The Tailor shop didn't seem to pay much attention to their interior design as consisted mostly of rolls of cloth stacked atop each other in series upon series of shelves.
The only other things that could be called decorations were a pair of mannequins covered in clothes, one of them being more damaged than the other.
A stream of golden light falling down from the skylight and shining down on what looked like a changing room, I noted that it was a lot more impressive then what I would usually expect.
At the least the Tailor shops that I have visited before haven't ever used a skylight solely just to illuminate a single changing room.
Skipping forwards all the while swinging their pair of scissors joyfully, the Tailor smiled cheerfully.
"Come come! Take a seat!" Swinging the red curtain around, it revealed a reclining chair as the Tailor gestured for me to get on.
I obliged since it didn't seem like he would stop nagging me if he did, it also seemed really comfortable looking.
"Like we agreed, only one pair okay?"
"Of course, of course." Gleefully rubbing his hands together, the man had a distinct gleam in his brown eyes as he put on a pair of leather gloves.
"Daughter! Measuring rope!"
Taking a rope with several knots on it's surface, without missing a beat, the Tailor shot over to my side and began to take measurements with the rope.
And as if by magic, the frivolous aura surrounding the man had all but disappeared, leaving behind a man putting in one hundred and twenty percent of himself into his work.
Gleam focusing into lasers, they moved like a ghost, placing the rope against my waist, my legs, my neck, my shoulders, my arms, my feet, basically everything that could be seen on my body.
It was as if he was systematically undressing me all the while I wasn't even moving an inch.
His daughter on the other hand wasn't idle for a second.
Retrieving several rolls of cloth from the shelves, she scrambled up a small stepping stool and ripped off clothes of dark blue, sand yellow and white.
Carrying the several rolls of cloth much larger than her body, the Daughter of the Tailor didn't blink an eye when the man began to talk like an insane man."
"Shoulder 4, arms 7, torso 3, gut 2, legs 7, neck 1, feet 1, waist 3"
'???'
Ignoring my confusion, the Tailor's daughter grabbed a pair of scissors stabbed into the surface of one of the shelves, unrolling the roll of sand yellow cloth.
Running her fingers across it, even as it fell off the table she roughly stomped on it to prevent it from rolling away all the while she ran the edge of the scissors across the length of cloth.
Performing this action several times, she smoothly transitioned to other roles of cloth, doing the same with them.
At some point, the Tailor had disappeared from my side, having tossed the measuring rope over the top of one of the many shelves in this place.
Pushing myself off of the seat, I looked at the family of two consisting of a father and daughter duo working together to make...
Whatever the hell they had just decided to make.
I still couldn't wrap my head around whatever measuring system they had used, but it definitely made sense to them.
But watching them was entertaining in on itself.
Hands flying all over the place, they used scissors to cut off strips of cloth and needles to connect these strips of cloth.
Weaving long colorful threads from spools, soon enough, the culmination of whatever they were making appeared in front of me in all of it's yellow sandy glory.
"Well... What do you think?"
Having placed the clothes on a mannequin at some point, they smiled and presented it at me.
Well the Tailor did, the daughter mostly just hung at the side, but I could tell that she was eager on hearing what my thoughts were by the looks of her twitching ears.
Their ear twitching aside though, I genuinely admired their creation since it took what, half an hour to create this?
It was an entertaining half an hour so I didn't notice the passage of time, but now that I think about it, they were moving at a speed that normal people wouldn't be able to perceive.
It was as if they were using mana to speed up their movements.
'Unlike me who just uses the time rune.'
Realizing that, my eyes flickered to my hands, mana subtly swirling around the runes.
'I wonder...'
I pinched my thighs.
'Nope, don't do that Slade, not in front of these guys.'
Regaining my sense of normality, I admired the clothes that they had made.
"It's really beautiful."
Hearing my words, the Tailor and his daughter's noses pointed up to the heavens as the Tailor boasted. "Of course it is, it's something that me and my daughter made just to save yourself from your disastrous fash-!"
"AHAHAHA, THAT'S SO FUNNY DAD!" Hurriedly covering her dad's mouth, the Tailor looked at his daughter as if asking what was wrong despite the two spectators knowing exactly what was wrong.
"...It's fine I guess, the clothes you made I mean."
"WHAT!?" Yanking his mouth from his daughter's hands in shock, I nodded my head sagely. "What do you mean my clothes are just fine you incorrigible heat- MFMFMMMM!!"
Now this is the clothes obsessed man I saw.
And here I thought he was kinda reliable when he was doing his job.
"Just kidding, it still is a nine out of ten" Reaching out, I asked if I could touch it and received approval.
Touching it, I was amazed by the silky smooth surface that seemed to just run off of my fingers.
It seemed my amazement failed to reach the clothes obsessed man.
"Nine!? NINE!? NEIN!" Blinking at the weird word that seemed to sneak itself in, the Tailor ripped his daughter's hands from his mouth as he dashed to the mannequins side.
"This is so worth a ten! Can't you see this inseam!? This quality product made out of Desert Satin! Something that can't be imported anymore!"
Basically frothing from the mouth, I stepped back slowly to avoid the near rabid man and asked a question I had been meaning to ask.
"...Won't it just return when time rewinds and we jump into the next run?"
"Is that what you call it?" Wiping the foam from his mouth, the Tailor steadied himself with the mannequin and stared stalwartly into my eyes. "Well no matter, if it's you, I trust that no matter what, this will stick with you."
'What?'
Tilting my head in confusion, the Tailor continued.
"You may be thinking that I enchanted this with time breaking properties so that they can be carried on to the next world, but no, I'm not as great as a creator as the blacksmith,"
"Then why...?"
"It's because of you"
Pointing their finger at me, the Tailor smiled confidently all the while his daughter stared at her father as if they were a mad man.
Which honestly was fair since his obsession over clothes is rather unhealthy.
It did seem a bit off to view their father as a stranger though.
But pushing on despite now appearing like a stranger to the eyes of their daughter, the man continued to speak avidly.
"That's because of the type of man you are."
"?"
Seeing the confusion on my face, the Tailor looked at their daughter and then at me, switching between the two of us until their daughter took the hint.
Of course she didn't take it happily, not that it mattered when he grabbed a roll of cloth and threw it at her, forcing her to dodge when it moved to surround her in a cocoon.
Now seeing the existence of a human cocoon, I looked at the man in confusion.
And then he stared at me uncharacteristically calm.
If before he seemed like a man obsessed over clothes and if a bit more before, he was someone who was incredibly dedicated to their craft, then now I was seeing a calm man who was confident in themselves.
"You might not know it, but there aren't many on the island that can timebreak, myself not included."
"What are you getting at?"
Tilting my head in confusion, the Tailor smiled.
"It's a small world out there, eventually, people are going to take notice of a man that was able to bring something from a past world to the present world."
"What?"
I furrowed my brows.
It's only been...three runs no?
If I count the first one where I experienced the world unravelling, the second would be where I had died in the dark castle, the third one being this one.
Your telling me that people already noticed that I could bring things with me when I woke up in the prisoner's quarters?
Hell, even I didn't notice how strange it would seem to have things from the previous run in the present run.
The Tailor smiled while patting the shoulder of the mannequin.
"Of course, it's only been three worlds since you caught my attention, but you should know that there are figures that can see the whole island."
"...Are you talking about the Scribe?" Opening my eyes in realization, the Tailor only brought a finger to his lips.
"I'm not saying no, but you should know that the Scribe in recent times has only started using others to help him do his bidding."
"Aha..."
'I nearly forgot about him.' Closing my eyes, I turned to look at the man before looking at the clothes that he had made for me with his daughter.
"Then what is this then?"
"A bribe? A gift? View it however you want, just think of it as making connections."
"Really?"
"Like I said, view it however you want."
Shrugging their shoulders, the man smiled
"Just don't forget that I gave you this and a little tip for your troubles."
"I guess I have to thank you for that then."
"It's just a tip, a gift for my newest customer, like I said."
"Dad!" A shout caused us both to look at the source of the voice.
Seeing that the cocoon had been ripped open from the inside out, the Tailor frowned worriedly. "Oh that was an expensive roll..."
He side glanced me. "Just so you know, there are incredibly rare materials that can also timebreak, I myself only have four of them, just tell my daughter that I used one of them on you."
Smiling subtly, his entire visage changed the moment that he turned to look at his daughter rushing at him with an angry look on her face.
"My Daughter! What are you- Ugh!"
"What were you thinking when you locked me in there! And what were you thinking when you used-!" The Tailor's daughter looked at me before hissing underneath her breath
"That!?"
"Hohoho my daughter, you just don't see the vision do you my da- Ugh!"
"What vision you senile old man!?"
Kicking the man's side, he clut ched his side in pain allowing the Dauhgter the breath of mind to bow towards me in apology.
"I'm so so so so sorry about this, it's just that my dad's an idiot, the door is that way, please take those clothes on the way out."
"Thank you I guess."
Bowing to her in response, I took the clothes off the mannequin and walked to the doorway.
I then turned to look at the Tailor who was receiving the anger of his daughter's fists at the entrance of the doorway
Catching my gaze, the Tailor winked at me before forcing himself to turn away as his daughter suddenly pulled out the giant bladed comb.
+++
Do you guys remember the lizard guy that saw Slade in the forest while he was fighting off that archer? Me neither
Tree