8 Weapon Making

Ai let out a happy sigh as she smoothened out the parchment paper on her table. On the paper, it showed mechanical drawings of a retractable double-bladed sword. It has curved blades and once retracted, it could be easily carried in the sleeves without any detection.

Being a noble lady with a peculiar range of interests, Ai had been an avid fan of weapon designing since young. More often than not, she would observe her father and brother during training so that she could explicitly understand each part and functions of various weapons.

In her previous life, Ai had given up on her dream of becoming a weapon maker so that she could be a perfect lady for Jin. She traded her passion for weapon designs to practice various womanly arts and that was one thing she truly regretted.

Once Ai had started her martial arts training, she came to understand the difficulties and challenges that ordinary weapons have on a more delicate figure of the female body. The ordinary weapons, which generally catered to men, have a bulky and heavy builts. Often than not, a person with a leaner body type has to exert twice the efforts to wield the weapons and that causes unnecessary strains.

As soon as she understood the challenges, she had stuck herself in her study right away to design her very own weapon. With that being completed, all she had to do now was to head to the weaponsmith.

Kit leaned against the tree outside of Ai's room as he gently closed his eyes, feeling the soft wind that caressed his face. However, the state of his mind strongly contrasted against the calm facade of his appearance. Ai had been cooped up in her study for a few days and it was worrying him. Did he do something wrong at the training? Why did she suddenly run away? Million of questions flooded him as he slightly scrunched up his face in frustration.

Kit's questions were soon answered as the subject of his frustrations rushed out of her room in an excited manner.

With a casual command of "Kitty let's go to the Hozaka Trading", Kit's worries were eased immediately. Though slightly confused, he smiled gently and nodded at his young miss. No matter what Ai wanted, Kit would support her unconditionally. If she wanted the world, he would bend its will and serve it on a silver platter for her. After all, he knew first hand how traumatising it was to be away from her.

Even though it had only been a few days, he missed her dearly and he was starting to feel like a deprived housewife. Not that he knows how that felt like though. But it might be strangely similar.

On the other side of Shizuka household entrance, there stood a pair of real deprived housewives. Their attempts to make contact had been met with nothing but "Young Master, please go back. Miss is in seclusion." and it was driving them nuts.

Despite that, the stubborn pair continued to frequent the Shizuka household, hoping that one day they would get to see their beloved miss.

Their repeated visits, however, had been so frequent that even the Shizuka servants had put up a signage at the entrance.

"Young Masters Omaru, Miss is still in seclusion. Please go back."

Jin and Akiyo sighed dejectedly as they glared at the annoying signage that had been sitting there for past few months. It had been such a long time and they were on the brink of insanity. How long will Ai be in seclusion?!

If not for that mad dog brother of hers, they would have broken into the household to check on her. But Saito Shizuka would probably go ballistic on them and they definitely do not want to piss her brother off. In fact, they want to build a favourable relationship with her family so that they could secure a place in Ai's heart.

Discouraged, the two brothers glared at each other before heading back to their home in a low spirit.

Just a few moments after their departure, Ai came out of the very same entrance excitedly. She held her parchment paper tenderly as she looked forward to the final step of her creation.

On her way to the Hozaka Trading, Ai chatted happily with Kit as she explained what she had been doing the past few days. Kit felt somehow relieved that it was not him that made her run away. If it was, he would not know what he would have done. The thought alone was too painful for him.

Soon the duo arrived at their destination. Located in the centre of the busy street, Hozaka Trading is a major store that specialised in handicrafts. From weapons to jewellery, they have top-notch staffs that provided all kinds of related services.

Ai and Kit walked towards the far left section with a lavish signage that read "Hozaka Weaponry". The particularly large section has glass shelves that display all kind of local and foreign weapons, from knives to flamethrowers, they have all that one could possibly need.

"Welcome to Hozaka Weaponry! How may I assist you?" the counter staff greeted as his eyes slightly widened in shock. This is unusual. For the last 10 years he had been working here, no lady had ever stepped into this part of the store. This place is literally a "man-cave".

Ai smiled politely at the staff and proceeded to explain her requirements while showing him the blueprint parchment.

The young staff looked impressed as he nodded in a daze at the young miss. This was the strangest thing happened in his life and he took a mental note to inform his young master as soon as possible.

After all, the design she proposed was extraordinary and very well-thought-out. He could barely contain his excitement through the discussion and as soon as the young miss had left with her guard, he rushed into the back room where his young master at.

A tall young man with a dark purple hair stood against the window as he silently looked out at the busy street. His hands were holding were a stack of business records and his face has a serene looks of calm confidence. The young man is called Shion Hozaka and he is the sole heir to Hozaka trading.

Despite being a merchant by trade, Shion is a very reclusive person, only operating the business in the shadows and rarely appearing in public eyes. Many of the Shinto residents do not even know how he looked despite him being the wealthiest bachelor in all of Shinto. But that's just how Shion likes it. He doesn't like the crowd and right now he is enjoying his tranquillity in silence. But that soon came to an abrupt end as his young staff, Suji, rushed into the room.

"Young Master Shion, you wouldn't believe what happened!"