章 10: Contact
It's the day after the day we had our duel. Although I won, I still somehow fell for Charles' trap and still ended up with going in a date with him.
Of course, I can't bear to go out with this guy alone. Thankfully, the girls gave me an idea what to do to keep myself safe from Charles as Rose.
It was to bring my other self with me. Using that as alibi, I brought Archie with me as well.
Currently, class had just ended. All the boys were expecting something big to happen between Rose and Charles. And as they guessed, there is one.
While strutting proudly towards me. Charles picks up Rose's bag and looks at her with a big smile. It doesn't even matter from which perspective I look, it looks so damn stupid.
"Come on, Rose. It's time for our date."
"It's not a date."
As the four of us exited the classroom, everyone in class looked at us until we got out of the door.
While walking down the hallway, I can feel less stares than before.
"Come to think of it, does the whole school know about me?"
Since Rose was closer, I decided to ask Charles as her.
"I don't think it's a secret, but nobody really talks about commoners."
"Well, what about you asking me out on a date. Isn't that enough to make a commotion?"
"So you acknowledge that this is a date then?"
"You know what, I'll just shut up and not talk again until this ends."
"Oh come on, it's not everyday you'll get to go on a date with a noble."
When he said that, I look at him and laugh a bit. After that, I swing myself towards Archie and put my arms around his arm while putting it between my chest. It got Charles' jaw dropping like a loose door.
"I do though."
"Dude, that's creepy and disgusting."
"Oh come on, I know you like how my boobs feel."
Charles then looks at Red with a really angry expression.
"You're a guy! You're not supposed to do something that shameless in a woman's body!"
"I don't know man, I am technically both now."
While shrugging my shoulder, I was laughing from both bodies. Archie seems to have immediately given up.
As we continue to walk down the hallway, we notice that a lot of people are looking behind us. When we turned slightly, it was the transfer student.
Unlike last week, the transfer student has her own uniform now. It's like Rose's, but with Blue ornaments for some reason instead of Gold.
"Come to think of it, what does the Blue Ornament stand for?"
I inadvertently asked as we opened a path for the transfer student to pass.
"It's the first time I've seen it as well, but I heard that Blue are for Royals."
"Oh, that makes sense. She's a Princess."
I turn my eyes to Charles and looked at his face.
"Come to think of it, why didn't you try to court the Princess. Isn't she like your kind of girl?"
"Yeah, she's beautiful, but not really my kind of woman."
While saying so, his eyes slowly goes down and looks at my chest.
"Eyes up dude."
"How come Brallon gets to touch your chest and I can't even look at it!?"
"It's called Best Friend Rights."
"You think this feels nice, Rigmun? If you were me, you'd understand."
Skipping the part where we get out of school, we immediately headed downtown to Smithy Street. Though it can be reached by foot, it was still far enough to tire Rose out. So before we made the turn to the street, we stopped by a convenience store to eat some ice-cream.
Though the break was my call, Charles treated us to some ice-cream. He's unexpectedly considerate despite being quite the imposing character.
When we sat down on a bench, Charles was quick to sit beside Rose. Since he treated us to some Ice-cream, I let it slide and ignored it. Since the bench was only good for two people, Red and Archie decided to just lean on the wall.
"You sure we can leave you with Charles alone?"
"We've known him since first year. He's outgoing, charismatic, but quite overbearing most of the time."
"But he's a good guy. That's what you want to say, right?"
Because he guessed it correct, I couldn't help but smile while I eat my ice-cream.
Archie was worried, but after a while, he drops his shoulder while letting out a heavy sigh.
"I'm starting to not understand you lately, Red."
"Me too, I think being Rose also changed something in me. My views... seems to have changed as well when my eyes opened as Rose."
On Rose's side, Charles was silent while looking at Red and Archie that are across the road leaning on the wall.
"I'm really sorry, Red."
Out of nowhere, Charles suddenly apologized for no reason that it surprised me.
"About that whole thing yesterday, that was just a lie. I really didn't intend to ask you out on a date."
"I see..."
Before I said anything, I gave him a room to breathe before letting him answer my question.
"Then, why did you challenge me to a duel?"
"I was jealous."
"Of who?"
"Brallon and you."
Though he say that, it seems to be not of romantic context.
"As far as I remember, Brallon and you have been together since first year. Everyone knows you are attending this school from his parent's recommendation. And most of us assumed that you're just his servant. But after a year of observing, I realized that everyone is wrong. You're far from master and servant relationship, you're brothers."
If I'm not wrong, Charles is the only son of his family. The rest of his siblings are girls. I think I understand what he feels, but I have Archie who's like a brother to me. He must've been longing for such relationship in his life.
"I see..."
"Quite laughable, right?"
"No, not really. At the end of the day, we're both men. We only have each other to understand one another. There's nothing wrong with wanting a friend, or a brother."
Red and Archie comes to us after they finished their ice-cream just as when I finished mine as well.
"Well, if you want, we can also be friends."
When I said that, Charles looks at me in surprise.
"What? You don't want that?"
"No, no, no! I'm thrilled! But why?"
I couldn't help but let out a small laugh when he asked that.
"It wasn't just you who's observing, I was too."
For some reason, Charles' face froze as he stares at me. It looked kind of funny that I couldn't help but giggle.
"What's wrong, Charles? Cat got your tongue?"
Snapping back to reality, Charles looks away slightly while blushing. He's clearly embarrassed.
"We're friends now, alright?"
"...yeah..."
"Call this me as Rose from now on."
"..yeah.."
After that, the four of us continued into Smith Street. And as expected, the smell of smoke and steel fills our noses and the sound of steel hitting steel from inside the buildings could be heard ringing.
Though my ears as Red are used to this, for some reason, it was especially noisy for Rose. So as we continued down the street, I covered Rose's ears while walking behind like a train.
"So which store do you want us to go exactly?"
"We're going to my mother's brother's store. He makes Magic Swords."
"That's impossible, Smith Street isn't allowed to sell Magic Swords."
Like Archie said, Smith Street doesn't sell Magic Swords. There's a law for it. Magic Swords are not something anyone can and allowed to make. Even more so that they're customized. They need to be registered to local Guild Offices or they'll be fined or worse, imprisoned. This is mostly because Magic Swords have unknown properties that can be used for crimes.
Yet, for some reason, Charles is very confident about it.
"Wait, come to think of it, didn't Mr. Sevilla heard our duel terms? Front row even."
"Don't worry, he's also my uncle's customer."
When we finally reached a part of the street, Charles guides us to a small corner where there's a path that leads to the second row of buildings next to the road.
After squeezing through that path, we finally arrived in front of a store that seems to be closed. Surprisingly, it doesn't look shady in the context of what we came here for. Rather, it looks the same with the one in front of it.
"Uncle, it's me Charles!"
While knocking hard on the door, Charles calls out to whoever's inside.
There's no response. The whole building is quiet.
"I think we can come back for another time. It seems that nobody's here."
Just when I was about to pull his arm, all of a sudden, the door opens and a small girl was standing in front of it. When she saw Charles, her face suddenly glows with a bright smile and jumps unto him.
"Charlie!"
"Petal, where's your papa?"
"Papa is sick so he closed the shop for today. But you can enter he said."
Since Charles got dragged into the house by the little girl, we decided to follow him.
When we entered, we found out that Charles' uncle has a cold and managed to hurt his hip as well.
"So, kid, is this the girl that beat your ass?"
"Well... she's not exactly a "she"."
Charles doesn't know how to properly explain the situation without making it sound weird, to save him, I as Rose stepped forward and shook the man's hand.
"My name is Rose, I'm Charles' friend."
"Oh, not his girlfriend? Hahaha!"
Because of his joke, it sent Archie into a burst of laughter that it made me punch him in the gut as Red.
"Since I'm quite sick, let's get down to business."
"Yes, but uncle, if your back really hurts, we can postpone it for another day. I'm sure Rose and the others won't mind."
"Yeah, we don't mind."
Charles is a good kid, I can tell from how he worries for his uncle. I wonder where he got his overbearing side?
"Hahaha, you're all good fellows, I can tell. But since you're already here, might as well give you the item."
Charles' uncle walks to a shelf and after reaching out for something inside, a small quake was felt inside the room. And in the next second, a small "Click" was heard on the table.
"Can you push the table a bit, kid?"
After getting told, Charles pushes the table next to us.
Initially, I thought it was nailed to the floor, but to my surprise, it was easily pushed back and a small trapdoor could be seen.
"W-what's this?"
Charles' uncle lets out a proud snort with his arms crossed.
"Petal, get the daggers."
"Yes, Papa!"
After opening the trapdoor, an underground hole was revealed. From its size, it was obvious that the kid was the only one that can enter the hole. What a crazy way of hiding stuff.
"I don't think I still need to remind you girlie about this. But you're dealing with real Magic Swords here. Unlike the mass-produced ones you can buy off the shelves, these has their own identities. Be careful when using them."
"Yes, but why did you say daggers?"
All of a sudden, he grabs both of my hands and rubbed my palm.
"I've had many customers before you. I can somewhat tell what can fit on one's hand just by touching them. Yours are soft, yet strong. The flow of magic on your palm says you have the potential to be good at using Force Arte and Sorcery."
Whoa... that's amazing. Though I'm not sure as how he can tell or if he's saying things that are accurate, his experience as a smith doesn't seem to be just for show.
After a while, the kid pops out of the hole while holding something wrapped in a cloth with her mouth. Immediately, she hands them to her father.
"Good work, Petal."
After getting a pat on the head, the kid rushes inside one of their rooms and disappears.
When he unwraps the daggers, what I saw was something really amazing.
"I call these "Umbra Stiletto". I made them by infusing Stalker Hound spine and Jagged Cobra fangs into the Mytherite Alloy before forging it into that."
Although they look as thin as rapiers and slightly longer than regular daggers, their black colors seem to imply that they're really durable. The butt of the handle had red gems on each weapon. But judging from their sparkle, these absorb magic.
"What can these do?"
"Depends on the user. Unlike mass produced magic swords, these don't have Iron Slash that makes the blade sharper or Porcelain Heart that makes the blade lighter."
"Then how can they be valuable in fights?"
When I asked him that, he laughs and puts his hand on my head.
"You're still learning. Being a Magic Knight doesn't limit one to using just swords, that's a modern misconception. Back in my day, daggers, hammers, spears, and even bows and arrows were also magic weapon designs. It was only recently that swords became more popular than the rest."
"I see..."
"And besides, not everyone's going to expect a dagger. Them not knowing how to fight against people with short weapons will be their own demise."
When he hands me the daggers, I could feel some tingling feeling on my palms when I grabbed the handle.
"These weapons may be made of metal, but the raw essence of the materials are retained which makes them a bit alive."
"Whoa."
"Try using them."
I held up the first dagger on my right hand. When I focused my magic unto it, all of a sudden, the blade starts smoking and becomes volatile. When I cut off the supply of magic, the blade retains its original shape like nothing happened.
"Ah, this one must've retained the essence of the Stalker Hound. Those beasts are quite annoying to kill because they can turn into smoke."
"Aren't Stalker Hounds rank B subjugation beasts? How did they even get the spine intact?"
"I don't know, but try the other one."
As instructed, I pour my magic into the other blade on my left hand. And to my surprise, the blade suddenly grows large black jagged edges. If this was stabbed into someone, it'll leave a really grave wound when pulled out!
"T-these are really dangerous weapons... Is it really okay to bring these into the streets?"
"Everyone carries swords and magic tools, what makes this any different?"
That's... actually a good point.
"Weapons are just tools, it doesn't matter what they can do, if the one who holds them has good intentions, they do good as well. It also goes for the opposite."
After saying those words, he reaches into the shelf again and the table went back to its original place. Next, he reaches under the table and hands me a belt that also has sheath specifically made for the Stilettos.
It looks like something that can be wrapped around my thigh too.
"You can put it either on your waist or thighs. Most of my female customers put them on the thighs so that it doesn't rip their skirt or shorts. It's your choice."
Since it was suggested, I decided to put the belt around my left thigh. Unexpectedly enough, it was comfortable to the skin. It really was made with the idea that a girl would use it.
"Thank you."
"These daggers weren't picked up by the one who commissioned it to me so it was left rusting in my storage so I'm more than happy to give it away. Rather, you need to thank Charlie here."
Well, that is true. Charles did do his end of the deal.
But, these daggers... they're good. They're way too good to just be given away. I feel kind of bad just receiving these for free.
"Hey, Archie, I want to get some fresh air. i'm feeling kinda stuffy here."
"Same. I'm not quite used to the smell of coal in a small room."
After my call, Archie and Red goes out of the shop first.
"So, do you like them?"
Charles asks me while looking at the daggers on my hand.
"Well, liking them would be an understatement. These are way too good that I feel like I owe you something."
"Thanks for the compliment then. You can repay me with a kiss on the cheek though. Just kidding of course."
"That doesn't sound like a bad trade."
Before he could react, I tug his shirt down to bend him my way and quickly put my lips on his cheek. After that, I turn away and exited the shop.
Normally, I wouldn't do this. But after careful consideration of what has happened, I think it's fair to give him a treat as Rose.
I didn't bother to look back. But before going out the door, I paused for a bit as I sheathe the daggers on the belt.
"See you tomorrow, Charlie."
-End of Chapter-
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