn’t bear to look and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Let’s see. If you’ve just stitched it together clumsily—huh?”
Sebas’s eyes narrowed.
No—his eyes went wide.
He lifted the torn hem, held it up to the sunlight, then turned it over and checked the lining too.
“Th-this... how is this possible?”
Nothing.
There was no trace of the tear at all.
What’s more, even the direction of the velvet nap had been restored perfectly.
And that wasn’t all.
“Sebas! The wine stain on the sleeve is gone too!”
The maid pointed at the cuff.
“Hmm!”
Sebas swept his gaze over the entire dress again.
The velvet that had clearly looked dull and crushed when it had been brought in now boasted the fullness and sheen of a newly made garment.
“How did you do this? Did you work on the whole thing?”
“If I’d only repaired the torn part, the difference in color and wear with the rest of the dress would’ve been obvious. So I gave the entire piece special treatment.”
Sebas swallowed hard.
“Remarkable. You’ve practically brought a dying dress back to life. Even that runaway Ponpar couldn’t have done this.”
A relieved smile spread across his lips.
Truthfully, he’d only been making a scene to avoid being blamed for ruining a dress worth one gold in the first place.
“You’ve done well.”
He immediately opened his wallet.
“How much should I pay for the repair?”
My father hurriedly waved both hands.
“No, Sebas. We’re just grateful you’ll let this go at all...”
He looked so relieved not to have to pay one gold that he could hardly hide it.
“No, that won’t do. Here, take this.”
Sebas set two silver coins on the counter.
“It was repaired, wasn’t it? The usual repair cost for a dress like this would be about one silver. For this kind of quality, even double that isn’t too much.”
“Th-thank you.”
“More importantly, you there—what’s your name?”
Sebas asked as he turned to me.
“My name is Hans.”
“Hans. I’ll remember it. Perhaps I can bring clothes here from time to time for repairs?”
“Haha... of course. If you entrust them to us, I’ll do my best for you anytime.”
“Good. Then I’ll see you again soon.”
Sebas and the maid left with light steps.
For a moment, deep silence settled over the shop.
My father’s gaze fell on me.
It was a look tangled with relief, surprise, and complicated worry.
“Hans.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Close the shop for a moment. We need to talk.”
“Yes, sir.”
My father led me to the back room inside the shop.
Mother followed too, her face full of concern.
“Tell me the truth. How did you do that? It wasn’t by sewing, was it?”
My father’s voice was low.
I hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“I found a magic book once in the library, and I tried adapting what I saw in it.”
“Magic?”
My parents’ eyes both widened.
I roughly explained the notes I’d been studying in the attic.
“.......”
After listening to me, my father said nothing for a long while.
I thought he’d be happy.
I thought he’d be thrilled that we were finally going to be rolling in money.
But the words that came out of his mouth were unexpected.
“This ability of yours... for the time being—no, if possible, never show it to anyone else.”
“What? Why? If I use this for repairs, we could pay off our debt in no time!”
My father shook his head firmly.
“I’m not telling you not to use that talent on mending old clothes. Study more and go to a proper magic academy. You need to become a respectable mage.”
The corners of his eyes were red.
“And before that, if word gets out that a commoner can use magic, do you think the nobles will leave you alone? They’ll either try to use you, or they’ll resent you and make your life miserable.”
I understood what he was feeling.
He was more worried about me than about money.
That’s exactly why we need money even more.
The academy, magic stones, and everything beyond that.
For now, I’ll earn it. As much as I can.
The two silver coins on the counter glittered in the sunlight.