Mana Soul: Chapter 30 - The Warrant - Markus

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Tina continued staring at Markus with an unsettling intensity. His offhand comment had apparently struck a chord in her, and now she wouldn’t let it go.

“Look, I finished another golem model just earlier. I could have it come over if you don't believe me.” Markus offered. “I guess this could be a chance for the Guild to see the alternate model."

“Could you really?!” Tina asked excitedly, “I always wanted to get a proper look at a golem, but the units deployed outside dungeons are difficult to get a proper look at with all the interference from the dungeon gate."

Markus frowned a little. She didn't seem to be lying, but he had never encountered anything like interference when he was studying golems. Perhaps he had been lucky, Markus reasoned. Clearing his throat, Markus raised the tablet closer to his mouth, “Leona. Once the new armour is delivered, I want you to gear up in the armour and surcoat designated for Aela and then swiftly make your way to the Guildhall. Wait at the front desk until one of the Guild staff escorts you to my location." He had given the ‘female’ golem the name of a popular female Warrior adventurer from one of Arlee’s storybooks while waiting for Phillipe earlier.

A moment later the tablet chimed and a rough woman's voice responded. “Understood Creator. Peabody has informed Leona that packages are en route. Leona anticipates arrival at Creator’s location within a half-hour."

“Alright,” Markus replied, “No need to rush. This is a good chance to see what the uniform will look like, so take as long as you need to make a good impression."

The tablet chimed again, “Of course, Creator,” the golem had the slightest trace of snippiness in its tone as if it was annoyed at being underestimated.

Looking up from his tablet, Markus saw that it wasn’t just Tina, but Hilda, Phillipe, Kassandra and the attending Guild staff who were standing about in shocked silence.

“Was...Was that really a golem?!” Tina demanded, as the first to break the silence, her voice came out far louder than expected.

Markus smirked and nodded, “Yeah."

Tina’s eyes were wide with surprise, “And it actually spoke just now?!"

“Of course,” Aela snorted as if it were the most common thing in the world and everyone was being foolish for making a fuss over it, “All of Markus’s golems speak. How else would he know what they are thinking?"

There was another long drawn out silence

“Wait...” Tina was shaking at the knees and her lower lip was quivering uncontrollably, “Thinking?...” She stared listlessly at the tablet for a moment, before turning her attention back to Markus, “That was not just a preset command?..."

Markus shook his head, “I designed my golem’s to think for themselves. To solve problems creatively, to find solutions I might overlook."

Aela grinned wolfishly at Tina, who was now thoroughly disoriented.

“Markus...I thought what you had shown me in those two dungeons was impressive already...But you really made golems capable of speech and independent creative thought...You did it all on your own?” Phillipe asked, visibly awed.

Markus shrugged, “It is pretty easy to come up with impressive innovations when the groundwork is already provided by someone else,” he admitted modestly. “Besides, there was a great deal of trial and error that went into making the enchantments work how I wanted them to. The first golem took at least a couple of weeks.” Markus didn't see it as much of an accomplishment, particularly since he had originally been pilfering the primary enchantments from the Guild golems as a foundation to work from.

“J-just two weeks?...” Tina moaned, clutching at her head while staggering backward and slumping to the floor.

By the time they had just about regained their composure, there was a knock at the door and the senior clerk ushered in what appeared to be a very tall woman in black brigandine and surcoat. Leona had arrived.

With its body completely concealed by armour, it would be easy for anyone to mistake Leona for an adventurer or one of their sworn retainers. Even the way the golem moved seemed natural, accompanied by minor deviations and adjustments the Guild’s golems simply weren't capable of. Furthermore, Leona had a much more feminine gait than Hector, which was strange, since physically, they were not different enough for their bodies to force it.

“Leona has arrived at Creator’s location and is awaiting further orders,” the golem rumbled.

“This...this is the golem?” Tina asked, now significantly more composed than she had been roughly half an hour previously. Without waiting for an answer, her eyes changed colour as she began scrutinizing Leona from less than a hand’s breadth away.

Hilda drew closer to take a look as well, “Impressive!” She murmured, quickly realizing that the golem was a head taller than even her own impressive height.

“It can fight just as well as the Guild’s golems?” Phillipe asked curiously.

“I honestly don’t know,” Markus replied, “When the Guild Chapter-Master was testing Hector, my second golem, they had it spar against someone called Dimos, I think. Used a big hammer... Or at least he did before Hector broke it near the end of the fight."

Phillipe looked incredibly impressed, “Your golem beat Dimos? Ser Frederik Dimos? Sir I'll threaten to bash your brains in if you so much as look at me sideways Dimos?!"

Kassandra was momentarily startled before quickly hopping into the conversation, “Come to mention it, people have been commenting on the absence of Dimos’s hammer... To think a golem broke it... No wonder the old crank has been so quiet...” She had a hint of admiration on her face for all of a second before remembering to be sullen again.

“Dare I ask, who won the fight?” Phillipe asked somewhat jokingly.

“Hector did, of course,” Aela replied before Markus had a chance. “The golem would have killed him if the Guild Chapter-Master had let it continue."

Phillipe took an involuntary half step back from Leona before realizing what he was doing.

“Hector wasn’t going to kill him,” Markus reassured everyone, “Hector was under explicit orders not to kill him. The fight probably would have ended much sooner if it wasn't being limited like that."

Aela nodded in agreement, “Hector killed that marauder like it was nothing."

“A marauder, really?!” Hilda was impressed. “Do you know how strong it was? What type was it?"

Aela shook her head, “We were outside of town, just the two of us-” Aela leaned in toward Markus, “I was taking Markus hunting. I had not expected a marauder to appear, so I only had my hunting knives. Before I fully realized what was going on, Markus got its attention, then ran off into the woods.” Aela’s tail constricted and she clenched her fists, “It ignored me, running after Markus instead. With only my knives, I tried my best to at least slow it down, but it was just too big and ignored me. In a rage, I threw myself at the giant, but it wasn’t enough to really hurt it. I only managed to make it mad.” Aela unclenched her fists, “But I was happy, I thought Markus would get away to safety... But Markus came back, he fearlessly stared the marauder down, taunting it even,” Aela laughed and shook her head as if she still couldn't believe it. “I don’t know what Markus said, but before the giant could do anything, his second golem, Hector, had arrived and launched a surprise attack. The golem tore the marauder apart in a matter of moments...” Aela shook her head like she still couldn’t believe it.

Listening to events from Aela’s perspective, Markus really had to appreciate the sheer nerve and grit she had to face down the monster as she did. The way Aela framed it, Markus had been far more decisive and brave that day than he actually had been.

“A giant?!” Hilda was agog, “The weakest giant I had the hearing of was in level thirty dungeons. But to be marauder, was probable at least level forty to get past the golem. To fight even a weakest of giants and survive is impressive! But marauder no less!"

Aela glanced at Markus.

He met her eyes and shook his head. It was better they didn't know the rest of what happened. If they were so impressed with his more mundane achievements, there was no telling how they would react to bringing Aela back from the brink of death. There was also similarly no way of telling what they would do with that information. Everything else about that day was already somewhat known around town, because of the guards who had observed from afar. So there was little to be done about that.

Hilda was still circling Leona as if inspecting the golem’s armour and physique. But as she drew closest to Markus, she stepped back for a moment and whispered quietly, “Do you think I can spar against the golem later?” Hilda looked incredibly excited at the prospect.

Markus shrugged, “Do we have the time for that?” He asked uncertainly. From all he had read, the situation involving the aberrant dungeon was rapidly getting out of hand.

“Ah, you are right. Perhaps next time,” Hilda replied soberly. She then stood up tall and exaggeratedly cleared her throat before giving Phillipe a telling look.

Giving her a small nod in reply, Phillipe clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. “Alright! It is past due that we begin discussing the dungeon in Skalisberg Jarldom. Everyone, take a seat at the table and we can get down to it!” He gestured to the dining table and then aggressively motioned for everyone to get moving.

To Markus’s surprise, even Phillipe’s petulant sister quickly made her way over to take a seat. More than a little impressed by the respect he was seeing from the others present, Markus made his own way over and took an empty seat by the end of the table to Phillipe’s left.

Aela, of course, took the seat next to Markus.

Phillipe cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention, “As I had explained in some detail to most of you already, I want our adventuring party to clear the Aberrant Skalisberg dungeon. Those of you looking for monetary gain should know that the collective bounty is already in excess of thirty thousand crowns-"

Tina’s expression perked up noticeably at the mention of such a fortune, her lips practically drooling at the prospect of her share.

Kassandra had a similar expression to Tina, although to a much lesser degree.

“-For those of us striving for prestige, where so many have failed, should we succeed, the calibre of our mettle and fortitude would be beyond question.” Phillipe had an excited and hungry look in his eyes, one that his fiance Hilda shared perhaps even to a greater degree than himself.

For Markus, the scale of the financial reward only gave him cause to feel more nervous. While he would indeed like a sixth or more share of the bounty, the implied level of danger that came along with it left him with a thoroughly sober disposition.

Aela was largely unmoved by Phillipe’s speech, obviously wanting the dungeon destroyed to reduce the acts of violence against her people before it was too late.

After giving everyone a moment to dwell on what he had said, Phillipe continued, “I have been studying the party composition of those who have attempted the dungeon before us and failed. With this information combined with the reports of those who aborted the attempt near the entrance, I have determined that Markus’s experimental enchantment is not only our best chance at success, it is very likely our only chance."

Everyone but Aela now turned and looked expectantly at Markus, especially Tina, who had an even hungrier look in her eyes than when contemplating her share of the bounty.

“The aberrant and undead attributes of the dungeon have created nearly immortal monsters. According to surviving witnesses, even the weakest undead, skeletons and zombies, would simply have their bodies reknit back together after being struck down. This would continue endlessly until the weight of numbers simply overwhelmed the adventurers and forced them to retreat.” Phillipe sighed and shook his head, “Even bodies burnt to ash would only be slowed in their unholy resurrection..."

“You said, nearly immortal, has someone else figured out how to make them stay dead?” Kassandra asked.

Phillipe shook his head with a wry grin on his face, “I say nearly because there has been one other account of this specific occurrence, albeit to a far lesser degree.” He briefly glanced at Markus but continued talking before Markus had time to think about what he meant by it. “An eye-witness account from that dungeon held that only the destruction of the dungeon core itself truly stopped the dead from reanimating-"

“So we need to somehow push past the lesser undead and hunt down the heart itself while fending them off?” Kassandra interrupted.

Phillipe sighed, “No, other parties have attempted that already, and obviously didn't manage it."

“Then what are we going to do differently? How does this experimental enchantment factor into this?” Tina asked curiously, her eyes still firmly locked on Markus.

“Perhaps there is more to it, but based on what I remember from Markus’s explanation and from what I had observed in that dungeon and the dungeon we next partnered in clearing, I have no doubt that it would prove effective in putting these monsters down for good. But this is, of course, assuming Markus is willing to allow the use of his private research,” Phillipe explained, and as he finished, everyone's eyes shifted back to Markus.

Uncomfortable with being the object of such intense attention, Markus fidgeted in his seat.

Tina whistled wolfishly and for the first time in the past few minutes tore her gaze away from Markus to stare at Philippe, “The balls on this jackanape!” She cackled and slapped at the table as if Phillipe had told a hilarious joke. “Because you aren't kidding are you? You seriously expect him to hand over an enchantment of that value, just like that?"

Phillipe’s cheeks flushed a little, although Markus was unsure of whether it was in embarrassment, anger, or both.

“Nah, you would think that, wouldn't you? All you CC’s are the same. Always undervaluing the time and effort us Artificers put into enchanting equipment with tried and true enchantments, let alone the maddening process of experimentation! For you CC’s, you just assume it’s as simple as your powers...Well, it isn't!” Tina was visibly upset, glaring daggers at Phillipe and thumping her fists against the table to accentuate each point.

Markus was conflicted. On the one hand, he appreciated the effort Tina was putting in on his behalf. But on the other hand, the artificing and developing new enchantments strictly was not an expensive or time-consuming process for him. Which Markus himself had never really considered as out of the ordinary. He had honestly just assumed most Artificers were just lazy because they did not rely on the income generated from their class ability to survive like he had until quite recently.

But Tina’s outraged outburst now presented a rather unique opportunity, “I want the warrant of crusade,” Markus demanded, his sudden interjection catching the others off guard. “The control of the fortress too if possible, but at the least the warrant of crusade."

Everyone except Markus and Aela shared perplexed looks with one another in stunned silence.

It was so quiet that the chiming of Markus’s tablet seemed as loud as a church bell.

Glancing at his tablet quickly, Markus saw the message was from Peabody.

[Mr Peabody: “GOOD JOB BENEFACTOR!!!”]

[Mr Peabody: “Ask for more!”]

Phillipe cleared his throat and glanced towards the others quickly before speaking, “You know the warrant is practically worthless right? It’s basically a death sentence. No one has ever held a claimed territory for over a year before being driven to ruin by hordes of monsters..."

Hilda nodded in agreement, “The fortress has political power at least, but maintaining the fortress is expensive!"

Markus shrugged, “Then I will take them both and a share of the remaining bounty as well."

Somewhat relieved, perhaps thinking Markus was seeing reason, Phillipe sighed and nodded his head. “Excluding what I have already paid Tina for use of her artifices, her claim on the bounty is a quarter share. Contrary to what she may think, I do appreciate the value of new and unique enchantments and artifice produced by Artificers. Which is why I think it would only be appropriate and just for Markus to receive at least a two-thirds share of the final bounty."

“WHAT?!” Kassandra demanded, slamming her fist against the table in shock and anger.

Phillipe glared at his sister, obviously unhappy about her sudden outburst. “Without Markus’s help, I believe this dungeon is impossible. Not just for us, but for any party that is not entirely composed of extraordinarily high levelled individuals. Your memory may be a little fuzzy sister, but perhaps you should recall just how effective those particular enchantments Markus used in the troll cave were in dispatching the monsters!"

Kassandra pursed her lips and slouched back into her seat.

Markus was stunned. Two-thirds of the bounty was over twenty thousand gold crowns! Feeling lightheaded, Markus hadn't noticed everyone was looking at him as if expecting an answer. He had obviously just missed something important. “I’m sorry, what?” Markus asked apologetically.

Phillipe smiled understandingly, “Assuming your share of the bounty is two-thirds and if you still want them, despite our advice, the command of the fortress and the warrant of crusade. Assuming all that, are you with us Markus?"

Markus was about to agree, but he had one more request. “There is one more thing, but I can understand if it is beyond the members of this party to accomplish."

Judging by the wary looks they were giving him, except for Aela and for some reason Tina as well, they no doubt thought he was attempting to strongarm them into assisting him secure territory in the deadlands after securing the warrant of crusade.

Waving his hands apologetically, Markus quickly tried to explain himself, “It’s not what you think. I just want political pressure on the locals and adventurers to stop them from harming chimaera in unjust reprisal for the deaths within and without the dungeon."

Phillipe, Kassandra and even Tina were surprised. Hilda on the other hand was contemplative.

Again, everyone's attention was directed towards one person, but this time it wasn’t Markus, it was Hilda.

Hilda was quiet for a number of minutes before finally speaking her mind. “I cannot promise the outcome,” she carefully explained, “But I can be making sure mother and uncle will at very least delay hostilities.” Hilda shrugged, “Closing this dungeon is very important to them. You are important to close this dungeon. They will listen...but others might not.” She seemed a little frustrated trying to explain the situation.

“I understand. It might be too late to stop all the violence. But I want them to try. This is what I want,” Markus explained.

Hilda nodded, “Before we enter the dungeon, I will make this condition known to them. I swear it."

Markus nodded and then turned back to Phillipe, glanced briefly back at Hilda before confirming, “We have a deal, I’m in."

“Fantastic!” Phillipe grinned and pumped his fist in the air as if he just won a climactic battle.

“Is this enchantment really that powerful?” Tina asked, understandably sceptical towards Phillipe’s reaction.

The blatant scepticism with which she posed the question diminished Phillipe’s enthusiasm somewhat, but not by much. “My sister and I have both witnessed firsthand the power of the enchantment. With just a touch it forced monsters into states of uncontrollable seizure or paralysis! Furthermore, any monster that made contact with its afflicted kind would be similarly debilitated! An unlucky few even suffered entropic degeneration!"

Tina was still somewhat sceptical and looked to Katherine for confirmation.

Katherine nodded, “It’s true,” she admitted, but made no further comment.

Tina leaned over towards Markus across the table and slammed her palms down, “How in the abyss did you manage that?!” She demanded.

Markus shrugged, “Those were just side effects mostly,” he explained calmly.

“Side...effects...” Tina suddenly lost the overwhelming majority of her energy and slumped back onto her seat with a shocked look on her face. “Just side effects?” She asked with a noticeable quaver in her voice.

“Well, the intended effect was to drain, transfer and convert the monster’s mana to fuel other artifices. I managed to make a more efficient and effective enchantment by the time we cleared that second dungeon. The entropy Phillipe described was actually caused by the monster's mana being forcibly drained and depleted. Although it seems like the level of the monster affects the degree of paralysis while the mana is being drained. I think it is because of the monster’s total available mana level affording it a sort of buffer zone before reaching a critical level and succumbing. Similar to how a larger animal takes longer to succumb to the same poison or blood loss as a smaller animal.” Markus explained somewhat sheepishly, recalling how the experiments had been mostly disappointing to him at the time.

“You actually managed to make a mana draining enchantment?” Tina asked quietly, her face deathly pale.

Markus nodded, “Yes, although it took some adjusting to make sure it wouldn’t affect chimaera,” he lied, knowing that eventually the people in this room would talk about it and making an early attempt to dissuade people from using it against them. He shared a knowing look with Aela, who held an appreciative one in return.

Ignoring or unaware of Tina’s sudden despondency, Phillipe pressed on with necessary business. “So what would be the best means for using the enchantment? Should we buy new weapons? Or do you have suitable equipment we could buy or borrow from you?” He asked.

Markus hadn’t particularly thought much about that aspect of the collaboration yet, since he was just used to enchanting most equipment on the fly. “Hrm, it depends. Are you confident in the equipment you have already? Because if you can afford it and are planning on upgrading anyway, now would be a good time right?"

Phillipe was taken aback for a moment before tactfully clearing his throat and adjusting his tone, “Ah, Markus, I know this is not true of all adventurers, but I can safely say that regarding those in this room, we each have a number of different articles prepared for different circumstances already,” he was making a real effort not to come off as flippant as he made his explanation.

It took Markus a second, but then he realized what Phillipe had meant. They had not intended to buy new equipment unless Markus said so because they likely had multiple complete sets of equipment already and almost certainly had them since being gifted their class crystal. The circumstances of upgrading were probably exceedingly rare.

With that in mind, Markus nodded to show he understood what Phillipe had meant and appreciated the gesture. “Well, I could look over everyone’s equipment, just to make sure all the enchantments are working optimally. If that is the case, then it would probably be better if I provided additional enchantments through tethered beads or something,” the bead in Aela's hair that he had gifted her to ward against the mana drain enchantment was his inspiration for the idea.

“Tethered beads?” Hilda asked, obviously confused and thinking she had misunderstood.

“I have done it before. Think of it as a bridging enchantment on the item so all of the old enchantments work alongside the new ones. So the enchantments in the bead, get added to the sword or whatever. Does that make more sense?” Markus asked. It was important they understood how this would work, as their lives would depend on it, and his life depended on them.

Hilda nodded, although she still looked somewhat uncertain.

“Maybe it would be best if I provided a demonstration?” Markus asked.

Visibly relieved, Hilda smiled and nodded, “Yes, that would be best."

Removing his handkerchief from his pocket, Markus flattened it out on the table, then turned to face the up until now largely ignored Guild staff on standby with refreshments, “Could you please fetch ink and a pen?"

The most junior in the group bowed and deposited their tray of assorted snacks on the table before briskly leaving the room to fetch the requested items. In less than a minute they had returned with a wooden writing board, a rather fancy pen and a large bottle of ink.

“Thank you, erm, would you also mind fetching a platter of assorted meats? I am getting a little hungry,” he wasn't really, but Aela was getting a little dribbly, which meant she was either hungry or...happy...

The Guild staff member bowed briefly before excusing themselves again.

Drawing the necessary sigils on his handkerchief, Markus withdrew his knife and cut the fabric in two and held one in each hand. Quickly enchanting each of them, he was prepared for his demonstration.

“Okay, now please pay attention. Imagine the fabric in my left hand is your sword. It’s currently enchanted to resist damage and effectively be unbreakable so long as the mana holds.” Markus demonstrated trying to cut the fabric with the knife again but was unable to do so. “Now imagine the handkerchief from my right hand is the tethered bead,” he promptly tied off the right handkerchief to the left and both suddenly became illuminated by a red light. “The tethered bead has now transferred its own enchantment over to the sword, and so long as they are connected and have the mana, it will stay that way.” Markus tried cutting the handkerchief again and just as before, failed to make any headway. “Make sense?"

Hilda nodded much more enthusiastically this time, “Yes."

“There's gotta be a trade-off of some kind right?” Phillipe asked incredulously, “This is just way too convenient."

Markus shook his head, “Not really. I enchant the beads with the standard durability enchantments too to keep them and the cord safe from harm."

Phillipe sighed and had a bemused look on his face, “So, you could just enchant a whole mess of beads ahead of time and attach them to pretty much anything you wanted later?” He asked.

Markus shrugged, “Pretty much,” he agreed.

“So why don’t you?” Phillipe asked in a somewhat exasperated tone.

“Well...Mostly because I only figured out how to do it relatively recently,” Markus admitted. Although he was quite certain at least a few Artificers working for the Guild would know, he was in no rush to spread the knowledge further without a real plan. In part, it was why he had cheated when performing the demonstration earlier, having simply added the light enchantment at the appropriate time to provide the same effect it otherwise would have done with an enchanted quartzite bead.

Phillipe gave him a strange look but did not press any further. “Alright, well, since you are willing to take a look over our gear, I would greatly appreciate the peace of mind and any improvements you could offer."

“Me as well,” Hilda quickly added.

“Might as well,” Kassandra grudgingly agreed.

Tina had still been staring at the table, although she had stopped mumbling to herself. Tina made as if to speak but had to clear her throat first, “Me too."

While Kassandra, Hilda and Phillipe hurried out of the room to retrieve their equipment, the platter of meats had arrived and Aela began helping herself with more enthusiasm than she had been able to muster for events thus far. Tina had been fussing and fretting while pawing through her different packs, perhaps looking for certain items in particular as she occasionally set something aside before moving on.

As if she had been working up the nerve, Tina suddenly gathered up her collected pile and rather shakily set them down on the table between them. “Ah, so, erm, what do you think?” She asked nervously while clutching the hem of her jacket till her knuckles turned white.

Initially surprised, Markus took a moment to look over the different items now strewn across the table. What immediately caught his eye was the crossbow. He had seen a fairly large number of crossbows before, but never one like this.

The crossbow had no visible rack for the bolt to fit in and had a small block of wood about the same height as the sophisticated firing triggers farther back, as well as being the same width and length the crossbow channel would have normally occupied. Turning the crossbow over, Markus could see open channels on the sides that would allow the cord to be drawn back, but there were also steel rods half the width of his finger that hooked over the bow cord and ran flush along the sides of the crossbow before attaching to a simple axle and lever mechanism that disappeared inside the body of the crossbow.

Thinking about what he was looking at for a moment, Markus got quite excited and began concentrating to get a good look at the enchantments on the crossbow. Hidden in a compartment of the stock, Markus found the sizable ruby responsible for powering the crossbow’s enchantments.

Unsurprisingly, almost every individual component of the crossbow was enchanted. The majority were simply relating to durability and strength, but the primary mechanism hidden by the body of the crossbow was intriguing. Functioning as a mindless automaton of sorts, a small pair of driving wheels attached to each of the metal rods hooked to the bowstring was also attached to a primary ratchet which was in turn connected to the larger of the two triggers, which was located behind what he now knew was the firing trigger.

With what he now understood from assessing the enchanted mechanism inside the crossbow, Markus envisioned the bowstring being ratcheted backwards into position by the secondary trigger and then being held by the firing trigger once the bowstring was fully drawn. The ratchet would continue until reaching its blank face. Once fired by pressing the firing trigger, the hooked rods would follow the bowstring back to the rest position while producing only minimal drag and bringing the ratchet back to the firing position again, ready to be redrawn again.

Theoretically, holding both triggers down would result in the crossbow repeating the motion indefinitely, and that got Markus quite excited. “It’s a repeating crossbow!” He exclaimed excitedly.

Tina was initially shocked, before soon becoming as excited as he was. “You're right!” She agreed enthusiastically, “Damned impressive that you figured everything out without even so much as a hint!"

“Pfft, that's nothing.” Markus waved off what he considered undue praise; the function of the repeating crossbow seemed rather obvious when he really thought about it. “This on the other hand is brilliant!"

“You really think so?!” Tina was ecstatic, positively beaming. “You have no idea how much scorn I received developing this...Oops, well duh well, of course, you do hehe,” she snorted excitedly correcting herself, “I mean the CC’s honestly just forget how insanely dangerous the dungeon is for Artificers like us! I mean, my repeating crossbow designs aren't just for non-CC’s either, Imagine a Marksman running around the dungeon with this baby at their side, they would be unstoppable!” Tina then became somewhat dejected and angry as she continued on, “But they just won't listen! Everyone I talked to about it wanted nothing to do with it. Saying it was too expensive or unnecessary. They just don't seem to understand the advantage of the artifice!” She growled.

Markus nodded in complete agreement, “As someone without a death wish, I am keenly aware of how valuable killing the monsters from afar truly is. With the most tiring element being carrying it around, it’s great for those of us not blessed with godlike physiques that's for sure. Aela tried teaching me to fire a bow. After firing a dozen arrows I couldn't do anything after, and then she tells me that the draw strength wasn't remotely close to harming anything bigger than a rabbit, let alone a dungeon monster."

“EXACTLY!” Tina cried out clearly getting some much-needed validation, “I keep trying to tell people that, but they just whine about the cost of buying and maintaining it, which is totally unfair. I mean when compared to most other enchanted gear it is basically the same."

Markus now really wanted one of his own and had noticed that she mentioned multiple designs of the repeating crossbow earlier, so perhaps Tina had an earlier prototype she would be willing to lend him for the dungeon. “You said that you had more than one design of repeating crossbow earlier,” Markus blatantly baited, confident that she would bite.

“Yeah, I do!” Tina replied happily, and just as Markus was doubting she would take the bait, Tina’s eyes flashed excitedly and she suddenly jumped up off her seat “You wanna see the other one?!” Tina asked, not waiting for an answer, she quickly began digging through her packs to find it.

Although she found it quickly enough, it still took a few minutes to separate it from a number of smaller items that had become entangled while jostling in the pack.

Initially appearing incredibly similar to the original repeating crossbow, the second instead had the ammunition sheathe located on the topside and had a strange shifting handhold beneath the forward section of the crossbow. The handhold had small hooks on the rearmost facing that would catch on the bowstring as Markus tried moving it along the predetermined channel. From what he could tell, Tina had intended for the user to draw the bowstring back one-handed using the special handhold and hooks.

Immediately aware that he was not strong enough to contend with the crossbow’s draw weight, Markus offered it to Aela instead. “Would you mind trying to draw the bowstring using the handle?” He asked.

Aela cocked her head to the side briefly as she curiously considered the strange-looking crossbow. Effortlessly holding the crossbow right-handed, Aela took hold of the shifting rail grip with her left hand and gingerly drew it back. Having drawn the bowstring into the locking mechanism, the handhold slid freely back to the front of the crossbow again. Holding the bowstring with her left hand, Aela depressed the trigger and slowly returned the bowstring to its resting state again. Seeing Markus’s confusion, Aela casually explained herself, “Never fire a crossbow that is not loaded. It is dangerous and can damage the weapon."

Markus honestly hadn’t known that.

“As you can see, I intended this repeating crossbow for Warriors, specifically those with the heightened strength specialization. Although it apparently would work quite well in the hands of a chimaera too, I should have thought of that! Anyway, I am sure you can tell I drew inspiration from the ratcheting mechanism used to draw the bowstring of siege ballista. I just figured, why not remove the ratchet and rely instead on the strength of the user’s arm to draw and fire the crossbow in rapid succession?” Tina was obviously quite proud of herself, but also fishing for Markus’s approval, although he wasn’t sure why.

Markus had never seen the siege ballistae Tina was referring to, but as someone who frequently drew inspiration from others work, he appreciated her candour. ”It seems quite impressive,” he agreed, “It’s just, compared to the other repeating crossbow, I don't think I would be able to use this one hehe."

Tina nodded emphatically, “As I said, I designed it for Warriors to use, so the crossbow’s draw weight is simply too high for thinkers like us hehe. Besides the enchantments to strengthen the various components from general wear and tear, this version is not dependent on mana."

“Impressive, I would love to see both of them in action,” Markus replied, honestly very impressed by her ingenuity and commitment.

“OF COURSE!” Tina exclaimed excitedly. She quickly turned her attention to the Guild staff, but did not single one out in particular, “We need some target bales! Now!"

As one, the trio of Guild staff quietly hurried out of the room.

Markus made a mental note to thank them later. Although this was their job, he was not comfortable with how some people treated them.

Perhaps mistaking his troubled expression, Tina suddenly began rummaging amongst her belongings before singling out one pack in particular, which she promptly upended onto the table. “Here they are!” Tina declared as ammunition cases and a few loose crossbow bolts clattered across the table. She picked up one of the cases and after giving it a quick once over, slid it across the table to Markus.

Unlike the ammunition case from earlier, this one appeared to be filled to the brim with narrow leaf-blade headed crossbow bolts. The edges of the bolt heads had been visibly sharpened to a near razor-like sharpness.

“I am sure you already know, but the reason most adventurers refuse to take bows and crossbows very seriously is that at the middle and upper levels, dungeon monster skin and muscle becomes too tough and projectiles just break apart on impact without really scratching them.” Tina sighed somewhat dejectedly in an exaggerated manner. “But that is only because the projectiles are not given the same treatment as the rest of the adventurer’s equipment. Don’t you agree?"

Markus honestly hadn’t known that much about it, but it made sense. He nodded in agreement, but he honestly wasn’t sure strengthening enchantments and sharpening the crossbow heads would be enough.

Tina was about to say something further, but Hilda had returned with a large arming bag slung over her shoulder. Phillipe and Kassandra were each also not far behind her.

Seeing the state of the table, Phillipe gave an exasperated sigh and shot Tina a baleful glare which caused her to begin packing away some of her mess to make space for their armour and other equipment.

Within a few minutes, each of them had laid out their collective layers of armour in orderly piles so Markus could take a look at them.

Starting with Kassandra’s, since her armour was ready the soonest. Consisting of a full suit of plate and mail as well as the obligatory arming jacket, there were a plethora of protective enchantments to improve durability and strengthen the steel. Unfortunately, the system used to enchant the armour was done for each individual segment, resulting in each segment requiring its own source of mana to maintain them. Redirecting and connecting each of the otherwise isolated segments' mana reserves together, Markus was confident in a realistic increase in the armour's mana efficiency. At the very least, if the armour was breached, or damaged, it would be because the collective mana was expended, not just the most abused segment.

“Woah...” Tina’s eyes had gone wide with amazement. “How did you do that?” She asked breathlessly, pushing her way past Kassandra to get a closer look.

“What? What did he do?!” Kassandra asked, sounding somewhat panicked, perhaps assuming Markus had ruined her armour’s protective enchantments.

“He just linked all the gemstones of your armour together!” Tina said excitedly.

Kassandra looked confused, probably not able to appreciate what that meant.

Markus was going to explain himself, but then something peculiar caught his eye. Walking over to take a closer look, Markus began scrutinizing Hilda’s gambeson, chain hauberk and Brigandine. Each set of armour was of course of peerless quality and practically a work of art, so Markus had almost missed it.

“How long have you been using this set of armour?” Markus asked, trying to keep his suspicions to himself for now.

Hilda scrunched up her face as she thought about it for a moment, “This was an engagement present wasn't it?” She asked, turning to Phillipe for confirmation.

Phillipe nodded, but he looked worried, “Why? Is something wrong with it?"

Markus's expression darkened, “Do you know who the gift is from?"

“My uncle Dolf, why?” Hilda replied slowly, somewhat confused by Markus and Phillipe’s sudden change in mood.

“It was already enchanted when you got it?” Markus asked, ignoring her question.

Hilda seemed to now understand where his questions were going and nodded, “I think so. Why? What is wrong with it?"

Markus sighed and rubbed at his temples. The enchantment duplicated across each layer of the armour was both profoundly amazing and terrifying. He pointed to the most visible sign of the enchantment, what was otherwise a brocade of blooming flowers on the upper left side on the front of the gambeson.

Nearly invisible to the naked human eye, a series of discoloured threads intricately blended with their surroundings and roughly encompassed the size of Markus’s fist.

Tina was the first to notice it after Markus had pointed it out. “I don't see what is..oh...” Her expression suddenly turned from intrigued to angry, “Is that?...No...It can’t be?..."

Markus nodded, “It is."

“Fucking bastard!” Tina cursed, now going over the hauberk and suit of brigandine.

Markus pointed to the left chest area of the two other layers in turn, “They used the same enchantment on those layers as well, although it is harder to see because it looks like scratches on the rings and the strips of plate are hidden under layers of fabric that still have the protective enchantments."

“What is it?” Phillipe asked. His expression was now quite concerned, drawing closer to Hilda and taking her hand.

“Someone tried to kill her! Is what this is,” Tina spat in disgust. “The armour is a bloody deathtrap!"

Hilda, Phillipe and Kassandra were all stunned.

Markus nodded in agreement with Tina’s assessment. “The protective enchantments in the location that would otherwise cover your heart have been deliberately altered to exclude the enchantments otherwise present everywhere else on the armour. Instead, this enchantment draws mana every time the main body of armour is struck, with the sole purpose of depleting the reserve at an accelerated rate. But that is not all, each accumulated strike will weaken the enchanted area until it provides less protection than your shirt. So when a blow cleaves through your depleted armour and is buried in your chest, it will just look like your misfortune or incompetence.” He grimaced when considering the desired outcome playing out in the dungeon they were preparing to visit.

“But my uncle would never do this...” Hilda exclaimed breathlessly. “I have known him since I was a child, Dolf would not do this!"

“If we had gone into the dungeon...” Phillipe was shaking, but whether it was in anger or shock was unclear.

Deciding to give them some time to talk things out, Markus turned his attention back to the remaining suits of armour.

Everything else was mostly fine, requiring only his expertise in increasing their overall efficiency. Markus had actually expected Hilda’s sword and shield to have been similarly tampered with, but both were heirlooms passed down from her fathers family and showed no signs of foul play, although the shield interestingly held a unique combination of enchantments Markus hadn't considered.

Allegedly used to ward off the breath attacks of fire breathing monsters, the enchantment would reactively plummet the temperature on the inner facing of the shield. The intention would be to not stop the flames, but protect the armoured individual from passing out from heatstroke.

Of course, Markus knew he could do better. He would simply need to enchant a brooch similar to Aela’s that would trigger the same response, just through his gambeson or similarly sized protective armour that covered most of the body.

“-no choice but to either visit the local armoury, beg a spare suit off a friend or rely on finding adequate armament in Skalisberg and be without on the journey.” Phillipe sighed, sounding quite tired.

“This is an aberrant dungeon! You can't just throw together a suit of armour the night before and expect that to be good enough. Forget about getting it properly fitted, getting it enchanted beforehand would be a nightmare,” Kassandra scoffed. “Better we just call it all off or find someone to replace her as the vanguard."

“You think I don't know that...” Phillipe sighed dejectedly.

“It is alright. I have a friend who could be taking my place,” Hilda, squeezed Phillipe’s hand reassuringly. “Sister in law is right, I cannot be acting with confidence in armour that is not my owning. Perhaps...perhaps I should just be waiting for you outside..."

Markus had been lost in his own musings and had missed some of what was going on and took a few moments to get a handle on things again. “This is regarding the sabotaged armour?” He asked, immediately garnering the attention of the downcast trio.

Phillipe nodded, “There isn’t much choice at this point,” he sighed. “We will have to find a new warrior to serve as the vanguard, but I don't know if we will be able to without offering them a sizable share of the bounty... I am sorry Markus, but the deal we could offer you was mostly because neither Hilda nor I needed a share of the bounty."

“So what if I fixed the armour? Everything would be fine then?” Markus asked somewhat abruptly without giving it much thought.

Phillipe was quiet for a moment, he looked like he was going to say something but stopped himself, instead, shaking his head and muttering under his breath with a small grin on his face. “What was I thinking, of course, you could!" Phillipe straightened up and nodded, “Assuming you can fix the armour then we can proceed as planned,” he agreed.

“Alright,” Markus took a minute to think about it, getting somewhat distracted as the requested target bales were carried into the room and arranged down the far end. At Tina’s direction, Aela had begun sending bolts downrange with remarkable speed, seeming to manage the loading and firing of a bolt every couple of seconds until the bolt’s in the ammunition case were depleted. Although even that setback only wasted a few seconds as she withdrew the empty case and replaced it with a new one.

Having thought it over, Markus figured it would probably be best if the golems took care of it on his behalf. Technically, he could just remove and otherwise disrupt the existing enchantment, but the problem with that was someone could just enchant it again later. The only surefire way to make sure it couldn't be reintroduced was to remove the sigils.

Removing the sigils would normally be impossible without completely draining the mana from the armour and the attached gemstones. So that was what Markus would do, effectively cutting off the supply of mana to the defensive enchantments temporarily was pretty simple and the fact that other people didn't seem able to do it baffled Markus to no end.

Markus turned to his golem which he had been completely ignoring for the past half hour, “Leona, I want you to take these pieces of armour back home and have Dolly remove the nefarious sigils in each article. So pull the discoloured stitches, scrape or buff out the scratches in the chain and plates. Understood? Oh and return them after they are all restored."

“Leona understands and will execute your orders Creator,” the golem growled and promptly loaded them into Hilda’s arming bag before slinging it over its shoulder and leaving the room.

“You can really fix it?” Hilda asked, awed by her misconception regarding the difficulty of the task.

Markus sighed, shrugged and tried to relax a little. “It shouldn’t take the golems very long to deplete the armour mana and remove the offending sigils. After they are removed, it will just be a simple matter of charging it back up again."

Without even questioning how Markus was intending to drain the mana from the armour as he claimed, Hilda just beamed as she dragged Phillipe towards her in a one-handed hug, “I knew my firepole had good taste in friends! It will be an honour to fight alongside you in the dungeon!"

“You're welcome,” Markus smiled bashfully accepting the praise and then awkwardly sauntered away to lounge on a couch as he noticed the couple getting handsy with one another.

Before long, Aela had returned to the table and was casually grazing on the remaining sausages and cold cuts. The way she was awkwardly trying to shred the meat and held off swallowing for prolonged periods, Markus could only assume she was trying to better savour the taste. He hadn't really considered how differently approaching a simple task like chewing could become so difficult without the standard array of human teeth.

Markus had not noticed Tina’s presence until she quietly coughed to get his attention. She was quite close on the couch beside him and was sitting in such a formal and polite manner that just seemed contrary to every action she had undertaken until now.

Confident she now had his attention, Tina withdrew a small wax sealed letter from the right breast pocket of her jacket. “My grandfather initially intended for me to fight tooth and nail for the warrant of crusade. It would not be wrong to say, obtaining it has been an obsession of my family for generations." Tina sighed and tapped the envelope against her thigh nervously, “Initially, I had intended to request the warrant as part of my own share of the bounty. When you demanded the warrant, I was just considering buying it off of you or...erm...convincing you...to part with it.” Tina blushed as she said the last and briefly glanced away as colour flushed her cheeks.

“Why does your family want the warrant of crusade so badly?” Markus asked, attempting to ignore what she had been alluding to moments prior and hoping Aela was too distracted to have noticed.

After remaining quiet for a short time, Tina appeared to have regained her composure and quietly asked, “What do you know of my Irongate family?” The way she had pronounced her surname was a little strange, yet also familiar.

Markus shrugged since he honestly had no idea. “Nothing,” he readily admitted.

Tina nodded, clearly not surprised. “We Irongates are the remaining descendants of a noble family originating from the now-defunct Kingdom of Anglia’s borders. It is not an altogether unique situation, I am certain, but unlike most, our vigour for reclamation has persisted through the generations,” her voice possessed a fervour and reverence Markus honestly wouldn't have thought the young woman capable of. “After reading the detailed accounts of my ancestors who participated in all bar one of the crusades, I honestly believed such an undertaking would ultimately be impossible,” Tina grinned wryly, then ran a hand through her hair and let out a long sigh. “Even seeing the reward appear on the bounty, I just kind of assumed that it would be the death of me, you know? Primal instinct reacting to the insurmountable odds or something..."

Markus was familiar with that sensation, the memories of both the spider and the giant wolf still gave him nightmares sometimes.

“But you...” Tina became serious again and stared intently at Markus, “You have already accomplished dozens of things I believed were impossible... If you are serious about using the warrant of crusade, on behalf of my family, I would like to make an offer. Before you commit to the undertaking, please consider meeting with my grandfather,” she offered Markus the letter and did not lower her hand again until he took it. Apparently, with nothing else to say, Tina stood up and busied herself with reorganizing her assorted packs of artifices.

Markus wasn’t sure what to make of what she had just told him. He had heard of various nobles claiming to be descended from the fallen western kingdom before. It made sense that when the kingdom fell, the nobility would either migrate or have migrated already and begun growing roots in their new home. What surprised Markus was the zeal with which the young woman seemed to possess in knowingly pursuing what constituted a protracted death wish.

While he struggled to understand it, Markus would also readily admit that he respected it. As someone who lacked a true home, he could see the appeal of reclaiming it by just about any means necessary. However, Markus was not so confident in going so far as to die for it.

Left with a great many things to now think about, Markus honestly doubted he would be getting much sleep over the coming weeks. There was still a dangerous aberrant dungeon to take care of after all...