Soul Merger

Alissa was feeling better than she had in a long time. Getting into a delving group had seemed like an impossibility just a week ago. And now she was going to be traveling with skilled delvers around the land. All to help put together a mythril laced blade.

Of course the reality was the team probably wouldn't be a long lasting guild. Her quirks made getting constant work a problem, and she doubted someone like Fili or Clara wanted to go closing demon portals. Still having any group, even one who just did occasional labyrinth raids, was great.

Right now though she needed to get the list of materials for her blade. It wasn't an easy ask, so she was probably going to need some complex items. She wondered if Fili and Rosalina's requests were similarly difficult. Probably not, since the hardest parts of their orders were the spell chips casters required. Much like how archers really only cared about arrowheads and fletching.

"Hey!" She looked up to see Fili waving. She gave the mage a nod in return and walked over.

"Good morning," she said. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Not really," Fili said. "How are you doing today?"

Alissa blinked at the question. It'd been a while since someone outside a hostess club had asked that and meant it. "Pretty good," she finally said. "Looking forward to getting the materials?"

"For me the fun is making new spells," Fili said. "But it'll be an interesting journey."

"Yeah. It's been a while since I've been outside the city," Alissa admitted. "Not since I left my aunt's place. And I haven't been further south. I'm from Port Toron."

Fili nodded in understanding. The two cities were fairly close, but the waterways made travel overland a decently long trip.

"Good morning!" Rosalina's happy call hit them. Alissa turned to see the dragon priestess had met up with Clara on the way. "No longer do you need to fear my absence, friends. Your priestess has arrived."

Alissa blinked before turning back to Fili. "The Main Character is here."

Fili made a show of pulling out her spellbook and ruffling through the folder. "I don't have a sidequest for her. Can you cover?"

"We'll pretend it's Clara's job," she turned back to Rosalina and put on her customer service smile. "Good morning Rosalina. Happy to see you!"

Clara was snickering while Rosalina sighed dramatically. "If I was the main character at least one of you would have fallen for my amazing charms. Anyway, let's find out what ridiculously expensive materials we need."

They walked into the exquisitely decorated front area, and announced themselves. The secretary took them back to the Master's area, where George was looking over some diagrams. When the secretary knocked he hopped off his chair and gave a bow. "Welcome back. And good to see you as well, Clara. I've got the required materials for your items. The payment for the mithril will be delivered after final contract confirmation." He gestured to three scrolls.

"Would you be so kind as to explain each one?" Alissa asked. Always better to get the full information from a craftmaster. She wasn't expecting to get ripped off, but it was entirely possible they'd be sent to gather dragon eyes for stylistic reasons if they didn't keep the artisan focused on the functional.

"Of course." George pulled up the scroll for Rosalina's request. "Redwood is very light, and weak as I imagine you know miss. Given you use your rod as a weapon occasionally, we're going to need to reinforce it as well as make the required designs for a rotary bank. That means treant syrup, vampire bat fang, metal slime residue, and giant wood beetle shellac. You'll also want some butterfly dust, and dragon scale to make sure your magical connections are top notch."

Rosalina nodded. "About what I imagined. Thank you." Alissa agreed. Getting the redwood to serve as a passable weapon was probably the hardest part, so it made sense they'd need a lot of materials.

The next scroll apparently was for Fili. He tapped the upper portion. "The Water and Fire elemental essences are pretty obvious. Just remember the higher quality you find the better the results. Since they're opposing elements we'll be using oil and water staining to get the infusions right. The hard part will be the cartridge system. Unless you want us to make the whole thing mythril you're going to have to get metal slime residue, star powder, and living steel off a golem or other metal construct. No way around that I'm afraid."

"Fair," Fili said with a sigh. Alissa understood the annoyance. Constructs were rare and a serious pain to kill. But if you needed magic metal they were the best source. Living armors were too crude for a lot of stuff.

"And lastly," George came to her scroll, "we've got the sword. This one's going to be a bit difficult I'm afraid. Succubi might technically be lesser demons but they're still demons. Which means our work's a lot like a binding ritual or summoning. We need volcanic salts gathered by your hand, the heart of a monster with a charm ability, like a siren, the balls of a demon with a rage ability like a minotaur warrior..."

Alissa felt her eyebrow twitch, but George wasn't done. "And unfortunately we'll want the bones of a lesser demon. I know that's not easy to get, but it's the best way to make sure you can use True techniques."

She let out a relieved sigh. "Alright, that one's easy." She pulled a box out of her pouch and tossed it onto the table. "From the bitch herself. Mom and I carved her into bits just in case something like this came up." And because she deserved it.

Everyone looked at her with surprise, but she shrugged. What else were you going to do with a demon corpse in your house?

George opened the box to reveal the mummified finger within. He carefully closed the box again and placed it in a drawer. "Well that makes things a little easier. Sorry about the other items, but well, that's the way it works. Have to be extra careful with the lines as well on my side. Still working that out, but it'll be done by the time you're back.

"If you're willing to start the projects feel free to sign the contracts. Take your time to read over the details," George sat down and waited.

Alissa walked over and checked the contract. It was pretty standard for a complex commission piece. A stipend to start design, half on delivery of materials, the rest on completion. Some touch ups for free.

After a bit she decided the numbers all lined up and signed. Rosalina and Fili followed soon after. She looked at the two. "You know, it's probably not a good idea to just assume I know what I'm doing."

"It's worked so far," Rosalina replied sweetly. Alissa rolled her eyes.

Fili looked a little more embarrassed. "I didn't see anything wrong when I read it, but I figured I should wait until you made your choice just in case."

She gave Fili a smile. "Okay that's actually clever. Good move."

"Merchant rule one, see what everyone else does," Clara said. "Anyway, is there anything else we need other than the flame stones Master Engraver?"

"No that should be everything," George said as he handed the contracts to the secretary for filing. "Payments have been settled, and we'll get you the outstanding balance as you leave. Good travels to you."

They followed the secretary along the halls to a barred door with a shelf in front. A standard moneyhouse setup. On their arrival a panel slid open and three bags were placed down. "The mithril proceeds," the moneytender said from their fortress.

"Thanks." Alissa picked up the sack marked with her name. A quick check showed the bills and coins were in order. Seaport crowns as well, so they should be trusted all along the coast.

Rosalina turned to face them like an instructor at a crafting class. "Alright! We have money, the sun is actually shining, and we're about to go on a road trip. The heavens have aligned for shopping!"

Alissa fiddled with her hood. Shopping wasn't something she really enjoyed anymore. But... she had people with her now. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad?