Melissa was sitting together with Olive and Anna at the bar when Reya, Arwin, and Lillia returned to the Devil’s Den. She looked a lot better than the last time Arwin had seen her, but tension still tightened her spine and stiffened her words.

“Ah. See? There they are,” Olive said with a nod in their direction. “Right on time. I told you, they’ve got a dramatic flair.”

“Are you both doing well?” Anna asked with no little amount of concern. “You’ve missed a lot of sleep. That can cause a lot of health issues if you aren’t careful.”

“Issues that don’t exist as long as I don’t acknowledge them,” Arwin drawled.

His attempt at a joke died a painful death as Anna’s eyes bored into him and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Health is no laughing matter. One of the biggest mistakes adventurers make is assuming healing magic can repair everything. It can’t. I can stitch a wound shut or mend a broken bone, but if your body is crumbling apart at the seams, even a powerful healer won’t be able to do anything other than prolong your pain. Healing magic is a tool, not a replacement.”

Arwin gave Anna a sharp nod. “I didn’t mean to blow your concern off. We were just pressed for time, but I think we’re both okay. Lillia’s food goes a long way in replacing the sleep we didn’t get. We can catch up on it later.”

“Miss one hour, need two more,” Anna said, but she shook her head and let out a sigh. “And I don’t mean to act like your mother. I know it’s not possible to act optimally all the time. Just don’t overdo it.”

“We won’t, but your concern is appreciated,” Lillia said with a smile. Her eyes glazed over for a second as she stared at something in the air before her before returning to normal. “How’s Melissa doing? I haven’t been around nearly as much as I would have liked. I hope the tavern is to your liking.”

I’m pretty sure she just checked on the satisfaction rating. I guess the Mesh makes it pretty difficult to lie about how much someone is enjoying their stay when it objectively rates their opinions for her.

“It’s safe,” Melissa said after a second of thought. “Better than the places I’ve been in the recent days. I have no complaints. And, even if I did, I’m only alive because of everything you’re all doing for me.”

Judging by the look on Lillia’s face, Melissa was at least somewhat satisfied with her stay. She probably wasn’t completely blown away by it just because of her upbringings as a noble, but as long as she didn’t hate it, it was fine.

“Shall I go get the armor?” Anna asked. “Rodrick has it in our room.”

“That would be great,” Arwin said with a nod. “Thank you, Anna. The sooner we get Melissa outfitted and prepared, the better. We don’t have all that long before the time Rodrick estimated we had runs out.”

Anna headed up the stairs and returned with a burlap bag clutched in her arms. She waddled over to a table and set it down on top of the dimly lit wood before returning to the second floor to retrieve a second bag.

Lillia took the bag from the healer at the base of the stairs and brought it over to the other one. Anna gave her an appreciative nod.

“Thanks. A little heavier than I’m used to.”

A worried look passed over Melissa’s face. She didn’t say anything, but Arwin could practically read her thoughts. He chuckled.

“Don’t worry. Anna is a talented woman, but she’s not the strongest,” he said. “This isn’t the lightest armor I’ve ever made, but it should be useable for you. You’ve got some muscle — I trust it isn’t for show.”

A small smile pulled across Melissa’s lips. “My father trained me. We used to spend a lot of time practicing with the sword. Not nearly enough to be great at it, but enough to be good. I suppose I reaped a few more rewards, but I’ve never worn full plate armor.”

“Then now’s a good time to start,” Reya said from behind Arwin. “You couldn’t have gotten it from a better smith.”

Arwin coughed into a fist and pulled open the first of the burlap bags. It had the greaves, helmet, and gauntlets stored within it. The Rosium glistened in the dim light. Every swirling pattern on its surface seemed to catch the flames from the torches and twist them around itself.

He emptied the second bag out as well, adding the chestpiece and boots to the table. His insignia glistened at the very center of the chestpiece, amidst the swirling designs around it. It was impossible to miss.

Anyone that saw Melissa wearing the armor would be unable to miss who had made it. Arwin smiled despite himself and set a hand on the top of the pile as he turned to look at Melissa.

She stared at the armor with an undisguised look of awe. Her mouth hung slightly askew as if waiting for someone to feed her a bite of food and her eyes were wide. She took a subconscious step forward, almost moving to reach for the armor, before catching herself.

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“You made this in a week?” Melissa asked in disbelief. “Something this beautiful? Which part of it is magic?”

“All of it,” Arwin replied. “The stats are hidden, of course. We don’t need to be announcing to everyone the full extent of what you’re capable of when you wear it. That would defeat the whole purpose of a secret weapon.”

Melissa nodded slowly, but it was clear she was torn between her emotions. Hope and worry intermixed on her features as she looked down upon the specially crafted set. She’d been waiting around to get it for a week.

Now that it was finally before her, it was only natural to be at least a little bit stressed. It was easy to wait. It was much harder to act when the time to sit around finally came to an end — and she was probably dying with curiosity as to what the armor actually did.

“Put it on,” Arwin said, holding the helmet out to the teen. “It’s been made specifically to fit you, but it never hurts to make sure.”

Melissa hurried to oblige him. She donned the armor with practiced efficiency. Even if she’d never worn plate before, Arwin had done everything he could to make sure the set was as simple and fast to put on as he could possibly make it — and Melissa had clearly worn some forms of armor before.

Arwin nodded in approval once Melissa finished. The armor fit her perfectly, molding to her form like a second skin. He’d avoided any overly bulky pieces, instead relying on the qualities of the materials in the armor to provide the needed protection.

It wasn’t so overly bright or eye-catching that it would be detrimental, but the armor clearly had a little extra care put into its metal. Melissa tested out her range of movement as they all watched with interest.

“This is fantastic,” Melissa said. She rapped herself on the chest. “At least, I think it is. I’m not an expert on armor. It’s heavier than I thought it would be, but I think I can still move around in it. But… where’s the magic?”

“You don’t see anything?” Olive asked with a surprised blink. “Have you tried focusing on it yet?”

“Don’t bother,” Arwin said, raising a hand to forestall Melissa. “Looking closer won’t change anything. The armor’s information is completely hidden.”

“Completely?” Melissa lifted the helm off her head and tucked it under an arm as her brow furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

“Because this isn’t your typical magical armor. It’s got a few extra peculiarities that I need to fill you in on,” Arwin said. He leaned against the counter as he spoke. “The first is the most obvious. No visible magical properties. It just looks like a pretty piece of armor. The harder it is to figure out what you’re wearing, the less chance the assassins are going to be able to counter it.”

“I — huh. I didn’t think of that. Some people have identification skills. I bet some of the assassins could too.” Melissa sucked on her teeth and pursed her lips. “I guess it’s a good preemptive move to stop them from doing that.”

I don’t think identification skills will break through the armor’s defenses either way. All the lower tier identification skills I know of usually only worked on normally concealed magic. Concealments built into a set are usually too significant to peer through for someone below Master Tier. I’m not going to say anything about that. If she comes up with her own justifications for why I’ve made the armor like this, it just makes things easier for me.

“That’s not the only thing,” Arwin said, holding up a hand as his features darkened. “This armor isn’t going to work indefinitely. You’ve got a time limit. A month, probably. No longer. After that, the magic in the armor will collapse and it’ll just be a pretty piece of metal. Effective, but nothing more than its components.”

Actually, I’m just going to pull the plug on it in a month. I want to show off what I’m capable of, but I don’t need Melissa thinking I’m too powerful either. She seems like a nice kid. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s claimed to be the leader of a fairly powerful noble house. I believe her, but that also means she may not be the person we believe her to be. Better to cover all my bases.

Melissa didn’t look even slightly surprised at the drawback. “I figured something like that would be involved. Nobody can make magical armor strong enough to let me fight off the Falling Blade in just a week. There had to be a drawback. Not to sound impatient or impertinent… but given those restrictions, what can it actually do?”

Arwin smiled. He scooped a mug off the counter beside him and flung it at Melissa’s head. She yelped in surprise and threw her hands up to protect her face. Arwin’s mug was faster — and her armor was faster still.

A gust of wind howled around Melissa and tossed the mug to the side, sending it tumbling through the air. Arwin lunged and grabbed it before it could hit the ground. Lillia sent him a pointed look.

“It’s fine!” Arwin said defensively, showing her the mug. “I didn’t break it.”

“Good. I would have been a bit peeved with you if it was. I would have extracted payment.”

“Is your idea of payment making him into a pillow? Because you were muttering something about that while you were sleeping,” Reya said with a sly grin.

Lillia choked and coughed into her fist before sending a glare at Reya. “I think I liked it better when you were overly polite. Olive is a bad influence on you.”

“Me?” Olive asked in exaggerated shock. “That’s just rude. I’m as harmless as I am armless.”

Arwin, Reya, Lillia, and Anna all sent a flat stare at her.

“What?” Olive asked.

“That sucked,” Anna informed her with a gentle smile. “The only one who would have laughed at that was Rodrick, and he laughs at just about anything.”

Arwin nearly joined in on the banter before he spotted the stunned expression on Melissa’s face.

“Are you okay? Did the armor draw too much power from you?” Worry creased Arwin’s brow. He’d done his best to make sure the armor wouldn’t draw too much power, but there was always a chance —

“I’m more than okay,” Melissa said hurriedly. “I… how are you just all taking this so casually? The armor can knock away all ranged projectiles?”

“Well, most,” Arwin corrected. “If you get shot with something huge moving really fast, it’ll probably get past. That’ll be great for small projectiles, though.”

“Incredible.” Melissa put the helm back on her head. “So all I have to do is figure out a way to defeat the assassins in hand to hand. I don’t have to worry about their thrown weapons. I lost my last fight, but this gives me a fighting chance.”

“Oh, it does a whole lot more than just block flying shit,” Arwin said with a chuckle. “That’s just the first enchantment.”

“It does more?” Melissa practically wheezed. “What else?”

Arwin grinned. “I’d be thrilled to show you.”