As they walked out, Dante looked ecstatic, “See I told you Jikan could do it. I mean, technically, it wasn’t in a way that I would want, but he did it.”

Jikan was back on his feet all healed up thanks to Amelia. He was a pretty tall kid, he stood hunched over, but if he stood up straight he’d probably be around Damien and Raven’s height. He also looked a little fairly young, probably around Damien’s age, maybe a year older. Though what Damien and Krista mainly noticed was the way he stared at Amelia as she was healing him.

“Amy?” Jikan asked Amelia.

“Amelia, Amelia Heart,” she answered.

Upon hearing her name, Jikan looked almost sad, “Right, Amelia, of course. You just look so much like…” he trailed off towards the end, but right after he started speaking loudly again, “You guys didn’t think I could do it, huh?!”

Jikan turned only to be met with Raven’s scowl and quickly shirked away, giving Dante a chance to speak his mind, “Alright, I guess we don’t get any rest time today, we’re going to pick up Jikan’s wands, and we’ll be heading out.”

“I was so looking forward to sleeping on a bed tonight!” complained Amelia.

“Hey, I’ll let you borrow my sleeping bag, so you can double up,” Jikan offered with a huge grin, “You can pretend the extra padding is a mattress. Just ignore the smell, the nearest river is like a mile out, and I couldn’t really afford to many nights in a nice hotel.”

“Um, thanks, but I should be fine,” responded Amelia weakly.

“Hey, I’ve noticed that they’ve been saying wands instead of staff, is that just the dialect out east?” whispered Damien.

Amelia looked excited to answer the question but then realized something, “Actually, it’s best you hear from the source.” She grabbed onto Dmitri’s arm and pulled him in between herself and Damien to his ire, “Dmitri, could you explain to Darius what a want is?”

“Oh, yes, of course!” he said while unable to make proper eye contact with Damien, “Hello, Mr. Colors, we haven’t really conversed much, so please excuse my rudeness.”

“No problem, man,” Damien responded, “She was the same way with me when we first met.”

“Don’t tell him that!” Amelia whined, “I’m becoming much better with talking to strangers. I’ll have you know I said good morning to Cleo before she said so to me!”

“Impressive,” Damien commented, “So, Darius, these wands, what are they?”

“You c-can think of a wand as a personal staff,” said Dmitri trying his hardest to look Damien in the eye while not altogether succeeding, “A question, then, why are staffs made in the shape they’re currently in?”

“Never really thought about that,” Damien responded, “I just thought that’s just how they are made.”

“It’s because the shape makes sense, since they’re made from Grand Tree branches,” chimed in Krista.

“S-Somewhat,” Dmitri stammered, “IUFC. The shape is mainly for the F part, focus. When you have a knife in your hand, you instinctively know it’s used to cut. Give someone a ball, then they’ll bounce it. Put a staff in someone’s hand…”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Then then they will want to use wattiez,” finished Damien

“Exactly, but why only the staff shape, they’re large and cumbersome and are sometimes incompatible with certain professions, like smithing,” Dmitri explained, “You wouldn’t believe the number of staffs they tend to go through in a month, let alone a year. With some research, I’ve found a much better option, the wand.”

He took out a small box and inside was another pair of glasses which looked almost exactly like the ones he wore, except this pair was made out of wood, “I’ve been wondering about that,” Damien questioned, “Not too many people wear glasses, considering the existence of Life Wattiez.”

“They’re important and a present from my grandfather, either way we have a hereditary disability that is very difficult to-” Dmitri spoke solemnly, he’d already shared more than he wanted to and quickly wanted to move on, “That importance is key, my research has shown that a Grand Tree branch, morphed into the shape of a cherished item will have the same or an even greater effect on wattiez output. The size and effectiveness vary from person to person based on how much they cherish the item, but on average I can promise a 30% increase in energy output.”

“Which makes it your very own personal staff,” Damien concluded, “I guess the next question is where can I get one?”

Damien jumped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, Dante had appeared from behind without him noticing, “Just keep staying around us. We make the damn things, I’m sure you’ll eventually get your hands on one.”

Unfortunately, Damien could barely hear him, his mind was much more focused on just how Dante had done that. Especially, when he was fairly sure Dante was right in front of them being smothered by Cleo and Raven.

“The process is fairly simple anyway,” Dmitri added, “All you have to do is-”

Raven suddenly interjected into their conversation, “Dmitri, I understand that you love to share your work, but please do keep some of our secrets secret.”

“My apologize, but it loos like that is all I can share with you. Rather, Amelia, since I can’t share more about the wands, would you like to hear about my research on the effects of mental status on wattiez usage, instead?”

Amelia’s smile immediately brightened up, “Absolutely!”

Damien couldn’t help but smile at the two, “Don’t let Krista see you, I don’t think she’ll let you live this down.” Amelia looked confused for a moment but once she got it she blushed furiously and stuck her tongue out at Damien, before walking ahead with Dmitri.

As everyone walked by that dig site, they caught sight of the clone again, much to Jikan’s delight “Jin, still working hard I see!” Jikan jumped over a gate and ran to his other self, giving Jin a big hug, who paid him no mind. He bent down and picked up a small round plate, and Jin suddenly disappeared, “Alright it’s time to go, but first… Lenny!”

The big worker guy from earlier turned at the sound of his name and marched to where Jikan was, “Jikan you stupid, son of a whore! What the hell were you doing?!”

Jikan smiled, “Exactly what you said. You need a reliable digger who could work for like twelve hours straight, and I was your guy.”

Even from over here, everyone could see a vein pop out of Lenny’s forehead, “That was more than 20 hours ago! The cave you dug collapsed! You turned 12 hours of work into a two-day job!”

Jikan could only rub the back of his head, “But I still dug that whole right, I even did it for less pay, as long as I get that thing you promised me.”

Lenny’s face was getting redder and he was noticeably shaking, “You have five seconds to get out of here before I kill you. 4…3…”

He looked serious so Jikan booked it, “Guess, I’m not getting the dream pillow, damn. They’ve been out of stock for a year now and just when I had a chance to score one.”

“Ah, yes, the one thing you’d actually work for, more sleep,” sighed Cleo.

On the way back, they also stopped by the Mr. Franklins house to pick up another clone, it wore a yellow shirt and Jikan called it Ken.

It was standing in front of the door of the large house and was constantly knocking, repeating the phrase, “Mr. Franklin I have some info that may interest you, so let’s speak.”

After an hour of searching, Jikan managed to find another wooden disc, and Ken disappeared. Satisfied, Jikan spoke out, “That’s that, so we can go ahead and get out of here. Before we leave though, I should properly introduce myself. Name’s Jikan Iminashi, and I’m the brains of the group.” Even while on our horses, Raven held Jikan in a headlock all the way until we found a new camping site.