Bringing her knees up so she could hug them, Delphina looked at the foam moat that had formed around her. Despite it beginning to deflate, the foam was relatively dense, which oddly made her feel secure as she pondered over what had happened so far.
She no longer had to worry about being executed by her own family as soon as she stepped out of the door; they were obviously aware that the situation of the de Velasques was odd. It was probably a secret passed down from one Head of the family to the next.
"And because Delphina is already a Sword Master, she must be the next Head. Pietro was a Magic Swordsman in The Lovers of Mareveil when they fought beyond The Gates. Ah, I mean, when they fought in The Gap. So, in the World of Mareveil, how does that work? Because Magic doesn't exist on the Continent in the Game, would it be the same here and now?"
With this, Delphina sat bolt upright, murmuring to herself, "The Gap is a plane filled with different Worlds that have been killed off because the Mana was eaten. And the Mana was eaten by Mega Fauna."
"Since when can someone do Magic without Mana? Is there some remaining Mana? There can't be otherwise why would Gates continue to open in other worlds for them to harvest? Or is it a case of 'Life Energy'? No, that seems like far too convenient an explanation."
"Why is this only bringing up more questions? Truly, there isn't enough information here to determine anything properly."
Delphina thought back briefly to some of the books she hadn't taken a look at yet. But swiftly put it to the back of her mind as she'd done enough reading by this point. Looking around to see if the system screen had sneakily returned, and upon finding nothing, she decided to leave the bathtub for now.
As she rubbed herself down with the towel she found earlier, she slowly walked towards the arch of the dressing room. Feet sinking into the carpet, she noticed they were becoming dry.
"Hmm, slippers would be good, surely."
Having finally dried everything off, Delphina turned to stand nude in front of the large dressing mirror. There wasn't likely much time to properly assess her new self, and if the new system was a troublemaker, this wouldn't be something she could do again.
She gave herself a double thumbs-up in appearance rating. Numerous silvery scars were scattered across her body in various places, aside from her neck and face. The largest of them was on her forearms, and one ran jaggedly up her shin to her thigh on one side.
"Okay, so those are scars from defensive wounds and heavy battle. Looks like Delphina heals quickly and well, though. So I've got that to look forward to."
Her mind briefly flittered to the 19-Gold setting this World was part of before her reflection in the mirror caught her eye again. Spinning around and moving her damp hair out of the way, she could see only a few but decently sized lightning-like scars up one side of her back, practically tracing the shape of her waist.
Her curves truly were to die for, but with the proper binding and padding, she could disguise herself as a teenage boy if necessary. She was muscular enough and just tall enough. However, as her gaze drifted southwards towards her scar-free peach-like bottom. The 19-Gold stamp seemed to float in her vision.
"Oh yeah, there was swords-crossing in the Game too, wasn't there. If I ever need to hide as a man maybe hiding this sweet ass of mine maybe should take priority… Wow, that's a sentence I never thought I'd say out loud."
"Wait, I didn't just jinx it, did I?"
Nervously laughing and shaking her head as if to deny what she had just mentioned. Delphina moved towards the wardrobe to finally get into some day clothes.
Identity Confirmed.
Jumping slightly at the unexpected noise once again, Delphina decided to focus on the underwear options first. Anything too complicated and she'd be utterly fucked trying to put it on by herself.
Stepping into the open space, she wondered quietly, "You know it kind of looks like a doll fixed with kintsugi but silver instead of gold." Glancing back down at the delicate scars on her hands and back to the larger ones of her forearms, she made a firm decision.
As the slowly spinning rack containing various soft vests, bustiers, corsets, garters, bloomers, and knickers came forward, Delphina already had a vague idea of what she wanted to wear.
"Absolutely no modern style bras I see, but that's fine. I'm glad these puppies don't need them."
She cackled as she said this, though the cackling stopped just as suddenly as it had started.
"No, hang on a second, how exactly do I run around with these without a sports bra…"
Her eyes turned towards the rack once again upon this realisation. Looking closer, however, there wasn't a single waspie-like corset. They were all long-lined, regardless of whether they were under or over the bust. Delphina could feel the dread creeping up her spine as she realised what this meant.
"Oi, you wore some of these during battle, didn't you."
Closing her eyes, tilting her head back, and then opening them again as if to un-see what she had just realised. Delphina finally bit the bullet, picking out a soft cotton vest, over-the-knee stockings, knickers, and a garter belt to hold up her stockings.
Turning around to look at the different racks, she rifled through the different shirts and trousers before settling on a dark maroon-black coloured pair of high-waisted jacquard suit trousers and an off-white high-necked silk ruffled shirt with long sleeves, that she then rolled up to the elbows.
"Now I just need a black pair of half-palm gloves, an under-bust corset that matches in colour, and maybe a brooch or collar pin."
Once everything was placed on her comfortably and neatly, she then picked out a collar pin that matched her eye colour in the Sun. As she pinned it to her left hand collar, she slowly walked back out into the dressing room to admire herself.