Lucia and the Loom: Weaving Her Way to Happiness Volume 3 (eBook)

Hisaya Amagishi (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8140-7 (ISBN)

Infos

As the seasons change and the days become cooler, the Magical Garment Factory is as hard at work as ever. With Lucia at the helm, the factory works to develop warm yet breathable toe socks made of baphomet wool. And that's not all-Dahlia has devised another magical tool to combat the chilly weather and enlists the help of the Tailors' Guild as well as the factory. Meanwhile, Lucia takes on more personal requests, such as a ball gown for a surprising client that comes with the opportunity to observe a dance for nobles. As Lucia continues to gain recognition, Forto finds that his desire to protect her grows even stronger.

Textauszug

The Head Manager of the Magical Garment Factory and a Certain Someone’s Back

Lucia was blessed with good luck. She was where she was thanks to her connections and the opportunities she’d received.

Under the rays of the afternoon sun, she walked toward a white brick building located on a busy street in the Central District.

“Good afternoon, Head Manager Fano!” the guard standing in front of the door to the Tailors’ Guild greeted her.

Head Manager Fano—so she, Lucia Fano, was now called; that was her title at the Magical Garment Factory, an establishment managed by the Tailors’ Guild. By vocation, she was a couturier, one who designed and created clothes.

She was short, with a childlike face, green hair, and blue eyes. Some might have considered her plain, and as a child, she’d had an inferiority complex about her appearance, but now she was quite fond of it.

Until a few months ago, Lucia had spent every day making socks and gloves in the workshop operated by her family of five. Then she had happened to help her magical toolmaker friend Dahlia make a prototype toe sock enchanted with a mild drying effect. It was through that connection that Lucia had begun working for the Tailors’ Guild, which had led in turn to her being appointed the head manager of the Magical Garment Factory.

However, the position of head manager—a role that included handling business with the castle and nobles—presented several difficulties for a commoner like herself. But even bearing in mind the inevitability that she would someday be replaced by another head manager, she worked to the best of her ability alongside her colleagues.

“Good afternoon! Another sunny day today, huh?”

“Yes, but we were just fine. All thanks to those toe socks and zephyricloth you gave us!” the guard replied with a broad smile.

Zephyricloth was one of the magical tools made by the Magical Garment Factory. It was a coarse fabric enchanted to produce a gentle flow of air. When used for undergarments, it kept them from getting sweaty and sticking to the wearer’s skin, making it the optimal fabric for summer. Incidentally, Lucia’s friend was the one who had invented zephyricloth.

The front of the Tailors’ Guild building was exposed to the sun, so the guards stationed at the entrance sweated a lot during summer. Lucia had given them toe socks and undershirts with zephyricloth sewn into them, asking them to tell her how they felt wearing them outside. The guards had praised the tools highly, saying that they halved the summer heat and got rid of their heat rash. Now, every time she entered the Tailors’ Guild, they greeted her with smiles.

Summer was turning into autumn, but the afternoons were still warm enough to make one sweat. The zephyricloth would continue to be greatly useful, which Lucia was very happy about.

“We’re working on making more so that by next year, you’ll be able to wear zephyricloth undershirts and underwear every single day,” added Dante Cassini, the young man standing at Lucia’s side.

“I look forward to that, Assistant Manager Cassini!”

Dante was the assistant manager of the Magical Garment Factory and a couturier like Lucia. He had a wealth of knowledge about fashion and great design sense, and he was skilled at sewing. His dark green hair framed his handsome face and ice green eyes. He was quite attractive when he wasn’t speaking, but he regularly displayed a sharp tongue.

As the son of a viscount, Dante was an expert on noble etiquette, and before becoming the assistant manager, he’d been in charge of monster materials at the Tailors’ Guild. Lucia believed he would make a better head manager of the factory than herself, but any time she brought it up, he laughed her off.

“Boss, let’s do everything we can to fill the warehouse full of zephyricloth by next year!”

While the other factory personnel called Lucia “chief,” Dante alone called her “boss.” She’d tried to correct him at first, but eventually, she’d gotten so used to it that it no longer bothered her. It was terrifying what one could get accustomed to.

“Yeah, let’s!” Lucia nodded in agreement as the two of them stepped inside the Tailors’ Guild.

The first thing Lucia did whenever she entered the guild was survey the people in the lobby. The guild had a varied clientele, from nobles to commoners, so Lucia was able to get a glimpse of numerous people wearing gorgeous clothing, stylish uniforms, and unique outfits.

In front of the reception desk was a young lady wearing a coral dress and a white lace shrug.

Nobles often had their own personal couturiers, but they sometimes came to the Tailors’ Guild for outfits in vogue or to seek consultations about things like evening wear and gowns, with the latter being especially commonplace. Even wealthy commoners such as business owners often came to the guild to request formal wear or clothing on par with what nobles wore. The guild also received orders for company and shop uniforms and requests for consultations about formal attire for weddings and matchmaking meetings. That young lady was probably here in search of a dress for her next ball or celebration. Lucia hoped she found something wonderful to wear.

As Lucia and Dante walked through the lobby, Lucia caught sight of even more outfits—a man wearing a royal blue three-piece suit, a woman wearing a dark green knight’s uniform, a person wearing a hooded auburn robe, someone in a black leather jacket carrying a sword on their back, and more.

The bodyguards of nobles were their masters’ shields, so not only was their clothing made to be sturdy, it was frequently enchanted with defensive magic as well. The clothes of knights, mages, and adventurers were similarly enchanted to be made more durable as well as more resistant to heat and cold.

Lucia recalled that information as she passed by the person in the auburn robe. The hood slipped off, revealing the face of a young girl wearing earmuffs—an odd choice for such a warm day. The girl gave a slightly awkward laugh, and Lucia saw the flash of a long canine tooth before the girl concealed herself under the hood once more. The people next to the girl, presumably her colleagues, continued their conversation as if nothing had happened, but some of the surrounding people quietly placed some distance between them.

Lucia was a bit curious about the group but continued walking. Dante whispered in her ear, “They’re a group of skilled adventurers. Some of them are blighted. They have their clothes made for them here at the guild, and they also bring us quality monster pelts.”

On rare occasions, when someone destroyed the magical core of a monster, they would acquire the monster’s magical power and characteristics. They were called “blighted.” In some cases, they became stronger and gained the ability to use magic, and there were quite a few of them among adventurers.

“Oh, so they’re like both clients and trade partners?” Lucia asked.

“Exactly.”

When it came to clothing, everyone had their own needs, be they beauty, cuteness, stylishness, elegance, or function.

The urge to return to the lobby to look at everyone’s outfits was strong, but Lucia managed to resist it. She decided instead to draw what she could remember in her sketchbook when she returned home later that day.

Reluctantly leaving the lobby behind, Lucia and Dante continued down the hallway at a brisk pace. Their destination was the temporary storage room at the very back of the floor. Yesterday, two ships had arrived from the neighboring nation of Ehrlichia, bearing high-quality yarn and cloth spun from baphomet wool.

Baphomets were sheeplike monsters that could use body strengthening magic and had powerful legs. One kick from a baphomet could cause serious injury, and they ran as if flying through the air, making them very difficult creatures to raise. Nonetheless, baphomet wool was lightweight, warm, and pleasant to the touch. Above all, it was durable. It was for those reasons that it was a popular material not only for clothing that protected against the cold but also for knight and adventurer uniforms. Lucia and Dante had come to the guild precisely for that yarn and fabric, which they would be using at the Magical Garment Factory.

“Pardon us.”

They knocked before entering the storage room. Inside were the room’s supervisor and a head of shiny blond hair.

“Lucia, Dante. Perfect timing. Take a look at this cloth and yarn, please. They have an even nicer luster and quality than the baphomet wool from last year.”

“Thank you, Mr. Forto!”

The person Lucia thanked was the guildmaster of the Tailors’ Guild, Viscount Fortunato Luini. He was their dependable boss and a well-known couturier.

Forto stood in front of a silver magically sealed box, inside of which was white fabric wrapped around a board. The hue—which seemed to be emitting a gentle glow—was unlike that of either silk or sheep’s wool. With Forto’s encouragement, Lucia took the sample fabric in her hands and, for a moment, felt a slippery sensation against her fingertips.

Next to her, Dante did the same. His ice green eyes widened. “This has...even stronger magic than the wool from last year.”

Even the monster materials expert was surprised. He stroked the fabric with his fingers several more times.

...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.2.2025
• 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: 1-7183-8140-9 / 1718381409
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8140-7 / 9781718381407