To sell this transformation Clementine used some makeup to contour their face and make it appear more masculine. She even pulled out two wig caps and high-quality wigs that both girls placed on. Put all together no one would be able to guess that the two people in front of them were two women in disguise. After the two girls had finished their disguises Clementine hurried to her workbench and brought out two innocuous brooches. She handed one of the brooches to Adelaide who looked slightly confused but attached it to her cravat only thinking it to be an accessory to sell their appearance as wealthy men.
"How will we—" Adelaide began to speak before abruptly stopping in shock, her voice had changed completely, and now it sounded extremely masculine.
"That brooch I handed you is a little side project that I made for fun. It utilizes a mid-grade ether stone and some fine machinery hidden within the brooch to change to sound of your voice. I adjusted these two brooches to make our voices sound masculine, with this no one will be able to see past our disguise." Clementine explained.
"Impressive! I see you've been preparing to go out in disguise for quite some time haven't you my dear." Adelaide marveled to which Clementine responded with a shrug.
"When in these disguises you should call me Percival Hawthorne. What should I call you?"
"You may call me Reginald Fitzwilliam."
"Well then Reginald we should leave now, we have about ten minutes before the other ladies return to the dorm and we don't want to be caught in these disguises."
Adelaide nodded in response and with that, the two disguised girls snuck out of Clementine's room and out of the girl's dormitory. Once outside the campus of the academy the two hailed a carriage service and urged to driver to take them to the city.
"So I was thinking we can first head to Gentlemen's Club and hang around for a bit. I want to see who might invest in my next machines. After that, we could head to the shooting range and have a go at it. How does that sound to you." Clementine probed.
There was a reason Clementine suggested those two locations in particular. The female lead had long wanted to be acknowledged by the businessmen who frequented the Gentlemen's Club and she enjoyed hunting. Clementine remembered that the small background information on Adelaide revealed why she was such an unconventional lady. Adelaide was the younger twin sister to the Attwood Marquis household. When Adelaide was younger her father was very open-minded about the classes and activities she participated in, as such young Adelaide often followed her twin brother around to his official heir classes and "manly activities". This came to an abrupt halt when Adelaide showed higher potential and better skill than the heir apparent. From that point on Adelaide's mother strictly controlled and monitored her daughter's education. Adelaide was livid at this because, unlike her brother who showed no potential or skill as the heir, she was a natural prodigy but her family had forced her away from her desires. So Adelaide decided that she would prove her worth by gaining recognition and fame as an inventor without her family's help.
Clementine was trying to repay Adelaide for purchasing her an entire new wardrobe. So Clementine was using all of her limited knowledge of the novel to repay this debt to the female lead.
"That sound lovely lad...ehm sir Percival," Adelaide responded.
After relaying the new destination to the carriage driver Adelaide and Clementine leaned back into their seats making small talk. After forty minutes the carriage came to a stop before a building. The building's exterior was rather imposing, adorned with ornate architecture and a distinguished entrance. A brass plaque bore the club's name, it was prominently displayed above the entrance, signaling its exclusivity. After paying the carriage driver the two hopped off and confidently walked into the building.
When they walked into the building for a small moment a silenced hush fell upon the venue as all of the men present looked over to the pair silently judging them and their worth. Without acknowledging the momentary silence or acknowledging the pair the Gentlemen's Club returned to normal. Clementine and Adelaide walked up to the reception desk and waited patiently for the worker to finish sending a message with a telegraph. When he was done the willowy attendant looked up to meet the pair, and he smiled at them.
"Hello gentlemen, what can I do for you today." The man appraised.
"We are fairly new residents of this fair town and we decided to finally come and make acquaintances with the reputable men of society," Adelaide responded confidently returning the look of appraisal.
"That is wonderful. We would love to have new members at our fine establishment. To become a new member we will need a recommendation from a current member to grant you a membership to this establishment." The man said with a noticeable amount of disdain and condescension.
"How is this for a recommendation," Adelaide responded her voice icy and dripping with venom.
Adelaide reached into her coat pocket and from the pocket she pulled out a circular metal plaque, on the plaque was the crest of Attwood Marquis. The attendant instantly froze upon seeing the plaque, he shivered in fear as he met Adelaide's glare.
"This will work perfectly well, I would be happy to grant you two membership into the Gentlemen's Club. Just wait a moment here while we take your information and bring an official pin of membership." The man whimpered nervously as he signaled another attendant to take down the pair's information as he ran away.
Clementine leaned in closer to Adelaide as she whispered. "What was that plaque you pulled out? It got that haughty attendant to run away with his tail between his legs."
"It was the official crest of the Attwood Marquis. I'm currently being sponsored by them to attend the academy. They gave me the plaque in case I ran into a situation where I needed to borrow their authority." Adelaide responded and Clementine acted as if the news was shocking to her.
After some time the attendant finished filling out their membership and gave them both an official pin. The girls took the pin from the attendant and were led away from the reception desk and into the heart of the lounge room. They sat down on a relatively empty couch and made friendly conversation with the men around them.
"I see some new faces here around here, welcome I'm Cedric Beaumont. I couldn't help but notice that you are associated with the Attwood Marquis household. How did that occur?" A slimy sinister voice rang from behind the couch.
Adjusting themselves slightly Clementine and Adelaide turned to see the owner of the voice. The man in question was not incredibly physically imposing, he had a rather slim physique that made him look relatively weak. His face was marred by deep-set wrinkles, giving him a weathered and aged appearance. His eyes were shrouded in darkness, sunken, and cold, devoid of any warmth or empathy. They seemed to gleam with malicious intent, his overall expression was calculating and scheming. In his mouth, there was a large cigar that he was smoking, and every time he spoke he breathed out the smoke in their direction.
"I had the great fortune of being able to meet the Attwood's daughter at a charity function. I spoke to her about my merchant group and the goals and values we have. She decided to sponsor me on a whim, I must thank Lady Fate for giving me this great opportunity." Adelaide responded confidently.
"How fortunate. I wonder what types of merchandise your merchant group deals in?"
"Oh we deal in all sorts of goods but we plan to expand and develop further into the automaton industry. We have a special interest in the work of Clementine Ives."
"How splendid. Well if you ever find yourselves in a bind my merchant guild; the Steamworks Merchants' Consortium is willing to assist."
Clementine recognized the name of the man's merchant guild and she grimaced slightly. When Clementine had first reached out to merchant groups willing to purchase her Apollo design she received a terrible offer from this merchant guild. Their attitude towards her was abysmal, they looked down on her and tried to lowball her due to her being a "young woman". It was truly disgusting so Clementine politely refused the offer and blacklisted the group.
"Just a small word of advice I wouldn't be so eager to form a partnership with that Clementine girl. Who knows how she managed to become Dr. Thornevale's protege, she likely wormed her way in by warming the professor's bed. I doubt that the Apollo automaton was truly of her design, she must have used her feminine charms to appease the professor into giving her the design. It's clear that she has no problem using her body to get what she wants, just take her provocative dress that she wore to the academy's award ceremony. It's a shame if she hadn't been passed around so much I wouldn't have minded having a taste of her." Cedric chuckled mockingly and slightly lustfully.
Clementine placed her hand on Adelaide's shoulder to stop her from rising from off the couch to punch the man. Adelaide whipped her head around violently to stare at Clementine with a mixture of confusion and indignation. Clementine simply shook her head and continued to soothe the female lead.
"I'm truly impressed by your lack of refinement. With how much crap is spewing from your mouth I was worried that I had walked into the latrine instead of a highly reputable Gentlemen's Club." Clementine sneered as she glared back at the man.
Cedric's face darkened in anger and he moved abruptly to the couch in an attempt to punch Clementine who was sipping some alcohol lazily. His coterie moved the man to the side stopping him from violent action, they reminded Cedric of Adelaide's association with the Marquis family, they could act rashly.
"What too scared to finish through when your opponent isn't someone weaker than you. It makes sense for a cowardly man like you. Don't forget you only managed to be so successful because you acted like a pathetic dog for Count Montfort." Adelaide hissed as she too smugly leaned back into the couch.
"How dare you! Why don't we settle this like men? I propose a little wager, we compete in three rounds, and we should wager our highest-valued product. Or do you two have nothing of value to offer and only get by by using the Attwood Marquis name." Cedric seethed foaming at the mouth.
Clementine smiled devilishly as she rose from the couch. "We accept and don't worry we have something of immense value to wager."