Chương 457: Chapter 452 - Forging

She draws her circles, still and stern~ And bids the wild lie down. She'd sooner wrestle fate itself~ Than loosen belt or frown. A lazy melody threaded itself through the air. Scarlett didn't pay it any attention as her mana flowed through the array and she breathed steadily with her eyes closed, refusing to let her focus slip. It was delicate work, but work that had grown familiar.

She had done enough of this by now that the process came more naturally, and her time working with Yamina had turned out to be good practice for exactly this sort of thing. At the back of her mind, the Loci observed her intently, a faint thread of expectation woven through its usually simple impressions. After a while, Scarlett let the last of her mana settle.

She opened her eyes and looked at Olgolzkreh's heart pulsing with power in front of her, traces of her mana shining through its crystalline mass while the first beginnings of arcane script slowly etched themselves into its surface. She continued watching it for a few seconds longer, making sure nothing had gone wrong, then gave a small nod and stepped around to the grey-and-white-mottled back of the heart, where remnants of Anomalous power dwelled. Placing a hand against it, she closed her eyes once more.

This time, she channelled only the tiniest inkling of Anomalous power—or the shape of it—and used that thin impression to begin corralling the force within. It was much stranger than working with mana. Vast, but somehow minute. Erratic and hard to pin down in a cloying, distinctly unpleasant way, as if it were constantly trying to decide what it was from one moment to the next.

That power was fundamentally not conducive to controlled expression under this world's rules, and it didn't fit cleanly with the structure and order already present in the heart, only barely kept under control by a constantly changing framework maintained by the phantom Will slumbering atop it. This made it hard for Scarlett to work with. She had to force it into something it otherwise couldn't be. Diminish it while simultaneously encouraging it.

Give it shape and create some kind of balance between two conflicting principles. When she finally opened her eyes again, a sheen of sweat clung to her brow. She cleaned it away with her hydrokinesis, then stepped back from the heart. She takes what should not bear a shape~ And teaches it to stay. If chaos had a heart at all~ She'd bind it by midday. The last notes lingered for a moment before dissolving into the garden's stillness.

Scarlett's hand went to her waist and the [Pouch of Holding] as she pulled out a waterskin, taking a moment to rest while her gaze drifted. The Loci's domain looked more vibrant than ever, full of colour. A pair of bullfinches perched on the roof of the gazebo, their tiny heads tilting from side to side as they traded quick, bright chirps between them. Above, the sky was cloudless, the afternoon sun pouring down in a warm, direct glare that made Scarlett narrow her eyes slightly.

It had been one day since their return to Freybrook. They would be leaving again in the morning. She wished they could have stayed longer. There was more than enough for her to do here, especially if she wanted to focus on properly integrating Olgolzkreh's heart with the Loci and the estate, and a few more days of rest would have been nice. But time was what it was.

Scarlett had spent several hours the previous evening going over their plans in the capital with Evelyne and Lady Withersworth, and contrary to her original intentions, it seemed she would need to make several appearances among the local nobility before attending any form of official gathering. Lady Withersworth had assured her it would be worthwhile, so Scarlett would simply have to find a way to make it fit alongside everything else she needed to do for Mistress' gala.

"Two hours and thirty minutes have passed," an emotionless voice sounded behind her.

"I am reminding you to consume sustenance so as not to impair your physical and cognitive performance." Scarlett glanced back at the pale homunculus standing there, watching her with that typically blank attentiveness.

"… Thank you, Slate." The girl inclined her head. She'll count her spells and count her plans~ count every shining thread. But ask her when she last ate food~? That tally's dead instead. The faint plucking of strings continued in the background, as if determined to make itself part of the afternoon. Scarlett pushed down a sigh, reached into her pouch again, and pulled out a folded cloth holding several oat cakes that she bit into.

Garside had been the one to ask Slate to keep an eye on her and remind her to eat, and while Scarlett did appreciate the thought behind it, it was starting to become a bit much. The others had started hovering around her as if her meals had become a shared responsibility. Yamina had told her that people often started treating her the same way whenever she worked on long projects with others outside the Rising Isle, and she'd recommended that Scarlett just accept the concern and move on.

Which was what Scarlett was doing. Mostly. It was still a little annoying. She eyed Slate while chewing. The homunculus girl eyed her in turn, thoughts completely unreadable. Now that Scarlett thought about it, this was probably the first time in over a week that Slate had not been attached to Nol'viz's side. The two of them had really hit it off in that strange way of theirs, far faster than Slate had learned to interact with anyone else.

As for why they were currently separated, that was because Scarlett had explicitly forbidden Nol'viz from being here. The Cabal girl was off in one of the mansion's guest quarters at the moment, doing whatever it was those two did when left to their own devices. The pact Scarlett had entered into with Carnwedain had only been meant to cover the period from when she first released Nol'viz up until their return to Freybrook.

While it had included restrictions preventing either of them from revealing what they had seen during that time, that arrangement had effectively run its course now. Scarlett had no intention of letting either of them watch while she worked on something like this without those safeguards in place. Technically, they weren't even supposed to still be here. According to the pact, Nol'viz was free now. That had been Carnwedain's whole reason for approaching Scarlett in the first place.

Through the terms and powers of his pact, Scarlett had even secured a separate agreement that bound Nol'viz from revealing what she knew about Scarlett from before the pact was established. Even if Nol'viz had the power to break that restriction, Scarlett wasn't especially worried about that happening any time soon. So in practical terms, sending the two of them back to the Cabal now wouldn't immediately endanger her. Still, she wasn't exactly eager to hand back two of the Cabal's more capable agents so quickly.

Getting their help to deal with Olgolzkreh had been more than worth the temporary compromise, but she was still turning over whether there was anything else she could use them for before they left, and what she could realistically offer in return if there was. Maybe if she hadn't been leaving for Elystead tomorrow, she might've had some options. But it wasn't as if she could force them along on that trip. Besides, both of them had their own goals they were chasing.

In the end, it was probably better to appreciate the cooperation they'd managed for what it was and not waste too much time trying to squeeze more out of it. There was every chance that the next time she saw either of them, they would be enemies. Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Scarlett started another oat cake and gestured loosely at Olgolzkreh's heart.

"Slate, check whether there are any adjustments that need to be made." Slate stepped up to the heart, eyes narrowing as she studied it.

"No immediate correction is required. The mana inscriptions are attaching successfully, but the Anomalous substrate is still rearranging itself in response. The third, seventh, and ninth anchor points will require rebalancing once the current activity subsides." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"I see. Thank you," Scarlett said, filing the information away. After finishing the oat cakes, she crossed the garden, carefully stepping between the various arrays carved into the ground closer to the centre as she approached the Loci. Set in front of the house spirit's gem on a wooden stool was the Array Forge, the dense matte-grey metal cube surrounded by a runic matrix that turned in a slow, steady spin.

Scarlett started by placing her hands on its sides, making a handful of adjustments as she interacted with the artifact and the matrix shifted in response. While working with Yamina, she'd told the wizard about the Forge, and Yamina had offered some useful insights and suggestions about how to use it that she was currently working to implement. Scarlett still hadn't quite ironed out all the problems yet, but she was confident that she was getting there.

In theory, any work or testing she wanted to do on Olgolzkreh's heart ought to be possible through the Forge. Since it was meant to function as a kind of sandbox that could simulate anything from high-tier materials to spell arrays and more conceptual structures, getting it to work properly would make Scarlett's life dramatically easier. Instead of having to edge her way forward by trial and error, she'd be able to experiment much more freely without risking damage every time she wanted to try something.

As she continued, she paused every so often to ask Slate to verify one detail or another. The girl theoretically knew precisely how the Forge worked, but that didn't actually help too much when it came to Scarlett figuring out how to interface with it herself. The best she could do was use Slate's understanding—and whatever fragments of relevant information existed in the legacy—to reverse-engineer the thing's operation for her use case. Which wasn't easy.

The biggest challenge came from the fact that it had been designed from the ground up to be used by a divinarch like Thainnith. It was fundamentally keyed to his signature. To get it to do anything beyond the most basic functions, Scarlett was effectively having to rewrite parts of its internal structure so it would respond to her own mana signature instead, and the whole process was infuriating, mainly because the thing was so complex that she had no overarching understanding of its mechanisms.

She could only adjust one tiny section after another, but that gave her no clear sense of how close she actually was to being done. She'd once naively thought she was nearly finished, but then more things had suddenly turned up that needed changing. My lady mends a thousand seams~ No other eyes can see. She'll fix the world by stitch and rune~ But leave one crack in me. Scarlett's focus faltered for just a moment, but she quickly schooled her expression.

The music that had consistently been playing in the background cut off.

"Are you really planning to keep ignoring me forever?" a familiar voice called.

"Because at this point, you're not doing much more than torturing both of us. Nobody wins in a war of attrition." Scarlett kept working. A heavy, theatrical sigh followed. Then the music started up again, just as it had on and off for the last few hours. And Scarlett ignored it, just as she had for the last few hours. I'd ask one touch of scarlet flame~ To warm me through the night. But Red keeps all her mercies banked~ And hoards them out of spite. Scarlett's mouth twitched. Okay. That was pushing it.

Her head snapped round to glare at the far too self-satisfied bard lounging on her back in a patch of grass near the hedges that ringed the Loci's garden, klert resting loose in her hands.

"Can't you at least maintain a shred of decency if you're going to be like this?" Rosa stopped playing, flashing her a bright, thoroughly triumphant grin.

"Decency doesn't win wars, Red."

"But it would significantly lower the chances of me setting your klert on fire."

"You would destroy the very gift you gave to me with your own hands?" Scarlett kept glaring at her.

"Cur."

"Now there's a pejorative I haven't heard from you before. Doesn't quite work, but points for variety. Seven out of ten." She exhaled sharply through her nose and turned back to the Forge, forcing the irritation down as she regretted the confidence she'd had in her own ability to endure this. Other than during the trip back yesterday, she had been deliberately ignoring Rosa for the past couple of days.

At first, it had worked well enough as a way of getting back at the bard, but at some point, it had stopped being a punishment and turned into a challenge instead. Rosa seemed to have made it her personal mission to break through Scarlett's refusal to engage. Of course, if Scarlett had really wanted to, she could simply have had the Loci teleport Rosa somewhere else. But as aggravating as the woman's constant needling could be, it was also useful.

It made it easier to stay balanced on that narrow line between Scarlett and Amy, and she'd found that state didn't just help with practising the Stillwork of Shattered Glass, but also with working mana more generally. So she'd allowed it. At worst, she thought of it as a kind of self-tempering. But even then, she had limits.

"You're not going to go back to ignoring me again, are you?" Rosa asked lightly, though there was a faint note of disappointment in her voice, as if she'd been hoping for even more of a reaction. Scarlett didn't answer.

"Come on. Once caved, forever caught. There's nothing wrong with admitting you just can't resist giving in to the tune." She took a deep breath and went back to working with the Forge.

"I promised I'd show you a page once we got to Elystead. Isn't that enough to earn at least a little forgiveness?" Rosa continued. Scarlett spared her the briefest glance before looking away again. The reason she had started ignoring Rosa in the first place was a conversation they'd had after Scarlett spoke with Yamina, when she'd confronted her about whatever she had discussed with the wizard. Going into it, Scarlett had genuinely been trying to decide how far she wanted to push.

She hadn't wanted to press Rosa too much. As frustrating as it was to know the woman had been moving behind her back, they had already crossed similar ground before, and Scarlett had chosen to trust Rosa's judgement. She didn't want to corner her into explaining something she seriously didn't feel she should, because, for all Rosa's many faults, Scarlett never doubted that she believed herself to have good reason for her actions. At the same time, she also couldn't just let it pass without saying anything.

So she had gone into the conversation prepared to push only a little, then accept whatever answer Rosa chose to give. More than anything, she'd wanted to put her own mind at rest while feeling she had at least tried. What had happened instead was Rosa seeing straight through that intention and having too much fun at Scarlett's expense. That had pissed Scarlett off more than she had expected.

And knowing Rosa enjoyed very few things more at the moment than getting under her skin, Scarlett had decided the woman could stand to spend a few days being ignored. While Rosa hadn't shown it openly, Scarlett suspected she regretted at least some of it. She had even gone so far as to try smoothing things over by promising to show Scarlett a page from 'The Kept Hours' once they arrived in Elystead. Scarlett was genuinely curious about that, and she would be taking the bard up on her promise.

Even then, she had no intention of letting it affect her current resolve. After a few more attempts to draw her in, Rosa finally gave up, and out of the corner of her eye, Scarlett saw Rosa lean her head back into the grass, returning to idly plucking at her klert as she hummed under her breath. A minstrel singed by firelight~ Still sings before the flame. If lady ash won't spare a glance~ I'll serenade her name. Scarlett cringed inwardly.

That woman never really learn— Something shifted in her mana as the Array Forge suddenly reacted. It was as if some puzzle piece she'd been fumbling with in her hands for ages finally clicked into place in a distant conceptual space she couldn't quite perceive. Scarlett went still and blinked. The runic matrix surrounding the Forge changed, turning with a new sense of purpose, almost as though it was opening itself to her. Her gaze sharpened. Carefully, she fed her mana flow deeper into the Forge.

It was accepted as naturally as a breath filling her lungs. The matrix of runes expanded, unspooling like a living schematic that stretched all the way to the edges of the garden, threading across the ground, the flowers, the grass, the hedges, and even the air itself in layers of glowing, interlocking patterns while a low hum of shuffling mana rolled through the space. Fine static prickled across Scarlett's skin, lifting a few loose strands of hair.

"Huh," came Rosa's voice.

"Is it just me, or does this feel different from how it usually does?" Scarlett remained silent, eyes fixed on the unfolding lattice of patterns. She had learned how to activate this particular function of the Forge some time ago, but until now, it had never done anything beyond looking impressive. Now, though, she could feel a connection to every part of the constructed space around her. Her focus settled on an empty patch of air just in front of her. Experimentally, she concentrated on it.

As though the Forge had taken the shape of her thought and made it real, a sphere of lustrous steel appeared and dropped neatly into her palm with a soft weight. She stared at it, turning it slightly as she tested the heft. It was lighter than it ought to have been, but otherwise it truly felt as though she were holding a real steel sphere in her hand.

And yet she could sense that it was made entirely of mana, formed by the Forge through layers upon layers of structure so intricate they were far beyond her mind's ability to grasp. She let it fall from her hand, and the sphere dissolved into motes of mana before it reached the ground. Next, she tried shaping a simple array before her, and the Forge effortlessly translated the shape of her intent into a formed construct, a ring of glyphs blooming into place around the illusion of a flame.

When she adjusted the glyphs, the flame shifted with them, thinning, brightening, guttering low. Then she introduced a deliberately unstable element into the structure, and the whole thing collapsed in on itself, the false flame vanishing in an instant. A sharp thrill ran through her. Scarlett's gaze snapped towards Olgolzkreh's heart, suspended near the edge of the arrays centred on the Loci.

Walking over to study it, she realised that she could now perceive the weave of its channels and inner structure with startling clarity through the Forge. Until now, she had more or less resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't have time to finish integrating the heart before they left for Elystead. She had accepted that. But now, she just might.

"You look excited. Something good happen?" Rosa asked, propping herself up on one elbow as she watched her. Scarlett turned towards the bard, eyes narrowing slightly. An idea began to form. Thainnith's legacy held fragments of countless minor Zuverian arrays, the sort of things that had very little practical value but might have some… interesting applications in the right combinations. The problem had always been that Scarlett had never had a safe way to test those combinations.

Arcane experimentation carried risks, and she didn't have the experience or depth of knowledge to start improvising with things she didn't already understand enough to trust. But now she had a sandbox, didn't she? The look on Rosa's face shifted, her earlier confidence draining into sudden suspicion.

"…Ehm, Red? Not to alarm you, but that smile is just a tad unsettling." Scarlett stepped towards her.

"Rosa, I have the perfect way for you to start working off some of your debt to me," she said.

"Tell me, have you ever considered volunteering for science?" Now that she finally had a way to use the Forge properly, it was only sensible to make sure it actually worked before she tried anything with the heart, right? And every new system needed stress testing.