"Oh? A favor? After I’ve been working myself to the bone for you, and I finally get a second to breathe and hop in the bath, you show up with a request?"
"No, well, yeah... if it's too much, just forget it. I just wanted to see if you'd listen..."
It was evening, and the sun had already begun to set by the time Yugo arrived at Anhel’s workshop, just barely beating the dormitory curfew. He stood there stammering, feeling thoroughly rebuked by her judgmental, half-lidded stare.
He had to admit he’d been offloading way too much tedious work onto her recently. Beside him, Anhel averted her eyes and muttered something under her breath.
"Honestly... if Fee hadn't messaged me ahead of time, I would’ve ended up meeting you without having bathed for days! Show a little consideration for my feelings, you moron...!"
"Ah... looks like this was a bad idea after all. I’ll head back for today. Sorry for being so pushy—"
"It’ll irritate me even more if you just leave quietly after all that! I have things to talk to you about too, so don't you dare go anywhere yet!"
Otherwise, the fact that she had rushed through her bath like a madwoman would make her look like a complete fool. Grumbling internally, Anhel invited Yugo into her workshop.
As Yugo entered, feeling appropriately guilty, she handed him a stack of documents covered in technical details.
"What's this...?"
"A Blaster Modification Plan using Dragon Material. I’ve been researching it non-stop lately."
Yugo didn’t understand most of the jargon, but he could at least grasp that the plans focused on improving the Flame Armor and the Purple Flame Armor.
Giving him a look that commanded him to hand over the Blaster, Anhel let out a heavy sigh.
"Because some idiot uses Magic Items with a total disregard for the strain on his own body, it’s a massive headache for the person in charge of maintenance. Seriously, if you were planning to use a trump card like the Purple Flame Armor, you should have told me first."
"S-Sorry... I was planning to talk to you once I had it a bit more polished."
"With things like that, you talk to the engineer first! You only try it once you know whether it’s actually safe! If you pull a stunt like that again, I will warp Fee's fetishes so badly he'll never recover, you hear me?!"
Anhel punctuated her threat by leaning forward, her ample chest swaying beneath her coveralls. It was, for Yugo, a threat of the most terrifying caliber.
When Yugo nodded frantically in agreement, she let out another sigh and continued.
"...Regarding the upgrades, the Dragon Material we got this time is going to be incredibly useful. By using the material with resistance to all elements on the inside of the suit, we can almost entirely block the heat from the Blaster before it reaches your skin. From there, we can use the Water and Wind Dragon Materials to handle cooling and heat dissipation. The data suggests we can actually mitigate the heat from the Purple Flame Armor, though there will still be some restrictions."
"Whoa! That’s incredible! As expected of Ann—!"
Yugo was genuinely surprised and delighted. The idea that the lethal heat of the Purple Flame Armor could be reduced was a massive breakthrough. However, he went silent mid-sentence as she suddenly leaned her weight against him.
Wrapping her arms tightly around his back, Anhel spoke with a voice tinged with frustration.
"But... don't you dare be reckless. I know stopping you might be a lost cause, but don't ever do something that throws your life away like that again. If you can't promise me that, I’m done looking after your gear. If the man I’m in love with dies because of a Magic Item I maintained, I’ll be scarred for life...!"
"Ann..."
She had warned him before when he used the Flame Armor, but this time, her words were heavy with an even deeper level of emotion.
From the incident that caused his reincarnation to his current life, Yugo realized his greatest flaw was how he lost sight of the value of his own life at critical moments. He felt a wave of regret as he offered a vow to the woman clinging to him.
"...I'm sorry. I'll be more careful this time, for real. I’ll consult you before I try any New Forms, and I’ll stop being so reckless. Ann, I’m really sorry."
"I know you'll probably still go overboard when the chips are down. But just remember that there’s a woman who feels like crying every time you almost die."
Anhel drove the point home, making effective use of a woman’s greatest weapon: her vulnerability.
Accepting that her point was entirely fair, Yugo listened as she finished up.
"I’ll have the Blaster Modification finished in a few days. That’s all I had to say. Now it’s your turn. I’ll listen to your request, but only while you’re holding me."
"O-Oh..."
Yugo found himself flustered as Anhel remained leaned against him—in fact, she was shifting even more of her weight onto him now.
Despite the distracting sensation of her soft curves pressed firmly against his chest, he cleared his throat to regain his composure. He then began to explain Jinba’s request to her.
"Hmm? A folding crossbow, huh...? That brings back memories."
"Jinba-san said he wanted to get it maintained. Can you do it?"
"I mean, I can, but is he actually planning to use this in a real fight?"
"From the way you're asking, is there something wrong with it?"
"Well, it's not that it's broken, but... compared to Melt's Sword Ring, it’s severely lacking in power, range, rate of fire, versatility, and even response time."
"Seriously...?"
Yugo looked taken aback by her blunt dismissal.
Seeing his reaction, Anhel finally released her hold on him. She took the Magic Item from his hands and began to point out the specific mechanical flaws of the folding crossbow.