While Acshellis checked his desk, Jin opened his inventory outfits and found his last set gear. Equipping it, he didn’t feel much different. He’d been going for the whole Darkened Warrior tier set, but had been unlucky as the chest had dropped twice and the pants three times. He hadn’t managed to get the belt and shoulders. Closing his inventory, he looked down at himself. The Darkened Warrior tier had a black plate mail base, with gold stitching, and red fingers for the gloves. Flexing his fingers, the armour felt light. Original him wouldn’t have been able to lift the chest plate, let alone equip the set and have a hope of moving.

Glancing up as he continued to examine himself, his husband sighed

“Lovely Baby, that’s so unfair”

Jin didn’t know what was unfair. He’d worked hard on his armour

“What is?”

“You have no idea how attractive you are”

If the world bosses didn’t kill him, his husband’s flirting would

“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t check what it looks like on before”

“You haven’t seen yourself?”

Jin shook his head

“I haven’t had time. I haven’t found a mirror yet”

“You should have told me. Here, look how magnificent you are”

Acshellis waved his hand, a mirror crammed against one of the bookcases manoeuvring across the room and stopping in front of him. It had to be a magical item as he could see himself clearly.

It was whiplash. Ordinary Jin was nothing like the man looking back at him with ice blue eyes. Even being half Australian, the only real difference was skin was a little lighter and he had both his mother’s eye shape and nose… oh, and her height. They’d both topped out at 177cms. Not like his miner.

Smooth tanned skin. Muscles to make a bodybuilder jealous. Short black hair. Blue blue eyes. His armour seemed tailored to him and he looked like he’d just stepped right out the pages of a manga. He was massive. Each thigh was as wide as two twig legs had been together. His kind of character would either be some kind of mercenary, or used as a gentle giant. It was such a shame his belt and shoulders were green and red.

“I told you, my Lovely Baby is the loveliest”

“I didn’t know I looked like this”

“You’re to sexy like this. Everyone will fall for you”

Jin cast his mind back to the NPC slimer from the caravan. He’d been acting so meekly… Wait. It was okay. He had looked all meek and timid. Damn, he wouldn’t be able to pull that again.

In an instant, Acshellis was in front of him, looking none too happy. Startled, Jin automatically stepped back

“Who are you thinking about?”

“Huh?”

“I can tell you were thinking of someone. Who is it?”

He knew his husband had a temper and he might not be allowed out of Acshellis’s office if he didn’t lie 

“I was thinking that it’s crazy I look like this and about what I used to look like. So you could say I was thinking about me”

“Not me?”

Jin shook his head

“No. You’re so fucking hot that I was concerned about myself. With your red hair and your red robes, you look like royalty”

His husband’s frown deepened

“Don’t lump me with that useless trash. Those rich bastards have never worked a day in their lives”

Oops. Bringing his arms up, Jin took Acshellis by the waist

“Shelli, where I’m from that’s a compliment. What’s the most sincere compliment here?”

“That you were blessed by the dragon gods… I don’t like it either”

“What compliment do you like? I can tell you you’re handsome and very very sexy, but that’s a bit long”

“And stating the obvious. I’ll be happy as long as Lovely Baby tells me he loves me”

“I can just say I love you. That would be like, I love your hair I love you. It doesn’t make much sense”

Acshellis seemed to think, the nodded

“Just call me handsome”

“It doesn’t feel a big enough word”

“It is to me. Stay still for a moment and wait here”

Jin let his husband go, Acshellis walking over to examine his bookcases before taking a book out. He then headed to his desk and rummaged around before bring back the book, plus a feather and ink well

“You wanted a book to write things down. You plan to keep a log, don’t you?”

His handsome husband was so smart

“Yeah. I want to keep track of all things I’ve learned, and how long we’ve been here. I just don’t know how I’m going to keep the little idiots from finding out”

“I’ll get you a secrecy spell slip. You’ll only need to paste it on the inside cover and no one other than you will be able to read it”

Magic was truly amazing. Jin took his backpack off and placed the items in

“Thank you. We’ve totally been jumping all over the place with the order I planned to do things in. Did you find some work you want to do?”

“I don’t want to work”

Feeling that his armour was in danger of ending up on the floor, Jin faked a laugh

“You can’t say that. You said you’d take me to practice with my sword”

“Alas, I did indeed. I don’t want to go after this scholar”

“Send us. My party…”

“No, it’s in a deep deep dungeon. The Mirror Swamp will be too dangerous”

“He wandered in there?”

“He planned to draw the landscape”

Jin knew where his husband meant. The swamp caused a player debuff where they were weakened and gradually surrounded with copies of themselves that made it hard to leave. There was an old church ruin there said to be cursed. It probably wasn’t the best place to learn how to use his sword

“Let me think about it. I think I’ll have a month or so then be kicked from group. I want to take them on a raid and really test them out. We don’t need 10 people when I have you by my side”

His husband tried not to look too pleased about his words, crossing his arms, Acshellis would have pulled it off if he wasn’t smiling

“You want to risk your life for some scholar?”

“Before I came through I was a scholar too. If we’re not going there tonight, then where are we going?”

“Why don’t I take you through the dungeon your little idiots did so badly in? They saw it, but they never had my full attention. The most I did was send back that awful rogue when his health was low. He came back in to. I didn’t think he had the guts”

So Haruto hadn’t died… now testing death was back on his list. Jin grateful that they hadn’t had their first death so fast

“You’re amazing. Alright, but I think I’m too powerful for there”

“You’ll be able to test that sword. I’ll stand by and help when you need. It should only take an hour, we can stop by and deal with my thing after”

“As long as we do some of your work. Like I said, I don’t want to hold you back”

“You won’t. With you I’ll be even more determined. You should leave them and stay by my side at all times”

“Soon. Once we know my limits I won’t need them. Can we go? Are we walking?”

“Of course not. You seem to find mounts novel, and I will introduce you to my most trusted”

Taken outside the Mage’s Tower to the stable, Acshellis led Jin towards the end of the row. With his husband’s magic, Jin had thought he’d summon one, not lead him to a mount that already existed as an NPC. Proudly he gestured to the behemoth of a horse stabled there

“This is Ettie. She comes from the North. She is my second favourite mount”

With fangs, two horns between her ears, and a pitch black coat, Jin packed himself at the size of her. Poking her head over the gate, the mare lovingly bunted into his husband’s shoulder

“Calm now, Ettie. This is my most beloved. Jin, don’t be afraid. She’s a gentle as she can be”

Her hooves were the size of Jin’s head and there Acshellis was telling him not to be afraid. Snorting, the mare hooved at the ground, her black eyes seemed to be glaring at him

“See, she likes you already. She has been my trusted companion since I graduated the Mage Academy. If something were to happen, she will always carry you back to safety, won’t you, my Ettie. Out the way, I’ll let her out. She’s strong enough to carry three grown men and not break a sweat. I don’t normally get to let her out”

Jin was convinced Ettie disliked him. Moving out the way, Acshellis opened the gate, allowing the mare free. She was even more imposing once she was out. The dip of her back was in line with top of Jin’s head… He really didn’t want to get on the back of her…

“You said she’s your second favourite mount? Which one is your favourite?”

Acshellis laughed as Ettie rubbed against him

“You, obviously. If I could stable you, I would”

If Ettie wasn’t watching, he’d have smacked Acshellis for calling him a mount

“Thanks. Just. Thanks”

“It’s a compliment. You fit like a glove”

His husband was only making Ettie more appealing. Somehow he felt that the mare understood everything Acshellis was saying and he didn’t like it. Crossing his arms, Jin gave a shake of his head

“Stop. I’ll go back to the others if you keep this up. I can’t get over her size”

“She’s got to be to be able to handle the frost golems. Let me help you up, oh, right! I nearly forgot, my Lovely Baby needs a baby seat”

Running his hand over Ettie’s face, a set of reins appeared, silver in colour with sparks of magic dancing from his husband’s hand and down Ettie’s back where a huge red saddle appeared. When he’d been in Australia his mother had insisted on showing him where she’d grown up. Horses and farm land soon lost their novelty… so maybe Ettie knew deep down he wasn’t that keen…

“There we go, alright, let’s get you up on her back”

With a boost from his husband, Jin made it easily onto Ettie’s back. Acshellis didn’t need any help to get his boot into the stirrup then up behind him. Taking the reins up, Acshellis placed them in Jin’s hands, then placed his own hands lightly around them

“She’s not keen on the bit, but she’ll take it for me. Give a little nudge with your heels”

“Shouldn’t you be the one controlling her?”

“No one controls Ettie. She’s lovely like that”

“…”

That… That didn’t help. The only people who rode mounts in the city were the ceremonial guards for events or the merchants. Jin supposed that his husband was an exception to the rule. Squeezing his hands lightly, his husband flicked the reins

“Let’s go, Lovely Baby. We need to get you back on time. I’m so glad you can ride Ettie”

Tapping his heels, as he’d already forgotten his husband had just flicked the reins, Ettie turned her head to look at him, Jin stammering under her unnerving gaze

“Don’t be mad at me, he said so”

Acshellis laughed

“See, you two are best friends. Walk on, Ettie. We’ll give you headway out the gates”