"Lilith?"

"Yes, Agnes?"

"I could’ve sworn I just heard you say we were going to buy her some clothes."

"Yes, that’s right."

"...We are here to buy clothes, right?"

"Yes, we are."

"..."

Agnes looked around with a confused and slightly uneasy expression, clearly struggling to understand my answer.

Her reaction was understandable, though. After all, the place I had brought Lyria to wasn’t a clothing store or a fabric shop, but rather a weapons and armor workshop.

"Oh, wow!"

Meanwhile, Lyria, who had no trace of suspicion towards me, immediately began wandering around the workshop like a child in a department store at Christmas. Honestly, it was almost impressive how carefree she was.

"Oh... I can feel some mysterious power from this spear. How can something this long and sturdy be so light?"

"Ah, the young lady has a good eye. That’s one of the finest pieces in our workshop."

"Oh! How much for it, shopkeeper? With this spear, I’ll definitely win first place in the hunting festival..."

"Two gold coins."

"...Excuse me?"

"I said it’s two gold coins. It’s a masterpiece, no discounts."

"..."

Even Lyria, despite her muscle-brain tendencies, knew better than to argue about the price. Quietly, she returned the spear to its original place.

Two gold coins would be the equivalent of about five to six million won in the world I came from, so her reaction was pretty reasonable. Even for a spear, six million won was a bit excessive.

Besides, the items available in this ‘early-game equipment shop’ workshop were all more or less the same. The quality of the gear here couldn’t even compete with the equipment you’d find later in the game from monsters or dungeons, let alone final gear.

The spear Lyria had just touched would probably be replaced in a year or two by something far better, so there was no need to splurge on it.

The reason I brought Lyria here wasn’t to outfit her with actual gear. The plan was simply to get her out of that ragged outfit and into some proper plate armor.

It didn’t need to be anything particularly high-quality—just something that would do the job for her upcoming confession.

"Lyria, stop getting distracted and come over here."

"...Yes, Senior Lilith."

With a disappointed look, Lyria moved away from the spear stand and walked over to me. I then led her over to a pile of scrap metal in the corner of the workshop.

"Shopkeeper, how much for these items here?"

"Huh? Those are just scraps I was planning to take to the forge later. What would you need that junk for?"

"I have a use for them."

"Are you planning to use them as material or something? I guess you can take any piece for thirty copper coins each!"

One, two, three, four, five, six... Altogether, it’d cost around two silver coins, give or take.

Sure, spending a gold or two would be a bit of a burden for me, but I could definitely afford two silver coins for the sake of a junior. Besides, seeing the hero panic would be worth far more than just five thousand won.

With that thought in mind, I started handing Lyria pieces of ‘armor’ from the pile of scrap metal.

"Try these on, one at a time. Since it’s plate armor, it could be problematic later if it doesn’t fit properly."

"Understood!"

"Actually, you don’t need to take off what you’re wearing. Just put the armor on over it. There’s no need to undress entirely when you’re already wearing rags."

"Oh, right!"

I quickly stopped Lyria as she began stripping off her clothes in the middle of the store and had her put the plate armor on over her outfit.

Piece by piece, Lyria’s skimpy outfit was covered with rusted plate mail. Her build was such that even just wearing the chest and leg armor gave off an impressive level of intimidation.

"Wow..."

"H-how is it?! Does this help with seducing a man?!"

"...The direction isn’t bad, but this isn’t quite enough. Let’s put the rest of the pieces on."

"What? I’m going to put on even more?"

"It’s full plate mail, so of course you need the gloves, greaves, and boots. Just wearing the top and bottoms isn’t enough."

"Oh, okay!"

As I handed her more pieces of rusted junk—no, armor—from the pile, Agnes looked on with a worried expression and muttered.

"...Lilith, is this really okay?"

"Yes?"

"You said you were going to dress her in something stylish that would catch a man’s eye. But this... looks like something a dead soldier would wear after becoming an undead."

"How could you say something so harsh, Agnes? Are you implying that Miss Lyria looks like a skeleton soldier?"

"...You’re the one who dressed her like this."

"Don’t worry, you’ll see. I didn’t just throw this together without thinking."

Agnes, who knew nothing about fashion, wouldn’t change my mind. After all, trying to discuss fashion with someone who only wore outfits prepared by the Elizabeth family was pointless.

Once Lyria had donned the last of the rusted metal pieces, including a helmet, she now fully resembled a medieval knight (circa 200 years ago).

If she went out in public like this, I’d have no trouble finding her even in a crowded marketplace. She’d leave a trail of rust wherever she went.

"This is supposed to help seduce a man...?"

"...This really doesn’t seem like it."

"Really? Then, what would you suggest, oh 'genius of seduction,' Miss Agnes?"

"......Huh?"

"Surely, you must have a better idea than this, considering how critical you’re being of my choices. I doubt you’d reject Lyria’s outfit without having some alternative in mind, right?"

"...I-I don’t know. Now that I look at it again, it’s not that bad. People have different tastes, after all..."

Realizing she couldn’t come up with a better suggestion, Agnes quickly backed down, retreating with her tail between her legs.

With that, I regained full control over the situation. ...Not that I didn’t already have it to begin with.

"I’ll take everything she’s wearing."

The shopkeeper gave me a somewhat pitiful look as he saw Lyria in her outfit, but I chose to ignore it.

Obviously, I had no intention of having Lyria confess to -*** while wearing this rusted full-body armor.

While this outfit would definitely surprise the hero, it would also likely alert him to the fact that something was off, and he might flee before she even got the chance to confess.

If that happened, even Lyria would start questioning why things had gone wrong. She’d probably wonder why, after following my advice so diligently, the man had run off before she could even say a word.

Leaving a barbarian with lingering resentment was one of the dumbest things you could do. So, the goal of Lyria’s confession plan was to ensure that she failed in a way that didn’t leave any hard feelings while still making her accept the failure.

"Lyria, could you bend down a little? My arms aren’t long enough to reach your head."

"Huh? Oh, sure."

Although confused by my request, Lyria crouched down in front of me, obediently following my instructions.

Once she was in position, I touched her helmet and immediately cast the ‘Clean’ spell, stripping away the rust and grime in an instant.

"...Aha."

Starting with the helmet, I proceeded to clean the chest piece, gloves, leggings, greaves, and boots one by one, revealing a gleaming full set of plate mail. Even Agnes, who had been slow to catch on, finally nodded in understanding.

Although Lyria’s transformation was nearly complete, I wasn’t done yet. While I had removed the rust, the armor was still covered in countless tiny scratches.

Now it was time to use the auxiliary spell I had learned: ‘Sharp Blade.’

Though the spell was typically used to sharpen weapons, its true purpose was to smooth and polish surfaces. While it was most commonly used to enhance weapons, the essence of the spell was to make surfaces sleek and shiny.

After amplifying my magic with the ‘Vent’ spell, I cast ‘Sharp Blade’ on Lyria’s armor, polishing it to a brilliant shine. I then used ‘Clean’ once more to complete the finishing touch.

By using ‘Clean’ after the armor had been polished, I ensured that the gleaming surface would remain intact even after the effects of ‘Sharp Blade’ wore off.

"There we go, Miss Lyria. Now you look much better."

"Oh... Wow! That’s amazing, Senior Lilith! You turned this old armor into something so shiny and polished! I’m so impressed by how skillfully you used all those spells to repair this equipment!"

"This is nothing, really."

"...But couldn’t you have just done this inside the shop? Why did we have to sneak into a back alley to do it?"

"What do you mean, Agnes? If the shopkeeper had seen me doing this, he might have raised the price from two silver coins to twenty. You know it’s not ours until we’ve paid for it, right?"

"...I see. I thought you were bringing her out like this because you had some kind of grudge against her."

"Of course not, Senior Agnes! Senior Lilith would never hold a grudge against me! Please don’t doubt her pure intentions!"

"...Well, now that the outfit is settled, let’s move on to the confession lines. I’ll prepare something that’ll make sure your ‘close senior’ falls for you, Miss Lyria."

"Yes!!"

Lyria’s overly enthusiastic and loud response made me feel a slight pang of guilt.

...Well, since the confession was going to fail anyway, there was no harm in having a little fun with it.