Kent looked at the front counter. There, a burly man spoke.
He had a long scruffy beard tied like a ponytail. His head was bald, suggesting his seniority but his eyes still have a hint of youth. He wore a simple sleeveless tunic, which somehow exaggerated his already muscular arm.
The man had a smirk as he looked at the customer in front of him. "That set of armour was a result of months of hard work. I put my heart and soul into it. I'm glad someone can appreciate a fine set of armour."
The man approached closer to where Kent was standing, then he offered his hand. "Baxter, proud owner of Hot Diggerty."
Kent offered his hand. The shop owner, seeing this, eagerly shook the customer's hand. Kent could have sworn he heard a few of his bones crack. He cursed at the previous Kent's lack of physical training.
"Anyway, how could I be of service?" Baxter asked his customer.
"I have a piece of garment I want you to make."
"Garment? You mean a piece of armour, Sir?" The smithy corrected.
"No, not an armour, but a piece of clothing," Kent told Baxter
"Well, I'm afraid you outta find a tailor. This is a blacksmith sir."
Kent chuckled as he dismissively waved his hand. "Please honourable blacksmith, let me explain."
Baxter was confused. Why would someone that is wanting a piece of clothing come to a blacksmith? He only works with iron as a material.
Nevertheless, the blacksmith went behind the front counter and grabbed a stool for Kent to sit on. He was a shop owner, and he couldn't afford to be rude to his customers. Not when businesses were poor all around.
"Baxter, was it?"
The blacksmith nodded
Kent smiled; he recollected his thoughts for a moment before explaining. "So, what I had in mind was a piece of breastplate tailor-made for the female figure."
Baxter was intrigued – a breastplate tailor-made for females? That would be strange, but a viable request. It shouldn't be too difficult to make a piece of armour shaped a bit differently. "Continue," Baxter said.
"So, this breastplate, as you call it, would be unlike others. Because its main function is not to protect the user but to correct the female posture as well as slimming down their waist, achieving an hourglass figure."
"Huh? Slim down the waist? That's counterintuitive." Baxter said, not too sold on the idea.
"I call this a corset. I think it would quite the hit among the ladies." Kent was fully confident of the corset's future popularity in this world.
In Earth's history, the corset was later popularised during the Victorian Era of the 16th century. It wouldn't be otherworldly if the corset, an extremely popular garment, did well in Monia upon the upper social echelons.
"I want the corset to have a nice, snug feeling. The wearer should feel like it's a gentle hug. Of course, the corset must be carefully made to be adjustable for various shapes and sizes. So, the waist bones must be carefully crafted to suit the contours of a female body."
Baxter was doubtful of Kent's proposal, but he still listened carefully to his request.
For the next few minutes. Kent and Baxter shared their inputs and adjustments to the design. Although really, Kent contributed to all the design elements whilst Baxter adjusted the design for practicality and technicality.
After what appears a long fruitful discussion, what resulted was a design that was neither a breastplate, nor a corset, but something in between the two. Although it was visually not the most pleasing, it would get the job done.
What the two came up with was a leather surfaced corset that had multiple metal bones, which shapes the corset into the contours of the female torso. Adjustable strings would be embedded into the seams to allow the user to make further adjustments if required.
"Alright, I think this is doable. Though this is not exactly my specialty, I am quite confident of finishing this design." The smithy said whilst he stroked his beard.
"I have stressed this many times. But the corset must be carefully crafted with the right dimensions. The wrong shape could be painful for the users."
"I will be extra careful with the shaping then," Baxter said in agreement.
"But on a side note, I'm not sure whether this item would be as popular as you say it would. But you sure have an ingenious design here. How did you come up with this… corset?" Baxter asked with interest. The smithy was quite certain that the design of the garment in front of him was something far beyond this era. Not even he had the ingenuity to think up something this novel.
As a blacksmith, he had a decent knowledge of the major construction prowess and metalwork designs currently in favour. It was quite important to follow the current design trends. Even for armours, and weapons, aesthetics, and design style changes over time.
Even the armour that Kent was drooling over earlier was a design that had Baxter's own inspiration to satisfy the customers' desires.
Kent gave a slight grin. "It's nothing. Just something I designed in my spare time," he said humbly.
The smithy looked at the customer in front of him head to toe, revaluating him once more. In his head, Baxter bumped Kent's profile in his mind by a few notches. Having better thoughts on him.
Baxter: "Well I have to say, milord. I never knew you had such an… artistic side of you."
Kent smiled. "Thanks for your compliment."
"But on a personal note. As one designer to another designer, I want you to take a look at something I've worked on for a while."
Baxter said seriously, he leaned in closer. Telling him in almost a whisper.
"Sure," Kent replied nonchalantly, he was also curious about what this blacksmith wanted to show him.
Baxter moved dextrously across the display section, arriving back at the blue knight armour that Kent was inspecting. The blacksmith gestured for him to come over.
Kent followed him.
"Look over here," Baxter said whilst he pulled aside the blue scapular that extended from the waist down.
There, underneath the garment laid a hideous bump. It was a deformed section of armour where the curvature visibly bloated against all conventional norms.
Right on the crotch area, the armour extended out, moulding to the shape of a male genital. What was this? It was a codpiece – and a massive one at that.