“What is this pressure on my chest?” Viola opened her emerald eyes and looked down. She was laying in bed, having just awakened. Eks’s head was currently resting on her chest, a blissful look on the slumbering cat girl’s face. “I guess she glomped onto me in her sleep.”

Thinking back on the events of yesterday brought a tinge of red to the bunny girl’s cheeks. After the whole tavern incident, the cat girl insisted that they should get cleaned up, so the two of them took a bath. The thing was that the inn’s baths were communal, not private. That was not something that Viola was used to, most definitely not. Luckily, it was so late at the time that Viola and Eks were the only ones in the women’s bath. Of course, that meant that they saw each other in the nude. That was kind of embarrassing for the bunny girl to tell the truth. She’d just have to get used to such bathing arrangements.

Viola grinned at the cat girl using her as a makeshift pillow. Eks really was cute, clothes or no clothes. Currently, the two of them were both wearing pink nightgowns. “Hey, Eks,” the bunny girl prodded, “you mind moving.”

“Five more… minutes…,” the red-eyed cat girl mumbled in response, not really waking up.

“Seriously! Get off!” Viola was starting to get annoyed now.

“Pillows shouldn’t… talk back…”

“I’m not your darn pillow! Get off already!”

“Morning, Vi,” Eks said as her eyes flicked open. She sat up with a yawn, stretching her arms.

Viola hopped out of bed and headed to her dresser. After retrieving the desired articles of clothing, she set to work undressing, pulling her nightgown off. Beneath the nightgown, she wasn’t wearing anything. A short while later, she was clad in her fresh clothes. Actually, it was a different instance of the same outfit she was wearing yesterday.

“You getting dressed?” the bunny girl asked.

“In a bit. Going to snuggle up in a blanket cocoon first.” The blue-haired cat girl began pulling the crimson blanket around herself. Wrapped snugly, she tipped over, a happy look gracing her face.

“You don’t want to go with me to pick up my armor?”

“I’m good. I’ll just wait here for you.”

“Guess I’m going myself then,” Viola sighed before turning her attention to the room’s full-length mirror. Taking a moment to look her outfit over, she gave herself a nod of approval. “I’m heading out then. See you in a bit.”

***

“Good morning, Ms. Balewind,” Elron greeted, standing behind the marble counter in his shop. He had a friendly look on his face as usual. “Is that sword serving you well?”

“Morning, Elron. I haven’t really had a use for the sword yet, but it looks nice. That counts for something, right?”

“That it does,” the good-natured blacksmith said with a laugh. “Are you here for your armor?”

“That I am,” Viola confirmed, a wide grin on her face.

“Please wait a moment while I fetch that armor for you.” Elron headed to the back of the shop, leaving the orange-haired bunny girl at the counter. She didn’t have to wait long though. A short time later, a rather happy looking blacksmith returned to the counter. In his hands was a large box. “Here it is,” he said, gingerly placing the box onto the counter. “No charge. Ms. Fells paid in full for this yesterday. I also threw in a bonus gift at no charge as well.”

“Thank you!” the clearly eager bunny girl chirped, grabbing the armor’s box. She braced herself before lifting. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that heavy. Well, it shouldn’t really be that surprising. It was meant to be worn after all. If it was too heavy, well, that could prove to be problematic.

Turning to leave, Viola began to head home. True, the box she was carrying wasn’t that heavy, but carrying it like this for an extended period wasn’t really her idea of a good time. Too bad Eks wasn’t here to help her carry it. Well, at least she didn’t have to walk all that far to get back to the inn.

***

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“I’m back! Wait! Why are you drinking in your panties?” Viola stood at the foot of the bed, box in hand. Before her, Eks sat on her side of the bed in a state of undress, a flask at her lips. For a moment, the cat girl seemed to be frozen, but then she slowly lowered the flask from her lips before placing it on her nightstand. Beside the panties-clad girl was the rest of her clothes neatly laid out on the bed.

“I… Uh… Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t drinking?”

“Never mind! It doesn’t matter! Just finish getting dressed!” Viola replied, placing the box down on the bed as she did.

“Is that your new armor?” Eks commented as she put her bra on. Next, the cat girl pulled her robe on before tying a golden rope around her waist. The rope served to accentuate her waist and hips nicely. With that, she pulled her white thigh-highs on and finally her black shoes. The pretty cat girl grabbed her emerald earrings from her nightstand and headed to the mirror to put them on. She took a moment to admire herself.

“Glad to see you’re dressed. Yes, this is the armor or should be anyway.”

“Why don’t you, you know, open it?”

“Right. Open it. I can do that!” Viola stammered, readying herself. She wasn’t afraid of opening the thing, but she was a tad apprehensive. The bunny girl was quite hyped for this so was a bit worried about being let down. With a deep breath, she opened the rather large box. Somehow, light seemed to radiate from within it for a moment before dying down. “D-Did that actually happen?!”

“Just roll with it.”

“Right.” Viola peered into the box. Eks did too. Just as expected, the box contained a suit of Salamander Skin Armor, a type of light armor with a red coloration to it. The bunny girl just stared at it for a while, a dumb smile on her face.

“What are you waiting for? Try it on!” Eks said, patting Viola on the back as she did so. The bunny girl jumped a bit at the sudden contact.

“I-I can do that,” Viola replied as she started pulling off her clothes. “Wait! Do I wear my bra and panties under this?!”

“I would. I mean, what if you have an armor malfunction or something? They might prevent you from giving your opponent an eyeful in such a case.”

“Good point. I’ll leave the bra and panties on then.” The orange-haired bunny girl started putting on the various pieces of her Salamander Skin Armor. A short time latter, she was wearing her new armor. It may have been light armor, but it definitely wasn’t a skimpy suit of armor. It covered her pretty well. It did have a hole for her bunny tail though. Also, it lacked a helmet. However, it did have greaves and gauntlets. The greaves had 2cm heels just like her regular shoes.

“You look so cute it that!” Eks chirped, glomping the bunny girl as she did. The two of them fell to the ground with Eks on top. The cat girl leaned forward, straddling the bunny girl’s waist. “Want to be my girlfriend?” Their faces were close.

“A-Are you serious?”

Eks nodded with a smile. “What do you say?”

“S-Sure. I-I’d be happy to,” Viola stuttered timidly.

“That makes me so happy, Vi,” Eks responded, leaning closer. The cat girl pressed her lips to her new girlfriend’s forehead and gave it a quick peck before climbing to her feet. Offering a hand, she help Viola up.

Viola walked back to the box that her armor had come in. Although she had already removed the armor and was currently wearing it, there was still an item in the box. That item was a red envelop. This must be that bonus gift that Elron had mentioned. Happily, she opened the envelope. Inside was a letter and two earrings. The letter read, ‘To the most beautiful woman.’ Viola froze, her face beet red.

“What’s up, Vi?” the cat girl asked, approaching her girlfriend’s side. She looked over the letter in the bunny girl’s hands. “Darn blacksmith is after my girl!” she blurted out, fists clenching. Then her face softened, and she burst into laughter. “Guess it’s good I already asked you to be my girlfriend, or Elron might have beat me to it.”

“S-Should I give the earrings back?”

“Let me see,” Eks answered, taking the earrings. Her crimson eyes widened. “T-These aren’t ruby earrings! They’re Dragonstone Earrings.” Like her own emerald earrings, the Dragonstone Earrings were also set in gold.

“So should I return them?”

“No way! Here! Try them on! You’ll love them!”

The perplexed bunny girl found her new girlfriend shoving the pair of earrings into her hands and frantically motioning to the mirror. She quite obviously wanted Viola to try on the pair, but for the life of her, Viola couldn’t see why. “O… K…,” the confused bunny girl finally stammered before heading to the full-length mirror. Eks grinned at her as she walked.

“I put these on my human ears, right?” Viola questioned, looking in the mirror.

“That’s right.”

After taking a deep breath, the green-eyed bunny girl put one earring on and then the other. “Actually, these don’t look half bad. Wait! What was that?!” Strangely, she could have sworn she saw something odd for a moment, almost like a multitude of embers had been floating around her. “These earrings aren’t cursed, are they?”

“Shouldn’t be. They should give the wearer fire magic though. Try doing something fiery!”

“Seriously?! Fire magic?!” Viola outstretched her right hand, concentrating on her upturned palm. On cue, a flame burst into life, extinguishing a short while latter as per her desire. “This is amazing! No way I’m returning these! I’m basically a fire mage with them!”

“I’ll change into my armor too,” Eks interjected before walking up to her dresser. She retrieved her armor and laid it out on her side of the bed. Unlike Viola’s, her armor was black. Apart from the color, though, it actually looked quite similar. Pulling off her robe, the cat girl started changing into her armor.

“How do I look?” Eks asked, smiling. She was now fully garbed in her armor. Like Viola’s, her Night Weave Armor was also a type of light armor. She was even wearing her Night Edge Dagger at her left hip, a black belt holding it in place. The weapon’s handle, hilt, and sheathe were all solid black. Even its blade was black although one couldn’t actually see its blade as of now due to the dagger currently being sheathed.

“You look hot,” Viola replied with a blush.

“Thanks, Vi,” Eks responded, stepping up to Viola as she did so. Looking her dead in the eye, she continued, “There’s adventuring to be done. Put your sword on.”

“You mean we’re doing the quest?!” the bunny girl chirped, a dumb smile plastered on her face.

“Yup!”

With that, Viola retrieved her Stone’s Bane Sword from beside her nightstand. Eagerly, she started fumbling with the red belt as she put it on. “Ready!” she cheered. “Let’s go fight some toads!”