Rei pursed her lips in silence as she watched Saeko holding the new katana.
Jin-ah, on her part, crossed her arms and looked away, though she couldn't hide the slight pout on her lips.
Unfair. Totally unfair.
That's how both of them felt. If Yuu only made a weapon for Saeko, wasn't that way too biased?
Still, they didn't say anything. After all, they knew very well that Saeko was Yuu's first Pathstrider.
"All right. Saeko, step back a bit. I want to move on to the next project."
Next project? The girls' ears practically twitched with excitement.
"As you say, Yuu-sama."
With an affectionate look, she stroked the katana's hilt and went back to the others, who immediately surrounded her and began bombarding her with questions.
Yuu turned toward the shelf and picked up a different block of wood. It was Silver Birch. A tree he himself had planted too. It was considered a rare material with a light color like the moon, a smooth surface, and pale veins that shimmered faintly.
"Now… what should I make? Um…"
He set the block on the worktable and started shaping it with a gouge, carving the wood little by little.
The surface gradually smoothed out, and the silver veins stood out more.
Soon, the piece of wood stretched out, thinning into an elegant cylinder.
He switched to finer gouges to smooth the surface until it was flawless, not a splinter in sight. Then he grabbed a piece of fine-grit sandpaper and ran it repeatedly along the shaft. The wood began to give off a soft, silky glow.
His next move was to pick up a thin diamond-tipped awl.
Carefully, Yuu carved spiral runes along the staff. The groove was fairly clean and shallow.
"Silver birch is a good mana conductor… if I carve the flow channels here…"
He murmured those words as he worked.
He brought out a jar containing golden metallic powder. Mixing the powder with a clear binder, he created a thick paste. With a brush, he meticulously applied this mixture into the spiral groove he'd just carved, filling it completely.
He wiped off the excess with a rag, leaving only the golden line embedded in the silver wood.
Once the body was finished, he set a circular setting made from an orichalcum ring at the top of the staff.
Then he pulled a translucent aquamarine crystal from the shelf and set it in place. The crystal gave off a faint glow, instantly reacting to the rune-carved wood.
Then, once again, he pricked the tip of his finger with a needle, letting a drop of his white blood fall onto the wood.
Instantly, hieroglyphs spread and merged with the carved runes.
The surface glowed, and the air around vibrated.
Just like with Saeko's katana, he gave his Blessing to the staff.
With a gentle motion, Yuu ran his hand over the entire staff.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a soft, cool light, the color of seawater, began pulsing in the heart of the crystal, gently illuminating the spiral around it.
"All right. A pretty good staff for channeling spells."
He stepped back a little, holding it with one hand, and spun it gently in the air.
"I think this'll be perfect for…"
He paused, glancing sideways at Rei and Jin-ah, who immediately straightened their backs with somewhat expectant, anxious looks.
"…for someone who doesn't get jealous so fast."
He said those words with a mischievous smile.
"T-that's a low blow!" Jin-ah protested as her cheeks betrayed a little of her embarrassment.
"Hehe, you got me." Rei winked and stuck out her tongue, feeling embarrassed herself.
Neither of them could deny they'd felt jealous when Yuu gave Saeko the katana. And now, their hearts were racing even faster at the thought that maybe, this time, it'd be their turn.
But…
Rei already knew that staff wasn't for her.
She used a spear, after all.
"Jin-ah, come here."
Just as Rei expected.
"Ah? Y-yes!"
Jin-ah rushed forward until she reached Yuu, who raised the staff and calmly handed it to her.
"Try it. I think it'll suit you."
Jin-ah took it with both hands, and the crystal glowed softly.
"It's… beautiful… Thank you, Yuu."
As she thanked him in a soft voice, she remembered.
She'd first met him at the castle. It was there she discovered for the first time that there was a god capable of manipulating realities from his throne.
A being like that…
Now stood before her. And more surprisingly, he was handing her a handmade weapon.
Would someone like him really bother crafting weapons for mere humans like them?
What drove him to do it?
Jin-ah could read people pretty well. It was a skill she'd always had. And when she lifted her gaze toward Yuu, she understood a little.
He was smiling.
Not a polite smile, not an empty mask like the one she'd seen back in the castle. It was a gentle expression. One could even say, pleased.
"You're easier to read than you think, you know?" she muttered.
"Eh? Did you say something?" Yuu tilted his head.
"N-nothing!"
Jin-ah quickly shook her head while hugging the staff against her chest.
She wanted to say more, to express what she was feeling, maybe. But before she could speak, Yuu stretched out his hand and softly patted her head.
"Go back with the others. I've still got one more to make."
"…Okay." Jin-ah lowered her gaze, but she couldn't help smiling as she returned to the girls.
With the staff in her hands and the warmth of that caress still lingering on her head.
Her heart was racing out of control. Even though it was the first time, she didn't dislike it.
×××
"Easy to read, huh?"
Yuu murmured that with his eyes closed and a small smile on his face.
Maybe it was true. Or maybe not. He couldn't really remember.
At some distant point, he'd clearly felt human emotions, and he hadn't valued them.
He'd lost them. Recovering them turned out to be really hard.
'Is it even possible?'
An empty shell. A stone carried along by the current of time. Could someone like that… ever feel again?
Today, however, after Jin-ah's and Saeko's genuine gratitude, his face had softened.
"Is this what I've been looking for? Or will it only last today, gone again tomorrow?"
With those thoughts in mind, he went back to work.
This time he'd make a spear.
He placed a long block of wood on the table. It was wood from a storm yew. Just like the others, it came from his old garden.
The grain of the yew had veins like lightning bolts. It should fit Rei quite well, considering her special skills.
As the gouge scraped the wood, Yuu's thoughts traced an arm brandishing a spear. The hand moved at high speed, with no hesitation or insecurity. In his mind's eye, he pictured thrusts, counterbalances, and the way the spear would dance through the air.
Guided by those thoughts, he shaped the piece of wood so it was narrow, straight, with a slight curve at the end to compensate for the twist of a strike.
At the same time, he ran a file over it to correct the balance. After all, the core of the shaft had to remain firm.
Meanwhile, he heated a longer, narrower blade in the furnace. It was made from an aceralith ingot, and he left it there until it turned blazing red.
For the spearhead, he needed it long and sharp enough to pierce, and at the same time, cut on withdrawal.
—Clink!—Clink!
His back and arm muscles tensed every time he brought the hammer down.
Under those strikes, the metal bent and took shape.
After a while, he already had the shape of a narrow-tipped blade designed to channel force toward the point. The base widened into a conical neck so it would fit into a metal socket.
—Shhhhh!
He quenched the tip in the Stelaria's Blood, making the silver liquid compress its structure. The metal's pores filled with the liquid, and when it emerged, the edge bore red streaks shaped like lightning.
Once all that was done, he began working on the socket. He forged an orichalcum cylinder, smoothed it, and with small threads made a perfect fitting, while the yew was hollowed out at the end.
If it was too tight, the wood would crack. And if it was too loose, the tip would come off on the first impact.
He glued the tip in place with a crystalline resin adhesive and reinforced it with a metal collar on the outside. Then came the reinforcement: two metal rings and a luminite ferrule to distribute the strain when the spear struck.
"Now the counterweight…"
At the far end, he set a polished lead piece coated in luminite.
All that was left was the finishing touch. For that, he carved a line of channels into the yew shaft. With the diamond awl, he drew spiral runes that would serve as mana channels.
And just like with Jin-ah's staff, he filled those grooves with gold dust mixed in resin, creating a golden inlay that gleamed against the dark grain patterned like lightning.
He wiped the excess with a cloth, rubbed it, sanded it, and the wood took on a silky sheen.
"Good…"
Before finishing, he used a drop of his white blood for the Blessing.
The final result was a beautiful, lightweight, well-balanced spear.
It had the length to maintain distance, the stiffness for thrusting, and the flexibility to withstand a sideways fall without splintering.
"All done. Another weapon ready."
He turned toward the group of girls, where Saya was fiddling with Jin-ah's staff. She looked pretty curious about it, her brows furrowed as if she thought it might just be a cute toy.
Even so, she examined it from top to bottom, as if she really wanted to understand how it worked.
"Rei, can you come here?"
×××
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