Chapter of Blooming Fate: The Magic Craftsman

"A... man and woman at the same time?"

I tilted my head in confusion. We were talking about a person, weren't we? Well, a race, technically.

"Yes..."

Greyward let out a sigh before scratching the back of his head.

"Haa... I think it is better for you to see for yourself."

With those words, Greyward stepped forward, pulling the cloth covering the entrance to the side. Karen and I followed him inside, still confused.

The inside of the tent was quite spacious. Several tables with various tools lined the sides and in the middle was another quite large table. Several people gathered around this table, two of which I recognised.

"Oh, Mr Greyward?"

"Captain!"

"Mm?"

The people inside lifted their heads and stared at us, the people invading.

"Oh? The brats are there too."

"Hey there!"

"Hello, Wanda, Mr Konno."

"Hello."

Wanda and Konno smiled upon seeing us, visibly relieved. As for the other two people...

One was an old man who only shortly lifted his head to spare us a glance, then returning to whatever he was doing there. As for the other one...

"Oh? Oh, oh, oh? Could it be?"

A young... woman? Large horns grew from the sides of her head, curving down along the short grey hair and then pointing forwards. Her face was more handsome than pretty, and overall she looked quite androgynous with her slender and tall build.

There was a smile on her lips as she approached us with quick steps, her eyes wide.

"Oh, it was true! Such a cute child!"

"Ah, hel— Mhmmgh?!"

"Yumi?!"

"It really was such a cute girl! I can't believe it!"

"Mmgh?! Mmhmmh!"

Before I could even greet her or ask for her name, I had already been pulled into a hug, my face pressed into her breasts.

"Eh?! Ahh... Ehhhh! Ex— Excuse me?!"

"Mh? Oh, you're a cute one as well aren't you?!"

"Eh? Ah!"

My vision returned as suddenly as it had disappeared.

"Oh, you're cute too! Can I take these girls with me? It's fine, right? It's fine, right?!"

"Mmgh!"

The woman had now caught Karen in her arms, hugging her just as fervently.

So this is what he meant with not knowing personal space... Wait... Wait a second.

If this was the person they had talked about...

"Elina, you're suffocating her," Wanda called out to the woman.

"Mh? Ah, no worries! I'm leaving her enough space to breath."

"That's... not making it right, you know..."

The woman finally let go of Karen, then turned to our third tent invader...

"..."

"..."

"Those are some nice muscles."

"Oh? Do you like them? They're great, aren't the—

"Yay!"

And Greyward wasn't spared either in her hugging conquest.

"Ohh! These muscles are nice! You've been training a lot, huh. Good dedication! Oh! Those back muscles are awesome! Nice! Really nice! And your chest is good too! Ohhh!"

"..."

The woman, who was only a little shorter than Greyward, hugged him and was now touching all over his torso, especially his back.

You could literally see how Greyward stiffened up from the sudden action.

"Elina, space. Space! Give him some space!"

"Ehh? Isn't it fine? Not like I'm hurting him. Jeez, just the greeting and people already freak out."

"Hugging someone as a greeting is not common here."

"But why not? Isn't it a good way to see if they could be a good partner?"

"We had that discussion already. Four times to be exact."

Wanda's expression was scary as she reprimanded the woman. As if she was about to murder someone.

"Haaa... I will never understand it."

With those words, she let go of Greyward and returned to the table, before sitting down on top of it.

"Hello, hello! My name's Elinaris! Just call me Elina. Or Elly. Magic Craftsman by profession! If you need anything magical, I'm your man! Or was it woman? Hey, Wanda, what do I say here?"

"... Whichever you prefer?"

"Ehhh? I don't get it... You're all weird."

"... From our perspective, it's most of your kind that is weird."

Elinaris shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Anyway, anyway..."

She glanced at us, first at me, then Karen and finally Greyward.

"You're out, you're fine and you're fine, too," she said.

"... Out? Fine?" Karen asked, tilting her head a little.

"Mh? Well, as potential partners, of course. What else could I mean?"

"..."

Wait, she was fine with Karen and Greyward? But I was out?

Somehow, that hurt my maidenly... manly... heart... That I lost to Greyward. I mean, he wasn't looking bad, no. If someone was into middle-aged men and muscular macho giants, he'd be prime material. Probably. I had no idea about that so this was just what I thought.

It still vexed me a little.

"Ehhh... I'm not sure how I should respond to that, but I already have someone I like."

"Oh? And that's a problem in how far?"

"..."

Karen blinked a few times, unable to process that reaction.

"Elina... Stop messing with them," Wanda called out to her.

"That was a genuine question, Wanda! It's such a shame that you all only take one partner. I'd love to have a round with this silver one. Oh, and the muscly one too! People like this always get so shy when you do it from behind, hehehe."

"Excu— What?"

Greyward's eyes went wide and he took a step back, distancing himself. Then he glanced down at Elina, towards a certain place.

"I'm sorry but I have no interest in taking anything from behind."

"Not? Such a shame, even though it's so good... I can give you trial run if you're fine with that."

"No, thank you!"

This... person... Where in the blazes was she even remotely normal? Or he? I had no idea anymore.

"Elina."

Wanda called out to her again, with a deep, scary voice.

"... Ahaha, Wanda, dear. I'm just having some fun, no need to get riled up about it, is the—

"Sit down. Now. And then, shut the fuck up."

"... Yes, ma'am."

Elina turned around and sat down on the chair, looking surprisingly meek all of a sudden.

"Jeez, seriously. Don't take what she said to heart. She means no harm or anything by it. That's normal for the devilkin."

"Ha, haaa..."

Karen glanced at Elina, who sat there, meek as a kitten, staring at the table and not daring to glance at anyone. She seemed afraid. Of who? Well...

I rather don't want to know what happened between these two...

"So, uhm... She really is a devilkin? Or, is... he better?"

"Yes, she is a devilkin, brat. And she's a girl. Through and through. Don't let her deceive you."

"... Ha?"

I exchanged a glance with Karen.

Through and through? But... Greyward had just told us...

"Most devilkin have the genitals of both men and women. But most is not all. And that's about all there is to say about it."

"Ah."

"Also, don't be mistaken, but that girl is about Rina's age."

"... What?"

Wait a moment, wait a moment.

Rina was... Rina was... Ehhh... Sixteen? Yes, she was sixteen.

... I probably should try to remember everyone's ages. Well, better than forgetting someone's name... Who could blame me, there were so many new people I met, it was just impossible to keep track of every little bit of extra info I heard.

Anyway, my personal dilemma wasn't important right now.

"... Wanda, are you serious?"

Well, even Karen couldn't quite believe what she had heard.

I threw another glance at Elina. She was quite tall and looked to be around my age, to be honest. That was... my actual age. Not what I looked like on the outside.

Speaking of which, was she going to continue staring meekly at the table like that? It was honestly a little creepy. What the hell did Wanda do to her?

"Mh? Miss Wanda, I do recall the magic craftsman of this town was a little... older? And a man. I just thought that there was some kind of misunderstanding when I heard that... she is a devilkin but..."

"You mean that old fart there."

Wanda pointed at the remaining person in the room, who hadn't said a single word yet. An elderly man, with a slightly hunched back but well-groomed short, white hair and fluffy ears, indicating he was a beastkin.

Well, Konno was quite silent too, but those two men were both more immersed in their work when I threw a glance in their direction.

"She's his apprentice. Although she's basically running his shop now since he's growing old, so calling her a magic craftsman is not wrong here."

"I see..."

"Anyway, let's shelve that dreary topic. Just treat that devil girl like a girl and all is good."

"... Do I have no word in this?"

Oh! She spoke.

It was a really quiet voice, but she spoke!

"Unless you grow a dick you don't. The End."

"Uhhh..."

Ah... Tears gathered in the girl's eyes. Probably a bad topic for her... Although I was a little curious about what was going on here...

Didn't want to make Wanda mad, though. If there was one thing I learnt in my time here... that Wanda is scary. I didn't know in what way, but she was scary nonetheless. And I sure didn't want to find out, seeing her victims.

"Anyway, devil girl, show it to them."

"Ah... Yes..."

Elina stood up from the chair and slowly walked over to the back of the tent, retrieving something. It was a small spindle with yarn.

"Wait, is that..."

"It's from... that girl's hair. It's possible to turn it into yarn, albeit with some... difficulty."

"Ohhh..."

It was a pink yarn. A thin, pink yarn.

"If you want to take a look... Here..."

"Ah, thank you."

She handed me the spindle.

I cautiously grabbed the end of the yarn and pulled a little.

"Ohh... This is... a little odd if I'm honest."

"Let me see too, Yumi."

"Nn, here."

"It really is yarn. To think it could change so much."

"Nn. But, how did it even get this thin?"

If I called it thin, I meant, really thin. It surely wasn't thicker than a single strand of my hair. No matter how you looked at it, that wasn't exactly doable, was it? Normally.

"Uhm... For magic craftsmanship... The material conversion... Ah, that's what we call it when we magically prepare a material... This conversion melts the material down and changes the basic properties... So instead of a bundle of hair, it is possible to turn it into yarn like this."

"How curious."

"Nn."

It was.

To think that my hair could turn into yarn like this. Or maybe just calling it thread was better?

Karen tried to pull on the yarn, trying to test its strength.

"Ouch! Ah... I cut myself..."

"Sis..."

Wasn't it obvious that was going to happen? There was a small droplet of blood on the palm of her hand.

"Girly... If you pull like that, even normal yarn will cut into your hand... Come here, I'll show you."

Wanda walked over to us and promptly took the yarn away.

Then she revealed two small wooden sticks. With swift movements of her hand, she coiled up some of the yarn on both sticks.

"Now, try pulling with these."

"Okay. Then, here I go."

Karen received the two wooden sticks from Wanda. First, she pulled a little, then increased the strength more and more.

"Nngh. This is..."

Crack!

"Ah."

One stick broke.

"See, quite strong isn't it?"

"Quite, you say..."

That was impressive...

"Uhm..."

Elina looked like she wanted to say something, drawing our attention.

"Nn?"

"Yes?"

"Uhh."

She shrunk back when Karen and I both turned towards. The heck...

Where was the earlier enthusiasm? Where did that energetic girl go? Did Wanda bully her into submission already?

"Brat."

"Nn?"

"She's been like this from the beginning. The earlier stuff was just her trying to make an impression."

"... Wanda. Can you—

"Read minds? No, I can't."

"..."

I was worried.

Even my mental privacy was slowly being invaded, wasn't it?!

"Hahaha, it comes with the age, brat. Figuring out what you want to say is easy. Especially for a girl like you who wears her emotions on her sleeve."

Scary.

Way too scary.

The way she grinned at me, clearly knowing how much it bothered me, made it only worse. A vicious cycle.

"Hey, Elina. If you got something to say, then go ahead. You should be the one to tell them. It's your work after all."

"Ah... Yes... Uhm..."

Elina turned towards us and then began to explain.

"The thread itself... Is incredible sturdy... And you can make a lot of things... with it. It won't break easily. It's probably one of the strongest threads... I know of. The problem is just... It slightly differs from normal monster materials... In its structure. So it's a bit hard to make. If I have some time I could make even more out of it. It might be possible to make a thicker thread or even something like a sheet out of it!"

"Ohhh..."

"So, uhm... There's... A request... I have..."

Her gaze wandered around the room, avoiding directly looking in our direction.

"Could... Could I have... some more?"

"... Ah."

Yeah...

The hair we provided to Korwen wasn't exactly a whole lo—

Wait, it had been actually quite a bit. Where did that all disappear to? It couldn't be that this spindle was all that had remained...

Or did Konno and that old man have it?

"So... Uhm..."

"Ah, sorry, I was lost in thought. Uhm..."

I turned to Greyward. They had told us not to do any negotiation ourselves so...

"Mhm. I think it should be fine as long as you agree that whatever results she has, it stays with the mercenaries. The payment can then be discussed with Korwen or Merim."

"I see. Is that okay with you?"

"Ah, yes, of course, it is!"

Ohh, her energy returned.  It was obvious how much she liked her work when you saw her how she literally jumped up to her feet, eyes sparkling.

"Then... Should we just do it now?"

"Eh? Is that okay?!"

"Nn."

And once again, it was time to cut some hair.

My past fears were slowly coming back. I could only hope I wouldn't turn into a material farm.

"Yumi, hold still."

"Nn. Will do."

Karen stood behind me, knife in hand and ready to cut my hair once again. Wanda had joined Konno and that other man. There was some more yarn after all than just that one spindle. Konno and that old man had just hoarded them all for their... experiments. Mostly just some sewing. Prolly what yarn was supposed to be used for anyway...

"Uhm... Is, is that really okay? I mean, it's about cutting your hair? Are you really sure?"

"Nn, it's fine, it's fine."

It would just grow back anyway.

No reason to make a big deal out of it.

"I'll start now Yumi. So, if you could."

"Nn, go ahead."

Karen took some of my hair and started cutting it.

Of course, with my help. If I didn't push my hair against the blade, it'd become a real pain to cut for Karen. We already had enough of that. It was good we had noticed that it was easier like this.

"Ahhh..."

Elina watched how my hair got shorter, one strand at a time. It didn't take long until Karen had cut off all the hair up to my shoulders. I wondered how I looked like with this comparatively short hair. Not like I could keep it at this length even if I wanted to, though...

"It's gone."

"Nn. But not for long?"

"Huh? Woah!"

It grew back, after all. Even faster than Karen had cut it down, my hair was back to its previous length. Which was, frankly, really long.

"It grew back..."

"Nn."

She stared with wide eyes at my regrown hair. Completely and utterly surprised at the sight. It was quite amusing to watch.

"So, how much do you need? This doesn't really take much effort."

"Uhhh... Is it really fine to ask for more?"

"Nn."

It'd be more annoying if she asked later for more, honestly. Better get over with it in one go.

"Then... A few times more?"

"Nn, okay. Sis?"

"Yes, yes."

And now we just to repeat this again for a few more times.

"Hey, Yumi."

"Nn?"

"Where did you put the ribbons?"

"The ribbons? Uhm... They're probably in the wagon?"

Why did she want to know about those now?

"Well, I just wondered... What other hairstyles would suit you."

"Haa..."

Sorry, but that was probably the furthest from my mind right now, Karen. Okay, I just had thought about shorter hair but that was different. Yes, different.

"Having your hair straight down like this is nice but when you wore that black armour and had those side-up tails, that was nice too."

"I... see..."

Why did Karen always start these topics that were hard to respond to?

"Hey, Sis."

"Yes?"

"Rather than me, you could try something different as well."

"Me? Mh... I'm quite fine with how it is, though."

A while later, Karen stopped her hands that were cutting my hair.

"Mh... Is this enough for now?"

I craned my neck backwards, looking at the pile of hair behind me. It was... a lot.

"Nn... Elina, is this enough?"

"Eh?! Ah... Uhm... I think that should be good, yes."

A surprised yelp came from Elina when I called out to her. Lost in thought or something, maybe.

"Ohh... This is a lot. With this much, I'm sure I could make many useful things! Thank you!"

"Nn..."

Elina's eyes sparkled like a child's, happy about her new... material to play around with. She scooped up the hair and put it into a basket that she procured from somewhere.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just give the basket to us first? Well, whatever. Too late now.

"Hmm, hmm, hmmm..."

Humming, she sat down at the table with the basket. Not wasting any more time, she took several strands and laid them out in front of her, inspecting them.

Before she could start though, someone interrupted.

"Elina."

"Mh?"

The old man that had been working with Konno stood in front of her now.

"I'll go back, it's getting late. What will you do? Stay?"

"Oh, it's that late already? Ahh... Mhh... I'd like to finish this first..."

"I see. Wanda, I'll leave her to you then. See you tomorrow, Elina."

"Yes, see you tomorrow. Sleep well."

"Mm."

He grabbed his things, gave a quick nod in our direction and then left. Elina stared for a while at the entrance of the tent through which he had left.

"Elina, you can sleep at my place for tonight then. Are you fine with that?"

"Mh? Yes, yes. Thank you very much."

"No problem. Now... Yumi, Karen, are you free now?"

Wanda turned to us.

"We? Uhm... Technically yes."

"Sis, we didn't ask about the remains yet."

"Ah, right."

Our original purpose was, after all, to talk with the magic craftsman, in other words with Elina, about those eggshell remains.

"You still got something?"

"Nn. It's why we actually came here originally..."

"Mh... Then don't take too long, it's soon dinner time."

"Okay, understood."

"Nn."

Wanda nodded, satisfied, then turned back to Elina.

"You too, it's fine wanting to finish your work, but don't neglect to eat something. Are we clear on that?"

"... Yes."

"Good. Then, I'll bring this yarn to the others. Konno, what about you?"

"Me? I'll talk with Mr Karvas about what we can use this yarn for, I guess. We probably won't need as much as you, though, so feel free to use it."

Konno, in the middle of packing his things into a small wooden box, replied with a wry smile.

"I had hoped we could use it for stuffing but it might be hard. The yarn is really strong though, so we'll surely find a use. Well, not much I can do about for now."

He heaved up this small box, carrying it with both of his arms.

"I'll go then, see you later."

And then he left the tent.

"Mhm... I'll go as well. Yumi, Karen, when you are done, you should come over. We need every extra pair of hands. Greyward, take care of them."

"Will do, no need to tell me."

And now it was down to only the four of us.

Well, in this case, though, fewer people wasn't too bad.

"Elina. There's something else we'd wanted to show you."

"Show me?"

"Nn."

Karen pulled out a part of the eggshell from who knows where. When did she even take that along?

"This."

"Mh? This is... A shell?"

"... More or less?"

Elina took the shell from Karen's hands and scrutinised it closely, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Is this... also from you?"

"Ehhh... In a way... I guess?"

There wasn't really anywhere else it could have come from, probably. But explaining an eggshell was... hard.

"We wanted to know if you can make use of this as well."

"Mh... Let me take a look."

She sat down on the chair again, looking at the shell from every direction.

It was barely noticeable, but there was also a bit of movement in the mana at her hands. She probably used mana to look at it, if I had to take a guess.

"Hoo... This is... an eggshell!"

Yes, thanks. We know.

Although I swallowed that comment. No need to sound snarky now.

"Mhm..."

"... So?" I asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Mh? Ah, sorry, were you waiting?"

"... Nn. Kind of."

"Ehh, this might take a while though... I can't really say much for now..."

"I see..."

That was a bit unfortunate.

"Ah, but if it's like similar materials, it should be possible to make something out of the shell. As for the soft inside, I don't think I can make more than some stuffing out of it..."

Stuffing, huh...

Konno mentioned that earlier.

"Konno mentioned stuffings earlier as well. Is it hard to make it out of the hair?"

"Rather than hard, it's more of a problem about how to do it. I might be able to make it if I take a look at this but... Just figuring out how to do it might take weeks. And even if I do, I might need way too much material."

"Weeks..."

That was a lot longer than I expected. Guess it was a bit more complex than I would have thought...

Well, if it wasn't, probably every magician could do this job, huh...

"Weeks... I hope we'll still be here by then."

"Nn..."

The current situation was troublesome, to say the least. For the mercenaries as a whole, of course. If everything went as planned then we could continue to stay here for that long. If it didn't...

"Sorry about that..."

"Ah, no need to apologise. It's nothing you can do about."

Karen smiled at her in the hopes of placating her. Elina returned a smile after some hesitation.

"I'll do my best!"

"Thank you. We're counting on you."

"Nn. Do you best."

This girl was quite the oddball, far from 'normal' as we were told by Korwen. But, seriously... She was a pretty sweet girl nonetheless.

And she had overcome her initial shyness with us too, from the looks of it.

"Oh, someone is here already?"

"Nn?"

A short time later, we decided to bring Elina to our wagon where the remaining eggshell remains were. Much to our surprise, someone else was already here, the door ajar. Karen pushed it open, revealing the intruder.

"Ria?"

"Miss Ria? You're awake again."

"Mm? Ohhh... I should... return those words... to you two... It's good to... see you both..."

A woman stood in our wagon, squatting down and examining the floor. Seeing us, she stood up again, directing a smile at us.

"What are you doing here?" Karen asked her.

"Mm... I was... looking at this..."

"Nn?"

She pointed at the floor. A little confused, I turned my direction back to Ria. There was nothing on the floor, after all.

"I don't see anything, though, Miss Ria."

"Mm... Yumi..."

"Nn? Yes?"

"Come here... for a moment..."

She gestured me to come closer. Following her request, I entered the wagon and approached her. Then she grabbed my shoulders and positioned me right at the spot she had pointed at earlier.

"As I... thought... It's the same..."

"Nn?"

"Yumi... Did you... do something here?"

Ria stared at me with a serious expression, rather untypical of her.

"Do something?"

I stared at the floor beneath me. Had I done something here?

... I had. I definitely had. But there was no way she meant that, was there?

"..."

"So... There was..."

"Ahahaha..."

She did mean it, didn't she?

"Mr Greyward... I'm sorry but..."

"... I understand. Miss Elina, I'm sorry but we'll have to leave here."

Greyward turned to Elina, who was understandably confused about the sudden turn of events.

"Eh? Uhh... Eh?"

"Come, this way."

"Ehhh?"

"I recall Miss Wanda wanting some extra pair of hands. So how about we help them."

"Ehhhhhhhhhh?!"

A little forceful, she was... removed by Greyward. My condolences. Really.

"Now then... Karen... Come in..."

Ria let Karen enter and then she closed the door, putting up the wooden lock as well.

"Yumi... The wood... The floor... Take a look at it... Closely..."

"Nn?"

I couldn't see anything but... Humouring her request, I squatted down, checking the spot.

"Huh?"

There was something. Something was inside that floor. When I put my hands over it, I could feel something squirm below it. Or rather, inside it? There was a distinct, weird movement of mana in there.

"It's the same..." Karen muttered suddenly.

"The same?"

Ria had just said that too.

"The mana..."

"Nn?"

The mana? Could she possibly mean...

"... No way."

The mana inside that flooring... it was the same kind of mana as mine.

"Yumi... You..."

Ria started to say something, then paused, breaking off her sentence. She let out a long 'Mmmm', probably thinking about what to say.

"You marked... the wagon."

Rinne

Hope you all had a good start into the new month. Stay healthy!

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