Chapter 43: Departure

I started making the leather sheet and cloak.
The sewing needle was made from the horn of the Tri-Horned using 『 Zanzenken 』.
It was easy to whittle the body until it’s slender, despite failing at it a few times.
I got stuck on drilling the eye with another thin stick that I made, though, and that took a lot of time.
It also breaks easily if I put too much force because of impatience.

Normal needles didn’t stand a chance against the monitor lizard’s hide.
Even the leather crafting tools were also useless, so mine was quite nifty, albeit time-consuming and needing a lot of effort to make.

Spider webs and silkworm threads seemed promising, so I planned to go look for them, but the spun thread from a Bicorn Rabbit fur seemed to work fine.
The thread spun from normal rabbit fur frayed or broke easily compared to sheep threads so they were weak, but my monster thread was quite durable.
The thread from the Tri-Horn was soft and fluffy.
It was more like yarn than a thread.

It’d be better if the leather sheet was also a camouflage, so I dyed it to mossgreen.
I left the white thread as is.
Anyway, I cut the leather into rectangles and just sewed them together to make the sheet.

Yup, it looks great.

Next stop, my cloak — it’s just a normal hooded robe-type.
With the normal ones, you could just pull the front lapels, put them on top of each other and secure the robe with a sash if it’s super cold.
It can be left open if the weather’s hot, just secure it with a brooch on the chest so it won’t slip off during battles.

Brooches won’t pierce the leather at this rate, though.
I should put a clasp right from the start or else it’ll be useless.

I tried experimenting with the leather that turned almost black after my failed dyeing attempt to make a prototype.
I made folds so the hem could open up, and I also put a rectangular piece at the chest and on the back.
It’s still made of leather even if it’s soft, so I ended up with a coat-looking thing.

Well, a coat is fine, I guess.
I don’t really have aesthetic sense, but this world is magical so maybe I could just copy the designs from fantasy anime.
Ah, but the practicality….

I made a hooded coat, in the end.
I put the hem together to make a huge box pleat, then fastened it with clasps so it won’t open up too much.

The clasps were made from oxidised silver, and I added a lot of metal embellishments to make the coat more fantasy-like.
I made two leather belts and added a pouch so that it’ll be a waist bag.
Alright, my midnight-blue coat is finally done.

Oops, I should also add fasteners to the sleeves so I could tighten them.
I wanted to turn them up so they won’t get in the way when I’m working, and it’ll be troublesome if insects come creeping in while I’m sleeping.
Oh, I should also make the hem adjustable.

Setting those details aside, what’s important is that I could hide my butt.
The coat seems just the right size when spread, but it’ll be a hassle if it gets drug on the ground, or if it rubs on me while I’m doing my ‘business’.
Well, I’m determined to use the ‘call of nature’ excuse to get away from them and teleport back to my house, though.

One of my conditions in joining was having my private time during the early morning, so I can also do that during that time.

Well, I get that lavatories aren’t sophisticated in this world, but it’s more so in the rural areas.
The cities and aristocratic mansions that don’t have drainages usually have those chair-like things that accumulate their waste — well, basically those are chamber pots, I think.
Noble ladies also have those puffed-up skirts so they can do their business anywhere; I was disappointed when I heard that, but it’s something new.

You normally won’t think that the fashionably-crafted jars in the workshop would be used for something like this, right? Like, it’s unthinkable that the ladies are hiding those under their skirts to do their business, right? That’s why they should just stop creating chamber pots that are more beautiful than soup pots! I got laughed at when I misunderstood!!

…..

………………….

Maybe I should ask Ash if she wants a coat.

I got too many monitor lizard hides because of playing tag with the spirits that fell into darkness, but the usable portion was only small because the treating process was troublesome.
Well, I also got raw materials from Bicorn and TriHorn foxes, spiders, great snow geese, owls, jays, and wolves.
So I already gathered a lot before I noticed it, huh.

Spring already came while I was considering whether I should make a coat that can be used in the forest, lined inside with fox fur.

And so, a lot of things happened, and the day of our departure finally arrived.

「 Oh, you’re matchy-matchy? 」
Dean asked me when I got to the Adventurer’s Guild, which was our meeting place.
Dean, Retze and Chris were already there waiting in the corner of the pub.

「 Probably? 」
「 Why is that a question, huh.
」

Ash, Butler and I lived near each other, so the three of us arrived at the guild together.
Ash replied that she wanted the coat when I asked her, so I hastily processed the leather and made a pale indigo coat.

I dyed it repeatedly in an attempt to make it blue, but it turned into a light, bluish, pale indigo tinged with gray.
I used gold for the metal embellishments, and the shape was a bit different, but if we compared it to the normal ones you see around town, then ours are so similar that we can be considered as matching, I guess?

I also put the same metal embellishments I used on Ash’s coat on the prototype black robe, then I handed it to Butler.
He replied with「 I’ll borrow this.
」 , it seems that he’ll return it after our expedition.

「 Hey, it’s been a while.
」
Retze shook hands with me.
I see him at the Guild from time to time, but it’s been a while since we talked like this.
Well, I was busy with my craft, I guess.

「 Twilight, I can’t believe my ears when they said that you will be joining us to camp outside and that you will be our porter.
If it is too much of a burden to you, then just say a word, let me relieve you of the luggage, at the very least.
」

Chris shook my hand as he tapped my back with his left hand.

「 Yeah, thanks? 」

I learned how to let it pass, now! Not to mention camping, I’m fine with the baggage, so it’d be weird even if he switched with me.

I also activated my spirit-seeing mode.
A light spirit, probably the one attached to Chris, was caressing his chin all the while.
It was merrily tracing the cleft, thoroughly enjoying itself.
I’m not sure how to react, though.

No, I need to hide my ability, so I shouldn’t react, right? Ash and Butler probably knew about it, right? They can see it, right? What kind of face muscles do they have, being able to stay poker faced all this time.