That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.40 Ehrenfests' Knights

Shuna's pov: 

Rimuru sama really did not like fittings, despite him being perfect for them! He never needed a moment to think about comfort or size, he could change both easily on his own. Though today he was being difficult, far too difficult. I had Haruna-san and Tuuli-chan here helping me, and despite that he still refused to step up to do the fitting on himself, forcing us to use a mannequin. "It would have been done faster if your just stood still, Rimuru-sama." I glared over to him while smiling and giggling lightly. I had been hoping to get done quickly so Hakurou-san could have Tuuli-chan for the rest of the day, and so I could teach Effa-san how to work with silk properly. Her attempts thus far had been impressive for her having not ever worked with the material before. 

"..Ehehehe.." Rimuru-sama scratched the back of his head while stepping back, quickly after that he left the room entirely with a quite use of [Spatial Domination]. He left behind a note saying he was going to check on Rozemyne-chan, or I should say Lady Rozemyne from now on. I decided to ignore his antics for today, he had been doing plenty of work in these past few weeks. 

Now I needed to focus on Lady Rozemyne's outfit for the festival, she'd be primarily wearing executive attire to reflect her status and close relation with Rimuru-sama. In line with this the dress she was to have made included the signature polyester vest of the executives, along with Ehrenfestian embroidery for the blouse and skirt underneath. It mostly consisted of black and gold, but additionally featured a blue stripe alone the blouse's color to signify her Ehrenfestian origins and their reverence for the summer. Of course, all of this was simply the plan, the outfit was still totally incomplete due to Rimuru-sama's refusal to fit his own himself. I turned to Effa-san, who was sitting in a chair across the room at one of the tables. "Watch this one closely, this one is for Lady Rozemyne." I smiled to her knowingly, while watching her eyes light up a bit at the reverence of her daughter's name. 

Immediately getting to work, Haruna-san started grabbing the fabrics we'd need from the rack of rolls. it was not long before we had an array of rolls of polyester, cotton, and silks. Along with this there were a variety of colors, including the black, white, golden, blue and a few other minor colors that would be included. After this Haruna grabbed sets of buttons and zippers from a few of the drawers on the table, arranging them neatly for our work. 

"Tuuli-chan, here. Examine these patterns for me, like you did yesterday." I said while sliding a set of cards to the girl, each card had an embroidery we'd be using as a reference. I smiled brightly while waiting, I watched intently as she used her skill and tried to find the underpinnings of it's workings. 

The girl quickly took each of the cards and examined them closely. Her eyes twitching around and tracing the patterns of the fabrics wrapped around the card quickly, it seemed once she had traced the pattern once she could recognize it repeatedly very easily. Along with this it seemed she had some form of [Though Acceleration] to assist with this with how quickly she was able to do so. It was not long before she stopped on one card and showed it back to me, "What is this? It looks like a flower but not one I've seen before." What she was showing me was a picture of a yellow rose. 

"O-oh? You have never seen a rose before? They are flowers that represent people's feelings towards various things. Usually each other." I was mildly surprised she had never seen one before, they weren't exactly rare in Jura. 

"What does this one represent?" She turned the card back to her own gaze while examining it like she had the patterns. 

"Yellow roses represent friendship and joy, but we will be using gold threads for the embroidery. They have the same meaning." I quickly replied while pulling out several of the thread spools we'd be using. 

"That sounds uncomfortable against the skin, especially for someone so sensitive to touch. I think we should have padding layers so it can stay comfortable, would the cotton work for that?" While setting down the cards, Tuuli-chan looked over to the rolls of fabrics and lightly held the cotton in-between her fingers as if testing it. 

"That does sound like a good idea, are you sure about using cotton though?" I knew of Lady Rozemyne's resistances, the possible heat of wearing padded clothing would be negligible to her. Though the discomfort of metal rubbing against her skin would likely be unbearable. 

Tuuli-chan cut off a very thin strip of the cotton fabric and carried it over to Effa-san's table, she then asked Effa-san this "Mom, can you feel this? My fingers are too tough to really determine it.." Tuuli-chan seemed mildly irritated while saying this, seemingly a bit uncomfortable she could no longer determine the qualities of softer textures. 

Effa-san was quick to place a hand on Tuuli-chan's cheek and dote on her, "That is just like your father, hehe." Effa-san then took the fabric strip, first rubbing it between her fingers and crushing it slightly. After that she folded the fabric over, and did the same thing again. "This is very soft, and the texture feels nice on the skin. It should be perfect." 

I smiled a bit while watching the two, feeling a twinge of jealousy toward Effa-san, before quickly ignoring the feeling. "Alright then, we can pad it with cotton. Any other suggestions?" 

"No, can I stitch the embroidery though?" Tuuli-chan asked with small lights in her eyes, she had seen me do it many times. 

"Yes, you may." I smiled softly while affirming for her, and setting down a small pack of tools. I then gestured her over. 

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Tuuli's pov: 

After finishing Rozemyne's outfit, I was told to go to Hakurou. So now I am simply standing next to him, and waiting for him to talk to me. He is standing behind Rimuru, listening intently to some discussion they are having. Only Benimaru, Hakurou, and a few others are in the room.

"The roster for the tournament will need to be decided as we get closer, we may get last minute arrivals." Rimuru said while scratching the back of his head softly. He then split off a part of his finger and made a small pointer stick with it. "I don't want any executives participating, even just Ferdinand and Sylvester-san are a bit too much for any humans to have a chance with. Especially after they evolve." 

'Hmm? A tournament?' I though to myself inwardly while letting my mind wander, though it did draw my attention to what they were actually talking about. I did not speak though, I simply stayed quiet. 

After a few moments, it seemed that everyone in the room had agreed with this. "We can still select a few, I'd think." Hakurou said this, seemingly noticing my fidgeting. 

"Not her." Rimuru said immediately while glancing over to me, then continued. "I am not comfortable letting children participate, the minimum age is sixteen." He finished while looking back to a paper in front of him. 

I puffed my cheeks out a bit like my sister tended to, getting lightly annoyed. Though I still stayed quiet and simply looked away for a bit, I wanted to go blow off some steam. 

Benimaru looked over to me, promptly after this. "Hey, Tuuli-chan. Just got to the training grounds. There are some knights from Ehrenfest here, give em a good beating for me." He smiled wryly while instructing me, and slid a piece of paper over to me with a list of names. 

"Hm, that Wilfried boy was a bit annoying. So I will make sure to do it!" I smiled back brightly while already ready to run off with the sheet of paper, I was simultaneously trying to read it over. Struggling a bit to do both at the same time. 

Before I could get very far, Hakurou grabbed me by the collar and started talking. "Don't hurt yourself, we can't heal you if we aren't there." He was a bit more concerned for my safety, I supposed he had already seen the knights. 

I turned and nodded to him. "Yes sensei!" I yelled out while bowing slightly. Afterward I left the room in a more composed pace, and made my way to the training grounds. It was a bit of a long walk, since I was coming from City Hall. That was fine though, I didn't even feel my skin get sweaty or hot from the early summer heat. 

Arriving at the training ground, what I saw was a bunch of men in what looked like steel armor. Honestly it looked incredibly nice, but also quite easily destroyed. Wilfried was there as well, for a little while I confined myself to standing and watching. I wanted to get a good idea of the general power structure and rankings first. 

Unfortunately I could not, as nearly immediately after I arrived on the edge of the field, Wilfried noticed me and beckoned me over with a wave. "This is the commoner I told you about, apparently she is from Ehrenfest. I have a hard time believing it though." He stated, talking about me like an object of fascination. It was mildly irritating, so I shot him a glare. 

"Was she really able to beat you that easily? She doesn't look like much." Still the rude comments, though it came from someone I did not know. Therefore I ignored it. I decided to get their attention though, since I had already become the focus on their attention. 

"I was told to talk to several of you, but the first was one Karstedt-dono." I spoke loudly while holding the hilt of Nahenlicht to project my voice with it's magicules, something Benimaru had taught me. 

There were some mumbles, like "Is she really a commoner" and "What spell was that, where is her mana from?" I smiled a bit at the mumbling and waited, before a man walked up to me. "Oh? -Dono? Do you really have the station to refer to me like that?" The man looked to be in his latter thirties, and had reddish brown hair and blue eyes. If I were to guess with, after looking over him with my senses, he had roughly twenty percent more magicules than Wilfried. 

I stood my ground and tilted my head a bit, "Why wouldn't I? I am tasked with protecting lady Rozemyne, and am a student of Hakurou and Benimaru-sensei." I stared at him without confidence, and without fear. I was simply looking a bit surprised, in terms of expression. I had guessed before I had come to Tempest I would have been scared of this situation, though. 

He seemed to raise an eyebrow for a moment while staring off into space for a moment, then looked back to me. "The kijin are your masters? I suppose I can't disrespect you then. You don't look particularly weak in your own right either.." He trailed off while staring at Nahenlicht for a moment. Shortly after he came to another statement, "I won't call you -dono though, due to your past. -San is how I will refer to you." 

"My name is Tuuli, Benimaru-sensei told me to spar with the knights. I assume he set me up in this, considering this paper has instructions for me. He just didn't say it." I got a of a vein popping on my head while thinking about Benimaru laughing about having tricked me, though I brushed off the thought and looked back to the group of knights. "Any takers? I was told to be careful, but most of you don't seem that dangerous." I chided them a bit while asking. Really a few of them did look dangerous though, specifically Karstedt and the few who looked to be crowding around Wilfried. 

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--2035 words--

(AN: Hope it is obvious Wilfried is just trying to put up a good image with the knights)