54 Part 1

Episode 54

 Before the Quest, I Picked Out New Equipments for My Friends (Part 1)

Since it was a good opportunity, I decided to gear up before the quest.

Weapons are just a matter of getting Rafilia’s bow and arrow, so I decided to focus on armor.

We also need to buy some medicinal and poisonous herbs.

So, let’s all go out shopping together…” As I was getting ready, Leticia came home.

She was supposed to be leaving for Metekal soon with a caravan of merchants, and she had a few baggage porters with her.

“A merchant of my acquaintance gave me a piece of armor at a very reasonable price. He’s offering a substantial discount right now!”

With that, she began to arrange a large amount of luggage in the living room of the house.

“Well, are you going to the dungeon tomorrow? It was just as well.”

Leticia was in a good mood and told us what had happened.

Apparently, a merchant she knows is training engineers to make weapons and armor, and he’s looking for someone to buy the prototypes made by the newbies (geniuses, in a sense).

The newcomer made too much use of his talent, and now he’s having trouble selling it.

I’ve heard that you can get a discount of three, five, or even seven times off the current price, but at this point, I’m very suspicious.

It was also in the original world. A company that installed a reasonably priced application to reduce costs. A mystery app that occasionally opens a mystery window and displays a mysterious foreign language and a mysterious phone number, and an employee takes a mysterious action to call that number.

The reason why some products are cheaper than others is because they have their own reasons.

I think it’s better to just go to the armor store and buy a genuine one.

“As expected of Nagi-sama! I think so too.”

“I agree with you completely. We can’t just pick and choose without even comparing.”

“I think Aine should also be checked by Na-kun’s eyes.”

“So I’m going to ask Master to make sure that what we’ve chosen is correct!”

Translation: I’ll just pick one at random for now, so please check if it’s usable, Master.

That’s how it happened.

…Well, that’s okay.

There’s nothing too weird about it, no matter how much it’s the work of some genius engineer.

So, while everyone else was picking out armor, I decided to go upstairs and plan my strategy for the dungeon.

Back in my room, I grabbed a quill and scribbled the concept of the skill on a piece of parchment.

What I was thinking of was a plan to strengthen Rafilia, who has few cheat skills.

In my hand, I have one of the housekeeping skills that Iris gave me, [Watering LV1].

Skill to “sprinkle” “water” with “watering can”.

Originally, it was a skill to water the flowers in the flower bed so as not to damage them. It was said that since there were some rare flowers in the aristocracy’s flowerbeds, precise watering techniques were required.

And if I combine this with [Archery], …Yeah, it’s a good idea.

I want to keep the original [Archery] skill to increase the hit rate, so I’m going to buy the skills later…

This and that

“Master, may I come in?”

I heard Rafilia’s voice.

“I’ve chosen my armor, and I need you to check it.”

“Yeah. It’s okay. Come on in.”

　Kacha

　Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack

Rafilia comes into the room, banging her armor against the pillars and walls.

Peking dong dong, katakotsu pakong

It was the opposite of quiet or covert equipment.

It’s leather armor that covers you from the shoulders to the waist…

“Well, what do you think, Master?

“Leather armor, right?”

“Yes. The name of the armor is “Avenger’s Armor”!

Rafilia was wearing armor made of leather armor pieced together.

The color is red. It goes well with Rafilia’s pink hair.

The construction looks sturdy. The chest, stomach, and hips are independent, so they don’t interfere with movement, and Rafilia’s large breasts are well contained.

But I don’t think it is without problems…

“…Why do you have spikes all over your body?”

On the chest, shoulders, and torso.

A thorn that seems to be about 10 cm long is growing outward.

“Yes, Master! This is the strength of this armor!”

“I guess that’s an advantage?”

“These blades are used to skewer an enemy that has attacked you!”

Avenger’s Armor

Leather armor with spikes all over the body.

Intimidation effect. Has a positive modifier for close combat.

The noise effect makes it easier for enemies to spot you.

Pay attention to the front and back side when you wear it.

“I can also damage enemies who carelessly approach me by hitting them with my body! It’s the perfect armor for both defense and offense!”

It’s the perfect chuunibyou armor.

I see.

Rewriting the bad luck skill didn’t cure Rafilia’s midlife crisis, did it?

“Rafilia.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Try a little bow pose.”

“Oh, yes. Gulp.”

pus

The spikes dug into Rafilia’s wrists and elbows.

Yeah. That’s how it is. When you draw a bow, you draw your arms to your body by clenching your armpits.

“Ha, ha, ah, ah. Huh.”

No, you don’t have to hold that pose.

“This, this, this much pain is nothing. If I can endure it, I can draw a bow.”

“But you can cut the string of a bow with a spike.”

“Whoa…”

Rafilia was impressed, and made a gesture of playing her bow with a bottle.

“Besides, Rafilia’s job this time is to protect Iris, right? If you try to protect Iris with that armor, It’ll skewer you.”

“…Oh.”

Rafilia held her head.

“No, no, no, but I have bad luck, and I can be caught by surprise. I need to be prepared for that!”

“I rewrote your bad luck skill, didn’t I?”

“That’s… right!”

You forgot about it, didn’t you?

But… that’s right.

If you think about it, Rafilia has been haunted by bad luck ever since she woke up, so it’s understandable that she would be cautious. To be frank, if she couldn’t trust her previous friends and ended up fighting alone, and kept doing that, she’d usually become very cautious.

I think this spiky armor is the product of a mid-life crisis.

“That’s right. I’ve become a new me.”

Rafilia hits herself on the head with her fist.

“I have Master now, don’t I?”

“Yes. So you don’t need armor just to look cool like that.”

“It’s cool, though.”

“There’s something romantic about hitting an attacking enemy and skewering it with your armor spikes.”

“It’s not very practical, is it?…”

“It’s cool, though.”

“It’s cool, though.”

“By the way, Rafilia.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Isn’t that armor for men?”

“That’s not true. It is said that it was originally made by a beautiful girl blacksmith to take revenge on the man who abandoned her. The blacksmith got her revenge and skewered the man and they were united at the bottom of a cliff.”

“Wait a minute, is that what ‘Avenger’ means?”

“Yes. This is an elaborate replica of it. It’s a wonderful work of art. If you look closely, you can even see the bloodstains here. …Oh, what are you doing, Master?　What are you doing, throwing it out the window? Oh, I’ll take it off myself!”

After sealing it up tightly, I decided to politely return it.

cough-cough

“Nagi, do you have a minute?”

There was a light knock at the door and Rita’s voice.

“Do you …mind checking gear?”

“Okay.”

Behind the open door, Rita was just peeking out.

She’s shyly fiddling with her golden hair with her fingers. She has a sheet wrapped around her body.

“…I’m a fighter, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So I picked the one that’s easiest to move around in, but I’m not so sure.”

Rita dropped the sheet that was wrapped around her body with a flutter.

I saw a black breastplate.

There was a cloth covering her waist and a thin steel plate surrounding it.

That was it.

All Rita is wearing is an iron breastplate that covers her chest, and a cloth and iron plate that cover her waist.

It was the so-called bikini armor.

I’ve seen them in games, but never in real life.

…I didn’t know that this world had bikini armor.

The breastplate managed to cover Rita’s entire chest. But because of the way it pushes the breastes up and down, it emphasizes her cleavage to a surprising degree.