1.
I had spent quite a lot of time with Ruby, and having watched her all that while…
If I had to describe Ruby in a single phrase,
she was like an eccentric, sentimental cat.
"Heh. I actually didn’t like the old book much."
"I see."
Did you hear that, Dolores? Heh-heh.
Seemingly very pleased with the current situation, she purred as she took my hand.
"Hm-hm-hm."
Another thing about her… she really liked holding hands.
Squeeze.
Ruby’s hand was slightly damp with sweat, as though she had been exercising.
We entered the workshop with our hands clasped together.
"Here."
I had never specifically barred anyone else from entering the workshop, but somehow, a custom had naturally formed where no one but Dolores came in.
Honestly, I had no idea why, but in any case, this was practically Ruby’s first visit to the workshop as well.
"Wow…"
Ruby whipped her head around as she looked about the room.
I led her over to the workbench.
On top of it sat sample weapons I had roughly put together just to check their shape and weight.
"They’re just very simple mock-ups."
Even though I had already picked a staff as my number-one choice, I had no intention of forcing it on her.
It was going to be Ruby’s weapon, after all.
"First, a gauntlet."
I lifted the iron glove closest to me.
"You hit things with your fist?"
"Exactly."
It was a weapon that could directly make use of Ruby’s physical strength.
You wrapped your fists in mana or spirits or whatever, then beat the hell out of them.
"It’s iron for now, but the material can be changed."
Having explained that, I moved right beside it.
"Second, a spear."
"……."
Same basic idea: wrap it in mana or spirits and stab, stab.
Ruby nodded again.
And then came the long-awaited final option.
"…Third is a staff."
Ruby, who had seemed uninterested in either the gauntlet or the spear, immediately picked up the staff.
Then, all of a sudden—
Whoosh, whoosh.
"W-Whoa…!"
She began twirling it around.
No one had ever taught her, had they? How was she so good at spinning it?
I quickly ducked to avoid the staff.
Ruby, who had been twirling it like a helicopter rotor, soon held it out to me and asked,
"Can I add weight plates to this?"
"……."
So that was why she could spin it so well.
As if that would work.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t given it that feature.
"…So, staff it is?"
"Yeah, I like this."
Nice.
Battle mage corruption: first checkpoint cleared.
Now that we had decided on the basic form, it was time to refine the details.
I had Ruby stand against one of the workshop walls and took out a measuring tape.
"Okay, put your arms together. I’ll measure your height first."
"Like this?"
"Yeah."
First, I measured her height.
Strangely enough, the units in this world were exactly the same as those where I had lived.
Rrrip… click.
The number written on the measuring tape was, incredibly enough—
"…160?"
Ruby’s height… had already exceeded my expectations.
Why was she growing so fast?
"You’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?"
"Heh."
Judging by her smile, it seemed she knew it herself.
After writing down her height, I measured her shoulder width and arm length.
I measured everything, from the thickness of her wrists to the size of her palms.
According to the Sun Dwarves’ textbook, a staff was… a weapon where balance was immensely important.
Even determining its length and thickness required close attention to detail.
Since Ruby was currently growing like a weed, it seemed right to set it up with the expectation that she would grow a little more.
Rather than a thin one…
A thick one would be better.
At least Ruby would never lack grip strength.
"Try holding this again."
I handed her the iron staff sample.
"Hold it comfortably. And twirl it slowly. Slowly."
I didn’t want to get beaten to death by a staff.
Whoosh…
Whoosh…
I watched the path of the staff’s swings and calculated an appropriate length.
Okay, I roughly had the feel of it now.
"Good work."
Oh, and there was one system I would be introducing for the first time with this project.
"Is there anything else you want, Ruby?"
Directly listening to the user’s requests and incorporating them into the design.
Since this was custom-made, I planned to use the same method in the future—whether I was making something for someone else or for Dolores—by drawing out their needs and customizing it accordingly.
Ruby could be considered the first test case.
"Weight plates?"
"No, not that."
"Mmm…"
Ruby planted the iron staff on the floor, hugged it, and began to think.
I put away the remaining gauntlet and spear.
"Mmmmm…"
But even after some time had passed, Ruby could only groan in thought and failed to come up with an idea.
"Okay, it’s fine if you can’t think of anything."
It seemed better for me to make suggestions instead.
"You’re close with spirits, right, Ruby?"
"Well… I’m the one who plays with them."
Huh?
What was that supposed to mean?
"Anyway, you’re good at magic, and you’re close with spirits too, right?"
"W-Well, if you insist on putting it that way, I guess so."
First, a little praise.
"So I’ll make it with base materials that can contain both powers."
The purity of the raw material was extremely important for holding mana stably.
The more impurities there were, the more they interfered with the flow of mana throughout, preventing it from moving smoothly.
This was also covered in the dwarven textbook.
So I would make the body of the staff from materials refined to the highest possible purity.
Then I would embed a core material that could house the power of spirits.
The core material I had in mind was a spirit stone.
In theory, it sounded perfectly plausible.
The problem was…
I had no clue how the hell I was supposed to get spirit stones.
Not only were they absent from auctions, but even the very concept of obtaining one was like plucking a star from the sky.
Ever since I sent that bragging DM to the High Chieftain of the Great Forest last time, I had been regularly updating them on how things were going.
But I always ended my messages with:
[Would you happen to have any spare spirit stones…? Descendant, please ㅠㅠㅠ]
That.
Ultimately, what I was getting at was…
"Ruby."
"Yeah."
"Do you have any more spirit stones?"
Give me some spirit stones.
"Do you need them, Lionel?"
"Yeah, badly."
"Say no more. Follow me."
What was with that coolness?
"Give me the club."
"……?"
Ruby took the staff back from me.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Apparently she liked it quite a lot, because she walked out while twirling it one-handed.
I silently followed her for the time being.
Ruby headed for the manor’s garden.
"It’ll probably work well since it’s daytime."
What exactly would work well?
I decided to watch and see what Ruby did.
Ruby stopped amid the flower bed and stood the staff upright.
Then she began tapping the flower bed with it.
Tap, tap.
"Attention."
Yes, attention.
The problem was, it did not seem like she was talking to me.
A moment later.
Rustle…
A gentle breeze, enough to make hair flutter, blew in from somewhere.
The garden’s grass and flowers slowly bent in the wind.
Even the sunlight seemed to have become a little more dazzling.
And then, at that moment—
One by one, something began to reveal itself from between the blades of grass in front of Ruby.
Some were palm-sized, some were larger… and some big ones even reached Ruby’s knees.
They were so varied in form that I did not know precisely what to call them.
They scampered up to Ruby and lined up in order before her.
Could those be spirits…?
They looked tiny and adorable, but putting their looks aside,
why were they all lining up as though Ruby were their boss?
"I need some stones."
Ruby got right to the point.
"Ah, how many?"
The follow-up question was directed at me.
"About ten?"
"I need ten."
At that, the little cuties lined up before her began moving their bodies, apparently pleading for something.
Of course, I could not hear their voices, but they gave off the impression that they were earnestly appealing to her.
"You’re saying I haven’t visited in too long? I couldn’t help it. I’ve been busy."
Ruby replied with her chin resting on the iron staff.
"You missed me? Well… me too."
As she said that, Ruby curled her lips into a sly smile.
Her charm was no joke.
Boing.
Boing, boing.
At that bewitching smile, the spirits’ movements became even more lively.
"I’ll come by often from now on, so please get me some stones."
Apparently they liked that last part very much, because the tiny figures bounced excitedly on the spot.
To briefly summarize what I had seen so far,
Ruby clearly had some kind of spirit magnetism.
The little cuties were clinging to her ankles and trotting after her, after all.
And not long afterward—
Rumble…
A strange sound suddenly rose from the garden floor.
"……?"
The dirt in front of Ruby cracked apart… and something pushed up through the soil.
They were stones.
Colorful stones piled up at Ruby’s feet.
"……."
I checked what they were.
─────────────────
[High-Grade Wind Spirit Stone][★★★☆☆]
─────────────────
『A gift given by a high-grade wind spirit to a beloved companion.』
『Richly condensed with the spirit power of clear winds.』
─────────────────
[Mid-Grade Sunlight Spirit Stone][★★☆☆☆]
─────────────────
『A gift given by a mid-grade sunlight spirit to a beloved companion.』
『Condensed with the spirit power of warm sunlight.』
─────────────────
They really were spirit stones.
The sky-blue ones were wind, and the yellow ones were sunlight.
Ruby had asked for ten, but by my count, there were easily twenty of them.
"Thank you, everyone."
Bounce, bounce.
Boing.
When Ruby thanked them, the spirits bobbed their bodies and jumped about in place.
"Hup. Okay, everyone, I’m leaving now."
Boing, boing.
Ruby came over to me, carrying an armful of stones against her chest.
"Is this enough?"
"…Yeah. It’s enough."
Even ten had been a generous estimate.
This was more than plenty.
We returned to the workshop.
"No, Ruby… what was that? You really are close with spirits, huh?"
"They like me."
"Yeah, I could tell at a glance."
So this was spirit magnetism—spirit affinity.
It had only been written about in the elves’ documents… but this really was what affinity looked like.
Ruby put the spirit stones on the table, then walked over to me.
"Make my staff well, Lionel."
"Leave it to me."
"Hehe. Okay."
She nodded in satisfaction, then—
Squeeze.
Without saying a word, she hugged me once.
"?"
"……."
Scurry.
Then she left the workshop just like that.
"Cute."
It seemed she had copied Dolores. Well, she was at the age where she watched and learned.
I snickered as I stared at the door Ruby had left through for a moment…
then headed to the workbench.
I had gathered the materials, confirmed the requirements, and checked the measurements.
"Then…"
She seemed to have high expectations.
It was time to live up to them.
2.
Bleegh…!
The sound of retching, as though she were vomiting up everything in her stomach.
"…Just endure a little longer."
The woman in a white robe held Yeomhwa’s shoulder with one hand and placed the other on her back.
Blue light flowing from her palm seeped into Yeomhwa’s body.
Twitch.
Yeomhwa’s body convulsed once more.
Ughk…!
The woman vomited blood once again.
"Ah, wow… Camilla, am I going to die?"
Yeomhwa, the red-haired woman, wiped her mouth and asked with the corners of her lips raised.
"…Shut up before you actually die. You’re making me lose focus."
"Yes, ma’am."
Camilla.
A healer formerly with the Dawn Apostles, and Yeomhwa’s former teammate.
Even now, she was one of the most outstanding healers in the entire tower.
For some time, she rubbed Yeomhwa’s back and calmed the mana surging backward inside her body.
How much time passed?
"Haaah…"
Having finally stopped retching, Yeomhwa slumped onto the bed.
Camilla held Yeomhwa’s wrist and closed her eyes.
…This is serious.
Her mana circuits were swollen all over, and mana she had failed to expel had gathered around her heart.
If she had been any later, her circuits might have ruptured.
Why did this suddenly happen…?
Yeomhwa had clearly been one of the toughest people Camilla knew.
The very concept of injury had felt distant from her.
Yet in just a few months, Yeomhwa had ended up in this state.
There had to be a cause…
Unknown cause.
The greatest problem was that she had no idea what it was.
If there was one thing worth noting, it was that Yeomhwa’s form had improved tremendously lately.
Perhaps she had overexerted herself somewhere in the process.
"Have you recently used any drugs or… changed the magic you use?"
"No… I’m natural…"
"……."
Her condition was becoming more and more of a mystery.
Then Yeomhwa raised a hand, as though she had remembered something.
"Ah… I did buy this one thing…"
Jingle.
Yeomhwa held out the piece of equipment around her wrist.
"I bought it at an auction. It was fucking expensive…"
Camilla removed the Ether Circle from Yeomhwa’s wrist.
"I’ll activate it for a moment."
"You won’t break it, right…? I’m planning to pass that down as a family heirloom…"
"Shut up. What use is a family heirloom if you die?"
"You didn’t know? You can only pass down family heirlooms after you die..."
Camilla poured mana into the Ether Circle.
Hum…
"……!"
A clear energy. The moment the equipment activated, blue light spread out, and mana circulated within it.
There was almost no loss of mana itself… and judging from its structure, it aided in recovering mana before returning it to the body’s circulation.
It even had the effect of preventing mana from gathering in one place or flowing backward.
At the very least, there was nothing wrong with the equipment itself. If anything, it would help alleviate Yeomhwa’s symptoms right now.
"…It’s not this."
"Whew…"
"If anything, it’s good for you right now."
Then she truly had no idea what the cause could be.
"Ah… I’m dying, doctor…"
Yeomhwa sprawled across the bed, moaning mournfully.
Camilla watched her, then closed her eyes.
It was not as if she had never seen similar symptoms.
Dolores.
The only teammate she had failed to heal.
Her mana channels had also become blocked, causing mana to flow backward inside her body.
The cause was not exactly the same… but they shared the problem of mana being unable to circulate properly.
Yet remarkably, Dolores—whom even Camilla had been unable to treat—was now… climbing the tower once again.
Without even asking, Camilla could tell that Dolores’s body had recovered.
If there was a way to unblock Dolores’s channels… perhaps she might find a way to calm Yeomhwa’s circuits as well.
"Yeomhwa."
"Yes, doctor…"
"You’re sleeping here tonight."
"Am I being admitted…?"
"Yeah. You could die if you leave."
Camilla immediately took out a communication crystal.
"I’m going to make a call."
To Dolores.
There was actually one other thing she was curious about, too…
Dolores… you’ve held out for five years, right…?
They said the quiet cat gets onto the stove first—or something like that. In any case, that call on that day had been shocking.
She had clearly told her to hold out for five years.
She desperately hoped Dolores had endured.
…Surely not?
Fervently hoping that was not what had caused her body to recover,
Camilla placed her hand on the crystal ball.
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