How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 144: A Gentleman’s Armor (2)

As we entered the tailor shop, we noticed clothes that we couldn’t see from the outside.

“This is it.”

Quintana said with pride. This is the deepest part of the shop, where she displays her collection.

Considering the purpose of a dressmaker’s shop, this is also a product that needs to be sold.

But by displaying them, it’s clear that Quintana has no intention of selling them.

It’s more like she wants to sell it, but can’t.

“I used a lot of different materials to make them. Beyond fine fabrics, I used valuable hides, threads, and scales from monsters, and I processed plants that can only be found in the rugged terrain.”

Quintana is a tailor and designer, but she’s not just about aesthetics.

If anything, she was more of a scholar who knew how to utilize new materials.

“It can’t have been easy, but you made so many of these.”

“Yes, they’re hard to find and expensive. But that’s our motto at the dressmaker’s shop, and that’s why the rich customers line up and make reservations.”

Even so, the garments on display here have yet to find their owners and since they’re in Quintana’s quarters, so no one knows of their existence.

It was for that reason that she brought Osian here.

“The moment I looked at you, I realized what was once a blur, is now clear: the best thing I’ve ever made, finally has a master, and it’s you.”

The place where Quintana led Osian was in front of a black frock coat displayed in a white glass case under a crimson light.

It’s not just the frock coat. There was a shirt and vest inside, along with pants and shoes.

All of it together, it was the ‘work’.

“Hoh.”

Osian stared at the outfit through the glass.

Quintana’s words were not mere bluster. The moment he saw it, Osian could smell the dreadlocks on the suit, similar to the armor a knight should wear.

A suit was a gentleman’s armor, he remembered.

“Excellent.”

It was the highest praise Osian could muster.

Quintana immediately opened the glass doors of the display case.

“Would you like to try it on? Don’t worry about the size. It will adjust itself to the wearer.”

“I’ll try it.”

*

Sebastian waited outside for Osian to come out.

Quintana and Osian were the only ones inside the shop, and he wasn’t allowed in because he wasn’t authorized.

A few minutes passed after they entered, Quintana and Osian came back out.

“You’re out…….”

Sebastian’s voice trailed off.

He had been thoroughly trained to speak calmly in any situation, but the sight of Osian was enough to make him forget.

He wore a black frock coat with gold jewelry, a dark vest underneath, a white shirt, and an ascot tie around his neck.

Straight, wrinkle-free pants and a pair of fine shoes underneath.

With that alone, Osian exuded an aura that overwhelmed everything around him.

“You look amazing.”

Sebastian was honestly impressed. And he meant it.

Osian would have looked stunning in anything, but he was definitely on a different level now that he was dressed in the finest clothing.

Osian agreed with Sebastian.

His own reflection in the mirror felt incredibly unfamiliar.

It was not for nothing that they say clothes are wings.

“I suddenly feel sorry, coming here without an appointment and being given such fine clothes.”

“It’s nice of you to say so.”

Quintana smiled, looking at Osian with pride.

“My best work has finally found a home, and I should be the one to thank for that. If you hadn’t come along, Osian, the child would have been left to rot in there for the rest of his life, and I’m happy with that.”

“I must become a proud owner of your greatest masterpiece.”

Osian was most pleased with the armor he received.

*

“I hope you enjoyed your day.”

Sebastian asked. He’d been as nice as he could to Osian today, and he wasn’t sure if Osian was satisfied.

“I found a good tax accountant and got some nice clothes, so why shouldn’t I enjoy myself?”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Sebastian.”

Osian said Sebastian’s name.

When they first met, Osian called him, orc, and he kept calling him, orc, after that.

But now it was different. He was calling him Sebastian as an individual, not as an orc.

“Yes, Osian.”

“I wish you well.”

It was a gesture of friendship from Osian, a sign of goodwill, and a sign of a good relationship to come.

“Yes. I’ll be going inside then. Do you need a ride back to the office?”

“No. I think I’ll go for a walk, now that I have some new clothes.”

“Okay. Have a safe trip, it’s going to start raining soon.”

Sebastian drove away in his luxury car.

Now that he thought about it, he remembered that the person who had escorted Osian that day from the Goldiron family was killed in an attack.

‘It’s not that he didn’t ask because he didn’t know, and since he probably knew everything he needed to, he was likely being considerate by not making me worry unnecessarily.’

Sebastian’s last words bothered Osian more than that.

“The rain is coming.”

Grace Seeker, the leader of the Blood Brotherhood, had said it too.

Tirna is going to be drenched for a while.

That there would be more dark days than light days, and that so many different things would happen during that time.

Osian looked at the sky.

It was already a smoggy city, but this time it was particularly rainy.

The sun was still visible, but it wasn’t hard to deduce that dark clouds would soon cover the sky.

Osian trudged his way to the Violet Fox.

Gazes flew his way as he passed, the occasional glare aimed at his rich-looking attire.

He’d gotten similar stares before he’d changed, but now that he was dressed up, he could feel the difference.

So much so, that whenever he went to an off-the-beaten-path area, the local thugs would jump out at him like ghosts.

“Hey, big brother. You’re wearing something nice. You shouldn’t come here in such expensive clothes.”

-Pfft!

Osian lightly knocked them out with his fist.

A few pulled out pistols, but they couldn’t even pull the trigger and their jaws were broken. They’ll have to eat porridge for at least a year.

He was almost to the Violet Fox when someone staggered out of a nearby alleyway.

Osian had to stop his fist as another money-making fire moth lunged at him.

“Huff. Huff.”

The bloodied man breathed ragged breaths, as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

His disheveled dreadlocks and beard were streaked with red blood.

The blood and wounds spreading all over the clothes were so bad it seemed like it would be difficult to even be alive.

The sudden appearance of a man who looked like he’d been shot and knifed out of nowhere was surprising, but what was even more surprising was that he was a man Osian remembered.

“You, Balud’s…….”

I remembered him as a mafioso who was always in Balud’s entourage.

Legor, Balud’s right-hand man and his family’s closest confidant looked at Osian with a blurry gaze and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Fixer…….Request, request…….”

Legor didn’t finish his sentence and fainted on the spot.

Osian looked up at the sky as he watched.

It was now full of dark clouds, and it looked like it was going to rain.

“It’s going to rain.”

Osian picked up the unconscious Legor and headed for the Violet Fox.

Inside, as usual, Ena greeted him first and was surprised to see Osian.

First, he was dressed in very fine clothing, unlike his usual attire.

Second, he was carrying an even larger, bloodied head on his shoulder.

“What’s going on?!”

“He needs first aid.”

Osian laid Legor down on the table.

Lorraine, who had heard the commotion, came in as well, with Edgar by her side.

Osian ripped off Legor’s clothes.

His muscular body was covered with bullet wounds. Wounds so severe it was a wonder he was still alive.

He was only alive because of the hardiness of his northern body, but if it was someone else they would have died long ago.

Whatever it was, if he could be saved, he had to be saved.

“What is this?”

Edgar stepped up beside Legor and frowned.

“We won’t dispose of the body here.”

“It’s not a body. We’re going to save him.”

“You know how to save him?”

“Ena knows first aid.”

Ena stammered.

“Well, yes, to a point, but even so, I don’t think anyone who’s dying like this…….”

No matter how skilled Ena was in many ways, Legor was beyond her capabilities.

Seeing her hesitate, Edgar clicked his tongue.

“Then stay back, you idiots.”

He immediately wrapped his right hand around a circle of blue energy.

The finely tuned energy coalesced in the air, forming several tools, all of them necessary for the surgery.

“Get the antiseptic.”

“Ah! Here!”

Ena exclaimed as she grabbed the antiseptic, rags, and bandages as if she had prepared them in advance.

“It’s an emergency, so we’ll do it without anesthesia, and I won’t be held responsible if he dies.”

Edgar said, and with that, he pulled the bullet out of Legor’s flesh with pliers made of blue magic.

*

A plate of rags dropped onto the table, filled with bloodied lead bullets.

Edgar sutured Legor’s wound with a magical needle and thread.

“The first aid is done,” Edgar said, ”A normal man would have died of shock, but he’s a northerner, and he’s got one hell of a strong body.”

“Were you trained in medicine?”

Osian asked, and Edgar answered bluntly.

“I learned it over my shoulder, for I am very smart.”

It was a pretty full-fledged skill to have learned over his shoulder. Given Edgar’s personality, he was probably telling the truth, not bragging.

When Osian gave him a surprised look, Edgar waggled his eyebrows, then calmed his irritation.

“I couldn’t do it on my own. I’m lucky to have you by my side.”

That was true, too. Ena had gotten Edgar what he needed, right when it mattered.

“Whatever it was, the surgery went well, but he’s lost so much blood, I don’t know how long it’ll be before he wakes up.”

As Edgar muttered that, Legor groaned.

“……He’s already awake? How on earth?”

“He must have something more important to do.”

Osian stood in front of Legor.

Legor opened his eyes, blurry, and looked up at Ossian and opened his mouth.

“I… am I alive? My whole body aches like it’s going to be torn apart.”

“You seem lucid enough to say that.”

“……You are. I wasn’t mistaken the last time I saw you.”

Legor tried to smile, but the wounds on his body made his face contort.

Every breath he takes brings pain. With no painkillers, it wouldn’t normally be painful.

But Legor, as if he didn’t care what happened to him, grabbed Osian’s arm with his dominant hand.

“Fixer. I beg you. You’re the only one, you’re the only one…….”

The squeeze must have been painful, but Legor stared at Osian clearly.

“What happened and what about Balud?”

“Brother Balud, he’s in danger.”

Normally, Legor would have called Balud sir, but for this moment, he called him brother.

Perhaps the situation was too urgent to care.

“It’s dangerous…….”

“I beg you. Please help me, brother. I’ve traveled all this way for that request.”

The others listened to their conversation with bated breath.

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who can help you.”

“No. No one else can be trusted. Those traitorous bastards were always groveling when they needed brother Balud, huh?”

Legor coughed and spat out dead blood.

“Calm down. The surgery hasn’t even been over for that long.”

“Brother has been betrayed. They were all in cahoots, the bastards. I tried so hard, lived so desperately.”

Tears streamed down Legor’s eyes…hot, angry tears.

“At the last minute, I thought of you. You’re a fixer, but I thought someone of your caliber might be able to help my brother.”

Legor had come all this way to find Osian, shot and ragged.

He was bleeding so profusely that it would not have been surprising if he had died soon, a testament to his tenacity and the strength of his will.

Even beyond the limits of his body.

-Tuduk. Tuduk, tuduk, tuduk.

Outside the window, the water began to drip, then poured.

Inside the tavern, where the rain echoed in the silence, Osian asked.

“Where is Balud now?”