The next morning a seamstress arrived to take our measures. I had no idea what sort of gown or dress would look good. I left any decision in Lucy’s capable hands. I still had some spidersilk which could be used and once the clothes were finished we would enchant them.

Afterwards Magnus escorted us to Ingrid’s smithy. It was time to finally make use of Mantus’ armour.

“Ah, welcome to my workplace!” Ingrid greeted us. She wore an apron and was dressed like a regular smith. She seemed really excited about working on the armour.

I looked around her smithy. “Wow, everything is covered in runes.” I said.

“Good eyes! Yes, working with adamantium requires special equipment. And resizing an armour requires quite a bit of magic. Please place it on that table.”

I placed the armour where she pointed. Ingrid immediately started to study it. Then she turned towards Lily.

“Where are my manners, hello Lily! We did not get to talk yesterday.” Ingrid said.

“Greetings and thank you for your help.” Lily said and bowed.

“You are welcome. I am rather excited to work on this!” Ingrid turned back to the armour. She put on some magical goggles and continued her examination.

“Hm. Oh. Marvellous work.” She said, Then she frowned. “There might be a problem.”

“What is it?” Lucy asked.

“Those enchantments are supposed to work with a demon. The armour will be bound by blood. It does not even require resizing, it can shapeshift, to a degree, with the owner. Ideally we would have some of Mantus’ blood to break the previous connection and establish a new one…”

“Blood is very useful.” Shani said, nodding. She had joined Lucy, Lily and myself. I was not sure if she was bored, or actually interested in seeing the armour adjusted.

“I still have his body.” I said.

“Really? Perfect!” Ingrid said. “Now we just need to find a way to make it work for a dragonkin…”

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“Uhm, Lily is actually a demon.” I said. “We don’t really advertise the fact because they do have a reputation. And she was bound by the Empire in the past…”

“I am Lilastheria, a succubus. But I have become Lily, my ladies’ maid knight.” Lily said. Then she assumed her natural form.

Ingrid stared. “You made a demon into your Storm Knight?”

“Storm Maid Knight.” Shani corrected her.

“You intend to bestow the armour of a demon lord to a demon?” Ingrid asked.

“I can assure you, my ladies have broken any connection I had to my former mistress, Lilith. I serve them willingly and loyally.” Lily said.

“You served Lilith? The demon lord who contacted you in Unitera?” Ingrid turned to me. “Does she know that you stole her servant?”

“I would not say stole. We just recruited her.” I pointed out.

“If Lilith has a problem with us we'll deal with her.” Lucy said, shrugging.

“My ladies are an archfey and a kitsune. Do not underestimate their power.” Lily said with pride.

“And slaughtering demonic armies is fun!” Shani added. “We should pick more fights with demon lords!”

“Well, we do have Ashmedai as an enemy. There is a good chance we will fight more demons in the future.” I said.

Shani grinned. And showed a lot of teeth. More than one should have.

Ingrid looked thoughtful. “I suppose you are powerful. It’s easy to forget that you are an archfey. You do not behave like one would expect. Very well, I shall help you bind the armour to your servant.”

“Nice, what do you need?” I asked.

“A bit of blood from Mantus’ corpse and some blood from Lily. Also, It would be best if you powered the ritual. It will require a high tier spell slot. It will take me about 20 minutes to set everything up.”

“Would it be possible to add some clothing to the armour?” Lily asked.

“What do you mean?” Ingrid inquired.

“Would it be possible to add some fabric to it? Make it part of the armour? Like a skirt covering the plate legs? Maybe something adjustable, since the armour can shapeshift.” Lily explained her request.

“You want a maid-like skirt and apron covering your plate armour?” Ingrid raised an eyebrow.

“Indeed. I would like them to be a part of it. Sharing the enchantments, like repairing itself.”

“Would it not be more comfortable to just wear a normal outfit and simply switch to your armour when in battle?” I asked.

“My lady, I wish to fully embrace my status as a maid knight. And I am sure that armour will be comfortable to wear.”

“It is enchanted to regulate the temperature.” Ingrid added. “Most magical plate is surprisingly comfortable to wear.”

“If you want to.” I shrugged. It was her decision.

“We would need some good fabric but it might be possible. It would require a bit more magic…” Ingrid mused.

“Amaya has more spider silk and we have a lot of magic. I really like the idea”. Lucy said. “If that works we should requisition something similar for all our maid knights!”

“We should soak the silk in blood!” Shani added.

“What would that do?” I asked.

“It would look great! Uh, can it be enchanted to always look wet and drip a bit?” Shani asked.

I stared at her. “I don’t think we need that.” I said. “But if it works, could we requisition similar armour for Iris and Minerva?”

“I can’t make anything quite as powerful. But I could make something similar. It would be rather expensive and you might need to help me get some ingredients.” Ingrid said.

“Sure. We are here for a few days at least anyway.” It was time to properly outfit our maid knights.