Ascension of the elder

Chapter 16: A swift tailor

After all the business was concluded Kyle enjoyed his breakfast with his parents while being cared for by the three servants. The new maid was now long forgotten.

Once breakfast was over Kyle wanted to get a motor on and see the craftsmen but as he was leaving his mother Maria asked.

"Oh by the way Kyle when do you want to start learning about arrays?"

Kyle paused for a minute before saying to his mother.

"Can we start tomorrow? I'm going to be a bit pushed for time today and I don't want to rush this."

Even though Kyle had gained a basic grasp of array mastery it would always be worth learning from a true adherent as they have been doing this for a long time. It wasn't his fault he didn't know that he was already using a skill and a new form of arrays that his mother couldn't use yet.

Thinking for a second Maria looked at Shauna as she also operated as her secretary and knew where she needed to be. Shauna smiled and just spoke on Maria's behalf.

"Can you go to your mother's workshop at 2 in the afternoon?"

"Of course I'll see you then."

Kyle then turned and left, heading towards the craftsman area of the estate. The Powell family estate covered around 60km squared with multiple zones and mansions spread around its area so it would take Kyle about 20 minutes to get to the craft zone.

Kyle had decided to speak to the tailor first as this should be the easier of the 2 to organise. Walking into the craft zone Kyle and Miranda saw people rushing around with various items and materials in their hands. Cooks, leather workers, tailors, blacksmiths even a couple of pharmacists had quarters in this zone and their apprentices and workers were moving what they needed as fast as possible to avoid getting into trouble from being too slow.

As they went deeper into the zone things became calmer as the further in you went the less storehouses there were and the more workshops there were. Arriving at the workshop of the chief tailor Kyle politely knocked on the door. After a moment an older woman with grey hair and a kind look on her face answered. This was Nettie chief tailor of the Powell family and a third grade rated tailor. This meant she was granted a certain level of respect within the family, about equal to a lieutenant in the guards.

Seeing the two young children in front of her Nettie looked at them gently and asked.

"What can I do for you today children?"

Seeing this kindly old lady Kyle thought she was the archetypal grandmother figure. Deciding it would be best to get to the point he began to tell her his requirements.

"Good afternoon, I'm hoping you are Nettie the chief tailor of the family. If so I have some requests if not could you kindly direct me to her thank you."

While Kyle was pretty sure this was Nettie he had never directly met her as previously an apprentice would take his measurements and the clothes would be delivered later. Hearing what Kyle said Nettie figured this boy was probably after some new style or fashion that was becoming popular. Looking at the clothes he was already wearing she scowled slightly and asked.

"Why do you require new clothes? Your training clothes look fine and I haven't had word from any family members for special orders."

"My training clothes are fine at the moment but I would like some new day to day clothes and new hunting equipment."

Hearing about the hunting equipment both Nettie and Miranda were surprised. Nettie because of how young Kyle appeared to be and Miranda because this is the first time she had heard of this. Curious as to whom this young boy was Nettie asked him.

"What is your name young man? I haven't seen you before and you should know that I can only take orders from those at captain level or higher."

"Ahh forgive me I should have introduced myself earlier. I'm Kyle Powell, Landon Powell's son."

Hearing him say this Nettie was shocked by how polite this scion was but then became nervous. The Powell family never abused their position within the city but if Kyle wanted to make her life difficult he could easily do it, even losing her the position she currently held.

"Sorry young master I didn't realise it was you."

"Don't worry about it. Can we go inside as I would like to discuss the designs?"

Nettie stepped back into her workshop, she was rather impressed with this young boy as he spoke to her as an equal rather than as a servant which many members of the family spoke to the crafters like in particular the younger members as they were sheltered by the family and didn't understand that a family could only grow and flourish if all members felt valued and cared about. Kyle did this on instinct as this was how he had always dealt with people and it was ingrained to the bone.

Walking over to an easel they began to discuss what Kyle wanted for his clothing. For day to day wear Kyle wanted something like cargo trousers and t shirts. As Nettie began to sketch this out Kyle pointed out a few alterations and the plans started to come together and they looked similar enough to what existed in his past life. These were made using a material similar to cotton but once this was processed correctly the material would retain its flexibility but would be about 1.5 times stronger. The materials used in training clothes were stronger than this as they were expected to be used in combat. He would also have boots made from soft leather with strong soles. The leather for these came from demon beasts so even though it was soft leather they would still be incredibly strong by our standards.

Once Kyle had his day clothes planned he began to instruct Nettie on the clothing for important or special occasions. For this he decided to look at a suit, he decided on a single breasted suit and a long sleeved shirt. These were to be made from silk, the silk used for these came from a species of giant spider which was bred and housed at the outskirts of the city. Upon hearing this Kyle felt a little itchy but decided to ignore and carry on shopping. With the suit he also planned some nice shoes which would be dyed leather. Seeing the design Kyle couldn't help but think 'clothes make the man'.

Once these designs were finalised Kyle asked if Nettie could produce 3 sets of each and retain the plans in case he wanted more. Nettie said these should be ready in 2-3 days as she would have some of the other workshops help her in the production. Looking at these plans Nettie was highly impressed as they were really different from what others wore but they looked good. Miranda for her part was also impressed as she thought this was something Kyle had come up with on his own.

Finishing with the basics Kyle was raring to go with the main course of the day that being armour. He could have gone for heavy metal armour but for 1 it would look ridiculous on him and 2 leather taken from demon beasts properly treated could be as strong as metal. Taking this into account Kyle decided to take the best of both worlds. The design he was aiming for was similar to the armoured racing jackets and trousers that are used in motor cross. This meant the main jacket would be made of beast leather but at the important parts there would be additional metal pieces placed. These pieces of metal would be riveted into place and then an inner lining would be placed to cushion any impacts that may pass through armour further protecting the wearer.

All of this shocked Nettie. As she thought about this new armour design before, when she envisioned it, she realised this could save a lot of lives but why had no one thought of it before. It has to be understood that new ideas in this world where very slow to appear as people already thought they had reached a plateau. There were a few people who were working on new things but they were few and far between.

Kyle also designed some combat boots with steel inserts and a tactical style backpack which was about 35ltr. When Nettie saw these wasn't as surprised but when she asked why the boots needed metal in these places Kyle explained it was to prevent things from getting into his feet and when questioned about the different parts of the backpack he was able to explain about holding water bottles, places for tools and a few other features.

Nettie was truly impressed by now as all these things were highly practical and could help many people from the family. Holding the plans like a treasure Nettie looked at Kyle like he was her favourite grandson before asking.

"These designs are wonderful and may be able to help a lot of our people can I share them with everyone?"

"You'll have to check with my father first, if he agrees I see no problem with it."

Plans and designs are treated like family secrets which not many are willing to share as it would decrease your personal power. By being willing to share these plans Kyle's favourability with both Nettie and Miranda had gone up further. He for his part didn't think too much about it as the thing he wanted to keep quiet was what he was doing next.

"I'll get started with these as soon as possible and I should be able to complete everything in around a week."

"Thank you Nettie, would you be able to produce another set of day wear and hunting gear for Miranda as well?"

Saying this Kyle began to get measured for his new gear, after he was finished Miranda went up to be measured up. She was in shock as this was the first time anyone had bought her clothes apart from her parents and secondly she found out she may be hunting sometime soon. Once they were finished Kyle bid farewell to Nettie and started towards his next destination.

"Onwards to the blacksmith."