“Now, you are officially a Knight of the roundtable, the news will be released to the public in a short time. Hollou, you said something when you entered the room, what was wrong?”

“Oh yeah, there was this group of people asking for our new Knight.”, she inquired, referencing the reason as to why she barged into the room.

“I see, are they acquaintances of yours, Shiro?”, the king asked me, while the still sleeping Knight snored in the background.

“Might be, if they’re asking for my name it’s probably my party.”, I responded.

‘Ah, I’m so glad they didn’t barge in here senselessly like some situations in light novels.’, my deepest of gratitude's, Athena, Alice, Azure, Willow, Lara and Luna.

“Ha, understood. Well, we need to get you into equipment first though, we’ll allow you to get a quick word with them if you want.”, the king proposed a plan.

“Can’t I just like leave?”, I asked with a glint of hesitation in my voice. “Unfortunately not, we still need to get you into equipment and we’ll need to get you rolled in properly too."

Sigh

“Okay, could you give me some time to go see if they’re really my friends?”

“Yes sure, but make sure to come back. Hollou follow him.”, the shota king ordered Hollou the Knight of Charity, and she nodded in approval.

“Yessir!”

Hollou led the way, by opening the huge white marbled door, which seemed rather like a gate in all honesty.

“Lala~”, she instantly began humming a tune, her tied light blue hair fluttered by the endless wind passing by from all directions.

There were pillars as far as the eye could see, the floor reflected our selves, like a mirror made from well polished quartz.

“Why is this place so big?”, a question popped up in my mind. “Because it was built to be big, duh.”, Hollou answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

‘I guess there is no actual reason…’

In the right corner of my screen was the progress bar, that seemed to remain unchanging. The ‘Soul-Adaptor’ system sort of filled me with unease.

‘Did I absorb a soul or what happened? Wasn’t ‘Patience’ a skill though?’, questions popped up here and there, I could ponder about them the whole day, but I need to take care of important things first.

One of them being Excalibur, the sword that was in my hands as I walked.

It no longer bore the friendly appearance it had before, instead it gave off this ominous aura around it, the red lines were pulsing as if it were alive and the pitch black base color reflected no light, but darkness instead.

“It seems to have shut itself up…”, I muttered to myself, Hollou seemed to not have heard it, due to her happy humming.

“So, where are you from?”, Hollou suddenly turned around and walked backwards staring at me in the eye.

“I come from Dawnwell.”, I answered.

“Oh~, cool. I heard that in Dawnwell they don’t treat other races well~.”, she remarked, knowing that she was a Knight of the roundtable she was bound to have at least some knowledge about Dawnwell.

“Yeah, you could say that.”, I responded.

“Must’ve been hard living there. With you being an elf n’ all. Or are you a half elf?”, she peeked on my sides to try and catch sight of my pointy ears.

“I’m a half-elf, and yes you could say it was tough.”, I responded to her curiosity, I couldn’t really tell her about the king and all since I can’t trust them completely yet.

Yes, I pulled the sword and it is now my responsibility (up to some extent) to serve them. However that did not mean I trusted them with my life, I literally just met them!

“I can tell, I’ve been there once before, the place feels sort of half dead sometimes…”, Hollou spoke as her voice slowly thinned to naught but a whisper.

“Here we are.”, she announced our arrival.

“Master!”

“!!!”

Athena immediately ran up to me, and embraced me.

My body immediately tensed up, her sweet scent swayed past my nose, making me feel embarrassed. Especially, since I was conscious that I had sniffed her.

“Oh~ho~”, Hollou wore a smug expression from the distance, while releasing small laughs here and there.

Athena removed her head from my chest.

“Master, are you alright? I heard from ‘that’ thing that you suddenly collapsed upon pulling out the sword!”

‘She’s more worried about me, than the very fact that I pulled it out… mad props.’, a small tear ran down my cheek just from her comment alone, however there was one thing bothering me.

“What’s ‘that’ thing?”, I asked.

Athena showed a aloof expression. “I meant Gray, he came back with dead eyes, his cheeks seemed wet from tears, and he was muttering ‘kill, kill, kill’ non stop.”, Athena explained.

“Oh yeah…”

I thought back on Gray, whose last hope was snatched away from him, right before his eyes. I need to apologize to him once I see him.

“Ah…”, I sighed, as if a heavy burden was suddenly lifted. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I’m glad you guys aren’t the irrational types.”

‘They could’ve barge into the room with killing intent and have turned the whole country against us…’, my respect for them has probably been risen by a whole level.

“No fair! Taking advantage of the situation let me too!”, Azure jumped in from behind, and my body tensed up again.

“”Don’t scare us again!””, the twins hugged me as well, and my body began sweating bullets.

“Glad to see yer well.”, Willow commented from a distance, with Alice next to him, fidgeting like a child lost in a amusement park

At first she was almost dragged into the flow of hugs, but she was too flustered to even walk due to the thought of a warm embrace, and so she just stood there averting eye contact with her cheeks beet red.

“…Good thing you’re alright…”, her ears were red as well, her whole face beet red as a tomato.

“Hey, Mr. Shiro, we need to get things under way, so could you please cut it short~?”, Hollou reminded still with her smug look on her face.

Athena caught attention of the new opponent, but soon let down her guard and said. “Did you get yourself into trouble again?”

“What do you mean by ‘again’, I try my best not to get into trouble in the first place!”, I refuted with a simple argument, not even I could possibly begin to fathom what I had done that could be considered a ‘problem’.

“But…”

“But?”, Athena inquired.

“…you could say I am sort of in a bind right now.”, Athena sighed at my honest response, lying wasn’t my favorite thing to do, so honesty was the only option, or at best speak no lies or truths.

“And unfortunately, I doubt they’ll let go of me soon. And they probably won’t let anyone but personnel to be nearby…”

Athena nodded, having perfectly understood my explanation. “I understand, I guess I’ll have to leave this time, but the next time I’ll be there to help you, understood?”

“Yes understood.”, I responded.

‘She’s getting more demanding…’, I thought to myself, while the same person kept on a smug expression.

“I’ll have to stay here momentarily, I need to get some things done.”, I told the rest.

“Heh? I want master to come back already!”, Azure complained with a pout. “”Big brother don’t disappear again!””

The main children of our group seemed alerted by my decision. While Alice and Willow seemed to nod in agreement, seeming to let me to my own devices considering the situation.

“Don’t worry, I promise I will be back.”, I reassured them.

I walked away from them, towards the smug faced Hollou looking at me with an even deeper grin than before.

“You’ve got quite the party, don’t you?”, Hollou said teasingly. “You could say that.”

I responded as we walked back further into the castle.

“Was that silver haired girl your girlfriend? Come on, tell me~, I will keep it a secret if it would bother you~”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”, I responded in a dead voice and she shut her track, as if she noticed my clear displeasure by her question.

“Anyways, I’ll be leading you to our blacksmiths, but I’ll need to take your measurements before that though~”

“…!”

I noticed something in her sentence that made my body tense up.

“What do you mean by ‘you’?”, I asked with a tinge of hesitation in my voice along with a trail of fear.

“Uh, that I’ll be taking your measurements obviously.”, she answered oblivious of her outrageous remark.

“Uhm, I think I’ll pass.”, I told her, as amazing as this opportunity seemed, I really couldn’t let a girl touch me, my heart and nether region would be unable to contain themselves.

“Heh~? Why??? Is there a problem with me taking your measurements?”, she demanded my reasoning, that made me flinch at her obliviousness.

“There’s nothing wrong, it’s just that I can’t stand the thought of a girl touching me.”

She suddenly stood still looking back on me.

My body instinctively stopped as well, as if I had been following my mother.

“Who said—“

Right at the moment that her sentence began, something touched my heart, not in a good way.

It was as if a hand had clasped it tightly, my soul being crushed right from inside of me.

‘No way—‘

“Who said that I was a girl?”

What I feared was that—

—she was a he!

 

 

 

“Ahn~”, a short breath escaped from between my lips.

“I’m sorry~, I didn’t mean to grip too hard~”

“Ah!~”, the second breadth seemed longer, as my body spasmed with each touch of his hand.

“It seems my finger has slipped, I’m so— clumsy~”

“Stop —Nn!!— it please!”, I begged for mercy, from the dirty Knight, no, the pervert crossdressing Knight who had fooled me.

“Sorry, no can do~!”

“Please— Nhn!, aaaah!”

A loud moan escaped from my mouth, as she... no, he brushed his finger by my hips, slowly, yet gently.

Each time his hand passed by my pale white skin, my body twitched in reaction to his touch.

‘I can’t—, I’m so embarrassed, I don’t want to see what type of expression I’m showing!’

“My gosh, you’re so sensitive, guess I’ll have to be a tad bit gentler~”

‘Help me, someone!’, I wanted to scream, but my body was too caught up with the sensitivity settings being unusually low!

“Forgive me! Wait! Where’s that hand going!”

“And down we go—“

“Nyaaaahh!!!”

I finally fell to my knees, my body dropped low.

My mouth left agape, and my body trembled on the floor, exhausted, and brittle.

“You damn bastard! Stop touching my body with that cold measuring tape of yours! I might cause some misunderstandings!”

“Eh? You’re the one who’s really sensitive, not my fault.”

If you thought it was a lewd scene, then you were heavenly mistaken… well up to some extent.

“Now then, I just need to measure your arms and waist, I was unable to completely catch your size correctly.”

“Huh?! I have to go through that again?!”, I questioned his sanity, since mine was at stake as well.

“Of course, you’re the one who squirmed the whole time, without letting me take all of your measurements correctly.”, she… no, he responded.

Hollou looked at me with her… his frivolous looking grin. Him being currently shirtless made me mysteriously flustered.

“Why did you have to take off your shirt right now? Couldn’t you have just measure me with your clothes on?”

“But that wouldn’t be fair, you’d be the only one nearly naked.”, he responded so naturally, that it made me ask myself if he was capable of feeling shame.

Both of us were almost naked, wearing nothing but our underwear and pants.

However—

‘He’s quite packed…’

My eyes moved to his nearly invisible six pack, although his arms looked nimble, his body structure the same as the ones of a girl, he had muscles, not overly bulgy ones, but perfectly set up, equivalent amount everywhere.

And I in contrast, was quite the opposite in some areas.

My body was quite short, not enough to be considered a midget or a dwarf. But the size of a average girl, if not shorter.

I had no muscles anywhere to be seen in my body, though if you take into count that I am not human in the first place it could be forgiven.

My arms were quite thin, as if it barely has my muscle or fat within. Nearly like a skeleton for instances.

The rest of my body was easy to decipher, my whole being was to be considered a weak feeble looking young boy with white hair and skin, along with blood red eyes accompanied by a pair of fang looking teeth.

Were it not for me being able to walk in broad daylight, I’d been mistaken for a vampire ages ago.

“Now, Shiro~, why don’t you show me that cute body of yours so that I can measure~?”, he spoke in a acute tone, and I gave in.

‘I apologize Gray, I shouldn’t have teased you back then!’, I apologized to my friend, whom I now can relate to more than anyone in the entire epitome of existence.

“Alrighty~, now let’s do this again~!”

‘Someone, anyone at all. Please—‘

Save me!

 

 

 

“Phew, well done Shiro. Now I’ve got your measurements, and I got to hear amazing moans from you.”, Hollou wiped the sweat forming on his fairy white skin.

“I’ll never forgive you…”, I muttered out of breath, expressing a mildly lewd face. I could still remember all of my moans playing on loop in my mind.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’ll treat you to lunch one day, what about it?”, he proposed, a suggestion that would one hundred percent not recover my long lost pride as a male.

“Why do you care anyways…”

That’s what I didn’t get, at first I thought he was after my body, or that he was some sort of pervert.

But now he wants me to forgive him?

“Because we’re friends aren’t we? And I really don’t want to lose someone as fun as you are!”, he responded so naturally.

“…”

‘Jus as I thought, I really can’t get a grasp of this guy…’

“So now that we’ve got the measurements, we’ll go to the blacksmiths, follow me.”, Hollou showed the way.

I put my clothes back on, and followed him like he had requested.

He began humming yet another tune, as if nothing had happened.

“What’re we gonna do after we’ve set me up?”, I began a conversation, with my least flustered sounding voice.

“After that I’ll redirect you back to the king and you’ll be given your first order~.”

‘Already?!’, on my first day, I would get already a mission and everything?!

‘No, no, let’s not misunderstand this. Let’s just wait until we are there.’, I thought to myself as we walked down a spiral staircase, leading to who knows where.

“And here we are!”, he announced our arrival.

He opened a door, and a heat wave brushed past us, it was so intense that I felt like I could begin sweating as is.

'What is this?!', I felt like a protagonist from a shounen manga facing a fearsome opponent.

“Hey! Who said ye could enter in here without damn permission?!”, an irritated voice spoke from afar, deep within the highly heated room.

Hollou walked in without a care in the world, deep within the highly temperatures room, was the source of the voice.

It was a man, a tall one at that. With fire red hair that was so long that it seemed like he didn’t even bother to cut it in years, and one blue eye, while the other was covered by an eyepatch.

He was half naked, wearing only his shorts, while his chest was wide open for everyone to see.

You could tell by his physique alone that he was not one to be messed with, his muscles bulged with nearly every move of his body.

His body was resting next to a anvil and and a huge forge behind him, with hot magma flowing through the tubes.

“Oh, it’s you, how ya doin’?”, he asked Hollou as if the previous statement of his had never even left his mouth.

“I’m doing well, and you?”

“The same s’ always, nothin’ changin’.”, he responded, his long red hair covering most of his face.

“So, who’s de kiddo over dere?”, he looked at me with a his sharp eyes capable of cutting metal itself.

“Oh yeah, he’s a new Knight that has recently joined us, doesn’t he look cute?!”

I blushed at his remark, while the blacksmith looked at me, like he was doing a interrogation.

“Wut?! Yer tellin’ me that this bag o’ bones made it into the Roundtable?! Damn, the king must be goin’ senile or some sh*t.”, he laughed sarcastically.

“Nope, he still has the same appearance as always and the same tone as well.”, Hollou said, and the blacksmith chuckled. “I see.”

“Anyway, what brought ya here?”, he asked, while resting his forearm on the anvil.

“We’d like you to make armor for our new Knight over here, I have the measurements ready and everything!”, he handed over the sheet of paper with numbers written on it, presumably my measurements that came at the cost of my manly pride, if there is still any of it left.

“So now I gotta make somethin’ fancy for this young fellow…?”, Hollou nodded to his question, as he sighed. “Right’ imma do it, gimme… one hour and I’ll have it ready.”

“One hour!”

‘There’s no way, he could make something so fast. And this is armor we’re talking about.’

“Yup, that’s right. He’s our best blacksmith, the fastest and the best.”, Hollou boasted as if he was talking about himself.

“Hey, don’t think flattery will get ya a discount, aye?!”, he said with his back turned to us, he opened barrels filled with metals of all arts and crafts.

“Ight’, what type of material doe yer armor do ya want?”, he sent a sharp gaze towards me. “Uh… is it really alright for me to choose?”

“Course’ it’s alright, I’m gonna get paid the same amount anyways. That’s my contract with the king he know?”, he shortly explained, while showcasing eight type of different materials.

“Use ‘Appraisal’.”, he ordered, his eyes unmoving from mine.

“Uhm, you know how appraisal works, right?”, I asked him.

The appraisal spell wasn’t like the typical from all isekais where you can see the others status and stuff, it was more like the ones from the ‘Spider’ light novel, but more useless.

It was only capable of telling you the information you already know, example: you see a rock, appraisal will tell you ‘Rock’, quite simple.

Obviously, even if it is useless, it doesn’t mean it can’t be used. As long as you have knowledge of what you’re looking for, you should be able to identify objects that at first weren’t recognizable.

Another example would be searching for specific items or metals, let’s say, that you go into a mine searching for a certain metal, like iron, or copper. You would use the ‘No-Attribute Magic’ spell ‘Appraisal’ in order to identify them, the left rock is iron, and the right one is copper.

And that’s where that brings us to the current situation.

“Course’ I know. That’s why I’m askin’ ya, use the spell, cause ye know the materials don’tcha?”

‘This guy…’

He was correct, awhile back in Dawnwell when I was learning how to use the forge, and how to make swords. He had also given me a little input on materials and metals, as well as crystals and items.

“Fine, ‘Appraisal’.”

I used the spell, without chanting. Thanks to the skill ‘Chant Nullification’, that is canceling the need to chant.

‘Mythril’, ‘Orichalcum’, ‘Silver’, ‘Adamantite’, ‘Darksteel’, ‘Metal’, ‘Metal’, ‘Metal’

That was the list, the last three were unidentifiable, man I really should’ve listened to Willow more.

I once used mythril, it was quite light considering the appearance. And due to my mana, it changed its stats, or attributes. Apparently it’s due to the fact that it contained mana, I won't go into too much detail.

Adamantite, I used that metal to forge magic swords with Willow. They’re great for protection against physical attacks, and a little bit of magic resistance, but when it comes down to it, Mythril beats it down in magic resistance departement.

Silver, it was a beautiful white metal. Could be used, but I don’t have much information on it in the first place.

Darksteel, he told me about it. But not into too much detail, according to his own information source, he was only told it was good for fighting against magic itself.

And the last one…

Orichalcum, also known as the metal of the gods. He told me that there weren’t many of it, and it is mostly used for divine weapons or armor, and also that it was unbreakable.

So as a natural choice, I’d have to pick—

“This one.”

I picked up the white ore, Orichalcum, the best metal known for being nearly impenetrable or breakable.

“Ight’, imma start workin’ on it.”

The burning red haired blacksmith tied his long hair, stretched his arms cracked his neck. And began to work.

"Take a seat over dere, waitin' for me to be finished will be borin'.", he told.

I looked down at the floor. "Uhm..."

I hesitated to speak for a moment, knowing myself, this was something that should've come out naturally, but his aura made me flinch.

"Thank you, for making me a set of armor even though I can't pay you, uh..."

"It's Ross, ye can just call me that."