Before and After (1)
When her Wednesday afternoon class let out, Rosalyn Ropert flung the notes she had scribbled without a care to her attending maid and set off for her final lecture.
The maid who took them hemmed and hawed for a long moment before she finally managed to speak.
"My lady, they say the sample of the liquor you'll be presenting at the Black Bridge Gathering has arrived. Shall I arrange for you to look it over this evening?"
"Do as you like."
"Then I'll have it ready so you can taste it with din—"
"See to trifles like that yourself. Must I spell out every little thing? Where is Elton?"
"M-Mr. Elton has stepped out to the bank for a moment."
"Haah... why am I so irritated?"
She was still in a foul temper over Blow, whom she had run into that morning. His cheerful voice kept ringing in her ears—Second place is still something to be proud of!—and her mouth pushed into a pout. Blow Deblique, you bastard. I am not letting this go.
Leaving her maids' farewells behind her, Rosalyn stepped into the lecture hall and took her assigned seat at the very front, empty on either side—in truth, a seat no one else ever occupied.
The class was Potion Brewing and Herbology 2, a course for first- through third-years, and the sheer mass of material to memorize grated on her the entire time.
She sighed and was skimming what they had covered last session when three girls she didn't know came into the hall and stopped in front of her.
What is this walking rainbow... first-years? Already on edge, Rosalyn folded her arms and snapped at the fierce-eyed redhead, her voice thick with irritation.
"What?"
"Hello, Senior. My name is Radnes Woodbridge."
...Some commoner nobody? Rosalyn's eyes narrowed, her mood thoroughly soured—and in that same instant all three of them bowed at the waist.
"E-Ellis Whiterabbit."
"Cozette Cyfried."
"We've come to offer you our thanks, Senior!"
"Thanks? What are you talking about?"
Even at Rosalyn's sharp tone they did not flinch. They only bowed lower.
"We heard you left gold in our names this morning and went on your way. Thank you so very much!"
"What...?"
"At Red Forest—you put five gold down for us before you left, didn't you? For commoners like us, a kindness like that is as deep as the sea. We wanted to show our gratitude!"
"What even is Red Forest?"
"It's the name of the potion shop Lord Blow runs. He told us we absolutely had to pass our thanks along to you, Senior."
Only then did the five gold she had dropped in the alley, and the three faces that went with it, come back to her, and her brow knotted without mercy.
"Since when..."
"She left money at a potion shop for them? Her?"
"Good heavens..."
At the murmurs drifting over, Rosalyn's face went scarlet, and the three cried out as if in chorus.
"Thank you so much, for bestowing such a grace...!"
Blow's sly smile flickered through her mind. She was annoyed, but she could hardly tell people who were thanking her that she had never done any such thing.
"I get it, so get out!"
"Thank you, Senior!"
As if they had been waiting for exactly that, they headed outside. The more she turned it over, the more it felt as if she were being reeled in, and the heat of it finally got the better of her—Rosalyn snapped the quill in her hand.
The potion shop at the front gate: Poison Umbrella.
Rill Cadral, its owner, looked over the ledger and let out a heavy sigh.
"Why have sales dropped like this? More than half... gone."
From the weekend on, business had been cut clean off. She tugged at her light-green hair for no good reason and started reading the ledger over from the beginning.
"Sales aren't even the real problem. At this pace, am I going to have to scrap every potion I made this month?"
Gauging the expected volume and laying in stock ahead of time was the foundation of trade. If ten would sell, common sense said you prepared at least eleven. But from the weekend onward, potion sales had plummeted. If the trend held, she would have to discard more than half the potions she had made at the start of the month.
The cost of the ingredients already sunk into them swam before her eyes, and a cold sweat ran down her back.
"What on earth..."
She was clutching her head when two girl students whose faces she knew well stepped inside.
"W-welcome!"
"Hello, ma'am."
"What can I get you? Potions?"
"Yes."
Rill bagged the potions at once. The girls, who would normally have been chattering away, glanced once around the shop and then whispered to each other.
"Here!"
"...Thank you."
Their voices were drained of life. Sensing the change, Rill swallowed dryly and called after them as they made to leave.
"H-hey, you two. Is something... going on? At school, maybe..."
"No."
They cut her off and walked out. Watching them go, Rill felt her unease climb and keep climbing.
A little later the door opened again, and in came Aurora with her bright smile, and Mnevoir, whose energy sat at the opposite extreme.
"Rill!"
"Aurora, Mnevoir! Been well?"
"Of course we have! Just busy grading the second exams, that's all."
Aurora and Mnevoir had graduated in the same class from Capall Municipal Magic School. Unlike the two of them, who had taken the path of teaching, Rill had chosen a potion shop, and the pair dropped by nearly every day in the name of being good friends, buying potions and the like.
"Five potions again today! Mnevoir, you?"
"Three for me."
"Got it! I'll get them right over! But... did the school curriculum change, by any chance? Something that has people using fewer potions?"
"Hmm? Nothing like that. If there were, I'd have told you. Right, Mnevoir?"
"Yeah."
"It's just... potion sales suddenly fell..."
"Ah, there's probably another potion shop at the back gate now? In Dusk Block?"
"...In Dusk Block?"
"Yeah. Right, Mnevoir?"
"Mm. Our student on leave opened it, they said."
"You mean that Blow Deblique brat?"
"Yes."
"He ought to just attend school properly!"
Aurora pursed her lips, plainly displeased. While Mnevoir nodded, Rill tilted her head as if lost.
"That... shouldn't matter all that much, though..."
Each potion shop usually had its set number of loyal customers, and the majority of students, who didn't think too hard about it, simply stopped at whichever shop was closest. They didn't go out of their way to travel far.
Aurora shrugged at her.
"Then why not go take a look? Same as magic—you don't know until you try it. See it for yourself and you might figure out why."
"I hear the business is doing quite well."
"He's still just a student..."
"Come on, you think students these days are anything like we were? Anyway, see you tomorrow!"
With that bit of bluster, Aurora headed out with Mnevoir.
Rill turned it over for a good while, then decided she had nothing to lose by stopping in at that potion shop.
Late in the afternoon, Blow was heading toward the market with Skadi and his two closest aides. Picturing Radnes meeting Rosalyn right about now, he was in a good enough mood to hum.
Jane, reading his thoughts, leaned toward him.
"That pleased, are you?"
"Jane, do you know which one strips a traveler's cloak better—the sun, or the wind?"
"I don't."
"The sun, obviously."
"I think it'll only put Rosalyn in a worse mood."
"Then there's nothing to be done about it."
While Jane pressed her mouth into a flat line at the sight of his beaming grin, Skadi tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, Blow, where are we going?"
"The most important place."
"...To get Jane's glasses fitted?"
Blow looked at her, unruffled.
"Your dress comes first, obviously."
"R-really?"
"It's a Black Bridge Gathering dress, no less. Is this your first time at a gathering like this?"
"Ah... no! I went once, in my first year."
"Yeah? Then at least the pressure's a little lighter."
In high spirits, Skadi and the others arrived at Karlfeld Elegance, a shop Blow frequented.
Inside, the stiff smell peculiar to new clothes hung in the air, and dresses in brilliant colors stood in long rows by fabric. Beneath the lavish lighting, glittering accessories sparkled even in the eyes of Jane and Hervena, neither of whom cared much for clothes.
From the counter at the very back, where he had been looking over garments, Karlfeld—the owner, notable for his long eyebrows—came running out to greet them.
"It's been ages, my lord!"
"Your face hasn't changed a bit, Karlfeld."
"Oh my! Thank you. And what brings you today—with such beautiful young ladies in tow...!"
For all his appearance, there was something feminine in the way Karlfeld spoke. Blow indicated Skadi, who was standing with uncharacteristic meekness.
"Introductions first. This is Lady Skadi Hetaya."
"Ah, of the Hetaya family...! An honor to meet you!"
"Hello..."
"Lady Skadi here is attending a social gathering, and we've come to look at something she might wear."
"Oh? Will you be the one choosing it, my lord?"
Karlfeld looked mildly surprised. Instead of answering, Blow nodded.
Smiling as if intrigued, Karlfeld approached Skadi and asked in a careful voice.
"My lady, what sort of dress did you have in mind?"
"Well, um..."
"Might I make a recommendation?"
"Yes...? Yes... I'd be grateful if you would."
"With skin that fair and such beautiful wine-red hair, how about emerald green? Or... a refined lavender might suit you as well. Shall I cut the skirt full? Or we can have it fall narrow, the way that's in fashion now! As for length, shorter is what's—"
It felt to Skadi like listening to another race's language entirely, and she sent Blow a look that begged for help.
"Wouldn't it be better to try them on and find a color that suits? I think burgundy would work."
"Ah—perhaps you don't know her all that well, my lord? You seem close."
"Our Lady Skadi isn't the type to wear a wide variety of clothes."
At his words Skadi needlessly tugged at the hem of her shirt, and Blow looked her up and down once. The look made her self-conscious. She covered herself with both arms.
"Hey! Hey! Where do you think you're staring!"
"Didn't you ask for help?"
Blow answered as if it were nothing and shifted his gaze to Karlfeld.
"She's tall, so I think a narrower cut would be fine."
"Ah, you're right. And when is this gathering?"
"Next Saturday."
"If we adapt a dress we already have... we can make it in time."
"You sure? The schedule looks tight."
"After everything you've bought from our shop, my lord? Then, for the first dress she tries on, may I leave her with one of our staff?"
"Go ahead."
While Skadi watched Blow with a slightly worried look, a woman from the staff came out from the back and bowed to her.
"I'll attend you from here, my lady."
"R-right."
Skadi received the greeting wound tight with nerves, and Blow, watching her, let out a short laugh.
"Nervous?"
"It's my first time in a dress."
"Don't be so tense. You know how good Karlfeld's eye is."
"Of course! With a beauty like this, my only worry is that my dress won't be worthy of her."
Karlfeld lifted her spirits with practiced ease, and Skadi's expression loosened a little.
"Hey. Just don't tease me later."
"I won't."
A short while later Skadi went into the fitting room. Meanwhile Blow took a general look around the shop, comparing it to the places he had gone in his days as Han Ji-hoo.
"Quite a range of clothes. Every time I came, I only ever bought what I was going to wear."
"We have to keep as much in stock as we can, don't we? If we're to satisfy a customer like you, my lord! In scale, our shop is probably one of the largest in Caipol."
"Only one place to change?"
"Yes."
"Gets tiring when a crowd shows up, doesn't it?"
"Most people do their fittings at their estates! Of course, in Caipol students often come in together, so we did set one aside."
Remembering how even a mid-sized shop in a department store had several fitting rooms, Blow stroked his chin.
"Price tags and the like—do the staff usually just memorize them all?"
"Yes, that's right. We do a great deal of custom work. We've divided the floor into sections and trained the staff accordingly."
"Every customer here gets a clerk attached?"
"It's better if we assist them, after all."
"Didn't you say you'd split the sections up among the staff?"
"Ah, the staff who receive customers are kept separate."
"If the clerks didn't hover, I bet more men would come in."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. I've been starting a business lately, so all sorts of thoughts keep occurring to me."
Back when he was Han Ji-hoo, if Blow bought clothes at all, he only ever went to enormous fast-fashion stores like Uniqlo or Zara. More than anything else, he had liked that the staff didn't talk to him.
He was clicking his tongue at the memory when the word business caught Karlfeld's interest, and the tailor put a cautious question to him.
"Have you started a business, my lord?"
"Yeah. I'm running a restaurant in Dusk Block—"
He was explaining, step by step, just what sort of venture it was, when a voice bright with admiration rose along with a scatter of applause, and the door opened.
"The lady is coming out!"
Skadi, revealed at last, wore an embarrassed expression quite unlike her usual hearty self. At the unfamiliar sight of her, Hervena's and Jane's eyes went wide.