Chapter 11: A True Prince.
The following morning, actually right at dawn, Rose, who had never been able to sleep with someone watching him, simply had to wake up when the feeling of being watched became too uncomfortable.
As soon as he opened his eyes and turned his head, he was met squarely with a pair of beautiful purple eyes observing him with total attention.
"Mister Rose, are you awake?" Mina asked, surprised that he had actually woken up right after she started looking at him.
"This is too much for this," Rose complained, sitting up in bed. When he finally became aware of his surroundings, he noticed that Mina was dressed like... "Why are you wearing a maid outfit?" he asked, completely confused.
She wore a pretty and very flattering French maid dress, complete with stockings and a headpiece, which highlighted her natural beauty and fit her surprisingly perfectly.
[I swear to God, if you leave this kingdom a virgin, I'll throw you into the Elysian Fields so the nymphs can fuck you until dawn!] Desmos exclaimed. Damn it, he wanted his friend to have a girlfriend and children; after all, it had happened to Hades, it had happened to Qin, and it would happen to Rose. Eventually, they would stop fighting and Desmos would need another little killing machine to enjoy his bloodlust.
Rose ignored the comment about the genocidal spear and fixed his gaze on Mina's eyes until she noticeably blushed.
"I'll be your bodyguard," Mina said, visibly uncomfortable. "To avoid drawing attention to myself and my abilities, I put on the clothes that would stand out the least." She preferred her usual outfit, which allowed for much easier movement, but she took her job too seriously.
"There are two things here that draw my attention excessively," Rose commented, looking blatantly at Mina's cleavage.
Although the previous leather suit was more revealing, being casual clothes it was easy to overlook her feminine attributes. On the other hand, the maid outfit she was wearing now, well, let's just say it highlighted the right parts and made it impossible to look away.
"I guess this will also serve to attract the attention of thieves and others to me," Mina commented, with an obvious blush.
Although attracting attention had not been her main intention at all, the fact that even Rose—who never showed interest in her body while she was wearing her leather armor—was now clearly attracted to her feminine attributes, indicated to her that a simple thief would melt upon seeing her.
Rose could only shake his head at that declaration; he really didn't need to give in to his Greek impulses right now.
"Yes... it suits you, but I'll need to make some adjustments. Back home, my father has the Pleiades, who are warrior maidens with reinforced dresses. I highly doubt that kind of clothing exists here," Rose explained, with that strange gold and red tint on his cheeks once again.
"There aren't any," I confirmed. On the Badlands continent, the only available armor was leather, or none. She had heard that the wealthiest nobles equipped their armies with iron or even steel, but even if Rose had the funds, there was no time to manufacture them. Besides, as far as the young woman knew, there were no blacksmiths in the town either.
"Do you have any weapon preferences?" he asked again, observing Mina's body. Given her physique, concealed weapons in her shoes would certainly suit her well, and although it had nothing to do with it, she had pretty legs.
"I'm good with daggers," Mina said, staring into Rose's eyes. She felt a growing embarrassment at the way he was observing her, although deep down, she liked that he found her attractive. After all, a prince could have any woman he desired and wouldn't have to notice someone like her. However, confirming that he was attracted to her, even if only for her physical appearance, turned out to be a great boost to her self-esteem.
"Alright, I'm sure I took some when I went home to stock up. Now, please leave. I need to change," said Rose, who definitely didn't want the girl to see him naked; he was already embarrassed enough to force that on her.
"Yes... yes, sir," Mina replied, her face lighting up even more as she imagined the young man completely naked in front of her. After this, she simply left the room, feeling the need to submerge her head in cold water.
"Officially, this morning started strangely," Rose said dryly, as Desmos nodded without hesitation. Except for Mina's outfit, the whole experience had been awkward and weird.
Nevertheless, he simply decided it was time to get dressed. Without hesitation, he quickly grabbed one of his usual empire suits and put it on. It was nothing special: black pants, a white shirt, and an open blood-red trench coat. Although it was completely cumbersome for fighting, he honestly liked the style it gave him too much to care.
His attire was certainly not typical of a noble. However, the empire had changed. These lands were now officially part of the Rising Sun, and he felt absolutely no need to pretend to be a local noble.
As soon as he was dressed, he looked in the mirror. He needed a haircut, which wasn't strange after six months without being able to style it the way he liked. In contrast, his facial hair was still short, barely having grown, so shaving was not yet necessary.
As soon as he opened the door and left the room, he saw that Mina had returned.
"I'm going to buy you bras," he said, desperately hitting the floor, which caused his clothes to dry.
"Damn it, does this girl have no shame?" he thought. He could clearly see her nipples, as the clothes had become transparent.
"Are you a wizard?" Mina asked, completely astonished by the unusualness of the situation.
"Actually, I'm a demigod," Rose replied with total naturalness. There was no reason to hide his identity; after all, his father would move heaven and earth... literally... if anything happened to him.
"What's the difference?" Mina asked, not understanding. In her simple mind, both a demigod and a wizard possessed magical powers.
"It's too complex to explain," Rose said, reluctant to give details. After all, they were so damn different from each other that listing all the disparities would take years.
"Whatever, here... the best Nordic smithing the Empire can offer," Rose said. As he said it, he took a small box engraved with Nordic runes from his pocket dimension.
Normally, an ordinary person would hide their inventory skills. However, in Desmos's opinion, Rose was too lazy to even try to hide his heritage and his powers. Besides, he was a terrible liar, which was ironic considering he possessed a naturally expressionless face, to the point that most people thought he had no soul.
"It's very... light," Mina commented while trying out the dagger.
It was quite strange, to be honest, and it glowed with an unnatural blue light.
"If there's one thing the Nordics are good at, it's making weapons," Rose said simply. "Greeks, Macedonians, Chinese, or even Sumerians, no one surpasses the dwarves of Nidavellir in weapon forging."
[I still don't understand why they call them dwarves; those guys are almost twenty-five feet tall] Desmos complained. That is, in his view of the world, a dwarf was just that, a dwarf, not a damn giant who made normal people look like dwarves.
"Don't question their culture, as they don't question ours," Rose scolded him. He didn't understand it either, but he honestly didn't care too much.
[They certainly do! They call incestuous people Greeks] Desmos shouted, although Rose couldn't help but think that, deep down, they weren't wrong.
"It's very sharp," Mina said, testing the edge with her fingers. It was so incredibly sharp that she didn't doubt that resharpening it would be a nightmare. However, she couldn't deny its quality; even the best knives she had stolen from nobles were not as sharp, light, or even as elaborate as this dagger.
"Don't play with that, you'll take someone's eye out," Rose warned upon seeing the manic gleam in the young woman's eyes. He would get her a training dummy later; for now, he didn't want to be near a girl with a new toy.
Pouting at being denied the opportunity to use her new weapon, Mina simply followed the young man to the study. Once there, he immediately took out another scroll of parchment and handed it to her.
"This is your employment contract," he told her.
[Does she even know how to read?] Desmos asked himself. After all, although the girl was pretty, she didn't seem like the type of person who knew how to read. Especially not after she herself told them that this continent was so stupidly messed up that it was a miracle it hadn't turned into total anarchy.
"I don't know how to read," Mina admitted shyly.
The great winter had begun shortly before her birth, and her mother had prioritized teaching her to survive over learning to read.
End of chapter.