A Change in Style

When Frederick walked into the dining room for breakfast, he noticed Katie looking at him differently.

"Sister," he asked, confused, "is there something wrong with me?"

Katie smiled and said, "Look at your sleeves."

Frederick didn't understand, so he raised his hand to look and then realized.

He was at the age where he was growing, and he had never lacked nutrition or exercise. The clothes made a year and a half ago were already too short.

"You need a new set of clothes," Katie said. "Let the tailor come this afternoon."

Frederick saw that this set of clothes wouldn't last until next year, so he had Ah Fu call the tailor for the afternoon.

Currently, the textile industry was still in the manual stage. In society, the rich wore new clothes, while the poor wore used clothes that had passed through who knows how many hands.

Frederick naturally wore tailor-made clothes. This set of well-made clothes he was wearing now would be given to a child of a relevant noble in Wessen Territory if suitable, and if not, they would see which wealthy family needed them.

However, there was no money at home now. Silk fabric with exquisite embroidery was too expensive, so he decided to wear something simpler.

This morning was Psyche's magic class. The topic was the difference between Mages and Warriors.

Psyche stated directly, "Mages are awesome with magic, they can lift hundreds of kilograms of stone and throw it a hundred meters away. Warriors aren't as awesome with magic, they can lift stones but can't throw them far, so they carry them for fitness."

Frederick understood. Mages used Mana for ranged attacks, and Warriors used Mana to strengthen their bodies.

"But they don't contradict each other, do they?" he said. "Mages can also use Mana to strengthen themselves."

Psyche was silent for a moment, then reached out and gently stroked Frederick's head, saying in an inscrutable tone, "A person's energy is limited. Trying to have both often results in getting neither in the end."

Frederick said "Oh," and then asked, "So, do you have any advice for me?"

Psyche answered seriously, "Train for 30 hours a day."

Frederick blinked. There were 24 hours in a day here, 30 days in a month, 12 months in a year, 360 days in a year. How could he train for 30 hours a day?

"You're still too young," Psyche just smiled. "We'll talk about it when you're older."

"Don't aim too high either. The most important thing is to build a good foundation while you're still young."

Frederick could only nod obediently.

Next, Psyche explained the principles of training Mental Power and strengthening the body with Mana. Finally, she said, "Strengthening the body with Mana is no joke. If you mess up by being careless... I can recommend you to become a eunuch in the southern palace."

Frederick quickly shook his head and waved his hand, saying, "No, no, I don't need to do that!"

Psyche sneered, "Heh, men..."

After the day's lessons ended, as Psyche was preparing to leave the study for lunch, she noticed Frederick had no intention of leaving and was instead writing and drawing there.

"What are you up to now?" she walked behind Frederick out of curiosity.

Frederick said while drawing, "I'm very dissatisfied with the current men's clothing and have decided to reform it!"

The noble clothing of this era was like the nouveau riche decoration style of his previous life, emphasizing opulence, complexity, exaggeration, gaudiness, luxury, high-class, and taste.

All the fabric for clothes used dazzling colors. Frederick's current set was bright yellow. Tailors were eager to embroider complex patterns on every inch of fabric, using two layers of lace where one would suffice, and making the shoulders puff out like balls.

He could accept such flamboyant clothes and adapt to the local customs, but he absolutely could not accept those bulging, colorful, tight trousers. He had endured them for many years, but now that he was in charge, he naturally didn't need to endure them anymore.

Psyche gave a "heh heh" laugh after looking at his designs but didn't say anything.

The Weissen Family had previously held the title of Count, so they still had some heritage. There was an Epic tailor in the family.

Romain estimated that the young master should also get a new set of clothes. After receiving the news in the morning, he was already rubbing his hands, ready to show off his skills, and then...

"What is this?"

"What is this again?"

"What are all these?"

Romain looked at the blueprints Frederick provided with a bewildered expression, unable to react for a moment.

Frederick felt that his clothing designs were not that shocking; they were just the Victorian style from his hometown, mainly consisting of shirts, vests, jackets, double-breasted coats, and trousers, paired with top hats, ties, canes, and leather shoes.

However, it was hard to say if they would be seen as "Killing Matt" in this era.

"Very simple clothes," Frederick said to Romain. "Use linen for summer clothes, wool for winter clothes, and fur for the inner lining of winter coats."

Psyche, who was watching the fun from the side, thought to herself, It's a good thing this guy didn't design a military greatcoat, otherwise this Epic tailor would be done for today.

Katie entered curiosity mode again, studying Frederick's new designs.

"Are these clothes meant to show off your figure?" With her deep artistic foundation, she immediately grasped the key point.

"The most beautiful thing in this world is people!" Frederick immediately quoted something from the Church of Light scriptures. "Clothing and accessories are just embellishments; green leaves should not overshadow the splendor of flowers!"

Psyche retorted, "What kind of flower do you think you are?"

Frederick pretended not to hear.

Romain said worriedly, "That's true, but like this, you might be ridiculed by the world. How about..."

Before he could finish, Frederick spread his hands and said helplessly, "To be honest, we're out of money at home. I had Ah Fu take money south to buy cotton coats for the refugees."

The people who went to investigate the refugee situation had returned. The situation of the refugees who were being driven towards the Wessen Territory was even worse than expected; it was estimated that at least 20% of them would die along the way.

When the refugees passed through the territories of nobles along the way, they were like locusts, digging up and eating the summer-sown seeds and seedlings in the fields. Conflicts with the local residents were countless.

For a time, the dissatisfaction of the lords and commoners towards King William increased significantly.

This was also why Frederick was so focused on dehydrated food and urged Basf to quickly produce plastic bags, cutlery, and waterproof cloth. He decided to take the initiative.

Romain didn't know about any of this; he only knew that his lord was short on money, so there was nothing he could do.

A traditional set of clothes for Frederick would cost at least 10 Florins. The outfit he was wearing now probably cost 2 to 3 Florins, which could save about ten tons of grain.

Now, the grain merchants all knew that the Wessen Territory would have a huge grain deficit for a long time to come, and they unanimously wanted to raise prices.

Fortunately, Frederick could use Maltose as a bargaining chip, which instead made these jackals voluntarily lower their prices.

Furthermore, Frederick's cash flow was nearly depleted. The newly made bearings were all used on the carriages within his own territory and hadn't been sold recently. He could only rely on bartering with Maltose and selling steel ingots to keep his funds from running out.

With the skills of Romain and his disciples, a new suit was made less than ten days after taking Frederick's measurements.

Frederick had just changed into it and was looking in the mirror when someone immediately came to deliver money.