72

Id stared at Sasha, who was lying unconscious. He was lost in thought. The day before with a moment’s carelessness, he almost lost his friend he had always been with since twelve. He should have looked around more cautiously in anticipation of the arrival of Duke Cronos’ reinforcements. Id believed Sasha might one day be able to reach the State of Harmony and become a Sword Master creating Aura Beam. He thought the same thing would happen to Lara, too. The day could have come sooner than expected, but it might take decades. As long as they were with him, they would be at risk of meeting Aura Beam Owners at any time. Id felt the need to come up with a self-defense plan for Sasha and Lara.

“When Sasha was attacked by the Aura Beam user yesterday, although his sword was broken, his Aura Blade mitigated the power of the Aura Beam. If Sasha wore armor carved with intense Anti Physical Force, he might not have been injured as seriously as now. We need to get full plate armor engraved with intense Anti Physical Force for Sasha, Lara and Selena at Kurban or Blackfield.”

Spica, who seemed to be still struggling to recover her strength, furrowed her brow.

“I don’t think we need to find armor elsewhere. It would be hard to find better armor than Vega’s.”

*********************

When dragons polymorphed into a human body to experience human life, they usually turned into sorcerers. No dragon became a swordsman and contributed to creating an empire like the gold dragon Vega. Though her swordsmanship, learned from some peak human swordsmen, was excellent, she was still obsessed with making the best-performing magic armor and sword. Before she appeared in the human world as the magic swordswoman Vega in earnest, she spent more than a decade making magic armor and sword with dwarves. Making a magic sword was not difficult, and she succeeded in engraving a diagram for the Reinforcement spell and imprinting her favorite attack magic, Hellfire, on it within a year. However, it was not easy to produce magic armor because the conditions she wanted were pretty tricky.

First of all, Vega hated the cumbersome process of putting on and taking off armor with the help of apprentices or servants. After years of research, Vega created a belt-shaped armor that was easy to put on and take off. It was the prototype of magic swordswomen Vega’s sky-blue magic armor. Dwarven artisans mobilized to produce her armor had to develop all sorts of ideas to meet her requirements. Vega’s emphasis on making the prototype was on reducing the weight of the armor. She carved magic diagrams for Lightweight and Reinforcement on the prototype.

Encouraged by the successful production of the prototype, Vega tried to embed Anti Physical Force and Anti Magic Force into the armor but found an unexpected problem. The surface area of the belt-shaped armor was too small to add diagrams for both spells. Vega first made two sets of armor with only Anti Physical Force added and two with Anti Magic Force. But she could not give up either of them and agonized over reducing the size of the magic diagrams while maintaining their magical effect.

However, it seemed almost impossible to embed two more spells in armor at the same time, other than Lightweight. Vega, who had been struggling for a long time, eventually went to the gold dragon Astra, who had given birth to her, even though she had expected to be scolded. As independent dragons rarely visited their parent, Vega suffered from the nagging she had heard at her hatchling period as soon as she met Astra.

“You are two thousand three hundred years old, but still, you are so immature that you have come up with these strange things. I’ve never seen nor heard of a dragon becoming a magic swordsman.”

“You also used to enjoy Entertainments polymorphed into a human body when you were young, didn’t you? Why are you blaming me?”

“I lived as a Witch, not to be a swordsman like you. Do you think dragons match swordsmen?”

“What’s the difference between a swordsman and a Witch when a dragon transforms into a human anyway? Come on, just help me out.”

Astra bickered with Vega over her behaviors for a while, but she was interested in the challenges that Vega brought. It was natural for dragons, the origin of magic, to be intrigued by complicated problems related to magic. After nearly a month of sleep-deprived research, the two dragons finally had decided to give up minor parts of Anti Physical Force and Anti Magic Force’s effects and succeeded in engraving diagrams for three spells simultaneously on belt-shaped armor.

*********************

The collaboration between the two gold dragons, Astra and Vega, was the sky-blue armor worn by Spica.

“Two sets of orange armor without Anti Magic Force have the best performance in terms of Anti Physical Force. Vega said it’s about fifteen percent more effective in Anti Physical Force than my sky-blue armor.”

Hearing Spica’s explanation, Id took all belt-shaped armor out of his Subspace Pouch. They were one white, two orange and two green ones. Id tried on three different types of armor, checking the magical effect embedded in each type. In the prototype, the white armor engraved with Lightweight and Reinforcement, he felt as comfortable as in his travel suits. He could hardly feel the weight of the armor.

The green armor carved with Anti Magic Force and the orange armor with Anti Physical Force were a little heavier than the white prototype but much lighter than Id’s original armor produced by the dwarven artisan Blackanvil and the seven-circle Wizard Torres. The green armor’s performance in terms of Anti Magic Force was about ten percent better than Spica’s sky-blue armor. These excellent magic armors had been stuck in the corner of the Subspace Pouch for seven hundred years just because they had not satisfied Vega.

Id recommended Selena and Lara to try the armor on. Selena chose green armor, and Lara selected orange one. As Selena tied the belt around her waist and said ‘Magic Armor On’’, the green armor gently moved around her body. In the body of Selena, an excellent Spiritual, a much larger amount of manna circulated than ordinary elves. She could easily put on the belt-shaped magic armor. It was in contrast to Spica, who transformed into a human body and still had difficulty wearing the magic armor for a long time.

“This is really cool and nice armor. Armored elf sounds weird, but I like this. As Id said, I won’t be helpful close to the Aura Beam users, so I’ll stay away from them. I don’t need armor with Anti Physical Force since the spirits will protect me when it gets really dangerous. Spirits will just return to the Spiritdom, not die, even though Aura Beam his them.”

Lara could not wear the magic armor because she had yet to have enough manna accumulated in her manna hall. Looking at Selena enviously, Lara bit her lower lip.

“I’m going to wear this armor, even if I have to spend all of my spare time in manna circulation every day.”

“I believe you will be able to put the armor on soon. Well, it won’t be easy for you for now, but I’ll teach you how to circulate manna on the move, so please try it.”

Id explained the method in detail to keep circulating manna lying down, standing up, or even walking around. It was a difficult task for Lara yet, but she kept trying, though failing repeatedly.

After much consideration, Id chose the light green armor. He was attracted to the white prototype in which he felt almost no weight. Lighter armor could be better for quick movements when he was able to handle magic attacks without magic armor. However, sorcerers and Aura Beam users could attack him simultaneously. Besides, he was worried about the presence of the dark mages warned by Callisto, so he chose the green armor engraved with Anti Magic Force.

Sasha’s consciousness returned on the third day of their stay in the hunter’s log house. Having checked his physical condition, Sasha sat on the bed, crossing his legs and treated himself with his own manna as he learned from Id. Self-treatment using the manna in his manna hall has worked quite well. When Sasha opened his eyes after a couple of hours, the scar on his chest faded. His internal injury was getting a lot better.

“I’m sorry. You guys had a hard time because I wasn’t good enough.”

Lara said as she handed Sasha boiled watery soup with grain and chopped vegetables.

“It was force majeure. I’m so glad you’ve got better. Everybody was worried about you. While you were unconscious, we talked about how to prepare for the fight against Aura Beam users.”

Lara gave Sasha a detailed account of what the party had been talking about. Sasha, who was eating soup while listening to Lara’s explanation, looked at Id.

“You look much better. Did self-treatment work?”

“Yes, it did. I think I’m all right now. We don’t have much time, so let’s leave early tomorrow morning.”

“We don’t have to rush like that. We still have plenty of time until the date we promised Count Henderson, and we can go straight to the Count’s estate if we don’t meet the appointment in Blackfield. Recovering your body condition is the first thing to do.”