kscans

Chapter 526 - Meanwhile: Part 2

"—...Hmm. I'm just not feeling it."

I've been groaning and grumbling, and who knows how much time has passed. The words tumbling from my mouth are ones I'm frankly sick of hearing myself.

In my familiar workshop, leaning back in my favorite chair that has molded to my avatar's body, I held a cup of my new favorite flavored tea in one hand and gazed up at the ceiling... The artisan's copper eyes reflected the two different-colored 'stones' held in her other hand.

One was jet black, a mirror of death, a stone of thought and will that held a 'star' within.

The other was amber, a迷 stone of legacy, of dependence, of otherness that held a 'flower' within.

They were items from a request I'd received from that client a while back. As always, he'd given me the most ridiculously vague yet perfectly understanding order: "Make me something interesting." And for a while now, they'd been a difficult problem I hadn't been able to touch.

Due to various circumstances, a path forward had unexpectedly opened up. However, my selfish pride, my refusal to create something half-assed, was preventing me from activating my Magic Craft.

He had dutifully reported that he would be away from the virtual world for about a week, and indeed, it was the night of the second day since the usually boisterous group had stopped logging in. I hadn't declared it, but I had decided on a deadline of five days from now... and at this rate, I probably wouldn't make it.

Kagura was not one to think that as long as she was making something good, it didn't matter how much time it took. That's because any 'client' would surely be happier the sooner they received their commissioned item.

At least, she viewed the business between artisan and client as a kind of 'match.' When she could slam down a creation with a speed, quality, and mechanism that surpassed their expectations—

—that's when the client would be most surprised and delighted.

...Therefore, it couldn't be helped. With a sigh of reluctance, Kagura opened her friend list and called the top name.

"—Ah, hello? I'm on my way, so clear some time for me."

Sometimes, relying on others is a necessary form of decisiveness, she muttered as an excuse to herself.

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"As always, you're the epitome of a free spirit over here."

"You're the one who told me to be. I'll take that as a compliment."

Ten minutes after her unannounced declaration of arrival. At the top floor of the headquarters she hadn't visited in a long time, the crimson and scarlet magic crafters met.

One was a man. His long hair was tied back at the nape of his neck, and he was dressed in the simple, rugged attire of a swordsmith.

He looked the part, but right now, he wasn't seated in a workshop filled with heat, but at a desk. In his hand was not a hammer, but a pen, and before him was not fire and steel, but a mountain of documents.

And the other was a woman, her long hair also tied up in a high ponytail. Her slightly disheveled kimono gave off her usual imposing air, but...

"You haven't changed, here or there. Maybe the gods are telling you that desk work suits you."

"Don't joke like that. Give me a break..."

Her relaxed expression and tone were a good twenty percent looser than her usual 'free spirit' self, according to the man—aware of this, Kagura paid it no mind and just scoffed at her acquaintance's tired face.

"You say that after climbing up here all on your own. You're enjoying it, aren't you?"

"Well, that's... —So? As you can see, I'm busy. If you have business, I'd like to hear it soon."

They exchanged familiar banter and smiles, and at the man's prompting, she gave a single nod. "Alright."

"...Ah, I see. So it's a 'Lost Echoes' artifact."

Upon seeing the amber stone placed on the desk with a soft clink, he smiled with amusement. Before the stone he'd identified as a rare find, his copper eyes, the same color as Kagura's, seemed to faintly glow.

"A cherry blossom in magically condensed amber... and not just a single petal, but the whole thing from the receptacle up. That's truly rare. The kind of thing a collector would kill for."

"Well, yeah. After all, the one who picked it up was none other than the [Traveler]."

"Oh... my, my. I see. This doesn't seem to be just any rare find—so, this is a request from your favorite, who received it from him, is that right?"

Kagura shot a glare at his amused gaze and tone, dismissing it, and plopped down in the guest chair as if she owned the place.

Even if anyone else were present, no one could reprimand her, and their relationship wasn't one where a little rudeness would be an issue.

"Who are you making small talk with? It's not like it's interesting anymore."

"Hey, hey, it's been over a month since the Four Pillar War. We've got things to catch up on..."

"You think?"

"...Well, maybe not."

They exchanged another uninteresting word and a comfortable smile—and four copper eyes almost simultaneously changed into those of artisans.

"You were in the last event too, weren't you? So you must have thoroughly examined that stone on site."

"Oh, I did—and honestly, what a pain in the ass that was."

"Such language, Clan Master. You can't let the lower ranks hear you."

"Oops, my apologies, Sub Master. Let's keep that off the record."

As he spoke, the man called 'Master' took a 'stone' from his inventory. It was a jet-black stone containing stardust, a [Stardust Relic] that had fallen into his hands during the recent event, [Starry Paradise].

Seeing him glare at it with disgust, Kagura let out a soft chuckle.

"Well, that was the first thing I thought when I saw it too—'Ah, you're going to sulk about this,' I thought."

"Of course I am... It's like I've been desperately jiggling a lock, trying to open it, only for someone to kick the door open from the other side."

"Hah, if it lets you move forward and have fun, isn't that a good thing?"

"You hedonist..."

With a ridiculously long sigh that sounded as if he had given up on everything, or was trying to force himself to, the man placed the [Stardust Relic] in his hand on the desk, next to the [Sacred Cherry Blossom Amber Stone].

"Good timing... No, you probably just brought it to me now because of this."

"Well, yeah. The path has opened up, but if I'm aiming for the best, I should just rely on the expert."

She had meant it as a straightforward statement, but the one she said it to just gave a wry smile.

"Expert... more like no one else would touch it, so I had to..."

"But the result is that you know more about it than anyone else, isn't it?"

"That's true," he finally conceded, though the wry smile remained. Unlike Kagura, who was a self-proclaimed and publicly acknowledged confident person, he was slightly unconfident and unreliable, a fact known among his inner circle.

And it was also a known fact that the skill of the [Crimson Arm] was more trustworthy than anyone else's.

'Lost Echoes'—rare stones that had strayed into the present, carrying with them relics of the past that no longer existed in the current world of Arcadia, along with condensed primal mana.

It was understood that they could be used for something, but they were a collective term for materials that had been piling up in a heap because no method had been developed to extract the power hidden within.

Whether you tried to crack them, drill a hole in them, or melt them, the moment you tried to extract the power from within, they would lose their luster. They were unprocessable items. After years of effort, there was still no breakthrough in sight, and everyone had revised their perception from 'rare item' to 'useless junk'—a piece of history marking the defeat of magic crafters.

He, who had continued to research them half as a hobby, half out of stubbornness, must have been furious.

Of all things, the system itself had presented a solution—to extract memories from the residual mana and form matter—without any warning whatsoever.

Any magic crafter who could see the color of mana would understand the process the moment they saw it even once. The phenomenon of items being generated by crushing [Stardust Relics] was the very trigger for the next technology that many artisans had been seeking.

Most still haven't realized it. And that is precisely why—

"Let's do a joint production for the first time in a long time. Lend me a hand."

—the 'first' to be created from now on should be something that, no matter how many people look back on it from the future, will be a source of pride.

The former top artisan and the current top artisan. If the two highest-ranking artisans teamed up, the cast would be more than sufficient.

"...I could have sworn I said I was busy."

Even as he said it, the smile that played on his lips was a mirror image of the 'Playful Fire-User's.' Tossing his pen onto the desk as if abandoning it, the man—the 'Mirage Workshop' clan master, the [Crimson Arm], Enra—heaved himself to his feet with an elderly "oof."

"Well, I guess I can manage slacking off for a few days."

"The one who'll have to manage it is you, a few days from now."

And so, Kagura fell in step with Enra, who had picked up the requested items and started walking.

"I'm granting my niece's 'request,' so you'd think she'd be a little more appreciative. She used to be so cute and attached to me, always calling me 'Uncle, Uncle!'"

"Hh... U-um, you were the one who made me promise to stick to the roleplay even when we're alone in the virtual world...! I'm forcing myself to act, so could you please not be the one to suddenly break character...!?"

"Because I knew you'd slip up immediately if you didn't make a habit of being thorough all the time... Well, in the end, my plan failed, and 'Playful Fire-User' Kagura's character-breaking antics have become famous, so I guess I can just give up on a lot of things."

"Don't call them character-breaking antics...!!"

The two artisans, a close uncle and niece, disappeared into the workshop at the back of the room.