Greg starts to scratch his own head because he's running out of ideas on how to make something that can at least be controlled for its chaos. "Goddammit... why did I feel stuck all of a sudden?"

"What happened, Sensei?"

Greg said, "I'm not sure what I should do. Usually I have at least a rough idea, but this time my hands seem to have their own plan."

"That doesn't make me feel better!"

"When have I ever been a comfort?"

"Good point."

"Well, I guess I let the hands do their work."

Greg worked quietly for a while, shaping the leather and fitting the bronze reinforcements with practiced skill. The boots were coming together well.

They were strong but flexible, and the small heel made them comfortable to walk in. Regular boots that are perfectly normal and won't cause any problems at all. And then his hands began to do the magic work, and Greg felt that familiar sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Oh no," he said quietly.

"What do you mean by 'oh no'?" "Felix asked," his voice going up a level. "That's never a good 'oh no'!" That's the 'oh no' you said before the Critic's Spoon started to roast my lunch!"

The enchantment crystals in the soles of the boots lit up, and the boots started to glow with a warm golden light. Greg saw runes for truth, movement, and compulsion carve themselves into the leather without him having to think about it.

Greg said, "This is going to be bad."

"How bad?" Marina asked from behind him. She had come over to watch, of course.

"I don't know yet. But probably very bad."

The system notification came up right on time.

[CRAFTING COMPLETE]

[ITEM MADE: BOOTS OF UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH]

[RANK: SSS]

[PROPERTIES: ENFORCEMENT OF HONESTY, MOVEMENT ACTIVATION, GRADUATED RESPONSE SYSTEM, CANNOT BE REMOVED UNTIL TRUTH IS SPOKEN]

[WARNING: SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE UNWANTED DANCE MOVES, EMBARRASSMENT IN PUBLIC, AND A SUDDEN INTEREST IN JAZZ HANDS]

[I guess you made a part two of the vest that could make you dance? The god is still interested in it, though.]

"Hands like jazz?" Greg said it weakly.

"JAZZ HANDS?!" Felix screamed.

The boots stopped glowing and sat quietly on the workbench. They looked like normal shoes that wouldn't make anyone dance if they lied. Greg thought that this was probably a sign that they would definitely make someone dance if they lied.

"Felix," Donetta said in a sweet voice, "why don't you try them on?"

Felix said, "I would rather die."

"Drama queen," Marina said. "Those are just boots."

"These are Sensei's boots! When Sensei makes something, it is never just anything!"

Bork said, "He has a point."

"Thank you!" Felix said. "Finally, someone who knows what they're doing!"

"But you should still try them on," Bork said. "For science."

"You mean for fun!"

"That as well."

Greg picked up the boots and reviewed them very carefully. They seemed well-made and even comfortable.

The leather was soft, the bronze reinforcements were in the right places, and the magic work was perfect. He would think they were just really nice boots if he didn't know better.

Greg said, "The system said they make you move when you lie. And something about choreography and graduated response."

Felix said, "I don't like any of those words."

"And they can't be taken away until you tell the truth."

"I REALLY don't like those words!"

Marina's smile was so big that it looked like it would split her face in half. "You have to try them on, Felix. I will really pay you."

Felix asked right away, "How much?"

Greg said, "Felix, no."

"Yes, Felix!" Marina said. "I'll give you five gold coins."

"Ten."

"Seven."

"Okay!"

"You can't pay him to do magical boot tests!" Greg objected.

Marina said with a smirk, "I just did. I will pay up until Felix wears those boots."

Felix, who was driven by greed and didn't care about his safety, grabbed the boots and sat down to put them on. They slid on easily and fit perfectly, even though Greg didn't measure his feet.

"Huh," Felix said as he stood up and took a few test steps. "These are very comfortable, in fact. This might not be so bad."

"Try it out," Donetta said. "Say a little lie and see what happens."

Felix thought for a second and then said, "These boots are ugly."

Nothing happened.

"Look?" Felix said, looking happy. "Everything's fine! These are just normal boots!"

"That's because you really think they're ugly," Marina said. "Try lying about something that is true."

"Alright then..." Felix made a noise in his throat. "Okay, um... I'm really tall."

As soon as he said the words, his left foot started to tap. Just a little tap that wasn't very noticeable, but Felix definitely wasn't doing it on purpose.

Felix said, "Uh," as he looked down at his traitorous foot. "My foot just moved."

"It was a little lie," Seraphine said as she walked over with her notebook. "The answer seems to be in line with how severe the dishonesty is... Interesting."

"I don't want it to be interesting!" Felix said, still tapping his foot. "I want my foot to stop moving!"

Greg said, "Be honest."

"Okay! I'm not very big! I'm not very tall at all! Stop now!"

The tapping stopped right away.

"Interesting," Seraphine said as she wrote down notes. "The urge goes away when the truth is told. The spell has a way to get feedback."

"Can we talk about the way feedback works later?" Felix said. "Preferably when I'm not wearing boots that tell the truth?"

Bork said, "Try a bigger lie. Check it out."

"Are you all crazy? Why would I do that?"

"Science?" Seraphine said.

"Fun?" Marina said.

"Developing characters?" Donetta said in a sweet voice.

Felix said, "I hate all of you." Then, louder, "Okay! I'll tell a bigger lie. But if this goes wrong, I'll blame everyone but myself."

He took a deep breath and said, "I definitely finished sorting all the scrap metal yesterday. I didn't spend the evening playing cards."

Nothing happened for a while. Then both of Felix's feet started to move, making a complicated rhythm that he clearly couldn't control.

His arms moved up to his sides, and before anyone could do anything, he was tap dancing. He starts to tap dance with shuffles, flaps, and time steps that would have made a Broadway star jealous.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Felix yelled, but his feet kept up their steady beat. "WHY AM I TAP DANCING?!"

"I don't even know how to tap dance!"

"Now you do!" Marina laughed so hard that she had to lean against the workbench for support.

"STOP IT!"

"Speak the truth!" Greg yelled.

"I CAN'T STOP MOVING LONG ENOUGH TO TALK!"

"Try to dance and talk at the same time!" Bork said, with a smile so big that it must have hurt his face.

Felix tried to talk while his feet kept moving in a complicated way. "I DIDN'T... shuffle step... FINISH... ball change... THE SCRAP... time step... METAL!"

The dancing stopped right away, and Felix stood in the middle of the workshop, breathing hard and looking very angry.

He said, "I hate everything about this."

Marina said, "That was great. Do it again."

"NO!"

Bork said, "One more time. Say that you're the best blacksmith in Ferndale."

"Double NO!"

"Come on, just a small lie. Tiny bitsy lie...!"

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