Why?

"That... was quite a swift decision," Milia remarked involuntarily.

Alvin shrugged. "Felia is just as important to me as Linfel. Since your faction immediately accepted my terms, I felt there shouldn't be much prejudice towards her from you. Besides, I kind of owe you, Miss Milia, for the trouble I caused earlier."

Nori perched on Milia's shoulder, nodding in satisfaction. "You aren't a bad master at all. Don't you think, Milia?"

Milia nodded slightly, maintaining her cold expression.

Max sighed from the side. "Well, I tried. I still believe you made the wrong decision, but that's up to you. Farewell." Sure enough, it seemed neither he nor his faction placed much importance on Alvin and Linfel.

Amanda and the others shared the same sentiment. In recruitment, once a target had made their choice, there wasn't much point in lingering. This was a common occurrence throughout the year, especially at the beginning. Perhaps even Alvin would be tasked with recruiting someone in the future.

Soon, only Milia and Nori remained from the group other than Julia and Romario. The news quickly spread through the MCOMs that Alvin had joined the Floating Blades. Some connected it to the marriage topic, which would remain a hot discussion for a few more days. Nevertheless, there was little that could be done about it. Things would quiet down soon enough.

Milia sighed and extended her hand. "In any case, welcome to the Floating Blades."

Alvin accepted, shaking hands with her. "Thank you, Miss Milia."

Nori patted Linfel and Felia several times. He seemed unconcerned whether Felia was as capable as Linfel or not. "Hahaha! We're friends now. I'll introduce you to the other Familiars in the Floating Blades later. Well, they're not always around. There are many different classes and occupations among Maguses, so members appear at different times."

Julia and Romario felt a little out of place. "Err... are we perhaps bothering you here?"

Milia shook her head. "I don't care about one's background. Just don't cause trouble for me, and we'll be on good terms," she said emotionlessly.

Julia and Romario nodded. "We don't like trouble either."

Milia then turned her attention to Alvin and Linfel. "So, how was the Familiar test?"

"I passed," Linfel answered. "Got an Average Score of 57."

Milia knew how it worked since she had been there before. "50 is enough for independence, so 57 is not bad."

"Well, there was a pro-" Linfel began.

However, he was interrupted by Felia and Alvin. "What he wants to say is that the test was quite simple."

"It is, indeed," Milia agreed. Her Familiar had taken the test in the past.

"By the way," Milia looked at Alvin, "it's pretty obvious you made quite a few random changes to this Familiar of yours. What were the main points in the process? Of course, such information is secret, so you don't need to tell me if you don't want to."

Julia and Romario's attention was also caught. "She's right. You don't need to talk if you don't want to... But we are quite curious."

Yet, Alvin heard that and had an idea. "Not many, really. However, I thought it would be fun if I didn't add all the knowledge that normal Familiars have. You can think of Linfel as a being who has never walked within human society in his life, so everything is new to him."

Linfel and Felia understood his intentions. This would serve as a great excuse every time Linfel made some 'mistakes.'

"That's... a very unusual way of creating a Familiar, for sure," Nori commented from Milia's side. He was also curious. "So, was it your first time seeing a city like this, Linfel?"

Linfel quickly nodded. "Yes, there are indeed a lot of humans here. I only knew Alvin and his father before. I'm always impressed with humans' ingenuity."

Milia found it an interesting approach. Perhaps that's why Alvin and Linfel's Master Familiar Connection was so high. "Is that so? What impressed you the most until now? Was it the Magus Academy?"

Linfel didn't need much time to respond. "Not really. What impressed me the most is how all humans I've met, Maguses or not, are always ready to battle at any moment."

The area fell silent for a moment. "Ready... to battle? What do you mean?"

Linfel looked at Alvin, Milia, Romario, and Julia before pointing it out. "Isn't that so? Look at you four. Look at the other people in the distance. You humans are all wearing armor all the time. I find them somewhat too colorful, though, especially those outside the academy. Well, since I don't know much about the materials, I can't judge you there. Nonetheless, it's nice to see that you're prepared for anything. It's the right mindset to have."

Finally, Milia and the others understood. "Are you talking about... our clothes?"

"Clothes?" Linfel nodded. "Ah, so you call your armor clothes. An interesting name indeed. Does it have any special meaning?"

"They aren't armor," Nori explained. "They're just clothes, materials humans use to cover their bodies and hide their private parts. Maguses do have armor to use, but clothes have nothing to do with them."

"Cover their bodies?" Linfel tried to understand the concept. "Could it be it's cold at the moment, and you need to cover your bodies? Humans are quite fragile, aren't they?"

Alvin sighed. This wisp was a lost cause. "No, that's not it. We wear clothes because it would be too embarrassing not to."

Linfel looked even more puzzled. "This... doesn't make much sense."

"How come?" Milia was also intrigued by this Familiar's unconventional thinking. She didn't usually have such interactions.

Linfel explained further. "You say it's embarrassing, but aren't the penis and vagina two extremely important parts of the human reproductive system? These organs are the sole reason for the continuity and evolution of the human race over time. Why would humans feel embarrassed about showing the very things that make them what they are today?"

Linfel narrowed his eyes. "Shouldn't your human race... feel proud of having reproductive organs? Proud to show everyone that they are healthy and can carry the human race forward? Truly... I don't understand why you wear clothes if not for protection against something. They seem rather pointless and against the natural order, if you ask me."

He concluded, "Why do you feel embarrassed about showing such an amazing trait of your human race?"

That wasn't a question without reason. Back in Linfel's time, other races truly only used things like clothes for real protection. Otherwise, they wouldn't use it at all. 

Milia and Julia were already as red as tomatoes. They found it hard to even finish hearing Linfel's explanation. As for Romario and Alvin, they weren't much better, although they only felt weird at those arguments.

If you ask whether humans are proud of their ability to reproduce, most probably would say yes. Why wouldn't they? Humans put a lot of importance on the matter of descendency and bloodline continuation. Even if you die, your children will carry on as if you are a small part of them. That was the general thought. 

Now, about clothes, that was a hard question to answer. Sure, embarrassment, laws, respect, etc. You could probably give Linfel some of these reasons. However, it wouldn't truly answer his question. At the very bottom of the matter, why do humans wear clothes or feel it is embarrassing to show their private parts when they are so important for the species as a whole? Linfel's arguments made sense. Shouldn't they feel proud instead?

Yet, that was how they were raised, and so were their ancestors going countless generations to the past. 

Felia didn't share the same feelings of embarrassment since she was a familiar. Nori, Danil, and Calisbin were the same. They didn't have any private parts like humans, so they obviously didn't wear any clothes. Their bodies were basically only their cores and their ethereal humanoid-shaped bodies that didn't really portray any gender.

Still, they had a general knowledge of the human's past, so Felia attempted an answer. "If I were to guess, clothes were initially used truly for protection. Or for convenience. It became the norm as time passed, and humans got used to it."

"Convenience?" Linfel asked her back.

Felia nodded. "Think about it. Suppose Romario, Alvin, Milia, and Julia were not wearing clothes at the moment, and they suddenly needed to run from a predator or hunt something else that was running away." She didn't continue from there, though. She had common sense. She just hoped Linfel understood her meaning.

The humans in the conversation truly imagined that for a moment, just to feel even weirder. That wasn't exactly the type of thought you would usually have... Well, Alvin and Romario, as very healthy boys, might have thought about such things in their more 'private' moments. Even women were not immune to such wild ideas.

Linfel pondered a bit and understood. "I see! If they suddenly start to run, their penises will move everywhere! That sure would feel very uncomfortable, ultimately reducing their efficiency. As for women, depending on the size of their breasts, they, too, would go up and down nonstop." As he spoke, the faces of those hearing got redder and redder... "In a certain way, it might be even more annoying than penises. Naturally, they had to wear these clothes you mentioned, and that ended up becoming the norm." Well, Linfel couldn't care less about what he says or not.

"Still..." Linfel pondered a bit. "To think you would feel embarrassed to show them over time. Humans truly are a weird race for sure..."

Alvin and the others looked at Linfel. Who is the weird one here? Wait... he does have strong arguments, so are the humans truly the weird ones, perhaps? 

"Ahem!" Alvin noticed the two women's expressions and finally cut in. "L-Let's not talk about such topics anymore, shall we? Do you all agree?"

Milia and Julia nodded vigorously, while Romario felt a little sad since he was finding this topic very interesting. Well, even Alvin had to admit it was interesting to 'imagine' a few situations while Linfel spoke innocently.

Milia then took a deep breath and calmed down. It seems like every time she gets involved with Linfel and Alvin, she can't truly keep her normal cold behavior. "Alvin," she called out.

"Yes?" Alvin asked back.

"You..." Milia glanced at Linfel, who seemed to still be thinking about that topic, "have a very peculiar taste for Familiars, that's for sure," Milia completed.

Alvin felt like crying. Why is she putting him together with Linfel? 'Ah, right... They think I was the one who created Linfel in that way...' He truly wanted to say Linfel wasn't his Familiar, but that wouldn't do anymore. 

'Red Magic Energy, Alvin. Red Magic Energy! Think about Linfel's Red Magic Energy! Everything will be worth it...' Alvin thought to himself. 'It will, won't it?' Although he wasn't very confident.

Linfel then shook his head and gave up. "Forget it. Since there are so many humans, you are still having a lot of sex. It probably happens millions of times per day. I guess it doesn't really matter if you wear clothes or not."

'Does he truly need to mention that?' Everyone thought at the same time.

"Alright, Linfel. Enough with the clothes question. We use them, period," Alvin tried to take Linfel's mind away from it.

Linfel nodded. "Yes, yes. Another question, then. I passed by so many humans already. Still, how come I haven't seen anyone attempting to reproduce yet? Milia, Alvin, can you show me?"

*bang!*

Alvin and Milia's heads fell to the ground. "LIKE HELL WE WILL!"

"Sigh... Fine, I will get one of those MCOMs you guys use and search for answers myself later." And here it was, a Wisp confessing he was going to watch porn. 

Romario whispered in Alvin's ears. 'Alvin, is this the kind of Familiar you have to create to get a high Master Familiar Connection?'

Alvin was truly crying now.

After making sure the Wisp wouldn't ask about human reproduction anymore, Milia finally decided to leave. It's just that her cold expression was nowhere to be seen anymore. She was too red to play that. "I'm starting to regret I invited you two, but what is done is done. Anyway, meet me at the west side of the academy, by the Founder's Statue. Our Floating Blades Faction is there. As the one who recruited you, I unfortunately have to be the one to show you the surroundings."

"Sorry..." Alvin bitterly smiled. Could he have caused a worse impression if he tried? That was hard to say. 

*Ding, ding, ding, ding...*

Suddenly, the sound of a bell echoed over the entire academy.

"Time for the classes," Milia recomposed herself. "See you later."

Romario and Julia didn't delay and left with Calisbin and Danil after bidding their farewells.

Alvin, too, could only go to his own class. "Alright, as my familiar, you can take part in the same class as me. Come on, let's go."