The Cost of Invention

“Hold on! You are a bounty hunter?” Roden inquires while quickly catching up to his much shorter friend. “I never would take you for something like that.”

“Well I am not.” Alexia answers while adjusting the strap of her large cube. “Materials and maintenance for all my inventions is expensive. So this is how I pay for all of that.” She explains before her friend can question her further.

“So what is this bounty then?”

“No idea. No one has seen it. But a farmer has lost some livestock to something.”

“Losing only a goat or sheep should not be too big of a deal, right?” Roden asks beginning to truly question why they are bothering with this.

“It is a full grown bull and a cow.”

The rest of their trip to the distant farm is filled with silence as Roden is left in surprise at that reveal of information.

-- -- --

The sun hangs low in the sky as the old friends finally reach their destination. An older man is sitting on a stool whittling some wood.

“Hello there!” Alexia greets the man. He looks up from his work to eye the two as the woman continues “We are here because of the bounty posting.”

“Finally!” The man exclaims as he hops up off his stool in joy “We’ve been scared nearly to death for a whole cycle!”

“An entire cycle?” Roden asks dumbfounded that no one has come to help for so long.

“Can you describe the creature?” Alexia questions the petitioner while ignoring her friend’s question.

“No I can’t. None of us have seen it.” The man answers after looking down at the ground dejected. He removes his hat from his head and holds it to his chest as he continues “It’s always been just out of sight somehow or when we’re not working.”

“How could something big enough to kill a bull not be seen?” Roden asks rather skeptical of the man.

“I don’t know! That’s what we’ve wondered too! To be able to kill something so big but not be seen.”

“Nothing to worry about now sir.” Alexia confidently states with a hand on her chest. The man looks at the small woman “We will handle this and your livestock will be safe as they were before.”

“Where did the attacks happen?” Roden steps in front of his friend and smiles at the farmer.

“Ah yes! Yes!” The man collects himself. “They happened at the edge of the fields.” He moves his gaze to Roden and points towards the large forest off in the distance “Over by those woods there.”

With all the information the pair would be able to get out of the man they head off to where he pointed them to.

“They are definitely gonna die.”

-- -- --

By the time the duo finally gets to the edge of the fields the sun is no longer visible and the first stars begin to shine in the sky. Alexia finally removes the straps of the cube and sets it onto the ground.

“You never told me what that actually is.” Roden says pointing at the cube “Is it gonna help us sleep for the night or something?”

“What?” My greatest invention is not a mere yurt.” The cube quickly opens up to reveal what appears to be metallic armor parts. The various colors of the metal of the armor gleam in the light of Roden’s torch spell creating a kaleidoscope of metallic colors. “Steel and iron with bits of electrum for the outer plates.” The inventor begins her explanation lifting a metal arm out of the cube. “Bronze, copper, gold, silver, and more electrum make up the inner workings of the armor.” She continues while beginning assembly of the armor.

“What kind of armor has inner workings?” The mage asks Alexia as she connects an arm to the cube itself “And why are you connecting it to the cube you carried it in?”

“This cube is part of where I get into the armor.” Alexia pulls out what appears to be a helmet and looks it over with a smile “Good, nothing happened to it.”

“Do you not need to ‘get in’ every part of armor?” Her companion crosses one arm across his chest.

“Not this armor.” She states proudly as she attaches the helmet to the chest plate “It is meant to enhance my physical capabilities.” The inventor walks over to the legs of the armor.

“Where does your head go if not in the helmet?” Roden asks staring at the helmet already joined to the torso.

“I am getting annoyed by all the questions to be honest. It’s just gonna be easier to show you.”

Aside from a sigh escaping Roden’s lips no other sound is uttered between the pair as Alexia finishes constructing her suit of armor.

“Now to show you how it works.” The inventor states with a smile so bright it put the duo moons in the sky to shame. She look into the helmet and seems to fiddle with something inside it. She quickly moves her hands away right before a low humming sound begins to come from the helmet. “The power source is in the helmet and was incredibly expensive. Took all my winnings from both Olympias.” She quickly explains as she climbs into the open torso of the armor. Whatever was inside that helmet began to glow brighter than any torch Roden had ever seen.

“Why did you put it in the helmet instead of the chest plate though?” Roden asks his friend while she closes the armor up around herself.

“Because then my height isn’t too different out of the armor either.” Alexia clenches the large gauntlets of her armor into fists multiple times before she bends the armor’s knees multiple times as well.

“Everything is in working order.” The woman says with the giddiness of a child opening their long awaited birthday present “Now to hunt down that creature!”

I can see now why it takes so much money just to maintain.