𝘛𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨~.
As they entered the shop, a little bell chimed to alert the employees of their presence.
The one to greet Si Sheng and Ms. Helmer was a cute elf with short hair. She had slightly chubby cheeks, which made her seem young, along with large eyes, giving off an innocent and cute vibe.
"Hello, welcome to the Woven Vine. My name is Bona, is there anything I can help you with?"
The cute employee Bona welcomed them to the store with a bubbly smile on her face.
'It's not much different from the department stores on Earth.' Si Sheng thought this when he came into the store and was greeted by Bona.
"Oh! Ms. Dean Helmer! What do I have the pleasure of serving you today with?" said Bona, startled after recognizing Ms. Helmer.
"Ah, well, this young man here needs his sizes measured."
"Right away, come this way... sir..."
As Bona said this, she turned to look at Si Sheng and noticed his peculiarities. Specifically his rounded ears and pale, olive skin. Additionally, his height was tall—speaking in a general sense— with his ash-black hair, which contrasted that of elven hair that generally was blonde or light in color.
"Uh... Umm... Ms. Dean Helmer? Wha-What is he...?" Bona was obviously shaken by Si Sheng's appearance. With one glance, anyone could tell that he wasn't an elf and the fact that the elves hadn't interacted with any of the other prominent races in hundreds of years gave prudence to the fact that Bona was unsettled.
"Ah, calm down, calm down! He's a new student at the Institution. For reasons I can't disclose yet, the Council decided upon this. You'll know more when they announce it. For now, just think of him as a tall elf."
"Ah... Um... Okay." Bona said all this with a look on her face as if she was about to burst into tears. She looked Si Sheng up and down while trembling; she looked like a scared puppy being cornered by the neighborhood delinquents.
Eventually, she took a deep breath, calmed herself, and remembered her job.
"Excuse me for my rudeness. Please come this way so we can get your measurements." Bona smiled as she said this, showing her professionalism despite the absurd situation.
Guiding them into a room behind a curtain, Bona brought out a step stool and measuring tape, signaling for Si Sheng to stand in front of her.
"For us to properly measure you, would you kindly remove your armor?" Bona said this while pointing to the armor Si Sheng was wearing.
"Umm... Can I have something to wear apart from this?"
"Well, you'll need to have your shirt off for this, but we can get you a pair of pants if you need it."
"I see. That's fine. Thank you."
Underneath Si Sheng's armor was less than the bare minimum. Meaning, he didn't even wear underwear underneath. If he wore his shirt and pants that were on him when he came to this world, he'd have overheated quite often due to the low breathability of the leather armor and insulation of said cloths.
Si Sheng easily took off his breastplate, then waited for Bona to bring him a pair of pants. Obviously, he had Ms. Helmer and Bona wait outside while he changed. But when he was changing into his pants, he spotted Ms. Helmer peeking through the space of the curtain and the door frame.
When Ms. Helmer knew she'd been caught, she smirked mischievously, blushing, while Si Sheng approached to firmly close off the cracks in the curtains.
'Goodness, does she have to tease me at every chance she can get?' Si Sheng was annoyed by Ms. Helmer's pestering, but in the end, he could only sigh. It wasn't like she embarrassed him publicly or harmed him, so, he wasn't too perturbed by her meddling. All he thought it was cute and at times troublesome.
"Hehehe~ Why so shy~? Are you trying to hide anything~ hmmm~?" Si Sheng heard Ms. Helmer's teasing through the curtains and chuckled slightly at her attempt to throw him off or make him blush.
Si Sheng finished getting dressed and the two women came back in. Bona got on the step stool and started measuring, not mentioning what happened between Si Sheng and Ms. Helmer earlier. She would've never thought the prestigious Dean of the First Magic Institution would act in such a shameful manner. Even she was blushing just watching Ms. Helmer peak in on Si Sheng.
About five minutes later, Bona had finished taking Si Sheng's measurements. She had trouble measuring him since he was so large and it took more time than it normally should.
Ms. Helmer talked after waiting patiently for them to finish.
"I think we'll need to buy you some clothes aside from your uniform. You can't go around wearing leather armor all day. Bona, if you could recommend some already made clothes for Si Sheng, that'd be great."
"Yes! I'll bring a few shirts and pants. Also, do you need underwear?"
"Yes please, we'll need a couple of pairs."
Ms. Helmer said this with a wink at Si Sheng. To be honest, he had no idea what the wink meant, so, he just shrugged it off.
After bringing around a dozen pieces of clothing to Si Sheng, Bona left with a "Call me if you need anything else." She had already taken Si Sheng's measurements and brought him some clothes to try on, and wasn't keen to stick around and continue to have her image of the Dean shattered before her eyes.
Si Sheng tried on a couple of outfits and found a few that he liked. They were comfortable, unlike the armor he'd been wearing, and having clothes that were breathable reminded him of home and was comfortable. Well, Ms. Helmer obviously continued with her coquettish remarks and giggling.
With the assistance of Ms. Helmer, Si Sheng picked out his outfits and, using Ms. Helmer's money, bought them. Upon leaving the store, Bona notified them that they'd have his uniform made in around one week, mainly due to his size. The premade parts they usually used, couldn't be used and they would have to make the parts from scratch, thus the lengthy wait time.
"Notify me when it's done. I'll hand it over to Si Sheng when it arrives." It was Ms. Helmer that said this, implying that she'd be able to get in contact with Si Sheng at any time.
Bona just smiled and waved as the two left.
"Sigh, I wonder who that Si Sheng is. He's not an elf yet he seems as intelligent. I wonder what the Council is going to say about him. Also, I can't believe the Dean is so... immature." Bona said this as she was watching Si Sheng's back get further and further into the distance, lamenting Ms. Helmer's actions—her eyes somewhat glazed over, staring at the back of the Dean.
***
Ms. Helmer and Si Sheng were walking back to Ms. Helmer's office when a whimsy came over Ms. Helmer.
"I'm hungry~. You wanna get something to eat?" Ms. Helmer said clutching her stomach and making the most dramatic face she could to show Si Sheng just how hungry she was.
"Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do right now."
So, with that, the two of them made a detour to the commercial district near the campus.
***
The commercial district, while being attached to the campus, was still very large. In the first place, it had to be to accommodate all the students, visitors, and people alike.
One thing Si Sheng noticed, is that the buildings and roadways were very clean and neat. The roads were level and made with some type of stone that reminded him of concrete blocks or tiles. From Si Sheng's impression of worlds like this, they were usually Medieval in nature, with cobblestone, dirt, or gravel roads with sloppy looking architecture, which was completely unlike what he was seeing. Even while walking through the village and around campus, he got a Medieval vibe. But, in the Commercial District, the architecture and level of infrastructure resembled that of post-industrial Great Britain, minus the smokestacks.
To be honest, Si Sheng was shocked. It was comforting, to say the least, because of the familiar-ish architecture, but, nonetheless, it was amazing that they had this level of infrastructure.
Seeing Si Sheng's dazzled expression, Ms. Helmer explained with a smile.
"You're wondering about the district right? It's pretty amazing if I had to say so. Well, it's a story from the past as to why it's like this. Wanna hear?"
Nodding his head, Si Sheng obliged and promoted her to continue.
"You see, it was before the time when elves had been shut off from human interaction. About 600 hundred years ago, the first hero of the Fujin Empire greatly enhanced this world's city planning, architecture, and infrastructure in general. He was from another world like you. I believe he said his occupation there was a 'civil engineer.' I don't know what it means, but he said that his main job was to 'maintain and enhance the infrastructure of cities' and the like. Not that I understood any of it. He was said to be a nice man, but he wasn't that strong, that's why he's known mainly for what he did to improve this world's development. Although, not everywhere can implement his 'gifts' due to lack of manpower, knowledge, and funds. Well, that's about the gist of it."
With the conclusion of the story, Si Sheng understood a couple of things about this world.
One. The level of development might be higher than he thought, due to this unnamed hero or other such figures.
Two. Other people had transmigrated over from Earth, or possibly other worlds, as a hero, or like how he got there, or possibly by some other means that he didn't yet know of.
Three. There was a human empire out there by the name "Fujin."
Si Sheng knew a lot about Earth. Science, math, history, liberal studies, law, etc. The name "Fujin" was the same as the Japanese god of wind. He didn't know if this was a coincidence or not, but he was leading to the side of not. His theory was that an Otherworlder from Japan came to this world and established the Fujin Empire and that happened more than 600 years ago.
Along that line of thinking, Si Sheng thought about the possibility of others, just like him, being in this world that had been summoned or unwillingly, or mistakenly, transported here and whether or not he would eventually meet them. It was quite a thrilling thought for Si Sheng.
Returning his focus to his surroundings, Si Sheng put those thoughts at the back of his mind and followed Ms. Helmer through the commercial district.
They passed by dozens of shops—cafes, clothing stores, restaurants, jewelry stores, etc. They finally stopped before an alley with a couple of doors alongside the buildings.
"There is a really good café here, their muffins are just splendid."
Si Sheng looked at Ms. Helmer who had just said this and watched her sparkling eyes that seemed to be reflecting the night sky. It was obvious that she was excited to eat and was completely in love with the muffins based on the tone of her voice and facial expression.
Well, it didn't matter to him. So, Si Sheng just urged her to go into the shop instead of just looking at it like some piece of art in a gallery.
***
The visit was quick and they enjoyed the muffins as expected. Si Sheng particularly liked the fruit juice they served with the muffins as the shocking tartness complemented the mellow and soft flavors of the muffins.
Not surprisingly, but, Ms. Helmer ate three servings of muffins before being satisfied. She was a real glutton when it came to these muffins.
After Ms. Helmer paid for the food, the two of them were finally heading back to campus, specifically to Ms. Helmer's office.