I never get tired of this town. It’s so vibrant and warm, unlike where I lived before. The people seemed nice and always had a smile on their faces.

The two knights toured me throughout the city, pointing out anything remotely interesting that might catch my attention.

“Prince Hansel,” Wallace had an idea. “How about we take little Leonard here to the armory first? I’m sure we can find something worthwhile for him,” oh, no.

“Excellent thinking, Wallace.”

“I’m not too fond of that idea, if I’m honest.” The two knights looked at me in confusion. “I have no way to pay you back. I’m poor!”

“Nonsense!” shouted the orange man. “It’s on me this time. You are our savior after all,” that again… “I’ll take no buts for an answer, young man!” Why the fixation in paying your debts?!

“I… if it’s something cheap…”

He didn’t hear me, though. We navigated the streets until we found a modest building. The drawing in the sign reflected a sword and an axe. We entered the shop and encountered an old woman, covered in wrinkles and scars where the skin showed. She was working on some ore, I believe, hammering it on the anvil.

I’ve never seen a smith in my life! I got excited like a child again. The woman noticed our presence and cleared the sweat in her forehead.

“Prince Hansel, Lord Castle. What an honor.”

“I have told you before, Anne. You needn't be so formal with us,” said Hansel.

“Old habits are difficult to deal with, my prince. How can I help you today?”

“We have a friend with us, and we’d like to buy some armor and a weapon for him,” Hansel took me by my shoulder and introduced me to the woman. “This is Leonard Sica. Leo, she is Anne Delacôte, one of the best five smiths in our queendom.”

“I-I’m honored to meet you, Lady Anne,” I said out of impression.

“What was that greeting?” Anne laughed. “Call me just Anne, Leo. So? Let’s get down to business. I know you all are busy men,” not really, but ok. “Let’s start with the weapons.”

I briefly explained to Anne how I’d like to fight. Since I have Hermes and can’t use any offensive spells, perhaps I should use some ranged weapons. I haven’t had a bow or a sword in my hand in my entire life, but I think it’s better to start off with a bow. Hermes can be my close-combat ace.

Anne was a really kind and gentle woman. I felt a warmth coming out of her every word. She showed me three skilled crafted bows. One with golden details, the other sturdy and wild, the last one with crimson gems carved in it. All of them seemed quite expensive, and I looked at Wallace with worry in my eyes.

“No buts, Leo.”

I sighed, resigned, and took the golden bow. It was compatible with magic, so I think it might be the most useful to me or so I thought. As I tried to hold the beautiful weapon, a painful energy surrounded my hand, making me screech and step back from it.

“Are you ok, Leo? What happened?”

Oh, this is just perfect! In other words, I’m unable to do any type of harm…

“Well… It seems my talent prevents me from using any weapon…”

“... Any? Not even a staff?” asked Hansel.

We tried with one nearby, too simple compared with the bows. Just what I expected, my hand started aching as I showed my intention to hold it. This is somewhat frustrating – I’m forced to rely on Hermes even more.

“This is the first time I heard something like this,” Anne was rather surprised. Can’t blame her.

“I apologize. I should have seen that one coming. We can get some armor instead.”

“Don’t sweat it, Leo. I’ll prepare some good armor for your current level.”

Anne took some time, but she managed to gather some armor from the backstore. I noticed how this armor had stats with it. Taking this into consideration, I tried some on.

The first one was... quite heavy. I could barely breathe in it. It had some pretty cool defensive stats, but I can't carry this into battle and be a punching bag. Hermes barked strangely from above the store. Is he laughing at me? I got a little frustrated and intended to rip off the whole clothing, but the weight was just too much for me. I fell to the ground, crushing anything behind me and alerting the people outside the fitting room.

“Do you need help there, Leo?” I heard Hansel's voice… This is so embarrassing.

“I… I might.”

Hansel entered the room and saw me on the ground with a silly smile on his face.

“Isn’t it you size?”

“Please stop the teasing and help me. It’s getting difficult to breathe.”

He laughed, but lent a hand right away. Took away the heavy armor with ease, just as a soldier should do. Before I knew it, I was on my knees, holding just a robe onto my chest to hide the crest engraved on me. Up close, I could almost taste his breath, and his inquisitive eyes lurked my naked skin. Suddenly, I felt extremely nervous, had a lot of trouble thinking straight… thinking clearly.

“You sure have a pretty well-cared skin for a soldier,” said as he touched near my nape gently.

“P-P-P-P-Prince, please stop. I-I-I-It kinda tickles.”

“Oh, I apologize. Since you need my help no more, I’ll leave you to try the remaining armor.”

Hansel is a really handsome fellow. I know he’s popular, no doubt that the ladies love him. It made me rather nervous being half naked with him. He was acting quite normal, though – out of curiosity, so…

In any case, I felt kind of bad to shoosh him out of the fitting room. I didn’t want him to see the crest. Need to keep a low profile, even with the people that have been so kind to me.