117. Forge under the Barracks

"Thet's your problem now?" A deep male voice came from the tiny bird that seemed to be hovering in one place in front of the boy's nose, moving its wings back and forth so quickly it could hardly be seen.

"What have you become? A swallow?" Citar grimaced and tried to poke the bird, which then backed away from him.

"A hummingbird, if you want to know." He got the answer.

"A hummy what?" The boy asked back.

"The sacred bird of the Onegod." At Santi's words, the Athamanas, except for Rahul, looked at him in surprise. "Oh, this will be interesting." The apprentice priest chuckled.

"The sacred bird of the Onegod?" Benkó raised his left eyebrow.

"I don't know why you're so surprised, last time in Chanja I said that I take the form of the most sacred animal in the region." Lynx chirped. "Well, if you don't need me, then I'll go." As he said this, his figure had already faded.

"What the Fene am I going to do with him this way?" Citar ruffled his hair.

"Lynx is still a strong soul creature, you don't need to worry Citar." Wandi scolded the Bolacsuk boy.

"Now that I've written down everyone's weapons, will you help me find the last group of students?" Santi asked, looking at the group pleadingly.

"If you tell us what the people we're looking for look like, we'll help." Razvan nodded. That's how it happened that the Athamanas helped finish the work of the future preacher.

As expected, Suk disappeared again the next morning, which meant that he was with Professor Biaskoncy. The team wasn't surprised at all by that, but they were when the boy showed up earlier than usual and, if that wasn't strange enough, told the team to follow him. Thanks to this, the team of Athamanas stood at the gate of Floating Air Barracks like a group of lost children.

"Why are we here?" Benkó asked with his arms folded in front of him.

"Because Professor Biaskoncy said we'd meet here in half an hour to go get clothes made for the competition. I figured if I have them, you need them too. We're a team." Suk shrugged.

"But we have three sets of clothes already." Achilleus despaired.

"What's this grouping here?" At the sudden sound, the team turned as one towards Professor Biaskoncy, who was looking at the team with one eyebrow raised and hands on his hips.

"They're also coming with us to get clothes." Suk announced.

"I told you we're going to have armor made, not clothes. The two are not the same." The man shook his head. "The clothes are what you're wearing." He pointed at Suk. "And this is the armor." He spread his arms and pointed all over himself, while Suk looked at the team.

"Do you see why I don't understand the difference?" He asked, but before anyone could answer him, the team heard the sound of swords rustling, and when they turned in the right direction, they saw Razvan standing in front of the teacher, whose eyes were wide open and who was just putting his sword away.

"It's really armor." Razvan noted, looking at the team.

"But you didn't even sratch him." Achilleus grimaced.

"I didn't put any effort into it, I was just curious about the material. The teacher is clearly wearing armor." The boy nodded.

"Mr. Zaukán should be happy that I have a good day. You won't get a penalty for using a weapon without permission." The teacher rolled his eyes. "Okay, your friends can come too for all I care, but I only ordered armor for you. What happens to them is up to them." The man turned around and left without a word, followed by the small group.

The Athamanas hadn't been down in Floating Barracks since the semester began. Now they were going to a part of the city that not even Rahul knew about. Professor Biaskoncy took the group to an ordinary-looking house, where he simply went inside. The house was completely empty, just brown walls and a staircase in the floor leading down. The group started down these stairs leading under Floating Barracks.

"Ah, isn't it Vietryk?" They hadn't even made it down the stairs when they heard the young, almost childish voice. "Oh, and you have eight little guests. Interesting." The voice hummed.

The group finally arrived, led by the teacher, down the stairs to a spacious pale brown room, with a huge forge on one wall and a counter opposite it, behind which a young brown-haired boy sat over a book. On the wall opposite the stairs was a huge door covered with a curtain. There were puppets standing all over the room in iron armor, and in one corner on the wall were a multitude of hammers, pliers, and files with a large anvil in front of them.

"I came for my order, Matthias." The teacher spoke.

"Of course. Here it is." The boy said without even looking up from the paper in front of him, just raising his hand and pointing to the pile on the counter. "We'll check the measurements right away, I'll adjust it and you can take it." The boy explained. "You behind Vietryk, come, I need your measurements. I'll deal with the others later." As he said this, he stood up and pulled a long string from his pocket and when Suk stepped forward, he measured him with practiced movements. "I don't need to fix the armor much, just take it in a little at the waist." The boy nodded.

"I'm glad to hear that." Biaskoncy smiled as the boy went back to the counter.

"Now that we've discussed this. How can our blacksmith shop help you, young gentlemen?" The boy turned to the rest of the team.

"Oh, he is blind." Razvan blinked.

"Then how come..." Suk started, but immediately stopped when the leader of the Athamanas side-eyed him. "Ah." He nodded, understanding.

"I see more than most. So how can we help you?" The boy asked, with a faint but proud smile.

"They're probably here for the same reason as me and my student." The teacher sighed and folded his arms in front of him. "They're the other competitors of Floating Air." He finished, before the little boy opened his mouth.

"Are you kidding me?! Do you know how many orders we have for the Barracks Cup? Do you seriously want me to make seven more complete sets, when it took twenty days to make this one?" The boy asked, pointing to the pile on the table. "Even if all our people work, it will take at least ten days! We are capable of many things, but we can't do magic!" The boy's voice rose with each word he said.

"I know, but..." The teacher started, but the boy interrupted him.

"What do I look like? God? It's hard to make even normal armor so quickly, and none of these are local! Each one is fucking Eastern with its own special energy?!" The boy's hands clenched into fists and he might have even slammed the counter if a female voice hadn't spoken from the curtained door.

"What's wrong with my origin, dear?" The question came.

"Damn it, I said something wrong." The child buried his face in his hands. "Nothing, they're asking me for the impossible again." The boy shouted back.

"That's new, I didn't know there were things impossible for you." The female voice giggled, the owner of which then appeared from behind the curtain.

"Marianne?!" Rahul blurted out, as his and the rest of the team's eyes widened.