ELEVEN

Alice showed up about five hours later, sauntering through the door with a cat that ate the canary smile on her face. She looked around the armory and her smile grew a bit more predatory as she marched up to Bob and proceeded to lay the thickest amount of blatant pandering and sweet talk she could come up with.

"I have never seen something so ingenious. Absolutely revolutionary, I must insist that your genius be showcase for all the fleets to see. Maybe in a suit of armor that I wear, I can say it's crafted by the great Bob…?" Alice blinked as she realized she didn't know the last name of the man she was inelegantly buttering up.

"It's so brazen, it's not insulting at all," Ignacio whispered to Kon, looking up from his early schematics to watch as Alice launched back into her spiel with hardly a hitch. In the space of the next ten minutes they heard compliments about the size of Bob's forge, his arms, his fingers, his brain, his beard, how his armor shone in a way no one else's could compare, how those who wore his armor were letting him down because they couldn't live up to his singular genius. That last one drew a snort from Benny, who Kon thought was wearing armor Bob had either worked on or built.

"I think she propositioned my grandfather and attempted to bribe him while insulting Benny all in the same breath," Ignacio said. The thin, young man hadn't looked away from the spectacle Alice was putting on. The slight grin on his face was the only sign that he was enjoying this. Bob was starting to blush as Alice had crept within inches of him, slapping his biceps and complimenting him.

"Girl, I'll make the armor, but if you don't step away my wife will come and make sure neither of us see tomorrow," Bob finally choked out. The energy that had been flowing out of Alice immediately stopped as she backed up an appropriate amount, fingers interlocked behind her back as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Fresh armor? Built for me and not just some scraps you have laying around?" Alice asked.

"I don't sell scrap metal. It'll be built to full standards," Bob said, sounding offended that she would imply he'd sell subpar armor. It wasn't quite a squeal of joy that came from Alice, but it was close.

"Nacho will get your measurements and start getting preliminary work done," Bob said as he backpedaled away from the jubilant Knight. Alice turned and finally seemed to see Kon and Ignacio for the first time. She darted over, a blur of movement that looked close to teleportation as she slammed into the seat next to Kon and leaned over to invade Ignacio's personal space.

"Nacho? I'm Alice Roose. Regrowth, Resonance, and Momentum. I charge and tank everything. Heavy plate around the vitals, but I've started working on relying on mobility rather than just taking punches," Alice started in a rush. Ignacio stared at her for a moment before pulling another holopad out of his desk and sliding it toward her without a word.

"She's normally a bit more sane," Kon tried to defend her. Alice just snorted and eagerly took the holopad.

"If you knew what it was we were getting, like really understood, you'd be just as excited. I've been walking around naked for too long. Need me a foot of magic steel between me and the world," Alice declared as she bent over to start typing rapidly.

"I'm done with you for the moment. Until you have your primary rune I can't design the more intricate parts of your armor. I do have preliminary designs on the look of it though. Would you like to see it?"

"YES," Kon fought to keep his voice down as Ignacio hid his own sly smile as he clicked a few buttons on the desk.

"Alice is rubbing off on me a bit too much." It was still good to be next to her, even if she seemed to take a bit too much joy in bouncing him off the walls when they sparred.

"Here," was the only word Ignacio offered as the desk flickered and changed. Gone were the detailed schematics that Kon couldn't make heads or tails of and instead was a floating image of a lean, gray, suit of armor. Kon fought back the look of disappointment that he knew wanted to break free as he stared at the rather plain armor. Even his borrowed armor that Benny let him use had more flair than this did.

"This is just the mockup. We can work together to figure out the proper proportions and change the paint schemes to be something that you wouldn't mind using. Heraldry too if you have any." Ignacio seemed to have seen through his poor mask and Kon felt embarrassed that he'd be seen as being ungrateful.

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"Benny! Do we have heraldry?" Kon shouted toward the old man who was busy talking with Bob, partly to cover up his shame and partly because he didn't know.

"Yes, here I'll send it," Benny pulled out his own holopad and tapped a few buttons on it and a moment later the workplace dinged and an image of an animal appeared running across water. Kon leaned in close and stared at the animal which had a rotund body, long face,skinny legs, and a long tail.

"It's a horse. Was the primary mode of transportation for centuries," Benny said before Kon could ask him.

"Why is this your heraldry?" Kon asked, raising an eyebrow at the innocuous animal. It wasn't covered in claws or fangs like so many of the other sigils taken up by Knights, but Benny could be subtle. It could be possible this animal had some powerful poison or trickery that made them lethal.

"From the old lands. Mythology was something I enjoyed reading about during the early days, when I was too young to help out. My family ensured they secured much of our homelands' works and I was drawn to this when I was young. A god of my home rode that horse, named Aonbharr across the sea and the lands."

"What was it that resonated with you?" Kon asked as he stared at it, not getting the message yet. Benny sighed and shook his head.

"I'm getting there. Through a rather long process this god, Manannan mac Lir, became king of the gods after a war they lost. They had to retreat from their home and Manannan mac Lir tricked the invaders by giving them all the lands above ground while he and his people retreated underground to their magical worlds," Benny said quietly.

"I can see how that would resonate with you," Kon said after a moment. Bob barked a laugh and slapped Benny's shoulder, the sound of flesh hitting metal loud in the tight confines of the room.

"He got piss drunk reading a book and passed out on an illustration of the damn horse," Bob said. Benny rolled his eyes and chuckled, but there was something restrained about that made Kon think that Bob might be partially right, that the horse itself was incidentally chosen, that the story of Manannan mac Lir did resonate with Benny.

"He's not the king of humanity, but at one point he was close to it. So powerful that no one could challenge him until his past caught up with him."

"You want the horse running on water?" Ignacio asked, hardly bothered by the depth of the conversation.

"Yes, please," Kon said. Ignacio hit a few buttons and the armor he was staring at changed, the horse on water with thick foam cresting the wave appeared on the image.

"We need to find the proper treasures that resonate with you and your power. That's why I can't go deeply into the intricate design work, but you're a close range fighter like," Ignacio pointed at Alice who was still buried deep in her own work.

"Yes. Mace mainly but also gauntlets for punching. Need to be thin enough I can still fire a weapon though," Kon explained.

"Most Knights have to use oversized weapons just because the outer armor is so bulky. We can do that here of course, build custom weapons that'll work. Your mace, is it plain metal, or built of a treasured alloy?"

"Conclusion, and yes, it's a treasured alloy."

"What's a conclusion?" Ignacio asked and Alice sighed and wiped at her face before speaking.

"He's not good at names."

"You named your mace Conclusion?" Ignacio asked.

"Yes, because when I use it the fight comes to a conclusion," Kon said, defending himself. He'd already dealt with Benny, Diur, and Alice's ridicule for his naming conventions; he didn't want to deal with Ignacio's as well.

"That's cool! I have several weapons I have forged and named myself," Ignacio said, popping up from his chair, joy writ across his entire body.

"Nacho, finish what you're doing first, then you can go and show them your works. Works that you still need to sell, mind you," Bob said exasperated.

"You have weapons for sale?" Alice asked, her head coming up as something manic entered her eyes.

"Alice. You're poor," Benny reminded her.

"You're not," Alice shot back. Benny stared blankly at them for a moment before looking over to Bob.

"Already paying for their armor, might as well give them something decent to use as well. Girl is using Lupine axes right now," Benny said. Bob snorted harshly and shook his head, face screwed up in disgust.

"Now that just can't do. Everyone knows the damn wolves can't forge for shit. Probably just melted down a treasure into a mold. No artwork at all and you know there's not going to be any good runes on it or nothing else," Bob said. He turned and started walking to the innocuous flat wall that didn't have anything on it.

"Get your checkbook Benny, this is going to be expensive," Bob said maliciously as he put his hand on a hidden scanner. Air bellowed out in a roar as the wall split apart, light bursting free as the smell of oil, leather, metal, and magic came pouring out.

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