Juggling Multiple Projects

The week passed by as normal with me doing various activities everyday. I had my morning regimen with the newly added swordsmanship training, I had my dance lessons, I had my regular tutoring sessions, and then I had my nightly library sessions with Ana. With all that, it was a miracle I even woke up in the morning at times. 

One thing I did immediately notice, however, was the clear difference of my performance with the 'Swordsmanship' skill now acquired. It wasn't anything crazy, but I could now intuitively feel what I was doing wrong and where to make minor adjustments. This feeling allowed me to go as far as impress Captain Lloyd as he noticed me fixing my posture and movements. Of course I still have a long way to go, but the addition of a skill is a real game changer. I had also been allowed to use the practice dummies now which allowed me to better understand how much force I should put into my swings and stabs.

I barely see my parents these days likely due to my condition improving and the upcoming ball. I would see them occasionally at dinner, but most of their time was spent planning the ball and sending invitations while running the duchy. The whole area was teeming with energy as everyone began preparing for the ball and the coming influx of important guests. My parents had obtained the services of a well known designer in our territory to create an outfit for me. The designer would be coming to visit today to take my measurements and to give themselves some inspiration. I knew nothing of the designer since I had been busy with my training and lectures, but had heard they were an eccentric fellow in the community. 

Since they would be arriving in the afternoon, I continued my regular swordsmanship training in the morning and continued grinding up my appraisal skill on anything I could find. I was also trying to figure out what skill I should copy for the third and final slot of TCUG. I was torn between a couple of ideas, but I needed the skill to be available to me as well. I quickly came to realize that there was a limit to what skills I could copy, or even get access to using TCUG. Similar to the error I received with Ana, I received errors with Captain Lloyd and even the head butler Sebastian. It seems that certain skills are considered a higher tier and that I would need to raise the rank of TCUG to get access to them. 

I took a much needed nap before I was awakened by Ana.

"Ray, the designer has arrived and will be meeting in the study room. For some reason they had wanted it to be done there so that they could glean some inspiration off the history that was stored there."

Ana shook her head at the end of her sentence as she waited for me to clean up and prepare myself. After finishing up, we walked together towards the study room to begin the design process for my attire.

Upon opening the door to the study room, my eyes made contact with the designer. It was a woman with some odd features, and one that I didn't recognize. She looked to be in her mid thirties, but it was difficult to pinpoint. Her hair was a light purple like that of a violet flower that faded near the ends, her eyes were a shade darker than her hair, but her outfit was quite eccentric. It seemed similar to a military uniform, but with colors haphazardly displayed across it. Along with the colors, there were all kinds of feathers placed around the shoulders.

In one word, she kind of reminded me of a clown?

"Oh? Do you find this outfit as wonderful as I do? It always takes the spotlight whenever I go out with it."

It seemed that Ana and I stared at her longer than intended, but I quickly regained my focus and replied.

"Yes, it is quite the  unique outfit. You must be the designer my father hired for my upcoming ball. I am Ray Glouse, and I am looking forward to seeing your talents."

"I like that response, you get a point for that! Since you introduced yourself I will as well. My name is Isabella Lebreux, and I will create an outfit that will steal all the attention from others for you!"

Her eyes were gleaming while she said that as she began to approach me. 

"I will start by inspecting your body and taking measurements. Please remove all excess clothing and just leave the bare minimum on."

I blushed a little at this, but quickly complied to her request. Ana stood at a distance from us, but when I looked over at her, her expression was difficult to read. Her face was a bit red, but she was intensely staring at Isabella's hands as they began to poke and touch my body. I of course felt awkward as this continued, but I would do whatever it took to keep Isabella content.

"You have a decent body, seems you have started working out recently, I would say probably a little over a month ago. Hmmm... callouses on the hands, need to have gloves with the outfit."

She continued murmuring to herself as she moved around me taking measurements and having me move my body into various positions. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally moved away from me and nodded her head.

"I have a couple ideas I want to play around with after inspecting your body. The outfit will be done a couple of days before the ball itself. I'll personally be there as well to witness my masterpiece in its perfect environment."

"I will escort you out now Miss Lebreux. We thank you for your time and expertise in this matter."

Ana responded in a stiff manner as she waited for Isabella to collect her things and escort her. Before Isabella left, however, she turned around and winked at me much to Ana's displeasure before heading off.

Since it was Saturday, I wanted to continue doing things that would help with my missions. One of the ideas for increasing my prestige was announcing some sort of competition. I didn't want it to be your cliched fighting tournament though, and wanted to lean more on the fact that Granbell is a tourist attraction. This train of thought landed me with the idea of a cooking competition, with the reward being enough money to build a restaurant in the city as well as the heir of the duke's personal recommendation. 

The only thing I was stumped on was how to broadcast it and make a large portion of the citizenry aware of the competition. Unlike Earth there wasn't a television network, and magic couldn't replicate such an intricate system. I was planning on asking my father for help with this since I was still a bit ignorant of this world. Along with asking for help, I wanted to ask for an allowance so that I could begin working on some projects that would require money. I had been pushing the idea off because I hated begging for anything, but I needed capital if I wished to begin investing in talent as well as companies.

I sighed as I slowly began to head towards the duke's office. Ana would probably be busy with Isabella for a bit, and I would rather do this myself anyways.

I knocked on the office door, and waited until I heard an audible "Come in". I paid my respects to the duke, but he just waved it off and smiled.

"You don't have to do all that whenever you visit me Ray, I would rather it be a comfortable environment for the both of us since we lost a lot of valuable time while you were sick. Now, tell me the reason for your visit."

"Thank you father for the kind words, I will keep them in mind in the future. I came to you for two reasons, the first being an allowance if possible. As the future heir I believe that having some capital and budgeting would help me in the future as I learn how to responsibly use the money I am given. A budget would also make things more efficient since I would not need to ask you for money whenever I am in need of some."

"That is an easy enough request to grant. Truth be told, your mother and I had been putting away money for you ever since you turned 5 years old in the hopes you would be able to use it once you were a bit older. When you became ill, however, we thought it would be best to wait until you overcame the illness before telling you about it. I will deliver the information for your bank account later today through Anabelle. What is the second thing you wished to discuss?"

"Well, I had an idea for an event I wanted to host in Granbell but was unsure of how to reach the general citizenry within our territory. I wish to host a cooking competition to raise tourism in our territory as well as attract artisans and talents to our land. The only problem I foresaw was being unable to display the competition to the general public in some manner."

The duke had his eyes closed and his hand on his chin while I was explaining my idea for the competition. A few seconds after I was done he opened his eyes and replied.

"I see.. you are already thinking about your future and wish to increase your reputation within the territory. As a duchy, we are afforded certain privileges that smaller nobles could only dream of."

"What do you mean by privileges? Is there something we are privy to that others do not know about?"

My father chuckled at my response and replied.

"It is nothing as serious as what you may be thinking of. As a duchy, our capital and reputation is heads and shoulders above those of smaller statuses. This allows us to purchase items that others simply could not afford or have the status to. For example, in this case we would use the magical instrument known as a magical audio visual transmitter. We currently have one in Granbell which I use to give speeches that are broadcasted to other towns within our territory. Of course, only major towns have the appropriate magic orb that can display these events due to the cost. We currently have 2 orbs that we use, one located in Granbell and the other located in our sister city of Irisbell."

My eyes lit up with this information and I quickly pounced on my request as I bowed my head.

"Father, may I have permission to use the magical audio visual transmitter to record the food competition? I wish to use the increased foot traffic to both cities to raise funds for the reward of the competition as well as begin to build a stronger transportation network within our territory."

"You have permission to use them. I am intrigued by this idea of yours and will fully back it. If you need anything you may ask Sebastian for it. You truly surprise me every day with the progress you have made Ray."

After the serious part was done we took a couple minutes to just talk about how things were going before I headed out. My father was a busy man after all, and I couldn't keep him from his work for too long.

The rest of the day passed by as normal with me studying as much as I could and using the 'Appraisal' skill around the mansion. Now that I had received permission from my father for this project and access to my bank account, I would need to go out again to further explore Granbell. I was excited to see how much money would be in the bank as well as beginning to spread the word of the competition.