An Unexpected Harvest (2)
"Yes, so you'd like one custom order, plus the two you're purchasing today — is that correct?"
"That's right. I'll pay for everything now."
I had bought a bra for Tia.
I ordered one custom-made to fit her body exactly, and bought two ready-made ones in roughly the right size as a stopgap.
She'd need something to wear until the custom one was finished.
Three seemed a bit few, but considering how fast Tia grew and how quickly anything would stop fitting her, buying too many would just be a waste of money.
As long as I kept up with the laundry, we wouldn't run short.
"So? Is it comfortable?"
"Mmm. It doesn't prick anymore."
"Good."
"Mheheh. Tia's just like Mommy now."
"What? No, you're not. Yours is basically just soft cloth draped over you. Mine actually has cups that hold its shape."
"······."
A sudden lump rose in my throat, and before I knew it I'd spat out a whole flurry of nonsense.
What was there to brag about, having big breasts?
I used to be a man, after all.
Tia, wearing a bra for the first time, had been awkward and fidgety at first, but adapted within minutes.
Apparently the ache in her chest had been getting pretty bad lately.
Still — to my eyes Tia was nothing but a little brat, and she'd already hit her second growth spurt.
Every time I thought about it, the shock came back fresh.
"All done at last? Starting to feel like shopping for that dress, hm?"
"Why do you have to be so annoying about it."
"You take a whole hour picking out a few bras, that's why. Just grab whatever fits and go, why bother with—"
Leopard sprang up from the sofa and came tagging after me.
He'd been dead asleep until now.
If he'd stayed that way, I could have slipped out and left him behind.
Nothing could have pleased me more.
"If I come, you're buying Tia a dress too, right?"
"I have no memory of saying any such thing."
"Then you're buying it. Or I'm not going."
"Hey, that's not how this works. Why does your list grow by one demand every single time we turn around?"
"Hmph······."
Well, she had a point, I supposed.
It wasn't as if buying her one dress was such an impossible favor. A little sweet-talking to one of my regulars and I'd have it covered in no time.
'Huh?'
A flicker of unease stirred in me.
The more I thought about it, the more this was exactly the mindset of a bar girl, wasn't it······?
I recoiled from my own thoughts.
Was a little easy money really enough to rewire a person this fast?
Money really did make fools of everyone.
I slapped my own cheeks and snapped myself out of it.
"Snap out of it!"
"Eek! You startled me. What's wrong with you?"
"Sorry. I take it back. You don't have to buy Tia's dress."
"Uh... okay... good thinking."
The flush that had bloomed across her cheeks settled back down at once.
At first I'd been planning to bring Tia to the party.
But thinking it over, there was really no reason to drag her to a gathering full of nothing but perverted nobles.
No sense in catching some pedophile's eye and getting tangled up in an ugly mess. And since she'd outgrow anything expensive within days anyway, it was pointless.
"What? Why are you walking past? Aren't we going to the department store?"
"I can't dress a Saintess in that cheap trash."
"And how have you resisted until now?"
"Blood, sweat, and tears."
Around sundown.
Following Leopard's lead, we gradually worked our way into the inner districts of the city.
The rowdy, market-day bustle of the crowds died away, and a quiet, immaculate street unfolded before us.
It was a residential quarter lined on both sides with stately mansions.
"Is this really the place? I don't think so? There's not a single shop anywhere around."
"It's the right place. All my clothes have been fitted here."
"······."
Knock knock.
The door Leopard rapped on belonged to an entirely ordinary house.
Ordinary by the standards of this neighborhood, that is — it was still unmistakably an upscale home.
Before long, a woman who looked to be somewhat advanced in years emerged from behind the iron fence.
"What is it this time, Leopard?"
"Getting a dress fitted. For this woman here."
"Then you go to the shop like a normal person. Why do you waltz up to my home like you own it?"
"Ever since you retired I haven't set foot in the shop. Too crowded, too noisy. Anyway, open the gate."
"Haah······."
The woman heaved a deep sigh and waved her hand, and the iron fence swung open of its own accord.
But seriously — of course this was the place. As if.
She was marching up to a retired tailor and throwing a tantrum at her front gate.
I was complicit in the nuisance, and embarrassment crept over me.
"Introductions. Anna Kareliya. The finest tailor in the capital — men's wear, women's wear, she makes it all."
"A pleasure to meet you."
"And this is Yulia. A bar gi— no. Er, a woman who'll be working as a maid at the newly built Dragonia Villa."
You were about to call me a bar wench just now, weren't you?
It wasn't entirely wrong either, so I was almost too annoyed to be annoyed.
"Ugh. Sorry for barging in on you in your retirement."
"If you're sorry, then stop showing up at my door."
"I said it out of common courtesy."
"Perhaps courtesy should extend beyond words into your actions, Former Hero?"
Anna and Leopard seemed quite close.
They'd evidently known each other a long time.
Maybe they'd even been lovers at some point······.
The thought made my face flush hot out of nowhere.
"Mwaaah······."
Tia's eyes sparkled again and again as she explored the inside of the house.
A broad, sweeping hallway. Dazzling chandeliers.
And a striking crimson carpet to top it off.
It wasn't an enormous mansion by any means, but it had all the trappings of understated luxury.
Nobles would probably call the interior plain, but for Tia it was enough to make her head spin.
We soon arrived at what appeared to be the fitting room.
Fabric and half-finished garments lay scattered everywhere — a workshop that reeked, in the best way, of a professional's craft.
So it wasn't quite the ordinary house it had looked from outside after all.
"I can use the bedroom, right? I'm going to nap, so you take the measurements and whatever else. Uh, you know? Just handle all that for me."
"Haah······."
And with that, Leopard sauntered out without a second thought.
It was outrageous, but then, her behaving however she pleased was hardly a new development, so I let it go.
Left alone in the fitting room with a woman named Anna, an awkward silence began to settle over me.
Through it all, Tia kept darting here and there, poking into every corner as if nothing in the world had ever been so fascinating.
Anna fetched a pair of spectacles from a drawer, put them on, and fixed me with a weary gaze.
"Is the dress for a public occasion or a private one?"
"Ah — private."
"And your standing at the event?"
"I've been introduced, and I'm to show my face before starting work······."
"I see. You owe Leopard a debt."
"Yes······."
"You'd best be careful. That human treats toying with people as the finest amusement there is. She finds a woman who catches her interest, makes her life difficult with her own hands, then rescues her with her own hands and stacks up the debt. That's how she slowly molds a woman into her ideal. And when time passes and she grows bored, she goes hunting for a new toy. With that long lifespan of hers, I shudder to imagine how many victims are yet to come."
"Ye—yes······."
Her tone was calm, yet somehow it rang with a strange undercurrent of emotion.
This was advice from someone who'd been through it.
I resolved to take it to heart.
Not that taking it to heart would erase the debt I owed the woman, of course.
"Well. Though having come this far, I suppose there's no escaping that woman's clutches now."
"There is, actually. A last resort."
"Is there······?"
Anna gave a wry little smile and threw herself back into the measurements.
Since she didn't even ask what it was, she'd clearly assumed my "last resort" was along the lines of a naive girl throwing off her ring and weeping her way out the door.
But my last resort was nothing of the sort.
That tiny girl over in the corner, rolling around with a measuring tape draped over her entire body.
If the Hero Leopard ever tried to cross the line, I would use her.
A poison that could neutralize even the Saintess's infinite regeneration — surely it could kill a Hero.
Not that I intended to use it lightly.
But if my virtue were ever threatened, I would use it without hesitation.
Oh wait. My virtue was stolen from me ages ago, wasn't it.
"Tia! Stay still! Don't make a mess!"
"Hehe. It's quite all right. The room's already a mess, you see."
Tia kept rifling through every last nook and cranny, and my stress levels climbed by the minute.
One broken tool in there and I'd be buried under a mountain of debt.
Come to think of it, it was a little curious that Anna never once spared Tia a glance.
If she'd once been Leopard's woman, wouldn't she at least ask whether Tia was Leopard's child or not?
Or maybe she was deliberately pretending not to know.
"That's everything. I'm to collect payment from Leopard, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Come by the day before the party. You'll try it on then, and I'll make any adjustments on the spot."
The dress commission wrapped up surprisingly quickly.
Since I was a complete novice where dresses were concerned, I simply told her the general type of party and the dress code, Anna picked out the colors and fabrics on her own, and I rubber-stamped everything she chose.
Finally she took my measurements — shoulders, bust, underbust, waist, hips, height — draped a few fabrics over my arms to check how they fell, and it was done.
I was just about to call for Tia and step out of the fitting room when Anna called me back — and then, without warning, gave me a light hug.
"Nnh······."
"You're beautiful, Yulia."
"I'm sorry?"
"Beautiful in your youth. I miss being young mys— well, no, not that. But I do envy you a little. Treasure your youth while you have it. And if you ever need someone to talk to about Leopard, come see me. In fact, I'd rather like to ask a favor. I've been wondering how she's been lately······. Whenever I ask her myself, she never gives me a straight answer. Us women have to stick together. Don't you think?"
"Yeees······."
She seemed just slightly unhinged, and I had no particular desire to get close to her.
I think I understood why Leopard had gotten bored and discarded her.
Ah. Feeling sympathy for that wretch makes me feel like trash somehow.
The moment I exchanged farewells with Anna and stepped out of the fitting room, the door at the far end of the long hallway burst open and Leopard came bounding out.
Her eyes were half-lidded — apparently the sound of us leaving had just woken her.
Tch. I'd been about to leave her behind for good.
For all I said, the woman woke at the faintest noise.
"So what's the damage?"
"Here's the invoice."
"Kgh······!"
"What? Something wrong?"
"You crammed in every expensive option there was······."
"Not my fault. Anna handled nearly all the choices herself."
"I didn't expect an outlay like this. However am I to recoup this investment?"
"······."
She suddenly planted herself in front of me.
Her face looked a bit like a mischievous boy scheming up his next prank, and a bit like a leering pervert's.
Here we go again.
All I could do was pray this moment would pass quickly.
"How about you just marry into my house? I'd treat you like royalty."
"You're hilarious."
"Then how about I attach any conditions you like? I won't demand we share a bed. I don't expect you to support me. It'd be a relationship where all you have to do is link arms beside me on the occasional outing. What do you say?"
"Are you being serious right now?"
"Totally."
That was the furthest thing from a serious face I'd ever seen.
I decided to answer this nonsense with a joke so unfunny it circled back around.
"No thanks. I don't plan on marrying a woman."
She'd been clinging like some lovesick little girl, so that was my retort.
Naturally, I expected a roar of hearty laughter to follow.
Instead, her reaction was nothing I could have predicted.
"Wh— what? How did you—"
"······?"
Leopard's footsteps stopped dead, and her face began to drain white.
She recovered her composure in an instant, wearing that same fixed expression as if nothing had happened — but there was no way I'd missed that split-second slip.
She'd flinched like someone whose most carefully guarded secret had just been seen through.
Doesn't that mean she just admitted she's a woman······?
"Hey. Why's your face turning red."
"······."
"Hey. That's not it, right? Hm?"
"······."
Oh no.
C-could it be.