Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

”If my set alone cost that much, how much were... no, wait, I don’t think I want to know,” Celestina sighed in exasperation, rubbing her temples to sooth her aching head.

Lucas financial and economic instincts were outstanding, and his abilities to budget, allocate, and appropriately distribute resources was second to none, but Celestina knew that when it came to personal spending on his pet projects, all that good sense simply flew out the window.

If it was something Lucas was interested in, or curious about, or simply determined to do, he could be more reckless and unhinged than anyone she had ever met before, and Celestina had met some crazy people over the course of her life.

This, however, was taking things beyond even what she was able to tolerate.

760 Low-Grade Spirit Crystals were technically worth 7,600 Gold, but in reality, that number was probably much closer to 10,000.

For a couple pieces of High-Rank Grade Two Spirit Armour, or a High-Rank Grade Two Spirit Tool, that was actually pretty cheap; however, that’s not what these pieces of underwear were.

As far as Celestina could tell, there were no Spirit Arrays woven into these two pieces of cloth, and why would there be? They weren’t meant to be armour, or to produce some kind of special effect like cooling or heating, they were just must to be highly-durable pieces of ordinary clothing!

Sure, the materials used to create this bra and panty set were extremely high-quality, and probably even a necessity if they were going to be used by her on a regular basis, but that hardly justified the outrageous cost!

On the one hand, Celestina was flattered her Disciple was willing to splurge so much on what was essentially a way to make her life a bit more comfortable, but given exactly what it was he had created here, she couldn’t help questioning his motives.

Despite this recent glaring example of poor judgement, Celestina knew that Lucas was extremely mature for his age, the result of him literally having the memories and knowledge of a fully grown man in his head. In other words, she didn’t doubt he understood what gifting clothes, especially intimate clothes, to a girl implied.

Celestina wasn’t considering herself, mind you.

There wasn’t one whiff of romantic entanglement between her and her First Disciple, nor would there ever be as Celestina would always see Lucas as a child she helped raise and watched grow up, but regarding the little brat’s two Junior Sisters...

Well, let’s just say that the seeds of future amusement for her had been planted there long ago, and they were growing quiet healthily at that.

Looking down at Lucas, who unlike when he was pretending before, she could tell was really passed out now, Celestina let out another long, exasperated sigh before turning to the very frightened pair of tailors and ordering, ”Boy, help this fool outside. Girl, help me try this on.”

””Yes, Lady Balfour!””

Isaac and Felicity nodded vigorously and got to work, neither of them daring to disobey, raise their voices in objection, or try to defend their employer in any way, shape, or form.

Lucas was their boss, and over the past month or so he had been incredibly good to them, but Celestina was their boss’ Master.

The hierarchy here was pretty clear, as were the consequences of trying to go against it.

As the tall young man was picking his young boss up, however, he couldn’t help asking, ”Um, Lady Balfour, where should I...”

”Just toss him somewhere,” Celestina waved him off, not concerned about where the unconscious Lucas was thrown. The boy was used to sleeping on the floor of the Balfour Family’s forge for Heavens’ sake, so it hardly mattered if he was left on a chair somewhere in this shop.

Isaac nodded and prepared to carry out the order, when Celestina stopped him once more, ”Right, when those two girls get back, tell them to join us as well.”

”Uh...” Isaac froze for a moment, but quickly nodded.

If Celestina said Christina and Eris would be back, she must be confident they would return.

In any case, the Marquess was about to get naked, so it was hardly appropriate for Isaac to return to this rear changing room anyways. He might be one of the tailors that helped create this new set of underwear, and he might be a great admirer of beautiful women, but he liked the idea of seeing the sunrise tomorrow morning as well.

.....

”Sister Tina, are you sure about this?” Eris asked her Junior Sister Disciple.

”Hmph! Of course I am!” Christina snorted, still unable to get over the fact that Lucas, of all people, had happily presented her underwear, UNDERWEAR, as his gift to her for her 16th birthday!

Had he gone insane?

Was he trying to court her?

If he was, what should she say?

What did she really think of her eccentric Senior Brother?

What if... what if she said yes?

What then!?

Feeling her face heat up further and her heartrate soar, Christina actually slapped her hands onto her cheeks hard, trying to shake off all these frivolous and unwanted thoughts.

She wasn’t having much success.

Seeing how weirdly her big sister was acting, Eris didn’t know what she was supposed to do.

If she was being honest, she was actually a bit interested in trying out the new clothes Lucas had invented for them; after all, all the things he had made so far were wonderful. However, if Christina remained adamant about not wanting to touch them, she would stand in solidarity with her because that’s what sisters did.

Or, at least, that’s what Eris thought she should do in this situation.

A few minutes later, though, Christina let out a long, long sigh and shook her head, ”Let’s head back to the shop.”

”Hm? You changed your mind?” Eris asked curiously.

Pursing her lips, while still blushing quite healthily, Christina gave a tiny nod, ”A gift is a gift, I can’t be ungrateful, even if it is a little... very perverted...”

Whether that was her real reason or not, only Christina knew, and she certainly wasn’t going to be telling anyone anytime soon.