Fuck, that’s hot. “I, I don’t understand.” It truly didn’t make sense. Why would Agares wear those skin-tight slightly distressed jeans that showed every curve? Why that barely baggy but super fashionable black and white blouse? And that matching denim jacket? God that was overkill! What really put the icing on the cake were the high-heel black open-toe shoes.

I was salivating, man. Pavlov would be proud of me. She had the perfect amount of curves, the perfect height, an outfit that screamed modern and hot but still conservative and classy, and even had that honey-brown caramel skin like Solina. Agares checked every box and as much as it turned me on, it scared me.

Who the hell in this world besides me would know about that? “W-why did you dress like that?” I asked. It was downright excruciating to take my eyes off her. But I kept my cool; I was still a human being with control. Or perhaps it was better to say I was still Deidre, a coward. Even if I wanted to hit on her, I probably didn’t have the guts.

Agares turned around and gave me the perfect view of her perfectly proportioned ass. “Do you not like it? I wish to be pleasing to the eyes of my master.”

God-fucking-dammit Agares, those lines are illegal. I’m having a lady-boner. W-wait… Something bothered me. “Are you, able to appear as a man?”

“Of course, master. Is that what you wish?” She, or it asked. I’d no idea what Agares even was anymore.

Man, I must really be gay as fuck then. She literally chose to match my tastes. I rubbed my noggin; this was a half-baked existential crisis I wasn’t ready for. Is this why I remained a virgin my entire life?

My arms dangled as I grunted. A look over at Rayna and I could see her shivering in fear at the being in front the devil, so I cast Pacify on her and opened a portal for Agares and I to enter my castle’s throne room. I cleared my throat. “Um, I summoned you to ask you about the pact between elves and devils.”

She smiled and placed a hand on my throne. “I suggest you have a seat, master.”

So, it’s a long story. I admitted defeat and sat down. After I got as much information as she had, I set my eyes on Tina. Sure, her household and Perseverance were attacked and everything, but I missed her. When I teleported there, I found Edurne and Tina leaving the manor. By the looks of their outfits, they were off to a quest maybe. I landed Dreadhoof near them. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”

They looked at each other in perplexity. “Where’ve you been?” Tina put her hands on her hips. “ADAS is calling in all their adventurers, even mercenaries.” She started babbling on about some other stuff, but I eventually just tuned out. All I knew in that moment was that she was alive, and she didn’t hate my guts. Without realising when, my arms were tightly around her. After all that death from, well, me and the demons, it kind of changed my perspective on what was important to me.

“Deidre!” Tina somewhat tried to push me off. “My mother’s right there!” She exhaled and gave up after a while. Her arms curled around me and tightened. “I heard what you did. Thank you, Deidre.”

We rode east into Perseverance; there was a clusterfuck of armed adventurers below us. They were already fitted into teams, albeit larger than usual.

The mercenaries stuck out like a sore thumb. They were rough, gruff, had very similar gear, and didn’t have much balance to their teams in terms of roles; most of them were warriors. There was a distinct line of sorts, separating them from the adventurers.

The third group were those who weren’t adventurers nor mercenaries. These were your wizards who focused on research or practice, alchemy, medicine and so forth. There were also healers amongst them who weren’t combat healers; one could tell at a glance from just the manner in which they stood. Those with knight roles were also there; men like those appeared to focus almost exclusively on the art, training, and strategy of knights, but weren’t actual knights themselves.

The real knights of the noblemen wore their uniform and were stationed at strategic places throughout Perseverance. Theirs was a full suit of armor, minus the helmet which was attached to a part of the sheathe should they have need of it. They wore a cloak, a short one dropping just at the back of their knees meant for easy identification. It was black, with a red design of the first iteration of their helmet to act as homage to the knights of old.

Receiving the cloak after training and passing the required missions was something of a big deal for knights. Unlike my world’s past, where one’s chances to become a knight was almost entirely dictated by the blood running through their veins, this world’s knight system was almost entirely based on merit and values, not birthright. I learned all of that thanks to Einar, but he never failed to mention how hellish their training was. There wasn’t a knight who thought the days of training and apprenticeship were fun times, so those who received that cloak were tried and true defenders of Reuland.

I thought the reason they called on everyone and their grandma was to give some grandiose speech but it was more like a memo and instructions. The usual adventurer teams were split up and instead combined with knights and mercenaries. These groups would guard small villages and secure key points in southern Reuland, where Perseverance laid. The non-combatants like wizards and healers were kept in much safer places, but it wasn’t like being in the safety of a big town like Perseverance.

They must’ve been desperate to outsource like that, but with well half of Perseverance’s knights and adventurers dead, it was necessary until reinforcements from bigger cities arrived.

The sun amped up its heat as time went by; grey thunderclouds encroached from the north. I closed my eyes. It’s about time. Solina’s smiling face warped my resolve, but was also what reinforced it. After I gave Edurne an amulet to summon her own undead warhorse, I left for Nemus.

It was time to begin rescue operations.