◇Houghtow City—Flio's House◇
"Wow!" Rylnàsze cried, beaming from ear to ear as she twirled about in
her new frilly dress. "This dress is so cute!"
"Hee hee!" Rys giggled as she watched her youngest daughter spin. "I'm
very glad you like it!"
"I love this outfit!" Elinàsze gushed. "It's simply adorable!"
"They're lovely, mother!" Rylnàsze agreed. The two seemed delighted
with the outfits Rys had made them with the colorful Indol cloth.
"They really are," said Rislei, a smile on her face. "The last outfits you
made were wonderful too, Auntie Rys, but these are just amazing!"
"No kidding!" her father Sleip cheered, giving Byleri a great big hug.
"Can you believe our super-ultra-absolute cutie Rislei has somehow gotten
even cuter?!"
"Like, totally, right?" Byleri agreed, beaming. "It looks, like, crazy good
on her!"
"Mama!" Wyne said, bouncing up and down with joy in her new
poncho. To everyone's shock, as the hem of her outfit flapped up, they
could see that the dragonewt was, for once, actually wearing her underwear.
"Mine's super cute too! Super-super cute-cute!"
Tanya nodded, satisfied. "And with this new cloth, we finally have a pair
of undergarments that Young Mistress Wyne finds comfortable enough to
wear. Mistress Rys, you have truly outdone yourself..."
"Yeah!" said Wyne. "This underwear is okey dokey!"
"Young Mistress Wyne..." Tanya said, tears of joy streaming down her
face. "You're finally growing up..." She took out a handkerchief and wiped
the tears from her eyes. She was so overcome with emotion, in fact, that she
was completely unaware that the thing she was wiping her tears with wasn't
a handkerchief at all—it was one of the pairs of panties she had taken to
carrying on her person in case she needed one to replace Wyne's.
"Wow! These are such cute clothes!" Folmina said, skipping through the
house with a grin on her face. "The last ones were good, but these are just
as good!"
"Yeah..." said Ghoro, skipping along after Folmina. "You're really cute,
big sis... In the last outfit, and this one too..."
"The last set of clothes made me look tough, but this one's got style!"
Garyl said, checking out his reflection in the living room mirror. I bet Miss
Ellie will love this outfit! he thought. I'll have to wear it next time I talk to
her with my communication ring! If I angle it right, she should be able to
see as far down as my chest... A happy smile came to his face as he thought
of Ellie, the Maiden Queen.
Belalio and Chibilio, meanwhile, stood behind Garyl, copying his poses
exactly.
"Our darling Rabbitz looks adorable in hers too, I'm sure..." said
Calsi'im. "But I do wish I could actually see my daughter from time to
time!" Rabbitz, dressed in her new clothing, had resumed her customary
pose—perched atop Calsi'im's head with her arms wrapped around his
bony skull for support.
"Love papa!" she declared, beaming wide as she nuzzled her cheek
against Calsi'im's jawbone.
"Our little Rabbitz is so adorable when she's clinging to her papa!" Tia
mused as she watched. "Oh, but Calsi'im is quite gallant as well, how he
indulges our sweet Rabbitz..." she added, blushing as she gazed at the
skeleton she so deeply loved.
The living room was full of children laughing and chatting happily as
they enjoyed the new outfits Rys had sewn. Rys watched the scene with a
smile on her face. "Hee hee! I'm so glad I asked my lord husband if we
might purchase all this cloth! This time I bought even more than the last, so
don't you worry! There's plenty more where that came from!" She had a
piece of fabric in her hands which she was hand-stitching as she talked.
Beside her, Balirossa, Belano, and Uliminas were all stitching together
pieces of fabric of their own, watching Rys's hands closely as they worked.
"Let me see..." Balirossa muttered. "This goes here... Um, and then..."
she trailed off. "Oh, goodness... I'm so much better at using a sword..."
"It's harder than teaching magic too, I think..." said Belano.
"Mreowr..." Uliminas yowled in frustration. "But I do want to learn how
to sew...at least on an amewteur level..."
The three were giving it their all but evidently struggling with the task.
"Don't worry," Rys said, smiling at her students. "You've all gotten much
better already. Just keep it up and you'll be experts in no time!"
"Y-Yes!" said Balirossa. "Thank you, Lady Rys! I'll do my best to see
Ghoro's outfit to completion!"
"I want to make something for Minilio and Belalio..." said Belano.
"It would be nice if I could make a couple of outfits for Folmina..." said
Uliminas. "Two or three...or meowbe a dozen..."
◇Meanwhile—Flio's Workshop◇
Flio stood in the basement of his workshop with Ghozal, Hiya, and
Damalynas, looking over his handiwork with his usual easygoing smile.
"All right," he said. "Looks like that does it!"
"Mister Flio..." started Ghozal. "Are these...?"
"That's right." Flio nodded. "They're new Enchanted Frigates."
Indeed, before their eyes were no less than five brand-new magic
frigates, all lined up neatly in a row.
"E-Exalted One..." Hiya gulped. "I know you have obtained full
knowledge of the construction of an Enchanted Frigate, but how is it you
were able to create this many...?"
"Remember the Beast of Disaster bone I got from Zofina the other day?"
Flio said. "I thought I would try using it for fabrication. Somehow, I
managed to pull it off!"
"Hrm..." Ghozal muttered, folding his arms. "So this is the thing you've
been spending all your time in the workshop for lately... You were making
these frigates..."
"Yes, that's right." Flio nodded.
"Of course," said Hiya. "If the Exalted One can create a single ship, it
stands to reason that he could create as many as pleases him, as long as he
has the materials. Intellectually, I understand that..." But the Enchanted
Frigate is a lost technology of an ancient civilization! they thought to
themself. For a single man to create five such vessels... Truly, the Exalted
One is beyond my comprehension. And to think, I have the privilege of
serving him—of glimpsing the deepest truths of existence! A single tear
rolled down Hiya's cheek at the thought.
"Well, the ships themselves aside..." Damalynas began. "What about the
magic gems you need to power them, Lord Flio? An Enchanted Frigate
needs a fairly sizable gem, doesn't it?"
"Well, yes, Damalynas, that's true," Flio said. "Do you remember those
strange white magic beast corpses Greanyl's team found so many of?"
"Wh-What?" Damalynas sputtered. "I-It can't be..."
"That's right!" Flio said, producing what looked like a magic gem from
his Bottomless Bag. "I tried compressing a few, and I ended up creating an
artificial magic gem..."
Damalynas took a single look at the gem and balked. "Th-This magic
gem is enormous!" she exclaimed. "And full to the brim with magic power,
if I'm not mistaken."
"Those magic beast carcasses turned out to be incredibly efficient for
producing magic gems," Flio said, looking at the gem in his hand with his
usual smile. "Good enough to serve as a power source for an Enchanted
Frigate."
Hiya could only stare in awe. "S-Superb..." they said, weeping tears of
quiet passion. "Utterly superb. Exalted One, I beg you...please teach your
wretched servant how you accomplished such a feat..."
"Lord Flio!" pleaded Damalynas, her own eyes wet with awe as well.
"I'll do anything for you—just teach me your spells! I'll even throw away
my title as Grand Magus of Midnight if you want!"
Flio smiled awkwardly, flinching back from the two excitable magic
users. "I-It's really nothing that special!" he maintained, holding his hands
out in front of him like he was trying to keep Hiya and Damalynas at bay. "I
just gave it a try to see if I could, and it was done before I knew it."
"So, Mister Flio," said Ghozal, who had been standing to the side with
his arms folded over his chest. "You've made all these Enchanted Frigates.
What are you going to do with them?"
"Well," said Flio, "the first one I made as a test has been working as a
regular ferry, carrying guests from Klyrode Castle Town to Dark Mountain
Pudding Pudding Park and back. I thought maybe we'd increase the number
of routes."
"Routes?" Ghozal repeated.
"That's right," Flio said. "The way I see it, if we can use these
Enchanted Frigates to connect different regions to each other, it should
increase the traffic of both people and merchandise."
"Hrm..." Ghozal said, mulling over Flio's words. "I see! Sounds like it
could be interesting. It's worth trying at any rate. But..." It seemed like
Ghozal had something more on his mind, but he seemed to think better of it.
He cut himself off there and looked up at Flio's fleet of Enchanted Frigates.
I'm a bit worried about what might happen if someone with bad
intentions got their hands on one of the frigates... Ghozal thought. But it's
Mister Flio managing the operation, after all. He should be more than able
to take care of it.
"All I want," Flio said, smiling his usual easygoing smile, "is for these
Enchanted Frigates to help bring happiness to people all over the world."