After a short and sweet encounter with Stella, Kir decided to take a stroll with his new glamour, glad to fine it could properly project whatever clothes he turned Mimzy into.
Kordia wouldn’t be back until evening, so he thought maybe he could surprise her with a visit.
Business within the city was largely conducted by trade over the lake, so it had been quicker to recover in fits and starts depending on which ships arrived or were allowed to dock first. Luxuries were few, but Kir managed to find a baker who was selling sothing similar to a sweet tofu pastry that he rembered Kordia liking from the Academy cafeteria.
He put in an order for a dozen, paying up front, and had a quarter-hour to wait, so he decided to wander a block away to Enumasam’s smithy.
He found the smith with his back to the street, the movent of his arms in parallel suggesting he was twisting sothing, as an orcish man counted and tabulated bags of nails, steel architectural braces, crowbars, spades, shovels, and holding posts.
"Hello in the forge!" Kir called out with a smile, watching the spectral lips of his glamour pull back to match.
The orcish man approached and shook Kir’s hand. "I’m Goro, his husband. He won’t talk to you while he’s concentrating. So asshole sent him designs for a new weapon and it’s all he’s been working on all night." Goro gestured at a set of long and short tubes that were laying aside, cracked or warped.
"I’m..." Shit, I didn’t think this far. "Na..."
"Na?"
"Narumi. Narumi Kiryu."
"Stealing my na now?" Kiryu protested.
"You’re the one who thinks we’re the sa person!" Kir shot back.
"Touche."
"Oh. You’re from Retha. I thought redfurs were all from Dorred. You here with the Gra’s army?"
Kir shook his head. "No. I’m just here to see the famous Enumasam at work. I did not think he’d start my commission so soon."
"When Enu gets it in his head to do sothing he likes, he doesn’t stop. Not even for the city!" Goro raised his voice for the last line. "I’ve had to help out because most of the apprentices are still gone."
"Is that Kir Gale?" Enumasam suddenly asked, keeping his back turned.
"It’s the a- the one who sent a runner this morning with the commission," Goro shouted back. "The one you’re jeopardizing your contract with the city for."
Goro stopped, undoing a vice before extracting the tube of glowing tal with tongs. He started waving it through the air as he turned.
"Oh. I thought you were soone else," he said, continuing his swings. "One mont sir."
He walked over to a barrel of brine and shoved the tube into it, before dropping the tongs and holding his hands over the quenching pipe, using magic to swirl it around by moving the brine. After a few monts, he was done, and he picked up the tongs and extracted it.
With heavily gloved hands, he held the pipe and checked its length. "Haha! I told you I would get it true!" he looked with a smile at Goro.
"Yes, and it only took you seven other tries."
"Eight is my lucky number," he chuckled.
"I’m still not adopting another five kids for you," Goro replied. "Three is enough."
Enumasam chuckled even louder as he set aside the pipe and approached Kir to shake his hand. "You are tall, but I suppose redfurs are known for it." His head tilted slightly. "What is it you have forging today?" he asked.
"That would be sothing to discuss in private," Kir answered.
Enumasam gestured and walked with Kir the slight distance it took to enter the alley.
As soon as they were alone, Enumasam said, "It is a weapon, I assu?"
"Why would you assu that?" Kir asked back.
"Hmph. A test? I thought you hired because you were sure of my capability." He chuckled. "Very well. The stock design, it resembles that for a heavy crossbow. I am not versed in working bone, so I sent those knives to a tanner I know who does handles and the like. Wood will be added for the larger weapon." He cleared his throat then continued.
"The twist specified for the tubes, and the way each part seems to fit together, suggests passing sothing from one end to another. And the specifications for the steel are precise, with a great deal of hardness needed for the inside. Thus, I assu it is ant to endure a lot of friction... or resist magic, as steel is known for. And sothing expanding within, perhaps, like a spell."
Kir smiled. "Very astute," he said. "They are weapons. A new weapon type I am calling ’guns’."
"Guns?" Enumasam rubbed his chin.
"Exactly what you have guessed," Kir said.
Enumasam continued to rub his chin. "I sense there is more though... What other things will they do?"
"Why are you giving away all your secrets?" Kiryu asked.
"Because he’s done right by us in the past," Kir replied.
"I’ve seen his type. Masters who just want to do one thing. If soone asks the wrong question, he might spill. Not because he’s ill-intentioned, just because he thinks he’s apolitical."
"I’ll deal with that when we get there."
"Don’t say I didn’t warn you."
Enumasam had asked a question, but Kir had been distracted. "Hm?" he sounded.
"I asked, what else will it do?"
"Oh. I apologize... But I would prefer to keep as much of it secret as possible. If you cannot guess, I must refrain."
"Hmph. Very well. Feel free to return if it does not work with these other things. It has been quite a while since I have worked steel for weapons." He looked at Kir sideways.
Kir held a small smile to himself, knowing how fascinating Enumasam had found the alloy Kir had introduced him to.
"The rebuilding, right?" Kir gestured vaguely towards the city beyond the alley.
"Just so," Enumasam said. He rubbed his chin again. "If I may make a suggestion, a weapon as long as the first ’gun’ would be awkward in a fight. If there is space for it, I could affix a blade to the tube-"
"Barrel," Kir corrected.
"Ah. I had thought that word was an artifact from earlier writing... Paper grows more precious by the day after all."
"It is fine," Kir said. He hadn’t thought about adding a bayonet, but that would give him an additional option. "Perhaps a small knife; one that could be removed from the barrel at need. A bolt or so other latching, welded to the end, could be used to affix it, if you alter the hilt with a hole to fit."
"That would be a rather large hole for a small knife’s hilt... but I have the asure of what you ask... Can I interest you in having it made of a new alloy? Stronger and tougher than steel, but expensive."
"Steel is fine, but what is this new alloy?" Kir asked.
"I have nad it kiralloy, after its creator. An inspired young lad... Tall, like yourself." Enumasam shook his head. "A sha he seems to have departed. The city has not been kind to demonkin since the siege."
"Yes, a sha," Kir said, grimacing as Kiryu had started cackling in his head.
"He nad the alloy after us!" Kiryu laughed and laughed. "Congrats, kid! We’re in history now!" the scientist chortled. "Fuck, it’s better than when they called that blend ’circonium’."
Kir hadn’t rembered that na.
"But again, steel is fine," Kir said. If his hunch was right, the material wouldn’t actually matter so much as making sure it was built to specifications, comfortable to hold, and didn’t explode from all the enchantnts he was going to have packed into the "bullets".
After all, his plan was to feed these weapons to Kangetsu.
"Is there anything else I can help you with, Sir Narumi?" Enumasam asked.
Kir smiled. "I’d like to set up a eting with an enchanter."
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