Days later, David found himself back at Bert’s workshop. The forge hissed softly, as remnants of smoke crossed the room.

  “Try this on,” Bert said, nodding toward a pile of cloth and metal in one of the crates.

  David slipped the light gambeson over his head. It was heavier than it looked, stiff at the shoulders but fitting well enough once he adjusted the ties. Then, the chainmail. Bert had trimmed and reshaped it; it rested snugly against David’s frame without sagging.

  “Good,” Bert said, watching closely. “Move your arms.”

  David rolled his shoulders, lifted his arms, swung them forward. It was heavy and it restricted movement, but only a little. It would do.

  Then Bert pulled a silvery-looking rod from the table.

  It was narrow, no thicker than David’s smallest finger, and about half the length of his fist. On the flipside, it was even lighter than it looked.

  David took it and swung it with a sharp, decisive flick. The rod extended four segments out of six.

  “It’s impressive,” David said quietly, trying to not let irritation make it into his voice. “But it catches there. Could we do something about it?”

  Bert exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck with a tired hand. “It was a bit too tall of an ask. There might be someone out there who could make it slide properly, but…” He shook his head. “This is the best I could do.”

  David nodded. The disappointment sat dull in his chest, but he didn’t let it linger.

  “It’s still great,” he said. And he meant it. “Thank you.”

  Bert grunted, clearly dissatisfied with himself.

  “One more thing,” David added, swinging the rod around to forcefully extend the last two segments. “Could you help me attach something to the end?”

  “Sure,” Bert said. “I’ll get the crucible. I should still have a little Solron leftover.”

  David reached into his pouch and pulled out the raven-skull artifact. He had splurged on silver paint, which gave it a metallic sheen against the light coming from the forge.

  Of course, it would peel off after the first few strikes, but reapplying the coating was no issue.

  Bert paused, looking at it once, then nodded.

  They worked without much talk. Bert heated the metal, and when it ran thin, they positioned the skull over the tiny socket at the rod’s end. The molten Solron joined them, and after Bert filed off the excess material, it looked pristine.

  David collapsed the rod and took a close look at it. With the raven’s skull and a silvery rod, it wouldn’t look out of place as a gothic hairpin from a jeweler’s store.

  Functionally, it was close. Very close.

  He thanked Bert again and again, only stepping outside when the man returned to his work. The morning felt colder than before.

  This can’t be the final version.

  If he was going to hand this to Diana and prove his skills, then it had to be perfect.

  “What is this, Marco?” Aura spun the telescopic rod disguised as a hairpin between her fingers. “It’s certainly pretty.”

  David had spent the whole day at the academy covertly inspecting the tool and trying to understand exactly which parts caused the failure.

  Perhaps that’s why telescopic rods didn’t catch up until modern times.

  Now that he was home, he wanted to show it to Aura.

  Sophie was there too. “Could you make a similar one for me? With a flower, maybe?” She said, eyeing the tool.

  “Shouldn’t you be at work?” David asked.

  “I need to rest sometimes, you know?”

  “So you decided to cook in your time off?” David sighed. “Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me.”

  He took the rod from Aura and carefully swung it, extending it. It caught again.

  “It’s supposed to be a covert weapon for a noble lady.” He explained. “But the last two segments don’t extend properly.”

  “That’s still very impressive. You said Bert made this?” Aura’s eyes widened a little. “I always knew he was skilled, but I might have been selling him short.”

  “Yes, well, that’s all true.” David gave her back the rod, removing the back cover. “But it isn’t perfect. Inside each cylinder, there’s supposed to be a tiny lock, but the one catching turned out to be too large.”

  “Seems plenty usable if you ask my opinion.” Aura tilted her head as she looked inside the rod from the back. “I can’t see the faulty part clearly. If I understood it better, I could purify out the excess material through alchemy… Oh no, this is solron, isn’t it?”

  “Exactly.” David hung his head. “If it was steel, it would be way too delicate in this size.”

  “Quite the problem, sweetie.” Aura thought for a second, tapping her finger against her mouth. “Do you remember how to perform purification?”

  “After all those herbs we went through together?” David chuckled. “If you put a voel in my hand in the middle of the night, I would probably start purifying it without even waking up.”

  “Great, then I have a plan,” Aura beamed a smile. “I could channel through the material, to temporarily weaken its magical resistance.”

  “And I could purify it at the same time?” David’s eyes widened. It was brilliant, just as he had hoped from Aura. “But are you sure I can manage? It’s quite a bit different from frothy leaves.”

  Aura chuckled, then took one of the knives from the table. “Metals are fairly alike. If you can sharpen this knife, you can thin out the faulty part.”

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  David wasted no time as he took the tool into his hands. He hadn’t done purification in a while, but his earlier words were true. He had spent half a year extracting elemental powder.

  As he slid his finger across the fairly dull edge, he poured some mana in. He clearly visualized the structure he wanted to achieve. The blade started heating up slightly as tiny bits of iron disintegrated, along with any grime that could possibly be there, invisible for a naked eye.

  “Woah,” Sophie stepped away from the pot to look over the process. “It looks so easy when Marco does it, mom. Is it easy?”

  “Not quite.” She smiled, holding her head high. “I always said Marco was talented and I’m rarely wrong.”

  David blushed slightly as he finished the process. He ran the knife against his finger, and immediately it tried to dig into his skin, like a razor would.

  Is it because I know how an iron structure looks at base level?

  “I think I can do this.” He put the knife down, stifling his worries. “Can you help me?”

  “Of course, sweetie.”

  Aura grabbed the far part of the rod, while David positioned his hands over the faulty part.

  “Solron is difficult to work with, I can give you maybe a few minutes at best.” Aura warned him. “Then I’d need some rest before we could try again.”

  “I only need one try.”

  Sophie put her hands on her hips as she looked between them, her eyes sparkling.

  Aura tensed, and through his magic sight, David could see the metal’s signature becoming much more pronounced.

  “Now.” Aura called out.

  Immediately, David tried the same thing he did with the knife, but the material repelled him. It wasn’t just that Solron was resistant. His mind couldn’t understand it, like it did iron.

  Refusing to admit failure, David pushed more mana in, repurposing the technique Ualani was teaching him. His ears filled with the hum of vibration and through closed eyes, he pictured the part he was trying to modify, as his mana surrounded it.

  Finally, a tiny bit of material from the lock disintegrated.

  It took a lot from him, to remove just the smallest amount, so he delivered mana in large pulses, steadily eradicating the excess.

  Suddenly, the rod stopped responding to his actions. He looked up, to see a large bead of sweat rolling down Aura’s face.

  “I think I’m spent.” She wiped her face off with a piece of cloth. “Did you manage it?”

  “I–I don’t know.” He admitted, as he grew dizzy. “Maybe?”

  “Let me test it!” Sophie chimed in. David didn’t understand why she was so invested in it, but had no qualms about it.

  She carefully took the rod, collapsed it, then swung.

  All six segments unrolled instantly, producing a rod the length of an adult’s forearm, with the silver skull gleaming at its end.

  “We did it!” David and Aura shouted together.

  “It’s amazing to watch the two of you work.” Sophie smiled as she waved the weapon around. “I wish I could be as talented as Marco.”

  “You’re a stronger person than I am, though.” David admitted. “I could never handle so many different people asking stuff from me.”

  “You’re just a boy,” Sophie shook her head. “And it’s not like I handle them that well either.”

  “You’re too modest, sweetie.” Aura caressed her arm. “You’ve achieved a lot, haven’t you?”

  “Well, yes,” Sophie grimaced. “But it’s all so shady. I never know if I’m making the right call. And Hito always pushes me to lie to them.”

  “That is concerning,” Aura fell in thought for just a second. “What do you think, Marco?”

  “Results are everything.” He shrugged. “If the people are happy and what you’re doing is for their good, would you even be to blame?”

  “That’s just like you to say that,” Sophie rolled her eyes.

  “Well, that’s for each of you to figure out on your own.” Aura gently interrupted them before they could start arguing. “There are many ways to approach life. Who is to say which is the right one?”

  David stared at her face, pondering the knowing look in her eyes.

  “In any case, I have an important thing to ask the two of you.” Aura smiled wide, her eyes bursting with life despite the bags under them. “In three days, we’ll be moving to a new house. I’d like the two of you to be free that day and help with the move.”

  Having shared the meal with Aura and Sophie, David left home immediately.

  While he probably should have stayed and listened to Sophie’s grievances, he didn’t feel like he could provide her anything of worth. Their perspectives were just that different.

  But more importantly, the faster he could deliver the artifact, the greater his accomplishment would seem.

  He made his way to the academy, took the elevator, then sighed a breath of relief as he saw light coming from inside of the training room. Diana did say she planned to train there in her free time, but she was a noble lady and probably had plenty of things to take care of.

  David almost opened the door, before stopping to knock.

  “Who’s there?” The girl’s laboured voice reached him.

  “It’s me, Marco, may I come in?”

  “A moment.”

  He stood there, staring at the wood and listening to the rustling coming from inside.

  Is she putting clothes on? Good thing I knocked.

  Soon, she opened the door and let him in. Her dark hair was disheveled and her mask crooked, with trails of sweat flowing down her face.

  “Is everything alright?” David asked, a bit hesitant. “You seem rattled.”

  “I had some anger to vent.” She grimaced, correcting her mask. “My dear father had sent me a letter.”

  “I feel like he’s the only person who’s able to get under your skin.” David chuckled. “Who is he, even?”

  “Not the only one. You’re squarely on that list too.” Diana smirked. “Roderick Costellian. I’m surprised you haven’t dug that out yourself, yet.”

  “Unlike certain people, I don’t stalk my classmates.”

  “Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that." Diana rolled her eyes. "So, did you just miss me, or is there a reason for your visit?"

  “I brought the artifact.” He decided not to comment further. “Is this the right time?”

  “Already?” Diana tilted her head. “I hope for your sake it’s not a joke. It’s rude to get a lady’s hopes up.”

  “Judge for yourself.” David said, as he pulled out the hairpin-weapon and handed it to her.

  “It’s… beautiful.” She gasped. “What does it do?”

  “Hold it firmly, the skull-side out, and swing hard.”

  Diana did as instructed, though her moves lacked their usual grace.

  The solron rod extended with a characteristic click. Though it still looked elegant, there was no doubt it was a dangerous blunt weapon.

  “How?” Diana rolled it over in her fingers, staring with wide eyes. ”I never heard of an artifact that could make things longer like that.”

  “Oh, no. That’s just smart metalwork.” David chuckled, relishing the feeling of stumping Diana for once. ”The raven skull is the actual artifact. It sends shockwaves when swung at a target.”

  “This is impressive,” She handed the rod back to him. “Can you make it small again?”

  “Absolutely.” He demonstrated, lightly hitting the skull perpendicular against the wooden bench. “In short, it’s a deadly weapon that can be concealed as a hairpin. While I wouldn’t use it against an armored knight, even then it might do the job. It felt like something a noble lady might appreciate.”

  “This one certainly does.” She smoothed out her hair. “Well?”

  David stared at her, his face blank. “Well… what?”

  “Put it on me, and tell me how I look, obviously.” She chuckled. “How else do you expect to gift a lady?”

  David shook his head, surprised, but Diana didn’t seem to be joking. He slowly moved his hand, standing on his toes to reach her head more comfortably.

  The silver of the raven skull contrasted vibrantly against her dark hair. Combined with her mask and shapely features, it created a stunning look that screamed both beauty and danger.

  “It suits you.” He stammered out.

  “You certainly lack words when you could use them the most.” Diana chuckled. “I must admit this just made my day at least a bit better.”

  “Do you like it?” David held his breath.

  “It’s perfect.”