Several hours later, Kyōi finished forging the kaiken dagger. It was a good deal rougher than anything made in the modern era where smiths had access to electrical tools and machines, but it was a decent quality, and would probably be better once xey sharpened and polished it. Glancing around, xey could see that the other three students were adding the finishing touches to their works.
The third year student, Ashe, was painting a small metal sculpture, while the two second years were working together to attach handles to two nearly identical swords. The swords had short blades, almost short enough to be classified as a dagger, and looked like they were meant to be a pair held by one person.
As Kyōi set xeir blade on an anvil to go look for a handle and sheath material, the blacksmith stepped forward to examine the dagger. "This is an interesting design you've got here."
The dwarven blacksmith, whose name was Ulther Strongarm, picked up the blade to better examine it. The design was not one he was familiar with, so it intrigued him greatly. Most of the daggers he made were small, double-edged knives that were meant for stabbing. His daggers usually also had a crossguard and had a sharply tapered point.
From what the first year student was working on, it looked like the sheath and handle were in line with each other. When the first-year's blade was sheathed, it would look like a thick wooden stick. Normally, one would be able to tell that a sheath was for a dagger just by looking at it.
Kyōi walked back over to the anvil, already starting to carve the materials for xeir handle and sheath. Xey had chosen a black horn for the handle and a piece of wood for the sheath. Xey had also gotten two small wooden pins to attache the handle to the blade, and some strips of black leather to wrap around the handle.
"This blade is a design from my homeland." Kyōi gestured to xeir features. With xeir eyes that were a bright amber color, xey stood out among the others. Most of the people from the kingdom had brown, green, or blue eyes. "I'm not from here." Technically, it was half true. Xeir body was born in the volcano near the Beast Forest, but xeir soul was from another universe, maybe even another dimension.
Kyōi began to attach the handle pieces to the blade, using the pins to keep the handle aligned. Once the handle was attached, xey wrapped the black leather strips around the horn material tightly. Once that was finished, xey quickly carved the wood into the sheath, checking every now and then to make sure the finished dagger would fit.
Once it was finished, Kyōi held the completed kaiken out for the blacksmith to examine. Xey didn't sharpen it since it wasn't necessary just yet. The blade was just to show potential as a blacksmith, and xey didn't need a fighting weapon just yet.
"This is pretty good. Alright, I'll allow you to join my class. Come by anytime after noon on the first day that classes start." With those words, the dwarven smith dismissed Kyōi, handing the dagger back to xem. "You can keep this if you want."
Kyōi bowed slightly towards the blacksmith, then headed off to go meet up with Albert. As xey exited the forge area, the white feathered avian landed on xeir outstretched arm. "Albert, do you know where the dorms are? It's getting late and I want to go check them out and decided whether to stay in the dorm or find a new nesting place."
Albert nodded then took off, staying at a low altitude to allow Kyōi to follow him. Soon, he led xem to a large building at the back of the campus. A bunch of students were gathered around the building, most of them gathered in groups and chatting with each other.
As Kyōi and Albert entered the building, they were met with a large board that contained a list of student names, along with dorm room numbers. At the bottom of the list was a small map of the dorm building. Marked clearly on the list, Kyōi could see xeir dorm room was numbered 444, which was an inauspicious number. In xeir old life, 4 was considered an unlucky number because of its similarity to the pronunciation of the word for death in xeir native tongue.
Following the map, Kyōi headed to xeir assigned dorm room, carefully making sure no one bumped into the white hawk perched on xeir arm. "Excuse me, coming through!" Several of the other students sent xem an odd look when they saw Albert, but none of them were bothered enough to speak up about it.
When Kyōi reached the dorm room xey had been assigned, xey were please to see that the room was meant for only one person. It was decently sized, and contained a bed, desk, closet, storage chest, and two bookshelves. The bed was filled with thick blankets, pillows, and cushions. As xey closed the door behind xem, Albert flew down from xeir arm and transformed into his human form, immediately claiming a cushion as his seat.
"Is it safe to transform in here?" Kyōi asked immediately, worried that someone might barge in and discover their secrets. Albert nodded with a lazy smile. "Don't worry. While you were at the forge, I went exploring. I heard from one of the teachers that the dorm rooms are enchanted. No one short of the headmaster himself can enter a student's room without permission from the student."
Kyōi decided to transform back into xeir true form, not as a black kite, but as a phoenix. Xey had already told Albert xeir secret when he had decided to stay with xem. Xey began to pile up the blankets and pillows, creating a mock nest.
Just as xey settled in to the blanket nest and were about to transform, a thought occurred to xem. "Hey, Albert. During the classes, what are you going to do? I can't exactly carry you around all day during my classes." The white haired avian hummed a bit as he thought about his response. "Well, I'll probably hunt, maybe find a secluded place to train a bit, watch the classes from above if they interest me."
His words were met with a soft hum of acknowledgement and when he looked towards the newly made nest, he could see Kyōi in xeir phoenix form, already starting to doze off. He snatched a couple of cushions and pillows to create his own nest and transformed back into his true form.