Seth decided to do the cuirass next. He wanted to have it done before he started with the pauldrons, and the gloves were in a similar situation to the boots. Seth was waiting for Neeco Boos to make the base gloves for the gauntlets.
As such, the blacksmith turned to the heart piece of the set. Although ti was the biggest piece of the set, using up to three scales, it was the one that was the least adventurous. He planned for the cuirass to focus on defense, so it was more of the tried and true enchantments.
As Faenys was fit and more on the petite side, Seth only needed 2.5 scales for the cuirass. One for the breastplate, one for the backplate, and half for the tassets that would connect to the cuisses and cover the gab at the hip joints.
Forging out the scales, the old familiar song of damage reflection was heard again in the workshop. It was Seth's go-to forging ballad, as a 40% Damage Reflection was always a good effect for an armor piece. Together with the negation effects of the scale material itself, Faenys would only suffer about 30% of the damage that actually hit her torso.
Once the scales were forged to thickness together with Cerberus, he directly transitioned to forging out the breastplate. The blacksmith spoke with Faenys a little about the design beforehand, and they decided to add the crest of Minas Mar to the chest, as well as add decorative flutes, which made the armor look abstract, conjuring the association of an insect or spider.
Seth agreed to it because he had already veered from the blueprint to make the armor look more intimidating. It was less an intimidation by force or strength, as the armor Tored had once gifted him had, and more a disconcerting unease, fitting well with her role as a champion of fear.
Being well acquainted with the forging ballad and having gotten used to working with the Sky Dragon Heart Scales, the process had sped up a lot. Even though these were the biggest pieces of the armor, Seth still managed to finish the pure forging within half a day.
After starting early in the morning, Seth was able to put down the forged breastplate, backplate, and tassets at lunchtime. There were only small adjustments to be made before he could assemble them, which he would do after grabbing his meal.
Or so he thought. He just changed to casual clothes and was about to leave his workshop when there was a knock on the door. It seemed like someone had only been waiting for the ballad to stop, to get on his nerves. With a sigh, he answered the door.
"Tower Master," the gopher said with a bow. " Lady Leana would like to see you," he said with a bow. Seth sighed again. Business was calling; if Leana had already sent someone instead of trying to call him, it had to be something kind of important.
"Fine, I'm going to visit her... after lunch," he added with a chuckle and vanished with the power of the tower, reappearing at the kitchen to get some fresh food from Link. If he sat in the cafeteria, the gopher might have found him, so he stayed in the kitchen to eat.
"You hiding from Leana again?" Link asked as he simmered a slab of monster meat.
"I will go see her after I'm done eating. She had the impeccable talent to send someone the moment I'm starving," Seth complained, stuffing himself with meat and noodles Link had given him. Of course, it didn't happen every time, but it was often enough to complain about it.
"Isn't that because you only leave the workshop to go eat?" Link joked.
"Hmm, I guess that could be one of the reasons..." the blacksmith acknowledged, finishing his second dish and putting it aside. "I already feel reinvigorated. Your food is great as always. Thanks, Link. I'm leaving." The blacksmith thanked the chef for the meal and vanished, reappearing at the door to Leana's office.
He could have ported directly inside, but that would have been rude. Instead, he politely knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.
"Yes?" A slightly confused voice came from inside. That was enough for the bard, and he promptly opened the door. The princess jumped a little when the door flew open, but quickly calmed down when she saw it was just Seth.
"Let's make it quick, I have a half-finished cuirass waiting for me and I was planning to get it mostly done today," the tower master strutted in and sat down opposite of Leana. He wanted to finish this quickly.
"Alright, errm, okay..." Leana started off a little nervous, very untypical of her. " I have some news for you and a request for you. Let's start with the news, okay? Sooo.... Monique sent a message earlier today," Leana said, and paused.
"Why did she send a message? Don't tell me something happened, and she returns later. How am I supposed to make her armor if she isn't around?" the blacksmith lamented. Of course, he had older measurements of her, but he had wanted to take proper ones before adjusting the blueprint.
"Well, that is what the message is about. It seems like you won't have to make an armor for Monique, at least not one using the dragon scales," Leana revealed. "She sent a message that she had received a revelation from Athena, and you only have to prepare enough epic
"Wait, what? So Athena is going to bless the
"I don't know, but it seems to be the case. This leads me to my request. Since the materials for the second set of Sky Dragon equipment are now freed up... would you make the second set for Cade instead?" Leana pleaded. It was clear this was a personal request and not a calculated move.
Well, one didn't exclude the other, but this seemed more like the princess was asking a favor. However, Seth hesitated to agree. Cade was still more of an outsider than a member of Minas Mar. He felt it was unfair.
There were others he knew way better and had a much more important role in Minas Mar. To use their scarce high-grade material to make a full armor for someone who was not a core member of Minas Mar, instead of making a number of items for everyone, didn't sit right with him.
"I know this is a lot to ask, but I'm convinced Cade is worth this investment. From all the candidates for the whole set that are left, she is the one that would gain the most from a strong mage armor," Leana argued, however," I owe her this. She has been loyal since the evaluation, and wasn't she a great help?"
Seth was pretty sure the latter part was the bigger reason she requested it. However, he didn't intend to simply agree. He could have, nobody was going to stop him, but he wasn't going to just decide that over the heads of everyone else.
"Hmm, I don't mind, but you have to get everyone's agreement first," the blacksmith stated. After all, everyone in the field teams was on the list. They were promised dragon materials. Faenys and Monique getting full armor sets being a priority was something they agreed upon after the meeting.
The logical way this should have gone, with Monique not needing it anymore, was that more people would be getting pieces of equipment. If Leana wanted someone else to get a set, she had to make them all relinquish their potential equipment.
"I understand what you mean... I guess, I will have to try and talk with them," the princess said, not as depressed as Seth would have expected.
"You can see it as your very own side quest. If you succeed, I will think about making an armor for Cade. If you don't, I won't," he said with a shrug. With this, he saw this matter as finished and left the office, directly reappearing in his workshop.
He didn't worry about the epic
With this short intermission dealt with, he could focus back on the armor at hand.