"I really deserve to die."
Hel silently dispersed the spell in her hand, then lightly slapped herself on the cheek.
Niv shares a heart-to-heart bond with me, and yet I tried to outsmart her.
I really deserve to die.
I—I actually got confessed to… by an artificial idiot through a skill entry?!
At that moment, Hel didn't even know what expression to make.
Guilt, joy, and a bit of warmth—she was feeling all of them at once.
"Master? Are you all right?"
"Nothing, I'm fine. Let's, uh, go check on how Sebas and the others are doing."
Hel hurriedly changed the topic, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
"Yes, Master."
"But before we go…"
Hel looked at Niv's milky white skin, glowing faintly under the lab's fluorescent lights, and frowned.
"Maybe we should get you something to wear first. But… I don't think I have any women's clothing…
Wait—actually, I might have a few."
Hel opened her dimensional ring and soon found several sets of women's clothes.
They were originally Rose's, stored inside long ago.
Although Hel had checked what was inside when she first got the ring,
she had been too busy recently to organize anything.
So, those clothes had simply stayed there until now.
However, looking at Niv's petite frame—almost identical to her own—and then at the long dresses that dragged on the floor even when held up high…
Yeah, those clothes were definitely too big.
"Why don't you try one on?"
Hel asked uncertainly. She didn't really have a better solution anyway.
"Yes, Master."
And Niv obediently picked out a strapless dress with an organza neckline.
If a teenage girl wore it, it would've been fine—
the thin layer of organza covered most of the upper body while leaving a faint sense of allure.
However, on Niv, a pure little loli…
it was a completely different story.
The organza neckline held the dress in place, sure,
but the bodice underneath slipped right down to her waist because of the size difference.
Which meant—her upper half was completely…
"Uh, Niv, maybe we should try something else.
The way you look right now is way too criminally tempting."
"Criminal?"
Niv tilted her head innocently, then obediently took the dress off.
"If Master is troubled about finding clothes that fit me,"
she said, "I recall there being a small-scale bio-equipment fabricator on the third floor of the Bio-Weapon Research Wing.
It can make gear out of biological hides or scales."
"There's something like that here?"
Hel blinked. She had thought all the machines here were for genetic or bloodline research.
So, the two went up to the third floor and found the machine Niv had mentioned in an unremarkable lab.
Like the gene-editing device, this one wasn't in great shape either.
But after applying Hel's "Skill Entry Fixing Technique," it sputtered back to life.
Then Hel ran into another problem—
she didn't really have any good materials for making clothes.
Maybe… use angel feathers?
So, as usual, she took the remaining angel feathers and spun them into threads.
But when it came to actually designing clothes, she was stuck.
After all, she was just a failed art student.
If you asked her to draw some lewd anime fanart, she could finish that in minutes.
But if you asked her to design clothes for those characters…
well, that was a whole different level.
So—
"Niv, here are the materials. You decide what kind of clothes you want to make."
"Really? I can?"
Hel nodded seriously and gave up her spot at the control console.
Niv hesitated for a moment, glancing shyly at Hel.
Then, a half-mechanical tail extended from her back—
the very same one that used to belong to a succubus, ending in a small heart-shaped tip.
The heart split open, revealing its mechanical insides—
a data-link connector of sorts, capable of ultra-high-performance neural interfacing.
This way, even without sacrificing her limbs, Niv could directly link her mind to the machine.
However, since the tail used to belong to a succubus,
it still retained some of its original instincts.
And as a newbie, Niv wasn't very good at controlling it yet.
So, after several failed attempts to plug it into the console,
the tail kept trying to rub itself against Hel instead.
Blushing furiously, Niv grabbed it, forced it into the connector, and began working.
Soon, the fabricator roared to life, and Niv entered full concentration mode.
As it turned out, Niv was quite talented as a fashion designer.
If it were Hel doing this, she would've probably just made a cloth with a hole in the center.
But Niv went all out—using the angel-thread as the base and mixing in new materials that Hel helped craft via skill entries.
After a lot of effort, the two finally completed their first outfit.
Only for Hel to sigh deeply when she saw the result:
"Niv, why—just why—did you think that a see-through bodysuit paired with white thigh-highs was something you could wear outside?"
"Isn't it okay?"
"Is it??"
"But the clothes Master took out earlier…"
"No, those weren't mine."
"But based on Master's micro-expressions at the time,
and after analyzing Master's psychological profile and preference data,
Master seems to like lolis in white stockings—"
"Okay! Enough! Whatever you say!"
Hel cut her off before she could continue.
Right now, she wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and hide her entire body inside it.
"Oh, and Master," Niv continued sweetly,
"I also made a matching set for you."
"Nope! Absolutely not! I will never crossdress! Not in this life!"
"Angel feathers have natural purification and curse-dispelling properties."
"…That does sound useful."
"And I've inscribed an Elemental Form Conversion Array on it.
It can convert mana into battle aura to boost your physical strength—
or convert aura into mana to enhance your ranged attacks."
"That's… tempting. Maybe I'll try it. But, uh, not the top part."
Hel lifted her collar and glanced down at her flat chest—then at her visible toes—and decided against most of it.
In the end, she only put on the bottom layer.
"Master, the white stockings have a Speed Enhancement Array that increases movement speed."
"Let me test that."
"And this skirt has automatic defense and self-cleaning enchantments. Want to try it?"
"…Okay."