The workspace the academy prepared for them was a small room through an unassuming door on the lower floor, away from the main throughway. Once, Noburu thought it might have been a classroom, judging from the inset part of the wall where a large blackboard would have fitted. They were told it had been a nearly forgotten storage room for years until it was hastily tidied and cleaned pending their arrival. The assorted furniture and boxes were piled against one side, and a large table was set up in the remaining space for their work.
Hardly the most modern workshop.
A few armour sets stood on the table, propped up by their wooden stands. Lying alongside them were half a dozen swords and a few spearheads. Noburu and Seonmi pretended to expertly examine the artefacts while the staff mber assigned to show them around watched with mild interest. The demon, a man nad Takumi, who didn’t feel like much of a warrior, served as the academy's archivist.
“Mmm,” Noburu mumbled, peering through a magnifying glass at the dry, cracked leather.
“Ah…” Seonmi added as she examined the tal clasps.
They shook their heads, looked at each other, and then shook their heads again with an additional sigh. Their performance had the intended effect, earning them a face of worry from Takumi.
“That doesn’t sound good,” the archivist said with a frown.
“Could be worse,” Noburu said, straightening up. “We’re lucky this brigandine was kept in a box with a support structure. It also helps the leather is rannar rather than cattle. The forr is far more resistant to deterioration. That said, we’re not starting with the best pair of dice; maintenance work should’ve started earlier.”
“How much earlier?”
Noburu glanced at the plaque at the base of the armour stand. Samino Brigandine. War of the Ten Houses. 520 A.V. “About three centuries ago,” he declared. “I can make the leather presentable, depending on how much I can interfere. I can clean it using dry thods and then use a humidifying chamber to bring so life back into it, but if you want it looking fresh, it’ll need treatnt with conditioners.” He turned to Seonmi, making sure to use her false na. “How’s the tal, Yunseo?”
“Severe rusting on the internal plates,” Seonmi replied, gesturing towards the armour. “So of the rivets are barely holding on. We can sandblast the larger pieces, but the rivets are unlikely to survive. We could use an acid bath, but that carries the risk of weakening the tal through hydrogen embrittlent. Hmm…” She placed a hand on her chin. “It would be best to replace them entirely. You ntioned that you have a large number of examples from the War of the Ten Houses?”
Seeing Takumi nod, Seonmi continued, “Then, as much as it pains to cannibalise the past, if you want to keep things authentic, then we’d best salvage so stronger rivets from the old pieces that are beyond restoration. If we could get permission to open up more boxes and see what’s there, I think we’ll be able to find a proper replacent.”
“I… I can ask,” Takumi replied. “What about the weapons?”
Seonmi peered at the series of blades laid out on the table. “Typical amounts of corrosion. Varying levels of pitting. See here? We can clean it up, but without filler material, it will never look great.” She pointed towards the handle of one of the weapons. “See this grey? The silver decorations have tarnished. It’s not corrosive, but we’ll need to be careful polishing it. The goal will be to bring back the previous lustre without removing too much material.”
Noboru could tell Seonmi was having fun in her role as Yunseo Yoo-jung, the tal specialist. She was a natural-born actress, and Noburu never understood why she didn’t use her charm and talents to join a travelling trope. She could get out of the slums, travel the Empire and explore. As far as he knew, she didn’t have any obligations like he did with Kiku and the kids. So, why didn’t she leave? Perhaps she was hiding from sothing or soone.
Either way, it wasn’t his business.
“How long will your work take?” Takumi asked.
“We’re contracted for the completion of these piece’s restoration, not for any deadline.” Seonmi looked upwards as if doing ntal arithtic. “We’ll likely spend a few working days just building a plan of attack. Once you start removing material, you can’t go back. Like a sculptor, we must be sure before we begin. Let’s say… two or three days for the preparation work and then two or three weeks for the actual work. It might be longer as we’ll need to bring in specialised equipnt, as you’ve told us all work must be done on-site.” Seonmi’s voice took on a note of calculated annoyance. “I’m not accustod to working while being guarded.”
When they’d arrived that morning, Noburu noticed the academy seed to be in an unusual state of heightened security. There were far more patrols and standing guards than Yoshiro’s information had suggested. He didn’t miss how the students would glance at these guards with raised eyebrows while they whispered about the new changes.
Not only that, but he saw a few n wearing the uniform of Old Guard investigators. They were striding around the grounds, taking notes and photographs with their large crystal-fuelled steam caras. Their presence had caused a slight tinge of worry to form in Noburu’s stomach, which he quickly crushed down. They weren’t here for him or Seonmi. Sothing else had happened.
When they signed in to the academy's visitor book, they were told by Takumi that due to a recent incident, they would need to be accompanied at all tis. They would even be led to and from the latrine should they desire to use it. Once they arrived at the workshop, a guard had been waiting at the doorway. Seonmi protested the situation, slowing making Takumi apologetic. After all, she was the talented Yunseo Yoo-Jung, the Fengra expert who had travelled all this way only to be treated like a common criminal!
Which she was, of course.
“It should only be temporary,” Takumi explained after Seonmi’s latest outburst. “In a few days, things should have cald down.”
In a few days, we’ll be gone, Noburu thought.
“But please understand, this is a military institution and cannot have contractors walking about as they please,” Takumi added. “There’s a war on, and there’s always a risk of distrustful individuals…” As Takumi emphasised his point, Noburu didn’t miss the man's eyes darting to his left hand where two fingers were missing.
It was best to take the chance to address his hand now instead of hiding it and letting Takumi’s thoughts fester into sothing more.
“Chisel,” Noboru stated, holding his left hand up. “When I apprenticed as a woodworker. One mont, I was smoothing out a joint, and the next, I’m looking at two bloody fingers lying on the floor.” He grimaced, shaking his head. “Learned a lesson that day; tools can be as deadly and as sharp as any weapon.” He chuckled at the imaginary mory. “Expensive lesson.”
Any suspicion in Takumi’s face evaporated. “Once or twice a sester, an overly enthusiastic student gets cut. Leaves a nasty scar. Told the screams are horrible.” He shook his head. “Then again, they are being trained to wage war. So of the highborn students we get from Centralis seem to think it's all a ga…” Takumi coughed quietly. “Excuse . I shouldn’t ramble.”
“As much as I enjoy listening to n talk about injuries,” Seonmi intoned sarcastically. “Takumi, could you please enquire as to whether we have permission to salvage rivets from storage? We’d only take from pieces that have degraded beyond any reasonable possibility of restoration. Also, please request permission for us to bring in larger equipnt and chemicals for the acid baths and humidifying chambers.”
They didn’t have access to that equipnt, but Takumi didn’t need to know that.
“Forgive Yunseo,” Noburu said with a smile. “She becos a shawa if you get in the way of her work. She’d argue with a Highlord until the moons fall.”
He continued to joke and build rapport with the archivist. If soone enjoyed your company, then manipulating them beca easy. All they needed to do was fool the man long enough to identify their target in the academy's storage and make copies of any keys they needed. Then, all Noburu needed to do was slip in and out one night.
Soon, Kiku. Soon, I’ll give us all a better life.
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