A Practical Gift

“Well,” Krvavy gives her brat a pat on the back as her voice shifts into a rather playful tone. “Since we aren’t doing anything right now, why don’t you go and unwrap this mystery gift?”

Thea shoots a glare back over her shoulder. “Hmph! Fine.” She huffs out, unable to hide her curiosity as she crosses over to the very edge of the bed. “Did you need to put a blanket over it?”

“No, but I felt that it would make for a good surprise.” The Dwarf hefts the covered object up and plops it down onto the moss bedding. “Here.”

The bratty girl just rolls her eyes as she grabs at the sheet, before pulling it aside without any fanfare. “A crossbow? Your ‘gift’ is a crossbow?”

“Not just any crossbow.” Inanna is completely unbothered by Thea’s irreverent tone. She isn’t exactly the type to care about that, even if she wasn’t used to the brat by now. “From what I understand, this was the one that was used by the bandit who had kidnapped you. Perhaps there is some sort of poetic justice in that I am now giving it to you, but that is not why I chose it: this was simply the highest quality crossbow within Krvavy’s hoard.”

“So you just took something from our greedy Dragon and decided to give it away as a gift?”

“Krvavy gave me permission to do whatever I want with any weapon within her hoard.”

“It looks like you’ve modified it quite a bit.” The barbarian interjects, tapping a finger against a wooden case that is now sitting atop the crossbow.

“Of course.” Inanna climbs partially onto the bed so that she can properly show off her work. “It was hardly fit to use before. And not just by my peoples’ standards. The right limb in particular had a number of defects that left it unable to exert the same amount of **** as the left. That has been fixed to the best of my capabilities.”

“Before you start droning on and on, can you at least explain why you decided to give me a crossbow?” Thea asks with just the slightest bit of exasperation in her voice. “What makes you think that I would even want it?”

“Despite the fact that you practice rather regularly with your bow, you have improved very little and are still terrible with it.” The Dwarf bluntly states, causing the brat’s lips to twist into an annoyed and slightly insulted scowl. “Thus I felt that it would be a good idea to switch you over to a weapon which is far easier to use yet similar enough that it benefits from the same skill. That being Archery. But the crossbows that we had on hand would have been too much for you to handle, not to mention their inferior make, so it was only natural that I modified one specifically to make it more fit for you to use.”

“Hmph. I do just love to get a gift that is accompanied by an insult...” The silver-blonde brat sarcastically grumbles.

“Just what did you change about it?” Krvavy asks, giving her fiancée a reassuring pat on the head that is definitely in no way condescending.

“Perhaps I should start with the most obvious: I have added a top-mounted magazine.” The Dwarf gestures to the wooden case attached to the top of the crossbow. “I was tempted to mount it underneath, so that it wouldn’t be in the way when aiming, but felt that doing so would compromise the structure of this Human-made weapon. As such, the magazine is only capable of holding seven individual bolts, as any more would begin to make it too cumbersome to accurately use.”

“When you say that it can hold seven bolts, does that include one that is already nocked on the bow part?” Krvavy curiously asks.

“No. That would be counted as an eighth bolt, though I would not recommend keeping it loaded just to get an extra shot. Primarily for safety reasons.” The Dwarf replies, turning her attention back towards the crossbow. “The magazine is currently empty, but refilling it is an easy affair. Simply undo this latch here on the right and open the top to the left along these hinges.” She explains, demonstrating how to do it herself. “Once open, you simply need to place the bolts inside, making sure that they are facing the right direction.”

“So they just fall down into place one after the other?” The barbarian leans forwards and looks into the empty magazine. It is pretty much just an empty narrow box, though the bottom slants into a relatively slender slit to ensure that the bolts remain centered as they’re loaded.

“Gravity does play a large part in the loading, yes, but there is a simple internal mechanism that controls the process. It would be less than ideal if multiple bolts were capable of being loaded at once, or if an accidental bump was enough to cause a bolt to fall down prematurely.” Inanna explains, before grabbing the crossbow and lifting it up slightly, letting the metal limbs press into the sheet it was lying atop. “And speaking of loading a bolt from the magazine onto the crossbow, that itself is quite easy as well. Simply pull this lever on the underside downwards and to the front, before reversing and moving it back into place. That will draw the string back and load a bolt, making it ready to loose in one simple action.”

“And you added all that yourself?” There is a bit of surprise in the barbarian’s voice as she eyes the metal plate screwed onto the side, clearly covering up the spot where Inanna would have had to carve into the solid wood of the heavy crossbow.

“Yes, I also replaced the trigger mechanism as a consequence.” The Dwarf nods her head as she lowers the weapon back down. “The only other major modifications that I made were to the stock, replacing it with a much more comfortable shape while also making its length adjustable via this nob here, and through adding a series of runes primarily intended to make reloading it require much less **** despite the considerable draw weight of the limbs. I also left the stirrup at the front, even though it no longer has a practical use. I did not feel like there was a need to remove it.”

“Nice.” Krvavy idly nods her head as she looks over the crossbow. “It’s completely done and ready to use, yeah?”

“Of course. It wouldn’t be much of a gift if it wasn’t complete. Though I suppose that it wouldn’t hurt to pretty it up a little by adding some decorative details...” Inanna frowns ever so faintly and pointedly looks at some of the rougher aspects of the heavily modified crossbow. Mainly the metal plate that is covering up its new internal mechanisms.

Thea rolls her eyes as she gets tired of silently sitting at the sideline of this conversation. “Funny how you are far more interested in a ‘gift’ that is supposedly meant for me, Krvavy.” The girl dryly comments.

“Am I not allowed to appreciate Inanna’s work~?” The barbarian playfully replies, wrapping one arm around her fiancée’s shoulders and pulling the beautiful brat into a half hug. “And there’s no need for you to act so disinterested. I can tell that you want to go down to the grotto and see how it feels to try shooting this thing~.”

“There is no rush.” Inanna calmly states, looking at Thea with an odd glint in her copper-orange eyes. “I disturbed your time together, so it would be completely understandable if you would rather resume your reading. Or whatever other activities you two may or may not have been getting up to before my interruption.”

A faint flush fills the noble girl’s face as she realizes that the normally neutral Dwarf is teasing her. “Hmph! No, we done here!” She huffs out, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.

“Wonderful.” Inanna nods her head, still showing next to no emotion. “I will go fetch some bolts. Feel free to get acquainted with how it feels to hold your new crossbow.”

With that the Dwarf turns and walks away, heading towards the storage area.

Thea climbs off of the bed and stretches slightly, before turning her scowled gaze down towards the rather large crossbow. “It is a bit big...” She points out the obvious with a mildly annoyed grumble.

“Yeah. It is.” Krvavy completely agrees, but unlike her brat she finds that fact more amusing than anything. “But don’t worry, Inanna wouldn’t be giving this to you if she didn’t think you were capable of using it.”

The silver-blonde brat just rolls her eyes and, without further comment, reaches out towards the heavy crossbow. She hesitantly grabs at the large weapon’s wooden body, one hand near the trigger and the other one a bit too close to the front, before hefting it up and off of the bed.

Thea grunts in a slightly undignified manner as she briefly struggles to maintain her balance, nearly toppling forwards before pulling the crossbow in closer to her body. The bratty girl looks more than a little uncomfortable as she awkwardly clutches onto the rather large weapon, clearly not knowing how she is supposed to hold the thing and probably just trying to emulate how she vaguely remembers other people holding one. “It... is about as heavy as I expected...”

“And its weight will increase even more once the magazine is loaded.” The Dwarf plainly states as she returns, effortless carrying a small sack of metal bolts in her hand. “These,” she gives the bag a gentle shake, “are not the lightest. As should be expected from bolts that Krvavy looted primarily from soldiers. They are made for war: they are solid metal.”

“And you did not think that that would be a problem?!” Thea’s lips twist up into a derisive and decidedly unhappy sneer. “What good is a weapon that I will only be able to hold for a few minutes at a time?!”

Inanna calmly stares at the bratty girl, her copper-orange eyes unblinking. “If it is that much of a problem, then we could replace these quarrels with lighter wood-shafted bolts. They would not be quite as effective against heavy armour, but that is arguably an edge case. And if that is still not enough, we can see about adding a series of runes to reduce the crossbows overall weight.”

“Wait, you could hav–? Ugh!” The silver-blonde brat cuts herself off with a frustrated groan. “Why did you not do that already?!”

“Reducing the weight of an object through the use of runes is not a particularly mana-efficient task. Thus it is best avoided unless truly needed.”

“Ugh, whatever... Here.” Thea rolls her eyes and holds the heavy crossbow out towards Krvavy, wobbling a bit as that simple act threatens to topple her over. “I do not want my arms to be tired by the time we get down to the grotto...”

The crossbow is barely out of Thea’s hands before she spins and begins marching off, expecting the other two to follow her.

Which is exactly what they do.

Krvavy idly glances down at the heavily modified crossbow, focusing more on safely climbing down the stairs to the first floor than actually looking the thing over. It definitely seems a lot more reasonably sized in her hands. Which, to be completely honest, is actually a little disappointing. Krvavy likes oversized and kind of unrealistic weapons, her axe can attest to that, so this just feels a little lackluster...

At least it looked good when Thea was holding it. Having a comparatively small girl use a comparatively huge gun, or crossbow in this case, is a classic for a reason. There is just something about the slightly ridiculous contrasting sizes that is so appealing... That said, Krvavy will miss the vaguely Greek Goddess aesthetic that her beautiful brat had when holding her bow. Granted, that aesthetic was lost pretty much as soon as Krvavy gave the girl actual clothes, as Thea hasn’t wrapped herself up in a makeshift toga since then...

The Drakling’s aimless train of thought trails off as something about the weapon in her arms catches her attention. Or, really, a lack of something. “I don’t really see any runes on this...” She idly comments, glancing at the Dwarf walking by her side.

“That’s because most of them were etched onto the interior mechanisms.” Inanna plainly replies, not sounding even slightly out of breath despite her stout legs more or less forcing her to jog to keep her pace matched with that of the barbarian and brat. “Which has the added benefit of protecting them from accidental damage.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever asked this before, but how often do runes get damaged?” Krvavy curiously wonders. “Because I feel like that is a pretty big counter against them.”

“Mm. That can be said for a great deal of things. Armour is less useful, potentially useless, when sufficiently damaged. As is a weapon.” The Dwarf calmly replies. “But I do understand what you are getting at. A sizable arrangement of runes, or even an entire runic matrix, can indeed be entirely disrupted by damaging a single individual point within the system. If the Runesmith who arranged said system did not care about shaming their ancestors with their laziness and lack of foresight, that is. A proper Runesmith would know to mitigate this issue via making many of the runes parallel to each other rather than have them all be in series, thus allowing mana to flow from start to finish even if some of the lines are inoperable. A weakened array may not be ideal, but it is much preferred to a failed one.”

Krvavy slowly nods her head as she listens along. Runes really do just seem like the magical equivalent of circuits...

“That said, the practice of preparing for the worst does not imply that such damage is a common occurrence. We Dwarves are simply a cautious folk.” The grey-skinned shortstack makes sure to briefly meet Krvavy’s eyes before she continues on with her impromptu lecture. “The structure and overall integrity of a rune is strengthened by the flow of mana within itself, almost proportional to the amount of power harnessed by the system. It may not be the best analogy, but you can imagine it as similar to trying to block off a rapid and intense river while the water still flows. Not impossible, but exceptionally difficult. In other words, it is much harder to damage an active rune compared to an inactive one, with the increased durability scaling near proportionally to the amount of power being harnessed. Add on the fact that runes are typically etched onto tougher materials, such as stone or metals, and I am sure you can see how tough it would be to truly cause any significant damage.”

“And I imagine that even if someone did have the strength to break a rune, it wouldn’t simply just turn off. Right?” The barbarian idly muses, hardly paying attention to the increasing amount of plants and vegetation around her as the three of them walk down into the grotto.

“Correct.” The Dwarf nods her head, her copper-orange eyes shining with an ever so faint amount of pride. “Though the exact result would vary depending on the amount of mana within the system as well as how said mana enters the system, the expected result could be described as explosive. Weaker flows would elicit a minor jolt of pain or simply discharge the disrupted energy into the air in a short and relatively harmless flash of light, while stronger flows would be more literal with the term ‘explosive’. But, worry not, the runes that I had painted on you and Khalia when you went off to fight the Patriarch did not carry such a risk despite their comparative strength. That variety of runic array utilizes ambient mana and mana already stored within the designated channels to achieve the desired result rather than any active source. Thus if you were to compare it to my previous analogy, those runes would be more accurately compared to a puddle of slowly evaporating water than an active river.”

“Yes, yes, yes. I am sure that is all very exciting.” Thea loudly sighs out, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she turns towards Krvavy, expectantly holding out her hands. “Give it to me.” She impatiently demands, before rolling her eyes. “Please.”

“Mm.” Inanna hums in a slightly judgmental tone, her copper-orange eyes critically staring at how the brat has grabbed onto the crossbow. “Move your left hand further back. A bit more.” She reaches up and prods at Thea’s hand, forcing it into the correct spot. “Move your right hand around so that the thumb is on the top while the rest of your fingers are holding onto the bottom. Don’t touch the trigger. Now lift it up so that the stock, the end of it, is pressed against your shoulder. There. Get used to holding it like this.”

“There. Happy? Can I have the bolts now?”

The Dwarf takes a step back and turns towards a nearby rock that has had its surface flattened into a table. Brushing aside a few crude wooden arrows, she makes enough space to place the filled bag down next to an unstrung bow. “Make sure to only point it at what you want to kill: your target. That crossbow packs a serious punch and is quite deadly.”

“I am not an idiot.” Thea huffs out as she moves towards the ammo, letting the heavy crossbow drop down from her shoulder as she holds it against her body. The noble girl hesitates slightly before removing her right hand from the weapon, unlatching the top of the magazine before reaching for the bag of bolts. “Do these need to be perfectly lined up?” She asks, slowly loading her weapon.

“No. It will be fine as long as you point them in the correct direction.” The grey-skinned shortstack replies, standing with her arms crossed over her massive breasts, squishing those big dark globes beneath her thick leather apron. “There is a degree of looseness within the magazine, as I am sure you can already tell. That isn’t ideal, but it does allow for the crossbow to use non-standardized bolts.”

“Will jamming be an issue?” Krvavy asks, restraining her curiosity just enough so that she doesn’t get into Thea’s personal space.

“Jamming will always be an issue, and it would be foolish to think otherwise. That said, it should not happen often. Basic maintenance and cleaning should prevent that from being a problem.” The Dwarf states, briefly glancing at the barbarian before turning back to the brat. “But if it does jam, simply reach inside the magazine and pull the offending bolt out. Though do not do so when it is spanned, or drawn if you want to use the improper term. That is an unnecessary risk to your fingers.”

Thea closes the magazine and clicks the latch shut. “So now I just need to pull the lever down to load it?”

“Hold it properly first. Your body would be in the way of the string otherwise.”

“Ugh...” Thea groans a little unhappily as she is **** to hold the heavy crossbow in one hand, firmly pressing the stock into her shoulder to keep that end from slipping. Her fingers wrap around the metal lever below, pressing it downwards. “Oh...” She breathes out, finding it much easier than she expected. A light click rings out as the string is locked into place, followed shortly after by the metallic thud of a bolt falling down just as she pulls the lever back up.

“Yes, the runes do most of the heavy lifting, amplifying your **** by a few orders of magnitude.”

The silver-blonde noble girl simply turns her attention towards the target at the other end of this basic archery range. She takes a deep breath, trying to steady her grip on this heavy crossbow, before pulling on the metal trigger.

“Ahh...!” Thea gasps out in shock as the weapon roughly thumps back into her shoulder, though luckily she doesn’t drop it as the bolt is violently launched forwards.

“Mm. Not bad for your first try.” Inanna idly comments, looking out across the range. The bolt is just barely visible, embedded deeply in the edge of the target.

“You should have told me that it would do that!” The bratty girl hisses angrily, glaring back over her shoulder.

“You should have expected that recoil.” The Dwarf replies in her utterly neutral voice. “You are familiar with using a bow, if unskilled, and you knew that this crossbow was capable of exerting much more ****.”

“Maybe you should add some padding?” Krvavy interjects before her brat can say anything else. “To keep her from getting bruised just by firing that thing?”

“Mm. Alright.”

“Hmph!” Thea huffs and turns her attention back towards the target, pulling on the lever and loading another bolt.

“You made this pretty quickly.” The Drakling idly comments, glancing down at the Dwarf. “It’s only been a few days since you even asked to work with the weapons I’ve collected.”

“Of course she was fast...” Thea quietly grumbles out, bracing herself for the crossbow’s recoil. “This thing is only half finished...”

“A few days is more than enough time to modify a single crossbow.” Inanna humbly replies, completely ignoring the brat. “I have had far tighter deadlines in the past.”

“Sure, but I assumed that you’d have been busy messing with that Heartstone chunk.”

A faint frown fills Inanna’s face before she responds. “Perhaps I would have been, had it not dissolved into nothing within the span of a few hours.”

“Wait, so it just faded away?” Krvavy can’t help but keep the surprise out of her voice.

“Mhm.” The Dwarf hums and nods her head, furrowing her thick brows as a mildly frustrated expression fills her face. “And I was unable to gleam any information from it before that had happened. Not even the fact that it had faded away was helpful, as I am not sure if that was a consequence of its origin as a Heartstone or if that was simply a result of it now being a part of your Soulbound Weapon. I am leaning towards the second option, as otherwise we would be able to ‘harvest’ your weapon for its materials, but I truly can’t know for certain. Heartstones are complex, presumably more so for synthetic ones.”

“That’s a bit annoying.” The barbarian agrees, idly shrugging her shoulders. “Though I guess it is also kind of a good thing...? Not really for you, but just in a general sense of security.”

“I suppose.” Inanna dispassionately shrugs back. “I am not sure if I would have been able to get any information from that shard. So it having fade away so quickly was, to some degree, a blessing. I would have wasted a considerable amount of time otherwise.”

“That’s a positi–”

“Ugh!” Thea loudly groans out, inadvertently cutting Krvavy off as she lets the front of the crossbow thump down onto the makeshift stone table. “This thing is so heavy!”

“It would seem like you do require those extra runes after all.” Inanna plainly states, looking over towards the bratty noble girl.

“Hey!” Thea narrows her eyes and purses her lips as she lets go of the heavily modified crossbow, leaving it on the table. “Do not look at me like that! Not everyone spends their days swinging around a stupid little hammer! I cannot expect me to hold up this heavy block of lead!”

“There is no lead inside that crossbow. The new mechanisms are composed of a basic yet durable steel that I made using the iron that was grown using our Ore Seeds, and the original –”

“I do not care!” The silver-blonde brat huffs out, rubbing at the sore spot where the crossbow’s stock pressed into her shoulder. “Just make it lighter!” She impolitely demands, marching over towards the Drakling.

Krvavy simply raises an eyebrow as the little princess leans up against her body. Without a word, she scoops Thea up into her arms, holding her fiancée in a bridal carry. “So... how was it?” She asks, already carrying the brat back over to the range.

“Hmph! It was alright, despite the weight.” Thea grumbles slightly as she tries to pretend that her face isn’t slightly flushed.

“How many bolts did you shoot? Three full magazines?” Krvavy asks, moving her gaze away from the target to lovingly look down at her beautiful brat, who nods in response. “You still don’t have the best aim, but... wow. It doesn’t look like you’ve missed a single shot. Good job, you did great~.”

A deep red blush fills the noble girl’s cheeks as she hears those genuine words of praise.

“Mm.” The Dwarf’s hum is hardly even heard as the silver-blonde brat’s arms reach up and embrace the barbarian. “If you are done testing out the crossbow, then I will take it off of your hands. It shouldn’t take long to add the requested modifications.”