[V4C5] A Wonderful Man

The day after sharing fried pies with Monica, Lana Colette arrived at her company’s office and was assaulted by a wave of nausea. The reason being Clifford’s attire.

“Good morning, Lana.”

“Good morning, Cliff… Um, w-what’s with that outfit…?”

Lana pressed down on her forehead with one hand and, building up her determination, glanced at Clifford again.

Clifford’s outfit consisted of a shirt, vest, and scarf… but the colors and patterns were absolutely awful.

He had combined a floral shirt with a checkered vest and pants, topped off with a bold red scarf featuring bright green polka dots.

“W-Why is everything patterned!? And where on earth did you find that headache-inducing scarf!?”

“It was the smallest tablecloth in the kitchen.”

“So it’s not even a scarf!!”

Lana clutched her head and let out a scream.

Clifford, who had recently been rotating through relatively easy-to-match clothes chosen by Lana, had suddenly embarked on this grand fashion adventure.

“Hurry up and take off that tablecloth! I think there are plain shirts in the warehouse. Just change into one. It should be somewhat salvageable even if you keep the vest and pants.”

“Unfortunately, our warehouse has no more plain white shirts. All we have is pink.”

“No! You cannot wear that vest with pink! Besides, that pink doesn’t suit you in the first place!”

“I don’t care that much. I’m fine as is.”

“I care! I’m going to lose it if I see that outfit in the corner of my vision! I’ll go buy a white shirt from a nearby store!”

True to her declaration, Lana rushed to the tailor early in the morning and bought a plain white shirt, which she promptly thrust upon Clifford. She had wasted nearly an hour of her precious morning doing this.

“Good grief…” Lana sighed as she sat in the chair. Clifford, having changed his shirt, placed an envelope in front of her.

“What’s this?”

“The reply from Porok.”

Porok was the artisan responsible for embroidering the mage robes Lana was currently focused on developing.

He was originally employed by Lana’s father at the Colette Company, so Lana used her father’s connections to commission Porok for the embroidery on the robes.

Porok was a skilled embroidery artisan, but what made him particularly valuable was his ability to enchant magical symbols through embroidery.

With a visibly tense face, Lana opened the envelope.

The robes were scheduled for a reveal soon, and the base was already finished. The only remaining task was to add the embroidery. However, Lana and Porok had been at odds over the design of said embroidery.

Lana had already proposed several designs for the embroidery, which Porok rejected nine times in a row.

She nervously pulled out the design paper from the envelope, curious about Porok’s response to the milestone tenth proposal.

In large letters, boldly written across the embroidery design Lana had put her passion into, were the following words:

——Insufficient knowledge. Try again.

“Ugh, seriously!”

Pounding the table with both palms, Lana scowled at Porok’s response with frustration.

That stubborn embroidery artisan was always like this. Without pointing out what was wrong, he would simply thrust the insult of “insufficient knowledge” at Lana.

Mage robes adorned with special embroidery were a type of magical tool.

Despite Lana’s limited knowledge of magical tools, she had been diligently studying the basics of magical tools since the preparatory period when she established her company.

Monica had already confirmed the magical formula part, so there shouldn’t be any issues there.

Which means, the issue must lie elsewhere.

“This amount of embroidery thread should be sufficient to impart the required magical formula… What else could be wrong? …The position of the embroidery? The length?”

Porok was a fast worker, and with the few apprentices under him, he could probably manage to complete the embroidery within ten days. However, there were less than two weeks left until the day of the reveal.

If Lana failed to obtain Porok’s approval in the next submission, her robes wouldn’t be ready in time.

Lana assigned various small tasks to Clifford, focusing on the design proposal herself. Embroidery design proposals were time-consuming on their own, and incorporating magical symbols added further constraints.

The application of magical formulas to materials was known as imbuement magic, and imbuement magic did not pair well with fabric.

On the contrary, precious metals were very compatible. Thus, imbuement magic was applied to the gold and silver threads weaved into the fabric.

However, the amount of gold leaf used for the gold thread was minimal. The more complex the magical formula to be applied, the more gold thread was needed.

Honestly, sewing a single gemstone would make everything a lot easier. Even if the gemstone was of slightly lower quality, it could accommodate a considerable amount of magical symbols.

(But that’s just the same as attaching a magical brooch later…)

Clothing and accessories that required considerable time and effort became symbols of authority on their own.

Applying magical symbols solely with embroidery thread was considered fashionable and savvy.

To captivate the hearts of the upscale-minded magicians targeted by this product, the method of applying magical symbols only through embroidery was non-negotiable.

“Let’s see… How much gold thread is needed to apply this magical formula…?”

After drawing a few new designs, Lana referred to the formula Monica had taught her and clacked an abacus.

As she continuously calculated design adjustments and the amount of embroidery thread required, Lana found that noon had already arrived.

The design proposal was almost complete. Once finished, it needed to be delivered to Porok immediately.

(Which means, I won’t make it to lunch with Monica…)

Lana glared at the clock and sighed. Meanwhile, Clifford closed his inkwell and offered a suggestion, having finished his morning work.

“Should I convey a message to Monica? That you won’t be able to make it today.”

“…Ugh, please do. Oh, I guess you don’t know Monica’s appearance, right? She has light brown hair, brownish eyes, and…”

After Lana conveyed Monica’s appearance, Clifford responded with a simple “Understood” and left the office.

Though Lana felt sorry for standing up Monica, she desperately continued moving her quill.

(Ugh! If Cliff only handed these documents a little earlier, I might have had a bit more leeway! …And, oh yes, I haven’t consulted Monica about asking Bartholomew-san to be the model yet!)

The length of the robe and other details would need to be adjusted according to the model. In other words, Lana needed to somehow find the time to consult with Monica today.

She wanted an introduction to Bartholomew Alexander, the young man with black hair and golden eyes.

＊　＊　＊

Due to her high spirits, Monica accidentally departed her house a bit earlier than necessary. She decided to take a slightly longer route, strolling around before heading to the fish restaurant where she had an appointment with Lana.

Monica thought she had killed some time, but she still arrived ahead of schedule. Lana was not in front of the restaurant. Instead, an unfamiliar man was standing there.

He was a tall man with long black hair tied at the back of his neck. A set of large and thick glasses covered half his face, making it difficult to discern his features. He appeared to be in his early twenties.

Since she wasn’t fond of tall men, Monica tried to avoid eye contact with him. However, he came toward her with large strides.

Rather than passing by like expected, the man stopped right in front of Monica.

“So you’re Monica?”

“…Huh?”

Perplexed, Monica looked up at the man.

The glasses the man wore while looking down at Monica shone eerily in the backlight.

“I’m Clifford Anderson, secretary to the president of the Flux Company.”

The Flux Company was the name of the new company Lana had established. There was already a Sazandol Branch of the Colette Company, run by Lana’s father, so Lana chose a different name for her company rather than using the Colette name.

While the Flux Company did receive financial support from Lana’s father, it was an entirely independent business.

(Um, so this man is… Lana’s secretary?)

The fact that Lana’s secretary came to the meeting place instead of Lana raised some concerns. Did something happen to Lana?

To the anxious Monica, the man named Clifford calmly stated…

“I want to make a deal with you.”

“…A deal?”

Clifford took out a gold coin from his pocket and presented it to the puzzled Monica.

“Sell me the time you spend with Lana. Specifically, I want to have Lana all to myself for one month.”

Monica needed considerable time to understand the meaning of the words spoken. Even after understanding the words, she did not know how to react.

“Why, um, would you want that…?”

“Why? I’ve already stated the reason. I want to have Lana all to myself. So, I ask you not to meet Lana for a month.”

“Uh, well, does Lana know about this…?”

“Of course I haven’t told her. You won’t either. This amount includes the hush money.”

Clifford tried to force the gold coin into Monica’s hand.

In a panic, Monica swatted away Clifford’s hand.

“N-no… no, thank you.”

Monica hid her hands behind her back, showing a desperate determination not to accept the gold coin. Meanwhile, Clifford, without any change in expression, took out a second gold coin from his pocket.

“It seems you are greedy. Fine, two gold coins.”

“N-No matter how much you offer, no… no, thank you!”

“Then we have a problem. I want Lana all to myself.”

“W-Well, I have a problem with that too.”

Monica, who was easily swayed when spoken to in a strong tone, had a bad habit of nodding involuntarily under pressure. It was because of this habit that she ended up accepting the top-secret mission two years ago when pressured by her colleague.

However, this time, Monica absolutely could not nod in agreement.

“Not being able to meet Lana… No, I can’t do that.”

“Three gold coins.”

Clifford took out a third gold coin and presented it to Monica.

Monica resisted the urge to bow her head and looked straight at Clifford.

“P-Please leave… I absolutely won’t accept any money.”

It was rather frightening how Clifford showed zero change in facial expression.

Putting the three gold coins back into his pocket, Clifford then handed Monica a large gold coin, a sight rarely seen in personal transactions.

“One large gold.”

“I don’t want it!”

Right as Monica gave an unusually strong shout, footsteps could be heard from behind her.

“Monica!”

The pale-faced Lana came rushing toward them.

Seeing Monica with a distressed face, Lana glared sharply at Clifford.

“Hey, Cliff! What did you say to Monica!?”

“Nothing much. I was just proposing a trade.”

Lana gave the nonchalant Clifford a doubtful gaze before turning back to Monica.

Monica felt a wave of relief upon seeing Lana’s face, which made her eyes a bit teary.

In an attempt to reassure Monica, Lana spoke in a gentle voice.

“Monica, did Cliff say something weird to you? You can mostly ignore what he says.”

“Lana, you should respect me more.”

Clifford tried to assert himself from behind, but Lana ignored him and spoke directly to Monica.

“Cliff has… a bit of a nasty personality and a bad habit of trying to solve everything with money.”

“I could say the same thing about you.”

Lana’s cheek twitched slightly.

“…I was about to say ‘but he’s not a bad person’. I think I’ll stop there though.”

Despite Lana glaring at him, Clifford maintained an indifferent attitude.

Whether Monica cried or Lana got angry, Clifford seemed indifferent to everything, as if saying he didn’t care about any of it. He spoke again in a casual tone.

“Anyway, Lana. I thought you were too busy to come. That’s why I came here to inform Monica in the first place…”

“Yeah… but there’s something I urgently needed to ask Monica, so I finished up the design in a hurry!”

“Something you need to ask me?”

Monica pondered what that might be.

A little while ago, Lana had asked her how to calculate the amount of mana that could be applied when embroidering with gold thread.

(She mentioned “design”… so it must be related to that, right?)

If she could help Lana in her area of expertise, there was no reason for Monica to refuse. But before Monica could say anything, Lana revealed it.

“I want you to introduce me to Bartholomew Alexander-san!”

The unexpected name caused Monica’s thoughts to freeze.

“…Lana? Um, you mean the protagonist of an adventure novel?”

In response to Monica’s stiff question, Lana shook her head, laughing, and continued.

“No, no, that’s not it. You know, the tall guy with black hair who was taking care of your house!”

Someone watching Monica’s house, who has black hair, and goes by the name Bartholomew Alexander? There was only one man fitting these conditions… Correction, he was not a man. He was the currently hibernating Black Dragon of Worgan.

(Nero…! Why!? Why does Lana know about you!?)

As the stunned Monica could only quiver her lips in silence, Lana leaned forward, clenched her fist, and continued with enthusiasm.

“He was so wonderful. I’d love to meet him and have a chat!”

As she said this, Lana’s cheeks were tinged with a rosy hue, and her eyes sparkled with a dreamy look.

…As if she were a maiden in love.

Though Clifford said “tablecloth”, he actually meant the “placemat” that you would put under your plates. He forcibly stretched it around his neck and pinned it with a brooch.

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