The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

Iris was lying on the lush green grass, looking at a fake sky where insanely real-looking clouds were chasing each other. She heard the giggles of other girls, but she paid no attention to them. Luna, Dahlia, Rose, and Lilly were laughing, listening to a story told by Gloria. She heard someone sighing nearby and when she searched for its source, she saw Idna, also lying nearby.

"Hello, Miss Idna." She smiled.

"Hello, Miss Iris." Idna grinned and both of them started laughing.

They sat down, and Iris noticed that Idna was wearing a light dress. Iris was already wearing her heavy armour, made of incredible alloys that only a few blacksmiths in Avalon could work with. Her entire body was covered by the black and gold plates that folded and moved without hindering her moves in the slightest. Her armour was also highlighting her body features, which was a somewhat nice feeling. The gold finishes and details made of sapphire were just astonishing. Her helmet was still safely stored in her pocket dimension, waiting to be summoned. The runes of her armour were waiting for her to channel her mana and awaken them, multiplying Iris’s power. She put her hands on the hilts of her trusted swords and looked critically at Idna, who noticed her gaze.

"You think I should hop in my armour already?" she asked, and Iris shrugged.

"I think so. We are here to test Tulir's theory, after all. Not that I know who he is..." Iris frowned at the memory of the message she received from the Palace.

"I thought at least you would know the guy." Idna was very surprised at the revelation and stood up. "Captain Thiule and his company will also be arriving soon."

Iris looked with dreamy eyes at the entrance to the vast chamber and nodded slowly. Meanwhile, Idna started to clad herself in armour as well. A tight, black bodysuit, inlaid with healing runes, replaced her light dress. Iris was again surprised as she saw her tall armour boots, so similar to her own. She never inquired about Idna's class; she had just assumed that Idna sub-classed as a Mage or Ranger, which would have been obvious choices for a receptionist. However, Idna was putting on heavy armour. Her chest piece and pauldrons were a bit different from her own, making Idna's armour bulkier, yet Iris could see the same plate system that made her own armour so agile. A long, black tabard with the coat of arms of Avalon adorned Idna. Normally, Iris would say that the tabard ruined the beauty of the heavy plate, but not this time. The intricate embroidery with floral motifs was so breathtaking, Iris wanted one for herself.

"You are a Warrior, Miss Idna?" Iris smiled with delight since she felt a little lonely on the frontline, even with Dahlia always somewhere nearby.

"I am a Phoenix Knight- a Tank." Idna clarified with an apologising smile, summoning her shield.

"Eriar be blessed! A real tank!" Iris hugged the Nekomi, forgetting about the formalities for a moment.

"But I am not very experienced, so I hope you will forgive my shortcomings."

"It will be fine!"

"Also, I think we can skip the formalities, don't you think?" Idna smiled with happy sparks in her eyes. Despite her sister being a member of the famous Flower Girls party, Idna never had an opportunity to meet them in person before.

"Of course! It's always nice to meet new friends, right?" Iris giggled and suddenly took a deep breath, letting go of Idna. "It's him!"

Idna followed her gaze and saw Captain Thiule with his company and... She took a deep breath as well. She saw an insanely handsome human she had never seen before. Idna and Iris quickly joined the rest of the girls, who also looked at the newcomers in silence. Auburn was leading the men straight towards them while smiling at Dahlia. Idna felt her heart pounding like crazy, making her awkwardly nervous. Six out of the seven hot guys were wearing heavy armour, in which they looked like muscular giants, with the last of them wearing a long cloak with a deep hood that covered his face.

"Hello, dear Ladies!" Auburn smiled at them and lined up his, hopefully, friends. "Let me introduce you to my friends. This is Captain Thiule."

A tall blue-eyed, muscular Elf nervously bowed to them, causing a few strands of his long blonde hair to fall over his face. Idna, with surprise, noticed that the Captain was nervous as well. The introductions on both sides lasted for a while.

Re'kari was tall, well, every single one of them was tall, but Re'kari was the tallest of them all. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. He was a Phoenix Knight as well. He stopped breathing when he looked at Idna and she could swear she heard his heart pounding.

Hilvar was a muscular Human, clad in a mix of heavy and chainmail armour, which indicated he was a fencer. To be precise, he was an Arcane Fencer. His green eyes often looked elsewhere, as if he couldn't dare to look directly into the girls' eyes. His dark brown hair was cut simply, but it matched his short, elegant beard.

The one wearing the strange cloak was Tulir. He was an assassin in the service of Queen Luna herself, having been trained by Scion Sebastian. Tulir and Thiule looked like twins that had been separated during their childhood, but while Thuile was muscular, Tulir moved like a swift shadow. He wore his hair shorter than Elves do usually, but he had three thin braids on the right side of his head.

The tall and composed Wolfkin was called Sergeant Xavier. Although he had a handsome, human-like face, his iron-grey hair matched his tail. He desperately tried to keep his gaze at the girls high enough to remain a gentleman, but the way the grizzled Guardsman held his helmet ultimately betrayed how nervous he was.

The last one of them was Daniel, another Human, with fire-red hair and grass-green eyes. He was one of the first Paladins of Eriar and he wore the usual black and gold armour of Avalon, but instead of blue or sapphire finishes, his armour had green and emerald accents.

•••

I was watching the group of girls meet the boys from above the elevation provided by the observation tower. Near me, Amber, Irene and Luna were pointing at the quite amusing spectacle, and they actually started making bets about who was going to start dating who.

"I think Daniel and Gloria are the safest bet, since Auburn and Dahlia can't be bet on."

They laughed even harder at hearing my statement and came closer to me. They were wearing their impressive royal gowns, in which they looked so stunning and majestic that people could hardly take their eyes off them. This was also some strange effect of Avalon; people don't need much time to change physically. After they receive proper healing from one of many of Irene's subordinates, their nasty scars and other proof of their past harsh life were literally washed away like dirt from their hands. Even lost teeth regrew just as their eyesight was fixed. However, I had never seen anyone with a missing limb grow it back. In the cases of my wives, there was much more going on than a simple beauty resort effect, but I was not going to waste much time looking into the reasons. I was going to just accept them.

"I wonder if they are going to perform in any meaningful way since they are so distracted by each other." Amber laughed and leaned on my shoulder. "What do you think?"

"Haha, there is the only way to find out!" I laughed and gave the signal to Galahad.

•••

"Auburn?" Thuile almost hissed when they stepped away a fair distance from the girls.

Auburn walked a few steps in front of Thiule, whistling merrily, but the captain was not going to give up so easily. His sergeant followed him closely and Thiule, who knew this man for so long, easily could read the telltale signs of how embarrassed his friend-subordinate was.

"Auburn!"

"What?" He finally asked, looking over his shoulder right at Thiule with a mischievous smile.

"Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about how incredibly hot they are, you asshole?! I almost melted under their gaze!" The voices from behind the captain were full of approval, confirming the troubled captain’s suspicions that everyone felt the same. Feeling more confident, he quickly added. "I thought we were friends!"

"Hahaha!" Auburn just laughed at them and turned around with an even more mischievous smile than before. "First of all, you wouldn't have believed me, anyway. Secondly, they are all currently... Free."

Thiule stopped in his tracks with a lifted finger when the full implication of what his newest friend just said finally dawned upon him. He looked at others and could easily read their thoughts. He relaxed and smiled as well, putting his arm over Auburn's shoulder.

"I think we should just... Reconsider this opportunity."

•••

"Girls! Emergency meeting!" Iris announced, summoning her strongest summons to stall the Praetorians that Galahad had sent as the first control wave.

"Now?!" Rose looked at her friend in disbelief.

"What's the problem?" Lilly inquired, casting Hail at Avalon's most elite denizens.

"Can't it just wait?" Lanka asked, activating her Healing Aura.

"It's about Auburn's new friends!" Iris was dead serious, but the mood drastically changed.

"Oh, it can't wait then. Captain Thiule is mine." Lanka licked her lips with a very suggestive smirk and cast Holy Smite at the Praetorian that managed to fight his way through Rose's summons, blasting him into pieces.

"Oh no, he isn’t!" Iris angrily cut off the head of the next Praetorian. "I like him!"

"Tooooo laaaate! I called dibs first!" Lanka showed her tongue to Iris.

•••

"I... I don't know what to say, you know?" I looked at the Flower Girls arguing, but even such a huge distraction wasn't even a minor hiccup for them.

"I see what you meant now. I saw the Praetorians hack through the scores of enemies of their level, but I don't know if they actually ever fought a Mortal before." Amber was dead serious while I could just nod.

"This is a really serious matter. I must look over their builds and look at what I could do better." I sighed and focused on the upgrades I had bought so far for my Skeletons.

"I don't think they utilise their armour and weapons fully." Luna watched the controlled fight seriously. "As amusing as their small quarrel might be, the girls aren’t even breaking a sweat over this fight. I know Galahad asked for them for this very purpose and I know that you also don't approve of underestimating our enemies, but I don't think anyone out there could rival our Ladies-in-waiting, Darling. You personally made sure they were nothing shy of what the ancient heroes were capable of."

"I know... But there are just seven of them and they are pushing away my Praetorians with one hand while they argue who saw which guy first... Ughhh..." I looked over and over at the upgrade tree with little success. "I think your observation about the Praetorians being unable to use the full potential of their battle gear is spot on, Luna."

"Can’t you just use some dungeon magic and evolve them even further?" Irene drummed her fingers over her arm. "I’m not asking about what you are allowed to do. I ask about something only you can do, Theon.”

"What do you..." And I suddenly understood what Luna told me, seemingly so long ago. "Demand from the System and it will provide… That was it!"

I smiled as the entire evolution tree glitched and was replaced by the vast option menu that put whatever I had access to before, to absolute shame. I had only once before seen such a breathtaking variety of possible builds and skills and it was in the game I played so long ago in my previous life. These new skills and upgrades changed everything; the possibilities were now endless. It took me a moment to understand what had happened, but the realisation made it even sweeter for me. It was always a valid option, but the World System helps everyone, so only a few builds were displayed by default. I was laughing maniacally, just resetting and setting up the advanced builds for the Praetorians, discarding the default settings that were just good. However, 'good' wasn't interesting anymore, as I aimed for something amazing now.

"Time for round two, Girls..." I smiled viciously as the visors of my Praetorians glowed with a deep, sapphire-blue light.