At long last, the twelve elf children reunited once more, standing together within the safety of the outer gate of the Dwarven city. After days of splitting into three separate teams, woodcutters, iron miners, and mana stone collectors, the party had returned with arms full, magic bags overflowing, and spirits high.
Fuhiken stood tall near the gate's edge, brushing a few invisible specs of dust off his tunic, his short sword sheathed neatly at his side. As the eldest of the twelve, he took it upon himself to maintain a semblance of order, though Kyle and Sinryo's mischievous grins made that impossible to uphold for long. His expression shifted quickly from pride to concern as Kyle began animatedly explaining their conquest.
"We got the lumber!" Kyle declared, thrusting his hand toward the center of the group, blue hair bouncing with excitement. "From a Trent! A whole Trent!"
Jessica blinked. "You mean a tree monster?"
Sinryo chuckled and patted his twin daggers proudly. "Not anymore. It's just logs now. Nicely chopped logs. Mostly."
Fuhiken, trying to keep the moment professional, reached into his magic bag, the one custom-imbued with defensive enchantments to withstand Kyle's unpredictable antics, and pulled out a thick slab of reddish wood. He held it out with both hands like a prized artifact.
"This is from the Trent," he said solemnly, almost reverently. "We processed it thoroughly. No bark, no face, no problem."
Gabyola raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "You're saying... we're going to ride in something made from the corpse of a monster tree?"
Kyle beamed. "Exactly!"
Gabyola deadpanned. "Charming."
Next came the iron miners. Yetsan, still covered in traces of cave dust despite his best efforts to stay immaculate, approached with a heavy gait. His armor, worn fully and without compromise, clinked quietly with each step. His magic bag, always kept precisely dust-free, hung at his side like a holy relic.
Without a word, Yetsan reached inside and pulled out three perfectly forged ingots. The metal gleamed even in the muted daylight of the dwarven district. He lined them on a nearby crate, adjusting their angles meticulously.
"These came from the abandoned claymole tunnels," he explained. "The iron was pure. Almost unnaturally so."
Adiw stepped up beside him, stretching his arms after carrying heavy ore for days. His red hair fell over one eye, sweat clinging to his brow. "Gigih was the MVP," he said. "He used nearly all his mana to blast the claymoles and carve out those tunnels. They had a jackpot down there."
Gigih, the party's explosive black mage, stood slightly to the side, clutching his spellbook like a fragile egg. A thin puff of smoke curled from one of his sleeves. His expression was proud, until a spark popped from his cuff and made him jump.
"I'm... refining my control," he muttered.
Then came the girls, returning from what was meant to be a simple mana stone collection trip. Instead, they arrived slightly scuffed, slightly singed, and very, very hungry.
Jessica stepped forward first, her katana slung across her back, her expression unusually serious. With a nod to the group, she reached into her magic bag, a modest, embroidered pouch, and pulled out a single glimmering fire mana stone. Its warm glow cast a flicker of red on her calm face.
"We gathered these from an underground lake," she explained.
Gabyola stepped in to clarify. "We did not fight the creature guarding the stones."
Kyle tilted his head. "Wait, what creature?"
Fahleena twirled forward dramatically, her pink twin tails bouncing like ribbons caught in the wind. She raised a finger toward the heavens, or at least toward the city ceiling.
"Oh, brave souls!" she began, slipping into full chuunibyou dialect. "A majestic, radiant, chaotic bringer of hunger emerged from the flames below! A soaring embodiment of avian gluttony and divine theft!"
Gabyola, standing nearby, sighed. "She means the bird stole a magic bag."
Fahleena grinned proudly. "Indeed! The Fiery Glutton of Forbidden Flavors, the Infernal Avian Purloiner of Celestial Provisions, the Magnificent Winged Menace of Culinary Covetousness!", She gave the bird a title!
Jessica looked at Yetsan with concern. reminds them Fahleena also gave them embarrassing titles after they dealing finishing blow on certain rare enemies. "Are we... on the same level as that thing?"
Yetsan blinked behind his visor. "Do we even want to be?"
Sakura, clutching the reclaimed magic bag close to her chest like a rescued kitten, gently patted its fabric. "It came back to me," she said quietly. "Jumped down from the sky. Just... bounced."
Yuuna, standing nearby with an expression of growing alarm, crossed her arms. "I didn't design the magic bag to jump."
Gabyola looked at her. "You're sure?"
Yuuna nodded slowly. "Absolutely. Not again. At long ago in development stage, Magic Bag III jumped out of the testing window and exploded on contact. I'm sure these Magic Bag X is safe... probably."
Fuhiken stepped forward again, trying to regain control of the conversation. "Right. Anyway. The important part is that we've all gathered what we need. Lumber. Iron. Mana stones. The next step... is building the carriage."
---
The group moved toward Durfvn's workshop, the designated meeting spot arranged earlier. It was located in the backyard of the dwarf's mechanical forge, a vast open yard surrounded by stone walls and wooden racks filled with tools, wheels, planks, and discarded automagic parts.
Durfvn, the sturdy, grumbling master dwarf, stood in the center of it all. His arms were crossed, his bushy beard slightly singed at the tip from a recent forge mishap. He glanced up as the elves arrived, one after another, their magic bags dangling from belts, hips, and shoulders.
"Well, well," Durfvn said, scratching his chin. "You lot actually brought decent materials. Didn't expect that."
Yuuna stepped forward, holding a scroll of parchment under her arm. It was a slightly charred, heavily sketched blueprint, one of several. She laid it on the nearest crate and unrolled it carefully. The design was intricate: six massive wheels, staggered axles for mountain terrain, a reinforced chassis with shock-absorbing glyphs, and an enclosed driver seat powered by a crystal mana array.
"No horse. No bull. No sheep," Yuuna said, pointing at each detail. "Fully automagic. Unless the enchantments fail. Then, driver required."
Durfvn grunted. "Looks stable enough. This is the first time I see design of siz wheel carriage. I like it."
"Minor risk," Yuuna replied without emotion.
Yetsan stepped forward and laid out three of the iron ingots. "These are for the chassis frame and wheel rim. I've already measured the tensile strength. Dwarven-grade material."
Kyle pulled a large log from his magic bag and let it drop with a solid thump onto the forge floor. "This one doesn't have a face. We checked."
Durfvn squatted down beside the wood, running a gloved hand over the surface. "Trent lumber, eh? Cursed kind?"
"We purified it," Fuhiken said quickly. "Blessed it. Cut the cursed part off."
Durfvn raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Jessica set the fire mana stone beside the wood. "Plenty more in our magic bags."
Fahleena raised her own bag and shook it dramatically. "A hundred stones, stolen from the fiery nest of the Great Culinary Pyromancer! The Gourmet Harbinger of the Abyssal Flames!"
Gabyola quietly translated to Durfvn: "She means the bird was nesting, and we took the stones."
Durfvn turned to Gigih next, who stood stiffly with his spellbook clutched to his chest. "And the mage?"
Gigih gulped. "I'll power the rune work. Carefully."
The dwarf nodded. "Alright then. We'll begin at dawn. For now, rest. You've earned it."
---
As the sun began to dip behind the mountain ridges, the party dispersed. Some remained behind to organize materials. Others made their way toward the inn where they would spend the night.
Yuuna sat in the corner of the workshop yard, parchment in hand, scribbling small adjustments to her blueprint. Every now and then, she glanced at the magic bag Sakura had recovered, still twitching slightly like it had thoughts of its own.
"If that thing jumps again..." she murmured, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Sakura sat nearby, happily eating a rice ball. "Want one?"
Yuuna looked at her. "...No."
Inside the inn later that evening, Fuhiken sat across from Gabyola at the dinner table. The two eldest of the group shared a quiet meal while their siblings laughed, argued, and accidentally set things on fire in the background.
Gabyola sipped her tea and said, "You're trying too hard again."
Fuhiken sighed. "I'm supposed to be the leader."
"Be yourself," she replied. "Even if that means letting Kyle and Sinryo paint each other's faces with pudding."
He glanced to the side. Indeed, Kyle and Sinryo were doing just that.
Fuhiken groaned softly and muttered, "I need another tea."
Outside, the Dwarven sky dimmed, the first stars twinkling behind drifting smoke from chimneys and forge stacks. Tomorrow, the build would begin. Explosions were likely. Chaos was certain. But for now, twelve elf children rested, together once again.
And somewhere far above, the Fiery Glutton of Forbidden Flavors, the Infernal Avian Purloiner of Celestial Provisions, the Magnificent Winged Menace of Culinary Covetousness soared under moonlight… possibly hunting its next snack.
---