The Inquisitor's Attire
Well, it’s understandable to get the wrong idea. When I talked to Tyuni last time, she told me that the minimum amount needed to properly start as a VTuber was around five hundred thousand won. Back then, that kind of money felt completely out of reach. But yesterday’s stream brought in over seven hundred thousand won in revenue, and adding what I’d scraped together from my rice-eating streams, the total had already crossed a million. Of course, I didn’t plan on spending all of it, but at least now I had a real chance to try being a VTuber. Opportunities are meant to be seized when they appear. If I just kept hesitating and let it slip away, I’d only be wasting time.
“Ugh…”
I’d been sitting in the same spot for over four hours searching for an illustration to use as a VTuber, and my body was starting to ache. Yet despite the time invested, nothing had progressed. There were plenty of pretty illustrations that caught my eye, but commissioning the artists behind them ran into the usual problems of money and deadlines. If the price was low, the schedule wouldn’t work; if I wanted it on time, the cost became ridiculous.
…If I’d planned for a three-month break from the start, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Should I just extend the break to three months now? I knew it was a ridiculous thought. The gallery was already on fire over a one-month hiatus; adding another two months on top of that? The mere idea was terrifying.
…I was getting hungry. I’d just look for ten more minutes and then eat. With that in mind, I clicked the recommendation tab on Nater again, and a username called “Tada Shumi” appeared on screen. The post was, predictably, an illustration.
“Whoa…”
It was an incredibly beautiful piece. Without a doubt, the best I’d seen so far.
Almost as if possessed, I clicked the account. The profile greeted me with that exact description and the username “Tada Shumi.” Someone like this… maybe there was a chance? Of course, I knew better. Work of this quality wouldn’t come cheap. And if it somehow did, their schedule would almost certainly be packed. Honestly, it was fair to say there was no hope. But if this person was truly drawing purely for the hobby, without any calculation of profit or loss… there might be a slim possibility after all. There wasn’t even any mention of pricing on the profile…
I prayed that what I was looking at was the same thing the artist would see, then stood up. Time to eat.
★
“Haaam…”
After waking up and stretching, I followed my usual routine: wash up, then sit in front of the computer. It was 11 a.m. Thankfully, the messed-up sleep schedule from the Albion raid had returned to normal in just one day. My body still felt a little sluggish, but moving around a bit would fix that. Anyway, there still hadn’t been a reply since last night… Maybe my request hadn’t matched the artist’s tastes.
…Well, the illustration had been that beautiful. Hoping for anything while having almost no money was just greedy. So I pushed the disappointment aside and focused on what I could do. Maybe I should keep browsing Nater until Bora arrived…
“…Huh?”
When I opened the Nater homepage, a blue circle had appeared next to the username “Tada Shumi” in my DMs. A message had arrived.
“…Could it be?”
“…Maybe this is actually happening?”
For a moment, hope surged in my chest. The message said they’d decide after seeing the materials, but even so, the fact that there was any possibility at all mattered. Heart pounding, I sent over the settings I’d prepared the day before. Though “prepared” was generous—it was really just hair and eye color…
“…Ah!”
Come to think of it, I had something else. The concept I wanted was an Inquisitor in priest robes holding a warhammer. It was something I was intimately familiar with—something I could see just by opening the closet. If I sent photos of that as reference, wouldn’t it be much easier for them? The thought struck me, so I opened the closet, pulled out the sleeping priest robes and warhammer from the corner, and took pictures from every angle, including the back. Surely this much reference would satisfy them?
Holding onto a mix of hope and anxiety, I waited. Thankfully, the reply came quickly this time.
“…!”
They were actually going to start. Overjoyed, I thought about sending a thank-you message while tapping my feet. But then—
“Uh, um…”
Reading the follow-up message, my mind went ice-cold. They were misunderstanding something.
Though Bora had seen me in it once before… that had been an unavoidable accident.
“…”
It was natural for someone who knew nothing to misunderstand, but seeing the misunderstanding made all sorts of thoughts swirl in my head. These robes were a symbol of who I was, yet to others, they were just… that kind of outfit. A faint anger and displeasure wrapped around my mind. But what frustrated me most was that I couldn’t even argue with them about it…
“…”
I quietly took off my T-shirt and dolphin shorts and folded them away.
…Well, misunderstandings happen. If anything, getting angry at someone who was willing to go this far would be the strange reaction. When they were showing this much passion, wasn’t the proper response to help them as much as I could? It wasn’t because the offer was free. No. Definitely not.
★
“Thank goodness.”
When the reply first came saying it wasn’t a cosplay outfit, Shia had immediately sensed that things had gone wrong. She hadn’t spoken face-to-face, so she couldn’t be certain, but she could feel the displeasure in the client’s words. The client—“Lene”—might not have meant the robes as simple cosplay; they could hold deep personal meaning. Shia blamed herself for not considering that.
But that didn’t mean she was giving up. Of course, she could have ended the conversation there and moved on to other work. If she wanted, she could take on jobs whenever she pleased. There was no need to obsess over a commission that would be hard to get properly paid for. Yet the reason Shia had made such an outrageous offer—doing everything for free—was simple. The quality of the priest robes and warhammer Lene had sent was exceptional. Even to an illustrator’s discerning eye, they were far too good. Shia wanted to draw that outfit herself. If possible, she wanted to pour all her personal taste into it. The illustrator’s soul had ignited.
How the curves of the body would appear when wearing those clothes. What kind of atmosphere would suit this attire. What kind of finished piece would result. All of it fascinated her so much that she didn’t want to let this commission go. And Lene had apparently recognized that passion, because she sent the photos.
“Incredible.”
Shia let out an involuntary exclamation. The priest robes, which could easily look baggy, had been deliberately cinched with a belt to clearly reveal the figure and body lines. That was only possible because the wearer had confidence in her own body. And the model in the photo was proving exactly where that confidence came from. As a woman, everything that should stand out did, and everything that should be tucked in was. It sounded simple, but when you considered that half of humanity struggled with this, you could understand how remarkable it was. On top of that, she wasn’t just well-proportioned—she wore the outfit perfectly. The pure white priest robes looked softer than silk and radiated holiness, while the unusual necklace seemed to prove a sense of mystery. The weight of the warhammer, palpable even through the photo, felt as though it declared that everything she did was always justified. It was as if she were a real Inquisitor.
The moment that thought occurred to her, creative desire began to boil in Shia’s mind. Even though she had just finished a fairly large commission the day before, she didn’t feel tired at all. Right now, she simply wanted to pour all of that desire into a drawing. The only regret was that the face was hidden… but since Shia had wanted to see the outfit in the first place, it wasn’t a major issue. She could easily guess that the wearer was beautiful.
“…Ah, right.”
Of course, Shia wasn’t asking them for help just because they were close. One of them had illustration skills comparable to Shia’s own, and the other was well-versed in various fashion styles as a reader model, so they would definitely be a great help. That was why she had sent the message. The reply that came back was—
“Yes!”
Fortunately, it was permission.
“Wow, this is seriously lewd…”
She didn’t forget to compliment the model either.