Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Returned and Rearmed

Somehow, after what felt like years, the incapacitated duo were successfully towed back to their cluttered store, night having long since fallen as the two survivors of batting practice had been forced to figure out how to carry someone taller and heavier than the other three of them combined.

By the time they were awake again, Monica was taking her turn passing out on the floor, once more snoring behind the front counter with an equally exhausted Silk as they came to.

“O-Oh, we, um… passed out, I guess…”

“Eh… oh yeah, we’re back here already…”

“I feel t-terrible for making Monica carry us both back this far…”

“It was her fault to begin with…”

“S-She was trying to help…!”

“...You’re awfully forgiving for someone that got used as a target dummy.”

The two of them flopped themselves into a pair of chairs near the front window, watching the previously lively town as it slept outside, the moon hanging low overhead as only the occasional player ran past now and then.

“I’m just amazed I was able to get a-anything done today… I kinda expected to be struggling around lost for a few days.”

“I dunno if we really taught you anything with any of this, but I’m glad you’re feeling more confident at least. You even killed a few of those things on your own back there.”

“J-Just a few… I think I felt better being a target than actually attacking, ehe.”

“Well, you picked the right role for that at least… not that I think you’ll be able to tank much now.”

“Oh, r-right… sorry about that.”

“I’m sure it’s not too big of a deal. I mean, Monica’s probably happy about being some sort of pacifist speedster tank mage thing.”

“You really think so?”

“I’ve known her for two days now and I thought I was a weird build. Now I’m pretty sure I’m the straight man of the three of us-”

“Chk!”

“-sorry, the four of us, while she’s becoming her own walking boss fight.”

“Well… that still makes us the midbosses then at least, right?”

“I don’t think there’s much ‘mini’ about you at all… but hey, if you wanna try and keep up with her, I won’t stop you.”

“Ehe, maybe I will. I-I had some ideas to try out…”

“Oho? Anything a crafter might be able to expedite…?~”

The exhausted halfling woke up fast, leaning in close over the table with glittering eyes at the prospect of a new project.

“O-Oh, um, well… just something s-simple really, nothing special…”

“Anything I make is gonna be special...~”

“W-Well…”

Exhausted as they were, neither of them ended getting sleep that night as they spent the hours sharing a flood of new ideas to work through, well into the long hours of the night.

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Another day rose like every other had before it, sunlight barreling in through the window like an unwelcome customer as a snoozing fox was roused once again into the realm of the waking.

Wiping at her eyes with the back of her hands as she peeled herself off the floor and stretching her stiff limbs out, she slowly crawled her way up over the counter she’d made her nest behind.

“That goes like that… and that’s here… so if we just… hey, gimme another five Azureron, two pinches of Smokedust!”

“R-Right on that!”

“Chkchk chk!!”

The store was already noisy this early in the day, Prim concentrating intently on something as Elise and Silk ran back and forth as her assistants, fetching items from the various semi-organized piles of materials they still had failed to actually store anywhere other than in the middle of the floor.

“Oh, you finally up, Moni?”

“Chk!”

“Ah, g-good morning Monica!”

“Buh… m-mornin… is loud…”

“Heh, sorry, we’ve been getting a little carried away all night!”

“W-Wait, has it really been… oh, i-it has been all night by now…”

“Those materials aren’t getting themselves y’know!”

“Oh right, s-sorry!”

The kitsune dragged herself all the way to her feet, doing her best to wake up amidst the busy workshop as she pulled herself up a chair to watch them all work.

“Mmm… so what’re you all making anyways…?”

“We’re juuust about done now, so just wait and watch... but right, toss me some of that Ancient Alloy stuff too.”

“Eh…? Oh, right, sure thing.”

Too asleep to protest, she fished out a few chunks of the shiny metal, a sudden jet of webbing grabbing them away as Silk lassoed the items to Prim’s workspace and earned them a scratch on their fuzzy abdomen.

“...Whose pet are you supposed to be, again…?”

“Chk!~”

She sighed, slowly sipping at a particularly bitter potion in lieu of any coffee while she simply waited on them to finish, enjoying watching their towering Vanguard frantically rushing about as the designated errand girl.

Sparks flew, debris was cast aside as unaimed projectiles, and a cloud layer of dust slowly formed around the focused crafter, her work fully obscured by the sheer gusto of how fast she was working, the other three watching from a safe distance.

“This is my first time watching her work on something major… I gotta say, she really does seem like a completely different person like this.”

“S-She’s really incredible when she’s working…”

Monica glanced over at the elvish girl, an insufferably devilish expression plastered across her face as she watched their tank stare at the occupied halfling.

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“Oho…? Here I’d thought I was the one you took a liking to, but you already found another crush to replace me with~”

“...W-Wait, no, I didn’t… I just m-meant, um… i-it’s not like that, really, I…”

“No no, I understand completely, don’t you worry. My lips are sealed...~”

“D-Don’t just make weird assumptions…!”

The poor girl was beet red as she was read like a book, fervently throwing denials at an unconvinced witch as she giggled maniacally to herself.

Time passed faster and faster as the fox was eventually forced into running supply errands as well, loading materials into their crafter like a factory as each piece was machined down. The requests for ingredients eventually slowed down more and more, until eventually, the last few hunks of ore were handed over, their massive reserves noticeably dented as her grand work drew to a close.

“And… haaa… I think it’s finally all done…!”

“Wait, a-all of it…?!”

“I didn’t plan to make everything but… we had the materials, and you three sped it up so much…”

“All of what, exactly? No one has told me what we were even doing with all of this.”

“Well, consider yourself informed then, because our wonderful Elise here is going to be modeling it for us!”

“...W-Wonderful…?”

A slightly flustered Elise had a pile of goods forced into her arms, depositing most of everything made into her inventory as she swapped between thanks and apologies with every anxious breath.

“I’ll be r-right back, lemme get changed, um… n-not in front of the front window…”

She hurried off, smiling sheepishly a she carried her piled gifts.

“Modeling, huh…? I didn’t take you as much of a fashionista.”

“Hey, fashion can be a lot of different things.”

“Including something made of several tons of raw metal?”

“Especially that!”

It wasn’t long before the tallest of them returned from a back room, their old unexciting chain-and-plate starting gear discarded alongside her caved-in greatshield and chipped shortsword, all of her equipment entirely updated.

What was once unadorned iron was now polished and gleaming steel, Monica’s glossy black chitin and Prim’s leather jacket both a stark contrast to blue-hued platemail, white trim lining the joints and connecting edges. The imposing suit of armor was remarkably less bulky than they’d expected it to come out, her silhouette still as slender and compact as was practically feasible on a fully armored eight-foot tall woman.

Much more noticeably, however, were what she was carrying n either hand.

The term “greatshield” was almost inappropriate for the mountains she wielded, like using “a house” to refer to a seven-story mansion. Both of the metal slabs stood almost as tall as she did and about half as wide as that, dangerously close to not being able to fit out of the doorway again. They were the same soft blue color as her armor, matching mirrored rectangles that stood on their own without issue, the inner edges grooved and shaped such that they could be slotted together into a V shape like a ship’s bow.

“U-Um… does it… look alright…?”

She was currently cowering behind one of them slightly, clearly not prepared for them both to simply stare at her silently for several minutes.

“Damn, I really did better than I thought… I was worried the whole thing would be too stiff to move in or just outright too heavy, and I just straight up didn’t have enough stuff to make a helmet as well, but… it actually looks like it came out perfect, should’ve never doubted myself~”

“Yeah, it’s certainly impressive. You really look like a proper knight now, eh? Maybe you can actually try being a tank sometime now, ehe.”

“D-Do you both r-really think so… I-I, um…”

The girl seemingly shortcircuited, having an even more difficult time speaking straight than she usually did.

The two of them had stood up and were now looking over the intricately crafted armor up close, Elise turning a nice tomato red as she was scrutinized, even Silk joining in as they inspected Prim’s work.

[Azureron Greatshields] (Weapons / Paired)

- HP +30, STR +20, VIT +55

[Lapisteel Cuirass] (Body)

- HP +75, STR +15, VIT +60

[Lapisteel Vambraces] (Hands)

- HP +50, DEX +10 VIT +35

[Lapisteel Sabatons] (Feet)

- HP +45, VIT+ 40, AGI +5

“Sorry it’s nothing special skills-wise… only so much I can do with just pumping more materials into it, y’know?”

“Oh, n-no no no, it’s perfect, really!! I couldn’t ask for more when this took so long already…”

“Well… happy I could please, then!”

The crafter glowed at the praise for her work, both of them practically beaming at one another, the night owl mage getting blinded by how brightly both of them were shining at one another.

“Didn’t you say you made something else…?”

“Hmm… oh! Right, right, got a little distracted ehe.”

Hopping back to her work table, she retrieved the last item left among the crafting detritus, not nearly as fancy as the suit of armor made before it, but no less oversized.

[Ancient Excavator] (Weapon)

- STR +65, DEX +20

- Reduces target VIT by 20 on hit.

“I wanted to test that alloy you’ve been sitting on for a few days now, but was worried I’d mess up the armor, so… I experimented on my hammer a bit before we go dungeon diving.”

“Oho? So you’re finally ready to try it again, then?”

“I’m a bit less scared of giant rock wolves this time, yeah. And maybe you won’t get yourself splattered, hmm?”

“That’s not happening again, even if that ass is still waiting there.”

“...Wait, w-what was that about giant rock wolves…?”

The timid tower of metal was not gifted with any explanation, the other two already walking out the front door as they discussed the previous trip, Silk skittering after them both as Elise struggled to fit her steel walls through the door after them.

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