I pocketed the drop items and went back to Onesco. She was still playing with Tom, looking happier than usual.
Even the eyes she always kept sharp and lifted looked a little softer. Then she spoke, almost to herself.
"...My dream is to become a holy knight. My family is a knight house. Generation after generation, we serve people of rank. My parents told me I would be a knight too. At first I hated the idea of walking a path that had already been decided."
She flipped Tom over and kept going while she smoothed the fur on his back.
"But after I became Lady Monaka's classmate in middle school, that changed. I touched her kindness, and that deep compassion... I started to want, strongly, to protect her. But to truly protect a saintess, I have to become a holy knight..."
Holy knight is one of the advanced jobs above knight. A knight can serve a saintess, but cannot go with her into sacred ground and other holy places.
A holy knight is a knight recognized by the gods, so entry into sacred ground is allowed. I had a thought.
"You needed that raw stone to become a holy knight?"
"Yes. There are several trials to become a holy knight. The very first is to set three gems into the hilt of the sword that is a knight's starting gear. Red, blue, and yellow."
Onesco drew the sword at her waist, sheath and all, and showed it to me. The hilt did have small hollows for gems.
"Three gems, different colors. That's a lot."
At a pioneer academy, getting gems is hard.
"It is. Finding them is the hard part. You have to find a mine first, and gems barely come out."
I picked up from there.
"Even if you get lucky and find one, a raw stone isn't recognized as a gem. It has to be worked. You need a Jeweler."
Jeweler is the advanced job above Stonecrafter. Advanced jobs show up late in pioneering, and there is no guarantee a student will become a jeweler.
Tom, satisfied after a full-body massage, slipped out of Onesco's hands and jumped onto the rock. Onesco sounded reluctant to let him go.
"And that isn't the only holy-knight trial. A lot of students at this academy are aiming for it, and maybe not one of them will make it. But for Lady Monaka, I mean to keep trying and not give up."
I barely heard the declaration. Tom on the rock had taken my attention.
He set his claws in the rock and raked. The rock tore apart like a wafer.
Onesco was amazed.
"Wow. Tom sharpens his claws on rock."
That itself was not surprising to me. A black panther's claws are too much for wood, so he sharpens them on stone.
I had seen it a few times at the house in the forest. Today there was something new.
Tom was not only using his claws. Now and then he licked the rock. Countless thorn-like points came out of his tongue and scraped the surface like a diamond file.
That felt wrong.
"When I tamed Tom in the pet battle, he jumped on me and licked my face. His tongue was smooth then..."
I had an idea, and went closer.
"Tom, can I see your tongue?"
Tom looked up at the call, puzzled. When I call him during grooming he always forgets to put his tongue away, and his face was the same now.
I checked the tongue of a baffled Tom. Spines were coming out of the surface and going back in, and I was sure.
"Right. Tom's tongue is like his claws. He can put the spines out and in as he likes. Spines that can scrape rock...!"
I held a palm out to Onesco.
"Onesco, lend me that raw stone for a second!"
"Wh-what are you planning to do?"
"Just hurry!"
Caught off guard, she held it out, and I took it. I pinched it between finger and thumb and brought it to Tom's mouth like a vet doing an exam.
"Tom, can you put the spines out?"
Tom made an odd little sound, then shot the spines from his tongue all the way out. They were as long as a bed of nails, and I was a little startled.
"They extend that far? You don't need that much. Just enough that the tips show."
Tom looked put upon, but he answered. He crossed his golden eyes, and the spines drew in as if linked to them.
When they were about as coarse as a rough file, I stopped him.
"Good, that length. Can you hold it there?"
Tom chirped.
Just in case, I class-changed to Stonecrafter. I set the raw stone against Tom's tongue and moved it like I was scraping.
The stone shaved away. I saw the smooth surface, and my heart kicked up.
"What...!? Working a gem takes high-level tools...!"
"H-hey, Leopin-kun, what are you doing?"
I was too caught up to answer the voice behind me, and kept cutting the gem. Tom did not seem to mind. He held his mouth open and stayed still, like someone getting a cavity treated.
"Good. The rough shape is there. Can you make the grain finer?"
Tom narrowed his eyes into a dead-fish stare.
"Ah, no, not that. I want the spines on your tongue pulled in a little more."
Tom chirped.
When he pulled the spines in as far as they would go, the surface of his tongue was like sandpaper. "Good, that's it." I set the gem to it again and polished the surface.
"Done!"
"Hey, done with what?"
I turned at the voice behind me and tossed the gem. "Here. Giving it back."
What had been a raw stone had a cloudy face. Now it was clear as water. The geometric cut threw sparks when the sunlight hit it.
Aquamarine
Quantity: 1
Quality Level: 24 (Material Level 20 + Dexterity Bonus 4)
A gem holding the power of a water spirit. Worked into equipment or used as decoration, it grants the power of water.
"Wh-what!?"