"Hey, Nin, I'm just heading over now." Seigunfrei told me as I passed by him on the way to Suhurlodst.
"I'm not doing that today." I told him as I kept on walking, much to his confusion.
"Huh, wait, why?"
"Do I look like I am in a state to do any kind of combat training?"
"That honestly hasn't stopped you at all before." he pointed out, clearly flabbergasted by my words.
"It is now, for today at the very least." I told him as I came to a stop before Suhurlodst's entrance.
"So, what are you up to right now, then? It is odd for you to come out this far as well."
"I am looking for something else to do with my day, so, I can either chase up what Inerish wanted to do or I can find that girl who interviewed me." I explained to him as I crossed my arms and contemplated how I would do this.
"One takes you somewhere, the other is a person."
"Finding one is easier than the other." I finished off as I unfolded my arms before I went off aimlessly.
"So what is it Grand-Guard Inerish wanted?"
"She was going on about integrating supporting technologies into my attire."
"Where, exactly? The only remotely stable thing about your clothes is the mask."
"I have my vest."
"Which you never wear anymore."
"I can still go and recover it for the purposes of what she wants to do with me."
"Do that later, there's enough walking already just heading on over to Mechanical House." he explained before he made a point of guiding me down the right pathway.
"A world into and of itself." I remarked as I looked around at the grounds I once walked regularly. There was some nostalgia to it all, but it also felt alien because of how little time I have spent here since leaving.
"So are you doing alright, Nin?"
"I am doing as well as I normally am, Seigunfrei." I told him as I glanced up at the few students who could fly.
"You sure? This is very different for you." he pointed out to which I sighed.
"Is it worth it?" I asked him as I looked over in the direction Oddity House should have been.
"What is?"
"Going out every night, trying to save her." I clarified to him as images of her bloodied face flashed before me, I could never forget that night, even if I tried.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
And I came to a stop, "I haven't thought about it much, but, since the interview a few days ago, things have been different. Or rather, I am paying more attention to what has changed around me?"
"About how everyone from your dorm is now no longer around?"
"Yeah, when I save her, if I save her. She'll be completely confused, and soon, she realise it was because of me that everyone vanished."
"I don't believe that for a second."
"Do you remember a few years ago, when the newstablets were covered in a story about a fight outside the walls, one lightning user and me?"
"Yes, I remember. It was Einervaene and that was the thing that broke her, I believe as she left not long after."
"Yes, it was that night, day, whatever. I let it fall to the back of my mind, really, but, when that tablet came from Suhurlodst back on the day of that interview... The tablet that told me about how they were emptying out the dorm. It made me come to terms with how everything has changed, even if I didn't give it much thought even back then."
"So why does it bother you now?"
"Because since that interview, the past few days have been strange. I am talking to people more than normal and my mind is becoming distracted from my goal."
"You've been at it for five years, Nin, you're bound to have lapses in your focus." he reminded me as he played around with the towel he had intended to use during breaks as we trained.
"But why now? All I did was head out to pick up one thing and everything is just, different all of a sudden."
"Think of it like this, then, Nin," he started to say before he pondered it a little, "you have been running very fast, it is hard to get your attention as you run so fast. But, now, you've slowed down and everything that has been following you has suddenly overtaken you and got in the way."
"Strange analogy." I commented as I looked around Mechanical House as we stepped into its confines. It was quite a shift due to the magic barrier around it, all these familiar smells and noises, it was all locked up in here.
"As long as you get it, that's all that matters, Nin."
"Okay, sure, so, where would I go here to find the person Inerish would most likely speak to?" I asked so we could change the subject.
"Well, being the Grand-Guard, she will probably speak to the Head of Mechanical House about what she needs doing and then he'll probably handle it himself. I doubt he'll let a student potentially interfere with a request from Thrurstradtur's head of security."
"This is me we are talking about."
"Nin, calm down, those days are long gone."
"Are they?" I asked him as I glanced around at the cautious students as they stopped in their tracks or hurried along to get away.
"You do have a reputation for something other than being an osibindah now, Nin." he pointed out as he sent weak gusts of magic to get the idle ones to hurry along. Much to their expressed annoyance, but Seigunfrei didn't really care.
"Forgive me for thinking that feature of me still persists as the main cause of it all." I remarked as I remembered the stumbling about I did back in the hotel. It was enough to scare them then, it would be enough to scare them now.
"Regardless, nothing is going to happen, Nin, you'll be able to ask the Head of Mechanical House what you need to and then Grand-Guard Inerish will fill you in when she gets somewhere with it."
"Would you honestly say I need this kind of help?" I asked him as I considered the conversations that led me to accept the help.
"Well, you are five years in with no success." he answered rather knowingly if I went by his smile as I snarled at him.
"Don't make me go back on my claim." I told him as I knocked a fist gently near his head.
"Honestly? I am more so surprised you haven't gotten anywhere with it. It's hard to surprise you, it really is, even rarer, are matches I can say that I have won. At least nowadays, I prefer the times when this all started, I won so much."
"But I should still accept the help?"
"Without a doubt, Nin, because even with a worm rider of all things helping you, a worm rider! We have not exactly gotten anywhere with it..."
And I sighed once again, "With how powerful Smiling Jhurack is, it makes me wonder why he just... Torments me the way he does. I thought someone as strong as that would be out fighting dragons or something, or they'd have a go in the Tournament of Talent!"
"The Tournament of Talent has quite a high bar for entry, strange as it seems, you do need to be stronger than or capable of beating a dragon emperor. It would not surprise me if it turned out that he fell short of that entry requirement."
"I know, met the upper echelons of it once." I reminded him.
"Sure you did." he commented as a result of his disbelief.
"If you want to study meticulously as to how I became an osibindah, feel free. You won't find a reason for it anywhere on this planet." I rather confidently answered back.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's just find this workshop." he told me as he relented on the topic.
"I think we found it, then." I pointed out as we came across a rather ornate-looking building that stood out quite a bit from everything else. To my delight as well, it was quite noisy by the sounds of it so that only had good implications for what I wanted to do today.
"Maybe it'll smell better inside." Seigunfrei complained as he waved his hand.
"It's a nostalgic smell." I said even if what it made me remember wasn't exactly the happiest time of my life. I wasn't really sure what to think of my time as a Tobaballian really, well, I never stopped being one, anyway. But, even now, long after the city was destroyed by that wyvern, I missed it if only because it was my home.
"Yeah, whatever, just get inside before I fall over dead from these noxious fumes."
"These are quite clean." I nearly chuckled as we entered the bangful workshop. Machines were alive everywhere within the vast building and lighting crackled across the golden decorations high above. Like the god it was all built to honour, thunder dominated the atmosphere of the place and I couldn't help but appreciate it.
I may have only been a wall-engraver, a mere metal-working artisan of the lowest kind. But, this was my history, that of a craftsman who tried his best to rise up in life. Quite literally, as well.
"Why are you here!?" a voice boomed out to us as the workshop suddenly fell silent, much to my disappointment.
"I came to ask you some questions regarding Grand-Guard Inerish." I started off with after I had run a claw along some of the finished pieces this man had decorated his workshop with. And, to my surprise, one of them was the suit of armour Liada had made for the Inter-House years ago.
"I'm a simple blacksmith, I can't help you there." the giant of a man answered as the water he used to wash his blackened hands with exploded into steam.
"Simple is one way to put it..." Seigunfrei remarked as he quietly lost himself in the vast collection of weapons, tools, suits of armour and even vehicles.
"Inerish told me recently she would be coming to Suhurlodst to arrange for a way to... Help me deal with Smiling Jhurack." I explained, though, I slowed down when I had to admit that I needed help.
"So I've heard."
"Then you have been thinking of some ideas?" I asked as I tried to take some comfort in how active his mind surely must've been. And even if this was mostly just what students had made, it still meant something good.
"I jotted down some concepts but I have not begun working on them." he clarified with a very slight shrug.
"May I see them, then?" I asked as I stepped closer to the almost brick-skinned man.
"You are the recipient, so, you might as well." he answered as he began to walk.
"So, why is Liada's armour here?" I decided to ask him as we walked towards what seemed to be a small office.
"Liada?"
"Red woman with big tail, about my size."
"Ah, former Student Liadanann."
"She runs a bakery now."
"So I have heard, made from an old blacksmithy as well." he said bemusedly.
"Yes, but, again, her armour?"
"She left it in my care as she could see no further use for it."
"Hm, I see."
"I can be more thorough about what she told me?"
"No, knowing what I do now is enough." I told him as we went into the office. From a large, dangling rack, he then pulled out a wide sheet of stone and carefully set it into a frame of some kind.
"News articles?" I questioned as I saw the section he had labelled as 'References.'
"I do not have the means to contact you, so, I am using media outlets to fill in."
"I assume Inerish would've probably sent me your way at some point."
"Most likely, but, these are all just initial concepts, spur-of-the-moment ideas."
"I have a vest of sorts that can be used if you'd like that so you have more room?" I explained to him as I briefly looked over all the concepts he had drawn which had gone a bit all over the place. It reminded me a lot of seeing what Einervaene drew up in her spare time as she had lots of strange and creative ideas.
"Making something from scratch will probably be best."
"I don't need armour, just something that lets me communicate with Inerish's staff and their equipment." I clarified as I took off my hat and mask after having seen how many ideas involved them.
"A simple headset that can somehow account for all of that information..." he pondered thoughtfully as he twisted and turned the mask about.
"Alterations to the glass lenses, maybe?" I proposed after I had looked at some of the other pieces of concept art he had stored about the workshop.
"I would need to take out the whole area where they are socketed and replace them with something else." he explained as one of his fingers traced a rough outline.
"You could probably get away with adjusting the straps on it as well by replacing them with other magic circuits to help spread the load." I suggested as I tried to apply my limited electrical experience to the potential final product.
"That would work, yes, but you would be exposed to flowing magic."
"If it is not as strong as me or near it then it will not even be noticeable after a while."
"Your own magic can interfere."
"Protecting against an aura and the flow of external-magic is standard, no?"
"I am more concerned about spells as it is when it is all concentrated that issues arise."
And I shook my head, "I have no spells which focus around my neck or head. At worst, you can expect a headbutt to come from me up here."
"I doubt comfort is something you have in mind?"
"As you might be able to tell, I can tolerate some mild discomfort." I explained as I made sure my slash-covered body was in clear view of his gaze.
"I see, so, you are satisfied with what has been discussed thus far?"
"As long as it gets the job done and doesn't get in my way."
"That should be easy enough, I will pass it onto Grand-Guard Inerish should she follow up in coming here." he told me as he put the concept slab back on the rack.
"I've no doubt that she will be coming back here for safety reasons."
"By the way, do you happen to see Baker Liadanann often?" he asked as he started to rummage through some potently guarded chests.
"I rent a room on the second floor of her shop, why?"
"Will you be able to pass this on to her at some point? She forgot about it the last time she was here." he asked of me as he passed me over a familiar talisman.
"This is..." I uttered quietly as I held the holy artefact securely in my grasp.
"Tell her to also use more citrus fruit in her cakes." he rather happily commented before he went back out onto the floor to carry on working. And, as he had left my mask on a desk, I picked it back up and held onto it.
"Hm, guess I have an idea of where I can take Lorreabry for that talk, then." I muttered as I went back out to Seigunfrei as he finished looking over something large and copper-covered.
"That was quick."
"Turns out not much really needs to be done, everything else now relies on what Inerish gets up to." I explained before I put on my mask once again.
"So off to find..."
"Lorreabry, the girl who I did that interview with."
"We can ask around Traditional House, I've not seen her around Exceptional House, so that is most likely where she has ended up."
"Whatever leads me to her." I remarked as I opened the door so we could leave.