The mansion part 2: Mock Battle!!

How do you feel? Alice asked Lydia who was sitting on something that was breathing.

"It's certainly more comfortable than the sofa!" said Lydia with a joking voice.

"Let's continue, since I need to go meet Kage again!" Connor declared.

As Alice heard Connor's words she sat on the sofa to watch, before remembering what Connor was doing, and screaming.

"We are still doing it?!"

"Yes, I'm not stopping before finishing my cosplay. We can't disappoint the viewers!"

"What viewers, that's only us here!" Alice replied.

"Who knows?" Connor replied...

Connor started collecting Alice's clothes to shove in his chest and as he was doing so he found a sealed bag in them.

"What is this?" Connor asked.

"That is, PUT in where it was!" Alice tong shifted a little as she spoke.

"O...okay!" Connor slowly put the bag down.

{Notice: A bag of unwashed clothes, most likely belonging to the individual Alice Von Eric.}

You tell me now? should have told me before!

{Notice: The order is to not speak unless it's dangerous or a direct appraisal order was given.}

But you spoke, didn't you?

{Notice: As per the individual Alice Von Eric reaction, a possibility of conflict between you and said individual was deemed to be dangerous in the future so a notice was issued after the confirmation of the reaction.}

Oh… You then have permission to speak as you want, just don't bombard me with notices about the appraising you're using to level up.

{Notice: Understood.}

Ok then back to cosplaying.

Connor shoved some of the clothes he found into his chest turning into a C+ size.

He took Alice's gloves and tried to put them on.

{Notice: Your hands are too large, a good chance to rip them apart and anger the individual Alice Von Eric!}

Thanks for the warning, but can you just call her Alice-san or something? spelling the full name every time is a bit…

{Notice: The use of full is that in case of a similar name, a mistake will be less likely to occur.}

What are you? A court manager? treat that situation when it occurs, not now!

{Notice: As per master order, the protocol will be changed and I shall call individuals as master's call them.}

Alice noticed Connor posing every now and then so she asked him what the problem was and he responded that she would know at night.

Connor turned toward the girls.

"What do you think? give it a score out of ten."

"It's funny so 6/10!" from Lydia.

"'Heavy breathing'... I don't particularly... 'Heavy breathing'... like it... 'Heavy breathing'... 3/10!" from Alva.

"If Connor-sama likes it then it's good 10/10!" from Alice.

{Notice: From Alice's expression there is a good chance she is lying.}

"Alice, give me your honest opinion!" Connor said.

Alice realized that Connor somehow saw through her sugarcoating and that he didn't like it.

"Sorry! If I may speak frankly, it feels weird seeing you wear my clothes and I feel it's creepy 1/10!" Alice corrected her previous statement.

{Notice: Unmatching hair length and color, no shoes, no gloves, no underwears, Unmatching height, and body size, Unmatching voice, Unmatching odor, Unmatching body shape

Total results 2/10.

Checking solutions.

Voice solution:

Detected!

[Sound Magic] can be used to change voices.

Clothes solution:

Nothing found.

Checking alternatives.

Detected!

[Light Magic] can be used to create an illusion at the shape of clothes. Impossible with current skill level.

Unmatching physical body solution.

Detected!

[Shapeshift] can mold the physical body!

Use condition:

Mana: 300 for a humanoid body Completed.

Target inspected: ??? Incomplete.

Detecting inspection level:

Alice:10% of the target body is inspected.

Lydia: 58% of the target body inspected.

Alva: 14% of the target body inspected.

Mei: 40% of the target body inspected.

Skill is unusable due to unmet condition, finish inspecting at least one person to be able to shape change into it.}

What was that? Why all this out of the blue.

{Notice: Master asked the viewers of their opinion, Ariel included. So I gave my full Analysis.}

"Connor-sama, Is there a problem?" Alice asked as Connor was acting weird.

"Nothing! just give me a minute."

"Ok…" Said Alice.

Let's see what we have here…

Connor took a loot at what Ariel showed him.

I can understand sound magic, but what is this about finding a solution to clothes?

{Notice: I wasn't able to find any traces of magic that can make clothes out of mana in either you or Alice's memories. Instead, I found illusion magic.}

That only increased my questions! You can look into memories? and that of Alice too. And I thought that you have a vast knowledge?

{Notice: I can only look at memories that the individual can remember at will, To read forgotten memories I need the perfect recollection upgrade.

And about how I can look into Alice's, I used the link between you and her to "Hack" - This is the closest word in your memories in meaning to what I did- and get that information.

I don't have vast knowledge, I merely analyze what is in my observable space or what you already know.}

Looking into Alice's mind without asking is bad manners, you know?

{Notice: Alice is listed by her skill [Hero's Holy Maiden] just like me, as a tool to be used by you, and with that, I took the liberty to treat her as a skill.}

Probably you shouldn't treat her like that, nor yourself.

{Notice: Order accepted.}

Now, what about light magic stuff?

{Notice: Morphing light directly around your body is possible with light magic, at the current skill level it will be merely pockets of light that can hide your features but as the skill will level up you will be able to exert more precise control over the light thus creating the illusion of clothing.}

Oh… So it's basically a real-life version of censoring light!

If you can see into my memories, so use the censoring light as it used in anime.

{Notice: I can't use your skills without the Core upgrade, You can only use it manually!}

So what is the Core is about, using skills?

{Notice: No, it's literally about creating a Core for myself inside your body that will increase my operation capabilities!}

Forgot about that, let's talk about the meat of the story. Shapeshift! How will it work?

{Notice: Just inspect someone's body and when you finish you will be able to morph your body to match it.}

Ok then can you show me if Alice's inspection level will increase in real-time?

{Notice: Alice 10%.}

Connor stood up and walked to Alice.

"Connor-sama, do you need something?" Alice asked nervously as Connor got close to her.

"Just give me your right hand!" Connor said.

Alice extended her arm to him.

Connor slowly bent over in front of her and started checking her hand.

She is wearing white Gloves just as the one he almost tore before.

He took off her glove and started playing with her hand, bending her finger in every direction they could, sometimes squeezing it to the point Alice made a sound.

Lydia and Alva who was watching this weird hero giving their master a hand massage slowly stood up and asked.

"What is this now? A hand massage?"

{Notice: Alice 11%.}

Ohh it's worked.

Connor made a happy face.

He then explained what he learned from Ariel to the girls.

"YOU CAN MORPH NOW?!?!??" They screamed.

"Is it that big of a deal?" Connor asked with his ears ringing.

"Yeah! It's overpowered!" Lydia said.

"And you're the hero on top of that, it's an assassin's wet dream!" Alva adds up.

"Let me explain, in the case of a noble house they have servants and maids working for them. You can just kidnap one of them, forcefully inspect them, kill them, then impersonate them to kill the noble, and lastly morph back to run."

So I can use it to sneak around, hide, or run away.

Wait a minute! If that is the case, how long will it take me to revert back?

{Notice: You can't revert back until you get enough mana to do so.}

Guessed so! So it's a total of 600 Mana! to shapeshift and revert back.

"I should go talk to Kage now, you change in the meantime!" Connor said.

"Don't go wearing my clothes!" Alice said, holding Connor from his shoulder.

"Ohh… I almost forgot!" Connor said as he started to take off Alice's dress.

[Light Magic: Family-friendly light.]

A light engulfed Connor's private part.

Connor noticed Alice looking at him with interest.

"Oh, you want to see?" Connor disabled the light.

"NO! put it back!" Alice screamed.

After Connor finished changing and was about to get out, Lydia called back to him.

"Return early, I want you to have a training session with Alice since you lost our bet, remember?"

"Yeah! I still remember it, I will be back!" Connor replied.

"What a weird hero!" Alva said after Connor left.

They both nodded in agreement.

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Connor is walking down the hallway.

How the hell did we get here? This building is so large.

I hate to admit it but I got lost.

Why do you make the building this confusing?

Let's see… where did I come from? I don't really know.

The corridor is filled with doors.

Let's open one at random. Maybe I will find someone to give me direction.

Connor knocked on the door.

Knock!... Knock!

"Excuse me, is there someone here?"

No answer.

"I'm entering!"

Connor slowly opened the door.

It wasn't locked!

The door opened silently despite his old look, If the hinges are oiled that means this room is being used.

The room was fairly small, with two clean beds on top of each other and a large desk with knitting tools on it.

A maid uniform is hanging from the side of a closet behind the door.

This room reminded Connor of university dorms.

Is this one of the maid's rooms? he thought.

A small window is directly in front of him.

After a short look outside it was apparent that he was on the second floor.

Hey Ariel, can I jump down?

{Notice: It's possible to land safely with [Enchantment Magic]!}

Well them [Enchantment Magic].

Connor activated his magic and jumped down, as he landed he left an imprint of his shoes on the grassy ground.

A short distance to Connor's left is a well with a man drawing water from it. The man didn't notice Connor's presence.

"Excuse me, good sir!" Connor said directly from behind the unsuspecting man.

"Aaah!" the man screamed.

A few moments later the man calmed down.

"Are you alright? Sorry if I scared you!" Connor apologized.

He made a pissed face as he yelled back at Connor.

"You scared the living shit out of me! Can you not do it again?"

"I'm truly sorry." Connor apologized again.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore, what do you want?"

"I'm kinda lost. Can you tell me where I can find the entrance or one of the guards to direct me?"

The man pointed at the flower garden that was behind him.

"If you pass the garden you will find the entrance, don't wander too much. I heard that the masters are awaiting very important guests. Who knows what will happen if you meet them?"

That gotta be us.

"My name is Connor, a novice adventurer that came here as an escort?"{Notice: From when?}

" You call me Deric, just a humble servant. Working as an adventurer is dangerous. Did you even consider changing carriers? The masters will probably accept if I recommend you to them! The pay isn't bad either! What do you say?"

"You sound like you know about the adventurer job well?"

"Yeah! I used to be an adventurer just like you, then I took an arrow to the knee! Never being able to walk normally after that."

"I think I still prefer swinging my sword in battle!" {Notice: When? did you do that?"}

"I gave you my advice," Deric said.

"I shall go now! Take care Deric."

The man got back to his work as Connor walked away.

Slowly Connor managed to make his way to the office.

Knock!... Knock!

"This is Connor, Is Kage here?"

"Yes Enter!"

Connor entered the office and dragged Kage outside saying he had something important to discuss.

"So what is the problem?" Kage asked.

Connor took the letter he got from Roxanne and gave it to Kage.

"I don't know about your culture but this seems bad to me! Is this OK with you?"

"Yeah! It's bad I thought I hid those books in the Celler how did she get access to them?"

"We better check first!" Connor said.

They walked down to the Cellar, Connor pushed the door. It's Locked.

"As it should be! I'm the only one who has the key!"

Kage opened the door using his key.

The cellar was cold and dark, Kage used a candle as a source of light.

When he checked the books they were in their place, no sign of them being taken out!

"Should we ask her directly? It will take too long otherwise!" Connor told Kage.

"You're right! Roxanne is definitely smarter than anyone in this mansion, she won't let the tracks go uncleaned!" Kage said.

----------------------------------------------------------

"How did you get access to the cellar, didn't I say that those are books you should not be reading!"

Kage is angry, but it doesn't show up on him. He is too sleepy to frown.

"They were the only books... that I haven't read yet!" Roxanne answered.

"How did you get in the cellar?" Connor asked.

"I've once watched… a blacksmith making a lock...So I used that knowledge to open the lock!" She said.

After that, what was supposed to be Kage scolding Roxanne turned into a discussion on how locks work and how to pick them.

"Hey! This isn't what this conversation was supposed to be about!" Connor stopped the two nerd siblings.

"Roxanne!" Connor yelled.

"The problem here is that you did read a book that wasn't intended for someone your age, you aren't mature enough for that," Connor yelled at Roxanne.

"If it's a problem of mental maturity I'm definitely mature and can make decisions on my own!" Roxanne replied.

"That isn't the problem here!" Connor replied.

Kage is yawning in the background, he is too tired and sleepy to bother joining the two in this conversation, but he was thinking.

Roxanne can speak normally in front of Connor, this is a first. For her to open up this fast to a stranger.

Probably instead of frowning over reading a book, I should worry about her relationship with the Hero.

"You as the hero are an unknown danger so before letting you in the house doing research is a must," Roxanne add.

"What do you think I'm a danger?" Connor asked with a bitter smile.

"You can do what you want, just that is enough to be a danger!" Roxanne said while pointing at Connor.

Kage slapped his cheeks to wake himself up.

Yawn! "Roxanne you're opening quite fast for this hero, usually it takes you days to be able to speak normally to new people," Kage commented with a smile.

Roxanne just realized that she is comfortable speaking with Connor.

She immediately ran to hide behind Kage.

"What did you do? What magic did you use on me?" Roxanne is questioning Connor from behind Kage.

"I did nothing!!" Connor said.

"Stop it, Roxanne, he did nothing! it was probably Fluffy since you liked it that much you intensively considered the master of Fluffy as a good guy!" Kage said.

"You think so, brother?"

Yawn!"Not sure about it, but Hero-sama is a good guy. Anyway, I'm at my limits. I'm going to take a nap!" Kage said.

"Then I will take care of the rest of the work, good dreams," Roxanne said.

Kage slowly walked to the bed and fell like a log.

"I have work to do now, if you don't have anything else would you mind letting me work?" Roxanne said.

"You sometimes act like a kid your age and in others like a grown responsible person, which persona do you prefer to be treated as?" Connor asked.

"Depending on the situation, brother is the only one who understands when it is best to treat me as which!" Roxanne replied.

"Well, then I will be going!" Connor said.

Just as he reached the door, he stopped.

"I'm kinda lost, can you call someone to guide me?" Connor asked.

"Brother said that the time you take to answer, and the fast change in your expression is weird. He mentioned that if you're either mad or there is more than one person inside your head, can't that person help you?"

Connor was taken aback by Roxanne's words.

"Was it that apparent, you two siblings are terrifying? You're right, I can speak to my Appraisal skill and even named her Ariel. Would you mind working for me in the future?"

"Come back when you have enough strength to protect us, until then we will remain just a normal sibling!" Roxanne answered.

Ariel, can you guide me back to our room?

{Notice: It's possible!}

And like that Connor made his way back to his room.

Knock...Knock!

"Can I enter?" Connor asked.

"Well of course!" Alice replied from behind the door.

As he entered the room he found the girls have changed up.

Alice is wearing what looks like a brown tracksuit but it's made of leather and has a lot of belts on it.

Alva is wearing something similar to Alice, except that her large goods look as if they are squeezed to the limit.

"Isn't that outfit too small for you?" Connor asked Alva.

"Alva fight fast, so she needs something tight to hold her chest in place

Lydia is wearing what looks like plate armor except that the plates are made of wood.

"So what are those?" Connor asked with interest.

"Training outfit, be borrowed from the guards!" Alice told Connor.

"So where's mine? I'm supposed to train with you right?"

"It's right there (pointing at a wooden box beside the bed), Meet us in the training ground behind the mansion when you finish," Alice said.

The girls headed out first.

Connor opened the box to find an outfit similar to Alice's one, just a little bit bigger.

A few minutes later Connor finished changing and headed to the training ground.

-Connor-sama are you ready? Alva and Lydia are going to have a duel, I'm sure you will want to see it!- a message from Alice came.

-Ok, I'm coming!- Connor replied.

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On the training ground, a lot of soldiers had made a circle around two women.

One of the women is a redhead beauty with a large chest, she is holding a wooden sword in her hand. The other one is a black-haired woman clad in heavy wooden armor holding a wooden mace in her hand or is it a club?.

Connor reached the scene and stood beside Alice.

"Who do you think will win?" Connor asked Alice clearly interested in the two.

"Lydia is strength and Alva is speed! Just two or three hits from Lydia are enough to take Alva down but hitting her is a problem, on the other hand, Alva's attacks aren't strong enough to deal significant damage to Lydia but she can get more hits due to her speed!" Alice explained.

"So it's a battle of who will make more mistakes!" Connor concluded.

"That's right!"

Everyone in their place!

Ready!!!

START!!!

Just as the fight started Alva disappeared from where she was standing.

No, she did not disappear, those who weren't paying attention to her weren't able to follow her movement with their eyes.

A direct thrust from Alva is headed straight to the gap between the plates on Lydia's stomach.

Lydia slowly twisted her torso to the side, no the movement wasn't slow at all just comparing her with the speed of Alva's attack made it seem so.

[Rapier art: Thrust to slash] Alva used her skill to turn the missing thrust into a slash directed at Lydia's face without losing momentum.

[Shield art: Bone shield] Lydia tanked the hit with her forehead. She used her skill to lessen the impact on her skull. But even with that, a red mark showed on her forehead.

Lydia's wooden club is dropping from the heavens onto Alva's wide-open shoulder.

[Mace art: Heavy drop]

Alva instantly jumped backward to dodge that hit.

Everything happened in an instant, at the first glance it seemed that Alva was taking the lead with the first hit. But Alva doesn't think so.

(I spent more stamina than the damage dealt to her is worth, at this rate I won't have enough stamina to win!)

Lydia is not moving, unlike when she fought Connor she isn't standing still because she is giving Alva a handicap. She is standing still keeping her defense up! Alva is observing her waiting for an opening which is keeping Lydia on the edge.

The fight kept on for a while, neither of them making any significant progress.

(It's as if I'm poking an elephant with a needle! she isn't falling)

(Damn this fly of a woman! The best I did was grazing her!)

Alva charged one last time at Lydia.

Quickly moving from side to side to try and confuse Lydia.

Connor wasn't able to pull this trick on Lydia before but with Alva's speed and experience it was effective.

Lydia didn't risk trying to hit Alva as she did with Connor before, she knows that Alva will use that opportunity to counter.

With an unexpected roll, Alva got behind Lydia.

(Shit!) Lydia thought.

[Rapier art: Quadruple thrust]

Alva sent four thrusts at Lydia's back with a whistling sound.

Lydia tried to turn back to use her shield skill but she was hit on the side.

As Alva was watching Lydia fall from the pain in slow motion, she noticed that her hand that was holding the club was swinging at her with incredible force.

Lydia's Last and first surprise attack at Alva.

[Mace art: Canon throw]

The club crashed into Alva's belly, sending her rolling backward.

The fight ends in a tie, Lydia and Alva aren't able to fight due to exhaustion.

Alice and Connor rushed to heal them.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a training match, if they weren't using wooden weapons Lydia would be filled with holes like chess and Alva would have turned into minced meat with that last hit!" Connor asked Alice who was calm as if this is normal.

"They are usually like this when they fight, it's expected!" Alice answered.

"Fuck me!" Connor is astounded by this hot mess.

"In a real fight you would fight with your life on the line, training like this is better!" Lydia said.

"Just don't kill each other!" Connor told Lydia who is hardly standing.

"How is Alva?" Lydia asked.

"Still alive, thank you for your concern," Alva replied as she was laying on the ground being healed by Alice.

"I thought that you would at least throw up from that hit!" Lydia said.

"I lessen the hit by jumping backward just before the impact," Alva answered with a smug face.

Alice and Connor helped Alva and Lydia head to a place so they can rest.

The soldiers that were watching the fight continued the training while chatting about which of the two women were stronger and how the fight went.

Alice and Connor start sparring without any skills in the meantime. As the soldier saw them they thought of how disappointing their sparring is compared to Alva and Lydia.

The woman is throwing punches with her eyes closed, while her partner is laughing and trying to teach her.

Alice never fought directly, she was always assisting Alva and Lydia with healing magic, so now she always gets scared when she is about to get hit and crawls into a ball!

Connor is taking the lesson slowly trying to help Alice get over the fear of getting hit first.

Two armored men approached Alva and Lydia.

Wielding a greatsword on his back, the other one with a spear.

"Ladies do you have a moment?" they asked.

"Yeah! what did you want?" Lydia answered respectfully.

"It's kind of embarrassing to ask, but are you single?" one of them bashfully.

Another one!?!

Lydia is tired of getting hit on by men, this was a common occurrence in her life.

It didn't bother her much, instead, she found it a good thing to help her find a strong man as she desired.

But this time is different, she has already hit the jackpot and got the hero.

Alva also doesn't seem to care about them much, she's just not interested in men.

"Sorry but I already have a man? She is single though!" Lydia pointed at Alva next to her.

Alva turned toward Lydia with a surprised face.

Selling me you musclehead? Why don't you beat them as you usually do?

Of them turned toward Alva.

"What do you say, my lady? Would you mind giving me a chance with you?" The man asked Alva.

Being approached by a man like this creeped the hell out of Alva, she can hardly keep a fake smile.

"Sorry but I'm NOT interested in an equation at the time, can you please leave me alone?" Alva responds clearly, refusing the man's advances.

"Come on, isn't there any way for this to work?" The man is insisting.

Lydia wasn't left alone.

In the world of fighters, its survival is the strongest. a strong man can have multiple women falling for him, the reverse is also possible a strong woman can have multiple men behind her.

Those two men aren't taking the traditional way and settling the matter with a duel, that at least means that they are honorable and won't take advantage of us being exhausted.

"By the way, my lady, is your respected partner here? letting you alone in this state isn't nice from him!" The man with Lydia said to her.

"He is right there." Lydia pointed at Connor who was sparring with Alice.

The man's expression changed as he saw Connor.

Lydia noticed that. Oh shit, he is starting.

"I thought your partner would be someone worthy of you, but look at that wimp!"

"Watch your tongue!" Lydia said with a sharp tone.

"You're the one who needs to watch her tongue, wants to settle this with a duel. If I win I will take you!"

The other man also challenged Alva to a duel.

Lydia sighed, I take my thought back they are scums.

I can't beat him at my condition. Alva also isn't able to fight.

There is only one solution.

"I belong to Connor! if you want me you have to deal with him first!" Lydia answered.

"I also belong to Alice-sama, If you want me you have to ask her first!"

They both agreed.

"Call them then!" the men said.

"Connor-sama, can you come here for a second!"Lydia called Connor.

Connor came jogging to Lydia Alice following him.

"What's up bois? having a nice chat without me?" Connor said with a smile thinking that those are here just for a chat.

"Those two were hitting on us, we refused so they are trying to force us into a duel!" Lydia said.

Connor's happy smile turned into an empty look of anger.

The two men felt a terrifying bloodlust.

Its source wasn't Connor, it was the girl standing behind him.

Her usual happy face is nowhere to be found.

{Notice: Alice is about to snap!}

I know! me too!

"By any chance, did they do anything to you?" Alice asked.

"Not yet!" Alva replied.

"Are you alright, Lydia!" Connor asked.

"Yeah! but can I ask you to fight in my stead?" Lydia asked.

"I also want you to fight Alva's stead too, I will make sure she repays you later!" Alice said.

"No need for you to ask!" Connor stood in front of the two men.

"To the ring, both of you!" Connor challenged them to a 2 on 1 battle.