Chapter Twenty-One New Armor and New Quests

Hikaru followed Polca through the door with Eren just a step behind. He couldn’t help thinking about what had just happened with them. After everything that had gone wrong it seemed he was finally getting some of that attention he’d expected after digesting so many isekai stories, yet he had to wonder. How did it happen? Sure he knew what Polca had told him, but he didn’t really remember how it happened. He also found himself hoping Polca hadn’t been joking about the sterility potion. Apparently it would leave him sterile for a month. That was a bit long but Hikaru wasn’t exactly ready to be a father. Eren was very cute but he didn’t really know her.

He wasn’t sure what to think about her apparently picking him as a companion. It just felt so sudden, but not entirely unwelcome. Just Hikaru couldn’t believe that things were going this way. Nothing had gone well for him since he was summoned. There had been that cute girl he’d met back at Varitul but she’d never even given him the time of day and then he ended up a plaything for a dragon. That was two months of his life he’d never get back and a time he didn’t like to think about it. Joining the adventurers guild after hadn’t been the rose garden he’d expected. He didn’t end up in a party full of cute girls, instead, he was surrounded by ugly dudes some of which had far too much muscle. Still, the experience had been interesting, he had some fun adventures. So he couldn’t help but wonder why his fortune was changing now. What had changed?

Thoughts aside, he did have other things to focus on at the moment. That was why they had come out here. Lady Ange and her associates had finished preparing their new armor. He recalled meeting the young female dwarf, Lady Ange had recommended. When he had been told to expect a dwarf, he’d imagined a short muscular woman with a beard, but that was not what female dwarves looked like at all.

Rather, instead the dwarf woman was a petite woman about one hundred and forty centimeters tall. She didn’t have a beard, but the face of a delightful pixie lit by bright blue eyes and framed by hair the color of the sky. When he had seen her the other day he’d almost assumed she was a child, but then he recalled how Arlie and Ria had reacted and tried not to presume, especially since the dwarf girl was making his armor.

Stepping into the back of the shop, he found Lady Ange and the Dwarf from the other day waiting for him. Ange was in her usual outfit, while the Dwarf girl was dressed in an outfit that made him blink, she was entirely topless leaving her pale apple-sized breasts completely exposed. She was wearing a pale blue skirt, but he wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than being entirely nude. He blinked, and closed his eyes, “Lady Kiri! What are you wearing?”

She giggled, but it was Lady Ange who spoke up, amusement in her tone, “Haven’t met many dwarves have you?”

“Um, no?” he replied eyes still closed, while the girls laughed.

Kiri giggled some more. “Well, um, this is pretty normal for me, it’s my casual outfit.”

“Casual!? You are topless!”

“Quite normal for dwarven women, we don’t usually wear tops outside of the forge.”

Suddenly his hand was pried away from his eyes, Polca spoke up, “Go ahead and look, she won’t mind.”

He didn’t open his eyes right away but after a moment he did. To find Kiri was a few steps closer and still quite topless, making no effort to cover her naked breasts. She stood there as if it was perfectly normal to be standing there topless. He blushed red, and had to wonder why was he getting so many looks at naked boobs lately?

Kiri smiled, “Alright, now then, why don’t you three strip down and we can get started on the final fitting?

Hikaru hesitated for a moment, but Eren and Polca were standing in their panties and breastwraps just a moment later. He sighed and stripped down a moment later, as Kiri unpacked a box, pulling out pieces of armor. Holding up a breastplate, she gestured to him, “Come on, let's see how well this fits you. I followed Ange’s measurements and your specifications as best I could but we might still need a few adjustments.”

He nodded and stood still letting the half-naked dwarf help him into the armor. It was a solid design of metal scales over a layer of fine chainmail under which was a layer of padding. She started describing the plating right away, “After hearing you talk of the Hellfiends you fought and examining your old armor, I forged this out of materials that should hold up much better in a fight. Don’t let them tear at your armor too long though, it might deflect a blow but that doesn’t mean they can’t scratch it. The scale plating and the mail under it are both made of dwarven steel. It’s a tough metal nearly as resilient as dragonscale, and the padding is made of our signature metal cloth. It should stop blades, claws and blunt force pretty well.”

“Dwarven steel? What’s in it?”

“Ground dragon scale, mithril, orichalcum, iron, and a special metal known only to us dwarves.”

That was quite the list, some of those were pretty rare, “Sounds expensive and very high-end,” he commented after a moment.

“Well yes, but you can afford it. The knight orders are looking for a supply of dwarven plate armor as well. Normally they make do with less expensive armor, but with the hellspawn incidents they feel the need for higher-end armor, so be glad you can get some now. It’s soon going to cost even more, dragonscale is already rare enough, and it is only going to get rarer.”

He took another look at the armor he was half-dressed in, it seemed pretty nice. It was colored mainly a light grey which blended seamlessly into a light green tabard. One that was integrated perfectly into the scaled front and back of the armor. Understandably there wasn’t any crest or other paraphernalia to go with the armor. Hikaru was an adventurer, not a knight or a member of any clan, he had no crest to wear. Yet the armor seemed fitting for a knight, somehow he felt honored to be wearing it. “I’m honored, but..”

She giggled, “Glad to hear it, I take great pride in my work and this suit was perfectly fitted for you.”

It certainly went on like a glove and a couple of moments later he was looking in the mirror. Scale plate armor covered every inch of him, only his head remained uncovered, the helm still in Lady Kiri’s hand. She smiled, “So how does it feel?”

“Like a second skin,” he replied, after a moment.

“Then I won’t have much to do,” she replied, as she stepped away, her bare chest coming into full view in the mirror. He saw himself blush a little. Hikaru didn’t think he’d ever get used to dwarven girls if they dressed like this. What was wrong with wearing a top? He knew she was from a different culture, but it wasn’t an easy thing to think about.

Lady Ange suddenly came over, “Well he’s looking good, care to see how your other party members look in their new armor?”

He turned and took in Polca first, she’d always looked intelligent, her half-elven heritage clear. She looked especially cute today, Lady Ange had a good eye, she’d carefully chosen the colors of the mage armor to go well with Polca’s ice-blue eyes and hair. She was wrapped in pale green robes, or well, more of an armored dress. The trim was silver, which seemed to go well with the pale green and on the sides were stripes of blue. Unlike him, she had a crest woven into the armor on her left breast. He didn’t know what it meant, but it depicted a great tree wrapped in a blizzard lit within by a dazzling light. Hikaru recalled her telling him that it represented her clan, most mages belonged to one and her clan was famous for its long-standing talent for nature and ice magic.

Her mage armor was padded, threaded with dwarven metal cloth and lined with dragon scales to protect against most blows. It featured short sleeves and an armored skirt that ended just below her knees. She was wearing long matching gloves, and silver vambraces lined with matching scales. Her feet were encased in sturdy brown boots and her legs were protected by guards that matched her vambraces.

Standing next to her was Eren looking delightfully adorable, her new armor seemed to make her chest stand out. It was light armor, designed only to protect the vital points. It featured a leather breastplate lined with dragon scale and reinforced with dwarven steel at key points. Matching vambraces and shin guards had been paired with it, and she had a knee-length armored skirt. 

He had no words for either vision of sexy beauty before him. For several seconds he just stared, he knew he’d seen them naked just moments before yet now they looked somehow more impressive.

Polca grinned, “Seems you did good, he approves!”

Ange nodded, “So he does, guess we can discuss payment now.”

Polca produced her purse, “I’ve got my payment ready now. 53 gold marks correct?”

___________________

Not long after sorting their payments out, the trio headed to the guild where they found Kuon waiting for them in a new set of full-body plate armor, his head as usual hidden behind a helmet. Hikaru once again wondered if he ever took that helmet off. They were part of a party now and he still hadn’t seen the large man’s face.

Kuon spoke, his voice sounding rather androgynous with a metallic quality added by an echo. “Good timing, I see you three received your new armor.”

Polca replied, “Oh? Did you find something interesting?”

“Sure did,” Kuon produced a quest sheet, “Strange things are going on near the Red Temple, the local villages have reported an unusually low number of Drava sightings. If that was all, they’d be celebrating, but several merchant caravans have vanished during the last few weeks, along with a couple of hunting parties. With the knight orders busy reinforcing the garrisons and setting up new patrols, they are asking the guild to investigate.”

Hikaru picked up the paper, “Any um... Hellspawn sightings?”

Kuon shook his head, “No, but I can’t rule them out.”

Polca commented, “Even so, we should look into this.”

Eren nodded, “I agree, lets hope it’s just not another Streg.”

“Or worse,” commented Hikaru under his breath, as the group headed to the counter to accept the quest.