“So, what’s the place we’re selling herbs to?” Ren asks.

  “Oh! A little place called Atelier Feru.” Crane says. “It’s on Rabbit Street. Just look for the chimney spewing out smoke in every color of the rainbow.”

  “Okay.” Ren says.

  “Just be careful.” Crane says. “The place has been known to blow up every now and again. Alchemists, man.”

  Ren and Lucia head to Rabbid Street and find Atelier Feru, without issue. They only encountered an issue when they came to the front door to the building. The moment they do, an explosion from inside the building shakes the neighborhood. Strangely, the building seems undamaged. Despite the explosion, Ren opens the door and steps inside. Lucia goes slack jawed at Ren’s lack of caution in this situation.

  Inside the building, every surface was covered in ash and soot. Every loose object that was presumably resting on a table has since been knocked to the ground. Thankfully, the place is filled to the brim with safety features for fragile objects. Glass bottles were kept in wooden boxes designed to keep them all secure. Black powder is stored in metal containers that themselves look like they have armored plates. Strangely, all the windows are undamaged.

  As Ren opens the door, a bell at the door chimes. When it does, a figure emerges from a soot covered wall. On the wall is a silhouette of a humanoid figure in what looks like cream colored walls against the ashen soot. The emerging ash caked figure violently shakes and a girl’s figure can be seen. It is hard to see, but this girl wears a dress. It’s impossible to tell the color of this dress with so much ash covering her. At best, the dress can be seen as simple and absent of any patterns, designs or details. The girl wipes at her face. A girl with rabbit ears and long purple hair and matching purple eyes reveals herself.

  “Is someone there?” the girl calls out.

  “Yep.” Ren says. “Do you want Psycho Twin Bells? We have some for sale.”

  “Oh! That would be great!” the girl says.

  The girl briefly grabs a rag from somewhere and wipes off a fair amount of soot before inspecting what Ren and Lucia have to present to her.

  “Wow! That’s a lot.” the girl says.

  “Well, yeah.” Lucia says. “We need a lot of money to-... what were we getting this money for again?”

  “To get money.” Ren says. “You also need a weapon and armor. It’s hard to be an adventurer or hero without them.”

  “Oh! Ren, you don’t need to do this for me.” Lucia sheepishly says.

  “Oh! You’re both adventurers? From the guild?” the girl says. “I just put up a quest with them.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Ren says.

  “What?” the girl says.

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  “What?” Lucia says.

  “I’ll be right back.” Ren says again in her flat tone of voice.

  Ren steps outside of the store before she mutters a spell.

  “Haste.”

  With that, Ren darts off at the speed of an arrow. After a brief moment, Ren returns to the door and steps inside again.

  “So, you want help preparing for a presentation during the next military and arms exhibition.” Ren says. “You kept details vague on the job listing.”

  “Did- did you run back to the adventurer’s guild to get that?” Lucia asks.

  “Yep.” Ren says.

  “W- wow.” the girl says. “Well, if you’re going to take on my quest, that would be a great help, but it’s not quite as simple as going somewhere and slaying a monster.”

  The girl walks over and opens a chest before rifling through it. She returns with a letter that has since been opened.

  “You see, the queen is inviting anyone and everyone with a hand in experimental arms and armor to a summit and exhibition. I got one too. I suppose they heard about my experiments with new alloys and metal mixtures. Anyway, I really want to do my best, but so far everything kinda blows up in my face.”

  “New alloys?” Ren asks.

  “Yes.” the girl says. “An alloy is a combination of metals mixed together to produce an object with desirable properties. Take bronze for example. Bronze is copper mixed with tin to make a more durable metal. I wanted to do the same thing with adamantine and oricalcum.”

  “You have adamantine and oricalcum to experiment with?” Ren asks.

  “Yes. I use alchemy to produce it from tree bark and river water.” the girl says. “Alloys are typically made by melting it down and combining it with other metals. I’m using alchemy to produce it instead of bringing them to a melting point. I’m trying to see if I can maintain the majority of their properties by making alloys using them. What I’m really after is seeing if I can make 1 bar of valuable metal mix with another bar of cheap metal and maintain adamantine and oricalcum’s bulletproof nature, or at least make it bullet resistant.”

  “Wow.” Ren says.

  “Yeah, that’s kind of the theme of this exhibition. Everyone is trying to get some government grant money. You know, the military is trying to broaden their ability to protect themselves against guns. So everyone attending will be trying to show off means of countering guns. Adamantine and oricalcum are bulletproof, but they’re expensive. Also my success rate is… well…”

  As the girl hesitates to continue, a standing coatrack falls over and soot is kicked up into the air.

  “The amount produced isn’t that impressive either.”

  “That’s okay.” Ren says. “We can start with low volume samples and experiment with melting points.”

  “I’ve been mixing them with alchemy. The results are… explosive.”

  “Then don’t do that with alchemy. Just use alchemy to produce the expensive stuff and then mix the metals by melting them down and mixing them.”

  “But, don’t adamantine and oricalcum both have melting points that effectively rival the sun?”

  “Yep.” Ren says.

  “So how would we even try mixing them? We would need a fire that burns like the sun and a furnace to handle all the heat.”

  “Yep.”

  “How are we getting all of that?”

  “Make it with alchemy.”

  “Wait, what?”

  The girl gives Ren a confused look.

  “There is no naturally produced material that burns hot enough to melt those metals.” Ren says. “Not even a dragon’s fire breath can melt them, which makes them popular materials for going up against dragons. However, they are still heated and even melted using alchemy. Alchemists produce a form of coal that burns with heat to rival the sun. Also, normal furnaces would melt under such extreme heat. Alchemists produce clay and metal furnaces to handle that heat too.”

  “That- that all sounds so expensive.” the girl says.

  “It is. If you want weapons and armor made from either adamantine or oricalcum, blacksmiths need to invest a lot into such equipment along with the materials. If you’re really going to go this route, you need to use what blacksmiths have been using for the centuries they’ve worked with.”

  The girl thinks for a long time.

  “I- I’m not sure that I want to pursue this avenue of thinking.” the girl says. “I- I want to find the answer in alchemy. Not in… this…”

  Ren stares at the girl blankly.

  “Then let’s think of something else.” Lucia says. “If you’re going to some fancy place to show something, you should show something that you’re actually proud of.”

  “O- oh!” the girl stammers.

  “It’s okay! We’ll help you!” Lucia says. “I’m Lucia! I’m new at this, but I’m going to do my best.”

  “Oh! Um. Right.” the girl says. “I’m Feru Lucky.”