The class were enjoying their weekend by just wandering around the campus grounds when they saw Yuu rushing towards the artificing department building. Wondering what was going on, they decided to trail behind her to find out.

Arriving at the building itself, they found several carts lined up outside overflowing with materials that, even from this distance, they could tell must’ve been expensive. Gunter recognised the meaning behind the glances they were shooting his way.

“Looks like dragon scale dust, Heramore Gemstones, half the stuff they got, I can’t tell, but it is beyond valuable.”

The class cautiously approached the building, still watching Yuu to see what she was doing. The moment Yuu opened the door, however, a large pie went splat into her face, shortly followed by rockets connected in the middle by a rope that flung her up and backwards, landing right at the class’s feet.

“Oh hey, kids,” Yuu said casually as she sat up and strained her arms, breaking the tangle of ropes.

“You ok, Big Chief?” Gunter asked, looking concerned.

“Oh, this? Just a little prank from Alex; he warned me not to sneak a peak before third bell,” Yuu replied with a shrug as she dusted herself off and approached the building again.

“Do you know what he is doing?” Daisy asked.

“Making some kind of uber-enchanted weapon, from what he told me. One that he will ignore the rules we have set for anything we make,” Yuu replied as she led the way.

“Why would he do that?” Maxwell asked.

“Eh, why does a guy work so hard on anything?”

“Curiosity?” Bea offered.

“Nah, the big dork is in love. Whatever he is making is for Elissa,” Yuu answered. “Wana go watch?” Yuu added with a gesture of her head towards the building.

“You sure there aren’t any more traps?” Kline asked, concern evident in his voice.

“Nothing you kids would trigger. He got really good at keying them to my soul wavelength.”

“He went through that much effort?” Maxwell asked.

“Well, I went through the effort for him. You should’ve seen it; my last prank got him put on the nation's most wanted list.”

“You what?!”

“I got him wanted for countless crimes,” Yuu explained as if speaking to a small child.

“WHY?!!” Daisy asked in utter shock.

“Listen, kids, the most dangerous thing me and Alex can have is free time. When we have it, we generally cause chaos or wage a prank war. There's a reason many of the buildings on campus had to be rebuilt after he started attending. Only bastard crazy enough to match me,” Yuu said with a reminiscent grin.

Opening the door, the class watched in shock as several javelins shot out of the wall, changed direction midair and collided with Yuu.

“Oh, he’s being a bit of a softy today,” Yuu muttered as she shuffled the bent javelins out of the way with her foot.

“Softy?! If that was anyone else, they’d be dead!!!” Kline shouted.

“Yeah, but I’m not anyone else. Seriously how do you prank people?”

“Well… Wait, is this the kind of stuff we need to attempt against Lord Sloth?!!” Maxwell asked with fear in his eyes.

“Ah no, Sloth is too wily to fall anything this simple. There’s a reason me and Alex have never succeeded in pranking him.”

“Never?” Tasha repeated.

“Well, we have hit him with our pranks. It’s the escape after where we failed. Bit hard to escape a man who literally controls this academy,” Yuu replied with a shrug.

Reaching the doorway to the workshop, where they could hear tools banging away, the class braced themselves as Yuu opened the door. Only this time, nothing shot out or came flying. In the middle of the room was a boulder the size of a house, and Alex was chiselling symbols into its surface.

“What’s he doing, Big Chief?”

“Carving enchantment markers into the stone, it’s why he has the materials outside, you fill those channels with the material, and the enchantment is applied.”

“So you made it through Yuu,” Alex said as he lifted up a pair of thick goggles to look behind him, showing momentary surprise at the class’s presence.

“Hey, kids,” Alex said, giving a friendly wave to them. “So why are you here?”

“We followed Yuu, who was curious about what you were making,” Maxwell answered.

“Well, be careful because curiosity killed the cat,” Alex said before he and Yuu leaned into each other.

““But necromancy can always bring it back,”” they chorused together.

“But yeah, I’m making a staff for Elissa,” Alex explained as he walked around the large boulder examining it.

“A staff?” Tasha parrotted. “But it’s just a big boulder. You going to carve it down to a staff?”

“Carve? No, nothing so labour-intensive. I’m a noodle-armed mage, after all. I’m going to take a shortcut,” Alex explained as he stepped past the class and picked up a bucket with red dust in it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Chief, you must’ve spent a fortune for all those materials,” Gunter observed.

“Oh, don’t I know it. I am effectively bankrupt till payment for a little enchanting job I did for Crozonia while we were in the capital comes in,” Alex explained as he began packing the carved symbols with the red dust.

“So why are you making Lady Elissa a staff? Doesn’t she use a sword?” Tasha asked.

“She does, but her sword spends more time in repair than in combat. She treats all her gear so roughly that it is a wonder how she managed without Yuu and me here,” Alex explained, gesturing to Yuu. “So I thought I’d make her something that could withstand her strength.”

“So you found a house-sized boulder to make one?” Daisy asked.

“Ah, no. Elissa gave me this as an engagement gift. It’s all part of the marriage ritual.”

“Oh, which one are you doing?” Bea eagerly asked.

“What ones do you know?”

“Well, I was born in this town, so the feast of the lovers?”

“I only know of the exchange of weapons,” Maxwell added while Kline nodded next to him.

“I know about the… well, the embrace of the bride and groom ritual,” Daisy answered with a blush.

“Only a big feast where I’m from, chief.”

“Well, kids let me edumacate you lot in the ways of marriage,” Alex announced as he finished packing the red dust into the symbols.

“On the eastern continent, in the great forests of the high elves, they have a ritual where the two betrothed find a tree that sprouted the year they were born and bind their hands together with something from the tree. Then they walk around it for each year they have lived before their engagement.”

“That sounds like it’d be horrible for elves that live millennia and just get married,” Bea observed.

“Indeed, it is why marriage is often done when young. But anyways, when they finish the circling, they are recognised as married.”

“Ah, so as you are marrying Lady Elissa, you wish to honour her elven heritage?” Maxwell said, thumping his fist into his hand at the realisation.

“No, not particularly. The Ironwood elves don’t give a monkies about the eastern elves. The next ritual is the Dune Sea. They have their marriage ceremony overseen by a lord or chieftain. They then line up the two families being joined on either side of the aisle, and as the bride and groom walk to the chieftain, they spit on them.”

“SPIT?!!” Daisy exclaimed with a grim look on her face.

“Yes, spit. You may be surprised to hear that the Dune Sea is a big desert clue is in the name, after all. Anyways water is precious so spitting on someone for them is a sign of respect and acceptance.”

“That… I suppose that does make sense from that point of view. Don’t tell me; we will need to spit on you, sir?!!!”

“What?! No, Daisy, you won’t. Neither me nor Elissa are from the Dune Sea. The only one who might would be Sloth, as he’s from there. The next ritual is from the Holy Continent.”

“Do they sacrifice a bunch of inhuman people to their gods and scream humans are best?” Kline asked, his face contorting to a scowl.

“Er… No, they just go to a shrine, temple, or some religious place and have a priest perform the ceremony.” Alex replied, looking bewildered. “Kline, don’t believe all the propaganda about the Holy Continent. You know, to them, you lot are baby eaters, right?”

“WE WOULD NEVER!!!” Kline protested.

“Of course not. But they get told that like that nonsense you got told about sacrificing people.”

“Anyways, they just do a simple wedding ceremony before their gods. Now to the interesting ones, in my opinion. The feast parties. In Lust’s territory, you have a big party, and after they have exchanged vows, everyone can come up and plant a big sloppy kiss on their preferred person.” The class, at this explanation, looked at Daisy for confirmation; she could only give a sheepish nod.

“I don’t agree with it, but it’s tradition.”

“Indeed it is,” Alex said with a nod.

“So, are you doing that one?” Tasha asked, licking her lips.

“No, Elissa would batter anyone who tried to kiss me, and anyone who tried to kiss Elissa would faint under my soul pressure. No, we decided it best not to ignite a national incident doing that ritual.”

“So what about Gluttony’s feast festival then?” Bea asked.

“Yes, Gluttony, Sloth, and Greed do all share a similar setup. Hold a big feast where anyone can attend and join the festivities. Gluttony’s territory focuses on food. Greed focuses on booze, and Sloth’s territory focuses on debate. I will say we do plan on doing all three of these,” Alex explained with a big grin.

“So why the staff then?” Daisy asked.

“Maxwell or Kline could potentially answer that one,” Alex replied, gesturing to the pair.

“In Pride’s and Envy’s domain, they hold martial prowess to be highly important. It is such that even weddings revolve around it,” Maxwell began.

“The couple each prepares a weapon and a shield and face off against each other. They then engage in combat but stop before actually hitting one another,” Kline continued.

“They finally will put their weapons on the floor and step over them to symbolise their commitment to never hold a weapon against one another, and then they are recognised as married,” Maxwell finished.

“You mean you plan to fight Elissa with the staff chief?”

“Gods no… well, maybe a show spar for the ceremony. But we do plan to do ‘the put the item on the floor’ part. The main core will be the ceremony from Wrath’s domain,” Alex explained, gesturing to Yuu.

“It is an ancient tradition—each of the betrothed gifts a stone to the other. The general rule is it has to be rough and unshaped. Then throughout the engagement, the couple carves and shapes the stone down while polishing it to a gemstone shine. It’s meant to represent that nothing starts out perfect, and it takes real work to make anything shine. Supposedly it helps with the longevity of marriages,” Yuu explained.

“So this stone…” Tasha began before trailing off.

“Yep, she gave me a boulder the size of a house. They say the size of the stone matches how much you love them. I gave her one of a similar size,” Alex replied with a shrug.

“I heard she’s already polished it to the size of a small stone,” Yuu added, pinching her finger and thumb together to demonstrate the size.

“Probably compressed it into an actual gem knowing her,” Alex added with a goofy grin as he imagined it.

“So you will change this into a staff as her gift?” Alex just nodded.

“Yep, now stand back,” Alex gestured for them to do so, and they obeyed. He then held his hands up and brought out a light circle the class recognised as the spell circle for the shape earth.

The moment he tapped it, the boulder began to compress, getting smaller and smaller. Slowly but surely, the boulder became cylindrical, then thinner and thinner. Till all that was left was a staff with a decorative outer design.

“Almost feels like a waste to remove so much of the weight of the boulder,” Gunter muttered as he watched the scene unfold./

“Oh, but I’m not removing the weight. The staff will weigh several tonnes,” Alex answered as the staff finalised its form.

“Alex, how are you, of all people, going to move that? Hope you don’t expect me to move it.”

“No, Yuu, watch,” Alex said as he approached the staff and picked it up with ease.

“Gravity manipulation enchantments. At will, the wielder can make it light as a feather or a multiple of its true weight. It can also do this,” Alex explained as he lifted it up, and the staff collapsed into what looked like a pin.

“I also enhanced its durability and infused a core of divinium so it will never break.”

“Alex… You do realise in the hands of Elissa; no one would ever survive?”

“That’s the plan, Yuu. She will live a long life where we can go senile together,” Alex replied, thumping his chest in pride.