Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness Volume 2 (eBook)

Hisaya Amagishi (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8138-4 (ISBN)

Infos

It's been two months since Lucia Fano left her family's workshop and was appointed the head manager of the Magical Garment Factory, and she's starting to wonder just how long it'll be until she's replaced with someone more experienced. Construction on the new factory building has been completed, and the staff are eager to celebrate their official opening. However, it's not long before they're presented with another project courtesy of Lucia's friend and magical toolmaker Dahlia-the zephyricloth, a fabric enchanted with air magic to produce a refreshing breeze. The clothing applications are endless, and Lucia is determined to do her best in the role she's been given. With the help of friends, she tackles all the challenges that come her way!

Textauszug

The Magical Garment Factory and the Zephyricloth

Goodness. There really is no predicting things.

The sunlight that streamed through the window and reflected on the glossy wooden floor was dazzlingly bright. The young woman blinked once against it before signing a document with a slightly trembling hand.

Head Manager of the Magical Garment Factory, Lucia Fano—she didn’t like how childish her handwriting looked.

Lucia was a clothier who designed and created garments. However, up until two months prior, her main line of work had been making socks and gloves at her family of five’s workshop. She had occasionally worked elsewhere too, but nearly every day, she had worked a knitting machine or sewed. However, today she was signing her name on a document in black ink on the stately desk of her office as the head manager of the Magical Garment Factory, a factory affiliated with the Tailors’ Guild.

“Thank you, Head Manager Fano. With that, the transfer of the Magical Garment Factory is officially complete. If any concerns should arise while you make use of it, please feel free to contact me regardless of the time.”

The man in the elegant dark brown suit took the document with a smile. He was the architect and the supervisor of the construction of the Magical Garment Factory. The building was, as he’d said, officially theirs. Just a moment ago, the two of them, along with the factory personnel, had toured the building to make sure everything was in line with the design specifications.

The Magical Garment Factory was brand sparkling new; construction had just been completed yesterday. It was a sturdy three-story building made of reddish brick. It even had space in the back for carriages to stop and for horses to rest.

The building’s interior design was equally splendid. Lucia’s office had ivory-colored walls and dark brown wooden floors. The furnishings had a classic style and were reddish-brown in color, and a low-pile red rug blanketed the floor.

The workrooms’ floors had no rugs and instead were furnished with floorboards that wouldn’t easily trap dust. The large workbenches that filled the rooms were free of any scratches.

This interior design had been completed in such a short period of time. Lucia reflected on just how hard the workers must have pushed themselves to produce this level of quality so quickly.

“Thank you so much for this wonderful, beautiful building. We will come to you if we need anything.”

“Your words are far too kind. We look forward to hearing from you in the future.” The man, older than her father, gave her a deep bow.

After she watched the supervisor leave, Lucia turned to look out the window. From her office on the third floor, she had a view of the blue sky and the capital’s cityscape.

The Kingdom of Ordine was the largest and most populous nation on the continent, and its royal capital was said to be the most prosperous city on the continent, and even in the world. Moreover, compared to other nations, Ordine had the loosest regulations when it came to clothing. In other countries, cross-dressing was heavily scorned, and some places even restricted the color and style of garments by social class. Lucia had been very shocked when she heard that was the case not only with school and work uniforms but also with everyday wear.

Naturally, even in Ordine, clothing differed between nobles and commoners. However, it was still quite normal to see commoners wearing collared shirts, women wearing pants, and men wearing accessories. And even if one were to wear eccentric clothing, although one might get a few curious looks, one wouldn’t be reproached for it.

For a clothier like herself, a city full of people donning various styles while out and about was a fun and delightful thing. She was also grateful the city had such a large array of clothing stores, fabric shops, and stores that sold accessories like buttons.

As Lucia thought admiringly about her city, she focused her gaze on the windowpane. There, she saw herself reflected in the glass—deep green hair, dark blue eyes, short stature despite her high heels, and a somewhat childlike face despite the fact that she was in her twenties. As a child, she’d been compared to a dayflower.

Today, she was wearing one of her favorite pieces of her own design—an aqua blue dress with cute puffy sleeves. At the dress’s low collar, she wore a short wine-colored tie held in place with a gold pin. The short, puffy sleeves, which were easy to move in, alternated between aqua blue and light yellow and were tied off with small ribbons at the cuffs. The low-volume skirt of the dress fell past her knees, but it spread out nicely when she spun around, making it easy to move around in.

This dress was actually an improved version of a design she’d made once before. This time, instead of cotton, she had used a beautiful, sleek silk material, and the pin, which had originally been gold-plated, was now—albeit small—real gold. She had also lengthened the skirt by a handbreadth and added some pretty lace at the hem. Lucia’s favorite outfit, adorned with lace and ribbon, gave her courage and spirit.

She couldn’t help but smile toward the window. Even she was pleased to see her cheerful face overlapping with the blue sky.

“That’s a pretty nice view you’ve got here. Are you staying in here a while longer, boss?”

The voice that came from behind her belonged to the assistant manager, Dante Cassini. He had dark green hair that looked nearly black, vivid green eyes, and a well-featured face. He had a good fashion sense too. Since today was the day that the ownership of the Magical Garment Factory would officially be transferred to the two of them, he hadn’t dressed in his usual casual fashion. Instead, he wore an austere sage green suit. The shirt underneath, with a light green and white double collar, looked very stylish.

Dante was from a viscount’s family, so he also carried himself with refinement. He had a sharp tongue but also the impressive ability to keep it in check around nobles and at work. By all rights, he was more suited to the role of head manager.

Incidentally, most of the staff called Lucia “chief,” but for some reason, Dante alone insisted on calling her “boss.”

“Nope, let’s head to the workroom! If we don’t prepare everything we need to today, we won’t be able to start operations tomorrow,” Lucia said, grabbing the somewhat oversized bag she always carried around before heading toward the door.

There was a reason that the Magical Garment Factory had been constructed so quickly. While the Tailors’ Guild had established the factory, the Merchants’ Guild and Adventurers’ Guild were also collaborating on the project, in addition to which the factory had the support of the royal knights’ Order of Beast Hunters.

For most, the words “Magical Garment Factory” might bring to mind enchanted tailcoats and dresses for nobles, or perhaps mages’ robes. However, they were actually in the business of making toe socks and drying insoles. They were not to be looked down on as mere socks and insoles—these were proper magical tools that brought much-needed relief to the royal knights, including the Order of Beast Hunters, as well as adventurers, civil officials, and anyone else who wore leather shoes.

The socks absorbed sweat from between the toes and were enchanted with a fire crystal to provide a mild drying effect, which greatly reduced stickiness and clamminess. The drying insoles absorbed sweat from the soles of the feet and, having been enchanted with powdered green slime, also provided the sensation of a faint breeze. When the two were used in combination, no matter how much one moved around in leather shoes or combat boots, one’s feet would stay smooth and dry.

Both the toe socks and the drying insoles were the inventions of Lucia’s close friend, the magical toolmaker Dahlia Rossetti. She’d originally designed them for her father to solve his problem of having sweaty shoes in the summer. When Dahlia had come to Lucia to make a prototype of the toe socks, the seamstress had immediately accepted. Due to the unusual shape of the socks, Lucia hadn’t been able to make them using just her family’s workshop’s sock-knitting machines; she had also been obliged to employ a glove-knitting machine and hand sewing to finish them. It had taken her some time, but they’d turned out pretty nicely. Unfortunately, Dahlia was never able to give them to her father. He passed away suddenly before they were finished.

Just work on it in your spare time—so Dahlia had told her, but Lucia couldn’t help but wish she had been able to finish them faster.

Then, that summer, Dahlia had unearthed the toe socks and drying insoles she’d stashed away and had given them to a friend in the Order of Beast Hunters. That friend had worn them on an expedition, and having experienced their pleasant effects, he’d given them to other knights to try. Before the end of the day, the Order of Beast Hunters had commissioned an order for the squad, to be purchased regularly in bulk. Lucia thought it was only natural that she had needed to have that dizzying sequence of events explained to her twice. But after hearing all the details, it made sense.

While out on expedition, the Order of Beast Hunters spent long periods of time without taking off their combat boots, so the inside of their boots would get sweaty from...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.10.2024
• Reihe/Serie: Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness
• Illustrationen: Hisaya Amagishi
• Übersetzer: Hisaya Amagishi
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: artisans and crafting • business • clothing and fashion • Dahlia in Bloom spinoff • female protagonist • Light Novel • Magic
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8138-7 / 1718381387
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8138-4 / 9781718381384