Year of the Chest 2 (1/2)

The Bryric mansion’s atrium was something of a sight to behold. Fresh green grass, fruit-bearing trees and flower-sprouting bushes could be seen everywhere in this spacious indoor garden. The arched roof was made out of clear glass panes held up by a steel frame, allowing for an unobstructed view of the cosmos. It was a rare sight in Azurvale since there were very few sizable gaps in the Hylt canopy to allow stargazing from the ground. Such spots were highly valued by both businesses and pedestrians, so the fact that the Bryrics had monopolized one of them made for a powerful statement.

The romantic view wasn’t why Nao had brought Keira here, though. It was because this area was as close to a private space as he could find inside the mansion. There were some guards posted around the edge of the atrium and there were two or three guests admiring the scenery, but it was practically deserted when compared to the main ballroom. There would be very little risk of anyone overhearing about the birth of a new Artifact in here. Even if it was a momentous achievement that would earn him a lot of fame and praise, that wasn’t what the Hero of Magic wanted. He felt this was a deeply personal affair so he wanted to keep it as private as possible - the exact opposite of Keira’s usual way of doings things.

Meanwhile the catgirl in question was desperately trying to contain her inner Boxxy-ness while Kuro followed along because he wouldn’t be much of a bodyguard otherwise.

“You sure clean up nice for a scrawny little runt,” he told her casually. “Almost thought someone was impersonating you when you were introduced earlier.”

The elder wolfkin sibling was being his usual abrasive self, but this time around it wasn’t bothering Boxxy in the slightest. It sure felt nice not having that power creep stuff to deal with. However, Keira and Kuro were something that could be called ‘frenemies,’ so it was important to keep up appearances.

“Uh, thanks, I guess,” she said with a slight cringe. “This outfit was the girlfriend’s idea, so I didn’t exactly have a choice.”

“I’m kind of in the same boat. That Clash of Fate stunt you pulled told the entire capital we were here, so we were dragged into this fancy-pants party more or less by force. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“C’mon, it’s not that bad. The food smells amazing and… and…! Hatchoo!”

Both of the males let out a snorting giggle each. They had no idea that Keira had such a cute sneeze, even though she normally tried to act tough.

“Ugh, this place is much colder than the main hall,” she mumbled while rubbing her shoulders as if to get warm.

“Is it? Doesn’t seem that bad to me,” commented Kuro.

“You’re wearing more than a single scrap of fabric though.”

“Oh, right. How does that thing even stay on anyway.”

“Magic.”

“Figures. Certainly isn’t your tiny tits holding it up. And are you actually wearing anything underneath?”

“You wanna die or something, ya overgrown fleabag?” she growled in response.

“A little. Would beat being bored out of my skull, at least.”

“Give it a rest you two. It’s Aurora Eve, for pity’s sake. Here, Keira, you can borrow this for now.”

Nao had opened up his Item Box and taken out a folded, blue-colored and fur lined overcoat while the two were squabbling, and was now presenting it to Keira. It was naturally a magic item, one meant to insulate travelers from the harshest of cold climates.

“It’s a bit of an overkill, but should keep you nice and warm.”

“Oh wow! Thanks, Nao!”

The catgirl eagerly accepted it and unfurled it, though rather than putting it on right away, she instead brought it up to her nose and inhaled deeply.

“Don’t sniff it!” protested the owner.

“S-sorry, it just smells really nice,” she commented with a fascinated smile. “Did you shampoo the fur or something?”

“Just put it on already! And button it up so the magic can do its thing!”

The scantily clad girl did as instructed and threw on the blue coat, much to Nao’s relief. He was hiding it well, but in the end that ridiculously skimpy outfit was too much for a pure-hearted virgin like himself to keep a straight face around. This solution wasn’t ideal since the coat did little to cover the catgirl’s smooth legs, but it was a definite improvement. At the very least his robes were quite roomy and a bit thick, so he didn’t have to worry about disguising his awkward boner. As for Kuro, he wasn’t all that interested in her since he liked his women like he liked his pancakes - sweet, stacked, and, if at all possible, covered in syrup. And from his point of view, the Hero of Chaos was neither of those things.

The trio kept walking around until coming to the base of a rather large oak-like tree, though the blue leaves made it clear it was no regular piece of vegetation.

“Yeah, this will do,” said Nao with a nod. “Here, Keira. This is for you.”

He then casually reached into his Item Box and pulled out a glass case with a blue cushion, upon which rested a single mithril dagger. However, this one looked distinctly different from the one Boxxy had lent him. Although the material was the same, the blade itself was asymmetric and slightly curved, making it appear more like a miniature cutlass than a stabbing weapon. It also had a ball-like lump of mithril at the end of the hilt as a sort of pommel and a slight pink sheen to the edge of the blade.

“… You sure this is mine?” she asked while cocking her head.

“Quite sure. The weapon underwent something of a metamorphosis when I unlocked its full potential.”

“Hmmm, so it was like that,” responded Keira as she took the glass box from him. “How did you even manage to make this happen?”

“… I’m not completely sure, to be honest. I guess you could chalk it to me getting carried away with my experiments. I really put my all into enchanting this, you know. Was trying to give it the Recall enchantment when it showed an anomalous reaction I’ve never seen before. The result of that is in your hands.”

“Recall? What’s that?”

“Kuro, a demonstration if you will? Just try not to damage our host’s lovely garden.”

“Sure.”

The towering Berserker whipped his arm out, causing a rather large combat knife to pop out of his sleeve and into his waiting palm. He grasped it and then flung it at a nearby planter, burying it up to the hilt in the moist soil. A few seconds later the weapon disappeared with a tiny flash of light and a barely audible popping sound, only to reappear in Kuro’s hand the next instant.

“Oh! That’s pretty cool!” remarked Keira. “You’d never have to worry about being disarmed or running out of throwing knives!”

“That’s kind of the point, girlie,” stated the elder sibling as he hid the blade. “Well, this is more of a backup weapon, but it does the job.”

“How did you get that past the guards, though? I thought weapons were not allowed inside.”

“Oh yeah, they tried to confiscate it, but I took a page out of your book and dared them to take it from me while giving them the psycho-stare. Worked like a charm!”

“I- I see… Glad I could be of help, I suppose…”

“Well, that was a lie though. Nao just said he wouldn’t come if we had to give up all our weapons, so they made an exception for us..”

“… So what about mine? Does it do the same as yours now?”

“It was supposed to,” stated Nao, “but like I said, there was an anomalous reaction.”

“Oh, right. And you’re sure that’s never happened before?”

“Quite sure. That’s why I find this case so intriguing! I ran a few more experiments after the fact and was able to determine that the weapon had a rather ridiculous affinity with spatial manipulation magic. Mithril is something of a living metal and has been known to adapt and evolve to its environment, but that’s precisely why that specific affinity is so rare. I can’t even begin to imagine what sort of things this item has been through for it to develop such a thing!”

Boxxy could, though. The weapon in question was one of its oldest possessions. It and its twin had spent almost nine months inside the monster’s Storage, a pocket dimension sustained by what was undoubtedly space-attuned magic. If mithril really was as adaptable as Nao claimed, then that was the rather obvious cause of this quirk. Not that Keira would reveal such a thing, though dropping a hint could turn out to be worthwhile.

“I wouldn’t know either,” she lied. “I only just got it on my last adventure. But if it’s about space magic, then perhaps someone kept it in an Item Box like yours for a really long time?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” he admitted, “but it’s not possible. An unenchanted piece of forged mithril would need to spend centuries in such a space to be affected. And by my estimate, this one is only around ten years old. Fifteen tops. Something truly extraordinary must have happened for it to turn out this way.”

Keira returned her gaze to the weapon as she mulled over those words, her eyesight fixated on the distinct pink glow around the blade’s edge. It was then that Boxxy realized that the supposedly Divine-ranked gemstone it had was most likely to blame. After all, its shiny stabber was one of dozens of items that bizarre thing returned to it after the contents of its Storage had been temporarily following its death. This revelation also led the shapeshifter to consider whether Agent of Chaos had a finger in this, but the Skill was still doing its thing behind the scenes as far as the monster was aware.

However, the matter at hand was far more important than a bunch of what-ifs and maybes.

“So… what sort of options did you end up giving it?” asked Keira.

“R-right!” stammered Nao. “I had it written down somewhere… Oh, found it! Here you go.”

Boxxy snatched the piece of paper it was given rather greedily, eager to see what this shiny new thing was capable of.

Riftcleaver

A dagger forged out of pure mithril by the dwarven smiths of Einharvel. It boasts superior sharpness and a high affinity for teleportation and spatial manipulation magic. The weapon has gained a unique ability as a direct result of the collaboration between Nao Shoki, Hero of Magic, and Keira Morgana, Hero of Chaos.

Type: Dagger

Quality: Artifact

Offensive Ability: A-

Defensive Ability: B-

Durability: C+

Magic Amplification: 15% Space

Enchantments: Severing Edge, Self Repair, Lesser Dexterity, Bound By Blood

Ignition Ability: Reverse Recall

Estimated Value: Priceless

‘Collaboration’ was perhaps too strong a word in this instance, but it was certainly one way of looking at things. Unless Boxxy was mistaken, it was as much responsible for the creation of this Artifact as Nao. Also, not that the Mimic was complaining, but how come the name of its Facade was the one being recorded? Then again, Nao had no idea that Keira was not real, so this ‘enhancing’ of the truth was most probably caused by his limited understanding of the situation at hand.

Looking at the item’s performance, however, Boxxy couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated.The offensive and defensive ratings had gone up a bit and it had some useful-sounding properties, but it was rather lackluster when compared to Voidcaller or Winter’s Bite. The durability rating had gone down too. Self-Repair would probably help with that, but it was hard to call this outcome a straight up upgrade.

Ultimately though, the thing by which an Artifact was truly measured by were its unique properties.

“Reverse Recall? What’s that supposed to be?” asked Keira.

“It’s exactly as it sounds,” declared Nao. “Rather than returning to the owner’s hand, the weapon can teleport the user to its position. It doesn’t seem to have a weight or distance limit per-se, but the cost increases proportionally to both. By my estimate, it takes 1 MP to transfer 1 kilogram of matter 5 meters away.”

“… What if I don’t have the MP to make it happen?”

“Then the magic will refuse to activate. You don’t need to worry about it backfiring or anything.”

“But, how do you know? You’ve never seen this Reverse Recall thing, right?”

“Nope, I haven’t. Which is why me and Kuro stayed up all night putting it through its paces. I assure you, I’d never give you anything if I wasn’t sure it was safe.”

“G-give? You mean I can just have this?!”

“Of course! It was your weapon to begin with and I’ve learned a lot by working with it, so I wouldn’t feel right if I charged you for it.”

“But… don’t you want it for yourself?”

“A little, but I wouldn’t have any real use for it. Replicating the enchantment is probably impossible anyway since the base item was rather unique. Besides, the whole point of me borrowing it was because I wanted to make you an extra special gift. Something to show you that there are no hard feelings even though you dumped me.”

“Oh my God! Thanks Nao, you’re the best!”

Keira threw her arms around the wolfkin and hopped excitedly against him for a second or two before pulling away with the case in her hands. As for Nao, he was left rather stunned, embarrassed, and just a little disappointed. If he hadn’t given Keira that coat, then he probably would have felt a pair of soft bumps pressing against his chest just now.

“I can give it a try right away, right?!” she asked while still slightly bouncing in place.

“Should be fine, I think. Just give it a few drops of blood to enact the Bound By Blood. I know, it seems a bit creepy, but it’s necessary if the item is to recognize you and you alone as its owner. Otherwise it wouldn’t know what to teleport, you see.”

“Oh, okay! Wait, you already tested it, right? Doesn’t that mean it’s bound to Kuro?”

“It was, but a Scribe with sufficient knowledge in contract magic can undo the binding. Right now it’s dormant and eagerly awaiting a new owner, which is why I had to put it in that special container. Wouldn’t want to risk anyone but you getting a hold of it, after all.”