“A convertible shoulder pad, maybe. A scarf might be good too. I’ll try making some more armor for monsters,” she said. We finished up with Romina and then left the studio.

Chapter Six: Hidden Abilities

Chapter Six: Hidden Abilities

After finishing discussing our gear with Romina, we headed straight back toward the castle. The sun was getting pretty low. Still, we’d taken one of the enemy down on the day we arrived, so that was definitely something.

Now I needed to get on with making some combat accessories.

“L’Arc, shall we do this?” Therese said.

“Ready when you are!” came the reply. Therese proceeded to unleash the same magic she had used when we first met, aimed directly at L’Arc’s scythe.

“That feels good. I think I’ve got quite a bit more than that too!” Therese appeared to have made a full recovery. “Using the power of the accessory that Master Craftsman lent me as a medium, I have increased the range of translation,” she explained to me proudly. She really did seem to have a thing for me. It made me think of Motoyasu for a moment. She seemed even more aware of me than before. “I’m actually quite incredible, being able to do this much.”

“Is that so,” I said, playing down her achievements. Then Sadeena came up with an earth crystal.

“Little Naofumi, this mineral is most interesting. I’ve leveled up in no time at all,” she told me.

“Glad to hear it. Shame it only works on those coming from the other world,” I said.

“Oh my,” Sadeena commented.

“Are you a high enough level to be able to fight now?” I asked her.

“My only possible reply to that is . . . I don’t really know,” she replied. She’d never been to this world before, after all, and even I didn’t know that much about it. She could still use her therianthrope form though. If she didn’t take too many risks, I suspected she would be fine.

“You call these ladies ‘therianthropes,’ correct?” L’Arc said, pointing at Sadeena and Shildina. So accustomed to seeing her transformed, I almost did a double take.

“Oh, it’s so nice to be referred to as a ‘lady’! I’m so happy!” Sadeena gushed.

“Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, Naofumi,” L’Arc commented, pulling away a bit. Sadeena did come on a bit strong, even for someone like L’Arc.

“She’s definitely the biggest joker in my party,” I confirmed. I thought her jokey, easygoing attitude was quite similar to L’Arc. She always kept some leeway—a reassurance about her, backed up by everything she’d achieved in the past.

“I see. She definitely doesn’t leave any openings. I’ll have to keep an eye on her,” he said.

“Did you hear that, Little Naofumi?” she said.