~ Chapter 23: A new hobby ~

[Leonidas' point of view]

 I always knew my little sister's sense of fashion was a bit... different, but I still allowed myself to believe that I could do something to change it for the better. After all, I got the shivers every time I imagined cute little Cassandra becoming a macho woman wearing an armor fit more for a Demon King than a lovable princess.

Thus, I was determined to make her like frilly things and dress up cutely even if it was the last thing I did! That was her destiny as dictated by her older brother! By no means was she going to become a copy of our aunty Eliza, who was a half muscles and half armor creature most of the time.

“I'm never going to wear that, brother! I'll be wearing that!” Cassandra glared at me while pointing at the weird spiky black armor behind her.

“No! You are a girl! You should wear cute stuff like that dress!” I pointed back at the tailor shop.

“Grrr! No!” she retorted.

“I say no as well!” I didn't back down.

We were glaring at each other and having such a heated discussion in the middle of the road, but our mother and aunt could only let out a tired sigh.

As children, we didn't really care about our surroundings or how we might have appeared in the eyes of adults. It was alright to be like this, and a child of our age was known to throw a tantrum from time to time.

Even if I technically knew how to behave like an outstanding adult, always acting mature and controlled would have been seen as weird and unnatural by the adults around me, so I would often allow myself to behave like a child. After all, what was so wrong about two five-years-old children acting their age?

To be honest, my adult mind and past knowledge told me that a good solution would have been to get both the armor and the dress, thus solving the dilemma on both sides. After all, even I was aware of the fact that she wasn't going to head out into battle while wearing a sunflower patterned dress and wielding a soul-sucking, bone-breaking, monster-crushing sword with jagged edges and an ominous aura floating around it.

If I had chosen such a path, then I would have one way or another shown that I accepted my little sister's point of view and respected her choice in the matter, while at the same time, she would have done the same for me.

In the end, the way we presented ourselves was no different than how two little children acting spoiled would have bickered about something while stubbornly keeping their point of view and ignoring any logical input. It was good like this because in the future, we would have something to laugh about when reminiscing.

Even so, we weren't allowed to act like this forever. Before things derailed too much, one of the adults around us would often intervene and appease us one way or another.

This time, it was going to be our mother.

“Now, now, children. Settle down!” she said as she came between us.

With curious eyes, we both looked up at her.

“Even if you were to settle on the armor or the dress, they are both far too expensive for us to buy right now. The armor is also too big and is designed to be worn by a man, while the dress is for an adult, not a child.” she smiled, but she did offer a good argument.

The part about them being too expensive for us to afford was a bit of a lie, and we all knew this. Maybe what she meant to say was that she didn't have the money on her, or it was in order to keep those thieves with sharp ears from making us a target?

“But, mother...” Cassandra complained.

“Can't she wear it when she's older?” I asked, although, I was aware that proper measurements need to be taken before buying one.

Mother let out a sigh.

“No! And that's final!” she declared firmly.

Clicking our tongues at the same time, we turned our backs to each other and looked away.

“Well, children will be children, no matter how much of a prodigy they are.” aunty Eliza said and then laughed.

“Indeed.” mother agreed with a nod “Let us go to our tailor for now. We need to take both of your measurements. Cassandra needs new clothes just as much as Leonidas does, frilly or not.” she looked at me, and I instinctively pouted.

With the matter settled, we walked away from there.

The tailor shop mother spoke of was on the right side of the road before the next intersection. It belonged to a sweet old lady who made all of our previous clothes. Mother had a good relationship with her, and while other nobles would have shied away from being friendly with a commoner, we didn't really care about it. Our house never held any prejudice against them, which made us even more liked by them.

The old lady was quick with her hands and finished the measurements in no time at all. Afterwards came a long talk with mother in order to decide the model, cost, and other things like that.

While she was doing this, I noticed a small sewing kit and several rolls of fabric put on display. They had a tag underneath them and some numbers, meaning that this one was meant for sale.

I wonder if I should pick up tailoring? I could learn to make my own clothes, maybe even make cute dresses for Cassandra just the way I want them. Hm... On second thought, it doesn't sound so bad! Worst case scenario, I'm just going to find out I'm absolutely horrible at it and just learn to patch up my damaged clothes in the future. The sewing kit seems to be of good quality, so if I won't use it, I could always give it to Luthecia. I thought while looking at it.

With my mind set, I walked up to mother and tugged on the sleeve of her coat.

“Mother?” I called out to her.

“Hm? What is it, Leo?” she asked as she looked down at me and patted my head.

“Can I get that?” I pointed at the sewing kit put up on display.

“I don't know. Are you sure about this?” she asked furrowing her brow.

I nodded and showed her a bright smile.

“Very well, but only if you promise to be careful with the needles and scissors and never to use them when you are alone!” she lifted a finger up as she declared her conditions.

“Un! I'll be careful! I'll listen to mother!” I said and nodded.

Mother smiled and then turned towards the tailor “We'll buy the kit.” she told her.

“Some cheap cloth rolls as well... different colors too! So I can practice!” I added.

“Hm, well you surely can't practice on the clothes we have back at home.” mother said and then pondered for a bit, calculating our finances. When she came to a conclusion, she told me “Pick three from that shelf and bring them to me.”

I nodded and quickly went to choose from the assortment of colored cheap cloth rolls. Out of all of them, I got the lemon-yellow, the grass-green, and the light-pink one because I thought they mixed well together.

With this, I was set to try my hand at tailoring!

In a world with no board games, a noble child often picked up a profession as a hobby. It wasn't that unnatural, but nobody expected them to end up being any good at it either. As long as they had fun, it didn't really matter.