I have a confession to make: I always thought that plate armor was heavy and cumbersome. I mean, that was what all the movies were telling me, and I've read at least one essay online talking about how knights were lumbering tanks a samurai could totally defeat with superior martial arts, so I doubt anyone could blame me for having a few preconceived notions about the topic. All of those prejudices immediately evaporated the moment I actually wore one though, as it was rather easy to move in it. Comfortable, even. Now, granted, I was only wearing the chest piece, the spaulders, and the boots, but I doubted things would become significantly worse with the helmet and the gauntlets added to the mix.

I hopped in place a couple of times, in part because I was curious how much noise I would make in the process, but if I wanted to be entirely honest, I did it mostly due to just how full of energy I felt at the moment. I reckoned it had something to do with the enchantments on the suit, and while I didn't look into the specific effect mechanics due to a severe lack of time, I at least made sure they were safe. I just didn't expect them to be so, for the lack of a better term, energizing as well. If Brang and Karukk weren't looking at me at the moment, I would've been tempted to even shadow box a little, but for now, I figured it was best to be mindful of my surroundings.

Speaking of those, I was currently inside the secret base, the training area to be precise, and I had all the knightly equipment I've reclaimed from my deposit box laid out on a table in front of me. I asked the two Fauns to stick around because I needed some help to fully buckle up the chest plate, plus after reading all of those horror stories about medieval knights falling over and being unable to get up, I figured having a few extra helping hands around wouldn't hurt.

At the end of the day, it turned out there was no need to be that cautious at all. In fact, I was fairly sure I could most likely do full cartwheels in this metal suit without breaking a sweat.

"[Thine new armaments are truly becoming in thine form, Blackcloak.]"

"Thanks for the compliment," I responded a tad absently as I looked over my shoulder. "Speaking of which, do you think I can fit one of my black long coats over this if I removed the cape?"

"[The possibility of thine words is palpable, although I'm afraid the removal of thine lionesque pauldrons may become a necessity.]"

"[It would be a shame,]" Karukk whispered on the side, and I couldn't help but raise a curious brow at his comment. It didn't take long for him to notice it, and so he hastily added, "[It's a fine suit of armor. If I had one like it, I wouldn't think about covering it up.]"

"Are you jealous by any chance?" I teased him a little, and his ears immediately started darting around in a familiar, yet not any less amusing, display of embarrassment.

"[No, of course I— Maybe a little.]" The sudden switch in the middle caused my brows to climb even higher on my forehead, and after some further ear-propellering later, he sheepishly added, "[It's a really fine armor.]"

Before I could get a word in, the elderly Faun let out a long chuckle and roughly patted him on the back.

"[Aye, it is only natural for young Karukk to admire thine armaments, Blackcloak.]" His movements paused for a beat before he let his hand down and faced me with an inquisitive gleam in his eyes. "[Please do forgive these words, but mine curiosity shan't let me rest unless I ask thee this: this old one was under the impression thine title of being cloaked in black was one thee wished to be rid of, was it not?]"

"Yes, I wanted to, but plans change." My response was slightly muffled, since I just put on the helmet, therefore I continued in a louder voice while I turned my head left and right. "It was a losing battle anyway. Everyone already knows about it, along with the whole Chimera Slayer thing, so I decided that instead of fighting against the inevitable, I would embrace it and make it into my own brand." I inserted a short pause here, then added, "On a completely unrelated note, this helmet is pretty neat. Once its enchantment linked with the control node in the chest piece, it completely disappeared from my field of vision. It's like I'm not wearing anything at all. If only it didn't glow, it would be perfect."

"[I'm afraid I'm not well versed enough in the mystic magicks of enhancement, but these old eyes of mine see no light around thine helm.]"

"It's a 'me' thing, don't worry about it," I replied a little unsteadily, as I just finished shaking my head to see how stable the helmet was on my head, and I was feeling a little dizzy as a result. For the record, it was uncannily stable, almost as if it was glued to my scalp.

I was still a little weirded out by the transparency and the traces of colorless magical light at the edge of my vision, but all things considered, I was astonished by how practical this armor set was. It didn't hinder me, I felt like it weighed less than nothing, and it didn't even interfere with my vision. Could it be that I just discovered the reason why the nefarious Knights of the superfluously long name were always wearing theirs whenever I Far Glanced over?

Speaking of which, I did just that, and I found their little group huddled around a large, circular wooden table, probably custom-made, inside their new hidey-hole within the city. Thankfully the squire I marked was on guard duty outside the door, so I could easily pass through the wall and take a look at their meeting place. By the looks of it, they've rented a small-ish office space on the first floor of a multi-story building on the edge of the commercial district, and while the place was clean, it was also completely bare save for the aforementioned table and some simple metal chairs arranged around it.

Wait, no. On second look, they actually had a single, if large, ye-olde style swallow-tailed banner hanging on the wall. It looked eerily similar to the banner of Wales, except with the dragon beheaded and lying on the ground, and it might have even been imposing if not for the fluorescent lights making it seem discolored. Not exactly the main hall of Camelot, but hey, at least they were trying.

Anyhow, at the moment there were only two of them inside the room. From a previous sneak peek I already knew they were about to hold a big meeting to discuss an operation during the weekend. This meant two things. For one, I totally called it. Secondly, since they weren't all present yet, it meant I still had some time to prepare.

I would have probably continued to keep an eye on them if not for the timely arrival of a certain science-adjacent man and his robotic… something. Seriously though, what was the relationship between these two again? On the surface, Galatea kept calling him 'master', but they were actually acting more like rowdy siblings, or an embarrassing father and his rebellious daughter. Actually, now that I think about it, wasn't there a trope called something along the lines of 'mad scientist's hot daughter'? I couldn't help but wonder whether that was applicable to these two.

"Ki-hi-hi! Not too shabby, boss."

Unlike Fred, his android companion didn't greet me, only observed. She also had a couple of items one her, namely a sword, a small sack with a long object in it, and a familiar carnival mask.

"It also feels pretty good," I responded to Labcoat Guy, and he gave me a knowing nod in return.

"It's only natural. It is a powerful set of physical enchantment gear; it would be stranger if you didn't feel invigorated."

To elaborate on his point, while I didn't have the time to do a deep-dive into the enchantments on the armor pieces, a cursory glance told me they were all either defensive wards, or arrays designed to enhance the wearer's physical prowess. There were also a few other caveats, which I figured must have been related to those knightly oaths we still didn't know much about, but as far as actual functionality was concerned, things were fairly straightforward. Fred also examined the armor with his own methods, so there were no questions about it.

Well, on second thought, I might've spoken too soon. There actually was a single question remaining: what would happen if I wore all the parts at once? We both independently confirmed that the individual pieces were interlocking elements of one bigger enchantment, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about how much of a boost it would give me when I was fully suited up.

Just to be sure, I sent one last Far Glance at the Knights, but since they were still idle, I decided I had the time for one last test, so I picked up the gauntlets still on the table, and slowly slipped my left hand in. Needless to say, it fit me like a glove, no pun intended. In fact, it almost felt like the gauntlet was readjusting itself on the fly to better accommodate my hand. Now there was only one last piece left and I—

"Bleeding mother of a goat-merchant!"

My off-color exclamation was immediately followed up by the harsh metallic noise of the gauntlet hitting the ground as I tore it off my injured hand practically at the same moment I tried to put it on.

"[My Liege, are you all right?]"

Brang immediately tried to help me, but I used my good hand to tell him I didn't need assistance. A few deep breaths later I realized I was hunched over, so I forcefully straightened my back and exhaled a long sigh.

"What just happened?" Labcoat Guy asked the question on everyone's mind. Before I could answer him, Galatea provided an answer of her own.

"He threw the gauntlet at the ground."

"I noticed," he responded just a smidgen flatly. "I wanted to know why he did that."

"Then you should have asked that question," the android answered just as flatly, and so I spoke up to interrupt their skit before it could gather steam.

"When I tried to put on the left gauntlet my whole body started heating up starting from my chest, but then when it reached my hand, it turned into a piercing pain. It felt like someone stabbed a nail through my palm."

I didn't think my explanation was particularly insightful, yet Labcoat Guy apparently understood what I meant right away and provided me with an instant conjecture as well.

"Ah, I see. It must have been some kind of adverse reaction to mana."

In retrospect, his answer suddenly made a lot of sense. Really, I should have been able to put together the pieces ahead of time. Sebastian said that my hand had an 'internal injury'. He also told me people usually get those by channeling 'energies', and warned me not to do it. In my defense, I couldn't really predict that wearing the full suit of armor would result in that, but all the elements checked out, so I concluded that Labcoat Guy was probably right.

"What the hell is 'mana' anyway?" the question slipped through my lips before I knew it, and while it was more or less just me venting my stress while recovering, Fred immediately turned defensive.

"Mana is just mana."

"Yeah, but what is it? What is it made of, where does it come from, why can't scientists detect it yet it can make my hand hurt like a motherfu—?"

"Beep."

The abrupt, unexpected noise made me stop on my tracks and face its source with the textbook example of a confused frown on my face.

"What was that?"

"Excuse me. My anti-profanity subroutine was acting up."

The straightforward answer, combined with the expressionless way it was delivered, somehow only managed to make Galatea even less convincing. However, this really wasn't the time to start discussing robot-jokes, so I promptly ignored her and focused my attention back onto her creator instead. The moment I did so, Labcoat Guy immediately tugged on his collar in the most obvious display of nervousness I've ever seen.

"Ki-hi-hi. Please, boss. We already have our hands full with our current research into the supernatural stratum of reality, as you call it. You can't expect us to do everything at once!"

I really wanted to counter his point by asking how figuring out the supernatural currency used to pay off the world to look the other way when using magic was not integral to their current investigation, but my rebuttal never materialized due to the latest of my periodic Far Glances revealing that another Entitled Knight entered the room with the round table. That meant this really wasn't the time for dallying around, so I dropped the issue and gestured for Karukk to come to my side instead.

"So I probably won't be able to wear the full suit until I'm healed. Sounds like a bit of a design flaw." While I said that, I pointed at the clasps on the breastplate, and that was enough for the Faun to realize what I wanted from him and he began to peel me out of the armor.

"Maybe it's a defense mechanism," Galatea proposed, and I left it at that. Instead, I focused on the items in her hands.

"More importantly, I see you brought the horn with you."

She nodded and presented me with the elongated sack. I couldn't take it yet, since Karukk was still in the process of helping me unbuckle the chest parts, so she patiently waited for me. Though it was probably obvious at this point, said package contained a certain unicorn horn with a powerful enchantment engraved upon it. It was used to anchor a large area around it into 'realspace', and thus prevented everyone in the vicinity from escaping or dragging others into a Purple Zone.

I had high hopes for this item, but it turned out that the suppressive effect was a quality of the material itself, while the enchantment only acted as a simple amplifier and modulator. This meant that I couldn't strategically apply the effect by copying the enchantments onto other objects, and carrying the original around was the equivalent of waving a giant 'Hey, I'm Bel of the Abyss!' flag in front of the Knights. However, it did have its uses yet, even if replicating it was impossible.

But speaking of replication, she was carrying another item that was quite promising. It was a longsword modeled after the 'gift' I received from Mr. Minotaur, except slightly enlarged to better fit the grip of a Faun. Once I learned about Labcoat Guy's manufacturing capabilities, this simple, unadorned blade was my first request. It wasn't forged like most proper swords, but instead each piece, from the blade to the pommel, was machined from some steel blocks we had lying around in the base since the beginning. Because of this, though it looked good on the outside, it probably wasn't comparable to a 'real' sword… but that's where the enchantment came in.

This was our first, homemade prototype weapon. I supplied the raw materials, Fred (or rather, Galatea) made them into a sword, then I would take it to Gowan and ask him to put a simple enchantment on it, and finally I would use that as the base to copy and paste actually useful arrays and functions from the other swords I had access to. This way I could hopefully gear up all the Fauns before the end of the month. As for the gang, with the Magiformers on hand, they didn't really need any more defensive gear, and the only one of them who could potentially use a weapon was Josh… except he seemed to be more interested in hand-to-hand combat and magic, so I made outfitting my loyal 'minions' my first priority, if only so that we wouldn't run into another Rinne situation.

While I was considered all of this, I successfully shed my armor and stepped out of the boots as well. Not wearing it anymore was… uncomfortable. I was strangely enervated and my senses became duller, though the sensation only lasted for a short while. More importantly, now that I didn't have all that metal on me, everyone present could see that I was wearing a slightly unusual outfit consisting of a pair of black cotton trousers with a matching back shirt and a red vest. The outfit also included a white, embroidered tailcoat currently on the nearby table, and according to Elly, the full ensemble gave me a regal look. Of course, her description was much longer and had the word 'cool' in it in unnecessary abundance, but I wasn't going to hold it against her.

More importantly though, now that my hands were free, I graciously accepted the packed-up horn offered by Galatea and used its string to hang it from my belt. She also tried to give me the sword, but that was for later, so I simply shook my head and pointed at the last item in her possession. She obediently handed it over, and now that I could take a better look, I had to say I was impressed.

As for what I was holding in my hands? On the surface it was mask modeled after the one I was wearing during the grand kerfuffle that was the Knights' attack on the Dracis mansion. In reality, it was a slightly modified, metallic version specifically designed to perfectly and comfortably fit my face, and most importantly, it had bigger eye- and actual nose-holes so that I could both see and breathe better. In short, it was Bel Disguise Mask 2.0.

"Thank you. It turned out great."

"You're welcome," Galatea answered with a thin-lipped smile before she tried to present the sword to me again. "Are you going to take this?"

"No, not now," I told her and instead reached for the white coat on the table. "I'll take it to Gowan later; I have more important things to do first. Please give it to one of the Fauns and they'll put it aside for me."

At this point she tried to hand it over to Karukk, but he hastily excused himself with a curt, "Armor is here. Must put it away," and so she had to settle on Brang, who graciously received from her, and even did a few practice swings with it.

"Decent sword. Little unbalanced. Not much edge."

"I'll try to compensate with the enchantment later," I told him as I slipped into my costume and put the mask on. It was an even better fit than expected, and even after shaking my head hard, it remained firmly attached to my face.

"Good work on this one too," I addressed the science duo, and then turned to the Faun. "Please put the armor into the storeroom for now; I probably won't be able to use it for a while yet. I have to go and make a deal now, please look after things like usual."

Brang nodded, and once I was sure I wasn't forgetting anything, I took a deep breath, limbered up my shoulders, took up a relaxed, almost slouched posture, and once I was sure I was in character, I let out said breath in the form of the words, "It's showtime," and then promptly disappeared from the room.