"Woah! This place looks pretty neat!"

Fable looked around the workshop in wonder, filled with shelves and stacks of weapons neatly placed on display, with a large furnace and anvils in the back.

"You... made all these yourself?" inquired Frederick.

"Yep. Though, on occasion, Aria helps me with maintenance and other things."

"Where do you get the materials?"

"Depends on the client. If they're adventurers or anyone who can take on a magifauna, then they get the materials themselves, and I make the weapons. Otherwise, I just buy it from the market or the local guilds."

"How... long does that take?"

"Hard to say," Aron put held up his chin in thought, "I guess it could be something like a week or two at least, and a few months at worst."

"Are weapons really that hard to make? I mean... Shouldn't you have a lot of references from other weapons or something?"

Aron chuckled at Frederick's suggestion, "Well, sure. It definitely helps, especially if your goal is mass-production. But you see, kid..." Aron took two swords from a nearby stand, "Every weapon's different. One sword can be longer than the other, one can have a longer hilt. Hell, they could even be made of different metals.

"And it's not just the weapon, either," he continued, "The wielder's just as important; Their body structure, their arm strength, even their personality. When you take all those into account, you realize that... you can't just make them any old sword. You gotta make something that works for the wielder."

"Huh..." Frederick took a moment to process this, "There's so much more work put into smithing than I thought-"

"Are you guys just gonna keep on with the smithing lecture, or are you gonna get to business already?"

Aron and Frederick were interrupted by Aria, who was standing next to a blank-faced Fable, tapping her foot in impatience.

Aron sighed as he shook his head, "Alright, alright. Well then..." He turned to face Fable, "What can I-"

"We," Aria interjected.

"How can we help you?" He corrected himself, perhaps to humor his daughter.

"Well... We actually have two requests," Fable replied, "One: We'd like a new weapon for him," he pointed to Frederick as he took up his Railcannon Blade and placed it on a table, "And two: I was hoping you could upgrade this."

Aria's eyes widened in surprise as she leaned towards the blade, later being joined by Aron. Fable then fiddled with the sheath's mechanisms to turn it to cannon form, further grabbing their interest.

"Woah... Obsidianbark scabbard... steel-sujiton alloy blade..." Aria studied the blade with sparkling eyes, until she noticed...

"Huh? The core inside the hilt... this... this isn't a prism crystal. What is this?"

"Hmm..." Aron stroked his beard as he studied the small crystal, "Is this what I think it is?"

Fable smiled, "Symperium core," he said as he took out the little ball and handed it to Aron, "A mana superconductor. Instead of using artificial mana sources, it takes natural mana from your body, with no energy lost. At least... in theory," the boy scratched his head with a wry smile, "There's just one problem with it..."

"It's alloyed, which makes it less conductive," Aron finished the boy's sentence, as he took a closer look at the orb, "From what I understand, we still don't have the technology to give symperium a pure and unalloyed physical form. I can tell there's some anthesite in here to make up for that," he smiled as he put the core back in its compartment in the hilt, "Well, there's definitely a lot of room for improvement, but as far as I'm concerned, this beauty's already more powerful than most standard military equipment. I'd like to meet whoever designed this!"

"It's a birthday present from my moms," Fable responded as he closed the sheath, "I just got it last year. They wanted me to have a weapon that can keep up with my apparently absurd load of mana."

"Well, yeah!" Aria said with somewhat wry expression on her face, "I can't imagine the amount of mana you'd need to..." She stopped midsentence, as though remembering something, "Hold on a second... Anthesite is cheap, but... Isn't it also one of the most mana-resistant core materials? So if you're losing a lot of output from your blade, then..." Her face turned pale, "Just how much mana do you have in there?"

"Well, it's true that my railcannon takes a lot of mana out of me," Fable replied as he stroked his stomach, "I couldn't use it too often 'cause I was worried about my moms' food budget."

So that's why you eat so much! Thought Frederick.

Aria slumped onto the table with her hands above her head, still pale from the implication of what Fable had just said "This incomplete core's holding you back."

Aron face lit up as though realizing something, "By any chance, are you the one behind the Belltower Incident?"

Fable' face feigned ignorance, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Aron laughed, while Aria's face turned even paler. The former then turned to Frederick, "Alright... your turn. What kind of weapon are you looking for?"

"I... I don't know, honestly," Frederick confessed, "I was just told that a sword might not be best for me."

"I see," Aron stroked his beard as he inspected Frederick's body, "You've got good muscle structure... good arm strength, too. I can tell you take your training seriously. What made you stick with a sword?"

Frederick's cheeks turned slightly red as he hesitated to answer.

"It's... rather silly, in hindsight," the boy scratched his head as he finally answered, "I was just trying to... imitate my brother so I could catch up to him. Maybe I didn't put as much thought into my first weapon as I should have."

"Well, I wouldn't say you wasted your time. Now that you're pretty much in good shape and know basic combat, I don't think you'd have a lot of trouble adjusting to your new weapon. Though... Without anything to work with. it is gonna take a while to narrow down what'd suit you."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Frederick internally agreed. However, a memory suddenly flashed back to him... To his practice duel with General Flamehart.

"Actually, there is... one thing..." he said.

"Oh?"

"During a practice duel... I was having trouble with using my sword but..." He gestured as thought to pretend he was using a weapon, "I found it a lot easier to just thrust it at my opponent."

Hearing this, Aron went into thought for a moment as he mumbled to himself, "A thrusting weapon... maybe a spear or a javelin?"

After a moment of deliberation, he lead Frederick to the workshop's backyard, where a small number dummies were kept. He then handed the boy what looked to be a standard spear.

"Try attacking the dummies with this. Don't worry, they're tough."

Frederick hesitantly took the spear in his hands and... found it rather comfortable to carry. The weight felt well balanced in both hands. Perhaps... he couldn't hold a sword properly because he had to hold it with both hands in one place?

Here goes...

Frederick took a deep breath and shifted into a stance he thought fit best, setting his sight on the dummy in front of him.

He dashed forward, thrusting the spear into the dummy's chest. And... Although not penetrated, the dummy was sent flying back into the wall, before crashing down onto the floor.

"Wow, you're a lot stronger than I thought," Aron complimented, "And it looks like the spear really works for you."

Frederick was unsure how to react, "It felt... strangely natural to me. I... never imagined myself taking a different weapon, other than what my brother uses. Is that weird?"

Aron chuckled, "Trust me, kid. It doesn't get any more normal than that. Sometimes, just trying something new can tell something about yourself you never knew. That's just life."

"You know, Master Frederick... It wouldn't hurt to try something other than just swordplay once in a while. Who knows? Perhaps you'll find a new calling for yourself."

Frederick couldn't help but smile at that. Yeah... Maybe you were onto something, Philip.

"So... does this mean you can make a spear for me?" The boy asked the blacksmith.

"Hmm..." Aron stroked his beard once again, "I could make it for you myself... but..." After a moment of thought, he walked back into the workshop, "Come with me."

They both entered to see that Aria was slumped onto the table yet again. It seemed that this time she was looking at Fable's repentelite shield.

"You need to have enough mana in your system to deflect mana..." she muttered half-consciously, "There's no way a human being can have that much mana in their body..."

"Aria," Aron called.

"Y-YES!" the girl quickly stood up in a panic as she was snapped back to reality.

"You wanted a chance to work on your own project. Well, here it is," he put a hand on Frederick's shoulder, "You'll be making him a spear. Get his specifications and craft one accordingly."

"Huh?" Aria stood still for a moment, before fully processing what she heard and entering a state of disbelief and aggressively pointing at Frederick, "Excuse me? You want me to make a spear for him?"

"Aria..." Her father responded in a reprimanding tone.

The girl stuttered in hesitation for moment, before groaning in submission and crossing her arms, "Fine. I'll make his stupid spear."

"Good," Aron said, satisfied with her answer, "It'll be a good first assignment for you. You'll also be in charge of upgrading that blade," he pointed to Fable's Railcannon Blade.

"Wait, what?" she panicked, "The spear's one thing, but this is..."

"I trust you."

Aria turned to Fable, who offered her the blade in his arms.

"What? But why? Isn't this important to you? How can you trust me with this so easily?"

"Well... I'd say I just trust my gut, but... My moms told me that... Sometimes you just have to take the first step, so... I'm taking it."

Aria stared at the boy for a moment, before steeling herself and accepting the Blade, "Alright... I'll do it."

Fable nodded, but for some reason, Aria suddenly sensed a chilling aura radiating from him, "Of course, I expect you to compensate if you do end up breaking it."

The girl squeaked in fear at the unexpected 'threat'.

"He's right," Aron nodded, "That's also a part of your job as a blacksmith. When you fail a request, you take responsibility."

"Oh, also, I'll need you to make some written contracts for me and Fred. After all, this is our first deal."

"Good idea. I'll get some paper," Aron said as he walked to the back.

As Aria stood at her spot, tightly clinging onto the Blade as though it was her lifeline, Frederick made a mental note to himself to never get on Fable's bad side.

----------------------------------------

"I could've been out there, having a lovely date with a rich noble... but instead, I'm here... looking through personnel files."

Rona sighed as she looked through several papers describing various personnel working at the academy.

"You're still complaining? You could've just said no when the General called you, he said it himself."

She looked up from her desk to see Lester, taking more documents and books from the shelves nearby. On the other side of the room was General Flamehart himself, absorbed in his own pile of documents.

"Well, it's not like I could just say no when he asks for help like that," she said as she ruffled her hair, "Besides... If I can prevent another sabotage from happening to other kids, then... I don't see why I shouldn't help."

Lester couldn't help but be a little surprised at her answer.

"Huh. That's... actually quite considerate of you," he said with a half-smile.

"Shut up," she retorted. He couldn't exactly tell under the haphazard makeup, but he could've sworn that he saw her cheeks slightly redden for a second, before taking on a more serious demeanor and groaning in frustration, "Y'know, it doesn't help that we don't even know what exactly we're looking for in all this junk."

"To be specific, we're looking for employees who have any sort of connection to the Greenwiches, positive or negative," Alsen answered Rona's remark, "From there, we narrow it down to the most likely suspect."

"Easier said than done, General," Lester argued as he looked around the room, as though to make sure no one else was overhearing their conversation, then speaking in a voice low enough for the other two to hear.

"I don't know if I'm allowed to say this out loud, but it's no secret that Prismatech is notorious for frequent layoffs and questionable working conditions. The only reason it hasn't gone bankrupt is because our military, and the Adventurer's Guild, relies on their standardized weaponry, which are all designed by Stephen Greenwich. If you're looking for people with a grudge against him, sir... Well, you've got plenty."

Alsen said nothing as he slumped onto a chair with a tired sigh, for he could only agree.

"I said I'd get to the bottom of this but..." He rubbed his forehead, "I should've known better. Investigations were never my forte."

"Think, muscle-head! Sometimes, you need to use your brains instead of your biceps! It might as well help you once in a while..."

Alsen smiled for a moment as he relished the thought.

I could use some of her banter right now.

"Alright, for now... let's focus on the elder son, instead: Edwyn," Alsen said, now regaining his focus, "What's your take on him?"

"Well... He's good-looking and very skilled in combat..." Rona replied as her face slowly started to grimace, "If it weren't for the fact that he's a narcissistic womanizer, I'd call him a near-perfect bachelor. Bet he's got his own little club of haters."

"Why near-perfect?" asked Lester.

"Everyone's got flaws, Lester. That's just how human beings... are..." Rona stopped talking as her eyes fell upon a particular document on her desk, "Uh... General?"

"Yeah?"

She took the paper and hesitantly offered it to him with a visibly troubled look on her face, "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but... I think I found a suspect."