Opparu returned when the first snow began to fall from the thick clouds above them. Lia excitedly welcomed him, asking how his trip went. To answer her question, he produced a thick, heavy ingot, which, when put onto their dinner table, made it buckle under its weight and collapse.

"Ugh…" Koadriana twitched her mouth, looking at the light-blue ingot. Watching its smooth surface, it sometimes flashed with deep, crimson light, looking exceptionally pretty. "Isn't this a bit too heavy for what Lia wants?"

"It is heavy because it is really dense," Opparu said proudly while Lia was crouching next to it, trying to lift the ingot and examine it more closely. "When creating the artifact, much of it will go to waste; there is simply no other way around it…. And I brought back enough to attempt creating her desired weapon twice. This way, we can try again even if we fail once!"

"We?" Keily asked, watching him and his Boss, who now hoisted the ingot with trembling arms.

"I will oversee it, of course. I know Lia wants to do it herself, which I am in support of... But I will still be there and take over if must."

"I'll be fine!" Lia laughed, giving her new toy to Raufon, who was measuring it with one hand, looking impressed. "Since I came back from my training with the Headmaster, I have been focusing on how to create an artifact!"

"She isn't lying." Aurora wrote, imitating a long sigh, "We spent way too much CP on buying different ores and using them for her training! And when I say WE, I mean our dear leader here!"

"Wait, you used the Misfits' capital to buy materials to practice on?!" Ceiline shook, asking with a high-pitched voice.

"Well yeah… I am your Boss…." Lia answered, blinking her eyes with a look of innocence.

"We can earn CP anytime," Keily spoke up to defend her but quickly shrunk his neck back after everyone gazed at him coldly… including Stumpy.

"I did not spend THAT much…." She pouted, "A few thousand…."

"Stop, STOOOOP!" Ceiline groaned, "I don't want to hear it! I'm NOT hearing it!"

"It is for the benefit of everyone!" Lia stomped in place, now looking hurt, "If I can do it, I can craft everyone's artifact for free! Hmph! You are such jerks! Now I won't do it! Even if I succeed, you all will have to pay me! Except Keily! And Rinzen!"

"Me?" The Head of the Berisons asked, just coming in from the outside. "What?" She looked at them, her eyes puzzled, missing the first half of the conversation.

"Just… don't ask." Aurora wrote, feeling a fresh headache creeping up along her spine.

"She is right." Opparu said, interrupting everyone, "Creating an Artifact is not cheap. Of course, you could find sub-par stuff being sold everywhere, but I wouldn't call them artifacts. A real one costs around a few million gold coins. Depending on the material. Something that is made from an alloy? Add a zero after the final amount."

"Fuck." Raufon said, his mouth agape, and only Keily was just as stunned beside him.

"Hm?" The rest looked at them, making Raufon snort loudly.

"I forgot you are wealthy little princesses! Do you know how much gold my tribe makes a year? Around a thousand!"

"Oh…" Lia, Koadriana, Aurora, Ceiline, and Rinzen said in perfect unison.

"Oh? Yeah, oh fuck!" Raufon groaned, making Keily nod his head like someone having a stroke. "Hey, Boss…" He mimicked Keily's tone, "Can we… strike a deal? I wasn't angry that you spent a lot! Hey, my team can earn double that! What do you say? We are good and hard workers, you know!"

"We can… look into it!" Lia answered, looking at Raufon with only one eye, but then Opparu chimed in.

"We will make do. I will supervise everything. Also, I will forge yours. I appreciate Lia's eagerness, but let's leave this to professionals."

"Yet you let her do hers?" Keily asked, feeling confused.

"When a mage knows precisely what he or she wants, you don't stand in their way!" Opparu answered firmly, "You will carry your artifact with you everywhere, and you will be one with it! I studied her blueprint. She knows exactly what she wants; even if I do it for her, it won't be a 100% replica of what she has in her mind. Do you all understand? This is also why I say she should not forge others' artifacts!"

"Because it would still be influenced by what I want?" Lia asked, making Opparu smile widely.

"Exactly! On the other hand, I am experienced. I can shut out my own intrusive thoughts while forging. Those who don't really know what they want can come to me, describe the kind of artifact you are looking for, and I will make it for you. It is that simple! My work will be good, I can promise you that! But if you are like Lia and know exactly what is that you desire, down to the most minute details… do it yourself." He said, watching them one by one, before taking back the alloy and telling Lia to come to his workshop the following weekend. They should begin as soon as possible.

…
….
……

Lia was surprised to see Opparu's basement the next time she came over. It was transformed, the many nude and lewd posters were gone, and now it looked like a fully equipped blacksmith's workshop with dozens of glowing formations etched into the walls and floors.

"Woah…" She exclaimed, looking around, tucking her hair up into a bun, rolling her uniform's sleeve up, and getting ready to work.

"You ought to wear less," Opparu said, wearing only shorts and a blacksmith's apron.

"Perv." Lia grinned, but he just rolled his eyes.

"Your call." He shrugged in the end, clapping, and the whole basement was sealed off from the outside world as an energy shield appeared around the entire house.

"If I didn't know you, I would be worried right now."

"Girl, your mouth got really spicy throughout the years!"

"Teehee~!" She winked at him, sticking a tongue out.

"Here, based on your blueprint, I already made molds for you!" He brought around two dozen forms forward while Lia undressed and put on an apron above her underwear.

"Great! Thanks!" She hopped along, looking at them with sparkling eyes, running her fingers inside them. "Great! Your workshop looks much sturdier than the school's that I used for training!"

"Of course. This was made by me; I could operate on my baby without looking! Let's get on with it!"

With another clap from him, the furnace suddenly came to life, burning intensely with a golden fire. The temperature in the room rose instantly, and without magic surrounding both of them, they would have found it hard to breathe.

"Stumpy would love it here!" Lia chuckled, watching the flames dance inside it.

"Of course! This flame of mine is from a unique salamander! Let it heat up a little more, and then drop your ingot in! We are going to smelt it down completely and then pour it into the molds!"

"What should I do?" Lia asked, knowing the process but still wanting to take instructions from someone with much more profound knowledge.

"Creating an artifact is easy. Creating a unique, personal one is hard. I'll operate the forge, and you concentrate on pouring into the mold so they take shape! Guide it with your mana! Let it seep into it and be fused with it! But don't use your fire! That could interfere with the forging process and ruin everything! If you hadn't learned about No-Space from the Headmaster, I wouldn't dare to try this." Opparu said, focusing solemnly on his forge. "Use only pure mana! Got it?"

"Yes, Sir!" Lia saluted, and they finally got to work.

When Lia dripped her ingot in, it took half an hour for it to fully melt, and let them pour it into the prepared molds. Now that it was liquified, it flowed quickly and acted like melted chocolate, sticking to the kiln's walls. Lia didn't ask anything, knowing what she should do, and used only her mana to scrape it off and guide it forward while Opparu poured it out. It took them an hour to finish with all the molds he prepared, and the second, more difficult part came after they were cooled off for the first time.

"Okay," Opparu wiped his forehead, placing the remaining raw material to the side. It was now cooling down, forming a much, much smaller ingot than before. "Let's get into annealing them! Here, use my hammer; it has a support formation on them to make all of your strikes count!" He gave her a heavy but relatively small hammer, preparing the first two, arrowhead-like, reheating them.

"Um." Lia tried out the hammer, getting used to its weight and gripping it firmly.

She knew what she had to do. She was going to connect the two parts like pieces of a puzzle. At first, it looked as if she would hammer them together, making a solid piece out of them, but in reality, her mana was what truly made them connect. With every hammer strike, sparks and bluish specks of mana flew everywhere. A portion of Lia's mana was being merged into her artifact so that when it was finally born, it would be able to change form and shape by its master's will. Infusing it would let the arrowhead-like pieces come apart but remain connected by her magic, and she could use them as a whip, extending them beyond their original reach.

The whole process of connecting the multiple dozens of tiny pieces took them the entire day. There was no time to have a break, and Lia consumed a handful of mana potions while working with Opparu, who didn't even flinch. It was already deep into the night when Lia pushed her slightly curved raw blade into a pool of icy water, letting it blow steam up in the air, fogging up the whole forge. When she pulled it out, she had a silvery blade in her hand that flashed with a magenta-like hue as the light from the forge fell upon it.

"Color me impressed!" Opparu watched it with satisfaction. "You did an outstanding job, girl!"

"I told you!" She grinned happily, her mouth reaching from ear to ear with proudness, "I practiced! This already feels great!" She added, holding it, swishing it a few times, shaking off the water that was sticking to it.

"We still need to harden it a little and then sharpen it carefully. I also want to etch a formation into it."

"A formation?" Lia asked, surprised as it was not in her plans at all.

"Yes." He said, watching the blade in her hands. "I am going to place it in the hilt before we cover it and put the handguard and the grip on! It will be a miniature formation with a small space hidden inside. When in battle, you don't always have time to grab your holding bag, you know! Or what if it gets destroyed? I want to etch a small one in a place where you can access it even in the heat of battle! Place potions or pills inside; I don't know! Things that help you win a fight and give you an advantage!"

"Oooooh! I like it! Thanks, Opparu! You are the best!" She hugged him, not minding that both of them were soaked with sweat.

"No problem, kiddo!" He smiled, rubbing her head, watching the almost-done artifact. "This will be the best thing I ever took part in! And you didn't lie… you really made it, and you still have a good amount of leftovers!"

"What are you going to do with that? Sell it?" She asked curiously.

"Nope! We will make a second one, of course." He answered immediately, making Lia's eyes grow twice their size as she registered what he said. "Why, you don't want to?"

"...!" Lia just brought forward potion after potion, drinking them on the spot. "Let's do it! Nyahahahaha! This is going to be AWESOME!"

Corty

I brought some pictures for you~ The first batch is about Lia as she slowly grows! And... I mean, she grows up. Yep. That is what I mean!

Spoiler

[collapse]

Second, it is just Koa being Koa~

Spoiler

[collapse]

And I can't finish off the trio without Aurora, can I?

Spoiler

[collapse]