Bubu Dress-Up

"Boo-hoo-hoo, Bibi is so pitiful..."

In Aunt Susan's tailor shop, Bubu sat on a chair, wailing loudly.

There were no tears, however. The undead could not produce such things.

"You were the one who wanted to hear the story of Bibi the Dark Magus."

Jia Xiu chuckled from the side.

As he laughed, a thought suddenly occurred to him. Could this be the mindset of those creators who loved stabbing readers in the heart with their stories?

One name after another surfaced in Jia Xiu's mind.

Could it be that when these authors wrote, the thought of readers breaking down over the plot made them secretly grin with satisfaction?

"You're bullying the child again!"

Aunt Susan gave Jia Xiu a light slap on the head, interrupting his train of thought.

"First, it isn't a child. Second, I was merely sharing a good story with it."

"He's a good child in my eyes. And how can you call Bubu 'it'? That's discrimination!"

"Uh, Bubu is undead now. Even when it was alive, it was a fairy. It is an it."

"You're discriminating!"

For some reason, Aunt Susan's treatment of Bubu gave Jia Xiu the strange feeling of a grandparent doting on a grandchild.

"Come on, Bubu. Time to try on your new clothes."

Even Aunt Susan's voice went all soft and sugary when she spoke to Bubu!

As she spoke, she pulled out a set—well, a pile—of clothes.

Aunt Susan clearly had some passion for this work. In just a few days, she had sewn so many outfits. Her efficiency was astonishing.

Bubu climbed down from the chair. Its legs were too short, so it climbed down backward, stretching one foot out first and clumsily feeling for the floor before landing steadily with a little heave.

After taking off its oversized old robe and large hat, Bubu looked skinny and tiny, its entire body made of shadowy matter.

Who would have thought that this little thing was a level 19 greater undead?

Then, inside the tiny tailor shop, the game "Bubu Dress-Up" began.

"Hey, what do you think of this dress?"

"Though I'm not completely sure, I think Bubu was probably a male fairy when it was alive."

"So what if he was a male fairy? Can't male fairies wear pretty little dresses? Then what about this formal outfit?"

"It looks good, but it's a little too troublesome to put on and take off. Do you have anything closer to a knight's style? It wants to be a knight."

"Then this one..."

After trying on clothes for nearly an hour, Bubu finally chose its favorite: a brown hunting outfit with the air of a wilderness explorer, paired with sturdy leather boots and gloves, a dark blue wool cloak, and most distinctively, a wide-brimmed pointed wizard hat that stood half as tall as Bubu itself.

Aunt Susan even used the leftover leather scraps from making the gloves and boots to sew Bubu a sword belt. It even came with a scabbard and a sword.

And that was Bubu's favorite part.

Although it did not use a sword, according to its own account, the part in the nursery rhyme about defeating the instructor on the training ground had been accomplished by blindly swinging its weapon with high agility. It had been a pure victory of overwhelming stats.

But that did not stop it from desperately wanting a sword.

Jia Xiu had originally planned to let Bubu carry around the knight's sword Emilia had bestowed upon him for fun, but that sword was taller than Bubu even without counting the hilt.

"Auntie, where did you get such a short sword?"

"A sword? Oh, no, that's half of a pair of large scissors I use for cutting cloth. They broke a while ago, and I was going to get them fixed, but then I realized half a pair fit Bubu perfectly."

"Boss, what should I name my sword?"

Though it was only half a pair of scissors, Bubu could not put it down.

"Uh... Stabby? Or Needle?"

"Since it's made from scissors, why not call it Severance?" Aunt Susan suggested.

"Seconded," Jia Xiu agreed.

Just as Bubu excitedly played with its "Severance" sword—

Ding-dong!

The bell hanging at the tailor shop's entrance rang.

"Welcome."

"Princess Emilia."

Aunt Susan had assumed a customer had arrived, but Jia Xiu immediately called out the visitor's name.

"Your Highness?"

Hearing Jia Xiu's address, Aunt Susan hurriedly tried to bow.

"No need for formalities. I came here to see Jia Xiu."

"Me?"

Jia Xiu had no idea what this princess was planning now. Ever since her extremely casual knighting ceremony last time, his impression of her had been that she was utterly unreliable, always doing whatever popped into her head.

But one thing was one thing. Being knighted had indeed helped greatly during the process of making Bubu sign the contract.

So Jia Xiu still treated her with considerable respect.

"What can I do for you, Your Highness?"

"A reward. You handled the undead Bubu incident exceptionally well, resolving a potential crisis with almost no losses."

She placed particular emphasis on the word "almost."

"For that reason, I have decided to reward you with a wand."

With a raise of her hand, the guard behind her presented a wand.

[Blessing Wand (Rare)]

[When using all healing-type spells, gain enhanced effects and increased casting range]

It was a wand that perfectly suited Jia Xiu's current fighting style.

But Jia Xiu's attention was not on the wand.

It was on what Emilia had said.

From the sound of it, she knew everything that had happened recently, including Bubu, the cultists, and the summoning ritual.

Which meant that when she had come sightseeing last time, she had already known that altar was the real thing.

Yet she had said nothing and still knighted him.

Jia Xiu crossed out his assessment of Emilia as "unreliable" in his mind and replaced it with "sweet-faced schemer."

As expected, no member of the royal family was simple.

Looking at the wand again, he felt it was a little too hot to handle.

No matter how clueless he was, he could tell that this princess was trying to recruit him. But Jia Xiu had no interest in the Iris Kingdom's royal family, succession elections, or any of that messy business. Getting involved with the royal family might bring a great deal of trouble.

He was a pure researcher.

Well, perhaps not that pure, but research was still his main goal.

But if he refused it...

A princess personally bestowed a wand upon you, and you refused it. What did that mean?

Seemingly noticing Jia Xiu's dilemma, Emilia spoke directly. "This is not a personal gift from me, but a reward for saving Creekwood Town. As a talented dark mage, I hope you will always remain true to yourself and continue forward on the path toward magical truth."

What she meant without saying it outright was that if Jia Xiu did not wish to participate in the royal competition and only wanted to be a scholar, that was completely fine. So long as he did not join any side in the future struggle.

If he wanted neutrality, he had to be absolutely neutral, not merely pretend to be.

"Thank you for your reward, Your Highness."

Jia Xiu accepted the wand and bowed.

Since the princess had put it that way, refusing any further would be far too rude.

"Goodbye. I heard you intend to apply to Saint Delro Academy. I wish you excellent results when the time comes."

With that, Emilia left the tailor shop.

Though it was a blessing, Jia Xiu felt there was a faint trace of irritation in the princess's tone.

What did that mean?

Was she upset that he had not picked a side?

Didn't seem like it.

As Jia Xiu watched Emilia's departing back, why did her golden hair seem shorter?

Shorter!

Could that be newly grown hair?

Jia Xiu broke out in a cold sweat. Would this sweet-faced schemer hold a grudge? She certainly looked like the type to hold one.

Meanwhile, Aunt Susan had not caught the hidden meaning in the princess's words at all.

In her eyes, Jia Xiu was destined for great things.

The moment Emilia left, Aunt Susan let out a squeal.

"Wow! I need to hurry up and dress myself up."

"Auntie, where are you going?"

"Of course I'm going to dress up and visit my younger sister! Oh, right, go to the portrait shop and have them make a portrait of you holding that wand. We still have an empty display window in our shop..."