A Perfect Pair to Hold in Each Hand

“There you go. I made them exactly how you explained it.”

Ferdinand handed over the two drumsticks to an elated Gideon, his eyes shining as he accepted them. Roze cocked her head in confusion, wondering how they were any different from before.

To her, they were two long sticks, unimpressively wood in color, despite it being crafted from unique metals. They were plain, lacking in any flare that a mighty weapon boasted. However, it was obvious from a deft twirl that it fit him perfectly.

They spun in his hand with grace, before being gripped in a fighting position with Gideon facing a tower of rocks. In an instant, the solid opponent exploded everywhere, showering the backyard with debris. In the midst of the rubble shower, Gideon laughed.

The drumsticks violently jumped around the ground, trying to disperse the incredible force that it took to demolish the surroundings. Yet, they were very much intact.

“I can’t hold them at all afterwards, but they are perfect! The weight, the balance, even the aftershock!”

Gideon pulled out the bag of coins and started to hand them to Ferdinand, but he simply shook his head.

“That’s a mighty interesting weapon you had me craft. Even I started to question if I could apply enough of the Oscillium to balance the hardiness of metal. To think that you could strike so many times in such a short time frame. By my measure, you stopped time for 69 strikes. Intentional, was it not?”

Roze froze. She turned to Gideon with a stiff gaze. After what he had told her about revealing his secret to Ferdinand, she prepared for the worst. But for some reason, Gideon simply smiled.

“Couldn’t fool you, now could I? That’s a master blacksmith for you.”

Roze put on an expression that was obvious that she was completely lost in the exchange. She turned to Milipitas, who had joined them since she had no reason to hide. But even the dark elf shrugged as if she could feel no ill intent coming from Ferdinand.

A thought crossed her mind. She recalled that it wasn’t the fact that Ferdinand found out that was important, but the ‘when’.

“You certainly don’t move like any seasoned fighter. Your movements are too careless, too green like a child waving a stick. I figured that you had some weird trick up your sleeve, and after I saw the mage girl’s power, I had an inkling that time moved differently for you. Didn’t know exactly how, but it was the most likely explanation. Time magic aside, y’all seem like good folks, so I won’t hold it against y’all.”

Just before they reached the nest of rock golems, Gideon had reassured Roze that revealing her Time magic would be no issue, neither to Milipitas or Ferdinand. He had known the proper moment to reveal their secrets each time. In this case, after Ferdinand had the opportunity to judge their character.

Gideon grabbed the drumsticks from the ground, which had calmed down by now. He motioned for Ferdinand to hold out his hands, and after a split second of disappearing and reappearing, one of the sticks ended up in Ferdinand’s open palms, shaking violently after the attack before.

“A hundred strikes.”

Not even Ferdinand’s meaty grip could contain his fingers around the stick. It was simply channeling too much force back and forth. After half a minute, it finally died down enough to grip without his hand hurting.

“Glad I made it tough enough to withstand a thousand then. As for payment, I don’t need your money. Rather…,” he turned to Roze, “have the mage girl lend me a hand in crafting something new.”

Hearing that out of the blue, Roze thought she misheard for a moment. She looked around at everyone with a sudden realization that she was being called upon.

“Huh? What are you talking about? I don’t know anything about smithing equipment!”

“I don’t need help smithing. The equipment’s already made. What I need instead is an ‘imbuement’.”

“Imbuement? You would need a real magician to… oh.”

“Elemental imbuements are commonplace. I’m not interested in adding a dash of hot or cold for an extra tingly effect. Rather, lend me some of that legendary Time power you’ve been mum about.”

Roze wasn’t sure how her situational magic would apply to equipment, but it seemed like Ferdinand had a clear vision. Even Gideon gave the thumbs up, egging her on to do it. Admittedly, she was curious to know what they had planned, so she agreed to it.

Ferdinand ushered them all back to the workshop. He pulled out a shield like what he had been using, except there was a large pink gem embedded in the middle of it.

“I put a high-quality magic stone in this one, but I had yet to decide what to imbue the thing with. And then, you came along and gave me an interesting idea. Can you try putting your Accelerare spell into it?”

Roze couldn’t say no. Not after everything they had gone through. Not with Gideon’s expectation that he would join them on their journey. She touched the surface of the magic gem and focused on transferring the spell into it.

The act itself was hardly any different from how she matured plants for her medicines. The key exception came from envisioning the magic as a ‘concept’ rather than a result. She wasn’t accelerating the object itself but passing the idea of acceleration onward.

Magic tomes housing elemental magic possessed the same principle, passing on an invocation of the spell’s concept so its reader could learn the spell easier.

However, to fully pass on a concept to a stored medium, she would have to focus for far longer.

“Achoo!”

A puff of smoke comically signaled the failure of the imbuement, the magic concept dissipating as a result. Roze looked at Gideon in annoyance. It was now her turn to focus on her craft without any distractions.

“Alright, those not involved can come back in an hour.” Ferdinand placed a hand on Gideon and Milipitas’ shoulder to push them out of the workshop. “You two find a cozy spot and mingle on the rooftops or something. If you look toward the castle, it’s a great view of the city below.”

After the door closed, Roze was left alone in silence for a bit. She started to put her hand on the gem once again, but the spell couldn’t form in her mind. Instead…

Mingle? He said mingle, right? But Gideon said he had no interest this time, but they did it before in another cycle, so what if he rebounds and-

The door opened forcefully, causing Roze to jump. She put a hand over her chest to calm her breathing as she turned back to a similarly surprised Ferdinand.

“Sorry for interrupting. Wanted to ask if you could do this one too!”

v

Two hours later, everyone convened in the backyard of Ferdinand’s shop again. The blacksmith held the magically imbued shield in one hand, and across from him, Roze had a wand at the ready. With a signal from him, Roze tossed forward a bunch of beads.

“Accelerare!”

The beads shot forward, hammering the shield. However, the projectiles merely bounced right off it and repelled away with no loss in speed. Everyone turned to where the spray of beads clattered against a stone wall.

Roze picked up a heavier object, a metal cannonball this time. She tossed it forward with some difficulty before her magic propelled it straight. Just like the beads, the cannonball bounced off perfectly without damaging the shield.

Gideon clapped at the result. Imbuing Roze’s spell into the shield had given it the property of ‘Repel’. It meant that any physical force impacting it would be diverted in another direction.

Ferdinand turned to Gideon, knowing that it was a natural defense against him.

“Your turn, time stop wonder boy!” Ferdinand yelled out.

Gideon sighed. He already knew the outcome, but he humored it anyway. Stopping time, he ran right up to the frozen Ferdinand and struck his shield with a drumstick. As soon as the impact came, his stick flew out of his hand and behind him. With the other stick, he did another strike, just to see it being repelled again.

No matter how much Gideon tried to attack the shield, he could do no harm to it, since all of his attacks were purely physical. Even with time frozen, the inherent property of ‘Repel’ was automatic. While he would still be able to strike Ferdinand around the shield, it gave a certain type of impenetrability that was quite impressive.

Dispelling Time Stop, Ferdinand jumped when he saw Gideon right before him. But then, Gideon pointed to the drumsticks that had flown behind him to signal the successful test run of the shield.

“Wonderful! Time magic is really special! It’s no wonder the heroes of olde were so powerful wielding it!”

“Sorry that I’m not as powerful as those heroes. Not even close,” Roze commented humbly.”

“Power is power. But the knowledge to diversify it for practical use, that is what makes being a craftsman so thrilling! I know you’ve been chattering about having me join your silly party, and well, why not? I wouldn’t mind a bit of travel to research how these imbuements work in the field.”

Ferdinand and Gideon crossed arms in a manly handshake to seal the deal. They looked back at Roze, beckoning her to join in as well. After all, her ability made it happen.

She simply shook her head at them, unwilling to take any part of the boyish nonsense.

“Speaking of which, ‘Repel’ doesn’t feel special enough of a name.” Ferdinand was quick to change the subject. “Other equipment can have a similar ability, but it is far outclassed by an imbuement done with Time magic. As a tribute to your spell, I had hoped to incorporate the name of it, but…”

“Re-Accelerare doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue in a timely fashion.” Gideon scratched his head in thought. “It’s just too long to shout.”

“Why do you want to shout your ability out for everyone to hear?” Roze wondered aloud.

All three of them turned to her with the same thought.

“But you do it?”

“It’s a magic chant! I’m not some gifted caster like Milipitas who can do it silently!”

Ferdinand ignored her, turning back to Gideon.

“How about Recel? It’s nice and short. And it rhymes with repel.”

“But wait, wouldn’t that mean-”

Milipitas suddenly raised her hand in alarm, grabbing everyone’s attention. The next moment, a loud bang happened from the workshop. The door connecting it to the backyard had flung open, several armed guards flooding outside.

They didn’t look like they were here for some weapon upgrades.

“Reports of a rogue mage on the loose and a dark elf in the city. Aren’t we mighty suspicious?”

The guards had their swords drawn already. Any opportunity to talk it out didn’t exist in the first place. It was clear that they were here on a vendetta. One of them pointed his sword at Roze.

“You. I saw you in Corleone. I don’t know what you did at the time, but I’ve come prepared! I will see you locked up and- WAHHHHHEEEEEE!!!”

The assailant, apparently one of the Guard Mages that Roze encountered before, never got the chance to finish. His body was suddenly launched sky high and spiraled over the buildings.

“Let’s get out of here.” Gideon said, looking somewhat pleased with himself.

“Was that wise?” Roze snapped out of her surprise at the flying man in the air.

“I’ve smacked him harder and farther every cycle, and he seems to get up from it fine. But now that they are onto us, we have to leave the city and keep heading north.”

Ferdinand held out his hand and gripped his shield.

“Y’all go ahead without me. I think I’ll have a little fun with them before joining y’all. No worries. I have a bit of immunity due to my old man’s title. They’ll let it slide if we threaten to cut off the supply chain to them. A bit of a spar won’t tarnish the name of Ferdinand McMillian!”

Just to hammer home that point, he went over and grabbed a second shield, hoisting them both in the air proudly.

“They shall not pass!” Gideon yelled as he made the first move toward escape. Milipitas cast a wave of wind that lifted them all up and over the walled area and into the streets.

Ferdinand gave the guards a hearty grin, already fired up with his first task as a new member of their party.

“Indeed! They shall not pass!” he said, licking his lips at the chance to play with his new toys.