1.
When it comes to the usual meaning of a heart, I can interpret it in about two ways.
The first is the hearts a female upperclassman used to send me when I was a teaching assistant in undergrad.
‘Yujin, let’s see each other in the lab, okay? Hehe ♥’
That probably meant something like, let’s stay in grad school together forever.
I actually fell for it and went all the way to a doctorate.
Hmm... Now that I think about it, that was fucking awful.
She definitely didn’t let me go home much.
The second one... well, love, I guess?
For the record, I did date that upperclassman too.
At some point, I stopped getting any messages on my phone, and when I looked into it later...
Maybe because AI was so advanced back then, but my phone had been hacked, and she was intercepting and rejecting every single message.
So we broke up.
Looking at it that way, hearts do not necessarily carry a welcome meaning, at least not to me.
If this was in line with the first meaning...
"What could this mean?"
I looked down at the ten hearts laid out before Isabella.
... Let’s do Abyss together forever?
Shit.
"Is it normally like this?"
"No, whenever I ask something, it gets really angry... and sends 4444, clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds, like that."
"Hmm..."
Wow, then that was four of a kind.
Four cards for death.
Now I knew for sure.
It seemed Abyss had been put through the wringer by Isabella too.
My suspicion had become certainty.
I did not think it bore any ill will toward me... though really, that was only natural. What had I even done for it to bear me ill will?
That said, it also felt a little wrong to just go, ‘Wow, it likes me!’ and leave it at that.
I should talk it over with Dolores later.
"There isn’t normally anything else we can do here, right?"
"Yep! It’s amazing enough that it answered. It’s been a while since it last did that."
"I see."
Isabella was running out of tricks.
Still, she had worked hard.
On my own, I never would have even found out about the hearts...
No, wait.
I had talked to it once through DMs before, hadn’t I?
According to Yuna, it could not harm me through the chat window itself.
I had only blocked it because everything it did seemed so suspicious. I did not particularly like it impersonating a dwarf and all that...
Now that I knew its intentions were not all that bad, should I unblock it?
At the very least, it seemed to mean well.
That was worth considering too.
That was enough about Abyss.
I asked Isabella, who was staring at me beside me with wide eyes.
"We’re done, then?"
"Yep."
"Then now..."
It was reward time.
In truth, my goal was to make one piece of equipment each for Dolores’s FAM, the people called the Dawn Apostles.
"Please take it off."
"......"
Isabella stared at me.
What was with her?
"Your equipment."
"... This is how you seduced them!"
"Excuse me?"
Her face flushed, Isabella covered her chest with both hands and shot me a sidelong glare.
"Yeomhwa and Dolores too!"
"You need to get your facts straight."
It was my handiwork that seduced them.
How could anyone resist after experiencing my equipment?
"You could say they became prisoners of my hands."
"......"
"You said you were numb to it, didn’t you? Take it off first."
You will be too, soon enough.
I wanted to say that, but it looked like she might actually run away, so I held it in for now.
I’ll show you heaven.
Let me see just how shitty the equipment you have been wearing is.
"... I don’t have any equipment that I wear on my body."
"Hmm..."
"... Pervert."
When I looked disappointed, she gave me another sidelong glare.
I did not know what she was thinking, but that was not what I meant. I just liked seeing someone wearing shitty equipment switch to something I made.
"... But I do have this one thing."
Click.
She placed something like a glass case on the table.
At first, I thought it was a business card holder, but...
It was a playing-card case wrapped in purple leather.
It only had silver metal accents around the edges, and the workmanship... was not especially good.
I picked it up and checked its status.
─────────────────
[Silent Dealer] [★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [10/80]
─────────────────
『Never trust the dealer.』
─────────────────
Suppresses damage to stored cards.
Registered cards can be drawn to the user’s fingertips.
Registered cards can be retrieved according to the user’s will.
Because it casts magic through pre-made cards, it limits the user’s ability to realize their potential.
─────────────────
Four stars.
Going by the description, it was not bad.
It stored cards and shot them right out.
But I could not understand why the compatibility had to fall all the way to 10.
Basically, compatibility seemed to indicate how fully its user could bring out their own abilities.
Which brought me to the last line of its description.
Limiting potential meant limiting the upper ceiling.
In other words, this was equipment that stunted its user’s maximum potential.
I opened the case.
"Does this include the cards too?"
"Yeah."
"Have you always used one?"
"Mm... I used to make the cards myself, but after I started using this, I use the cards already made in it. It’s easy and nice."
I pulled out a card.
It was thicker than I expected. It barely bent at all.
I had already decided.
I was going to remake this. She did not have any other equipment to remake, after all, so this was my only option.
Using pre-made cards limits her upper ceiling...
Then she should probably refrain from making the cards herself, should she not?
"But I like this one."
"... Heh heh."
"Why are you laughing? This one is pretty decent, at least..."
So someone who was numb to equipment thought something with 10 compatibility was good?
There seemed to be two possibilities.
Either she had only worn equipment with scores below 10 until now, or she was simply attached to this card deck.
I thought it was the latter, judging by the way she kept glancing at it.
That only made me want to conquer it more.
"I’ll make you forget all about it. I’m going to make you a card deck."
I did not want to make an obvious business-card-holder shape.
Naturally, it had to suit Isabella perfectly.
Normally, I would go to the workshop and set everything up, but Isabella being at my home was rare. Since she was here already, I thought it would be best to dismantle and analyze this, then settle it now.
What would be best...? I put a hand to my chin and began to think.
"... You’re focusing already?"
"Ah, yes."
I stared closely at Isabella’s face.
My gaze traced her high-bridged nose, then moved up to her eyes.
... Objectively speaking, she had an excellent figure. Even just looking at the curves outlined by her tight black dress, I could tell.
I had not paid much attention because she always said strange things, but now that I looked, there were a lot of features that stood out anew.
"... Lionel."
"Just a moment."
"O-okay..."
For some reason, I became forceful around Isabella.
Something attached at her waist would suit her well too.
I leaned over slightly and examined her side as well.
Isabella subtly brought her arms together and placed her hands over her dress so I could see more easily.
"... How far are you looking?"
"I’m trying to decide where would be best."
"... W-what would?"
The equipment.
Then my gaze stopped at one spot.
It was the first place where white skin appeared from beneath her black dress.
It felt like emerging from a fucking long, dark tunnel.
Her slender fingers and white wrists, where her hands rested one over the other, caught my eye.
"Your wrists."
"... Hm?"
"Your wrists are pretty, you know?"
"......"
Isabella looked down at her own wrist.
Then she lightly covered one wrist with her other hand.
"Don’t hide them."
I gently took hold of Isabella’s wrist and lifted it.
"Let me see them for just a moment."
"L-like this?"
Her wrists...
I thought something attached here would be nice.
The prettiest, finest parts should be the first things revealed on the body.
That was my philosophy.
That was why I made earrings to show off the princess’s prettiest feature, the nape of her neck.
And Dolores’s... insignia... was worn on her chest, so, hmm...
Enough of that.
Anyway, since she used cards, it would be better to keep it close to her hands.
She also needed to be able to draw them one at a time with her other hand whenever necessary.
A card deck attached to her wrist.
A wrist... card deck...?
"... Oh?"
Wait a second.
‘A Duel Disk?!’
Something began clicking into place in my mind.
The kind that sat neatly on the arm normally, then unfurled with a shffft only when you used cards.
But if it unfolded too large, it would not suit Isabella’s proportions, so I could refine it into something pretty and compact.
When Isabella poured mana into it, it would create cards and deploy the deck.
Yeah, this was good. Really good.
Honestly, the designs varied so wildly that I could make it plenty beautiful if I wanted to.
"Hehehe."
Fiddle.
"......"
Smiling, I toyed with Isabella’s wrist.
"... I want to touch you too."
Perhaps being the only one getting touched had stirred her competitive spirit, because Isabella began touching my wrist too.
Mm, fucking sweet. It was twice as good for me, anyway.
Thus, we quietly faced off, each stroking the other’s wrist.
Our arms formed an X, making for a somewhat ridiculous sight.
"But are you leaving now?"
"If Dolores tells me to go, I have to go."
"I see."
Honestly, I liked having her beside me so I could look at her face whenever I wanted and draw inspiration.
"... Can’t you stay?"
"If I don’t go when she told me to, she’ll spank me."
"...?"
I was beginning to doubt they were really sisters. Was Dolores the eldest sister?
After fiddling with her wrist a little longer, I spoke.
"Anyway... this card deck is your main weapon, right?"
The weapon in weapons, armor, and accessories.
Her main weapon.
"That’s right."
"I’ll make you a main weapon."
"... Really?"
"Yes. You communicated with Abyss just now, so this is your reward for that."
The reward was just an excuse, really. I did not have anything to make at the moment anyway.
And it had been a while since Ruby’s weapon, so I was excited to make a main weapon again.
As I had said before, I would discuss enchantments with Dolores first.
"Yeah!"
Once we reached that conclusion, Isabella let go of my wrist.
Then she fidgeted with her fingers, gauging my reaction.
"... By any chance."
"Yes."
"Can you make it about as good as Dolores’s insignia?"
"... You have a good eye."
She said she was numb to equipment, but she certainly knew quality when she saw it.
To be honest, that would be difficult.
I had barely managed to make a four-and-a-half-star item by exceeding my limits, and the insignia only became five stars thanks to the boost from the old gods and new gods.
Even if you told me to make it again now, I could not guarantee I would get the same result.
More importantly... the owner of that equipment was Dolores.
I could practically see everything: what inconvenienced her, what would be good to give her.
My understanding of Mama was simply too high.
But Isabella...
"......"
She likes chess, she likes Abyss, she cries easily... has an excellent figure... pretty wrists...
But what exactly do you do?
"I don’t know you very well, Isabella."
"... We got a lot closer today, though."
"Anyway, it’s difficult."
"Sniff..."
"But instead..."
Just then.
Bang!
The drawing room door opened, and a red-haired woman entered with Dolores.
It was Yeomhwa.
Her timing was perfect.
"Are you done talking~?"
Yeomhwa approached with a smile.
Actually, when I had made her equipment, I did not know much about Yeomhwa either.
I did not even know her real name or what she did, yet I had still been able to make a secondary weapon on the level of Rose Bloom Finale.
... But what was her real name, anyway?
"Yeomhwa, your timing is perfect."
"Why?"
"Do you have that crystal ball?"
The combat footage Yeomhwa had recorded in the tower earlier.
It would be quicker to show that than to explain it in words.
"I do."
Yeomhwa took out the crystal ball and placed it on the table.
With a gesture from her, an image appeared in midair.
"You’re showing it to Bella too?"
"Yes."
"Heh-heh."
Yeomhwa folded her arms with a smug expression.
Isabella watched the footage with an indifferent expression, and...
"... Huh?"
Her mouth fell open.
The attacks Yeomhwa displayed in the recording were... so powerful that they barely needed explaining.
"... This is... equipment...?"
Ah... You don’t know?
"This is called a ‘secondary weapon.’ It fills the secondary-weapon role in weapons, armor, and accessories."
What you have been using until now was not a weapon.
Just something pretending to be one.
Isabella tore her eyes away from the footage and looked at me.
Her mouth was still hanging wide open.
"... Hmm, something like this might be possible."
"......"
"So... are you interested?"
I asked with the corners of my mouth curling upward.
"I’m interested..."
As if bewitched, Isabella nodded.
"All right, then."
"Yes..."
"Give me 10 kilograms of special ore or gemstones."
Pay up.
"?"
"Pfft, hahaha!"
Yeomhwa burst out laughing beside us.
In truth, a new standard had been set.
A reward was a reward... but she still had to pay the price.
My first formal commission, performed in exchange for the fair payment I had set.
Its client was Isabella.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register