Arcane Innovator

As I wanted to be quickly done with this, I didn't bother with the usual pleasantries and rather went straight to the point. "We're here to pick a dress for my sister. Something suitable for the Harvest Festival..." I said with an authoritative voice.

The attendant paled in horror. "But sir... the Harvest Festival is less than two weeks away! It's not nearly enough time to design a new dress fit for a lady!"

"Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow, as I didn't quite understand what she was fussing about. "I'm sure you must have some showcase dresses that could be adjusted for Helga..."

She shifted uncomfortably. "That we sure have... It's only that having to depend on such a troublesome solution could lead to an undesirable outcome..."

'What is she blabbing about? It's just a stupid dress,' I thought with growing irritation. But then a realization dawned on me as I remembered something. 'Ahh, it's that weird custom... It's apparently a disgrace for a woman from high society to be seen in the same dress as someone else...'

Throwing a covert glance at my sister, I chuckled a little, as I was pretty sure Helga wouldn't care about something frivolous like that, as she would be more than thrilled just to have any kind of frilly dress at all...

I then released a sigh as I looked at the attendant in front of me, who looked quite miserable in the difficult situation I had subjected her to. 'What to do...?' I wondered, as I didn't want to spend more money on this than was absolutely necessary, but on the other hand, I also couldn't afford to look like a cheapskate.

In high society, reputation was everything, and right now I needed to look nothing but wealthy and strong as I was about to release my new product to the market. Thus, in the end, I reluctantly agreed to order one pre-made dress for the festival and also order another one that would be designed from scratch exclusively for Helga.

The attendant nodded graciously and led us deeper into the store, where rows of luxurious fabrics in every shade imaginable lined the walls, and soon many elegant gowns were laid in front of us.

Helga's eyes widened in wonder as she was momentarily overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all. We then spent hours selecting the perfect fabric, discussing intricate details, and considering various styles. Well, more like Helga and the attendant did it, as I wasn't at all versed in the intricacies of the latest fashion, nor did I care for it.

I passed the time submerged in my own thoughts, repeating all the magical incantations I knew of over and over again to chase away boredom as I waited for my sister.

After a long while that felt like an eternity, Helga finally emerged from the back room, where another attendant took her measurements, and we were at last done.

As we were leaving the store, Helga's excitement was almost palpable. "Thank you so much, Darian!" she exclaimed with a radiant smile, her voice filled with gratitude.

I simply patted her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You deserve nothing but the very best. I'm sure this year's Harvest Festival will be something to remember..."

***

The next day, my heart raced as I impatiently awaited Sam's reply about meeting Dominic. By now, everyone in the city knew who I was, so continuing to hide my identity from Dominic's gang was kind of pointless. Thus, I gave Sam my address so that he could contact me directly instead of relying on a dead drop like we had been doing up to this point.

But sadly, there was still no news, so for now, I decided to deal with other important matters, like, for example, finally figuring out how to preserve my potions. Thus, after a quick breakfast the next morning, I excused myself and said goodbye to Helga, who was eagerly preparing for her etiquette lesson.

As I was passing her on my way out of the dining hall, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, as I had never seen her go to her lessons with such vigor before. I chuckled to myself, thinking she must be really looking forward to the Harvest Festival...

I then went straight toward Lily's room, as my master rarely comes down for breakfast. I knocked on the door and patiently waited for Lily to respond. I didn't have to wait for long, as she opened the very next moment, and her small figure promptly emerged from within her room.

"Good morning, Master." I smiled at her. "I was thinking we could start with the research project today, as I need it to be done as soon as possible..."

Lily simply nodded. "...Okay. Wait a bit," she said, slipping back into her room.

I released a sigh as I thought, 'This has already cost me so much more than I anticipated, so it better be worth it...'

After a while, my Master emerged once again, but this time she was holding a large, ornate book in her short arms.

We then went to the study, and I was throwing curious glances at the tome, as I had never seen Lily with such an elaborate, expensive-looking book before. She laid it carefully on the table, and I could finally see what it was.

The title read: Anthology of Arcane Symbols, and like the majority of the magic tomes, it too was written in the same weird, flowing script I had so much trouble learning back at Isadora's shop.

I couldn't help but show a weary smile as I remembered all the sleepless nights I spent trying to memorize its weird shapes and contours. It was apparently called the ancient script, and it was the original language of magic. This means that all spells and inscriptions are also written in this very same script.

Since every mage on the Continent uses this ancient language to chant their spells and write inscriptions, the language itself has become a sign of power and status. This consequently led other nobles who weren't born as mages to start using the ancient script too.

They started transcribing the common tongue into the ancient script in order to appear somewhat connected to magic and keep their appearance as well as their status, thus making the ancient script widespread during the course of history.

Nowadays, every important text is written in the script, along with many mundane things like labels on medicine vials. I couldn't see any benefit in this, as both reading and writing in the script were much harder than normal letters, but oh well...

As I was submerged in my own thoughts, Lily promptly opened the book and threw me a questioning look.

'Oh, right!' I quickly realized and passed her a folded piece of paper I took out of my pocket. I wasn't able to secure a real high-tier potion as they were extremely rare and expensive, but I had Theo copy those symbols from his own notes.

Technically, it was forbidden to share such knowledge with any non-alchemists. However, ever since I demonstrated to him my potion-making skills, he has been a lot more open-minded, almost like a completely different person.

Lily carefully examined the notes and then furrowed her brows slightly. She then procured a pen out of nowhere and started making some changes. She sometimes compared the symbols to the ones in her book as she mumbled something intangible.

Before long, she nodded with what looked like satisfaction and said, "...This could work. But to use it on something larger than a vial, you will also need an essence gem."

"An essence gem?" I asked confusedly, as I had never heard of such a term.

Lily sighed "...This is not something a novice like you should concern himself with, but since you decided to meddle in such an advanced topic, I might as well tell you."

She then smoothly slipped into her "Professor Lily" persona and started explaining. I listened attentively, worrying about how much something like that might cost me. But the more she told me about those peculiar gems, the more I tilted my head to the side in confusion.

'Wait a minute...' I thought as a sudden realization dawned on me. I then broke into a wide smile. 'I think I already have those!'

My thoughts then quickly traveled to those small crystals I got from monster corpses during my adventures in the wilderness over the years. I had been meaning to ask Lily about those for a long time, but with how busy I was all the time, there was never a good opportunity for it.

Since I was now a wealthy landowner and an Aspirant on top of that, I could easily fabricate a story that I had bought them from a passing caravan. Not to mention that Lily had no idea about my humble origins, so she wouldn't think much about it...

Thus, I turned my head toward my still-explaining master and eagerly interjected in a confident tone, "I just now realized I might already have such a gem in my collection..."