While I was giving Alice a brief scolding, the conversation between Laguna-san and Falce-san seemed to have concluded as well. They approached us together.
"Anyway, you are not to wander about alone during this Six Kings Festival. Whenever you do go out, I'm sending my subordinates to escort you."
"That's perfectly fine. In fact, if you hadn't invited me, I wouldn't have stepped a single foot outside my room. I can produce everything necessary for life—food included—all by myself. On that note, prepare a research lab with a vegetable garden for me immediately."
"We don't have one! Not here, we don't!!"
"What...? Well then, what should I do with the idea currently in my head? I've just perfected the magic formula for magic to grow only the big toe's toenail..."
"No, keep that buried in your head for the rest of your life. The world has no use for it..."
So, the talk was over, then? Laguna-san hadn't just dragged her over here because she'd grown tired of dealing with her alone, had she? If possible, I really wanted her to just take Falce-san away as she was.
As these thoughts crossed my mind, Falce-san arrived at our side. She suddenly shifted her gaze toward Noin-san, resting a hand on her chin as she muttered to herself.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask... why is Noin in that armor? You aren't on security duty, are you? According to what I heard from Miyama Kaito-kun, aren't you supposed to be accompanying him and the Former Demon King, Current Town Doctor, Fia-dono—or 'Former Fia-dono' for short?"
"That abbreviation sounds malicious! Could you please stop!?"
"...Fia, I understand your feelings, but it's probably a lost cause. As for me, I'm wearing this armor to hide my identity."
"...Hmm, why choose such an inefficient method?"
"Pardon?"
Falce-san tilted her head in genuine confusion at Noin-san's reply.
"If you want to hide who you are, wouldn't it be faster to just dye your hair or change your style? The only information about you that survives is that bronze statue in the Friendly City Hikari, and you can't see the finer details of a face on something like that. If you changed your hair color or hairstyle, most people wouldn't even realize it's you, right?"
"...N-Now that you mention it... that's a very good point..."
She had suddenly dropped a massive dose of common sense on us. It was true—the First Hero was legendary for her black hair, so if she just dyed it, I doubted anyone would recognize her.
"Well, let's go with that. Dispel... and one more thing..."
"Wait—!?"
Acting as if the conclusion was already settled, Falce-san manifested a magic circle in her hand and wiped away Noin-san's full-plate armor. Surprisingly, the version of Noin-san that appeared from beneath was not wearing a kimono.
She wore a crisp white shirt that gave off a clean, elegant impression and a black long skirt. It was a feminine outfit that blended cuteness with a bit of a cool edge—exactly the kind of style Aoi-chan would probably like.
But even more than that, there was a startling change to her physical appearance.
"Oh? Did you return your hair to its old length? Good. I think that suits you much better, after all. Still, being fashionable under a suit of armor is quite pointless, isn't it? Or is it a matter of paying attention to the parts that can't be seen? Goodness, I really don't understand fashion."
"N-No, Falce!? What are you doing...? Like this, I'll—"
"Ah, there's no problem on that front. I believe I have a mirror in my Magic Box... Ah, here it is. Look, see for yourself."
"...Eh? Wait. My hair and eyes..."
Indeed, Noin-san, who was supposed to have black hair and black eyes, now had hair the color of cherry blossoms and bright purple eyes. She looked like a completely different person at a glance. Changing hair color really did transform a person's entire aura.
"Yes, this is the magic I developed to change hair and eye color. Creatures with sight gain a tremendous amount of information from color alone. If you have bright hair, you'll naturally look more cheerful, won't you? Altering colors is quite an excellent means of disguise."
"U-Um... how do I look, Kaito-san? Is it... strange?"
"No, it definitely feels like your whole look has changed, but... I think bright colors suit you well, Noin-san."
"Th-Thank you very much."
Noin-san, now with cherry-blossom hair, seemed to look a little younger than usual, which only added to her cuteness. It might have been a bit rude to be surprised, but since her original features were so beautiful, I had a feeling she could pull off blonde hair or just about anything else as well.
"...Falce, you. I see you occasionally develop a useful magic after all. I've gained a bit of respect for you."
"Hmm, I'm not sure how to feel about that evaluation. This magic was originally developed for 'clothing decoration.' I thought I could make myself look fashionable even if I only wore the same robes every day. I may be a shut-in, but I haven't quite given up on being a woman yet, so I wanted to pay at least some attention to my appearance. However, the idea of setting aside my research just to go buy clothes never appealed to me. I have mountains of robes... so I used a bit of lateral thinking to decorate the robes I already had instead. It took five years to develop."
"...I-Is that so? Mind if I take back that respect?"
"But in reality, the magic I finished... consumes a vast amount of magic power, can only apply one color per cast, and the effect wears off in about twenty-four hours. A solid-colored robe ended up looking quite fake, in a sense. I never found a use for it, but I'm glad the opportunity finally arose. Honestly, if you're going to use such a complex, high-cost spell just to change hair color, you're much better off just using actual dye. Still, it works for a temporary disguise, so I'll give it a passing grade."
"W-Well, it certainly helped me, so... thank you."
In other words, she created a magic to modify her clothes because she was too lazy to go shopping? I couldn't help but feel like her effort was being poured into the wrong direction entirely.
Still, thanks to that magic, Noin-san was finally able to walk around without her armor. Since I preferred it that way too... I suppose it was fine.
Dear Mother, Father—Noin-san was planning to go around in full armor as usual, but thanks to a strange spell Falce-san developed, she can now walk around with her face shown. I'm not exactly an expert on magic, so I'm not sure if this is a silly question, but—wouldn't recognition inhibition magic have been enough?
"Serious-senpai! The Sugar Warning is starting to go off!"
Land-battle Type Serious-senpai: "Right!"
Wyvern-senpai: "...Are you really going?"
Baby Castella-senpai: "...Don't die out there."
Land-battle Type Serious-senpai: "It's nothing special... this is just my daily life."