27 Arts and Crafts (1/2)
Cara carefully laid out all of the materials she needed to use. She focused on them one by one, prepping them with love and care.
She started with the arm from the Great Ape that she fought back in the Soldier Garden. With measured hands, she cut open the beast's flesh, and she removed its bones one by one. The upper arm and forearm bones were thick and sturdy; they were incredibly tough and hard to break.
The reason Cara decided to use them, though, had very little to do with their hardness.
Organic materials often let energy pass through them easier, and the ape bones were such a material. It meant that, if Cara focused mana into them, the bones of the Great Ape could conduct and transmit her power, letting her use her techniques and martial skills through them. They were a perfect material to form the haft of a poleaxe or halberd.
Cara closed her eyes and she put together the entire weapon in her head. She simulated every individual piece and how all the pieces interconnected.
After a moment of thought, she finalized her design. Without hesitation, she picked up the bones and cleaned them. She walked over towards one station in the tent, a small table with a metallic belt attached, and she placed a Spirit Stone into the device. At the same time she also put on a pair of safety glasses and protective gloves.
The table whirred to life and the belt started to spin around its gearing at a high speed. In Cara's second life, such a device would be called a sander or grinder, but in her first world it was known as Shaffa, named after the sounds it made when in use.
Cara put the bones to the grinder and started filing them down, shaping them into a right and proper haft.
-
The auction house outside the tent was currently in an uproar. No one was certain why, but numerous beauty and cosmetic items were all bought up by the same person, angering the female nobility in attendance. Despite this, the auction house never stopped the troublesome balcony from bidding on more goods.
”Just let it go, dear,” one man said to his wife.
”Where do they get off!” his wife roared in response, her voice audible to everyone sitting around them. Several other voices shot up in affirmation.
”We need to save money anyways,” the man pleaded. ”The Clan Leaders are all coming here soon to bid on the big items.”
”What's the point of auctioning anything else off, then!” said the woman. ”Why not just host an entirely private auction for that Balcony and the Clan Leaders? Why let us 'lesser people' attend at all just to be embarrassed and outbid on everything?”
”I've been told that this event was a bit last-minute and unexpected,” the man tried to explain. ”And the Auction House cant afford to offend those people.”
”I don't care. All I know is that I'm never coming to a Twin Birds Auction ever again!”
-
Prince Lars listened to the commotion going on below and started to sweat. Behind him several elders were all lined up, each wearing grave expressions. They had just received confirmation that the City Lord himself was on the way. He wasn't sending a proxy.
”Lars, if we put these Knight Techniques up on the auction floor, the City Lord might just try to snatch them…” said one Elder.
”That won't happen,” Lars replied. ”The Dixon Head is on his way with his own force. I've also send letters to both parties, asking them that the loser in the bidding war give in to the winner with grace.”
”And they agreed?”
”Haaaaah,” Lars sighed and didn't answer. The implication was obvious. ”I send a second letter after, asking them to at least hold off on fighting until they were outside the Auction House.”
Several of the elders started to sweat with Lars. They murmured among one another and they all looked over towards a lock-box where the two scrolls in question were being kept. None of them wanted to even go near such bad omens. They all thought it would be for the absolute best if the City Lord and the Dixon head each won one of the scrolls, but they knew better than to expect that.
They all feared that the illustrious Twin Birds Auction House in the Tin City would fall during their era. What would the people back home in the East Empire say? The elders even wondered if they would ever be able to show their faces back again, if such a thing happened.
”We can only…” Lars paused and swallowed. ”We can only do our best to protect our assets. We are to facilitate the auction and keep it moving. Do not interfere if a fight breaks out. Instead, we'll gather the rest of the goods and retreat.”
He paused and then said, ”Leave. The scrolls. Behind. No matter the situation, do not get greedy or try to fish in troubled waters. Our Empire can fight the Tin City only because its powers are divided. If we give them a common enemy...”
The elders all gulped. They knew that their Monster back in the Empire itself could probably beat the Tin City Lord one-on-one, but if the other factions of the Tin City joined in, then things would get troublesome. There was a short pause in the conversation.
”What about the girl that brought them in? She wouldn't auction these scrolls off if they were that valuable to her. We could probably…”
”Don't even think about it,” snapped Lars, his voice laced with panic. ”She's only 15 and already a Broken Soul Knight. Her master is supposedly stronger than the City Lord, from the rumors I've heard.”