Chapter 48 – Outfitting

They still had a few things to do today to be ready for tomorrow, so Reina decided to split the party.

Kuromo needed something that would change with him when he transformed. Baric said armor with the mana brand effect could do that, if it was fitted properly to begin with, but it would be a constant drain while transformed. Kuromo did have large amount of MP, so that was a possibility.

Reina did have her old armor with that effect. But looking at Kuromo…there was no way she was going to let a young boy—or someone who looked like one—walk around wearing something like that.

However, Baric gave a better alternative. He knew of a wizard in the capital that could make thread out of someone's magic that would let them transform. It wasn't too common, since not many wizards used transformation magic in combat. Still, it wasn't much more difficult to work with than normal thread for a tailor, and Baric would then be able to combine that with some mana brand armor that then wouldn't be a constant drain when it transformed.

And so, the party was split. Reina, Kuromo, and Grim left for the wizard while Vyrdrun and Maria stayed behind. Apparently, Maria wanted something made for her. That was a good thing, in Reina's opinion. She wasn't all that comfortable with Maria wearing…well, the revealing clothing was bad, but it also didn't protect her much. Some light enchantment on it made it as good as weak armor.

The three of them walked through the city, Kuromo to her left and Grim to her right. It would have been an ordinary walk, if Reina didn't spot Kuromo shifting his head from side to side. His eyes were darting all over the place, though his expression remained the same.

This wasn't the first time Kuromo was in a city, but he was pretty young back then. He was still young now, but the point remained. Reina might have wondered what he was doing, but it wasn't hard to figure out. Every time someone got just a little too close, Kuromo would slide closer to Reina and glare at them until they passed.

"Okay, he's adorable." She thought to herself.

Kuromo was very protective of her. Not just her safety, but her wellbeing as well. He wanted to make sure she ate enough and slept enough. It wasn't like she wasn't doing those things already, but the way he acted made it seem like he thought she was hopeless or clumsy. Like he had to be the responsible one.

Then again, after everything Reina went through, maybe she was a bit hopeless. She'd nearly died quite a few times already, and had to be saved more than once.

"Quite the devoted son you have." Grim remarked.

Reina sighed. "Remember when we first met and you were all serious? Please go back to that."

"When we first met, I was having a spat with a bishop of the Violet Storm Church." Grim said with a raised eyebrow.

"…Right. You were." She forgot about that, focusing more on him trying to be professional with her.

"With that said, I need to make another stop." Grim said. "I'll go back to Baric's when I'm done, so we can split up if you're fine with that."

"Yeah, go ahead." Reina told him.

"Mister Grim, we need to protect Mother." Kuromo said, keeping his eyes on the people around them.

"I'm sure your mother will be okay for a little while." Grim said. "It's not like anyone is going to attack her out in the open."

Reina might have disagreed with that, but Lespax had been good to her so far, and she fought in two of their Waves.

"Besides," Grim went on, "she's pretty strong."

"Hm." Kuromo paused. "I suppose that is true."

"You don't sound too sure about that." Reina thought. Kuromo definitely thought she needed protecting.

Without further argument, Grim broke away from them and went off on his own. There weren't many things she could think of that he would do here, but one came to mind. The prince had brought it up earlier. Grim was probably going to send a message through an orator, probably to Duke Balta, possibly about whoever commissioned armor for her.

Not that it mattered to her. Reina supposed the duke might try to one-up Duke Alfred, so it could work out well. Or, he could try to interfere with the armor being made. Since Baric got out of Savia, Reina wasn't too worried about that.

"Mother." Kuromo spoke up. "When will you make the treats you promised?"

"Oh!" Reina had forgotten about that. She did promise to make some for when she and Maria…well, she also decided to make some because of everything Kuromo had to put up with from Lola. "Well, I might be able to make some today. We'll need to find an inn that'll let me use their oven for a bit."

"What about the castle?" Kuromo asked.

"Well…" Before they left, the prince did offer them rooms in the castle for the night.

"It would be safer than anywhere else in the city." He pointed out.

Reina could only smile at that. Kuromo was exceptionally protective of her. Maybe it was because of Sabien, and the two invading heroes from the Wave. With so many people around, any one of them could be a danger to her. Not that it was likely…though she didn't forget about the two Demon Lords from Keston that posed as adventurers.

"Okay, we'll spend the night in the castle." She said. There was no particular reason not to, aside maybe avoiding some weird political 'prank' the prince might set up.

~Forging Legends~

The errands passed by without issue. Reina and Kuromo found the wizard, a slightly eccentric old man who was more than happy to help. He had some crystal set up on a spinning wheel that absorbed magic and spun out thread. All he wanted in return was to observe Kuromo while he made the thread, having never seen a shapeshifted dragon before. It was a good deal.

From there, the pair found a tailor the wizard recommended. After browsing his wares, Kuromo decided on what he wanted made, though he spoke quietly to the tailor about it. There wasn't really a rush, but the tailor promised to have it done by tomorrow morning. It would save Kuromo the trouble of stripping down before transforming while traveling for a week, so Reina wasn't going to complain.

After that, everyone met back up at Baric's shop. Reina handed over some extra thread for him to work with. She also remembered that bones and other monster parts could be used to improve armor. After a little back and forth, Reina left her current armor with him, along with the skull and part of the spine of the last Wave boss. Both hers and Grim's armor could be improved with it.

Vyrdrun got his weapon from him. It was a poleaxe, standing nearly as tall as him. She knew it wasn't a halberd since it had a hammer head on its other side; a spear tip was still on the top. Unlike most of the polearms Reina had seen here—or in her game, from which she knew the difference between weapons—it was made completely out of metal. The head of the weapon was also about twice as big as it should have been for its size, likely the reason for the shaft's material. Vyrdrun would definitely be able to do some damage with it.

Then, the party went to the Dragon Hourglass for class corrections. Vyrdrun and Maria had missed out on the one for level 40, so it was past time they fixed that. Kuromo missed out on a few as well.

Reina also pulled out the terricot bark she got when they sailed to Gathana a few weeks ago. From there, it was back to the castle. They were offered a meal, and Reina was allowed to use the kitchen to prepare Kuromo's treats.

~Forging Legends~

In the room provided to them, Reina waved her hand in front of the small, glowing dot in the air. The doors to Maria's mansion spell appeared and opened for her. Once through, she saw her party chatting at the table.

"I'm back." She announced, setting a small basket on the table.

"Why did you have me wait here, Mother?" Kuromo asked. "What if something happened to you? You were not even wearing any armor."

"Oh hush." Reina patted his head. While Kuromo turned his head away grumpily, his tail swished happily. "No one was going to attack me in the castle. Now then, everyone take one piece. The rest will be for Kuromo for later."

Within the basket was the result of years of practice. It was the only thing she was confident in making in this world with mostly unfamiliar ingredients. The milk was off and the sweetener was closer to honey, but she made do. The end result: chocolate. They were simple pieces cut from a thin block with an athame.

"Mmm!" Maria's eyes lit up as she ate a piece. She swayed from side to side. "Delicious!"

"This is really good." Grim nodded, licking the remaining warm chocolate off his finger.

"I would never think to use it for this." Vyrdrun remarked. He'd said before it was used in potions to reduce the effects of violet rain.

"Mother's skill is unmatched." Kuromo's reaction was by far the best. As usual, his words were delivered plainly, as if they were commonly accepted truth. However, not only was his tail wagging in appreciation, his wings fluttered as well.

"So cute." While apprehensive about being assigned the role of mother from him before, she was starting to really open up to the idea. Truthfully, with him more human-like now, she'd be happier being seen as a big sister, but she'd take it.

"I'm glad you all like it." Reina said, trying to fight back the blush on her face. She always liked getting compliments on her baking from her gaming group.

"Mother, how many more may I have?" Kuromo asked, though he did take another piece.

Reina had to think for a moment. "Let's see…two pieces for the nights I spent alone with Maria…" As much as she tried not to, those thoughts kept coming back to her. "Anyway, I also wanted to give him some due to Lola picking on him. So…"

She settled on a number. "Three more pieces. The rest can be snacks for later."

"In case you want to spend a night with—" A warning finger from Reina cut Grim off. He held up his hands. "Alright, alright. That's off limits."

"Good." Reina nodded. She did her best to not look at Maria, though she couldn't help but notice the dejected look that flashed across her face. "This is for the best." She would tell herself that again and again, no matter how many times it took to make herself believe it.

~Forging Legends~

The night passed without issue. Reina's stolen memory was extremely recent, getting chocolate for being a good son…daughter…

Again, the lines between the dream and awareness were blurred.

In any case, they had a quest to start on today. A light meal in the castle and they were off to Baric's.

When they arrived, the smith was already hammering away at something. He waved them over and had them follow him inside the adjoined building.

"For the Hascain noble, your breastplate." He said, handing over the armor. "Defense is improved, along with magic resistance."

Grim started fitting the breastplate over his chainmail as Baric went over a few more details with him.

"For the Spirit Forger, your improved dragon armor." Baric showed her the set that was on the workbench. She let her appraisal show her how it was.

Black Dragon Knight Armor 1
defense up (medium), magic up (medium), acid resistance (medium), fear resistance (medium), magic resistance (medium), magic absorption (tiny), blind-sense, mana brand, automatic recovery function

It was indeed an improvement. Most of the effects increased a category, and it even got magic absorption, like her Mirror Bend Armor.

"And lastly…" Baric gestured to the doorway.

Reina then realized two things. First, Maria wasn't with the rest of the group while Baric was going over the two pieces of armor. Second…

"What are you wearing!?" She screeched upon seeing Maria step forward.

"What do you mean, Reina?" Maria coyly asked, one hand on her hip with the other going through her hair. "I just decided to start wearing armor~."

It wasn't just any armor she was wearing. It was Reina's Mirror Bend Armor, clearly resized to fit the taller, more filled-out woman. That wasn't saying much, given what it actually looked like.

The metal band around her chest was barely enough to cover her, and she looked like she could slip out of it at any moment. At least it was widened a little, covering almost as much as a bikini. The silvery, metallic fabric falling from the band at the sides and back didn't reach her hips. As well, her hips were covered by the caskalt skirt and barely went further down. It was the absolute shortest any girl would be allowed to wear a skirt at Reina's school, if even that long.

"I think I fixed that up pretty well." Baric commented.

Reina would have to reconsider whether or not he knew the pervert archmage of Hascain.

"You can't wear that!" Reina shouted at her.

"Why not?" Maria asked innocently. "It's good armor, and it hardly interferes with my magic. You want me to be protected, don't you~?"

She was doing it again. This time, Reina knew there was real merit to Maria's words. The armor was good quality, and its effects were heighted with MP thanks to the mana brand effect. And Maria had MP to spare. It absorbed MP from magic around it, and Maria had that Staff of Death that increased her MP even more than her usual staff.

"…Wear your cloak over it." Still, Reina wasn't going to accept a total loss here.

"Fine~." Maria, at least, accepted this small concession. She still twirled around, letting the fabric on her torso flitter about, before she went back through the hall to collect said cloak. That, her boots, and her hat were the only things she kept from her old set of clothing.

"She isn't making it easy on you, is she?" Grim asked. For once, his tone wasn't light and teasing. Not completely, at least.

"No, she isn't." Reina sighed. No matter what, though, she wouldn't bend on this.

Baric cleared his throat. "In any case, I'll have the armor for Vyrdrun done before you have to leave for the next Wave. You give me at least a day, and I can get some armor pieces on whatever you had made for the dragon boy. You find any interesting monsters, bring me the bones so I can improve what you got."

"How much would it be to get Vyrdrun armor that can't be improved further?" Reina asked. If they could get armor for Vyrdrun like she was apparently getting, it would be worth the cost, even if it took a while.

"Hm." Baric scratched his chin. "A Gromnar will easily need twice the amount of materials, ignoring their preference for more open armor. I'd say—"

"That won't be necessary." Vyrdrun interrupted.

"Huh?" Reina looked up at him. "But…"

Vyrdrun shook his head. "Armor is armor. Wearing and using what one kills is better, but I understand it can't always be done."

Reina wondered if that was due to Gromnar not having easy access to forges. Still, if he really didn't want something like that, she wasn't going to force the issue. Her Black Dragon Knight Armor was work Baric admitted to not being proud of, but it was still great armor. Whatever he made a week from now was bound to be good, even if it didn't meet his standards.

With that, the party left the shop. There was one more stop before they left the city.

On the way to the tailor's again, Reina did her best to keep her eyes forward. Maria…was too much of a tease. Again and again, she wanted to go back on what she said and hold the woman tight. Again and again, she ignored what she wanted and continued to resist.

Kuromo, thankfully, helped keep Maria back. He stood between the two of them, head tilted ever so slightly so he could glare up at Maria.

"Did I do something, Kuromo?" Maria asked sweetly.

"I will not let you have Mother." He responded.

"Whyever not~?" Maria pouted, not taking him seriously at all.

"You are a distraction."

"Oh?"

Of all the things Kuromo could have said, Reina didn't expect that. She always wondered why Kuromo didn't like Maria, settling on the idea that Reina was his mother and he was jealous.

"If Mother is dedicated to you, she will not be able to have strong children."

Kuromo's reason made Reina trip over herself. Kuromo stopped to help hold her up.

"W-W-What!?" She yelled, staring straight at him.

"What is it, Mother?" Kuromo asked, clearly not seeing the issue.

"Why am I having kids!?" She demanded, straightening herself out.

Kuromo tilted his head to the side. "Why would you not? Any children you have will be strong. You will be able to expand your territory and—"

"Okay, enough, stop!" Reina waved her hands in front of her.

His reasoning made sense…to a dragon. Reina wasn't sure what she was expecting out of him, but this was easily within her understanding, even if she never would have thought of this herself.

"Don't you dare!" Reina spun in place and pointed at Grim. The noble had his mouth open, ready to say something inane. This was after a short laughing fit, further proof of what he was going to say.

"I am sure Mister Grim would agree with me." Kuromo went on. "The world is dangerous and our clan is small. That is why you should have a child with Father. He will surely give you a strong child."

"We can't…that's not…" Dumbfounded, Reina tried to find the right words.

"I'm incapable of having children." Vyrdrun gave a practical response to Kuromo's insane suggestion, ignoring other problems with the idea.

"Oh…" Kuromo looked up at his 'father' and blinked. He then turned to the side. "Mister Grim is also strong. Maybe he can—"

"She's not my type." Thankfully, Grim gave a better response…and a worse one. Reina couldn't help but feel it had to do with her appearance, which was good, since she knew she looked younger than she was. But he was still saying she looked like a kid.

"Whatever." She'd take the help.

Reina took in a deep breath to calm herself down a little. They were still in the street and were gaining a lot of attention. "Now that that's settled, can we drop this?"

Kuromo kept his eyes on her for a few seconds longer. She thought he really would continue arguing about this. Instead, he lowered his head slightly and spoke in a soft tone. "…Can I still have a little brother or sister?"

Reina had to wonder if this was what being a parent felt like. Embarrassing questions followed by what she could only describe as a wholesome request. If everything going on around her since coming to this world hadn't prepared her, she probably wouldn't have been able to process what he said in the moment.

"…We'll see." She said, quickly adding to it as Kuromo looked back up and started wagging his tail. "If we find another dragon egg!"

There was no way she was going to actually have a child with the Waves going on, every other requirement for that being in place or not.

"Okay, Mother." Kuromo then smiled for what might have been the first time. Reina knew he had been happy before, but he never willingly showed it.

"Alright then." Reina took Kuromo's hand and started to lead them on again. "Let's get to the tailor's and then get going…"

When she looked behind at her party, she noticed one thing in particular. Maria wasn't smiling. In fact, she looked downright gloomy.

Reina could guess why. Maria wanted to have children when she grew up. This was just a reminder she couldn't have that with Reina.

But Reina didn't say anything. She didn't try to comfort Maria about this, or even acknowledge her. If this helped keep her from flirting with Reina…

"It's for the best." She told herself again.

The rest of the walk to the tailor's was spent in silence.

When they arrived, the tailor was in the back, coming out front to greet them.

"Welcome!" The middle-aged tailor said, bags under his eyes. He really did work on this throughout the night.

"Hello." Reina briefly greeted him as the man swiftly pulled Kuromo along.

"I think you'll like what I made for you, young man." He said, gesturing to the changing room.

Kuromo eagerly went in alone and pulled the curtain closed.

"Anything I need to know about how his clothes work?" Reina asked while Kuromo changed.

"Nothing in particular." The tailor said with a tired, yet somehow upbeat expression. "Since they're made from his magic, they can repair themselves when damaged. They'll also transform with him, though into exactly what I'm not sure."

After a couple of minutes, Kuromo emerged from the dressing room.

His clothes were…not exactly what Reina was expecting. The way dragons were described to her, she thought he would ask the tailor for something regal, something a noble or a king would wear. Maybe some frills around the collar of his shirt or something.

Instead, he wore a simple pair of black pants, no shoes on his feet. On his upper half was a strange combination. It looked a little bit like a shawl, but cut strangely, almost like a half-vest. His upper chest and shoulders were covered in gray cloth, but his arms and stomach were bare. That was also combined with a jacket or long vest of some sort, covering his sides and going down just below his waist. It reminded Reina of her Mirror Bend Armor. The coloring was also nice, black at the bottom, going to gray in the middle, with his long white hair on top.

"Actually…" Reina looked up at Vyrdrun. "Yep. That's it. Kuromo had his clothes made to look like both Vyrdrun's and my armor."

She wasn't really surprised, just embarrassed. Maybe just a tiny bit happy that someone younger than her looked up to her like that. It wasn't often, and wasn't helped by the fact that a decent number of people younger than her had to look down at her.

"How do I look, Mother, Father?" Kuromo asked.

Reina hesitated after hearing that, but Vyrdrun had no issue. "It looks good. Like a warrior."

Kuromo's tail wagged at the praise. He looked to Reina for her approval.

"Yeah, it looks…nice." She had to wonder if this was what being a parent or older sibling felt like, having someone younger emulate them.

The wagging of Kuromo's tail intensified.

"I'm happy you all like it!" The tailor boasted. "It's been years since I got to work on something like this."

Reina nodded. "I heard these sorts of things aren't commonly made."

The tailor nodded back. "Yeah. Wizards just don't use the sort of magic that makes this necessary as much anymore. I still remember the first really strange request I got. It was 10 years ago…no, wait, maybe 15. A little longer?" He began to mumble to himself.

"Thank you for your work." Reina moved over to the counter to pay. They had already agreed on a price, which she paid half of at the start.

"Was it…right, 16 years!" The tailor continued on as he walked over. His sleep deprivation seemed to be getting to him.

"Well, I don't want to keep you up any longer." Reina tried to end the conversation, but the man kept going.

"A strange wizard, that guy was." The tailor said. "He wanted pants and a long jacket made that wouldn't get destroyed when he transformed. He even had a cobbler lace a pair of boots with magic thread! I never got his name, but I'll never forget the way his golden eyes seemed to stare into my soul."

Reina flinched, then quickly collected herself. "This wizard, did he have black wings and claws?"

"Yeah!" The tailor nodded enthusiastically. "You've met him?"

The most likely person he was describing was Derdir. The image of him was burned into her mind, right along with the clothes he wore. Kuromo's clothing did sort of remind her of Derdir's, but she didn't really think about it. Derdir really could be anywhere, could have been anywhere. This was just further proof of that.

And this…didn't really worry Reina. She wasn't really surprised, outside of the initial shock of hearing about him from one random tailor. The witch siblings, Derdir's 'family'—Reina wasn't sure if they were actually related by blood, maybe just the children of a fellow apprentice and friend of Derdir—lived in Lespax. They said he visited from time to time. Thinking about it, the way they spoke, it almost sounded like their mother had already passed away and Derdir watched over them.

"Am I humanizing Derdir?" Reina wondered. Maybe the stress of the past few days was starting to get to her.

Really, this wasn't some big revelation, not in the slightest. It wasn't even that noteworthy. At most, it told Reina that either Derdir could hide his draconic appearance like his children—which Reina never assumed he couldn't—or he got in enough fights that he didn't want to keep replacing his clothes. Seeing him handle two powerful golems in Savia, well, that's all that needed saying.

~Forging Legends~

After that, the party made their way out of the capital, heading west. They had a quest from the prince, some real, proper adventuring to do. A month and a half ago, Reina would have been all for this. She still was, in a sense. Helping with this would save hundreds of people from dying in a storm.

It was also nice that this was something that didn't involve Derdir or his family…is what she would like to think. Honestly, that didn't seem likely. The way Sabien reacted to Goalith's roar told Reina he knew exactly what was coming. He mentioned a boss and how he didn't want Reina killed. It seemed likely this man was the 'rival' of Derdir's.

If that was the case…Derdir probably didn't have a lot to worry about. According to Lola, the rival wasn't that strong—relative to Derdir's family. Whatever he did to let people make violet rain was incredible and dangerous, but the rain didn't affect Lola at all. Hell, Goalith flew through the clouds to get to them. He obviously didn't know much about the transformations that family went through.

Reina could only guess that he wanted to use her for something, and that something was probably to fight Derdir. She couldn't really see herself allying with him, given how the violet rain he helped unleash had killed hundreds of people already. Reina didn't get an exact number from the prince, only an estimate. The situation would only get worse.

"Reina." After about 20 minutes of walking, Vyrdrun's voice broke her from her thoughts.

"What is it?" She looked back and up at him. It only took her half a second to realize the problem.

"Grim is missing."

Reina looked around them. Fields mostly dominated the area. The grass was just high enough that it could conceal him, but Reina didn't think that was likely. There wasn't any noise or other indication he was attacked. No, the most likely conclusion was the light forest near the path they walked on.

"Did he go monster hunting?" Reina guessed. It was hardly the time for something like—

"Hiyahh!" A yell accompanied by the crashing of metal changed her hypothesis on the matter.

"Damn it! Let's go!" She called out, running into the forest.

This was just like that time in Keston, where Grim pretended to steal her armor and hunted down a shimmer that was following them. Actually, it was really similar, since Maria did take her armor.

"I can't believe him! I told him to tell me when things like this were happening! Well, okay, I didn't. But he got mad when I didn't tell him I knew Lola. It was implied!" While Reina grumbled in her mind, she vowed to beat him up when they caught up to him.

"Is that all you got?" Grim taunted with another clash of metal.

Given how he sounded, it seemed like Reina would be free to do just that. At least it didn't sound like this would be anything serious.

Author's Notes:

Small cliffhanger. Nothing crazy, especially since Reina is getting more and more used to crazy.

I'm going to jump back on "The Right Man" soon. Might be next Sunday, might be after another chapter or two here. Had a bit of a mental block with that one that I finally worked through/around.

Also, just in case I stay on that story for a while, I wanted to let people know of an upcoming idea I had. Since NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is coming up in November, I plan on doing something. Nothing set in stone, but I was thinking I push myself to make daily 1,000 word chapters for 1 or 2 fics I've been planning. (Not combined; 1 chapter, 1,000 words per day.) During that time, I won't be updating my usual fics.

First is a Shield Hero X Overlord (game) crossover, where Naofumi is basically brought in to be the new overlord soon after his trial. It'll be a little (a lot?) AU with a mix of Vassal Weapons from that world and Glass's world, and probably a harem fic. Not really sure, it's just an idea I've had for a while and wanted to have fun with it.

Second is a Familiar of Zero fic with a character summoned from an original story I'd worked on a bit (and haven't seriously worked on for about 4 years). The twist is it's Tabitha who summons him. Maybe a little slow in the beginning to establish characters before speedrunning things a bit.

I'm not sure how much I'll work on those 2 after November. If they're really liked, I'll devote more time to them.