Pearl's shopping trip was postponed for at least two days. Dawn was in no condition to walk the shops, and showing a queasy demeanor would offend the shop owners. So instead they forced her to get used to walking with the towel and also put Cythrel to work on her core crate homework. Aidan did not remain idle. He worked on the spell to allow Lumina to control his body. Using the insight from her diary, he knew that the spell would have to appeal to her inner fantasies to work. He was having problems handling the glyphs for the Mind element because of his low affinity though.
His work was about to be interrupted by a royal request though.
"Aidan, can I talk to you?" Pearl's voice came from behind him.
He hummed in agreement also signaling he needed a little more time to finish drawing the set of glyphs he was working on. If he stopped halfway, he would have trouble remembering the correct sequence later. A couple minutes later he stowed the pen and corked the inkwell. It was good to take a pause to let the ink dry.
"Yes, Pearl. What troubles you?" He turned around on his chair and met her eyes. She was unsure of something, measuring her words and actions around some delicate subject.
From his sitting position, her head was higher than his, "The Knights brought me a chest with Kazuya's possessions. You were the one that defeated him, I think you should have them." Aidan could tell from the fluctuations in her voice that she was hesitating.
He looked up at her, "Are you really going to treat me like that, Pearl?" Aidan replied with a hurt tone. There was a shell, a mental barrier she was putting up. He wanted to piece it and reach the person on the other side.
She was startled. Aidan pounced, grabbed the petite girl and sat back on his chair, pulling her in a snug embrace.
"Unhand me." Her token protest had no strength behind it.
He relaxed his arms but didn't release her. She was tense, afraid even. They were alone in his room. The wards were off and she knew that if she screamed help would come. He didn't answer. She didn't struggle to get out. They remained there for a pregnant pause. Were someone to enter the room, a huge misunderstanding would bloom. His head was less than a hand away from her chest and at the same level.
"What do you want?" She asked, with the same wavering and unsure voice from before.
"I will not bear being treated as a stranger." He answered. "Are you already preparing to leave us? Will I also have to ask your Royal Highness to feed me? You are my precious best friend, Pearl. I will stand by you against anything in this world, above or below it. You can trust me, you can rely on me. Now please drop your mask and open up for me."
She chortled and lost some tension, "Open up? Never!" She joked. "I'm a princess, not one of your village waifs."
"I have no village waifs." He protested, tapping his foot.
Pearl stared at him, "The way you handle princesses is infuriating."
He tugged his lips sideways thinking hard and returned her stare, "You are my hostage, Pearl. I kidnapped you. And I am doing my best to keep my hostage alive and happy. Some handling is required," His ironic joke caused Pearl to back away a step. "Besides, I am a princess myself. At least for now."
Pearl caved in and relaxed. "Yes, I have to admit that you have been outstanding in your job to keep me hale, Lord Aidan. Can I go now?"
He released her from his embrace and let out a chuckle, "In my defense, I've never touched any of the village waifs though not for a lack of trying on their part." He didn't notice that he kept holding on to her fingers. If she noticed, she didn't mind. A simple tug would set her hand free.
"Yes, I can see that happening. You are a mimic! The kind of predator that uses deception until your prey is too close to escape."
"Oh. Back to the chest then. Kazuya's treasure. Everybody loves large chests. What about it?"
Pearl covered herself with her free arm. "Well, sorry for it not being a large chest. The large items are not inside."
"Jewels are not kept in large chests. They are stowed in small, precious, ornate, delicate, beautiful and comfortable boxes."
She blushed and punched his shoulder, making him release her hand. "Shut up!" She pressed a cuffed fist to her mouth, covering it.
He did. Aidan looked away and pain flashed in his face. He glanced back at her and made an apologetic smile, "Sorry, cramps."
It took a brief moment for understanding wash Pearl's face, "Still bad?"
"Not as much as when it started. I hope I get used to it soon." He answered.
Pearl deadpanned, "Darling, if you ever get used to it, please tell me how you did it." She mumbled the rest but he heard her, "Bloody annoying thing."
Aidan let out a soft laugh with a congenial smile, "I feel you sister. Got yours too?"
She was surprised but caved in, "Yes. How could you tell?" She was worried it was some stain or the smell.
"Your breath smells of ginger. I guess we are going to brew lots of tea. For all three of us."
"Three? You mean Sora also..." Aidan nodded.
"Just a moment." Aidan turned around to stash his diagrams. Pearl overlooked over his shoulder.
"Golems? Are you studying animation magic?"
"Yes, just a side project." He lied. He placed the papers in a drawer and locked it. Stowing the key in his pocket, he stood up and asked, "Back to Kazuya's loot. What about it?"
They gathered in Pearl's room. A chest and a crate were lying by a wall. The chest was less than a meter wide and less than a half meter wide and deep. The crate was larger, about twice the dimensions of the chest. A princess, an elf, a beastkin, and a young mage were staring at its contents. Dawn was in bed, sleeping.
"Is that Kazuya's treasure?" Cythrel asked. Even though she was present when he died, she was in shock for the loss of her hands.
"Yes. Both Kazuya and Shinji's. It seems he robbed his friend's tomb." Sora answered.
The crate lid was already off. Inside there was Shinji's holy armor and his katana. Kazuya's shadow assassin's leathers and poisoned katanas were there too. Some other large items like a tent kit.
"It is a shame that otherworlder equipment cannot be used by anyone else." Pearl sighed. "But all of this is yours, Aidan."
Aidan used Sylph's hand to move some objects, "Is this equipment dangerous? I can safely lock them away if they are. But regarding possession, I won't keep all to myself. Everyone here deserves some."
"The weapons and armor should all go then," Pearl pointed out. "No use giving them to some other summoned hero."
Sora picked up Shinji's breastplate and bashed it with the back of her hand, "Isn't the armor made of mithril? It surely looks like. Too white, hard, and light to be any other metal."
It spiked Aidan's interest like fire on oil. He used magic sight on the armor. He could see the enchantments on the armor, some of them incomprehensible. It wasn't their system of magic.
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Pearl sighed and ran a hand on the breastplate's embossing. She really liked Shinji, "Unfortunately, this armor is quite indestructible. I think Skippy's Dragonfire would only waste it away."
Aidan continued to study the breastplate. The enchantments were impossible to understand, but the energies were just mana.
And he got an idea, "Give me this piece of armor, Sora. Let me try something. You girls might want to step back a little."
He held the metal piece in his hand and forced Ether mana to surround it. The grey, viscous mana was seeping out, mixing with ambient mana and dissipating, but he willed his Ether mana to wrap around the breastplate. He huffed under the mental strain and his stare could bore a hole in the metal. In his magic sight, he could see the gray mana entering the circuits of the enchantments and destroying each one of them. The sound of crystal ringing and breaking echoed in the room. A minute later, Aidan was dripping sweat and staring at a pile of mithril dust.
"Seriously? Even their stuff is summoned?" He waved a hand and lifted the dust pile into a small box made of stone. "At least I think we can get a half kilogram if I disenchant all his armor."
They opened the chest and rummaged through the small stuff. Coins, hero potions, and some strange objects. Two black glass slabs encased on a polished metal shell. Some notches above and below the device and what looked like buttons on the sides.
Pearl picked one of them, "These should be totally mundane, " She looked at Aidan and he nodded. "These devices were brought with them. They were angry because the devices wouldn't turn on."
Aidan received the device from the princess and put them in a leather bag, "These I'll take with me for safekeeping. They break the god's taboo."
Cythrel picked up some sort of circlet. "What is this? It seems a headband, but there is this rectangular glass piece here." She fiddled with it and placed the object on her head. It felt wrong until she slid the glass piece over her eye. The device hummed and synched with her mana. And she gasped. "Whoa! This is awesome!"
"What is it doing?" Aidan asked with worry, "I can see it using your mana."
"It is fine. Looks like a divination device."
Pearl snapped a finger, "I remember this thing. It was one of the first items Shinji bought in their hero shop. He used it to look at girls and he would talk to Kazuya without allowing me to listen."
Cythrel shook her head back and forth, looking at each person for a time before going to the next, "It is showing some strange symbols and numbers. I can't read them," She took the device off and offered it. "Does anyone want to try?"
"Should be Japanese." Aidan pondered. He pointed at the device and asked the princess, "Can I try it, Pearl?"
"I don't see the harm in it. I'm curious, but maybe it only works for men. Go ahead."
Aidan placed the device on his head and adjusted it so the glass piece was in front of his eye, like a monocle. It hummed and he saw some text written over the glass in front of him. He first looked at Sora. Lines of Japanese text appeared with arrows pointing at parts of her body.
> Name: Sora
>
> Race: Squirrel-kin
>
> Age: 18
>
> Height: 164 cm (190 cm with tail)
>
> Weight: 64 kg
>
> B: 87 (D)
>
> W: 54
>
> H: 86
"It shows data similar to Lifesight, but with different details. There are some measurements. Maybe it is useful for ordering custom-tailored clothing." He kept looking at Sora. The device hummed again and more information came.
> Affection: 97%
>
> Difficulty: C
>
> Status: Captured
>
> Capture Strategy: Affection > 90%. Grab her tail in a romantic event.
Aidan pondered in silence.
"What does it say?" Sora asked, bashful from being stared at.
"I don't know. It is confusing. Let me test it on Cythrel."
> Name: Cythrel
>
> Race: Elf
>
> Age: 36
>
> Height: 133 cm
>
> Weight: 24 kg
>
> B: 56 (A)
>
> W: 51
>
> H: 58
>
> Special: Legal loli.
>
> Affection: 99%
>
> Difficulty: D
>
> Status: Captured
>
> Capture Strategy: Help her with affection < 20%. Raise affection to 90% and rely on her during major event.
He looked at Pearl next.
> Name: Pearl
>
> Race: Human (dwarf blood)
>
> Age: 19
>
> Height: 152 cm
>
> Weight: 42 kg
>
> B: 82 (B)
>
> W: 56
>
> H: 84
>
> Special: Princess
>
> Affection: 79%
>
> Difficulty: A
>
> Status: Ongoing
>
> Capture Strategy: Affection > 90%. Save from distress three times. Less than 3 captures. Pledge eternal love.
"Get that thing off of his head. He is with the same stupid smile as Shinji when he used that thing!" Pearl ordered.
Sora snatched the circlet from Aidan. "What does it says?"
He looked around and the three girls were staring at him, angry.
Aidan grinned, "That Pearl is an incurable romantic."
Pearl flared and grabbed the device from Sora. "They also kept staring at all girls. I bet this device says things about us. Let me see what they say about you, Aidan." She put it on and stared so hard at him that she could bore a hole in his skull.
> Name: Aidan
>
> Race: Human
>
> Age: 16
>
> Height: 174 cm
>
> Weight: 70 kg
>
> B: 91 (--)
>
> W: 84
>
> H: 92
>
> Special: Trap
>
> Affection: 68%
>
> Difficulty: S
>
> Status: Ongoing
>
> Capture Strategy: Keep affection > 80% for at least 3 years. Neutral reaction in 4 special events.
Pearl laughed. "I knew it. This device says you are a trap, Aidan." She took it off. "It says your measurements too. Probably useful to order tailor-made clothes."
Aidan was also annoyed. "Again with the mimic talk? What is the word trap supposed to mean?"
Pearl Shrugged. "I don't know. Probably some otherworlder term. Is this device safe? Wait. Let me check it on the girls too." Pearl put it on again and checked Cythrel and Sora. She thought for a while and snarled. "Aidan, bring Dawn here, now!"
"Yes, but what is the matter?" He focused on waking Dawn and a few minutes later she was there, yawning.
Pearl once again stared at Dawn.
> Name: Dawn
>
> Race: Human
>
> Age: 16
>
> Height: 161 cm
>
> Weight: 51 kg
>
> B: 89 (E)
>
> W: 56
>
> H: 87
>
> Special: Princess, Gender Bender
>
> Affection: 60%
>
> Difficulty: SS
>
> Status: Failed
>
> Capture Strategy: Childhood Friend route only. Affection > 80%. Be aggressive in romantic event.
Pearl remembered Shinji using this back at her own castle. He would use it on the maids and comment something with Kazuya. And every time he used the device his behavior changed a bit. It was strange that he would use it to talk to her and then he would become a lot more charming, as if he got the right answers. Well, now she knew why. Pearl removed the device. "I understood everything now. This thing is the epitome of evil."
She threw it down and crushed it under her shoes.