Chapter 114

It seemed Father, Holanghee, and Noquia had hit it off famously with Edom’s Carlotta and FireflyLamp. Part of it was likely because they were all women, but they also found an unexpected alignment in their tastes and hobbies. A conversation that started on a whim turned into a long chat, and once alcohol and snacks were added to the mix, the night vanished, and morning arrived.

As a result, they returned to the guild house only to face a wrathful, Asura-like Theo, but none of them seemed to harbor a shred of regret. In fact, they showed enough audacity to start scheduling their next meetup right in front of the raging Theo.

Claiming they were exhausted from pulling an all-nighter, Father and Holanghee headed up to the second-floor lodging. Noquia, however, was dragged into the workshop without being given a single moment to catch her breath. As she was being hauled away pitifully, she pleaded for help from the two heading upstairs, but they only smiled brightly and waved goodbye.

“Can’t I just do this after I’ve had some sleep?”

Standing before the dyeing tools, Noquia tried her best to look pathetic while fighting back her drooping eyelids. However, Theo stood at the workshop entrance like a gatekeeper, glaring at her with a terrifying expression that signaled he wasn’t budging an inch.

Under that bloodthirsty gaze, the sleepy Noquia pretended to cry but eventually reached for the dyeing tools. Even though she was being forced to work without rest, it wasn’t in her nature to do a half-hearted job. Noquia’s expression shifted to one of tired but serious focus as she began the process.

Once Noquia was immersed in her work, Theo quietly pulled up a chair and sat down. Since a focused Noquia didn’t need constant monitoring, Theo brought up his system window and tended to his own business.

Lost in thought while staring at his display, Theo looked up when he felt a presence approaching. Blaine, who had been left in the central hall, had dragged a chair over and settled in right next to him.

Theo didn’t stop him, simply letting him stay. Blaine sat stuck fast to Theo’s side, peeking at the display as he asked.

“What are you looking at?”

“My savings.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve been saving for quite a while, but I’m still nowhere near the goal.”

As Theo spoke with a sigh of lament, Blaine tilted his head in confusion. He had assumed Theo lived day-to-day, so he hadn’t realized he was keeping a savings account. Moreover, seeing that he was “nowhere near,” it was clear he had a specific goal in mind.

The fact that he was “saving” was something Blaine hadn’t known. Because he didn’t know, he wanted to find out. He felt frustrated by his own ignorance. Questions like why he was saving and what he wanted to spend it on rose to the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. He felt he didn’t have the right to probe that deeply yet.

While Blaine was fretting over whether Theo was saving money to leave for somewhere else, Theo spoke first, as if he had sensed Blaine’s anxiety.

“It’s for the 3rd Generation savings. I want to get the 3rd Generation surgery someday.”

Blaine’s eyes widened as he stared at Theo in surprise. Like most 1st and 2nd Generations, Theo had been contributing to a 3rd Generation savings fund for a long time. The leap to 3rd Generation was likely the common goal for all early generations; it meant no longer needing to take pills and the end of worrying about the body breaking down.

“3rd Generation…”

Blaine murmured softly. Why hadn’t he thought of that? There was no way Theo would remain a 2nd Generation forever. Theo, who had only lived 26 years out of a 300-year lifespan, wouldn’t just stay as he was. A hundred years from now, the 3rd Generation would be even more common, and the 2nd Generations who made up the majority of the population would eventually make the leap.

Perhaps a 5th Generation would even emerge, living in yet another entirely different way. If that happened, he wondered if the way people looked at 4th Generations would change as well.

Though the cost of surgery for 3rd and 4th Generations differed by an exponential margin, Blaine found himself harboring a vague hope. He hoped a day would come when Theo aimed not for the 3rd, but for the 4th Generation—to be like him. To live the same kind of life, right alongside him.

While Noquia focused, the two sat close together, chatting in low voices. While their quiet conversation could have been a distraction, Noquia didn’t utter a single word of complaint or annoyance.

After some time had passed, Noquia, who had been sitting motionless, stood up and stretched. Theo and Blaine stopped their idle chatter and turned their focus to her.

Noquia turned around, her eyes looking even more hollowed out as she looked at the two of them. She gestured for them to come closer, and Theo and Blaine stood up tentatively and approached.

With a wide yawn, Noquia handed the clothes to Blaine and slumped back into her seat as if she lacked the strength to even stand. Seeing how exhausted she looked, Blaine hesitated, holding the clothes in his hands.

Unaware or simply uncaring of his hesitation, Noquia gestured with half-closed eyes.

“Put it on. I need to see it so I can fix any parts that need adjusting.”

Blaine looked at Noquia with a worried gaze, then nodded quickly and put on the outfit. In an instant, the light shifted, and the new clothes crafted by Noquia were revealed.

However, when the design was revealed, it had changed slightly from the initial fitting. During the first fitting, the front of the coat was fastened shut, but now it was wide open, exposing the inner shirt that had previously been hidden.

It seemed Noquia wasn’t satisfied with her meticulously designed top being obscured by the coat. Even with the front open, the sturdy waist belt held the garment’s shape firmly, ensuring the silhouette didn’t fall apart or sag.

The coat was a deep navy hue with a hint of gray. The inner shirt and trousers featured a blend of white, blue, and gold, while the harness, belt, and boots were pitch black.

Overall, the colors suited Blaine perfectly. Theo stared at him blankly, his mouth hanging open, while Noquia meticulously inspected the outfit for any needed adjustments.

She checked the garment from neck to toe—touching, pulling, smoothing, and peeking under layers. After one final look at his back, she dusted off her hands.

“Done. It’s perfect.”

Her voice sounded refreshed as she offered a smile, despite her face being dark with exhaustion. She even gave a satisfied thumbs-up.

Having finally cleared away the sight of that back-baring outfit that had haunted him like an enemy, Theo conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to Noquia over and over. He showered her with praise: she’d worked so hard, thank you, it’s flawless, you’re the only one I can count on, you’re the best, you’re the designer of the century.

Basking in the praise as if she were about to ascend to heaven, Noquia chuckled in satisfaction before collapsing on the spot and drifting off into a deep sleep. Theo and Blaine left the workshop without a backward glance. Mastar, who had been watching from outside, carried Noquia to the second-floor lodging.

As soon as Theo and Blaine emerged from the workshop, the guild members approached as if they had been waiting. Everyone knew Blaine was changing into a new outfit, and they had been waiting with equal parts anticipation and curiosity to see the result.

The guild members swarmed around Blaine, everyone offering compliments and marveling at the new look.

Leaving the pleasant attention behind, the two left the guild house to gather the remaining Schooner materials. It was then that they finally witnessed the true “value” of the clothes Noquia had crafted.

The true essence of Noquia’s creation wasn’t in the design or the fit. Its true nature only revealed itself when standing directly under the sun.

Walking down the main street of Lucilvania alongside Blaine, Theo stopped in his tracks as they passed the general store. He had remembered that their storage was low on potions.

“Blaine, wait, let’s get some potions…”

Theo turned his head as he called out, and in that instant, it felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. He saw something on the back of the half-turned Blaine, who had replied with a “Yes?” at his call.

Staring blankly for a moment, Theo’s face turned terrifying as he lunged forward, spinning Blaine around to check his back. His face turned pale.

When they were in the guild house, it had looked perfectly fine. The gray-navy coat was made of a material that wasn’t transparent at all. However, standing under the bright sunlight, the area beneath the crossed X-harness on the back turned out to be a diamond-shaped see-through panel. Deep navy sheer fabric.

The lower trapezius, latissimus dorsi, and erector spinae were subtly visible. It was somehow more suggestive than showing it all openly.

Trembling as he gripped the back of the bewildered Blaine, Theo let out an explosive roar for Noquia and charged back toward the guild house like a bulldozer.

“H-Hyung?”

He heard Blaine’s confused voice calling after him, but Theo didn’t stop.

He threw the firmly closed doors open with enough force to break them and stormed into the guild house. Passing through the guild members who were terrified by his murderous aura, he headed straight for the second floor.

Theo stomped up the stairs and began flinging open every door he could find. Doors flew open one after another. Father and Holanghee, startled awake by the sudden commotion, asked what was going on, but Theo didn’t answer. With fire in his eyes, he searched only for Noquia.

But even after opening every single door, there was no sign of her. Panting with rage as he scanned the second floor, Theo spotted Mastar on the floor below and leaped over the railing to the first floor.

“Where is Noquia?”

Mastar was taken aback by the blunt question, but he calmly pointed out the room where he had laid her down. Theo immediately headed back to the second floor, followed by Father and Holanghee, who were now trailing after him.

However, just because Mastar said she was there didn’t mean she would actually be in the empty room. The room was just as vacant as when Theo first checked it, with no sign that anyone had even stayed there.

Noquia had predicted the impending chaos and fled in advance. Precisely because she had designed the clothes that way. This incident was entirely Theo’s blunder for failing to suspect her.

Theo let out a scream of frustration at having purely trusted Noquia, while the bewildered guild members only learned the details of the commotion when Blaine finally arrived. They could only shake their heads at Noquia’s eccentricities, which always managed to catch them off guard.