Usually mom would have a seizure hearing such a request, but recently she seems meeker. Guess it's better to strike the iron while it's hot"– She thought.
Phloria was indeed right. Jirni Ernas in any other circumstances would have prohibited the tailors from following her daughter's order. The manor's staff was well informed about Jirni's standards about education and how easy it was to get dismissed without a reference in case someone angered her.
Orion's threat still echoed in her mind though, leaving Jirni at a stalemate. Her husband was a man of his word, so when she heard him talk about divorce she had almost choked on the food.
Their marriage was an arranged one, to join together two of the families most loyal to the Crown allowing both of them to increase their status in the nobility.
Her maiden's heart had quickly fallen for the young knight, at first for his broad chest and his arms as thick as her head that could literally sweep her off her feet. Later for his golden heart and sunny disposition.
They were still deeply in love with each other; hence she was unable to understand why her children couldn't trust her to find a suitable partner like Jirni's parents did for her. Jirni was too scared at the thought of losing her husband to squabble over small stuff, giving Phloria what she wanted.
"I don't know what's wrong with kids these days." She complained to Rose, her lady in waiting.
"Making such a fuss about an insignificant matter like murder, blowing it out of proportions. I killed my first man at six years of age, mastered the art of torture by twelve and yet I grew up as a refined, delicate lady. Right, Rose?"
"Of course, your Ladyship." Rose swallowed a lump of saliva. She knew all too well how her mistress could butcher a whole family without ruining her appetite for dinner. There were many words she could use to describe her, but delicate wasn't among them.
***
After five days, Lith's experiments had yet to bear any fruit. To avoid deformations in the pseudo core or in the mana pathways, he had tried to quickly cool down the samples as soon as the enchanting process was over.
The final product would be much better than normal, but also extremely volatile, almost killing Lith in the resulting explosion.
Then he had tried working with higher temperatures, discovering that the sample would reject his magic wasting all his time and effort. At lower temperatures he would simply obtain standard quality items.
Even working on the materials that Zekell provided him, the results were always the same. The quality of the sample was irrelevant for the Forgemastering process, at least at Lith's level of comprehension.
- "Dammit, Heisen's principle is an utter fiasco." He thought
"Using true magic to keep the enchanting process until the sample cools down only resulted in a handful of dust. No matter its quality, inanimate matter doesn't seem able to withstand so much magical energy for a longer period."
"At least it didn't blow up like all the other experiments." Solus sighed. –
They hadn't much time left and were still at square one.
Thanks to Warp Steps, Lith could now come and go from his house without losing his tail first. Despite the constant use of Invigoration, both him and Solus were running on fumes.
Forgemastering required massive amounts of mana even for normal enchantments, Lith would have never been able to keep experimenting for so long without Solus' help.
They both needed proper rest.
Lith was really surprised finding a stranger waiting for him in his own home.
"Welcome home, dear." His mother Elina dusted off his chest and shoulders from the remains of his latest failures, since he usually was too tired to notice them.
"This man says he is Orion Ernas, the father of your schoolmates." Orion gave him a polite bow, his face expressed concern.
"He says he needs your help."