As for Thio, he was only vaguely aware of the changes in Hillsdale. He certainly had no idea Caroline’s Adventurers wage had been eaten away by all these strange side-projects she had started and kept supporting even after moving.

It was only when she asked to go to the bank and transfer a large sum of money back to Hillsdale did he remember that he’d never asked her why she’d been dirt poor despite being such a high level Adventurer. When she explained where it was all going, he actually had to sit down he was so surprised.

“You… are you trying to qualify for Sainthood or something?” He asked, flabbergasted and stunned.

She laughed awkwardly, wondering if she’d done something outrageous again. “What? No, it just worked out that way, that’s all.”

He rubbed his face with his hands, feeling soul-weathered. “Why didn’t you ever say anything about all this?”

“But I did! I know I did!” She held up a finger for each thing, ticking them off. “I talked about the school, the Association, even working with Head Guard Tack… I wrote about it all in my letters. Multiple times even!”

He dropped his hands, giving her a hard stare. “Mentioning that they exist, and that you were helping them, is not the same thing as saying you were pouring so much money into them you were impoverishing yourself.”

She folded her arms over her chest, face scrunched in annoyance. “If I’d said that, wouldn’t I have sounded like I was boasting or begging for more money from you? It’s not like it had anything to do with you at the time anyway! What I did with the money I earned was my business.”

Thio opened and closed his mouth and then finally sighed. “I suppose that’s true, by your logic. You did save all the money I sent you too. But look, it’s not like that anymore. Do you understand? If you’re going to be spending large sums of money, you’ve got to at least let me know about it.”

She squinted at him suspiciously. “You’re not going to tell me to stop supporting them?”

“In what world would I be that heartless?” He then paused and turned his face away from her, hand covering his eyes, looking hurt. “What kind of man do you think I am? Do you think I’d tell you to leave orphans without support? Do you really? I had no idea you thought so little of me…”

“Huh? Eh?” She took a step back, legitimately surprised by his reaction. They did quarrel sometimes, but usually he was stubborn to the end. Even when he apologized he was stubborn! This was… yes, he was sulking!

Unsure of what to do, she started apologizing, “No, I didn’t… I wasn’t trying to imply…”

“Hm… right, right.” He responded listlessly. “…all this time… this is what you thought of me…”

“Wait, no!” She reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Even if you’re a penny pincher, I know you’re not that cold hearted!”

“Penny pincher…?” His voice sounded faint. “So that’s how it is huh…?”

“Ah, I didn’t mean it badly! You’re, er, money-wise! That’s right! Money-wise!”

She felt his shoulders start to shake and for a moment a sense of panic rose up—

“Bwahahahahaha!” He started laughing, lowering his hand and revealing twinkling eyes filled with amusement.

Caroline stood there dumbfounded. She thought that, as always, hot damn, but he was good-looking when he laughed, but more importantly:

“You—!” She started shaking him by the shoulders. “You were teasing me!”

“Hahaha— yes I was!” He agreed, face slightly flushed from laughing.

“Why you—! I was actually worried! See if I’m ever worried over you again!”

He gave a wicked grin and grabbed her arms, pulling her close, and giving her a long kiss. She felt herself go weak in the knees.

“Do you forgive me?” He asked in a husky voice after their lips separated.

“…that’s cheating and you know it…”

This time he pulled her whole body to him until she was forced on his lap. He kissed her on her neck and collar bone, nibbling as he went.

“So that’s a yes?”

Her entire face blushed and she was struggling to think straight. He’d gone from novice to expert in this area at a breakneck speed. He really was a genius.

“Don’t think… this will always work…!” She managed to sputter out.

“A definite yes then.” He mumbled as his hands moved under and up her shirt.

Yes, even when he apologized he was a stubborn one…

——

“I’m telling you, that armor is too heavy!”

“If you’re going to be in close combat, you can’t just wear leather!”

Thio and Caroline were currently bickering next to a large heavily plated set of armor. It was ridiculously huge and could only be worn by someone who was five times her size and ten times her mass.

“Leather bends, it gives me freedom of movement.”

“It’s also easier to pierce and slash.”

Since Caroline would be taking Requests soon, it was decided to get her new armor in advance. Gold Tusk Armory was one of the best defense and offense stores in the Capital, frequented by Adventurers and the military. The large entrance area was filled with display sets of Armor and weapons.

“Only if I get hit, which won’t happen if I can move.”

“Your scars say otherwise.”

Almost immediately upon entering they’d started arguing over the kind of armor Caroline should get. Thio, coming from a military background, was use to a rigid team system with knights up front and mages in the back. In his mind front fighting meant moderate to heavy metal armor. Only idiots went around wearing leather if they were fighting up front.

“Those are old scars! OLD. I know how to fight now, I won’t get hit.”

“You got hit plenty in those ruins.”

“That was a one-time—”

“Dear customers.”

A young man wearing a simple white shirt and tan pants with a thick leather apron and carrying a small note pad interrupted them. He had short brown hair, round thick glasses, and was heavily freckled. He’d been listening to them argue for the last five minutes and had decided it was time to intervene.

“While we do have quite a bit of pre-made armor sets and armor pieces, we also do custom made armor in cases where people are using a unique fighting style. If the Lady here would show me some simple moves in her fighting style, I can make recommendations. Ah, and my name is Simon. It’s a pleasure to serve you.”

Thio nodded and Caroline shrugged. “Fine by me, Simon.”

Caroline walked near the center of the room, where there was more space. Thio watched curiously, having never actually seen her box before. Placing her left foot slightly forward, she brought both hands up to her chin, with her right arm closer to her body then her left.

She took a deep breath before going through a series of moves: jabs, hooks, bobs, uppercuts, even different kinds of kicks. Each movement was smooth and fast, with a “woosh” sound following it from the loose clothing she was wearing.

Her fighting style had morphed over the years, as different monsters required different methods of subjugation. It couldn’t be called straight boxing at this point, as she’d added kicks, throws, and elements from other fighting styles. But since her primary tack-down method was still punching, she continued calling it boxing.

The kicks startled both men, as she was wearing a dress which flung up rather scandalously at the leg motion.

Once she was done, she put her hands on her hips and gave a crooked smile. “Ah, I’m so slow now, how embarrassing…”

“Please be more concerned showing your bloomers to the world than being slow.” Thio had covered his face, ears red, slightly mortified by his wife’s lack of common sense.

“Eh?” Caroline blanked for a moment and then looked down and slapped her forehead. “Gah! I totally forgot what I was wearing! I swear I don’t kick in skirts regularly!”

“Are you saying you kick in them occasionally…?”

Her inability to look him directly in the eye told him all he needed to know.

Simon had his note pad out and was scribbling away, muttered under his breath, “Definitely need pants…”

The store clerk snapped his notebook shut and nodded.

“Dear customers, please follow me.” He guided them to an area with wood chairs and offered them a seat and some tea. “Please relax for a few moments, while I discuss your needs with our designer.”

Simon then shuffled away, returning ten minutes later. In his hands were several sheets of paper. And on them were crude armor designs, with various scribbles describing material and different enchantment options.

Caroline gave a hearty laugh at the designs while Thio scowled.

None of them were metal plated like what Knights wore. They all depended heavily on leather, and where there was metal it was in places like the chest, arms, and legs.

“I told you.” Caroline said, feeling smug and said sing-songily, “Leather is best—!”

Since it was designed by a professional, no matter how he disliked it, Thio wasn’t able to argue back.

Feeling put out, he harrumphed. “Then make sure to get the best materials and enchantments at least.”

“Yes, sir!” She saluted and gave him a silly grin in return.

Simon perked up at this. There was nothing more lovely to a salesman’s ears than a customer who WANTED to spend heaps of money on extras.

“Customer, please pick the design you like best, and from there we can talk about those additional options.”

Because she depended heavily on speed, it was important that she was use to the armor she was wearing. If it was too different, her movements would be awkward, which could get her killed. So while there were many cool, flashy designs, Caroline ended up picking something very similar to her original armor set.

“Can you add a skirt with a front slit to this design? And put an Movement Illusion enchantment on it?”

“What do you need a Movement Illusion for?” Asked Thio in curiosity.

“Since I can’t just wear pants in towns, I need a skirt.” She wrinkled her nose at the limitation. “But skirts in close combat with monsters are really dangerous. Anything with teeth can just grab and pull and suddenly I’m a wild thing’s chew toy. No thanks. When I first started, I didn’t have a lot of money to spare, so I had to think of a cheap way to get around the problem. Getting a weak Movement Illusion ended up being perfect. All it does is shift the movement of a thing by a few seconds. A monster will grab for the skirt, thinking it’s in one place, but it’s not.”

Both Thio and Simon raised their eyebrows, surprised.

“Ah… That’s a really good idea.” Thio nodded in approval.

“Isn’t it? At first it was purely a modesty thing and defensive measure. But later on I realized certain monsters were stupid, and would consistently go for the skirt. They’d miss every time and all I had to do was be ready to punch them in their weak spot. Instant one-hit kills.”

“Clever. I’ve never heard someone using it that way before.” Simon praised, impressed. Movement Illusion was most commonly used on cloaks paired with Concealment. It was an defensive enchantment used by people who didn’t want to fight, or wanted to delay fighting, and were aiming for a speedy escape. Scouts, hunters, and spies favored spells along those lines.

This was the first time Simon had ever heard of a frontline-fighter using it for a one hit kill. He made a mental note of it, pleased to find another group to sell the enchantment to.

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” Caroline said with a shrug.

Simon blinked and then laughed. “Customer, that is an excellent observation and very true. I’ll add your request into the design. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

They then discussed extra enchantments and materials. The type of material you got influenced the amount and kind of enchantments available. For instance, snake skin had a natural poison resistance built in, and then would amplify any poison resistant enchantments put on top of it. If a person was willing to fork the money over, they could build armor that was essentially resistant to every known poison in existence.

Enchantments also had different strengths. Enchanters could imbue their own magic onto things. The stronger the enchantment, the more mana it took out of them, and then it would take time to “recharge”. Naturally, the stronger the enchantment the more expensive the cost. No matter the world, time was money.

Looking at the finished order, Caroline’s forehead broke out in a sweat. The quality materials and amount of enchantments on this new armor was ridiculous. She wondered if she’d glow in the dark with the amount of magic layered on this armor. To make herself stand out less, she insisted on mutated earthy colors rather than the bright ones suggested by the designer.

It was helluva expensive too. The total almost made her choke on her spit. She’d never spent that much on herself, not even in her old life. How did rich people spend so much on themselves and not blink twice about it?

As she was handing over a small stack of Silva coins to pay for her new set of armor, she couldn’t help feeling the whole thing was very game-like. How did this mana and magic thing work? Half of Thio’s library looked like advanced math to her… was magic kind of like math then? But Thio used actual words, not math, for casting magic. Or was it like algebra formulas and letters? Did that even make any sense?

What kind of logic did this world function on exactly?

Not being able to use magic herself made her curiosity about it ten times stronger. But of course, having no mana affinity meant she’d always be on the outside looking in. It really wasn’t fair. What’s the point of coming to a magical world and not being able to use magic?