"Oh, finally found you," called out Seleria on the street and shamelessly hung onto my shoulder. "Do you have time for a walk?"
"I won't be able to dissuade you anyway," I replied.
"True," the girl smiled and dragged me out of the city.
Soon, we were heading towards the distant beach.
"So, what did you want?" I was starting to get annoyed by the princess's persistence.
"I just wanted to talk, maybe cheer you up a little. You've been walking around so gloomy these days. Not to mention that unlike the others, you haven't found any occupation and simply wander around the island and lie alone for hours," she said.
"You've been spying on me?"
"Me? Oh, no way. But Kurone tries to keep an eye on us. Though it gets harder for her to track us with all the influx of traders, she always watches over us just in case."
"You know, constant surveillance would frighten some people."
"Hah, but you wouldn't doubt our sweet Kuro, would you?"
"No, I can trust her completely," I looked suspiciously at the red princess, "unlike another secretive individual beside me."
"What? Have I given any reason to doubt my intentions?"
"Intentions? No, I don't doubt them. You just do whatever you like."
"That's right! I simply live for my pleasure, without caring about anything," Seleria spread her arms wide and spun in place.
"Well, well, don't pretend to be an empty-headed fool. It doesn't suit you," I squinted, and the princess chuckled mischievously in response.
"Over the past month, you've signed many contracts beneficial to the small and not-so-influential merchants of your country. You care for your people no less than Katrina, but you try to cover it up with playful behavior."
"Oh dear, did I get caught?"
"Well, it just happened, oh silly and unserious princess."
"Alright, alright, you've figured me out. Is that all?"
"Well, there's something else that puzzles me a little," I stopped and carefully examined the girl's body.
"Why are you staring like that? It makes me blush," surprisingly, this made the usually shameless princess blush.
"Don't worry; I'm just evaluating your physique from a fighter's perspective."
"Hmph, I see," disappointment could be heard in her voice, "so, how do you find my body?"
"Quite unusual, I'd even say strange."
"You know, that's not something a girl wants to hear from a guy."
"What?" I momentarily snapped out of my thoughts, "I mean, you are very different from other girls."
I approached Seleria and squeezed her ankle, then gave her thigh a light pat and felt her hands.
"You know, for some reason, I feel like you're examining me like a butcher inspects a new carcass at the slaughterhouse," she said.
"You're not far from the truth; I was evaluating your body in terms of muscle mass and fat," I replied.
"Hey, I don't have any excess fat, just natural and organic remnants," her sly smile was accompanied by a proud shake of her ample bosom.
"Well, your body doesn't resemble that of a pampered noblewoman," I remarked.
"So now you're comparing me to a servant or a peasant? Are you asking for a fight or something?" she retorted.
"No, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You carry yourself very femininely and beautifully."
"Compliments won't save you," the princess cunningly narrowed her eyes, devising a revenge plan.
"But if we compare you to Katrina, Kurone, Liri, or Rizel, there's a noticeable difference."
"Explain."
"Remember what Rumy said, for mages, mana gradually replaces muscle strength, so their bodies don't look as impressive naturally. And Grain is just a rare exception. If we look at our girls, we can see that they are very slender with delicate arms, resulting in not very large breasts."
"Well, they can't compete with me in that department, of course."
"True, at first, I thought the secret might be the dragon's blood in your veins, especially when comparing you to Ragni, but there's too little dragon in you for that."
"And what conclusion have you drawn while secretly studying your comrades?" Seleria seemed to deliberately try to unsettle me to throw me off track.
"I believe you spend a lot of effort maintaining your body in such good condition. Most likely, intense physical training. Even though you never engaged in anything like that in front of us, and only practiced magic, it's evident that your shapely figure is also supported by a decent amount of muscle, which should have been worn down from the intensive use of magic."
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Her tone darkened; if I didn't get an answer now, she wouldn't bring up this topic again.
"You have a physique much closer to Hilda and her mother. I think you're an experienced fighter, far greater than a mage, but for some reason, you're hiding it."
"Are you so sure about that?"
"Yes, I am," I slowly drew the blades from my back, "maybe it's time to stop hiding your fangs?"
"If you want to test their sharpness, I'm not against it," Seleria smoothly retrieved a long dagger from her back, "I borrowed it from Miriam, so I hope to return it before she notices."
"And that's not the only thing that concerns me. Back in Asura's village, you fought assassins and won. Not only that, but they recognized you. I've been wanting to ask you for a while, are they just royal family guards, or is there something more between you?"
"Well then, let's do it the old-fashioned way. If you defeat me, I'll tell you."
The princess crouched and charged at me.
"Aileen, why did you call me here today?" Katrina smoothly boarded the ship.
"Oh, you came! Now we can proceed with my little experiment."
"Don't you think you're too excited for a little experiment?"
"Oh, come on, if everything goes well, it will be a revolution in construction!"
"Hmm, and why did you need me?"
"Just because I need you to hold this little thing," Aileen handed the princess a metal rod about five millimeters in diameter.
"And that's it?" Kat took the rod; it was covered in some gray dust but didn't raise any particular suspicions.
"Place it here, and here," the engineer placed two metal plates in front of the princess and stepped back. "I need you to pass electricity through the rod."
The girl put on thick glasses with black lenses and suspiciously hid behind barrels of water on the deck.
"You can start; I'll watch from here."
"Hey! Aren't you too concerned about your safety? I'll be fine, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, everything is under control, probably."
"What do you mean - probably?!"
"Oh, come on, electricity won't kill you for sure."
"Fine," Katrina glanced suspiciously at the cowardly figure behind the barrels and, just in case, extended her arm with the rod as far as possible.
Sparks started to flicker at her fingertips, and the rod quickly began to heat up, much faster than regular steel, and soon it glowed red. But that was all; nothing else happened.
"Hmm? Is that it?" Kat stopped and twirled the rod in her hands. Surprisingly, it quickly cooled down as well.
"Well, looks like it's not enough..." Aileen came out of hiding. "And I intentionally used metal with higher thermal conductivity... Maybe the discharge was too weak."
"So you wanted to melt it?"
"In theory, yes. If we melt it and let it drop between the two plates, it should be able to bond them together."
"Let me try again," Katrina took off her white gloves and put them aside. As if gaining long-awaited freedom, sparks played on her fingernails, "This time, it should be much stronger."
"Hey, be careful!" Aileen barely managed to hide behind a barrier when the sparks greedily plunged into the piece of metal.
In just a couple of seconds, the rod heated up to white, but something was still missing.
"I'll try this," Kat smoothly brought the rod close to the metal plates, and a lightning discharge flashed between them. A burst of sparks illuminated the deck, and the girl involuntarily closed her eyes. After a minute, the flash extinguished on its own.
"Hey, what did you do?" Aileen emerged from her hiding place, and the formerly friendly water barrel betrayed her with a static discharge hitting her back. "Ouch, that hurts. You've charged the whole ship; I hope we won't be arrested for tampering."
"I didn't do anything; I did just as you said - charged the rod, that's all," Katrina turned to Aileen, but her gaze seemed to be directed elsewhere.
"I thought you would just melt the rod and let the metal flow into the seam, but what did you do?"
"Well, it wasn't melting, so I decided to speed up the process," Kat continued to stare into the blue distance.
"No, everything seems to have gone well..." Aileen inspected the seam and the plates; they had indeed fused together, and the rod in the princess's hands was now just a little head, so the glow ceased. "But it's too risky; we'll have to figure out how to protect ourselves from unwanted effects... Kat?"
"Yes?" Katrina seemed to reply to her friend, but she was still talking to the mast.
"It's your fault; what am I supposed to do now?!"
"Don't worry so much, just a minor burn, rinse your eyes with cold water, and your vision should return to normal by evening... probably."
"Again with your probably! I won't trust your uncertainties," Katrina scowled angrily, but since she was once again looking in some other direction, it didn't look convincing.
"Alright, alright, sorry, I won't bother you anymore today; go and take a rest."
"Hmph, whatever," Katrina turned away dissatisfied and walked away from the ship.
"Watch out for the edge!"
"Ouch," though she could see the outlines, it was difficult to accurately track the boundaries of obstacles. The princess hit the edge and staggered down the gangway.
"She looks so helpless; it's quite amusing to watch her like this," Aileen lifted the joined plates. "Hmm, it turned out beautifully."
She tried to bend the sheet, but it didn't yield. Eventually, she clamped it between two planks and, with a kick, managed to break it, but the tear ran right along the seam, leaving the plates undamaged.
"Hmm, this could be useful," Aileen smirked satisfactorily and turned towards the cabin, only to notice a piece of white silk lying on the railing. "Oh, she forgot her gloves... Better catch up with her before she accidentally shocks someone."
Picking up the silk gloves, Aileen hurried after the princess, who had dissolved into the crowd.