Her mana wrapped around the feather and stone, and they gently lifted to her eye level as they glowed.
This was where things really got started. Olivia took a short breath to steady her breathing, then focused her mana into her hands as she quietly intoned, “Extract effect. Imbue effect.”
Her mana turned into a powerful rush. The shining light grew stronger, and blue-colored mana flowed from the floating feather into the magic stone.
Before long, it was done; the beautiful core now showed a richer blue hue than at the start. Olivia pinched it between her fingers, and the light faded.
Maybe it’s because the materials were of higher quality, but I feel like it turned out really well.
“I’m done,” she announced, holding the stone out to Gordon, who was looking at her in a daze.
“I figured you’d be good seeing as you’re his daughter, but that was more than I imagined,” he replied, then muttered how she must have studied hard.
He took the stone from her and carefully examined it from all angles before turning to the now impressed bespectacled man and asked, “Shall we test it? Come with me.”
✦ ✦ ✦
💎💎💎
THE three left the shop and went down a set of stairs out the back that went underground. Glancing around, Olivia noticed the basement had sturdy-looking stone walls with patches of black scorch marks scattered across them. This was apparently the test room.
“All right. Fire away,” called Gordon, and the bespectacled man tossed a ball at Gordon.
PA-CHING.
The moment before the ball could strike Gordon, it froze and dropped to the ground.
“Hmph. Not bad. Excellent activation speed and power. Keep going,” Gordon continued.
They tested it out in a wide variety of situations, adjusting the threat level or even having the man try to touch Gordon with a gloved hand with the intent to harm him. Olivia was nervous as she watched, though she sometimes assisted as well.
After about ten minutes, Gordon nodded. “Incredibly well made. One part of your enchantment process was slightly old-fashioned, but the quality is perfect.”
With his shoulders heaving from exertion, the bespectacled man muttered, “She’s quite something to do this at her age.”
Oh, good, I pulled it off.
Olivia sighed in relief as Gordon grinned and held his hand out to her. “Right, now I have no qualms saying you’re hired! Starting today, you’re an artificer at Gordon’s Magic Appliances.”
“Uh, what?” Olivia’s eyes widened. “I can work here?”
“Of course! In fact, I wouldn’t want such a skilled artificer getting snapped up by some other shop.” His face looked serious, and the bespectacled man was nodding in agreement.
Tears in her eyes distorted her vision. Her heart was so filled with different emotions—surprise at being able to work there, worry that she wouldn’t be able to manage it, reassurance that she would be working with someone she trusted as much as Gordon—and she couldn’t get any words out.
Gordon gently patted her back. “Let’s go back upstairs. We should talk about what happens next.”
She bowed her head in thanks—and to hide the tears about to spill from her eyes—as she exclaimed, “Thank you so much! I promise to work hard!”
Afterward, in his office, Gordon went through the salary and work expectations in detail. Olivia was to move into one of the dorm rooms in the employee lodging on the fifth floor, which was currently empty, and start as an apprentice artificer for them.
✦ ✦ ✦
💎💎💎
THAT evening, Gordon sat on the sofa in the center of a reception room cluttered with books, documents, and half-made magic items and sighed. He was holding the letter from Ralph Carter, Olivia’s father and his friend from his apprenticeship. The letter read in somewhat shaky writing:
Dear Gordon,
If you are reading this letter, it means I am no longer in this world. As unfortunate as that is, it is the way of things, and I lived a life blessed with family and friends.
However, there is one thing that remains to worry me: Olivia.
She has a good head on her shoulders, but she’s still a child. She can be foolhardy like me and naïve in some ways. She has her fiancé and Jack, but life can bring surprises.
That’s why I would like to ask you to help her should she find herself in trouble. I’ve told her to come to you with this letter if she is ever in a difficult spot.
If you see this letter, please ask her what has happened and offer her support.
Please.
Lastly, I wanted to let you know that I am grateful for everything you have done for me. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ralph Carter
PS: If you can, please do what we discussed.
Gordon met Ralph about thirty years ago. Ralph was already an apprentice for a famous artificer in the capital when Gordon joined as one. They immediately got along, partly because they were both from the countryside, and the two were often together.
Ralph was what you might call a “magic item maniac,” utterly ignorant of anything outside magic items. There were days when he would collapse after not eating properly for days, or he’d fall asleep standing up after not getting enough the night before. He was essentially a child in man form, but few artificers were more skilled than him, and he quickly rose to the top.
At the time, their country of Alexia was at war with the neighboring country, the Garde Empire. Ralph shone brilliantly, even receiving a baronet title for his magic item design contributions, which led to victory in the war.
But one day, he resigned from the shop without warning. Years later, Gordon learned from Ralph’s letter that he’d returned to his hometown of Daregas and set up shop there.
I was surprised. He even invited me to his wedding despite not having been in touch for so long.
The bride was a blue-eyed seamstress with a good head on her shoulders, and Gordon was relieved when he met her. Even Ralph could manage a decent life if he had her to whip him into shape. Sometime after that, he spent six months in Daregas for work, when he met Ralph’s twelve-year-old daughter, Olivia.
She had talent, having managed to enchant a magic stone before she was even ten. The future held promise for this girl, who was as manic about magic items as her father and had as good an eye for fashion as her mother.
Ralph became just as obsessed with his daughter as with magic items. One day, while out drinking, he bragged on and on to Gordon about her.
“My daughter is a genius! She has so much mana, and, more importantly, she’s got a good eye like her mother!”
“That’s good that she didn’t get your style.”
“I know! My little girl gets angry at me for my dull designs!”
After bragging for a while longer, Ralph’s expression turned serious.
“This’ll probably be a while down the road, but I’d like her to study at your shop,” he disclosed.
Gordon looked at him with confusion. “I don’t mind, but aren’t you teaching her?”
“Of course. I’m drilling into her everything I know, but my shop only makes two things: lamps and magic jewelry.”
“I thought specializing was what made an artificer.”
“Generally, yeah, but I also think she should experience as many different types of magic items as she can while she’s young.”
Gordon grinned. “Well, in my opinion, you’re not going to be able to let her go, but if she wants to work in the capital, she can come to my shop. She’s more than welcome.”
Ralph shook his head, looking stern. “No. That won’t work. I don’t care how cute she is—favoritism ruins people. You need to give her a test. Only let her work there if you think she’s good enough.”
Gordon couldn’t help thinking how like Ralph that request was and nodded. “All right. I promise.”
To think that conversation actually turned into reality.
Gordon sighed and leaned back into the sofa. In all honesty, when he heard Olivia’s story, he was thinking of helping her get her shop back. Even if her uncle was her legal guardian, he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with stealing her assets. Gordon thought he’d get the shop back even if it meant taking her uncle to court. He even considered stopping Olivia briefly when she mentioned she wanted to work in the capital, but then he remembered what Ralph had written, “PS: If you can, please do what we discussed.”
Thinking of that made him feel that’s what Ralph would have wanted. He tested Olivia just as promised and decided to hire her after evaluating her skills.
She was to start work in two days.
Maybe this was fate too.
He sighed and moved over to the window. As he looked outside, he recalled his friend’s face, which looked much like Olivia’s. Staring at the flickering light of the streetlights outside, he murmured, “Don’t worry, Ralph. I’ll make her into an even better artificer than you.”