Chapter 8.5: To Dress (Bonus Interactive)

The first thing she saw was that there was a change in to top boxes. Not the change as in the numbers which she has learned to recognize, but the changes in spelling of the first box. Instead of seven characters, there was instead six, and each letter except for the ‘e’ shape was new. Though, it shouldn’t bother her that much. What did bother her was what would happen if she looked towards the bottom again.

Flashbacks of those shifting characters and that bloody world sifted through her mind breaking her concentration and bringing her back to reality.

“Just because you have a skill doesn’t mean you should use it.”

Isbeth was still lecturing her about the rights and wrongs of using skills. She didn’t care for it but she had to listen to it otherwise she’d be here for hours.

“[Hunter’s Mark] is a blatantly obvious skill. A unique mark will appear in the user’s eye and somewhere on the target’s body, only fading after enough time passes or they escape the detection range which varies with the user. Not only does the skill harm the user but the targets will always know that you are watching them. Do you understand?”

The girl, Cerise as she is known to the people of Viscor, nodded her head in reply to Isbeth’s question. She understood the implications and weaknesses of [Hunter’s Mark] rather well. It seems like a convenient skill at first glance but the fact that it alerted the enemy wasn’t good. The skill doesn’t blend well with her ambush style of combat.

“Good. Now let’s get to eating, but first we need to make you decent.”

Isbeth just didn’t know what to do with Cerise. She walked to a closet located in the corner of the room and pulled out some old clothes from a box next to it. She held them up towards Cerise judging if they’d fit, repeating this process until she was finally happy with the designs. She set aside three pairs of clothing similar in design, each one with its own unique style.

“Pick and choose, if you don’t, I’ll pick one for you.”

Isbeth held her hands out over the three child sized garments.

The first was a lily white blouse similar to a qipao with a pink floral pattern stretching over the sides, paired with silky shorts that were designed to fit comfortably to the skin. A set of soft shoes were set below and had two golden flowers forming a bright spiral on them. It was rather modest and apparently held high value in the Helios Kingdom. Though Isbeth didn’t see much use to it as it was fit for children, but she couldn’t bear to throw it away and stashed it within her endless boxes only to be dug up years later.

The second of the three was a set of more practical clothing. The top was black and sleeveless, though not in the exposing way of more mature pieces. The sleeveless shirt had a collar long enough to cover the mouth and disperse wind if needed. Unlike the shorts of the first set, the long pants offered much more protection and without the frilliness or constraints other articles usually had, followed by leather boots designed to protect the feet. This set Isbeth had obtained from a closing sale without much thought. She had liked the design and thought to give it to her own child as a costume of some sort, sadly she had to shelf it because she never did have a child, which was partly the reason why she decided to raise Cerise as if she were her own daughter. Well, it maybe was the only reason why she decided as such.

The third of the three was a simple dress. It lacked the elegance of the first and the practicality of the second but offered a more innocent charm that those two couldn’t capture. It was a pastel blue dress with short white frills at the bottom of the skirt. The shoulders were covered with the fabric and went down before ending halfway to the elbows. The footwear that came along with it were slippers in a sense. They can easily be taken off and are much more durable than ones meant to be worn indoors. Sure, it wouldn’t fit well with Cerise’s scarlet eyes but her pale complexion could make up for it. She hoped at least. She didn’t have much of a backstory for this particular dress as it was one among many but pastel yellow and orange just doesn’t seem right for Cerise.

Cerise in question though was looking over the dresses. Her eyes moving across the many folds and patterns of the clothes. She would probably choose the second one since she liked not having her movements broken by the frilly skirts, but she didn’t want to disappoint Isbeth as she seemed to favor the first option more. It looked expensive and probably was but the girl mulled over this decision for several minutes in silence before Isbeth spoke up again.

“If you want, I have a fourth option, though I won’t tell you what it is.”

The proposal of another option stopped Cerise for a bit. She had nearly finished selecting what she had considered to be the best choice for her but this new mysterious article of clothing intrigued her.

What should she choose?