"Putting that aside, I have heard that Jean is having a hard time making his spies obtain any new intel in the enemy's territory," Edward said. "After suffering such a crush defeat, they must have grown cautious. I also heard that his spies in other states have noticed that others are attacking the beast tamers and the barbarians in earnest now. Things are getting intense in another sense."
"Well, this is the best moment to do that," Billy said. "So, they will be busy for a while since their other enemies also heard of their crushing defeat. Nevertheless, it bothers me the fact that we never saw the commanders of the beast tamers or of the barbarians on the field of battle."
After how easily they defeated and made the barbarians their allies and also considering their powers to manipulate monsters, anyone with a brain would be wary of exposing their commanders to the beast tamers. Aside from that kind of ability, they weren't extraordinarily foes. Not to mention, a lot of the beast tamers were killed in the last war, and their whips were confiscated by Jean and his people. Speaking of which, Billy had studied how the whip worked, and it seemed that some mana was sent to the target when the wound was opened. Aside from that, he didn't know much, but he wanted to try some experiments later.
"What are your plans after the ceremonies?" Edward asked.
"Natalie and Kate still are going to work as instructors, and since Aura will send some of her people to learn from them as well, we will return home and then spend one or two months there," Billy replied. "After that, we will move west to work on strengthening the defenses there. With those numbers, we should be able to make a lot, and the students will make themselves useful while they learn magic."
"I suppose that is for the best," Edward said and nodded. "We will have the upper hand the next time, but we will probably strike first even without the defenses. By the way, I have something for you."
It wasn't consumary for the people involved to share gifts before the ceremonies. Still, then when Billy saw the green armor that Edward took out from a box, he understood that it wasn't a gift due to the situation. Or maybe it was… Billy thought that after using Appraisal on the skill.
"I found this a long time ago in some ruins. While it is a bit old, it doesn't have any signs of rust in any part of the armor," Gerald said. "Even when it sustains damage, it repairs itself after a while. The only problem is the other effect that this has. When you are close to those you deem allies, and they suffer damage, you suffer the damage in their place. Use it to protect those two."
Guardian's Mail
Endurance + 50, HP + 100
Self Repair Lv 05: it restores one point of durability per hour.
Guardian's Aura Lv Lv 05: it grants you the power to protect up to five allies taking the damage in their place. You can change the targets at any moment.
Durability: 100/100
It was a pretty good armor, and while Billy had made some, he never made anyone outstanding enough to make him give up on some mobility to wear it. Still, that one was good enough for that. Moreover, those effects had been added to the skill shop, and Self Repair only cost one hundred points. While it could only restore one point of durability every five hours, it was good enough. Billy could make a fortune by selling items with that function.
"Thanks, I will make good use of it," Billy said.
"At first, I thought that it was a cursed item. Even those with high endurance couldn't wear it without getting incredibly hurt during fights," Gerald said. "But after seeing how fine you looked after the war, I believe you will be fine."
That was because Billy focused on long-ranged attacks… Still, that function will come in handy to protect allies that were about to be killed. However, Billy had to learn how to use healing spells to work perfectly on his hands.
Those people further east could use it, but it was hard to tell if they would be willing to spread the knowledge. Still, Billy just needed to see them using once, and then the skill would be added to the shop. That being said, learning by himself would be more fun.
In any case, the talk was done, so Billy went home. Over the course of the next few days, the guests that Billy had invited showed up, and he and his friends worked as tourist guides to them. There wasn't much to see, but people like Gerald, Gustav, and Marie found it interesting to find the ruins of the former villages of the tribes and the desert that the elementalists used once.
Speaking of guests, Billy forgot to invite Louise and Henri. Still, Kate did that for him upon noticing that he had forgotten it. Even though they were commercial partners and he once helped her, it was hard to say if they were friends. She was too serious of a person, after all, and did her best to help Billy with all the things he asked. Out of gratitude for that incident.
In any case, while Billy stayed calm in the beginning. He started to get nervous as the days passed. Marriage was something that he had never experienced in his past life since he died too young. Not to mention, he was going to marry two, one after the other.. One was a tall and pretty woman who would put the top models of the previous world to feel jealous with her figure, and a big bobbed and sexy blond. His luck was seriously good… Even though he always treated them like children and never considered marrying them two years ago…
