The daughter of the armorer, Yules, was a curious sight as she bumbled around her workplace, snatching up various tools and stuffing them into the surprisingly deep pockets of her apron.

“Okay! Now, come here. Stand right about…. here.” She maneuvered me into position in the middle of the room. “My mother doesn’t have to do this. I swear she just looks at a customer and knows exactly the right size of armor they need, but I’m not there yet.”

What I found so surprising about Yules was just how normal she was. Even with other friendly demons, there was this sense of otherworldliness that threw me off every single time. A feeling that they were more than what met the eye, beyond what my mortal senses could perceive.

But Yules? She was exactly what she appeared to be: an enthusiastic armorer apprentice, happy with her life.

“Do I need to do something special?” I asked. “Or should I just stand here?”

She assured me quickly, “No, no, just relax. I’ll tell if you need you to stretch or hold in any position.”

Yules began the long, meticulous process of measuring me with a tape ruler. She took the length of my arms, my chest, my shoulders, the distance between my shoulders and hips, and the size of my feet. In a move that made me flush, she measured the length of my legs. From there, she got me to take up several fighting stances, carefully noting the way my muscles and limbs stretched and moved in those positions.

She didn’t write anything down, but with the self-satisfied smile on her face, I couldn’t bring myself to question her. It didn’t help that she was cheerfully whistling some tune I didn’t recognize, and that she was absolutely adorable.

Did I have a thing for muscular demonesses unafraid to wear their heart on their sleeve? Perhaps the answer was yes.

This was not a revelation I needed on this particular day, especially when I was still struggling against occasional flashes from Clarinette’s life. Or Hayden’s. No matter what urges I felt, how could I tell if they were really mine?

Oddly, the reminder of how messed up I was did the trick of helping me fully relax.

“I’ve got everything I need, I think,” Yules said after taking one final measurement of my forearms. “Now, it doesn’t really matter if I don’t have any armor in your exact size right now. It doesn’t take long to adjust the dimensions of pieces I do have. However, if you don’t like the design or what I have on offer, I’m going to warn you right now that you’ll need to wait several days for me to forge something from scratch.”

“No, no, I’m sure your work is impressive. We’ll find something I like in no time. But… um… you do know that your mother sent me here because I don’t have a lot of souls on me, right?”

She paused, pursing her lips. “How much do you have?”

“Ah… two hundred and eight souls,” I admitted it with a heavy heart, wondering if she’d tell me to get lost.

Yules brightened, then frowned, then looked thoughtful, and finally landed back on a bright expression. Really, her emotions swapped so quickly that I could barely keep up.

“That’s okay, then. I mean… I’m a little disappointed that you can’t afford enchanted pieces, not even my own work, but if you purchase mortal rank items and agree to let me add my crafter’s mark to the set, you have just about enough to cover the cost. How about two hundred souls for everything?”

I was pretty certain she was taking pity on me, but that was not enough to change my answer. “Done and done. I just need some armor, really, nothing fancy. I doubt they’d let me fight any of the really powerful locals. Everyone’s been itching for fights lately. And I know your work is going to be high quality, just from how enthusiastic you are about it!”

The pretty demoness blushed, which was an odd yet lovely thing to witness. Red highlights appeared on her orange skin, making her look almost like a sunset. It was enchanting.

“Well, I do my best!” she said, leading me back into the hallway. She began pulling boxes from the shelves, talking the entire time. “My mother’s an amazing armorer, so I’ve learned a ton from just watching her work when I was younger. When she started teaching me? It’s been amazing so far, and I’ve learned so much! I can’t wait until I’m good enough for her to feature my work in the shop.”

Yules spent several minutes gushing over her mother, and I got to learn more than I strictly needed to about the woman’s accomplishments. Apparently, she was one of the premier armorers in the Circle of Passion, which was meaningful in some way I was missing context for, and she was only doing the stint in this particular world for a couple of months as a break from her regular work.

Eventually, Yules lifted a box to face-level and got a face-full of dust. I used the coughing fit that followed to squeeze in a question.

“I’m not sure if this is out of line, but how does the process of converting a whole city into a demonic haven even work?”

“Oh, that?” Yules placed the box back down. “It looks more impressive than it is, really. Demons who are interested in doing some business on an invasion world just need to sign up. You can specify the level of world you want to be placed in, and how long you want to purchase a work permit for. The better craftsmen and shopkeepers get priority, of course. Especially in higher rank worlds.”

“How strong is this world, then?” I asked, trying not to let my hunger for information show in my voice.

Whether I succeeded or not, the demoness didn’t seem to care.

“Oh, about as weak as they come. If they don’t find some unique resources or something like that, I hear this entire world is going to get scrapped.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She spoke casually, distracted as she opened yet another box she dragged in from the hallway.

I, on the other hand, froze in place.

I could sort of understand what she meant when she said the world was weak. Not a single demon I saw in combat was struggling. Frankly, if my new demonic masters had any sense in their heads, a weak world is exactly where they should send fresh troops.

More important, however, was the mention of ‘scrapping’ a world. There had been similar references in other demon conversations before. Obviously, I didn’t know what exactly that meant, but you didn’t use a word like ‘scrap’ if you had good intentions towards a world you were trying to conquer.

Somehow, I didn’t freak out and start demanding answers. Instead, I tried to go for an angle that might appeal to a craftsman. “Unique resources? What’s that like?”

“Oh, it’s just amazing!” the girl squeaked gleefully, shooting me a dazzling smile. “One time, when my mother was taking a break from Passion, we got to visit this plane that was a whole world situated on the back of this gargantuan tortoise thing. Except it wasn’t actually an animal, you know? And it was made up of this fascinating material harder than diamond, and — Aha! Here it is!”

The girl’s rant stopped when she found the box she was looking for. Proudly, she began to pull out pieces of armor.

“This is slightly older work of mine. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad!” she rushed to reassure me. “It was just done using mortal materials. I’ve moved on to slightly more challenging stuff since then, but this was the final armor set I made to prove my skill before I was allowed to advance my craft, and so I went all out on it! Here, check it out and then tell me whether you like it.”

I watched as she laid all the pieces out on the floor. I could immediately tell that yes, I did like the armor.

The whole set came in red and silver tones. The plate was made out of some silvery, gleaming metal that refracted light in a small rainbow sheen. Every piece of leather and fabric was touched up in a shade of red that somehow complemented the silver perfectly.

The design was also appealing. The chest piece, for example, had a large clasp with a crafter’s mark attached to the left breast of the armor. This meant the half-cloak secured to the clasp couldn’t be used by an enemy to strangle the wearer. It also looked dashing, in my humble opinion, especially with the golden trim on the cloak.

There were, however, two downsides to the set.

The first was that it didn’t come with any sleeves. Sure, leather was intricately worked into the underside of the plate, which made the chest piece very comfortable-looking. The impressive armguards would cover the entirety of my forearms, and they looked thick enough to double as shields if I needed to block. But my upper arms would be exposed from elbow to shoulder.

The second downside was purely aesthetics. The armor came with a large, bulky belt that had plenty of pouches and attachments. I was instantly in love with that part. I was less fond of the way the belt resolved into something between a short skirt and a kilt. The leather pants would render the typical function of such a piece of clothing redundant, but the thought of wearing it made me feel a little awkward. Though, the way the layers of cloth folded and swept to my right hip, hanging a little longer on that side, was striking…

The armor also didn’t come with a helmet, but my old one was still perfectly serviceable, even if it would clash with the armor set’s elaborate design.

“Well, what do you think?” Yules asked nervously, several long minutes of silence later.

I tore my gaze away from the beautiful set and tried to gather my thoughts.

“Honestly? I love it. Still… are you sure I can actually afford this? I mean, just the silver metal, whatever it is, looks pretty expensive.”

The words came out reluctantly. I really, really wanted this armor. It looked leagues more comfortable than what I was wearing, and not just because I had stripped my current set off a corpse that wasn’t exactly my size. There was simply a richness and quality to the materials in Yules’ armor that spoke for itself.

The demoness brightened. She looked about ready to hug me before she caught herself and coughed. “Don’t worry about that one bit! As I said, all the materials I used were mortal rank. I did sneak some of my mana into the process, obviously, even though mom hadn’t taught me how to do that yet… but that doesn’t really impact the price much!”

“It doesn’t? Because it sounds like it would.” I wasn’t trying to argue myself out of a good set of armor, or at least I told myself that. There was just something so sincere and delightful about Yules. I would have felt like a scumbag if I took advantage of her.

“It doesn’t,” she assured me. “Really. Besides, you agreed to wear an armor with my mark, right? Well, I’ll add this to the deal: you have to promote my armor to everyone you know and anyone who asks! If I manage to get a couple of commissions and mom lets me work with the better materials, I’ll have my armor out there in the shop in no time!”

“Ah, but then I wouldn’t get to monopolize your craft,” I teased with a smile. Her reaction was well worth it, but I did feel the need to reassure her too. “I’ll do that. Anyone I know, or who shows interest in the armor, I’ll send your way immediately.”

Privately, I winced at how lopsided the agreement was. The only person I really knew was Bronwynn, and I doubted I’d get to chat with him or recommend anything any time soon. Meanwhile, most of the demons in the legion seemed to consider actual armor as purely optional. I had seen far too many bare chests as the infernals launched themselves into battle practically naked, male and female alike.

I sincerely hoped that was a Legion of Torment thing, and not the universal demonic approach. Then again, the shop Yules’ mother ran was apparently popular, so that was a hint all on its own.

“Just try the armor on, please?” The demoness pushed the pieces towards me, ignoring the flush on her own cheeks.

I complied.

The size wasn’t absolutely perfect, but it was already way better than what I had. Not that Yules was satisfied by that. She made me go through a series of exercises while wearing the armor, then practically undressed me herself afterwards. Oddly, there wasn’t a hint of shyness as she did, just focus and beaming happiness in her work.

She then turned into a whirlwind of motion as she went about fixing things up. The plate was carefully removed from the armor, heated up, and shrunk. The leather was expertly cut, and then nothing short of magic was used to put the pieces back together again. Each and every piece of the armor got meticulous attention. I was fascinated, barely aware of the time slipping past us while I watched Yules perform her art.

When all was said and done, the armor fit me like a second skin. Every motion I tried to perform was effortless, the fabric and leather stretching easily to match the new positions of my body.

If a demonic version of internet existed, I would have left a glowing five-star review.

The young demoness was ecstatic, caught up in happiness over someone finally wearing her armor. She was so eager for me to show off her work that she began ushering me out the door without asking for payment. I had to dig my heels in and remind her to take my souls.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to promote your armor,” I assured her after she devolved into a stammering, embarrassed mess. “You deserve nothing less! I never thought armor could feel so comfortable.”

I gave Yules one more smile, and she rewarded me in kind.

Her mother was watching us with a small smirk of her own. I exchanged a nod and a grin with the woman before I exited the store.

If it weren’t for her, I would never have gotten such solid armor. The best I could have hoped for was to pick up a few pieces to replace the damaged ones I had lost, and that would have probably wiped out my souls too.

I resolved to come back one day. I wasn’t sure when or how I’d earn the souls to afford their actual work, but I would find a way.

For now, I tried to content myself with the fact that I had managed to meet all my downtime goals. I had my new mana technique. I had new armor. And I even had a health potion if, or when, things went to hell in a hand basket.

I was as prepared as I could hope to be.