Chapter 105: Possibilities.

Once outside the stadium, it didn’t take long to find Talia. She had a number of items in a couple of tote bags. She was practically sparkling as she recounted all the different sights she saw. She didn’t ask how I was, or if I was okay, and I didn’t mind one bit.

We stopped and grabbed some food from a stall. A stall with proper seating and all and ate before leaving. On the way back home, or more specifically, back to the warehouse, I made a point to stop at the police station to make a report.

The moment I stepped inside, I was ushered into the special investigators’ office, or more precisely Taylor’s office. She was inside, signing and stamping papers. There were too large stacks before her. One done, the other not. I did not envy her position knowing how understaffed the precinct was.

She didn’t even look up at me before pushing forward a small pouch. When I didn’t take it, she stopped and looked up at me.

“There a problem?” She asked, clearly annoyed at being bothered.

“Yes, I wasn’t able to complete the patrol. We ran into an issue.”

“The silver ranked gargoyle, yes?” She said with a low hum and went back to work. “Even if you didn’t kill it, you significantly reduced the miasma in the area. There were no robberies or incidents that night, so you’re getting paid.”

“Won’t it cause issues?”

“Yes and no…” She said, taking a moment to breathe out her nose. “The gargoyle and the park aren’t really an issue. Rather, the park itself is somewhat an anomaly. An echo of something that used to be. If you were to locate the original space, the park would be gone. After all, it was paved over and demolished many years ago. Technically, it’s not even part of the city anymore.”

“How does that work?” I asked…

This time, she groaned. “Look, I’m not going to give you a whole lesson, but think of it like this, the city at night is an echo, a version of the city that’s heavily influenced by public perception and rumor. That and the past. It’s entirely possible that sites or locations you find while out on patrol either do not exist or existed at some point. Does that answer your question?”

“I… not quite, but that does answer some of the questions I had, only, is there a specific reason I was told to stick to the patrol?”

She grumbles, but she still, she speaks… “Yes, there is… More specifically, avoid areas with significant concentrations of miasma, or fog. You’ll know them when you see them, but if you access them, you might slip into the other side. Think of it as a shadow city, a nightmare city. The moment you arrive there, well, good luck finding your way back. It’s also not a place just anyone can survive in. Even experienced, veteran magical girls end up getting lost on the other side and never come back. Now, anything else?”

“That… is that why we’re told not to wander at night?”

“In part, yes. Many new magical girls ignore the warnings, especially rabbits, and find themselves forever lost on the other side. It happens, now, can I get back to work?”

“Just, one last question. Do events occur in the shadow city, or is there some correlation?”

“No, not quite. During full moons, and especially the blood moon, the two worlds merge for lack of a better word. It’s also where most of the monsters come from, as they bleed into our city from the other city, and not just from the sewers. If anything, if you were trying to get to the other side, though, I have no idea why in all the hells you would, you’d be better served looking for an entrance during the new moon, when magic is at its lowest… Now, is that it?”

“Yeah… that makes a lot of sense. Thanks.” I say. She nods and gets back to work.

“And don’t forget your payment.” She muttered as I turned to leave.

Without further prompting, I took the pouch and left. Inside were some bronze coins, along with a single silver coin. An awful lot for what I had done, to be honest…

With everything done, I dropped Talia back off at the warehouse and made my way home. Where the drama wasn’t over. The person that parked beside me in the parking lot had parked way too close. Making it impossible for me to park my damn car in my parking space. Instead, I had to park outside, along the sidewalk. Which wasn’t too difficult, and luckily, it wasn’t a no-parking zone.

Frankly, my car was old enough, and enough of a clunker that I didn’t really care if something happened to it, but having to walk from the outside into the building was already a pain. Especially when I was supposed to be able to park inside…

I made a complaint, but the person manning the desk didn’t care, not one bit. They said they’d do something, but it was obvious they were just saying that to get me off their back.

As for my bare necessity apartment? Honestly, just having a dedicated bathroom was worth all the trouble.

After a hot bath, some food, and a few cold beers, I went to sleep.

The very next day I was at the warehouse dealing with some… things.

“Regretfully, your item will take a bit longer to make.” The workshop I had commissioned, had called.

“How much longer?”

“We’ll have it done by the end of the month. It’s just, we recently received a large order, and we had to push back your order.”

“I understand, but part of why I paid was for expediency. And now you’re telling me you won’t have it done until the end of the month? That’s near twice the amount of time I expected.”

“I know, and I’m very sorry to have to inform you of this, but to make up for it, we can give you a discount on future purchases.”

“Assuming I make a future purchase.” I retort.

“We can also, slightly upgrade the order.”

“Upgrade, how so?”

“Originally, you commissioned a small, palm sized crystal ball, we can increase the diameter of it.”

I didn’t have to think twice about that. “How much are we talking?”

The number he gave me was acceptable. “Good, I hope that next time our dealings go much more smoothly.”

“As do I and thank you for your understanding.”

I hung up and sighed. Flopped down, right onto the couch in the office area of the warehouse, the same area that was Talia’s living area. Where, the person in question was working on something in the corner of the room.

The moment I had arrived, she told me she had something she wanted to show me, probably a purchase she had made last night.

“Right, that’s handled, so what did you want to show me?”

“Ah, right, this… just… gimme another moment, and…” With flourish, she picks up what she was working on and presents it to me. It looks just like…

“A gun?” Though, it looked a bit… odd.

“Well, yes, but, no?” She said, only confusing me further. “Remember the rubies we got from the gargoyles?”

“I do. Is this related?”

“It is, I asked around for weapons capable of using enchantments, and I was able to my hands on this. It’s a little large, but…” She takes the gun and opens the back. The gun itself almost looks like a larger flare gun. She then puts in one of the rubies into the back. The moment she closes it, the entire weapon shudders and hums.

“See? Now, if I were to pull the trigger, it would shoot out a fire blast!” She said, far too happily. “It’s probably the simplest thing I could do with them, for now. Eventually I’d like to create something like a laser gun, or plasma rifle, but I think I’d need higher ranked gems for that.”

And she kept going on. Some of it was interesting, but mostly… I understood she had made a weapon.

“How powerful is it?”

“That… I’m not sure, but… in its current state…” She frowns, thinks. “Honestly, it’s not great. For a normal person, it could be dangerous, but for us, not really. Even without our uniforms it won’t do a lot of damage.”

“Oh… well, then what’s the point?”

“The point? Well, other than it being cool, I wanted to get a look at the enchantments it used and see if I can’t replicate it for use with your soldiers.”

“Oh, you’ve been thinking about that?” I say, a little surprised at her forethought.

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned some things, like giving them guns, but I’ve been doing some research on my own.”

“Have you now?”

“I have, I’ve been looking into different materials and what would work.”

“And what were the results?”

“They weren’t promising. Normal weapons won’t work so well. Or rather, they won’t evolve with your familiars. The best bet we have is if you keep making them ice weapons.”

“But the dolls are unranked, they won’t be able to reinforce the weapons I make.”

“Exactly. And making weapons that can grow and evolve would mean we’d have to make gold rank weapons at the minimum.”

“What other options are available?”

“Bronze rank weapons would work, due to them being, well, sturdier and better able to hold magical energy without disintegrating. Only, they’d be prohibitively expensive.”

“I had a feeling they would be, I tried to commission them, but the workshops said they didn’t have the material to work with.”

“Right.” She says with a nod. “And I asked around, the lower quarter gets most of their ore from the tunnels and depths deep under the city. Apparently, there are areas along the edges of the district that can go fairly deep… Anyway, I asked around for pricing, and you know what I found?”

“No… I don’t.”

“Well, the average weapon in circulation is just a normal weapon. They brute force magic through it to give it a little extra oomph. Whenever they face tougher enemies, they tend to use special bullets crafted and reinforced with magic.”

“So, they’re made expendable?”

“Yup, anyone with any measure of strength falls back to their magical weapon. So, investment into mundane weapons isn’t really a thing for the most part.”

That… makes a frustrating amount of sense…

“I suppose just equipping my dolls with standard firearms wouldn’t be a good idea?”

“They’d wear down rapidly. Not just from the fighting, but constantly brute forcing magic into them causes issues. As for making them more conductive to magic and reducing the wear and tear, that would require us going through the effort to forge our own magically conducive metals and materials.”

“We can’t just etch them?”

“You can, but they’ll wear and tear even faster. As the magic will flow smoother, bolstering their effect, but it will also erode the material faster.”

Speaking of wear and tear, the titanium spears I had used for my dolls back during the blood moon, none of them had been recoverable.  The metal had gotten oddly brittle. It practically crumbled in my hands. Even during the fighting they’d rapidly disintegrated from the constant combat, and the obscene amount of energy in the air.

Part of the reason why I was even trying to find alternatives.

“And I suppose, if you’re bringing this up, that you have an alternative?”

“I do, in fact. Though, it depends on a lot. I think we’d be better off using your ice to make weapons and etching them ourselves. At least normally.”

Which put us right back to the beginning, didn’t it?

“You can’t seriously be expecting me to make every single rifle, by hand, for what are supposed to be expendable troops, just because there are no better alternatives.” I say.

“Luckily, I don’t expect that. I had a look around and I noticed your little project in the corner on the main floor.”

“What about it? And also, it’s not like I’m hiding it.”

“That girl, the lesser fox you killed, my former captain, do you know what her magic is?”

I shake my head.

“Her magic was projection, or rather, duplication. She can copy things with her magic. They tended to be lesser quality and faded away after not being supplied with magic for a time. If you were to give them to your soldiers, however, they could easily supply them with energy and keep the weapons around. Even make them permanent given enough time and energy.” She says.

“That… that does sound nice. I sense a but coming though…”

“It’s not a big but, but… I’m not sure how strong she’ll be when you do your thing, or even if she’ll retain her magic after the fact.”

“I mean, it could work… Would she even be able to copy my rifle?”

“Easily.” Talia said, a certain energy in her voice. “Our weapons though custom built to each magical girl, are actually mass-produced products. Once you understand how they are made, they are surprisingly easy to copy. The only issue is, the enchantments and weapon itself can easily be copies, but what makes them special, can’t be. Magical girl weapons are infused with, a will of their own, from what I’ve witnessed and seen. A will that is made to interface and mesh with the magical girl in question. A kind of ego weapon, or a weapon with a soul, hence why they’re gold rank.”

“So, she’d be able to copy my rifle, enchantments and all?”

“Yes, assuming her magic stays intact, it shouldn’t be an issue. The only con is, well, they won’t be gold-ranked weapons. Their growth will be limited, and at best, they’ll be Bronze ranked weapons.”

“Which suits my purposes perfectly…”

“Yup, exactly right.”

And honestly, it was a good idea… That she was mentioning it, well, it showed that she hadn’t just been randomly wandering about while I was in bed.

“It’s a good plan, and I’m certain her magic will stay intact…” I say, but I notice something else, the way she was fidgeting. Like she wasn’t just offering this up for no reason. “In fact, it’s good enough that I suppose it would be worthy of a reward, did you have anything in mind?” I ask.

She blushed and looked ready to deny me on the spot, bt gathered herself after a moment. “Actually, I’d really like access to the library.”

“I don’t see an issue with that, but… you’re not just talking about the normal books, are you?”

“No, actually, I’d really like it if I could get access to the silver tier membership books. I mean, I know a lot, but I want to know more, and I’ve been working through most of my knowledge since being here and well…”

I raised a hand. “I get it, and… I don’t mind. If anything, it seems lacking as a reward, since it means you’ll be working more…” Her face said that clearly wasn’t the case, so I relented. “So, I’ll simply grant it to you.”

She practically squealed. “Thank you! I promise, I won’t let you down!” She almost looked ready to jump forward and pull me into a hug, only catching herself after a moment. It was amusing to see.

Honestly, her little workaround would save me a lot of time. Assuming what she said was absolutely true. Even if it didn’t work, I could easily use the new revenant to save time in other areas.  Either by making a simple version of my own rifle, or by devoting myself to making a weapon, or series of weapons as a base for her to copy.

With those thoughts in mind, I went ahead and tossed her a silver coin. The same one I had earned the day prior. “That should give you thirty days. If your library visits are fruitful enough, we may discuss extending your membership.”

“They will, I promise!” She said with glee, “But, what’s your plan for now?”

“I was thinking of starting a new project.”

“Project? What kind?”

“I plan to make another knight. Only, this one, I plan to make it a bronze rank familiar.”

“Oh! That sounds interesting!”

“Right? It might take me the rest of the month to get done, and that’s if I focus entirely on getting it finished… you won’t mind if I stay over occasionally?”

“Not one bit, I’ve never had a sleep over before!”

That… is an odd way to put it, but alright. “Anyway, I plan to get started today, what will you be doing?”

“I’m going right for the library and checking out books! If I want to get results, I’d better start now!” She says, shaking her head. She was practically vibrating with energy.

I didn’t argue. “Do you need a ride?”

“I can take a bus, I should be back before it gets dark.”

“Make sure you do, it’s not safe at night.” I say, almost like a parent sending off their child…

“I will! And good luck!” She announced and left with a slight skip to her gait.

Free of her and left alone. I went into the cold storage. Inside, there were a pile of dolls sitting on one end, their bodies suffused with magic. On the other, there was what was left. At a glance, it was obvious that we were running low on them, so, without a second thought, I spent a bronze coin and exchanged it for as many dolls as I could.

There was no way they’d comfortably fit inside the area, not as fully assembled dolls. Just like last time, I redeemed them as unassembled but placed in a way that they could easily be pieced together along the shelves.

It was a bit more packed. And once they were all assembled, they’d have the entire cold storage filled. Luckily, once animated I could have them move onto the main floor of the warehouse, which was decidedly bigger. The bigger issue was clearing up an appropriate space to begin my work.

As for the future, well, the dolls were expendable. By their very nature, they’d slowly be whittled down, freeing up space.

Sometime later, time spent mostly shoving doll bodies aside, an area was finally cleared for me to work with. I pulled out a block of not quite frozen ice that I had Talia setup sometime during the week, and proceeded to hasten the process, all the while my mind was on what exactly I wanted out of this sculpture.

If they were going to be a bronze, they needed to be bulkier, almost like Cobalt had been. Only, different. A little wider, stouter perhaps… could I do that? With some creativity, I could pull it off. As for the weapon?

A shield might be good, something like a tower shield to soak up blows. I’d need a separate block of ice for that. The weapon? Something more like a large cleaver. A thick back edge to support its weight, more of a wedged block of ice than a proper weapon. Made more for hacking and smashing.

The thrusting swords worked well for my silver knights, but only because they were made to be lithe and mobile. They were supposed to support Cobalt… well, now they’d support this new knight, with a different purpose.

I’d have to see how it turns out and honestly, I had a good feeling about this. When the ice fully formed, I went to work…

It wasn’t difficult. By this point, I was somewhat familiar with the process, not to say I didn’t make mistakes, or find myself dissatisfied enough that I had to start over. That was just normal.

Every mark, every strike, each had to carry a purpose. Even if I’d just bolstered my talent once, I knew just enough to know what worked and didn’t. Perhaps, I had a bit of talent for fine art. My upbringing had definitely instilled into me an appreciation for the finer things in life. An appreciation that only grew once I was kicked out to the streets.

There was more to it as well. The very process, the labor I was undertaking, held a whole other meaning. I couldn’t just make a statue. I couldn’t just make an unsatisfying end product and call it a day. In the end, each of these statues were supposed to mean something.

Cobalt, was my first. I had high hopes for him. In a way, his design reflected that. Inspiring, tall, a general. My first knight. I had instilled within him that pride, a pride that he carried with him.

As for the other two, Luna and Estrella, even now, I could feel their regret. Their desire to wash away their failure. To prove themselves. After all, they were made to orbit another being. A being that no longer existed. An opening I planned to fill.

So, what exactly did I want with this one? What would I name them?

Each consideration went into my work. Slowly, but surely culminating into a finished product. Over the next two weeks, that was what I focused on. That, and work, of course.

Work, followed by looking through the archives for a workable solution to my plight. At night, I’d retire to the warehouse and begin to work.

I was worried Talia might be upset by the intrusion, but not only did she take it well, she absolutely adored my presence there. Most of her time was spent reading, practicing, and testing out theories. As I worked, she’d talk and we’d exchange ideas. At some point, I’d even brought over my book on Necromancy for her to read, and read she did.

I slept on a small couch she had purchased for the office, despite her concerns. Never bothering to head back to the condo, not unless I had to.

At the condo, the shenanigans continued. Mild pranks, nuisances to get on my nerves. Blocking my parking space was among the least frustrating. As it was, I didn’t mind. Only because I knew my unit had little to nothing of worth inside.

Once a week, a total of two times, we went on patrol. They, for the most part, went without incident. Netting us a decent amount of funds at the end. On the weekends, I went to the Lower District and sparred. For the most part, Éclair had taken to the task with gusto. Casually beating me into the ground over and over, while Talia faced off against Nyx.

All too soon, the end of the month arrived, and with it, the full moon.