“Just a quick question, you do have all of your daily ies like clothes and stuff? I knoill have to get blood tomorrow, but other than that?” I asked Ria.

  “I should have everything.” Ria answered.

  “What about adventuring gear, if we go hunting?”

  “I don’t wear any armor or anything. I keep light and move quickly, and heal myself by drinking blood. It might not be great for having multiple battles in a row, but it works for quie-on-one fights.”

  “Then perhaps we should get you something. What about a on? What do you use?”

  “I don’t. I use a blood magic spell that simutes blood frenzy to boost my stats while also using fire magic to boost myself even further. Or you know, I just frenzy. It makes my nails into quite good tearing ons and I just tto an enemy, stick my fangs into them and sutil they die.”

  “... I see. That might not be the best in the long run. Do you want to learn a different fighting style? I get you a teacher.”

  “I… I’ll think about it. But Brian, how do you fight?” Ria asked.

  “I don’t. I just summon a few monsters ahem fight for me. It is a lot safer than actually going to the frontline myself. Well, admittedly I did try to be a frontline fighter for a bit, but someone said to me that I’m stupid for doing that, so I don’t think I’ll do it again.

  But even if you don’t want to ge your on, something with a bit more defense would be goht?”

  “... I suppose so. But I don’t have much money. We don’t use it in the vilge, so I only get it from the monsters I hunt and have Agatha sell.”

  “But you hunted a B-rank crimson bht? That should have gotten you some money.”

  “I didn’t sell it yet. I gave the skin to you and the meat got eaten. And I didn’t take the monster core with me, but left it in the vilge. And you imagine what happened with its blood.”

  “Uandable. But Ria, I’m your Master now and that means taking care of you, including your equipment. So we will get you something. And if I find out ter that you lied to me about your clothing situation, I’ll be angry.”

  “I really am fih clothes.” Ria said. “But if you really insist, I won’t argue.”

  “Excuse me.” I said after I took Ria into a certain armor shop. They have the crimson boa hide and I think I should use that for Ria as well.

  A bit ter, a familiar dwarven dy came from the back. That’s iing, she is usually in the front.

  “Oh, it is you. Your order isn’t ready yet, if that is what you came for.”

  “No, no. I know it wouldn’t be yet. I actually would like to put it in another order, if possible.”

  “We should be able to fit something in. What we do for you?” She quickly shifted her tone from ohat sounded a bit a the disturbao one of a saleswoman ready to make a sale.

  “I want you to make her something simir to what you are making for me. From the crimson boa skin, if possible.”

  “Oh? I thought you were saving the rest of it for the ohat huhat snake.”

  “She is the ohat hu.”

  “Really now? Then she will be a worthy er.”

  We spent some time going over the details of what Ria’s armor should be like. The ohing the dwarf decided is that the ptes on hers should be thinner and smaller, but have more of them. This gives better ce in close quarters bat, but makes the armor overall a bit weaker against ratacks. If mine was like a modern bat vest, with ptes only in the most important parts, Ria’s would be one where there are thies everywhere.

  There was also a sed difference. For Ria, they were going to just use broes, not mithril. This is because Ria said she couldn’t take something as expensive as mithril. In a way, I’m gd that she insisted on that, as it gave me the opportunity to analyze a few metal ingots. No, not because of some trick, but because the dwarf dy was showing the metals to us. Copper, bronze, iron and steel. All great things to have access to. I put Iron Bcksmith Kotetsu to use. I’ll ask him to learn how te that blood iron stuff with the help of my vampires and I’ll upgrade Ria’s armor with that o is made. I should be able to do that.

  The ood part was the cost. With bronze, and the boa hide ing from us, the cost was only 62 gold s, a lot less than the almost 400 for mine. Not that I have a she of money. Actually, when I got the money out from the iory, I noticed that the amount of money in there had grown again. The Upstart Goblins must have e off of cooldown and the goblins must have activated them again. Anyway, my total money (before paying) was 651 gold s, 559 rge silver and 520 small silver. Still have mold than rge or small silvers. I wonder if the ces for the s aren’t 33,3% ce for each. The gold might have a higher ce.1 For those that want accurate information on the spot, the ces are actually 40% fold and 30% for the silvers.

  As with my own armor, I paid half up front and the other half would be paid when the armor is ready to go.

  After that, we returo the Sawyer estate. The gate guards did ask about Ria, but I showed them the sve trad they let her pass. A sve, while not an object or anything of that sort, still belongs to their Master and generally isn’t denied entry into pces the Master access. That was something I learned yesterday when I was out with Angelina.

  “... is this really alright?” Ria asked. “I mean, this is the Lord’s manht? someone like me really be here?”

  “Well, I am, so I think you as well. And I already got permission, so it is fine. And if it isn’t, we will just go somewhere else.”

  “Where would that be?”

  “No clue. Anywhere we want to go. That is the thing about being free. No one will tell you where to go. Well, at the moment you are kind of tied to me, so you o go where I go, but I go where I want to go and I do take suggestions.”

  “... so you have no pn if something goes wrong. Got it.”

  “Well, I always escape into my dungeon and trap it up to the point where there is no way anyone will ever get through it. But that is the st resort that I will only use if I have no pce to live elsewhere.”

  “What would you eat?”

  “I cooked up a giant fish ba the vilge and you are asking that?”

  “Good point.”

  As we were chitchatting, we reached the front door of the main house.

  “Wele back, Mr. Brian.” A maid had e to wele. “Is the miss with you the dhampir you spoke about?”

  “Yes. This is Rhianna, but she goes by Ria.” I quickly introduced Ria to the maid. I’m sure I’ll have to introduce her another five times today, so I’ll keep it short when it isn’t important.

  “Excuse me, but would you show me her papers from the exam? She did have the first one, right?”

  “Of course she did.” I said as I got them out of Iory, while I was digging in my maginy pack, just to make it look like the paper was there. “Here it is.”

  Like, it is not like I want to keep my iory a secret, but I kind of do. And it is easy enough to hide, so why not?

  The maid looked over the paper before handing it bae.

  “I apologize for this, but I was ordered to firm it.” She said as she bowed.

  “No, I uand. Better safe than sorry.” But holy, after what happe the sve trader’s, I don’t think anything would make Ria lose her cool. Still o set a Spellbinding Circle ohough. As I just said, better safe than sorry. I just o figure out how to word it so that it won’t bind her iimate self defeuations.

  “Brian! Wele back.” Alice called as she met me in the hallway. We were on our way to my room. Well, the room I’m staying in. Ria had to drop off her stuff and then … well, actually I don’t know. I do have two things I o do, but those wait.

  “Hey Alice. How was your day?” I asked.

  “It was great. I was able to ride the dragon. Well, we didn’t fly yet, but just walked around.”

  “Nice. First steps. o walk before you fly, right?”

  “I was going to take a small flight, but Paulina said I ’t do it in the middle of town. Brian, you have to take me somewhere I fly. Please.”

  “Well, I was going to head to my duomorrow, so I take you as well. At least if I get my B.E.S. Big Core and it fit multiple people.”

  “Big Core? B.E.S.?” Alice wondered.

  “Just another of my cards. Don’t worry about it.”

  “And you were going to go all the way to the dungeon. Won’t that take a long time? Even on a fast carriage, the trip from here to Alewatch takes a full day. And that is only if someone use healing magi the horses to keep them running.”

  “... Alice, you do remember that I have a flying golem, right? That thing moves a lot faster than some carriage. I get to the dungeon with it in 15 minutes, or something.” I actually have no idea how long it would take with the takeoff and nding, but 15 minutes should be more than enough, sidering how fast I got to the dhampir vilge. And I wasn’t going nearly at top speeds while going there. If I let Laura take full trol of anding Gradius, I could probably get to the dungeon in 5 minutes.

  “Yes, I remember it. Will you let me ride in it?”

  “Well, there is a problem. Gradius only fit two people and Ria will be ing with us. Oh yeah, I should introduce you. Alice, this is Rhianna, but she goes by Ria. She is a dhampir from the local dhampir town and a friend of Lua. Ria, this is Alice Wat, a daughter of Baron Wat. She has been traveling with me.”

  “daughter of a noble…” I heard Ria mutter, before she bowed, imitating what she saw the maid do earlier. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Wat. My name is Rhianna.” Ria’s voice sounded very stiff as she said that. I guess she isn’t unapologetiough for the noble life. Then again, without the power of system support, I’m not sure I would be either. I just know I wiggle my way out of trouble by showing that I have the system support, so I don’t miing the limits.

  “Brian, was she the girl that you wao make your sve?” Alice asked.

  “Yes. She is my sve. We made the tract already.”

  “I see… Rhianna, my name is Alice Wat. You may call me Alice.” Alice said in a noble manner.

  “Yes, Miss Alice. Thank you.” Ria said, still in her more forceful style.

  “Now Brian, back to this … Big Core? What kind of thing is it?”

  “A flying golem thing, simir to Gradius. But I think it is rger, so it should be able to carry more than two people.”

  “You think so? What do you mean? You don’t actually know?”

  “I won’t know until I summon it. I know what B.E.S. Big Core is based on. And that thing was rger than Gradius, so I think Big Core will be as well. But I will find out for sure when I summon it.”

  “How do you know what it was based on, but don’t know what it is..?”

  “It is like a legend. You know the legend about the herht? But would yhe hero if you passed him ireets?”

  “The hero is dead, so that is impossible.”

  “Well, what if one of my cards could summon the hero. Would yhat he is the hero from the legends that you have heard without him telling you that?”

  “ you summon him?”

  “No, of course not. My cards don’t seem to summon legends that are that well known.” Or more like they don’t summon legends that are known in this world.

  “Oh. I think I uand.”

  Do you? Do you really? Because I don’t and it is my skill. Well, I do uand that it just is Yugioh, but that’s it. It works and that is all that matters.

  Whe to my room, I noticed that someone had brought a mattress into the room, with a pillow and a b and all of that other stuff. Apparently, that was going to be Ria’s bedding.

  “Oh? It is super soft.” Ria said as she tested it out.

  “Is it?” I got ied and tried it with my hand. It wasn’t as good as my bed, but it was good. Better than most cots I have slept on ba earth aer than something like my travel pelts.

  “Yes. It feels better than my bedding in the vilge.” Ria said.

  “Does it? I think it is simir to the one in the room I slept in.”

  “That room has one of the best beds in the vilge.” Ria said. “I think the only better one is the ohat Lady Agatha uses.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know that. I thought you all had ones of that quality.”

  “They aren’t bad, but not quite as good as this.”

  “Well, I’m happy that you like it. Are you sure about sleeping in the same room as me? I ask if they would let you sleep in some other room.”

  “No. I want to sleep here. If I lose trol, I want you to be close.”

  “Yeah, speaking of that. We o take a precaution.” I said as I took out a Spellbinding Circle. “Ria, I want to set this card on you. I know you don’t know what that means, so I’ll quickly expin. Basically, this is the spell that has kept you iwiow. If I set it on you, it will automatically activate if you go into a blood frenzy or try to sueone's blood without permission. Are you fih that?”

  “... you do something like that? And you didn’t … was it set, set it on me earlier?”

  “I wao ask if you were fih it, before I actually did it. And to be ho, there is a ce that the card could activate in a legitimate self defeuation.”

  “Brian. I’m both a sve and a dhampir. Do you think they will accept things like ‘self defense’ if I do it? Especially if I try to sueone’s blood?” Ria asked.

  “... probably not. I see your point. But just be careful. And make sure you ask for my permission before you suck blood from anything that falls into the humanoid category, as that will be a part of the trigger.” I warned her.

  Laura was actually the ohat specified the w for the activation. By specifying blood frenzy and trying to suck blood from a humanoid without my permission, the card won’t activate if she sucks monsters blood in bat. Or when she just drinks from her blood bottle.

  “I want you to bind Rhianna if she goes into a blood frenzy or if she tries to suck the blood of a humanoid without permissio.” I said to, well, set the card on her. “Now, just remember, no sug anyone’s blood without permission or that thing will bind you. That goes for even something as little as what you did back at the sve traders.” I reminded her.

  “Yes.”

  nro_8