Book 2: Chapter 22
The Electronic Version’s Special Side Story – The Fairy’s Armorer (Only For Maiden)
The time was ten years before the tale started──
There was a small armor shop that was said to be managed by a fairy.
There, cute armors and cool protectors for woman were lined up. The lovely fairy would surely make armor equipment that suited you.
Today the fairy was also working hard creating cute equipments in order to see everyone’s smile.
.
「……You aren’t a fairy but a monster.」
「Munh!」
「GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?」
The youth who said such thoughtless words were taught about “love” with a powerful hug. The one doing the teaching was the capital’s fairy, aka Gerf, a male dwarf.
That youth, even though he was released after only several hours, he ran away from the shop tearfully screaming 『I’ll never come again!』.
「I’m sorry Gerf. I brought along a difficult fellow like that……」
「My, don’t mind it Mira-chan. I’m happy that you promoted my shop to boys. As expected from my bosom friend! But he……is a bit of an unfortunate child.」
「He isn’t a bad person but, he’s a bit……it’s too bad.」
The one watching dumbfounded at the scene of the youth receiving Gerf’s love only for several hours was Gerf’s friend, a frequent customer of 『Fairy Armorer』 and an adventurer Miranda. Even she let out a deep sigh of exasperation.
The man who kept getting called as 『unfortunate』 by these two was a youth called Viro who joined Miranda’s party around a year ago. The youth often wore a slightly shady smile that made other thought of him as still twenty years old. He was someone whose moth was a bit careless.
「But, when I saw that kind of child, it reminded me when Mira-chan visited my shop for the first time.」
「S-sheesh, forget about the past-. At that time it still hadn’t been long since I came to a human country. I was really on edge then!」
「Fufu. But I’m really happy that now we can be…having a girl’s talk like this.」
「I too never imagined that I would become this close to you……」
Gerf was a rock dwarf who had maiden’s heart. His dream was to create lovely armor for the sake of cute girl.
When Gerf opened his own shop in the capital although it was a small one, the one who visited it was the forest elf girl Miranda. Gerf was delighted, because her petite and slender body was the ideal figure for wearing the lovely armor Gerf created.
But, elf and dwarf were generally thought to have bad relationship. That was because dwarf had really stubborn personality while elf had really high pride.
Even so dwarf often got involved with human because of their blacksmithing, but the snobby elf never came out from inside their forest, and yet they had the habit to look down on other people despite being a country bumpkin.
At that time Miranda joined an adventurer party called Rainbow Sword. Among her party members there were also a mountain dwarf and a human sorcerer, so she was a relatively decent country bumpkin, but when she first met Gerf, she became wary like a small animal who had just encountered a natural enemy.
「How do you think I would react when facing a dwarf wearing dress made from gold thread!?」
Even Miranda who was such a wary person had encountered a lot of people in the capital. By interacting with a lot of humans, her haughty side that was peculiar to elf was also gradually vanishing. She was completely mellowing down as a person.
She also gradually got closer to Gerf. She also abandoned a lot of things like race and gender and other important things, and became an existence that should be called as a bosom friend with Gerf. But Gerf, even though he had finally become a close friend with Miranda who was an ideal model for him, although he was making armor for her, he didn’t try making Miranda wearing a lot of designs that he had been making until now.
Why was that? Was it just like how the thorns in Miranda’s heart were blunted from staying in human country, Gerf’s dream had also been changed?
No, that wasn’t it. Gerf didn’t use Miranda as her ideal model because human race’s food had softened both her heart and her body plumply.
「……Gerf, did you think of something just now?」
「…………」
Gerf had the kindness of not saying anything about what he was thinking. Gerf wasn’t a careless person like that human Viro.
Even so, the flesh in Miranda’s body had increased somewhat compared to the usual elf. Although she had gotten somewhat plump and lost her model body style, she wasn’t fat in any way compared to human race.
In the first place Miranda herself wasn’t in fault, it was just the environment that was bad for her. The elf settlement where Miranda was born only had fruits with little sweetness and strong sourness. There wasn’t any fruit that had been selectively bred there to have strong sweetness. For the little Miranda, sweetness could only be found from flower’s nectar or honey that the adults sometimes harvested.
Even the rural village where she met her comrades was no different from inside the forest. Sugar candy that the merchants brought was something that she rarely ate.
But, it was different in the capital. The capital that was populated by tens of thousands of people had supply and demand. Sweet things could be obtained anytime as long as one had the money for it.
At that time Miranda was making a lot of money as a famous adventurer, so as the result, she got addicted to sweet taste that didn’t exist in her forest. Her body style fattened over the limit of Gerf’s tolerance.
But, why did Gerf wanted to make lovely armor that much?
「It’s a story of the past……」
「Eh? Why are you suddenly talking about the past?」
.
Gerf was born in a rock dwarf settlement in a dwarf country.
Mountain dwarf was good with woodworking and handiwork, while rock dwarf excelled in blacksmithing and handling fire. Gerf was born as a rock dwarf, even so he was a child who loved cute things instead of digging rock in a cave.
Rock dwarf loved digging hole like rabbit. They were a race that became good in blacksmithing in their pursuit of better tool for digging hole.
But, Gerf loved making clothes and accessory rather than digging hole. It was said that handiwork was the field of mountain dwarf, but they were originally the same species so it wasn’t something impossible for him.
Like that Gerf was polishing his skill by creating things in detail, but none of the rock dwarves around him could understand his hobby.
Rock dwarf was as stubborn as a pig-headed old man. Even the women were mostly as obstinate. Dwarf fundamentally looked like bearded old man, but they unexpected had baby face when their beard was shaved. They grew their beard in order to hide that. Because of that young female dwarf looked adorable like human child, but the stubborn female dwarfs were more absorbed in digging hole rather than dressing up.
『Why aren’t they wearing cute things?』
If Gerf was like them, having lovely figure despite their somewhat thick bones, he would war erotic cute outfit the whole time.
Gerf finally noticed then. He didn’t just want to create cute and lovely things, he himself wanted to wear them……. He finally realized that he wanted to dress himself cutely and nobody else.
Gerf who loved cute things and sought them had a heart that was more maidenly than anybody else.
Since then Gerf accepted the maiden inside his heart and his speech and attitude naturally changed feminine.
However, he was also a dwarf. No matter how passionate he was, there was a limit in how he was able to wear cute things. Gerf also loved his beard and chest hair. He continued to dress like woman to show them off. The other dwarves in the settlement took some distance from Gerf who was acting like that, but only his big brother Galbas understood him.
「No way, does big brother also has the same hobby?」
「I’ll sock your damn face you asshole」
Galbas was naturally also a stubborn rock dwarf, so he couldn’t understand Gerf’s hobby, but as a talented weapon smith, he understood Gerf’s passion and skill and became his ally.
At that time, the war between human and evil race intensified. The dwarves that were also in the frontline of that war sought a lot of weapons and armors. The kindhearted Galbas decided to head to a human country in order to test his skill. He also invited his pitiful little brother Gerf to come with him.
「I’m going to create the greatest weapon. Gerf, make armor with that perverse passion of yours. If it’s at human country, then surely there will be someone who wear it.」
「Brother……thank you for praising my love.」
「I ain’t praising you.」
Like that the two brothers departed from the dwarf settlement and created equipments while moving from battlefield to battlefield. After that dozens of years passed and the war changed from large scale clash to localized fighting. The two gave up on the battlefield around that time and drifted to Claydale Kingdom.
The war was still continuing but, thinking that only the strong would survive in the battlefield from there on, they thought that they would need a calm environment in order to create equipment that would be used by those strong people.
But, what was sought in the capital of Claydale Kingdom was only splendorous equipment. Putting aside Gerf who was seeking to create pretty and cute equipment from the start, Garbas who hated such interaction with noble moved to the frontier that was close to the monster habitat in order to create weapons for adventurers.
The siblings who departed on their own together chose different paths in order to follow their own craftsman path that they sought to the end.
Gerf opened a small but cute shop in the capital. She created body protector for female while making cute outfit to wear on her own.
While doing that, he was watching in excitement when female adventurers or female knights were wearing the equipments he created. It made him wanted to make even better equipments for their sake.
.
「──Ah, you’re finished talking?」
「Mira-chan, I told you to hold back with the fried sweets right!?」
Miranda listened half-heartedly at Gerf’s important talk while eating sweets. Like that she kept getting farther away from the path of being Gerf’s model again.
「It can’t be helped! After all I had just finally returned from an expedition.」
Putting aside such excuse, certainly Miranda and her party members had just gone to an expedition outside the country for several weeks. It never happened with normal adventurer, but an adventurer as famous as Miranda could create connection with noble and from there received designated request that brought them until outside the country.
The request this time, there was an attack from evil race at the neighboring country, a powerful noble of this country, the Melrose House requested the mercenary guild that also had connection with the adventurer guild to guard some important people moving.
Normally Miranda and her party wouldn’t try to get involved with other country proactively even if it was a request from noble. But Miranda herself had a reason for it.
「That female demon, she also wasn’t there!」
「You’re anxious.」
「There was a rumor that she died in the battlefield but, if that bullshit woman could die that easily, I wouldn’t need to go through that much hardship!」
Evil race didn’t refer to the terrifying demons, but to the dark elf in this continent.
The detailed reason wasn’t known but, apparently the religion of the immigrant Melsenian people, the holy church called the native people, the dark elves like that. Even now they were considered as the symbol of terror by the human race.
From the start, the relationship between wood elf like Miranda and the dark elf couldn’t be said as good.
It was generally thought that the dark elves were at the side of the evil god just like the holy church said but, the reason of the wood elf was apparently considered as a taboo and nobody would talk about it.
What in the world happened between that dark elf woman and Miranda…….
「That woman, she got cocky just because she is a bit strong and got called as War Demon. She didn’t kill me when she actually could-」
「Isn’t that a good thing?」
「After that each time we met in the battlefield she would make fun of me, and messing up what we were doing. She is really annoying.」
「……Making fun in the battlefield?」
「Besides the dark elf women has been like that since the past! Just because their breasts are a bit bigger than us, they made fun of us wood elves.」
「…………」
「……Gerf. Assassins from wood elf is going to come if you tell anyone about just now you know?」
「……I understand.」
In this world, there were things that you would be better off not knowing.
.
Ten odd years after that……even with the passing of time, lovely model who could make use of Gerf’s design to their greatest effect never appeared.
In the capital, there were also other elf girls with normal body style but, conservative girls like them would need decades in order to understand Gerf’s equipments. During that time they would fall victim and get addicted to the delicious foods of the capital.
Was there no hope remaining for Gerf? One day while he was thinking like that──
「Gerf, you there?」
Miranda came after so long with some children in tow. The girl among them was Gerf’s destined one.
The girl who came was still young but, the adventurer girl was clad in a dangerous atmosphere while wearing a dignified expression.
Perhaps because the girl herself was still young, she was indifferent about dressing up herself even though she was a great beauty. The instant Gerf saw the girl, he received the revelation that it was god’s will for him to make this girl feminine.
Even without that, she was someone who was given a weapon by that hard to please brother of his, so if Gerf himself also didn’t do something for her, he would be disqualified as a “woman”.
But, that girl Aria, even though not even one month had passed when she came for the third time to his shop, although it was just a temporary prototype, the protector that was made from real leather had become so worn out that it was impossible for it to regenerate.
The girl looked apologetic but, armor existed for the sake of protecting the body. If the wearer was safe after going through such hard fight, it could be said that the armor had fulfilled its solemn duty.
From the beginning that armor was a proper equipment that used the same monster leather like the actual thing so there was no problem, but rather than that, Gerf was more relieved from the bottom of his heart that Aria was properly wearing the article that he gave her before.
It was a drawback that the person herself looked like she didn’t really understand the meaning of wearing it but, Gerf was unable to teach her about it. He spent his days in distress about his failure in teaching Aria that when the girl showed herself in his shop after one year.
.
「Long time no see, Gerf.」
「My! Isn’t it Aria-chan! Long time no seee. You have really grown big aren’t you?」
「Yes. I’ll be ten soon.」
「Ten years old……so you are still ten years old. Human is really strange. I wonder why is there such difference in growth rate based on their increase of magic power?」
「Dwarf isn’t like that?」
「We are. All of us. But, in the first place the lovely fairy race like dwarf and elf has high magic power value since birth, so there isn’t any large difference of growth between individual like with human race.」
「I see.」
「A comrade of Mira-chan and Feld-chan, the two people who came together with you Aria-chan when you first came here……the sorcerer girl who retired from their party, her growth was also really fast.」
「It’s fast for sorcerer.」
「That’s right. Especially that girl, she had bigger magic power than Aria-chan, so I was shocked when I heard how old she was. ……Only at first.」
「……Only at first?」
「That girl, she……her height was short, and Mira-chan called her 『shortie』, it looked like her growth stopped midway……ah, but, in exchange she looked about forty years younger. ……She still looks like a teenage.」
「……Is she really human?」
「She is a pure human girl you know? Because of her beauty, she has eleven children from five husbands, twenty seven grandchildren, and fifty four great grandchildren, ……and she has a lot of great great grandchildren.」
「A……girl?」
「Furthermore before she retired, she stayed as an active sorcerer for more than a hundred years.」
「Is she really human?」
「……I’m not confident now that you’re asking me.」
「But, what about Feld? His appearance looks really old though?」
「……That boy you see, he simply has old man face.」
「Old man face……」
「Ah, but it’s not a bad thing you know? That kind of type will always look like someone in their thirty, so result-wise they will look younger. ……He won’t be popular among young girls though.」
「Ah, yep.」
「It feels like Aria-chan is also growing fast. Growth from magic power makes someone looks two or three years older but, you look completely like a girl already. Even if you dressed up like a boy, you will still look like a girl.」
「Troublesome.」
「It can’t be helped for someone as pretty as Aria-chan. Perhaps you look mature because you’re taller than average?」
「I’m tall?」
「The average thirteen years old girl should be a bit shorter. Perhaps there is something different about you? Though your height is still within the acceptable limit.」
「Perhaps……while growing children also need a certain amount of nutrition. Consuming a good balance of fats, carbohydrate, and protein. Endeavoring to consume vegetables high in beta-carotene. Creating a body that can efficiently process food with moderate exercise, moving the body while also paying attention to not get injured by loosening the muscles well, making the body soft by training your technique rather than muscles, hardening the muscles and not hindering your bones’ growth. Also if you don’t absorb nutrient just from food, but also enough magic particles after ascertaining their element……perhaps, you will get taller.」
「O-ou……」
「Other than that, even monster ingredients that are generally not suited for eating──」
「Yep, I get it already!! I understand more than enough already-」
「Is that so……?」
「Aria-chan, I wonder if you aren’t interested with sweet things? There are a lot of them being sold in the capital you know? Like Mira-chan, she love fried sweet food……」
「Digesting oily carbohydrate is difficult.」
「Right you are……. No, that’s not it-, you are a girl so, you like sweet food aren’t you? You like it right!?」
「I’m keeping in mind to only consume the required amount for the brain.」
「R-right……I heard that sweet thing is good for when your mind is tired.」
「I purified black sugar using alchemy to always have efficient fuel for brain in hand.」
「Fuel……brain!?」
「It’s convenient in case you need to continue fighting for more than a whole day you know?」
「Even if you tilt your head cutely like that, you are cute dammit! But, certainly I had heard something like that before. The sorcerer guild of Dandall also published such thesis.」
「Hee……Gerf is knowledgeable about sorcery?」
「Not at all you know? Other than body strengthening, I can only do a little bit of water and earth sorcery. But, I’m also applying magical processing to my armor, so I often visit both the sorcerer guild and alchemist guild.」
「I never go to either one.」
「If I’m not mistaken, Aria-chan has a teacher right? Then it’s no wonder you don’t really need going there, you’re also not doing any business as alchemist, so it’s enough for you to just go to some store around for your need.」
「Yes.」
「Anyway I understand now that there is no change in Aria-chan’s girliness. ……It’s unfortunate though. And, is your business here today is repairing your armor?」
「I want to order a new one.」
「……Can you take off that cloak of yours for a bit and show me? Come inside.」
「Got it.」
「…………They are scratched all over again. Even the small scratches can’t regenerate fully. I wonder if that’s because orc skin is a bit weak as a material?」
「There are also some parts that broke. Besides……」
「Aa, I understand. It’s getting tighter around your chest and waist right?」
「Yes.」
「You’re growing remarkably……. Compared to one year ago, your body line has gotten far more feminine.」
「I want a bit thicker limbs.」
「……You must never say that kind of words around a certain fried sweets lover elf okay? It will wound her. You’re fine just as you are right now. Rather than forcing yourself with training your muscle and got heavier, it will be better if you train your skill and increase your physical strength value.」
「Roger.」
「If it’s like this then certainly it will be better for you to buy a new one. I’ll use a material that is a rank higher this time.」
「If it’s money then I have twenty large gold coins, but I want to use half to order weapon from Galbas.」
「……You got a lot of money there. Surely you did something outrageous to get them but, I don’t really want to ask. But if you have that much, perhaps I’ll use the hide of wyvern? But I’ll only take enough for the material’s price. After all Aria-chan is my exclusive model.」
「Thank you……you aren’t forcing yourself Gerf?」
「I’m not. Besides, I think Galbas also won’t take too much money from Aria-chan.」
「……I obtained a lot.」
「Right, that’s good. But, Galbas too is just doing what he want to do, so you don’t need to mind it you know? He is the same like me, there is a meaning that Aria-chan is using our works.」
「Yes.」
「Come on, don’t make that kind of face. I’ll take your current measurement, so can you take off your equipment for me?」
「Got it.」
「……You don’t have any hesitation stripping like usual. But, I’m relieved……. You’re wearing it properly.」
「This? Yes. Because Gerf said that it’s required.」
「Your awareness is still only that much……. I wonder what should I do to make this child learn what shame is?」
「I know the reason for wearing this.」
「You know you said……Aria-chan. Aa, right, I understand. First I’ll teach you about the situation with the “underwear” in this continent.」
「……R-right.」
「What is the common underwear for the females of this country?」
「……Drawers?」
「Right. But, before that, both male and female simply wrapped a cloth around their waist but, a hundred years ago when the war with the evil race intensified, women also started going to battlefield. Because of that it became troubling when they wanted to change clothes right?」
「?」
「I never thought that you will tilt your head there-! Anyway, putting aside the commoners, the noble ladies will be troubled if they got seen naked you know?」
「…………I guess.」
「Stop being considerate even though you look like you don’t get it at all! ……Well, after that drawers that can be changed immediately also became popular among the ordinary females too, but then a part of the female population complained.」
「Why?」
「It’s no problem if the woman who go to the battlefield is a sorcerer, but there are also the muscular mercenaries who felt that wearing underwear is a hindrance just like Aria-chan. One’s sensitivity to cold is also decreasing when your magic power increased.」
「Yes, a hindrance.」
「What was invented for that was the short drawers that has thinner fabric and short length. The noble ladies and adventurers who have a lot of magic power, starting from the youngsters then switched to this. Though of course, the ordinary people and the shy women kept wearing normal drawers.」
「Never saw it.」
「That might be the case with the commoners. The wealthy women are the one wearing short drawers so many are made using material with good quality. It’s not really sold in commoner shop. But, there was someone who created a stir about it. Recently the companies in Dandall started to sell thin underwear that commoner and young female adventurer can wear.」
「Dandall again?」
「Yes. For these several years, things like various information, skin-care products, or new clothes are coming out from Dandall. There is a rumor that Dandall’s princess is involved with it but, there is no way that a young lady who was only five or six years old at that time could do something like that wasn’t it?」
「Hee……」
「At first, the existing clothes stores resisted heavily selling that kind of underwear because it had never existed before. The amount of cloth that formed this kind of underwear has been heavily reduced, and it’s worn by tying the strings at its sides. But just like short drawers, the female knights and female adventurers took a liking to it and started using it.」
「Yes. Easy to wear.」
「Its cheapness is also one reason of its popularity. Because it only use small cloth and the shape is simple, its variety also increased by many with the commoners making it in simple shape using cotton, or the nobles using silk and adding frill or the like to it.」
「I see that the variety in Gerf’s shop has also increased.」
「By the way I’m wearing a red lacy silk panty.」
「Ah, okay……」
「Fufu. Are you interested too now Aria-chan? You’re a girl, so there is no need to be shy. And so, I recommend this underwear I created for you Aria-chan!」
「……?」
「It’s a short drawers that has been shortened to the extreme to not restrict your thighs. The sense of liberation it gives you and the tailoring so that you only need to tie the sides to wear it! Even noble lady who is used to wear drawers can be rest assured! It’s made from silk, so it won’t scrape you even if you do intense movement with it! Now! Aria-chan, what color do you like!?」
「This cheapest one, the one made from cotton.」
「It’s still no good!?」
At first he tried to teach her about shame but, he couldn’t even teach her about femininity. In the end Gerf stuffed his new underwear creations in all colors into Aria’s bag.
.
Since that day Gerf became distressed by both thinking about design and about another matter.
「Mira-chan, my child won’t act like a girl. I wonder what should I do?」
「Why are you suddenly worrying like a mom!?」