Hikari sat in a meditative pose at the center of her room.
The ley lines of her ritual circle glowed with her mana.
Crystal dust filled the lines.
The remains of mana crystals after the mana had been extracted.
Conduits, insulators, and capacitors of mana.
The strange material that drops from every monster and is harvested en masse.
Her cauldron scraped clean.
Crates of food empty.
She had extra rations before starting her enchantment ritual.
Weapons, armour, musket balls floated into their sockets.
Mana crystals slotted into the outer rim.
She focused in. Her mana raced through her body along the ley lines below.
The runes on the swords glowed as the RazenHeir flame was burnt into them.
She took a deep breath.
The mana settles into the runes.
She pulled a bowl to herself.
A herbal mix.
Ivory berries for their mana content.
Clix plant to cool her body.
Some beans to fill her stomach.
She pushed the dry mix down her throat with a tank of water.
Some of the ritual blocks were fried.
Hikari replaced them.
The new blocks were slotted into position.
The next batch of weapons floated into their sockets.
She channeled her mana.
…
Outside her room, Ria felt a surge of mana coming from inside.
It felt like needles were piercing her skin.
Ria placed her hand on her chest.
She controlled her breathing.
"Ha! Don't worry, it's quite harmless. She's only using a fraction of her mana." The drill master laughed.
"Good thing we finally have some space for her. Giant enchantresses are so rare that nonthe equipment at the Arcaneum fits her. There are always some Ahem* issues whenever she goes to Moradale."
"I see. How many swords is she enchanting?"
"Enough to last us the campaign, I reckon. For both her own and ours. And it's not just the swords. There's the armour and musket balls as well."
"That's amazing; an Enchanter could work for days on a single sword."
"While we wait, care for a quick lesson on the basics of enchanting weapons?"
"I'm quite well versed in that. A knight can store a limited amount of mana in their bodies. Same goes for the mental power required to cast spells. The most common solution is to offload both onto the runes imbibed into their weapons and armour. This drastically increases a knight's staying power in a drawn-out battle."
"Your textual knowledge is sharp as always, my lady. I only wish your skill with the sword would match it."
"I am training the best I can, Drillmaster."
The mana presence from within the chamber dissipated.
"Looks like she's done."
The burly Knight walked up to the curtain entrance and shouted.
"Can we come in now?"
"Sure." The reply came from inside.
"The maiden needs another minute, lads. Unless you have spare underwear for a 'you know what'."
"What a shameless brute you are, drill master." The head maid scoffed.
Grey hair and wrinkled skin covered by makeup.
"Ha! I take that as a compliment. It does make me feel young."
"She's probably done now, so you can get your steel asses in there and out of my sight. "
Ria followed the knights into Hikari's chamber.
"Hello there, Hikari! How are you doing?"
Hikari had finished assembling her usual white cotton shirt and pants.
"Good."
"Haha! Good to hear! Now, let's take a look at your good work!"
He drew his enchanted sword from the musket.
Two runes: a RazenHeir rune to channel the flames. A telekinetic rune to harden the sword.
The drillmaster slotted a mana crystal into his gauntlet.
The sword burned with brilliant RazenHeir flame.
"Ah! Excellent. I bet I can cleave those flesh abominations now!"
A knight pushed a straw dummy in front of him.
The drill master cleaves through the dummy with his flaming sword.
He nods to the knights.
Continuing, he picked up a musket ball.
"Oof. Hot! Hot! Hot!"
He bounced the freshly enchanted musket ball on his hand.
After a bit of juggling, he finally loaded it into his musket.
A knight leaned a straw dummy against the wall.
Bang! The drill master fired.
The shot set the dummy alight with RazenHeir flame.
"Oho! Excellent work as always, Hikari."
The knights put their freshly enchanted swords into their scabbards.
"Well! Rest up now. Tomorrow, the first columns will march. Word is that the first shots have already been fired. "
…
All of the men left the room, leaving Ria and Hikari alone.
"This was quite the shipment of enchanted weapons you just finished. You must have a really deep mana pool."
Ba dum. Ba dum. Hikari could feel Ria's tiny heart pounding.
"It's nothing."
"It's definitely something, alright. Not even the Arcaneum at Moradale could churn out this many weapons. Our forces swelled since we recalled many knights from the northern front and pressed the conscripts into service. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to properly equip an army."
Ria notices a slight upward curve in the corner of her lip.
A throwing dagger flies off the wall into her hand.
Ria jumped as the giantess caught the heavy chunk of steel without blinking.
Hikari knelt and placed the dagger on the ground in front of her.
"Come here."
Ria stood over the throwing dagger.
It was one of Hikari's lightest weapons, and she could barely lift the handle.
"Enchant it"
Two runes were etched into the dagger.
The RazenHeir rune channels the flames.
The Telekinetic rune allows them to fly at the speed of a cannonball.
Ria blushes.
"That would be an honor! I had some basic training in enchanting weapons. But my mana is really weak; I don't know if I'll be good enough to- "
"My lady."
"Oh… alright… I'll give it a try…"
Ria placed her hand on the rune the size of her hand.
A warm feeling through her palm as she channeled her mana.
The crystal dust glowed purple with RazenHeir flame.
Ria sat back.
She was exhausted after channeling her mana once.
Hikari picked up the dagger and attempted to trigger the rune.
The rune glowed briefly and fizzled out before the flames could manifest.
"Oh… I apologize for my inadequacy."
Hikari channeled her mana into the runes.
She let go of the dagger, floating it in midair.
The steel flared with RazenHeir flame.
Ria shivered at the gap in their power.
The dagger flew back to Hikari's armoury, returning to its slot.
"My Lady."
"You'll be marching off to the front now. War has come to the estate. All of the houses have sent their knights forth against the cult of Eon. We heavily outnumber them, so we can take the fields easily. But the cultists wouldn't just come out into open war like that; they are definitely planning something. Be safe out there."
"Yes, my lady."
"Before you go, I have a surprise for you. It's by the door."
A huge crate longer than her shoulders.
She pulled it over and opened the lid.
Neat stacks of wyvern skin, freshly polished.
The runes newly etched into the wyvern skin.
"You may have noticed that the runes on your old boot aren't as sharp anymore. Good thing this arrived just in time for your march. Your old boot would have to wait for weeks before I could secure a slot in the workshop to refurbish it."
Hikari waved her hand.
The pieces of wyvern skin floated into the air.
The boot soles landed in front of her feet.
She placed her socked feet onto them.
The bouncing feeling as she pressed her weight, which her old boots had lost.
"It's good."
"I'm glad you like it. It'll be a long march to Carla. I hope these boots serve you well."
The rest of the pieces assembled around her calves, forming into her boot.
Hikari walked around.
It fit her perfectly.
Someone was very meticulous with her measurements.
She arched her feet, resting on the bore.
The new boot soles bent.
Ria watched as her giant knight strided in front of her.
Her heart pounded.
Thud. The giant boot landed before her.
Hikari nudged the boot closer, as though teasing her.
Badum! Ria's eyes were drawn to the polished wyvern skin.
"Oh! There's a bit of dust here."
Ria took out her handkerchief and wiped the top of Hikari's boot.
Her face turned red.
She looked up and saw Hikari looking down on her.
A subtle smile on her face.
"Oh! Your other boot."
Ria shuffled to the other boot and wiped the top with her handkerchief.
She stepped back.
The black stains on her silky handkerchief.
Her knees weakened.
Ria swallows.
She turns around in embarrassment.
"My lady?"
Ria glanced over her shoulder at Hikari before turning around.
Her hands clutching her soiled handkerchief.
"Letters."
She managed a word.
"Letters?"
She turned around, revealing her blushing face to Hikari.
"I'll be writing you letters while you're at the front. Promise me you'll read them."
"Yes, my lady."