Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 19

A long sigh filled the foyer of Lady Shalltear’s city manor, drifting down the hallway and into the courtyard beyond. Ludmila shuffled forward on heavy steps. The sound of someone’s approach turned her gaze from the floor.

“Good evening, Lady Zahradnik.”

“Good evening, Aemilia,” she replied. “You’ve returned quite early, today.”

Much of her lady’s maid’s time was now spent at the cathedral as she studied divine magic. So far, she could conjure spices and sheets of crinkly brown paper, as well as cast rudimentary healing orisons. With so much of Aemilia’s focus being on what would supplement her duties as a member of the Zahradnik Household, Ludmila wasn’t sure if it was correct to call her a Priest or a Cleric. There were certainly none that focused on the spells that she did.

“Yes, my lady,” Aemilia nodded as she took her bags. “We didn’t have the usual endless lecture today. A Paladin from the Theocracy came in to teach us about battlefield healing, triage and the use of support and offensive magic. I couldn’t believe how young she looked.”

“Sister Alessia?”

“You know her?”

“Yes, she arrived from the Theocracy earlier this week. We had her over for dinner, but I suppose you were stuck attending one of those ‘usual endless lectures’. Sister Alessia doesn’t just look young – she is young. She turned fourteen last winter.”

“And here I am struggling as an Acolyte. Did you know she’s a Mithril-rank Adventurer?”

“I wasn’t aware that she had her Mithril-rank trial, but I suspect she’ll be Orichalcum as soon as they can put together a trial group.”

“I wonder what they feed little girls in Theocracy…”

Ludmila smirked to herself as Aemilia led the way into her solar. It wasn’t a matter of feeding: it was a matter of breeding. After twenty generations of following the gods’ wisdom, she suspected that the Slane Theocracy had given rise to many powerful individuals.

“What about you, my lady?” Aemilia asked, “It’s only been two days since you left for Katze. I thought the journey would last weeks…”

Aemilia reached into an Infinite Haversack. Her mouth fell open when she found one of Ludmila’s ruined boots.

“That happened,” Ludmila flopped down on her bed. “I was swallowed by an Undead Mimic. The acid ruined everything.”

“I…I’m sorry, my lady,” Aemilia seemed uncertain if it was the right thing to say. “It was such a good opportunity to appeal to His Majesty…”

Ludmila only sighed again, resting an arm over her eyes. All she had done was put on a series of mortifying displays. She was a disappointment: to His Majesty, to Lady Shalltear and to herself. Forget Adventuring. Forget the Royal Army. Unsophisticated Frontier Nobles belonged in the borderlands, chasing Goblins around in the woods.

“Shall I draw a bath?”

“That would be wonderful, Aemilia.”

Though she had dried herself thoroughly, Ludmila still suspected that there was still acid stuck somewhere. A half-hour later, she was up to her shoulders in steaming hot water, sighing once again. It wasn’t a sigh of relaxation, however – her habit of mentally reviewing recent events had risen to torment her.

Even after ‘accustoming’ herself to His Majesty’s presence, Ludmila could barely contain herself. She had to rudely turn away just to hold a conversation with him. Despite focusing on her tasks to distract herself from His Majesty’s presence, the pressure to do daring things to catch his eye remained ever-present. No matter how careful she was in her thoughts, her words and actions invariably contributed to her attempts to appeal to him.

Despite Ludmila knowing what was unsubtly driving her to do this, a part of her embraced it. She wanted him to watch her, and she wanted to be attractive in his eyes. Some reprehensibly indulgent thing had arisen within, telling her that it was alright to feel the way that she did, as unthinkably improper as it was. It didn’t help that Lady Shalltear presented her to His Majesty as some sort of appetizer before the main course.

Ludmila was punished for her sinful ways, of course. Like with tentacles. Or more tentacles.

But at least it was over. Her equipment was gone and she could no longer fight. Unless she was expected to lead armies in a dress.

A light chime drifted from below. She heard the soft steps of one of her maids making her way to answer the front door. Shortly after, there was a knock on hers. Aemilia went to answer it, finding Lisette on the other side.

“My lady,” she said, “Lady Shalltear has arrived to see…”

Lady Shalltear swept into the room, her silken skirts whispering over the floor.

“Taking the time to unwind, I see,” she said.

Aemilia glanced back and forth between them.

“My ladies,” she said, “shall I leave the two of you to one another’s company?”

Now that Ludmila had returned to most of her regular activities, Shalltear had resumed her regular visits. She came by at least once a week, be it in Warden’s Vale or E-Rantel. Lady Shalltear being who she was, her visits always led to certain things. Then those certain things led to certain other things, as she was a Vampire. Since Ludmila was now Undead and could not be turned, Lady Shalltear stayed until she had her fill of Ludmila, in more ways than one.

“You’re her lady’s maid,” Lady Shalltear told Aemilia, “so you should stay this time. Help your mistress out of the bath.”

Rather than staying to watch Ludmila rise from the bathtub like she usually would, Lady Shalltear turned to walk over to her bed. Ludmila exchanged glances with Aemilia as she helped her dry off. Slipping into a woollen robe, Ludmila went to join Lady Shalltear beside her bed.

“I’m sorry, my lady.”

“Have you done something to be sorry about?”

“I’ve ruined your plans to have His Majesty become more aware of my existence. I can’t fight. Everything’s gone and I can’t accompany you anymore.”

Presumably, they had taken a break so the Sorcerer King could attend to some daily tasks and several other matters. There would be additions to the crew and new preparations made, given what had been discovered thus far. With the conveniences provided by teleportation magic, Ludmila supposed that her idea of being away on an extended excursion hadn’t lined up very well with reality.

Considering what had happened and the oncoming changes, Ludmila was self-aware enough to understand that it provided the now-useless noble in the party an opportunity to withdraw from the venture with what was left of her dignity. That being said, what spilt out of her mouth felt like a stream of self-pity and lament over her failure.

“Nonsense. You’re still coming with us once we get going again.”

Ludmila furrowed her brow. What was the point? Unless they really did mean to have her lead an Undead company in a dress.

“You’ve done well so far, Ludmila,” Shalltear told her. “His Majesty is quite pleased with you, so why do you think you would be allowed to stop now?”

“H-he is?”

“He is,” her liege smiled. “Lord Ainz is especially impressed by your resourcefulness and potential as a commander.”

It took Ludmila everything she had to keep from fidgeting at Lady Shalltear’s words. Even a tiny bit of His Majesty’s recognition made her happy. This much…she was sure she didn’t deserve it. Everything must have been said out of pity, but she basked in the feeling nonetheless.

Lady Shalltear produced several articles of clothing from her inventory, handing them to Aemilia. A dress was draped over a nearby mannequin. Its colour scheme was reminiscent of the one she had brought with her to E-Rantel in the spring, but the design spoke of some unknown origin. Like the dress that she had purchased, the one before her gave off a casually militant feel.

Broadly speaking, there were two layers to it. The first consisted of a light blouse with a pleated skirt that hung just above the knee, with thigh-high stockings and evening gloves. The outer layer was composed of a short jacket with sleeves to the wrist and a long, open-fronted skirt that flowed to the calves in the rear. While the inner layer of the outfit was woven from some silken fabric and made to be civilian in appearance, the outer layer was fashioned from tougher fabric woven into thick crepe.

The court fashions of noblemen would often emulate the appearance of armour, but Ludmila had never seen it done for a woman’s outfit before. Be that as it may, it was clearly still a dress.

“Am I to wear this, my lady?”

“Of course,” Lady Shalltear said. “This will be your…hm, how should I say it…default outfit? What you would wear for an outing, be it for casual purposes or conducting noble business. It should be to your tastes, so you can wear it for everything if you’d like.”

Lady Shalltear handed the pair of evening gloves to Aemilia. It appeared that they were going to make her fight in a dress.

“Will it survive the rigours of battle?” Ludmila asked.

“Oh, yes,” her liege answered. “I suppose it may look like a well-fashioned dress to you, but this is magical equipment. Like the uniforms worn by the maids of His Majesty’s household, the defensive properties of this dress make it superior to a suit of adamantite plate mail. Additionally, resistances have been included to account for your traits.”

In front of them, Aemilia poked the dress experimentally with a stitching needle. She was unable to work the extra-sharp point through the fabric.

“I see,” Ludmila couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “It’s certainly far superior to my ruined equipment. Still, though it might feel strange leading a company in a dress, if it will allow me to continue to serve His Majesty on this excursion…”

“I already told you what this dress is for, no?” Shalltear said, “There is a separate set of equipment for battle.”

“It won’t be ready until later, I suppose.”

“We had it made just now.”

Ludmila frowned at Lady Shalltear’s statement. Lady Shalltear might have already had the dress in her wardrobe to lend to her, but to have a new set of equipment made…if it was superior to a dress that was in turn superior to adamantite plate mail, it would likely take months or even over a year to forge. Then there was the time required to secure materials for enchanting and the enchanting work itself…

“Just to be sure,” Ludmila asked. “You said ‘just now’, as in finished just now?”

“Designed, ordered, crafted and enchanted just now. Between all of the steps and triple checking everything, it took maybe three hours?”

She had no idea about the productive capabilities of the mysterious realm behind the power of the Sorcerous Kingdom until now. Could they furbish entire armies with such excellent equipment in a matter of months? A foreign power might be more alarmed at that than the powerful undead servitors that could be seen everywhere, especially considering that it wasn’t even close to the limit of what they could make. Lady Shalltear’s armour was so far beyond adamantite that Ludmila couldn’t imagine its true properties.

“Put on that dress first,” Lady Shalltear told her. “It has Quickswap crystals for every piece, so once you set your gear you can just unequip it.”

“If it’s what I’m wearing and I unequip it…”

“Then all you’ll be wearing is the belt with the Infinite Haversack on your waist,” Lady Shalltear smiled.

Ludmila shook her head, walking over to examine the pieces of the dress. Fortunately, the smallclothes looked normal. Lady Shalltear seemed to have an infinite selection of undergarments – many of them were quite strange – so Ludmila worried that she would be made to wear one of those.

“…are the undergarments enchanted as well?”

“Of course.”

Enchanted underwear. She was just a destitute noble from the edge of nowhere just half a year ago.

With Aemilia’s help, Ludmila went about putting everything on, uncertain about the ‘progress’ she had made. She experimentally unequipped it after fully dressing. She left the underwear on, but aside from that, all that was left was her belt and the items attached to it.

“The underwear needs to go, too,” Lady Shalltear informed her.

“This armour comes with smallclothes?”

In response, her liege dangled something black before her in both hands.

“…what’s that?”

“A bodysuit,” Lady Shalltear replied. “It’s a part of your armour – think of it as an arming doublet.”

Ludmila peered at the bodysuit. The black material it was made from was about a centimetre thick and felt spongy between her fingers. Its sleeves went up to the wrist, but the bottom…

She scanned the pieces of white plate in black trim arranged over her bed.

“Where’s the rest of it?” Ludmila asked.

“This is all of it,” Lady Shalltear answered.

Ludmila’s gaze went back and forth over everything, trying to figure out whether she had missed something.

“I see faulds, tassets and the base…I don’t see any cuisse or chausses…”

Without those pieces, her legs would be exposed between the knee and the skirts of the base. On top of being embarrassing to wear, there was no protection against attacks on her thighs.

“You don’t need them.”

“I don’t?”

“Leg equipment is a single slot,” Lady Shalltear told her. “The faulds, tassets and base that you see is the piece that fills that slot.”

“What?”

“What?”

Her confusion grew. That didn’t make any sense at all.

“Once you try it out,” Lady Shalltear said, “you’ll understand. This is magical equipment: much of the thinking applied to mundane items doesn’t work.”

“Still…can something be done with the skirts of the base? They only go halfway down the thigh…the moment I move enough in a fight, people will see everything.”

“Magical equipment alters itself to fit the user. This includes maintaining its appearance, so your skirts won’t fly all over the place as easily as you think. You’ll have to be doing flips or raising your leg to kick someone or something to that effect. I suppose hopping on a mount will show quite a bit off, as well.”

Ludmila swallowed and backed away.

“It shouldn’t be a problem if we increase the length of the skirts, yes?”

“I will not allow any sort of sacrilege!”

She blinked at her liege’s sudden outburst.

“S-sacrilege, my lady?”

“This set is modelled after something precious left in my care by Lord Peroroncino. Any alterations are obviously sacrilege of the highest degree!”

Was that how it worked? If a god left some scandalous article of clothing behind, was it still a divine relic? Did wearing it go from being an embarrassment to a sacred privilege? She would have to ask Themis about such deep theological principles.

“Then something like shorts to cover the tops of my legs…”

“No!” Lady Shalltear’s voice was as stern as she had ever heard it, “Lord Peroroncino’s designs are perfectly in line with studies done by the leading experts in advanced armour theory. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this equipment as it is!”

“…who are these leading experts on advanced armour theory?”

“Myself and Albedo, of course.”

Ludmila eyed the pieces of equipment on the bed with a conflicted expression. As the armies of the Sorcerous Kingdom gained recognition around the world, they would be renowned for their Death Knights, Elder Liches, and a certain Revenant’s rear end. Liane would probably call it a potent marketing strategy.

“His Majesty said it would suit you.”

“He…he did?”

Her hand drifted out towards the pleated white skirt lying on the bed. Her other hand came up and slapped it back down.

“Saying that sort of thing isn’t fair, my lady!”

“Holding everything in isn’t healthy, Ludmila. If Lord Ainz fancies it, then resistance is the exact opposite of what you should be offering, yes? His Majesty likes it. I like it. Even Aemilia looks like she’s about to gush over with approval.”

Ludmila glanced over at her lady’s maid. Considering the valiant image that Aemilia always attributed to her, how she would feel about the equipment was a foregone conclusion.

“All those stories about Vampires luring their victims into lives steeped in hedonism are absolutely true,” Ludmila muttered darkly to herself.

It felt like she was the only one with any sense of propriety left.

Well, she could try it on, at least. In addition to everything else, what Lady Shalltear had mentioned about some sort of ‘slot’ was driving her to distraction.

She found that the magical equipment was far easier to put on than a mundane suit of armour. Aemilia figured out how to roughly fit everything and the trait of enchanted equipment to magically adjust to fit their user did the rest. The black bodysuit received most of her attention. She couldn’t feel the light plates of the armour through it at all. In addition, the material seemed to shape her body, enhancing curves and…

“L-Lady Shalltear, my breasts grew!”

“Ah, I included pads for you. Pretty good, right?”

It truly was magical armour. She couldn’t wait to present herself in front of His Majesty.

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