Chương 100: Appeal

With the semester drawing to a close, the Academy permitted existing students a two-week vacation as it began preparing for a new batch of students to arrive. Fortunately, there was nothing like mid-terms or final exams, as students already constantly competed to improve their yearly and unified rankings. As long as you earned the requisite 2,000 credits by the conclusion of your fifth year, you could graduate without issue.

While the majority of students were either preparing for a much-needed vacation or staying behind to recruit newcomers to their various clubs or societies, Will elected to use his two weeks working on Caldaria's uniform and getting ready for the Duelist League tryouts. By analyzing her wetsuit with the System, he was able to locate it within the Shop alongside a truly infinite amount of variants. He could then filter by derivative products and Rank, not quite allowing him to peek into the market's future but providing insight into its limitless possibilities...

...

*doo-doo-dowh~*

As he had already politely declined invitations from nearly every girl he knew and informed his Uncle that he wouldn't be returning to Eastwarden for the break, Will was marginally surprised to hear his doorbell ring early in the morning on the third day.

"It's Iode..." revealed Ohta, lying face down and shirtless atop Will's bed with her arms crossed under her head and Fionnadh straddling the backs of her thighs, giving her a massage. It was a rather racy sight, especially with Fionnadh technically naked and in her fluffy state, but Will only gave the duo a fleeting glance when he got up to leave the room.

'Now, what could this be about...?' Will asked himself, making his way to the entrance of his suite-like dorm before opening it to reveal a boy with bone-white hair braided into a long ponytail over his right shoulder, large white horns tipped with a soot hue, and oversized wings covered in dark scales and sharp spines. He also supported a borderline scowling frown, but that was par for the course.

"What's up...?" asked Will, causing an awkward silence as Iode wasn't expecting him to dismiss with pleasantries and formalities immediately.

Closing his eyes and exhaling from his nose, Iode did his best to appear marginally less angsty by the time he opened them to reveal, "A niece of mine who is like a sister to me will be arriving in a few days. She's never been good at making friends, so I was hoping you could convince some of the girls who are constantly hanging around you to approach and look after her..."

"Why don't you be her friend...?" asked Will, stepping aside and making a 'come on in' gesture with his right hand. Iode's reaction wasn't immediate, but he eventually retracted his wings as much as he could before entering the dorm, his golden eyes scanning the interior as he confessed, "I'm also not great at dealing with people. My appearance frightens them, and even when I try to help people, they start freaking out, apologizing, or pleading for me not to eat them...it's annoying..."

"I can imagine..." responded Will, surprising Iode as he emerged from the kitchenette with an obsidian-hued glass filled with glowing orange liquid, vaguely resembling magma. Pure Wrath Demons like Iode had an internal temperature exceeding nine hundred degrees and could metabolize metal to strengthen their scales, so one of their favored drinks was a type of tea that used shavings from a Fire Elemental Crystal and powdered tungsten.

"Is this Fire Dragon's Marrow...?" asked Iode, genuinely surprised as he didn't expect Will to have the ingredients to prepare such an unorthodox drink on hand.

Shrugging, Will explained, "I'm a member of the Bean and Mortar Society. I honestly never expected you to drop by, but just in case you did, our by-laws dictate I have at least a few drink options on hand."

"I see..." responded Iode, looking between Will and the cup in his hand before downing its contents in a single go. An ordinary person would have had their throat swell up and burn from the inside after consuming such a liquid, but to Iode, it was as refreshing as hot mint tea in Winter.

"As for your request..." said Will, waiting for Iode to finish his drink and meet his gaze before stating, "I have no problem speaking with people on my end, but I can't force them to befriend your niece. If she behaves in a way that compels others to ostracize her, that's unfortunately on her..."

"That won't be a problem," asserted Iode, nodding in affirmation of his own words before explaining, "Vela has always been different from other Wrath Demons. She is kinder than most and usually only lashes out when she sees others being treated poorly. Her dream is to become a traveling healer..."

"Then I'll imagine she'll fit right in," appended Will, offering a nod of his own. He expected the conversation to conclude right there and then, but Iode still had more to say as he adopted a deeper-than-usual frown and added, "The Oirthear Constellation is regarded as the vanguard of humanity and the shield preventing a Demon invasion...if you give her a chance, I'm certain Vela can prove to you that not all Demons are slave to their desires..."

"Give her a chance...?" repeated Will, raising his right brow.

Averting his eyes and pretend-coughing into his right fist, Iode somewhat sheepishly appended, "I shouldn't be saying this as her Uncle, but Vela is a very charming girl. Her blood was purified to ensure she was born a full-fledged Wrath Demon, but her mother was a Lust Demon. She isn't able to use their hereditary Magic, but it has influenced her appearance..."

'So this is the real reason he came by...' Will concluded, outwardly shaking his head but maintaining a smile. It was evident that Iode genuinely cared for his niece, but as Demon Nobles attending the Royal Academy as part of its exchange program, they still had to consider what was best for their people and the aspirations of their family. In other words, while Iode was presumably sincere in his desire to help Vela make friends, at least one of the underlying reasons she was being dispatched to the Academy was to get closer to him...

'Well, if nothing else, I'll have another person to help promote my brand...' thought Will, exchanging a few more words with Iode before seeing him off at the door. When he got back to his room, he was a little surprised to see that Ohta had rolled over, permitting Fionnadh to sit on top of her, but he only observed long enough to meet the former's gaze before returning to the alterations he was making to Caldaria's wetsuit...

...

With Will informing her that he had completed Caldaria's request, Lyra reached out to the ever-busy Brave, who, in turn, arranged to meet them during the Entrance Exam. It wasn't uncommon for Braves to attend such events and scout prospective talents early on, and since her kinship with Lyra was known, no one would bat an eye if they met up in one of the VIP skyboxes reserved for members of the Royal Family.

"You sure you don't need more time...?" asked Caldaria, staring with her brows raised at the modified wetsuit Will had prepared for her, modeled by a separate mannequin than the one he had used to test the material's resilience. The base was the same, but there was extra padding along the sides, outer thighs, and shoulders. Caldaria had no doubt this would offer better protection, but the reason she wore a wetsuit in place of a typical low-friction Duelist suit was to be as hydrodynamic as possible. Will had even included black metal knee guards and greaves, which matched the wetsuit's aesthetic and looked cool, but Caldaria knew from experience such modifications would significantly increase the drag she experienced when moving at high speeds, particularly in the water.

"Just put it on..." said Will, sporting a relaxed, unintentionally smoldering smile as he knew Caldaria's tune would change once she actually tried it on. The Brave in question looked like she wanted to smack the back of his head for telling her what to do, but after seeing Lyra staring at her with a silent plea in her shimmering amber eyes, she rolled her own and replied, "Well, if you insist..." before rather abruptly shedding the wetsuit she was wearing.

Though he was surprised by Caldaria's actions, Will just raised his brows without averting or covering his eyes. Alongside her electric-blue, bikini-like top, she also had on a pair of panty-like spats that almost looked like they were painted onto her skin but prevented anything important from being seen, so it wasn't like she was stripping naked.

"Enjoying the show...?" asked Caldaria, raising her own brows as she took a moment to adjust her bottoms by pulling up the incredibly thin fabric so that it perfectly conformed to her butt. Not to appeal to Will, per se, but to prevent chafing and avoid a panty line when she donned the wetsuit.

"As far as opening acts go, it's not bad," responded Will, causing Caldaria to narrow her eyes slightly and exhale audibly from her nose. Then, even with Lyra's help, it took her nearly ten minutes to get the wetsuit on as, to her surprise, it perfectly conformed to her body like a second skin. As far as she was aware, neither she nor Lyra had provided Will with her detailed measurements, so he either had a remarkably discerning eye or access to information he shouldn't.

Reading Caldaria like an open book, Will's smile broadened into a cheeky grin as he revealed, "I made sure to triple-check the rules and researched previous rulings on the matter, and it was determined long ago that Sizing Magic is a perfectly legal Enchantment to have applied to your equipment as it doesn't provide a meaningful tactical advantage. As for your greaves, you'll need to register them in place of your former footwear. They might look like ordinary greaves, but they're catalysts that amplify the power of the Water Element. I named them Ballast Greaves because you can freely control their weight to sink and ascend quickly."

"Seriously...?" asked Caldaria, sounding skeptical but still channeling her Mana and Aura into the greaves to attune with them. The average person could take days, weeks, or even years to attune with an Artifact, but as a Brave who had been able to attain a 93% synchronization rate with Adhal Albali, Caldaria had no trouble linking with the Ballast Greaves, supplying her an intuitive understanding of their use.

Noticing something was off with the greaves, particularly that they were too high quality, Caldaria met Will's gaze and asked, "You made these...?"

"Is there something wrong...?" asked Lyra.

Before Caldaria could potentially throw him under the bus with errant speculation, Will nodded and confirmed, "I did. It's not particularly well known outside my family, but due to my limited Mana and Aura and my dependence on various Elixirs when I was younger, I took an interest in Alchemy, Enchanting, and Magic Engraving. You'd be surprised what you can learn with an immortal Elf as a teacher."

"Oh, yeah...I completely forgot you trained with the Ebonsword..." lied Caldaria. There was no way she would forget such a significant tidbit of information, but Will didn't call her out. Instead, he explained some of the other improvements he had made to the wetsuit, including a 19% increase in its ability to absorb impacts and a remarkable 32% increase in its ability to diffuse enemy Magic attacks. Caldaria and even Lyra questioned how he came up with these numbers, but since Will had kept a detailed record of his testing, he simply provided them with the raw data and permitted them to peruse it themselves. It didn't document the method he used, but since the outcome was the result of him using Dominate to essentially tell the material to be more resilient, that was for the best...

...