CHAPTER 463: FITTING

Despite her unwillingness, Ava did a great job temporarily taking on the task of acting as Lane’s secretary. When Lane finally returned from all of his raids a month later (all three of which resulted in only the monsters’ population reductions, with the elite team being unable to fully clear the dungeons within the allocated time, just as Lane had predicted), Lane had found his inbox well-managed. Ava went through all the emails from Blanc and Vulcan, as well as those from the Forbidden Zone’s lab (although the latter was out of personal interest), leaving only the military and management affairs, and the reports from the spies, untouched.

In a way, perhaps she even did too good of a job. After her (relatively) swift and concrete answers, Blanc was probably going to be even more annoyed at Lane’s usual way of responding...

Oh well. At least Lane had been able to avoid the trouble. Just as he had expected, Blanc had come up with new ideas as to how to use the summit to their advantage, and thanks to Ava’s timely responses (in Lane’s name), he was reporting the progress of all the preparations as he proceeded. Since he had Lane’s explicit permission (or so he thought), he had no reason to conceal anything.

That was what Lane was most concerned about. Not what Blanc might do, but whether he would be in the know. It would be hard for him to react appropriately and take control of the situation if he had no idea what was going on, especially since he didn’t have time to go visit Forbidden Zone No. 74 and meet with his underlings in person...

And he truly didn’t have time. Although the raids were over (for now), the life of the Association’s Field Agents never stopped being busy. The members of the elite team were given time off to rest from the raids before they would have to jump into the multitude of tasks assigned to them in preparation for the summit, but that was two days.

Two days, for which Lane already had plans. He wanted to meet up with Ava again, since he brought more samples and monster carcasses from the other three dungeons as thanks for her help, and the other was, of course, going on the engagement ring hunt for Damien!

He started with the former, since Damien also had a day off, for a change. Not that Lane was going to involve Damien in the process - it would have ruined the surprise! - but...

They had to go to the mall anyway. Why? Because Damien’s custom suit fitting was long overdue! It had already been more than three months since their original consultations. Within this time period, the suits should have been ready, and instead, they were still waiting for their base fitting! The tailor tried to contact them multiple times, but since Lane and Damien had been inside the dungeons most of the time, he hadn’t been able to reach them.

Thankfully, because Lane was a valuable client, he was able to make an appointment, even at such short notice. In the morning, not long after breakfast (another oatmeal, since Damien didn’t have time to get any groceries done yet), Lane drove them to his favorite mall to get the fitting done... Among the other things.

He didn’t want to raise any suspicions, though, so at first, he followed Damien to the tailor’s. Of course, Damien wouldn’t have protested even if Lane wanted to send him there alone, saying that he wanted to buy a few things somewhere else... But it would be rather unusual for Lane to do so, considering that the last time, he had watched the whole ’show’, not leaving Damien even for a moment... And it was already past Damien’s birthday, and still a while until Valentine’s Day, so he shouldn’t have any secret presents to buy.

Perhaps Lane was overthinking it. However, it was his first (and most likely last) time buying an engagement ring, so it was only natural that he put a lot of thought into it, trying to make it perfect. Either way, he entered the tailor’s shop with Damien, and once Damien was trying on the first of the suits, still with basted stitching, he turned to the tailor,

"Actually, I would like to order another suit for myself. Can we discuss it now?"

The tailor paused, glancing back at Lane with hesitation. Of course, he wanted to take the order, but...

He couldn’t exactly discuss the designs and materials while doing Damien’s fitting at the same time. On top of that, they were short on time... He had managed to squeeze in the appointment, but he barely had enough time to do the fittings of all the suits for Damien that he was working on, let alone do another consultation!

"Ah, I can just discuss it with your assistant," Lane suggested, as if he were trying to make a compromise, even though it had been his goal from the start. "You already have my measurements, and I just want something similar to another suit from you that I already have, only that in a different color... So there’s not all that much to discuss."

The tailor glanced at his assistant, before turning to Lane again. "If that’s alright with you... Then, Pete, please take care of our client," he nodded at his assistant.

"Thanks! I’ll be back soon!" Lane smiled, winking at Damien, and followed the assistant, Pete, out of the room.

"So... Mr. Allen, which of the designs were you talking about?" Pete pulled out their logbook, flipping through the pages, until he found Lane’s name. His eyes scanned all the designs listed, along with the dates and all the other details...

However, to his surprise, Lane only waved his hand. "Ah, actually, I just want you to pretend we had a consultation."

"...I’m sorry?" Pete blinked, lifting his eyes from the pages, utterly confused.

"I’m gonna step out for a while. You just stay here until I’m back, alright?" Lane explained. "Keep it a secret, and pretend we have a consultation... And about the suit’s design, you can decide. Just pick something nice, alright?"

"...You want me to decide, Sir?" Pete blinked once again. He didn’t necessarily mind that part, but... "I’m going to have to tell my boss about that."

He didn’t want to get in trouble for lying at work. He really liked this job, didn’t want to lose it for such a stupid reason... He didn’t want to offend Lane either by rejecting his request, but... Being honest with his boss seemed more important.

Luckily for him, Lane didn’t mind that. "You can tell your boss, just, once we’re gone from the shop. He can even call me if he has any doubts. It’s just that I don’t want my boyfriend to know... I want to buy him a present, and it has to be a surprise."

"Oh." Pete still didn’t quite understand. Although that sounded much better... Why couldn’t Lane just come back another day to buy that present, then?

Of course, he couldn’t because he was a Field Agent and was busier than any ordinary person, but the tailor’s assistant wasn’t aware of that.

And Lane was too busy to explain.

"So?" he asked, getting impatient. He had to be back before Damien noticed anything off, and he didn’t know how long trying the rings on was going to take. "Are you going to do it or not?"

"...I suppose I could do it..."

"Great!" Lane exhaled with exasperation. Convincing the assistant took longer than it was supposed to take. Now that it was done, though, he rushed to the door, opening it as quietly as he could. "I’ll be back soon!" he said, disappearing before Pete could say anything else.

He ran through the mall to P & M Jewelers, the very same jewelry shop he had visited with Damien three months prior to ’look at the watches’. Thankfully, the mall was still mostly empty, as it had only just opened...

He burst into the shop at full speed (well... Perhaps not his ’full’ speed, but at least at the speed exceeding what a civilian could achieve), startling the shop assistants.

"I would like to try on some rings!" he announced right from the entrance. "Give me the biggest sizes that you have!"

It took a moment for the shop assistants to recover from the shop and realize that, despite how it might have looked, they were not getting robbed... Probably.

"Um... Is there anything specific you’re looking for, Sir?" The more cool-headed one of them stepped forward first, her eyes quickly scanning Lane. He was young, handsome, wearing expensive, brand clothes, but without being too flashy about it. Aside from his unusual hair (and even more unusual entrance), he seemed just like someone from a rich family. Overall, he did look like he could just be another one of their clients, which helped her calm down after the initial shock.

"Diamond rings would be the best," Lane said, approaching the counter. "But anything will do. I just need to see your largest sizes..."

The shops usually carried what could sell, which meant that most of the rings they had in stock would be in common women’s sizes. Damien, on the other hand, was a tall man, with relatively thick fingers at that... Thus, Lane couldn’t be picky.

He wasn’t there to buy a ring, anyway, as he already had the design picked - a custom diamond ring made out of white gold, which he was going to order online.

All that he needed to complete the order was the size.