The corner of Patchouli's mouth twitched slightly. Looking at Flandre, who wore an expression practically begging for praise, she could only respond with a tone of helpless amusement.
"Your unique eye for picking things out is certainly... better than your sister's."
At least your sister would probably never buy this kind of absurdity in her entire life, Patchouli silently added to herself.
"Right, right! I also think it's amazing," Flandre beamed, looking entirely pleased with herself.
After waiting for Patchouli to step inside the room, Flandre proudly presented the gift box containing the gloves, holding it out like a triumphant explorer showing off a rare treasure.
"Ta-da! Guess what's inside, Patchy!"
Patchouli gazed down at the embroidered sketch of a pair of gloves on the box lid and fell into a profound silence.
After a long pause, she offered a thoroughly uncertain guess. "I suppose... perhaps, could it possibly be... a pair of gloves?"
Flandre widened her crimson eyes, leaned in close, and stared at Patchouli with an expression of absolute, theatrical shock. "Patchy, you're amazing! How on earth did you guess that?"
Patchouli looked at Flandre speechlessly, her jaw parting slightly, though she ultimately decided to spare the girl and swallowed the obvious retort.
By that moment, Flandre had already excitedly popped open the box, revealing the pristine purple lace-trimmed gloves resting inside.
Upon seeing the gift, Patchouli's expression softened into genuine warmth. She listened as Flandre chattered happily about noticing that her old reading gloves were beginning to fray around the seams, and since she had been out shopping, she simply had to pick up a replacement.
Patchouli reached out and tapped Flandre lightly on the forehead. "You little thing, when did you get so thoughtful? Did you run into some trouble out there?"
Flandre dodged the tap with a giggle, floated lightly back, and planted both hands on Patchouli's shoulders. "It's not trouble! Look, I also picked something out for Sister Beatrice..."
Flandre retrieved the golden hair chain and explained her entire concept.
Once she finished detailing her plan, Patchouli nodded approvingly. "Your idea is quite clever. That ornament is indeed heavy, and without Arts Enchantment, wearing it on your head would be terribly inconvenient. But if it were made artificially light from the start, it would be useless as a weapon. So, let me test your problem-solving skills: how would you make this chain both light and heavy at the same time?"
Flandre fell into deep, concentrated thought.
Achieving simple lightness or heaviness was elementary; a basic Enchantment glyph could handle that. But achieving the dual state Patchouli described required a completely different approach.
Furthermore, it had strict functional parameters: it needed to be feather-light when fastened around the head, yet transform into a heavy, rigid strike weapon when unfastened. If it remained heavy while worn, it would be completely impractical.
As she stared at the gleaming golden metal, a sudden flash of inspiration struck her.
She looked up at Patchouli, her eyes sparkling as she laid out her deduction. "Since it has to form a closed loop when worn on the head, but pull straight into a line when used as a whip, we can use a circuit conduction principle and carve two distinct spells onto it! When the circuit is closed and connected, the first spell triggers, making the head chain feather-light and nimble. When the clasp is open and disconnected, the loop breaks, the first spell deactivates, and the second spell triggers, transforming the chain into a heavy, weighted long whip!"
"Patchy, Patchy! What do you think of my idea?"
A look of genuine satisfaction flashed across Patchouli's eyes. "Very good. It's impressive that your little head could engineer such an ingenious circuit-trigger mechanism. However, that alone isn't quite enough."
"After all, this is just a standard commercial accessory. The artisan who forged it never intended for it to double as a combat weapon, meaning the base material lacks structural tensile strength. If you actually swung it in a real fight against a hardened target, the metal might snap before you finished your second strike."
"An expert blacksmith could fix that by reforging the alloy, but you and I are different. We manipulate Arts, so we must solve structural issues through runework."
"In addition to the dual-state spells you designed, you need to carve a structural reinforcement inscription directly into the gold links to harden the metal against impact damage," Patchouli instructed, gesturing toward the workbench in the corner. "Since this is a gift for Beatrice, you should be the one to carve the runes. I'll sit right here and supervise."
Under Patchouli's watchful eye, Flandre sat down at the wooden table, summoned a fine crafting needle, and muttered a quiet focus incantation to steady her hand. She spent the next two hours meticulously etching microscopic enchantment lines into the delicate links.
As the sky outside grew pitch black, Flandre wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, smiling brightly at her finished work.
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Beatrice's voice suddenly echoed from the doorway.
Flandre jumped in surprise, spinning around. "Ah, Sister Beatrice! When did you get back?!"
"About half an hour ago," Beatrice replied, leaning against the doorframe with a raised eyebrow. "You looked so intensely focused I didn't want to interrupt."
"Aw, man... now the surprise is ruined!" Flandre pouted, looking genuinely crestfallen.
"Hmm? What's ruined?" Beatrice asked, walking over to inspect the table.
Flandre pointed unhappily at the delicate golden chain resting on the velvet pad. She had wanted to present it as a complete surprise, but now the secret was out.
"Oh? Is this for me?" Beatrice picked up the long, slender golden chain, her expression shifting from curiosity to sudden skepticism as she felt its heft.
By her estimation, the object weighed quite heavy. Suspending solid metal directly on one's head for a full patrol shift was out of the question—it would cause a massive headache in minutes. Furthermore, for a piece of jewelry of that size to weigh that much, the metal composition was clearly abnormal.
Flandre pointed to the magnetic clasp at the ends. "Try fastening it first, Sister Beatrice."
Beatrice eyed her suspiciously, wrapped the chain around her head, and clicked the clasp shut.
The moment the circuit closed, the crushing weight vanished completely, leaving her head feeling as light as air.
With sparkling eyes, Flandre proudly explained the dual-state enchantment mechanism she and Patchouli had crafted.
Beatrice listened in a mix of astonishment and profound delight. She coiled the chain into place, and true to Flandre's word, it locked her golden hair down securely—preventing the stray strands that usually whipped across her face during fieldwork, eliminating the need for an uncomfortable service cap.
And best of all, she couldn't feel a single ounce of weight resting on her crown. The fastening mechanism was so secure that no amount of running or tumbling could ever shake it loose.