Year 2: Interlude 2

Three days after their return, Dante had summoned Duncan’s team to one of the many sizeable guest houses in the King’s Palace.

“Good news, everyone,” he said. “I’m pleased to announce that all of your personal armour has finally arrived! Every single one of the thirty Summoned Heroes will get theirs in the next few days but, as a special treat, you guys get to try on yours first!”

“Awesome!” Stephanie cried.

Feng Li nodded with a smile. “I am very excited to see how mine turned out, and to see how heroic you look, Brother Duncan.”

“Why have you gone back to calling me ‘brother’?”

“Today is a special day - it simply felt right.”

“O-okay?”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff, Duncan,” Brenda told him, giving him a gentle slap on the back. “What you really should be worrying about is whether or not your new gear will help soften the damage when I kick your butt in our next match.”

Duncan grinned. “Don’t expect things to go like they did last time, Brenda.”

“Oh, how I quiver with fear.”

“Wonder what they got the swan queen over there,” Blake muttered just loud enough for Dao to hear.

Dao Chen responded with an indifferent huff before heading into her changing room.

It took Blake, Stephanie and Dao just three minutes to change into their new equipment, while Brenda and Duncan took almost ten minutes; Feng took about five minutes.

Once they were all done, Dante ordered them to step out and see one another’s new looks all at once.

Duncan was wearing a full suit of dragon-metal plate armour with a pale blue trim; it, combined with his Divine Artefact, made him feel like a hero from legend like those he’d read about back on Earth.

He had no helmet, however, leaving his short brown hair and blue eyes completely exposed. Nervously, he stroked his face and awkwardly looked at himself in one of the mirrors the maids had brought in. He heard a few of them whisper about how handsome he was, which made him self-conscious and blush a little.

Brenda was wearing an identical suit of armour, though hers possessed a blazing red trim instead. Like Duncan, she too didn’t have a helmet, displaying her short-cut hazel hair, sea green eyes and the small beauty mark just beneath her left eye.

Unlike Duncan, however, Brenda was grinning from ear-to-ear.

I look so cool!

Feng Li’s armour was made in a style that Dante and the others from Aangapea didn’t recognise, though Feng had described in detail the armour he desired. It was a mixture of studded leather and lizard hides and scales, complete with a feathered helmet that covered all but his face. His long ponytail black hair ran down his back to the middle of his back.

While the maids had described Duncan as handsome, they described Feng Li as beautiful, his complexion and perfect skin reminded them of a princess, though Feng joked, “I do not know how many princesses are as muscular as I.”

Dao Chen’s new armour was much simpler in design than the rest. With a passing glance, it looked like she was only wearing normal black clothes, but her shirt and trousers hid powerful defensive enchantments and runes beneath them. She also had dark leather gauntlets, pauldrons and greaves, and hid a chainmail vest beneath her shirt. The Swan Cloak barely stood out with its muted grey feathers, but Dao didn’t mind.

She flicked her shoulder-length black hair a little, brushing her bangs out of her ruby-red eyes and scowled a little.

Stephanie was wearing a sleeveless pale blue mage’s robe with a golden trim, matching coloured trousers and studded leather braces and shin-guards. She had purposefully asked to keep her hands and arms free so that she could cast her magic without worrying about getting the material caught, despite multiple protests from her tutor. They insisted that she should keep the sleeves so that the defensive enchantments cover her whole body.

“You know, I was reading up on this a few weeks back, but isn’t it theoretically possible to engrave those enchantments on my skin like a tattoo?” She proposed. “I’ve always wanted some cool looking tattoos so, if it works, I’d like to do that instead!”

When it was clear Stephanie wasn’t going to backdown, they gave up and got her exactly what she wanted.

Stephanie’s long black hair fit snugly beneath the hood and flowered down her back towards her waist, while her clear blue eyes and face were left on display.

“Hmm, I wonder if I should wear a mask as well,” she whispered.

Blake was wearing the same clothes as Stephanie, though hers were red with a gold trim. Unlike Stephanie however, she had medium length blonde hair and her eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue. When King Alexander had asked if Blake intended to do the same as Stephanie, Blake shook her head and firmly said that she didn’t want tattoos. Instead, Blake asked for long sleeved gloves instead which she had gotten.

Good; they all seem to like it, Dante thought, smiling a little proudly.

“How does the armour feel?” He asked Duncan.

“It’s a bit…heavy, I think, but.” He smiled a little as he checked himself out. “I think it’s good.”

“Good. If it’s the weight you’re worried about, that should start to become less and less of a problem as you get stronger,” Dante assured him. “Ultimately, the armour’s made of dragon-metal so it’s lighter and more resilient than steel or any other material we have.”

“Thank you very much.”

“It’s not me you should be thanking - the finest blacksmiths in the alliance made that especially for you.”

“Instructor Dante?”

“Yes, Feng?”

“Might I ask why Duncan is without helmet?”

“Ah, about that.” Dante awkwardly laughed. “There wasn’t enough to go around all of the heroes for full sets of dragon-plate, and so they ultimately decided to make the helmet out of less-rare materials instead. They said it’d be a few weeks until the mithril and steel helms are ready, so don’t worry.

“Brenda’s got the same sort of thing as you, Duncan, but her gauntlets have been given a few extra enchantments and runes to help protect against flames,” Dante continued. “The leather lining did stand a small chance of catching on fire if you used Surtr’s flames too much after all.”

“…How reassuring.”

“Feng, per his rather detailed requests, was given reinforced leather and scale armour, designed as closely to the equipment you used to wear in your old world.”

“Indeed,” Feng said, smiling happily at his chest piece. “It is light, durable and keeps within me the bond that I share with my sworn master, Liu Bei.”

“…I’m not sure who that is, but I can tell just how much he meant to you.” Dante lightly tapped his knuckles against Feng’s chest piece. “There’s a little bit of dragon-metal woven into the material, but it’s sporadically placed. You’ve got a solid plate of your heart and lungs, but the rest is scattered to keep the weight as close to your request as possible. Even then, it’s still a little heavier than Duncan’s.”

“That is perfectly fine.”

“Now, as for Dao’s-well, I think it’s a bit more obvious. The Swan Cloak’s a lot more versatile than a lot of the other Divine Artefacts, so the artisans, tailors and mages all worked together to create something that was very light-weight, but that also had lots of powerful enchantments. I don’t know just how many they threw in there, but it should be more than enough to stop swords or arrows piercing the fabric.

“Stephanie’s robes are quite similar to that, but they’ve also got a little special something hidden throughout.”

“Oh, I already noticed that!” She smugly answered, patting her chest.

“What is it?” Duncan asked.

“Mana Crystals!”

“Mana Crystals?”

Stephanie nodded enthusiastically. “Mana Crystals are very rare rocks that basically act like rechargeable batteries back on Earth. If we’re not in any danger or if I’m just bored, I can start channelling mana into them, let my natural mana restore itself and then use those Mana Crystals if it’s ever an emergency situation. Pretty cool, huh?”

“…She took it again,” Dante mumbled, sobbing quietly to himself. “Why does she only do it to me?”

“Blake’s probably the same as me, right?”

Blake nodded. “I think there’s eight in mine.”

“Same!”

“I didn’t even get to tell Blake that.”

“Do not feel bad, Instructor Dante.”

“It’s only ever me, Feng, me that she does it to. No one else, but me. Oh!” Suddenly, Dante remembered something, smiled and yelled, “I don’t know if you noticed, but-!”

“The Mana Crystals in the bracers?” Solemnly, Dante nodded at Stephanie’s remark. “…Sorry.”

“W-well, I can at least tell you what they do,” Dante grumbled.

“Surely they work just like the others,” Blake said.

“Those ones are a little bit different. They can only be used to form mana blades - swords made of pure magical energy that can stop and block most metal weapons, and can pierce most armours.”

“Most?”

“They don’t work against dragon-metal and.” Dante laughed nervously. “I don’t know how well they’ll work against the Demon Emperor and his generals.”

“How reassuring.”

“Still, the good news is that you all now look the part of the heroes of the Free People’s Alliance. Oh, and here.” Dante placed a chest onto the table near the door. “Your extra pocket money. Go and have some fun; you’ve earned it.”