"So this is the sword you brought back from the wyvern peaks."
Ria stands over the ridiculously hard chunk of metal that Hikari had been using as an exercise weight.
The shape of a sword
A thick blade with a handle thick enough for her giantess knight's grip.
Ria stood on the blade and walked from one end to the other.
It was as wide as a pavement.
"I guess it's good enough as a weapon. Since you broke the Runium sword, this would have to do for now."
"Sorry."
"Don't sweat it. It happens. I don't think Father gave you the sword fully expecting it to return. It is a sword after all. Judging from the size of this thing, it looks like you ran into quite the monster."
Hikari nods.
"Don't worry about it. Just take a good rest now. You might still have to fight."
"Fight?"
"Yeah. The raid is almost over. The general is still holding the mine shaft as the main slayer party assembles and tunnels their way through to the queen wyvern's nest. In case something happens, you may have to bail his ass out."
"I will."
"I'm counting on you. Despite his peeksqueak voice and generally annoying demeanor, the Hearthstone house will be worthy allies to develop relations with. "
Hikari nods.
Ria walks to the workshop station and grabs a chisel.
With both hands, she attempts to scrape off the layer of charred gunk on the sword's surface.
She could feel the tip of the chisel scratch the hard metal underneath.
"This is tough. Looks like you have already burnt it once, but it had too much moisture."
Ria puts on her gloves and faces her palm towards the sword's surface.
A burst of fire ignites a small patch of the sword.
She waits, but the RazenHeir flames cast by a novice wouldn't get through the thick gunk.
"Let me."
Ria nods and makes her way behind Hikari sitting in a meditating position.
Hikari pushes the sword further away from her tent.
Her lady peeks over her thigh.
Hikari hovers her palm over the swarm.
Ria felt her skin stand on end at the immensity of her mana.
Hikari's hand burned with RazenHeir flame.
Ria could feel the heat from her hiding spot behind the giantess knight's legs.
The giantess dragged her flaming hand over the sword.
The sword flared with purple RazenHeir flame.
Ria could see the gunk shriveling up from the heat.
"Stronger."
Hikari dragged her hand through the flames again, channeling more mana into the fire.
The flames flared.
Her perfect skin was completely unaffected by flames intense enough to burn a horse.
The gunk stuck to the sword disappeared, revealing a layer of bronze underneath.
Hikari extinguishes the flames.
Ria came out of her hiding spot and inspected the sword.
As the gunk burns away, rows of cryptic runes reveal themselves.
"A giant bronze sword? And an imbibed one at that. Curious, bronze is rarer and not as hard. It has better mana properties for certain forms, but a giant imbibed sword, that's quite the find. He, I guess the inspectors didn't care for a giant dirty hunk of metal that no one would buy. But it'll save us plenty of spire silvers. The main cost of getting you a sword is that something of this scale is that only the spire city has workshops that could craft something of that scale."
"Nice."
Hikari examines the sword.
Even with the layer of gunk burnt, it was the opposite of a pristine, freshly minted sword straight from a forge.
A mass-produced steel sword would look much better than it.
Faint swirls of blue and golden energy arced up and down the sword.
Hikari could barely notice it.
Her lady, who does not share her hypersensitivity to mana, was completely unaware of it.
"It's in quite poor condition. The edges are so blunt."
Ria signals for the blacksmith.
"Could you sharpen this one?"
The blacksmith scratches his head at the sword that would never fit onto an anvil.
He gives it a go anyway, aiming his hammer at a bulge on the sword that was sticking out like a sore thumb.
Dong! Dong!
He swings away.
Ria covered her ears.
After ten swings of his hammer, the blacksmith checks his work.
The bulge had not been flattened one bit.
The blacksmith shrugs at her lady.
"We'll see how we can restore this sword once we return to the estate. For now, I suppose it can still function as one. I can imagine plunging such a heavy piece of metal into a sand worm would cause huge damage even if the edges are a little dull. What do you think, Hikari?"
Hikari nods twice.
She seemed much more excited about the new sword than Ria.
"You like this sword?"
"Yes. It's heavy."
"Ah... that makes sense. Your previous swords were all too light. If you put too much force behind them, they'll break."
Hikari nods excitedly.
Ria turns to the sword again, staring at it in contemplation.
She tilts her head and furrows her brow.
Thinking. Thinking.
"Ah!"
She slaps her fist onto her palm.
"The order of the wyverns. I remember reading about it. That is how the wyvern peaks got their name. Well, and obviously because the wyverns now own the place."
"The order of wyvern?"
Hikari glances at the sword.
The runes briefly glimmered in response to her presence.
"Yes. The records of how they were destroyed were murky, but I did, by chance, come across some reading material on how they were in their prime."
Hikari leans in.
She likes a good story too.
"An entire underground complex that was their city. The creatures and vegetation that live in the underground provide them with sustenance. The rich underground minerals make them one of the wealthiest cities in the region."
"Cool."
"This is the most important part. They hunt the wyverns who make their nests on the pillars that extend into the sky when they land back down to feed. They harness their power, use wyvern parts to craft weapons and armour just like what we're doing."
Hikari nods along.
"That's why they are called the wyvern order. There's a darker side. It is recorded that they harvest the organs of wyverns and fused them with young children. Letting them grow into powerful wyvern knights that inherited both the physique and the powers of a wyvern.
"Ew."
"The feared wyvern knights have appeared in records from multiple sources of that era. There are detailed records of the brutal process from which an aspirant becomes a wyvern knight. The training regimes. The surgeries. Dieting. I hope you didn't have to go through any of that."
"Lucky me."
"Indeed, it must be painful to get strong that way. At least you can grow bigger just by absorbing mana. I would rather not have put you through that. Anyway, if you get a chance to go back in there, let me know if you find any artifacts of the wyvern order."
"Treasure?"
"You think too much. The wyvern peaks had been abandoned for so long. The raiders had likely already combed the place clean. You'd be lucky if you could find even an old coin."
Hikari droops her shoulders.
"Cheer up. There's still plenty of untapped mineral deposits below the wyvern peaks. The reason they are still untapped is that they are guarded by fearsome beasts like stalagmite beasts that would give even a wyvern knight problems. In a way, that's the treasure."
"Underground?"
"Right, I guess you hate fighting in the underground. I wouldn't risk losing you to a cave-in. There are better ways to do it, such as golems. Just focus on what you do best."
Hikari smiles.
As they were talking, a pair of workers carried a crate and placed it in front of Hikari.
"Oh. It has arrived. It was faster than I thought."
"Hmm."
"Open it, Hikari; it's for you."
With a flick of her finger, she lifts the chest open.
It was filled with cloth material.
She pinches it by the edge.
The piece of cloth unwinds.
A long rectangle matching the length of her waist.
Stretch. Stretch.
Hikari tests its elasticity.
She checks the inside.
A triangle shape.
She touches the center of the triangle with her finger.
Soft but durable.
Stretch. Stretch.
She stretches the side even further.
Her old pair would have torn if she pushed it this far.
The back part was spacious enough to nurse a baby horse.
A pair of them.
She runs her fingers along the curved surface.
Soft but durable.
Thick and absorbent.
Everything she would want except for having more pairs.
"It wasn't easy getting weavers to make this. It's the place where your hips and legs meet, where you make the largest movements. Unlike your other pieces, it's not as simple to re-size as adding more sheets and letting you reassemble it."
Ria blushes as she watches her giantess knight smile.
"Ria, you're the best."