"Aria." When I hear Eryk call my name, I sit up, taking a moment to convert most of the earth mana as I rub my eyes. I shake away the sleep and look at Eryk.
"Is it done?" I ask, trying to get myself back up to speed with work and ignore the terrible feelings of guilt that come from sleeping at a time like this.
"Yeah, let's test it out. But be careful, it's still hot. And remember, if it worked, it'll be like that one over there." He gives me multiple warnings.
"Yeah, I'm ready this time," I say with confidence. I dig a few ingots out of my bag, generating some lightning mana in case I get struck again. Then I place some iron ingots around me to draw off any possible lightning. And finally, I put a couple copper coins on the floor in case when I get struck by lightning, mess up, and stop my heart again. I also generate some extra fire mana. I don't know if it helps with burns like lightning helps with, well, lightning, but it's worth a shot anyway. "All set," I say with a firm nod.
Then I reach out toward the crucible, but once more stop short. I really need to be more careful about these things! "What is the crucible made of?" I ask.
"Titanium," Eryk answers. That makes me sigh with relief, and move forward once more.
Just at a glance, I have concerns. It doesn't look right. Instead of that shiny brownish gold color we're looking for, it's more... grayish yellow. Like a mixture of copper's yellow, muddled by the gray of tin.
Even so, I hold out my nuvrite coin, feeling the heat still coming off of the solidified metal. Then I give it a very light push. I get light mana. No good, huh... As I continue to maintain the field, I increase the force a little until I see the metal beginning to glow.
But the glow is... not exactly even. It's like only some parts of it are glowing, wherever the tin is inside the solidified mixture. Eryk stirred it well, so it's still all glowing, it's just that some parts are a little brighter or more dim depending on how much tin was in any particular spot, I guess.
For the copper... The field isn't strong enough to feel if it's doing anything. But I definitely don't feel that strong sensation of lightning gathering. Yeah, it didn't work.
Finally, I give up with a sigh. "No good. This just feels like tin and copper, it's not acting like that sword."
"Oh well, it was worth a shot," Eryk just shrugs. "But this means it's a new metal, doesn't it... Damn." He slowly stands up, obviously looking troubled. "Do you have any other ideas now that-" he begins to ask another question, but he's cut off by someone knocking loudly on the door. It's pretty muffled since they're knocking on the outer door though. We both look over, before he unlocks the door and we move into the tiny space between the workshop and the back room.
Eryk even takes the precaution to lock the door into the back room before going to the other one. So that's why there's this tiny room in between. Even if someone were to force their way past when he unlocks the outer door, they still won't be able to get to the back room. It seems kind of paranoid, but Eryk has really made it sound like the sword in the back room is an incredibly dangerous secret.
When he unlocks the outer door, it's Patrick on the other side. "Hey, the sulphra is done," Patrick says, holding up a brown colored metal ingot. Since he's holding it in his hands, I guess it cooled down already.
"Thanks," Eryk takes it with a small nod, then Patrick just walks away.
He turns back to me and asks, "want to give this one a quick test?"
"Sure," I answer easily. I'm pretty much stuck on figuring anything out right now, who knows where I might get some more inspiration from? This time we just head back into the back room. Eryk hands me the sulphra ingot and I feel its smooth surface in my hands. It's a very different color than the others, a bright brown color. I wonder if it's like azrium. Based on its color, it might make earth mana? Still, I need to be extra careful in case something unexpected happens. I don't want anything bad to happen in this room where the super secret sword is. So when I bring my nuvrite coin up to the sulphra, I push as gently as I can.
I don't get any other mana types, so I guess it's not like azrium. It doesn't seem to do anything else either. I push just a little harder, and bring the coin closer to the ingot. Then there's something. But then it's gone again.
What was that exactly? It was just for a moment. Like a sort of twitch. I try again, and get the same thing. The ingot is kind of doing something. Just for an instant when I first hit it with the mana field. I dig into my bag. I want to take a closer look, but I don't have my glass with me. Emily only packed my metal ingots.
"Umm, do you have some chromium I could use?" I ask. Eryk tilts his head a little, but says fine. We head out into the workshop where he grabs an ingot out of a crate, then we go back. It's kind of a hassle going through both locked doors each time, but I guess there's nothing to do for it. Once we're back inside, Eryk pushes the crucible over near the table with the sword so it won't be in our way, and I sit down on the floor with all of my stuff still scattered around me. Eryk stands over me and watches silently. I start by generating some air mana to sharpen my vision. As always, I'm a little concerned about the other effects, but it's just for now.
With my extra keen vision, I watch as carefully as I can while I push my mana through my small bit of mollite this time. As I expected, it makes a tiny twitching motion. When I cut off the mana flow, it twitches one more time. I try starting and stopping repeatedly. Carefully watching, I begin to get a vague feeling that I know what is happening, but it's hard to place.
Then I shoot to my feet, suddenly acting on my lightning induced intuition. It's only when I'm forced to stop at the locked door that I manage to push back the impulse brought on by the air mana and calmly ask Eryk if we can go back into the workshop. It seems that air mana has bad interactions with lots of other mana types, the way it makes me immediately act on anything the other types make me feel. I'll have to keep that in mind.
While we head back into the workshop, I clear most of the air mana, just in case. Eryk follows me up to the front. "Umm, excuse me, Patrick?" I ask nervously. He glances up from his work, raises an eyebrow, then walks over.
"What's up?" he asks.
"Could you... hit this with a sledgehammer?" I ask, trying and failing to sound confident.
"Sure..." He glances uncertainly at Eryk, who just shrugs at him. While he walks over and grabs a sledgehammer, I set the ingot down on the stone floor. He only takes one big swing, smacking the sulphra ingot with a loud clang. Unlike the chromium I saw them beating on the other day, it shrinks to half its previous size in a single hit, even when it's not hot. So this is the difference between the super expensive and strong metals compared to the weak ones... "Good?" he asks, and I hastily nod.
"Thank you," I nervously bow. "Sorry for bothering you." Then I grab it and hurry away. It's oddly warm for some reason... We go into the back room once more, where I hit the ingot with a mana field one more time to confirm my guess.
"Holy..." Eryk mutters. I only had a vague idea based on my intuition, but now I understand when I see it. As soon as I create the mana field near the flattened ingot, it suddenly changes shape. Without a sound, flash, or any indication of any kind, it just changes shape. It goes right back to how it was before, a nicely shaped, non-flattened ingot. When I release the mana field, it changes back again, flattened down from the sledgehammer.
"Hmm, a mana field makes it back into an ingot..." I mutter. "Changing shape is amazing, but it just goes back to being an ingot." I scratch my head a bit. What's the point of that? But then I have another flash of intuition as a memory comes back to me. That moving door in the rail unit building was activated by mana, right? I can totally imagine that being connected to a metal that changes shape with mana! But it's still not right. "The shape shouldn't change like that going back to an ingot," I keep muttering to myself as I think it all over.
"Even if you forged it into something like that, mana would just make it an ingot again temporarily, you wouldn't get an effect like that..." No, maybe if it was forged out from an ingot into a large, skinny beam or something, it might be possible. But it still doesn't feel right...
Then the final piece clicks into place and I look up at Eryk. "Unless you forge it inside a mana field."
I see Eryk's eyes pop open. He understands exactly what I mean. If it works the way I'm guessing, you could make an object take two entirely different shapes. One inside a mana field and another one outside. Maybe it's just because I'm so familiar with weapons from the rail unit program, but the first thing that comes to mind would be some ordinary object like a lantern or something, which turns into a dagger. It would certainly make a sliding door like the one I saw a possibility.
"We have to test this," Eryk says, already unlocking to door back to the workshop. As we head back up to the front, we continue to talk.
"How are we supposed to do it though? I need to keep the field up the whole time," I say quietly.
"Right, I can't call on Patrick for this then. We'll need John."
"But where are we supposed to do it?" I press him again. He really is too tired today, he's not thinking things through properly. That one makes him pause. "We can't use the back room if John is with us, and there's nowhere else in here that you can pound on something with a sledgehammer, is there?"
"It'll be fine. Go get John," he says.
"Ok..." I agree skeptically. While I walk over toward the exit, I notice that it's gotten a lot hotter in here. Well, I was asleep for a while, so it's already about two hundred ticks after the fourth bell, almost halfway to the fifth. That's plenty of time for these huge furnaces to heat up the workshop.
As I walk away, I hear a loud sound behind me and glance back. It looks like Eryk is opening up those giant doors in the front of the building. The workers are all looking over that way as well as they work.
Eryk claps his hands loudly. "Everyone, please clear out of the workshop." he shouts loudly for everyone to hear.
He's doing what?! Everyone stops what they're doing to stare at him like he's gone crazy. I think he has gone crazy! His gaze settles on me for a moment and he flicks his hand to tell me to stop gawking and go. I shake myself and practically run for the door to go get John. "Everyone, please stand out front. I will call you all back in momentarily." He waves his hands a few times before everyone finally starts to move. I think I hear some grumbling, but I'm already at the door. I rush into Eryk's office, but John's not here?! Where is he? Where does he go when he's not standing by Eryk?
Despite clearing most of it earlier, I must still have too much air mana. Without thinking, I act on instinct, grabbing the bell off Eryk's desk and ringing it. It takes a moment for my head to catch up. Of course, the employees here should know where he is, right? But doesn't that mean-
My thoughts cut short when the same scary woman from before walks in. Why is it always her?! She already glaring at me, even worse than ever before. I immediately bow deeply, face pointed to stare straight at the floor, and stammer out, "I'm really sorry, could you please get John quickly?!" Even as I ask, I see that in my haste, I forgot to take off my shoes and I've tracked dirt all across Eryk's nice carpet. My head is swimming as Isabelle snorts at me and leaves the room.
Is that a yes or a no? I have no idea! What am I going to do? Eryk already cleared out the workshop, but the furnaces are still running! What's going to happen without anyone operating them?
A few long moments pass. I still haven't figured out what I should do next when the door opens again and John walks in.
"Aria? What is it?" he asks. He looks really worried, probably because I'm about to cry.
"We need some help in the workshop right now!" I immediately start to rush back to the workshop as soon as I explain, and I can hear him following behind with quick steps. As soon as we enter the workshop, I see the impatient look on Eryk's face and start calling out. "I'm sorry it took so long, John wasn't in your office!"
"Come on, we have to make this quick!" Is Eryk's only response.
"What is going on here?" John looks around at the empty workshop in wonder.
But Eryk doesn't bother answering questions. "John, pound on the ingot," he orders while passing him a sledgehammer. "Aria, make sure not to get too close, John hasn't done this before." As he speaks, he holds out the sulphra ingot with a set of long tongs.
One look at their yellow color makes me ask, "Aren't those illium?"
"Shit!" he slaps his forehead angrily before running off to the other end of the workshop.
"What on Loqa is going on here?!" John asks under his breath, holding the sledgehammer loosely. Eryk comes running back over within moments, grabbing the ingot with a pair of silver colored tongs this time. He's holding it so that the longer side faces up into the air.
"Alright, Aria," he gives me a determined nod.
"But I don't have-" I stammer, realizing that I don't have an ingot to work with. "Oh, fine!" I shout angrily. He said I have to keep some distance while John swings the hammer, but generating a mana field strong enough to cover that distance is something I should use a mollite ingot for.
Mine are all locked in the back room and we're in a huge rush with everyone standing outside while all the furnaces are still running and it's already been nine ticks since he kicked everyone out of the workshop.
Maybe there's some mollite in the workshop, but I don't know where they'd be and he's already waiting on me.
Plan things out better, Eryk! I scream silently.
Without any ingot to use here, I can only draw up all of my willpower and go for it. I grit my teeth and hold out my hands. I crouch down, but there's still a gap about the length of my arms between my hands and the sulphra. And the mollite in my left arm is halfway up my forearm anyway. Still, to make every moment count, I bring out all my determination and push. I send my mana through the slivers of metal buried in my arms.
It feels like trying to forcibly shove my entire body through the gaps in a stone wall or something. Like it's impossible to force so much through such a small space. My entire body is shaking as I shove it all through with every last bit of my willpower.
But it works. The sulphra changes shape, back into a normal ingot. John gapes down at it for a moment before Eryk snaps, "Go on, hit it!" Snapping to attention, John does as instructed, raising the hammer and bringing it down with a resounding clang. Even though Eryk said he's never done this before, he lands a solid blow. It's not as powerful as when Patrick did it, but the ingot still starts to flatten some.
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Eryk is holding it so the taller part is sticking upward, probably to make the changes easier to see once we test it. But that's only if this works out! I can already feel my breathing turning ragged as I force myself way too hard. By the time John lands the third blow, everything is starting to get hazy and my head feels like soup. After the fifth, I hardly see straight anymore, and I need to draw more mana from my well. It only takes three ticks for the entire process but it feels like my head is going to split apart.
"That's enough!" Eryk calls after the fifth hit. I immediately drop to my hands and knees as I release, all the tension going out of my whole body.
My breath comes in rapid gasps. I vaguely hear Eryk hand John the ingot before rushing back over to the big doors and opening them up again. "Alright everyone, thanks for your patience. You can get back to work now," he says loudly for all the workers to hear. Within moments, I can hear many footsteps coming back into the workshop. Then Eryk is next to me. "Aria, are you alright?" he asks. I can hear the concern in his voice, but I answer angrily anyway.
"No I'm not! Do you have... any idea... how hard... it is..." I can hardly get more than a few words out between breaths. "At that... distance?!" He just stares blankly. Of course he has no idea! But I can't help that I'm still really angry. I look up at him, vision still bleary, "I didn't even... have anything... to work with!" Even blurry and indistinct, I still catch the looks of the workers as they go past. "Plan things out better, damn it!"
"I-I'm really sorry," Eryk actually stammers uncharacteristically after I curse at him. But I'm almost entirely out of strength, sinking closer and closer to the floor. "Let's go back to my office for now." He scoops me up from the floor and I feel us quickly moving away. Then I'm being set down in a familiar chair, so we must be back in his office.
I rest my head on the wooden table for a while, slowly feeling my energy recover. I still have some fire mana, but it isn't helping. I think it only helps with physical stamina, not mental exhaustion like this.
Finally, I look back up drowsily. Eryk gives me a glass of water to drink, which helps some. Then he gives me a glass of strawberry juice. I enjoy it slowly while continuing to rest. Once it's gone, I feel like I've mostly recovered enough. For some reason, the strawberry juice actually seemed to help a lot. But I just look back up at him with a sour expression and tell him outright, "I'm mad at you."
"I understand, that was my fault," he admits it right away. "I got too excited and acted too hastily."
"You did!" I huff angrily. "You made me generate a mana field that large without an ingot!"
"I'm really sorry about that, but I am a bit confused. I hope you could explain so I don't make the same mistake again..." he trails off awkwardly before continuing. "I've seen you create mana fields with coins, metal ingots, and without anything. Could you explain the differences?"
I glare at him, huffing angrily. Still, as mad as I am, he's right. He should know so he doesn't ask for something unreasonable again. "Mollite has a lot of resistance to mana flow, but creates stronger fields. Nurvrite has less resistance but creates weaker fields," I explain sharply. "The larger the piece of metal, the easier it is to pass a lot of mana through it at once to get a strong mana field. So the smaller the metal is, the more effort I have to put in to create a strong mana field."
"Ok... but what about when you don't have anything, like earlier?" his eyebrows pull together with concern.
"I used the slivers of mollite I have embedded in my arms," I say flatly, still glaring.
Eryk opens and closes his mouth a few times, looking back and forth between my face and my arms with shock written all across his face. Eventually, he manages to form a coherent thought, and asks, "How?"
It's an unpleasant memory of course. I finally break eye contact. "They're from when I got stabbed while escaping from a group of kidnappers. The tips of their knives broke off in my arms and my bones healed around them."
Eryk remains speechless for a while longer, before just responding, "Oh."
His lack of response just makes me more angry. "Like I said, the smaller it is, the harder it is. Creating a mana field twice the length of my arm from a tiny sliver of mollite is stupidly hard. Don't ask me to do it again!"
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that..." he apologizes again. "But... why didn't you ask for an ingot?" he asks.
"Because we had no time. Because you kicked everyone out of the workshop before we were ready!" I shout at him.
He winces. "Aaahhh...." We both sit quietly for a while, and I feel my anger slowly receding.
John brings me another glass of water and I drink it slowly. After I finish it, I eventually sit back up again.
I'm still not feeling much better, but after all of that work with sulphra, something is really bothering me.
"Hey Eryk, I want to ask you something. Can we go to the back room again?"
"Sure," he agrees immediately. I'm sure he can tell by my tone that I'm still mad.
We walk over through the workshop, everyone's eyes following us this time as they do their work. We head into the back room once more, and I sit down on the floor to rest. Maybe I should have made Eryk carry me? I just sigh and forget about it. I have something more important to think about now than how angry I am.
I look up at Eryk as he leans against a table with a worried expression. Then I ask about what's bothering me. "Eryk, there's something weird. You know how to make sulphra, and you said it had that whole complicated process of adding stuff to other stuff and... whatever else you had to do to make it."
"Uh, close enough..." he shrugs. He tilts his head a little though, clearly not understanding where I'm going with this.
"But, you never tried stirring two metals together." His eyes widen, immediately understanding what I mean. The difference in complexity is way too different. They have all these complicated processes for dealing with each and every type of metal, and they even know how to mix together certain other materials to get different products.
At the same time, I'm a kid with no knowledge of metal refining. How can I throw out such a simple idea and no one has ever even considered it before?
"Well, the main reason would be that there's nothing about it in the training or literature for metal refining," Eryk answers.
"Literature?" I ask about the unfamiliar word.
"When someone knows a lot about a topic, they may write down what they know for others to study later. Basically, collections of knowledge that you read so you don't need to come up with it all on your own." The way he says it, I'm immediately reminded of how I explained everything I had to come up with on my own to Effy. So it's the same for people learning things like metal refining, but it even gets written down for people to read...
"So there was nothing written about it and no one ever taught you about it..." I mutter.
"Pretty much."
"But that still bothers me. None of them tried it either? Over how many years? Not a single person thought to try it out, or bothered to write down that it doesn't work? That's just too weird!"
"Yes, it is," Eryk agrees. "My best guess is that some have tried it in passing, but nothing ever came of it, so they didn't bother to make note of it. But besides those few exceptions, everyone else, myself included, never thought of such a thing. It's an unfortunate blind spot, because it's so simple. Also, we probably overlooked it because the majority of our knowledge and processes come from Eschalle,"
"Eschalle?" I question the word. I know I've heard it before, but what does it mean?
"Oh, the man," Eryk says. "Since he never wrote about it, that's probably a large part of why it was overlooked."
"Huh?" I just tilt my head, not understanding at all.
"I mean I'm referring to the man, not the country."
I shake my head, getting annoyed. "I don't know what 'Eschalle' means. Explain," I growl at him.
"You..." Then he sighs into his hand. "Eschalle is one of the countries we are at war with. When it was founded long, long in the past, it was named after it's first ruler, a man named Eschalle."
"Oh," I say quietly. So another country name. How many countries are there exactly?
"It's a bit of a story, but to sum it up, Eschalle was a genius inventor who pretty much came up with all of the metal refining processes we use today." I just stare at him blankly. One person came up with all of this on his own? "Of course, there have been a few new discoveries over time, but for the most part, things have remained unchanged since Eschalle invented them."
"Ok, so one man somehow came up with all of this on his own and... taught everyone else how to do it?"
"Well, not directly of course. There isn't anything written about that, but I would imagine that most of it was either stolen or reverse engineered by other countries. However, it's said that around the end of his life, he somehow invented something else, or discovered some new kinds of metals. That's why Eschalle has weapons like that sword. There's hardly anything written about them outside of mentions that they are produced in extreme secrecy and even the ones that have been stolen or captured have never been reverse engineered."
"What does 'reverse engineered' mean?" I follow most of this, but the unfamiliar term isn't helping.
"If you have the end product, sometimes you can look at it to figure out how it was made. That's reverse engineering, it's what we're trying to do with this sword right now."
"Oh, I get it," I nod. "So after inventing all of the metal refining stuff we still use today, he even created something that..." I gesture vaguely, this whole thing hard to believe. "That for what, hundreds or thousands of years, no one has been able to figure out? How is that possible?"
"It's a complete mystery," Eryk says while shaking his head. "In the first place, they hardly produce any of these weapons to make sure that as few of them as possible are captured or stolen. You can't imagine what I went through to get that one sword." Eryk shakes his head and sinks to the floor, sitting across from me. "Even the ones that are captured or stolen, they must've dealt with what we're dealing with now. No way to figure how the thing's made since it doesn't match up with anything we've ever seen before. And I doubt they had someone like you to help either."
With a long sigh, Eryk leans his head back against the wall behind him. He looks so tired, what has he been doing to run himself so ragged like this? Staring up at the ceiling, Eryk dejectedly groans out, "It would be a completely different story, if only someone could get their hands on The Metallica..."
"THE WHAT?!" I shoot up to my feet instantly while shouting. Without warning, my heart is beating out of my chest.
Eryk's eyes go wide. He stares for a long moment. "What do you know about The Metallica?" he asks suspiciously. Forcing myself to be calm, I sit back down on the floor.
"I don't know anything about it. What is it?" He narrows his eyes, clearly not believing me at all.
But he explains anyway. "All the stories mention Eschalle having a notebook called The Metallica. It's where he wrote everything he learned. If anyone could get their hands on it, they would be able to learn everything about what Eschalle invented and discovered."
"Huh... what's a notebook?" I ask. It sounds like a book, but what does the 'note' part mean?
"It's a book for writing notes in. Like, observations and such. Oh, do you know what a book is?" When I give a small nod, he goes, "Huh..."
Still, what I've learned fills me with all sorts of different thoughts... and worries. But I don't know what to say. This is an incredibly dangerous topic we've landed on. Because Metallica is the name of one of our divine armaments.
I gulp nervously as Eryk eyes me. Next to my massive worries about this topic, there's a little... hope. A dangerous feeling...
Eschalle kept a notebook called The Metallica, and we have an armament with the exact same name. There's no way that can be a coincidence, right? Or can it? I bite my lip. Even if the names are related, how do I know if I can base any assumptions about the real book off of the divine arm? I have an idea, but...
I stare at Eryk, my whole body breaking out in a cold sweat. Am I really about to do this? Is there any other way I can figure things out? No ways I can think of. Even then, is it worth it?
After hearing the full story, I finally understand the true importance of what Eryk has tasked me with. He wants me to uncover an ancient mystery that has remained secret since metal refining was invented. That's why he has gone so far for me. Taken me to the doctor, fed me every day. Used loopholes in the laws to get around hiring restrictions, and fought so hard to get a good contract and ensure I get an education. It's why he's gone through every expense and difficulty, running himself ragged like I see him now. That's why he needs me.
I lower my gaze, staring at the floor. "Hey, Eryk."
"Hm?" I can hear the tension in his voice.
"You want to work together, right?" Despite my thoughts, I have to ask. I have to be completely sure.
"Yes."
"No matter what, you won't look into me or my past?"
"I will not."
"Then please, do not question anything I mention right now."
"Ok." He answers quietly.
I take a deep breath. "Does the name Catherine mean anything to you?"
"Catherine?" his serious tone drops immediately when I ask the seemingly random question. "Well, I know a couple Catherines, but I doubt that's what you're asking about..." he scratches his head a little. "If you're talking more general knowledge, or historically even, then..." And he pauses. A few moments pass before he speaks again, tone clearly cautious again. "Catherine was the wife of Melphor."
"Who is Melphor?" I ask, trying to get a complete picture.
"Melphor? He was the first king of Melphira." It takes a few moments to remember that Melphira is our country.
"I see..." I mumble. It matches so far. Catherine always stuck out to me because it was such a unique name compared to many of the other divine arms. So both this one and the other share names that are related to the first rulers of countries. But what about their effects? Could those be related as well?
I grit my teeth, still unable to meet his eyes, and ask, "Did she have a sword?"
"No..." Ugh, no good then... "But she's famous for giving Melphor his sword. It's part of all the legends." As I stay quiet, he slowly begins to explain. "It's said that he lead his troops into battle, charging with sword held high, inspiring his troops to fight with the strength of ten men, but... well, those are just legends."
That completely matches. Catherine, a sword to empower everyone around you. But I can't go off of just one example. One instance does not make a pattern.
"What about the name Shizuka?" Another one with a unique name.
Going on in the same cautious tone, Eryk says, "Shizuka was the name of the daughter of the first king of Shonamakase, who assassinated him."
"How?"
"I think the story said that she approached him with a knife hidden inside of a folding fan."
There it is. I remember now, that fan the rail unit used to attack Effy during the battle. How they snuck up behind us, and how that one got past her. Because the Shizuka fan allows the user to vanish from sight. The perfect tool to sneak up and assassinate an enemy... There's the pattern.
"Aria... how-"
"I told you not to ask!" I snap. I grit my teeth and close my eyes.
"I understand." Eryk says stiffly. "I won't ask about it."
Through the suffocating anxiety from talking about that, I finally look up at him, offering the best smile I can. "Thank you for understanding. And thank you for talking about this with me. I think I've figured out how to make metals like that sword."
"You have?!" he gasps.
At that moment, the sixth bell rings. "Shit!" Eryk suddenly curses. "We're out of time." I gape momentarily. He's already standing up again. He doesn't want to hear it now?! "We have to get going, but we are absolutely continuing this conversation tomorrow, alright?" he says while pointing at me.
I nod rapidly under his sharp gaze, then he goes to unlock the door. When I realize that all of my things are still scattered across the floor here, I quickly stuff them back into my bag.
But as soon as I have everything and move to follow Eryk, my fatigue hits me like a weight crashing down on top of me and I stagger. That's right, wasn't I supposed to be mad at Eryk about that? I completely forgot about it because of that terrifying discussion. Which must have taken even more out of me. Even the boost of energy I got after drinking that juice seems to be gone now.
Once we make it back into the workshop, I call to him, "I'm sorry Eryk, I'm too tired. Can you carry me?" I don't want to, but the doctor said I have to tell an adult when I get tired. Without a word, he picks me up and carries me the rest of the way. However, when we get to the hall, he turns left instead of right. We aren't going back to his office?
Eryk heads outside through the small metal door in the middle of the building. I spot John is standing outside near the shop, watching customers coming and going. Eryk waves at him and he walks over, taking me from Eryk without a word. Then both of them start walking quickly toward the south. Where are we going?