Fade to Black

-.

.-

I leaned back as if suddenly remembering something, and nodded. "Ah. Sorry, Zanac. Was I too loud? Really, I'm just excited to be back, there's so many new interesting developments. Viscount Sordrick sends his regards, by the way."

"Kuh. That is the proper response. Show respect to the owner of the establishment as you would be a guest in someone's home!" The noble lady held a thumb up to her lips and bit at her nails in frustration. "Even if you intend to buy, the owner has no obligation to allow you to stay – it is their right to refuse a sale…"

Then she pointed at me "But are you ignoring me?!"

I walked in, not even paying her any attention. I whipped out the silver-alloy medal and asked "Hey, Zanac! Look what I have now!"

Zanac blinked his small, childlike eyes. "Is… is that the Duke of Ortlinde's symbol? You are a privileged person to the House of Ortlinde?!"

"Yep. So all those things we talked about before? We can now completely sidestep all lesser functionaries."

"Ah… excuse me, but… may I know your name, gentleman adventurer?"

"… Hm?"

And now that lady from before was sidling closer, slightly leaning forward to give me a good view of the low-cut bodice typical of their seemingly 17th to early 18th century fashions. I dimly recalled this was why Puritan fashion was so insistent on covering up as a reactionary measure to immoral consumption. There were sumptuary laws (1) that forbid commoners from dressing up in a way that imitated the appearance (and thus being mistaken for) aristocrats.

While it was odd to me how oddly anachronistic were the cuts of some regular clothes, what with vests and neckties and such, here nobles were apparently not only okay with but were apparently expected to have most of their breasts just hanging out dangerously close to scandalous slippage. Which was, I supposed, historically accurate as well. (2)

And for me, completely unappealing. I tilted my head only enough to acknowledge her existence. "You have good taste, madam. I will ask Zanac to reserve that dress for you. But for now… please leave. Mister Zanac and I have sensitive matters to discuss."

What made it more disturbing was that her face was made up to look like a doll with round bright red circular lipstick and a heavy blush on her cheeks. Deep dark eyeliner highlighted her otherwise uninteresting muddy brown eyes. She did not have drill hair or princess curls, but her dirty blonde hair was pulled tight into a bun secured by a wing-shaped headdress. Her voice too was pitched a little too high, then would drop an octave in anger.

"What-?! You dare drive me away from my… no. Adventurer! I refuse! Tell me your name that I might show you the proper wages to your insolence!"

"You knowing my name or me remembering your name could possibly be… disadvantageous… to you. Whoever you are you should not look for my attention when discharging the duties of my appointment."

She glared at me and grit her teeth. "I… I am the daughter of the House of Zenovivie, you do not scare me…!"

I turned away from her and towards Zanac again.

She balled her fists and clutched at her hooped skirt as if to do a curtsy or maybe lift it up for a high kick. Zanac began shaking his head wildly from side to side, his eyes wide with fear.

"Tch!" she hissed again. "This is not the end of this! You will regret it!" She subtly pulled up on her long gown exposing her heels, and skedaddled forthwith. The girls quickly moved aside to let her through.

Zanac sighed and palmed his face. "Sir Playa, was that really necessary?"

"Completely," I answered.

He stared doubtfully at my flat expression, and sighed. "But that was… no, I guess I'll just have to make it up for her later. What brings you so… energetically… to my door, Sir Playa? It couldn't just be the fulfillment of your mission, though I thank you for that too."

I answered in a much more cheerful tone "Look what else I've got!" I turned aside and Elze approached, slamming down the tubes she was carrying. "Armor cloth! Dye-safe enchanted armor cloth!"

Zanac's eyebrows lifted, impressed. "Those sound expensive. I'm interested, but…" he shook his head, "I'm sorry to say that I don't actually work with armor cloth. I'm afraid I can't buy them."

"I'm not here to sell them, I'm here to ask you to use them to make our suits."

"Ah! Well that makes more sense!" He slid forward and began to stroke at the bolts of cloth in an almost sensual manner. "Fascinating… most fascinating. Still somewhat rough, but I didn't expect mithril weave to be like this. Will this fabric leave permanently bent folds? When you asked me for clothes that could be used in combat, I was presuming you meant clothes made of dirt and tearing resistant materials, not actually armor-quality cloth."

Then he turned his attention to the other bolt of cloth. "And this one is more of a metallic fabric than metal strands. It's like the fibers were infused with the metal. Interesting."

Then he looked up at me and shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately, I still do not work well with armor. You should go for an actual armorer for this. My abilities lie mainly in working with fashion… in clothing without obvious utility. Armor is too obvious in having utility."

I tilted my head to the side. "Why… would that even matter? You are Zanac, the FASHION KING. I'm sure you know how to make things fashionable with your own judgment."

"But I don't know how to make-… wait." He paused and looked up at me. His thin yellow eyebrows furrowed. "What did you just say?"

"You… know fashion? I mean, you know better than any armorer what would make someone look good. Most people would just buy finished suits, but that's why I bought bolts of armor cloth instead."

Zanac looked up at me. Then his face all scrunched up and his eyes began to water. "You trust me that much?"

"Ah…"

Zanac began to cry. "I had to work hard to make my personal ability have a use... and you just say it's irrelevant!"

I began to panic. "Aaaaah. Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! I was just hoping it would be a cool project. If you don't have time, that's fine too!"

Zanac hugged me by the waist and began to cry into my shirt. Zanac, I would remind you, was a short person even shorter than most women.

What heck. Why. Elze. Linze. Help meee.

They just giggled in response.

"Sir Playa!" Zanac looked up and declared proudly, "I may not be an armorer, but you understand… fashion is what we make of it! With only my own skills, my own experience, this is possible. You saw that, didn't you?"

-.

.-

And so we were paid one gold (7 silver + 3 bonus) for our mission. And then we ended up paying Zanac two gold (20 silver) each for our new combat outfits, with another two gold on completion. That was all labor costs, because the cloths themselves cost a platinum each (100 silver). Which really led me to remember that Zanac had vastly overpaid me on our first meeting for my clothes.

We all stared at the exchange, and laughed. He tried to give back half of the down payment.

"Zanac… we're kinda friends, right?" I said as I refused.

"Y-yes!" the clothier responded eagerly. "I am honored to be considered your friend, Sir Zah!"

"So it's a matter of respect for your own time and expertise. It doesn't matter if it's a thing you enjoy or if we're going to have fun brainstorming or getting the girls to dress up, it's still valuable work hours we're spending."

Elze still looked unconvinced. "We're not damsels that need to be protected, you know. We're capable of paying for our own stuff."

"Well of course. But the thought would not normally occur to buy armor cloth instead of a finished outfit. What the clothes will look like in the end is completely your decision."

"Sis… there are advantages to this," Linze said softly. "There was actually something I wanted to ask Mister Zanac about this anyway. Not… um, armor clothes. Just regular clothes."

Elze sighed and turned to Yae. "I guess I'm outnumbered. But what about you? What do you think about all this frippery?"

Yae shrugged minutely. "I am… fine… with what I have right now. However, having clothes that resist tearing or stabbing, I must admit to some interest in such things, that I am."

I grinned at Elze a bit. "Oh we are so going to have fun playing dress-up with you. It's completely fine to want to wear regular dresses, you know?"

"S-shut up! It's not like that! I'm… I'm the sensible one! I am!"

For as Zanac and I had discussed before, the concept of a fashion show or a fashion magazine did not actually exist just yet. What's sensible but gorgeous clothing for adventurers? Branding was important! There was a wild untapped market out for people with poor spending tempers, large amounts of pride and independent feeling, and disposable income!

Zanac and I grinned and slapped our palms together in a strong comradely handshake.

We exited Zanac's FASHION KING ZANAC to see the noble lady from before waiting for us by the curb. A tall thin servant held up an umbrella while another shorter fatter one fanned her with an ostritch-feather fan to beat the mid-afternoon heat.

Also there with her were four burly guards right in front of the door in between us and her. They had broad square jaws, even broader shoulders, and surprisingly hefted billy clubs instead of guardsman's swords. The wore bronzed breastplates for protection, the metal etched with an insignia of a wolf in front of a gate.

"Finally! To make me wait, your rudeness really knows no bounds!"

I opened my arms out in bewilderment. "… What even is this? You were waiting all this time preparing to beat us up and I'm the one who's rude?"

"YOU ARE A FAAAAKEEE!" she yelled and pointed at me with a slim red manicured finger.

/"… Well she's not wrong,"/ Monika said impishly.

-.

.-

"Lady, do you really think we just forged up these medals?" I took out my Ortlinde medal again, and then the girls slowly showed theirs as well.

The noblewoman's eyes only narrowed in response. "F-favor is given and can be taken back! As the old aphorism goes, the tail should not be wagging the dog! Do not think that will protect you if your actions work against the interests and the reputation of House Ortlinde!"

"Look, if this this about my behavior inside Zanac's shop, I apologize. But I have no time for unnecessary obsequiousness. Surely you cannot expect an adventurer to adhere to your courtly standards. That is why we are free men and women."

"Adventurers are parasites! There is nothing they do that cannot be done by a well-trained military instead!" Then she made as if picking up an invisible box and putting it away. "But setting that aside – my problem is with you – a suspicious person like you! I won't allow you to take advantage of Zanac's kindness!"

Elze tilted her head to the side and stared at my face. "Well… she's not lying about that. You totally suspicious person, you."

I grinned. And with an arrogant wave of my arm and flipping my cape back, I declared "ZANAC IS MY FRIEND! And I don't know who you think you are… but I think maybe Zanac also needs to be protected from a two-faced woman like you!"

Crack.

With every twitch of her cheek there was this cracking sound. Like her sanity was breaking. Weird.

Wait, no. That was the flagstones breaking beneath her feet.

"Huh. You're heavier than you look," the words escaped my mouth before I could realize what I was saying. Even Monika looked offended.

"DESTROOOY HIIIIM!" the lady ordered.

Her guards barreled at us all in line like a wall of muscle and metal. "Elze?" I asked nonchalantly.

Elze merely snorted in response. And then a few steps later as the man-shaped mountains approached she said "Fiiine…"and surged forward to meet them.

Bang.

One of the men was knocked back and out of the line, his metal breastplate now sporting a fist-shaped dent in it. The three remaining attackers moved past her form, standing there with her right arm out. They had too much momentum to stop.

The one closest to the right had the best luck to be facing Yae. She took just one step forward that brought her surprisingly far, grabbed at his arm hefting the billy club and then just flipped him over apparently with no regard for their weight difference.

Whump. He slammed onto the ground, back-first, safely but suddenly knocked unconscious.

The one in front of Linze angled his body to turn aside. She was not the target after all, and by her panicked "Eep!" and her cringing it seemed he didn't want to harm her in the first place.

Unfortunately, Elze hear the fear in her sister's voice and kicked him from behind in the butt. He shot past and crashed into the wall. Whack.

And the last-

I could see the guardsman's eyes while he couldn't see mine. In them I didn't see any anger, merely resignation. This was just part of his job, he didn't enjoy any of it. He would beat me to a pulp, but probably keep it merely to areas that obviously bruise so that he could stop hitting me as soon as possible.

That did not mean he was innocent, however. 'Just following orders' had ceased to be an excuse since Nuremberg.

I snapped my fingers and a magical flashbang burst in front of his face.

And as he screamed and clutched at his face, suddenly (but not permanently) blinded, I stepped aside and assisted him with introducing his face to the wall.

Whump.

There was now nothing in between us and that arrogant noble lady. I gave her a rakish grin. "Is that all? This is stupid easy, bring an army next time."

"You- you – you! You coward! You hide behind women and have them do your fighting for you! You are no gentleman!"

/"Well, she's… completely accurate… about that."/

I put one hand behind my back and gestured grandly with the other one. Rejoice! "And so you would have me fight three against one in the interests of 'fairness'? I refuse your hypocritical and self-serving standards! If you wish to humble me, do it yourself! If you borrow the power of others, you are in no way better than me. Worse, even, for at least I dare to put my own power to the test in the name of my ideals! Freedom is mine!"

Crack. Crack. Crack.

She clenched her fists and every small movement left this cracking noise, as if her very joints were rusted steel being forced to move again.

Then forced them open again. "No… no! You will not drag me down to your level, you devil! Do not tempt me!"

She clapped her hand twice, and stepped back.

A sedan chair on the back of two porters appeared from out a nearby alley, the men grunting out "Hup! Hup! Hup!" as they marched into place. (3)

She stepped into the personal sedan and pointed at me again. "This is not the end of this! Count yourself lucky that it is uncouth to disturb the peace!"

"Hurgh!" The porters tried and failed to lift her.

The bright rouge on her face meant that no one could see her blush. She sat primly and then her porters tried again. With effortless ease they hefted the divan chair's posts to their waist level.

"Hup! Hup! Hup!"

"I am Zorah Zorea Zenovivie, daughter of Marquis Zenovivie of the Zenovian March! Too many peons like you take advantage of Zanac's generosity! Too many of you forget to respect the House that has shed so much blood to defend you! I will remember thiiisss…!" she shouted leaning out of the window as her servants tromped away down the street.

And then soon enough they were gone.

Leaving behind the injured bodyguards of House of Zenovivi. And then suddenly out from the alley emerged a donkey-pulled wagon with more servants dressed in garish orange and yellow. They hefted the unconscious guards and piled them onto the wagon, and then... slowly… evacuated from the scene.

And then we were left blinking in confusion. Regular Reflet citizens began walking through the street as if nothing had happened.

/"… well… that just happened..."/ Monika said numbly.

"We leave for a week and my nice sane hometown goes crazy. What the heck?" I huffed.

/"Is this really a thing we should be doing? You get a little bit of power and authority and suddenly you're picking fights with nobles? No, Player, YOU are the mid-boss."/

"It's fine. We're not going to be abusing the Duke Ortlinde's protection, so there's no harm in trolling some low-level flunkies."

"But she's from a Marquise," Linze said hesitantly. "I don't think you should be picking fights with lords like that."

"Marquis? How far below a Duke is that rank?"

"It's… right below the Duke, I think? But they rule a March… a border region. And the border region between Belfast and Regulus is a very important one," Linze answered.

"I see." I rubbed at my chin. Huh. And all this time I thought it was something like the leader of a knighthood or a light cavalry raiding squadron. Turns out that's the Maquis – the French guerilla fighters in WW2 and directly referenced as the Federation-Cardassian border independents in Star Trek. THAT's what I was thinking about. Ma-quis. Nor Mar-quis.

And then I sighed. "Ah, shite."

"Also I think you were just bullying Zanac's niece or cousin or something," Elze added.

"Double shite."

I turned around, opened the shop doors slightly and poked my head in. "ZANAC!" I shouted indelicately. "Who did I just piss off?!"

"Zorah, youngest daughter of Marquis Zorat Zornes Zenovivie!" he shouted back, not even looking up from what he was doing. "She's technically my aunt even if she's younger than me! She can really hold a grudge – she still hasn't forgiven me for muddying her dress from that time when we were little children. How do you think I learned that my special Null magic had something to do with fine clothing!"

"DAMMIT."

Elze and Monika began openly laughing behind my back.

-.

.-

And so, with all of that done, we returned to the inn.

We feasted. Then we rested. There was nothing to look forward to than to finally be able to sleep in a bed with a roof over our head. Even comparing it to the luxury of that hotel in Alephis, our rooms in the Silver Moon Inn had a warmer, homely charm.

I shucked all the heavy clothes I'd been wearing for almost a week straight now, and collapsed onto my bed. I removed my headset for the first time in so many days, and it felt weird not to have its weight straining my neck. Monika emerged again from the projector, but upside-down.

/"Exhausted? Player, I know you have poor impulse control but from what I've seen it's about time for you to slow down. I know you like to ham it up, but there's a line to cross when you just turn into an asshole."/

While defending ourselves against noble over-reach was excusable, where was the person who could keep his temper from being directly insulted? All of that could have been avoided if one simply did not put on airs; be it commoner or noble at large. /"What's up with that behavior?"/ she asked.

I exhaled heavily. "I have no excuse. Many social maladjusted people unintentionally offend people and then we worry so much about it after the fact. Embracing the ability to cause offense… well, hiding your feelings of inferiority with making others feel inferior… that's the dark side of trolling."

I scowled. "Right, I shouldn't be just pulling shit on random people. Thinking back… she was right, I was being very rude. If I just gave everyone the basic level of respect instead of dismissing them from how they look, from their social station… I'd have more possible allies and be much less of a hypocrite."

There was no reason for me to do these things maliciously. Trolling people was fun. If that woman… Zarah… would fly off the handle for something so little and beat people down for that, well maybe she deserved a little comeuppance. But still there was no real reason for me to trigger her for that. My scowl deepened. Weird. Why did I so strongly feel the need to express that disdain in the first place?

Self-entitled people will never really be happy as they expect to have more and will always want more. I exhaled again and relaxed my body. Monika stared down at me, looking for something that I couldn't identify.

Some time back, I bought and placed several mirrors around the room. One of them glued to the ceiling. By varying the angle and which mirror to project to, Monika could actually present the illusion of walking around. Free of the confines of her little box or the conical constraints of a projection mist.

By placing a [Mist Wall] inside a stack, she could actually move around the light-scattering mist layer. What she couldn't normally move around however, was her own projector light, though she could vary the angle it exited the lens.

All combined, this meant that in a dark, shuttered room, Monika looked almost convincingly solid as she sat down beside me on my bed. I looked down to see there was actually some slight deformation on the bed surface. If I were to put back on the headset, she could edit out the light beams and overlay her 3D rendered image to complete the illusion.

"So…" I began, a small smile slowly growing on my face. "Haptic feedback, huh? I wonder how long you were working on that."

Monika blushed and avoided my eyes.

I hummed. "Thinking about it, it's obvious how that would work. A holographic image is just a matter of scanning lines, and if there's any interruptions in the scan, that can be converted into information. So you can actually… feel things. It makes sense, it's a direct externalization of your platform."

/"It's not just that. Bouncing sound waves off the walls also works."/ She began poking at my bare abs. /"It's why I don't clip through things anymore when indoors. Outdoors, I can vaguely do point aural sources for surround sound."/

Looks like talking with Charlotte did prove useful. I reached out and poked back, at her squishy cheeks. "But how are you even doing this? This is new. Hiroyuki Shinoda's tactile holograms using ultrasound?"(4)

It wasn't full tactile sensation yet, but there was significant pressure there to let me know not to push deeper and break the illusion. But too much ultrasound would have results more like microwave heating. It was very dangerous. And if Monika could bounce sound off invisible walls, she could boil people's brains inside their skulls.

/"I can do… interesting things… with static electricity too."/

Right. I manipulated location and configurations of matter, she could influence energy states. Then, much to my surprise, Monika bent down and I felt a tingle at my lips.

She pulled away, blushing heavily.

I grinned back. Well.

My eyebrows wiggled. Monika clenched her fists on her lap and turned away. But I could tell a small smile also tugged at her cheeks.

What a man and his smartphone did in the privacy of their own room, well, that was no one's business but their own.

-.

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1. (ʰᵗᵗᵖˢ:/ʷᵒᵐᵉⁿᶦⁿᵉᵘʳᵒᵖᵉᵃⁿʰᶦˢᵗᵒʳʸ.ʷᵒʳᵈᵖʳᵉˢˢ.ᶜᵒᵐ/²⁰¹⁴/⁰³/²⁷/ˢᵘᵐᵖᵗᵘᵃʳʸ⁻ˡᵃʷˢ⁻ᶠᵃˢʰᶦᵒⁿ⁻ᶠᵒʳ⁻ʷᵒᵐᵉⁿ⁻ᶦⁿ⁻ᵗʰᵉ⁻ᵉᵃʳˡʸ⁻ᵐᵒᵈᵉʳⁿ⁻ᵖᵉʳᶦᵒᵈ/)

2. (ʰᵗᵗᵖ:/ʷʷʷ.ᵉᵏᵈᵘⁿᶜᵃⁿ.ᶜᵒᵐ/²⁰¹²/⁰³/ⁿᵃᵘᵍʰᵗʸ⁻ˢᶦᵈᵉ⁻ᵒᶠ⁻¹⁸ᵗʰ⁻ᶜᵉⁿᵗᵘʳʸ⁻ᶠʳᵉⁿᶜʰ.ʰᵗᵐˡ)

3. (ʰᵗᵗᵖˢ:/ᶦʳᶦˢˢᵃⁿˢᶠʳᵒⁿᵗᶦᵉʳᵉˢ.ᶠᶦˡᵉˢ.ʷᵒʳᵈᵖʳᵉˢˢ.ᶜᵒᵐ/²⁰¹⁶/⁰¹/ᵃⁿ⁻¹⁸ᵗʰ⁻ᶜᵉⁿᵗᵘʳʸ⁻ʳᵒᶜᵒᶜᵒ⁻ˢᵉᵈᵃⁿ⁻ᶜʰᵃᶦʳ⁻ᵇʸ⁻ᵍ⁻ᵇᵒʳᵍᵉˡˡᶦ.ʲᵖᵍ)

4. (ʰᵗᵗᵖˢ:/ᵐᵒᵗʰᵉʳᵇᵒᵃʳᵈ.ᵛᶦᶜᵉ.ᶜᵒᵐ/ᵉⁿ_ᵘˢ/ᵃʳᵗᶦᶜˡᵉ/⁷⁸ˣᵃ⁵ˣ/ʰᵒʷ⁻ʰᵃᵖᵗᶦᶜˢ⁻ᵐᵃᵏᵉ⁻ʰᵒˡᵒᵍʳᵃᵐˢ⁻ʸᵒᵘ⁻ᶜᵃⁿ⁻ᵗᵒᵘᶜʰ)

-.

.-

AN:

And since it's apparently a tradition here on FF net, might as well start answering questions raised in the reviews.

- I still don't understand the Dare Devil spell they made? Is it a buff? Don't they need to be around
- Sue's Mother to keep it active?
- Deo V

Nope. Using the rules introduced in Ch7 (The Accumulation of Power), Monika's spells are maintained by ambient magic. All Monika sacrifices is one spell slot.

- Thanks for the update, also did Playa think of making a temporary terminoculus for Monika?(homonculus
- machine). It won't be a 'human' body, but it would be easier to get quicker results(hugs and nookie
- time). And if they went the rinnegan 'remote bodies control'...
- D

Yes, of course. Heck, if micro-SD cards worked like that Playa would get all Frankenstein into this genre. But a remotely controlled body is going to have to be something that accepts wireless control over its servos or can directly be piloted by her smartphone body.

Yes, literally a Mobile Suite. MS-01 MNKA.