“Archduke of Hell. Even with armor, I keep getting one-shot. What’s going on?”
“That’s because you still lack ‘inner strength’.”
As I faced the summoned magic beasts that Changyeom called forth, I once consulted her about getting one-shot by the enemies.
“Take a look at this newbie magic guide!”
So I once glanced at the newbie guide that Changyeom handed me.
I thought I had already graduated from being a newbie, but apparently, in Changyeom’s eyes, I was still a newbie at that time.
The problem was…
“Make 200 outfits in 40 days? This is insane.”
What she told me was so ridiculous that I couldn’t believe it.
“And 120 of those outfits are supposed to be dresses? Where does such an assignment even exist?”
“But since you’re doing it anyway, shouldn’t you do it right?”
Changyeom spread her arms wide and smiled brightly.
With a black magician’s hat on her head, her smile sent chills down my spine.
“Enough. That’s enough.”
“Really? I thought you’d go all the way.”
“Just a proper introduction was enough. I wasn’t even aiming for that in the first place.”
Changyeom isn’t someone trying to make me a gear-cleaning tool.
Rather, she’s trying to make me a veteran and use me to destroy the heavens.
“So, what did you mean by making clothes?”
“This is what I meant.”
Swoosh.
Changyeom raised one hand upward and then swiftly brought it down.
“What, now you’re turning into a magical girl?”
“It’s not just any transformation. Watch closely.”
Everything except for her face was suddenly covered in black mist.
The upper part of her chest was exposed, but Changyeom quickly lowered her raised hand.
Shaa~
With a sound somewhat reminiscent of a magical girl transformation effect, a new outfit instantly appeared on Changyeom.
“Tada! How does it look?”
“Nice.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Magical girl outfits are supposed to transform like that, after all.”
Changyeom had instantly become a magical girl.
“So, are you going to use your underwear as a weapon or something?”
“The principle is similar.”
“…”
“Half joking. It’s possible, but if you weaponized it while wearing such a short skirt, you’d immediately shatter the innocence of kids everywhere. Hehehe.”
Changyeom pulled down one of her stockings and handed it to me.
“Analyze it. See what it is.”
“30 denier black stockings.”
“Yes, but that’s not the kind of analysis I meant!”
“I always start by identifying what I see first.”
I took the stockings Changyeom handed me with both hands and started the ‘analysis’ she requested.
What was this black stocking, crafted at 30 denier, really?
What kind of structure did this item, which Changyeom had instantly forged, have?
“It’s the materialization of mana. These are stockings created from mana.”
“Correct. Now, what’s the actual structure?”
“Mana woven into threads and fibers to create clothing. Right?”
“Exactly!”
Changyeom snapped her fingers and removed her gloves with a grin.
“Just like how S-rank individuals create ‘Aura’ or ‘Sword Energy’, you can materialize mana. It’s the same principle as creating an aura blade.”
Changyeom spread her gloves wide, and the gloves instantly began to glow with magic power.
“Materializing mana into fibers and clothing. It’s the most basic magic skill you need to learn after reaching S-rank.”
“I see. So that’s why DLC skin items in the equipment window transform you instantly?”
“Exactly. If you’re walking around in a bunny girl outfit on the battlefield and it doesn’t tear, what kind of fiber do you think that bunny girl outfit is made of? Even the Demon King couldn’t pierce it.”
“A ‘bunny girl’ outfit forged through ‘cash crafting’. And of course, it even had in-game performance buffs.”
Let’s not hide it.
In the world of Esdinas of Heaven, the developers made a killing selling DLCs.
Skins!
Magical girls, bunny girls, race queens, uniforms, military outfits, nurse uniforms, swimsuits, and even the towels used for hot springs (?).
“You may not have enjoyed it, but there were players who dressed all male characters in swimsuits and took down the Demon King.”
“P*rvert? Making men fight the final battle in speedos…wait, it wasn’t speedos, it was triangle swimsuits?”
“They modeled the characters so perfectly that their bodies rivaled real humans. The graphics were top-notch.”
“Whoever that player was, I bet it was a woman. How do you even know about that? Don’t tell me you…?”
“Oh my. I switched the gender to preserve someone’s dignity, but you’re assuming things now?”
“Sorry. I was just checking if there was an achievement like [Great Swimsuit Festival]. And it was women’s swimsuits, not men’s.”
“Before the final battle, the whole world was cheering, ‘Go, special class!'”
“…”
As expected, I can’t win against Changyeom.
“You’re digging into someone’s embarrassing past, but that’s what DLCs are for. I was just fully exercising my rights as a consumer. It was paid content, and it was even cheap.”
“Cheap? The company made more profit selling DLC skin avatars and merch than from the base package!”
“Let’s call it ‘high volume, low margin’.”
The developers of Esdinas of Heaven made a fortune. Although they sold a lot of packages thanks to a 200 billion viral campaign, they made even more money through the continued sale of ‘skin’ DLCs.
The fact that they didn’t release a gacha game was the last remnant of their conscience.
“So, all those DLC items were made from ‘mana fibers’?”
“That’s right. You can create as many outfits as you want just by adjusting the magic.”
Changyeom quickly changed her clothes.
From a maid outfit to a swimsuit.
From a swimsuit to a formal suit.
Then from the suit to a white dress, to a bunny girl, and then back to something like the casual clothes that Yunia usually wore.
“Wait a minute. You’ve never shown me the bunny girl outfit before, have you?”
“Consider it Service~”
“No, if you’re going to show it, you should show it properly.”
“It’s not quite ready yet, so hold on a little longer. Hehe.”
hangyeom raised her hands above her head and mimicked bunny ears with a playful gesture.
“Slave, listen closely. These clothes made from mana fibers—don’t you want to put them on your heroines?”
“Um…”
“You’ve spent a lot of money on the paid items for them, so why just leave them forgotten in your memory? The designs are already in both your and my memory.”
“So…”
“Let’s dress the heroines in the DLC skins the developers sold and make some money off it!”
Hmm.
“That’s a p*rverted but brilliant plan.”
Not the ready-made or tailored clothes sold by the Silverstar Group, but the outfits designed by game developers with peculiar tastes to open the wallets of gamers—those are the clothes we’d put on the heroines.
“Do you think the heroines might hate it for being too male-centric?”
“That’s why we need to build up to it. Start with something simple and pretty, like a uniform, and later… maybe something more revealing, but only in front of you.”
Changyeom subtly pulled at the black strap of her underwear under her outfit.
“What if I told you even this is made from magic?”
“You mean you were…n*de?”
“N*de? I’m fully dressed in clothes made from mana fibers.”
“Ah, I see.”
She wasn’t n*de.
She was just wearing fantasy clothes made from special fibers that don’t exist in reality.
“Alright. So what kind of outfit should we make first?”
“Well, to practice your cosplay, of course…”
Changyeom ran her hand over her body.
“Let’s start by practicing the Golden Sun skin.”
* * *
“Tada.”
“…!”
As I gently rubbed my neck, Yunia jumped up from her seat, startled.
“W-What’s going on?!”
“Shh.”
I quickly approached her and pressed a finger against her lips.
“Our little secret. This is something even Instructor Esta doesn’t know about, okay?”
“…”
When I told her that I was only sharing this secret with her, Yunia pursed her lips and placed a hand over her mouth.
She kept my finger pressed firmly against her lips.
“Look closely inside. Do you see the pale skin?”
Nod.
“There’s no way a person’s skin would just peel off like this, so what do you think this tanned, golden-brown skin is?”
I peeled back a bit more of the ‘skin’, as if removing a well-applied gel layer.
“Well? Can you guess what the answer is?”
“…Is it an illusion?”
With a confused expression, Yunia stared at the pale skin under my collarbone and swallowed nervously.
“Is it an illusion that only I can see? Or a great magic spell meant to deceive everyone in the world?”
“Who would cast an illusion on the whole world just to look like the Golden Sun?”
Is it impossible? No, but doing so would require an unimaginable amount of magic.
“It’s just the Golden Sun skin layered over me.”
“And your hair?”
“Hm?”
“I can understand the skin, but could you really weave the magic into hair that finely…?”
“Tada.”
I pulled out a strand of hair.
I brushed off the golden mana ‘layered’ over a single strand of hair.
“Black…hair?”
“Yeah, something like that. How does it look?”
“…I heard black hair is a symbol of demons. Are you a demon?”
“Half, maybe?”
I didn’t deny it.
“Would you believe me if I said I’m half-incubus?”
“That doesn’t sound right. You’re just joking, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s a joke. It’s just natural black hair.”
It’s the typical black hair of a Korean.
“But because of that, I was misunderstood as a demon child and went through a lot growing up.”
“Ah…”
It’s not a complete lie.
After falling into the Demon World and learning from Changyeom, other demons would sometimes ask, ‘Are you a human or an incubus?’
“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this: mana has endless possibilities. You can attach it to your body like this, and you can even change the color. It’s similar to makeup.”
“Makeup…”
“Why? Do you want to tan your skin like this too, Miss Yunia?”
“Th-that’s not what I meant. I mean, no.”
Yunia shifted her eyes left and right, nervously chewing on her words.
“…No, there’s probably no need to.”
Her comment implied something along the lines of, “If Phoenix isn’t the Golden Sun, then I don’t need to match myself to a tanned look.” I decided to smile and pretend I didn’t hear her.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing! S-so, you know…”
Yunia flipped open a fashion magazine again.
“Can you make clothes like this too?”
“Is that your style?”
“Ah, no, not really.”
The model’s slim figure was on full display in the fashion magazine.
“This is called a ‘Battle Suit’ that Silverstar just released.”
It couldn’t be helped.
It was a kind of latex suit that tightly clung to the skin.
“Can I wear something like this under my clothes?”
“It’s not impossible.”
“Then, uh…”
Yunia swallowed nervously.
“…Can you make something like this?”
She flipped to the back of the fashion magazine and pointed at an outfit.
“A tank top and shorts?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, that’s tricky.”
I raised my right hand.
“I mentioned before that this is the Hand of the Sun, right?”
Then, channeling mana into that hand, I rubbed it over my revealed skin.
“I have to do it like this, through direct contact, if I’m going to make it for you.”
“…I see.”
Yunia grabbed my wrist.
“That’s…fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes. This is, I mean…”
Yunia’s eyes darted around nervously.
“It’s survival equipment, isn’t it? What’s the problem?”
She spoke in a voice as if asking why I’d even raise such an obvious question.
“That’s true.”
I raised my other hand, channeling mana.
“It’s all for survival, right?”
“Of course. Who would have any inappropriate thoughts about this?”
“Exactly.”
It was a mutual understanding, free of any suggestive undertones.
“But, Miss Yunia.”
“Yes?”
“For free?”
“…What?”
