Chapter 133 – Unexpected Talk About Costumes

“Соme to think of it, whо’s thе illustrator fоr Little Spiсе?”

“Sрiсе? I dо it myself.”

“Whаaaааaаt?!”

Тhаt tорic сamе up while I wаs оn а wоrk call with Мs. Inukai.

Аpparеntlу, she works better whilе listеning to music or chatting with sоmеone.

Spice wаs kеeping hеr cоmраnу while making clip vidеos and shоrts frоm his strеams.

Thеsе vidеos arе an impоrtant source оf inсome, аftеr all.

“Littlе Spicе, could it be thаt yоu’rе an illustrator…?!”

“I used to drаw illustratiоns, but I’m nоt thаt goоd! I just use variоus sоftwаre to аdjust things to gеt thаt lооk…”

Тhe sоftwаrе is the Grimоirе, and the illustrations themselves are based on Spice’s mental imagery, but I’d better not mention that…!

Anyway, Ms. Inukai was deeply impressed.

“In that case, would it be okay to commission some illustrations from you, Ms. Inukai?”

“Ehhh, I’d be so happy to get work from Little Spice! What kind of design is it?”

“Well, I’m thinking of visiting a shrine in the Virtual Space for New Year’s. So I want some New Year’s-style outfits…!”

“Formal wear, understood! After drawing a slender older sister, I need to draw a little girl to balance things out, you know…”

Wow, drawing pictures as a break from drawing pictures!!

Impressive.

While chatting like that, Ms. Inukai quickly uploaded the second rough draft of Mariya-san, aka Marie, to Zakko.

Whoa!

Long black hair, pale skin, a pure white noble outfit with a rapier!!

“She’s beautiful!”

“Right? I think I managed to capture that ‘older sister’ feel! Since she herself has plenty of approachability, I went all-in on coolness for her appearance. She’ll definitely attract female fans!!”

“She sure will! I might fall in love!”

While Ms. Inukai and I were squealing excitedly, Mashiro returned from work.

Seeing me in Spice’s form, she said,

“Whoa, my husband is turning into a little girl more and more every day,”

putting on a slightly exaggerated show of lamentation.

“Welcome back~”

“Welcome back~. Is that Little Spice’s roommate?”

“She’s my wife~”

“Ooh!! Then you must be Ms. Shiroko!”

“A-ah, I’m famous…!!”

It seems the story about Spice marrying Shiroko has spread quite a bit.

Not that it’s a problem if people know, so I think it’s fine.

Mashiro sat down next to Spice, looked at Marie’s rough draft, and let out an admiring sigh.

“So cool…!! Maybe I should ask the illustrator who drew my Avatar for another new design…”

That’s right, since Mashiro is also a Streamer, she must have an illustrator who drew her Avatar.

Living with her parents, she apparently used a huge chunk of her savings to commission the design.

That’s an adventure only a single person could take…!

“A collab between the new Ms. Shiroko and Ms. Marie! That sounds great~. I’ll look forward to it~. Also, I’ll prepare Little Spice’s formal wear behind the scenes~. Wow, things are getting busy~!”

Ms. Inukai was in high spirits.

The roughly three-hour work call ended, and from here it was time to check emails and such.

“Oh, Little Chara says he’s doing some work related to Dwarves, so he can’t come to Tokyo until the end of this week.”

“Ahh, that guy has gotten really close with the Dwarves who came to Fukuoka, hasn’t he?”

Other Species have appeared all over Japan, and many of them tend to settle in specific regions.

Like the Manma in Yaeyama, the Mermaids in Kanagawa, and the Dwarves in Fukuoka.

Elves have settled from Tokyo to the Tohoku region, and Centaurs are distributed pretty much all over Honshu, I think. I heard they recently landed in Hokkaido too.

There are voices cautioning against the Other Species spreading across all of Japan, but in today’s Japan, where the population has dropped from a hundred million to less than half due to the Dungeon Calamity…

We can never have enough hands.

In many regions, there are loud voices welcoming the Other Species who settle down and take on various jobs.

So, Fukuoka became lively with Dwarves pouring in en masse…

And before anyone knew it, an ultra-large Dungeon called the Underground Labyrinth seems to have formed.

This also serves as the Dwarves’ dwelling, and they’re in charge of its maintenance and management.

Teaching these Dwarves about human culture is Charaway’s job, it seems.

Hmm, a major role!

Hang in there, Charaway!!

“Because of that, I haven’t been able to meet Little Chara lately~”

“That’s true~. He was always a busy person, but now he seems incredibly busy.”

“Yeah~”

“By the way, Senpai, why are you Little Spice until dinnertime?”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. I’ve been streaming and on work calls in this form all day, so~”

I returned to my original form.

In the Japanese-style room, the Grimoires were gathered together, chatting noisily.

“I hear our Master is having new clothes made! The humans of this world are something else~. To think they can provide clothing for a Witch!”

“Hmm, are they strong-looking clothes? If not, I’m not very interested~”

“Probably not for combat, I’d say. I’m somewhat interested, though.”

“The sea isn’t involved, is it?”

“It seems there’s a sea inside the Net too! That terrifying woman defeated a Cardinal Sin demon nesting in the Net Sea!”

“Eh!? There’s a sea!? I want to go!! I want to go right now!!”

Marinna’s getting excited.

Maybe I could dive into the Net Sea with her.

I hear Dungeons are appearing in Virtual Spaces too.

Besides, there’s no particular reason Shiroko and Marie’s collab has to be in the real world.

They could do a Dungeon Stream in a Virtual Space…

“I need to start planning this out.”

For Independent Streamers, every day is both a day off and a workday!

There are endless things to do and things we want to do.