"I'm sorry about yesterday, guys…" Liyah sighed as they entered Theo's room, a downcast expression on her face. She still hadn't gotten over her sister's dismissal of her worries despite a whole day passing since then.
Once she entered the cool space, she soon realized only Theo was present.
"Hm? Where's Kaycee?"
"I don't know. I received a letter from him today saying he had to sort out some work stuff and that he'd be unable to make it to our training." Theo shrugged, jumping to his feet. "And as for your sister, it's fine… I mean, we already talked about it."
After leaving the Middle Court and exiting the entire Grand Palace, they had gone to the Sparring Arena, where they indeed engaged in training, but also had a lengthy conversation about everything they knew regarding the Mercenary Guild.
"I still stand by what I said yesterday. It's best we drop the matter and simply let go of the whole thing." He smiled, remembering how difficult it was to establish this conclusion the previous day.
It was clear Liyah still wasn't in full agreement.
"I still find it unbelievable that you, of all people, would give up so easily. You were there when that man burned to dea—"
"Which is exactly why I think it's best we stop now." Theo said. "You heard your sister. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Besides, Mercenary King or not, they're going up against The Zenith and Lord Shen. If they had the smallest bit of a chance against them, that would make them more powerful than the strongest figures of the Ak'ashi Guild. What are we supposed to do against people like that?"
"…." Liyah was dead silent.
Theo reckoned he was a little too harsh in his choice of words, so he sighed as he closed the distance between himself and Liyah. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave her an encouraging nod and smiled gently.
"I know you want to help, but we already have. Fae already knows of their existence, so it's possible that she'll be making moves against them as we speak. The best thing we can do is focus on passing the Combat Exams."
"Okay… I guess that's fair."
"Thank you."
"And as for Kaycee, I was thinking of checking up on him later today… maybe after training. You wanna come with?" Theo was concerned about his friend, especially since he wasn't sure Kaycee was fine with the decision of completely dropping the matter and he wanted to be sure he settled his mind just as he did with Liyah.
Plus, he had a feeling Kaycee was up to something he didn't want them to know about.
"Did you even have to ask? Of course!"
"Hehe… alright then." Theo smiled as he took his hand off Liyah's shoulder. Multiple thoughts ran through his mind at the same time, but one was most prevalent among all of them.
'I still have to make time to investigate later tonight, but visiting Kaycee before then shouldn't take too long.'
Contrary to what he told his friends, he had no intentions of ceasing his investigations.
He simply wanted to keep them out of it, and he succeeded in doing so. With both Liyah and Kaycee away from the dangers of the Mercenary Crew, he could be more at ease in his secret search throughout the Ak'ashi Guild—specifically in the commercial district.
A tinge of guilt echoed in his heart, but he forced it to subside as both he and Liyah exited his residence.
'I'm sorry for lying to you guys, but it's for your own safety.'
*************
The training that particular day was intense—as Liyah was especially more aggressive than usual.
Theo reckoned it had to do with her channeling her feelings of frustrations into her fists and kicks, and he happily took all the blows while responding with equally ferocious strikes. As always, he won all the matches they engaged in, but he noted her improvements.
After lunch break, they went another series of rounds and fought until Liyah was exhausted.
Afterward, they had their shower and made their way to Kaycee's home.
They knocked, and after merely a few seconds, the door opened to reveal a disheveled Kaycee standing behind the door with a tired smile on his slightly pale face.
"You guys came… just as I expected… hehe…"
Liyah and Theo's brows rose instantly. "You were expecting us?"
"Of course. I was sure my letter would make you all worried about my wellbeing, which meant you'd check up on me today. You wouldn't want to disrupt training, so I figured you'd be here later in the day… like right now." He smiled wearily.
Normally, Kaycee was awful at social cues. However, after spending a few months with Theo and Liyah, he had pretty much understood their patterns and knew how they would respond in certain instances.
They were his friends, and they cared about him.
That made their actions towards him very easy to read—even easier than the mechanical constructs he was used to dealing with.
"I see…" Theo muttered. "Then I guess the reason you lured us here was to surprise us with them, am I right?"
Upon hearing this, Liyah's eyes widened. "Y-you mean—?!"
"Yeah, it's a bit earlier than I promised… but they're finally ready." Kaycee chuckled, his eyes brightening under his bangs of hair.
"… Our Arcane Instruments!"
He led them into his very untidy premises, though Theo noted that the room was a lot cleaner than he last remembered. Still, this silent observation remained with him as they hurriedly made their way to the 'Tinker Room,' which was currently devoid of light.
There, in the dark room, Kaycee brought out a box and opened it, allowing a certain metallic smell—the kind that only came from brand-new products—to waft out.
Bright lights shimmered from within the box, and within them dwelled six items: two daggers, a shotgun, a stone-like orb, a glove, and an eye-patch. The group stared at these objects for a while, with Liyah cooing while Theo whistled. The way they shimmered in the dark, creating an electrifying atmosphere which soon fizzled out, made the truth evident to the two who stared at them with the widest eyes.
… These were all Arcane Instruments.
"You… you made all of these in just five days? No, you didn't even have entire days to yourself, so how?" Liyah was the most stunned as she stared at the items with her bright crimson eyes.
Kaycee snorted and shook his head, trying his hardest to remain modest. "I didn't 'make' them, per se. Armaments cannot be 'created' since they all existed since the Divine Era. I simply tweaked them and merged some together to compensate for weaknesses and amplify their strengths."
"S-still… that's really impressive!" Liyah beamed. "I didn't even know such a thing was possible!"
"No, no… I'm pretty sure the Arcane Academy in Haiaiel has a whole course on that, and I even heard they have an entire Division that focuses on the task of restoring, repairing, and transforming Arcane Instruments."
"Still…" Theo smiled at Kaycee. "This is an amazing feat for one person to accomplish on their own. You should feel proud of yourself."
Kaycee's eyes nearly teared up as he heard such strong words from his friends.
"You guys…"
It wasn't like he didn't understand their sentiments.
After all, Armaments were the most sought after objects in the world, but they were also the most mysterious. Since they were widely accepted to be the belongings of the Divine Ones who previously dwelled in the world of Trae'h, and contained supernatural powers, they could not be fully understood by mere Mortals.
The best that Mortals could do was classify them into Grades: from Junk Grade to Outliers, judging this by measuring the quality of the Armament, its Ne'sh Density, and the Arcane Ability it could unleash.
In the current age—The Arcane Era—Armaments were the most precious things in the world.
And six were sitting right at their fingertips.