"No no no!"
Kir heard soone calling out as he stepped into Enumasam’s forge and workshop. A tall, lanky orc was berating an apprentice before he slapped the red hex on the grid of stone in front of the boy.
"How many tis do I have to tell you? Speed up when the diater decreases."
"I’m trying... I just can’t see it in my head and the numbers..."
"You should be studying the math on your own at ho. Look at Sam! They’ve already got the design mastered, and they have a baby!"
Sitting one seat away was Sam, their baby sleeping in a cradle one asure away.
Kir frowned, noting the chainmail curtain protecting the child. The tools in use were as safe as he could design them, but they were still dangerous...
As soon as he stepped into range, Sam turned and gave Kir a smile. They knew they weren’t supposed to act familiar with Kir when he was in disguise, but they still waved at him, and he returned it.
"Goro, can I talk to you a minute?" Kir asked.
"What is it now?" Enumasam’s husband asked, a slightly put-out look on his face. "So new weapon design to make even more of a forge-widower?"
"Co now, you’re only pretending to be mad. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be doing this instead of being a stay-at-ho husband," Kir smirked. "But no, this ti I have a design for you."
Kir preferred a blueprint and Goro snatched it out of his hand. "Let’s see-"
A sudden clatter announced Enumasam’s entry into the shop.
"Another delamination!" he declared, hands up in frustration. "I need more chromium!"
He quickly approached Goro and Kir.
"I’m frustrated, kiss ," he demanded of his husband, who bent and pecked him on the lips. Enumasam took a long breath before turning to Kir. "Professor Nasumi, welco. What’s this?"
"It looks like the arcane lathe, but sideways," Goro said.
"I call this one an arcane mill. It has the sa requirents to use, and I added an extra feature you requested."
"What feature is that?" Enumasam asked.
Kir pointed toward the center of the blueprint. "This scribing will blow compressed air at the tal, keeping it cool while it’s being worked."
"Oh! That’s excellent!"
The arcane lathe had been inspired by Manifest Arms, Rainier’s favorite spell. Kir ca to an epiphany one day that if magic could make weapons, why couldn’t it make tools?
By creating the tools instead of simply trying to shape tals directly - and many of them were resistant to mana - he could vastly reduce the amount of overall mana needed to work tal. A long week of writing a programmable magic script set had given birth to the first lathe, and the hex-grid design made it easy to replace parts of the script quickly while honing in on the exact features he wanted.
The final product produced three primary effects: Holding the workpiece, holding a tal cutting apparatus, and spinning the workpiece. The position of the cutting implent could be adjusted with keys that controlled the available axes. The speed at which the tal could spin depended more on steady mana output than brute force - though the latter could produce higher speeds. Using magic to spin tal was a breeze compared to trying to cut tal with magic, and once Kir talked Enumasam into producing the first set of milliter-precision drills, it was off to the races.
Because the machine itself was ford of mana, there was no need to worry about lubrication - except for the contact points of the workpiece and cutters - and extra script hexes could be kept nearby for replacents as inattentive apprentices let their workpieces drop onto the delicate scripts. But the best feature of all was that anyone with sufficient mana could operate it, as it drew most of its needs from the ambient mana instead of the user.
And now he had a version for milling, which was calibrated to hundredths of a milliter - or milliasure, as it was said in Common.
Enumasam scoffed. "I still don’t understand the appeal of shaving tiny bits of tal. Shaping is best done with a good fire and a good arm!" He flexed a bicep and held it.
"Shaving ’tiny bits’ is what’s keeping you in the forge, husband. Or would you rather be making screws and fixings?"
Enumasam let out a show of false humility. "Thank you, Goro, for taking that burden from ."
"You’re lucky I’ve got a good head for numbers."
"I married you for your good head," Enumasam replied with a completely straight face.
Kir coughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
"Is it safe to let Sam have their baby here?"
"Of course it is. That crib and those curtains are all kiralloy."
"What about the noise?"
"I’ve got it!" Sam said, having clearly been listening in despite resuming their work. As if demonstrating they waved a hand and the entire row of arcane lathes went silent.
As soon as that anomaly hit, so of the apprentices stopped working to stare, and Sam withdrew her mavenry a mont later.
"Alright then," Kir smiled. Working with Sam on their mavenry had been a long process, and in the end, they’d opted for control over suppression of their ability. Kir still rembered the look on their face as Moshui activated the tattoo script, giving them control of their mavenry - which could directly counteract sounds - for the first ti.
Before then, Sam struggled to even speak, having to consciously suppress their ability to get even a word out. Now they spoke freely and often talked to their child when not at work.
Wanting to verify that the baby was fine, Kir took a few steps and parted the chainmail curtain.
Little baby Cari was mostly human, except for their curling horns - a mark of their father, a goat beastkin nad Carroon, who had died almost three years ago. As ti went on they might develop more bestial traits, but so far the only thing that indicated they weren’t all human were horns and their goat-like, golden eyes.
Those eyes were presently closed as they slept peacefully, their little button nose blowing a bubble of mucus that Kir wiped away with a bit of magic.
He’d just stepped away when he saw Kordia entering through the front door with scrolls and scrolls of designs.
"Kordia! My angelic muse!" Goro called out. "How are you this fine weekend?"
"I’ve been better. Last week soone tried to assassinate my friend." She looked over at Kir and pretended to be a little surprised. "Professor," she greeted.
"The princess, I rember. I’m glad she survived."
"It was thanks to Professor Nasumi apprehending the assassin," she credited him.
"Really now? He said nothing about it to us," Enumasam crossed his arms. "I’m guessing those are all for Goro?" He gestured widely at the bundle of scrolls.
"Well he is the best whitesmith in the city now," she waggled her eyebrows.
"By necessity. Otherwise, I’d never see my husband."
"I brought one for you too," Kordia extracted a smaller scroll and reached out with it.
Enumasam unfurled the scroll and puffed out so air, but then his eyes widened. "Now this is interesting. A knife, but what are all these other bits? A sawblade..."
"Those should all be designed to fold in and out so that if one has one of these, one has any number of built-in tools."
"Hmm... It seems more for utility than a weapon, but I’ll give it a shot. Maybe I can make a larger version with an actual sword..." He rolled up the scroll. "My thanks."
"Now, let’s see what you have for ," Goro said, gesturing at an unused work table.
Kordia unfurled the largest scroll and started pointing. "I’ve been continuing with the natural the. So for the new wall, I was inspired by my visit to a world tree."
"Fascinating... a mural made of tal." He tapped at the specification block in the corner of the blueprint.
"A mural with a thin layer of kiralloy, on the outer face of the wall. It will tell the recent history of the city and provide a layer of protection, because there will be enchantnts to cool the tal harder than anything it can be reasonably hit with."
"And if soone tried to climb it, their limbs would freeze and they’d shatter like glass," Enumasam noted, which made Kordia flinch.
"Y-yes, it would be quite deadly to the touch. When activated. But it’s not like we can afford to extend the city shields that far out, so it’ll do."
"’It’ll do’ she says. A job like this will need all the guilds and a hundred new apprentices besides... to say nothing of the cost."
"I designed it to be done in sections. And as to the cost... once the new money system is in place, I’ve been assured by the Mayor that this project will be at the top of the budget for public works, after the rail loop."
"So we’ll see it in seven years then... You won’t be around then," Goro said sadly.
Kordia shrugged. "I’ll be happy knowing Norneau is safe and beautiful. A city of wonders, even more than Aaru."
"As beautiful and wonderful as you," Kir said, just above a whisper, and everyone gathered there turned to look at him. "Did I say that out loud?" He blushed a bit.
"Go take a walk, you two," Enumasam chuckled. "Go see the beautiful city. We’ll look over all this work you’re giving us... And if you see Moshui, give her our condolences for her shop."
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