Zheiro and the Moonlight Sculptor

Zheiro panted, leaning heavily on his sword as he observed his surroundings.

Around him lay hundreds of broken bones scattered about, all by his doing.

"Another failure," Zheiro groaned to himself. "This is pretty difficult."

It was obvious even to Zheiro that magic was needed to cut through the darkness controlling the skeletons without destroying them, but like his companion had noted he wasn't all that well versed in magic yet—or rather, the time he got to spend practicing magic was rare enough as it is.

It was hard enough to use magic while trying to concentrate on surviving the fights against all these skeletons. Trying to do two things at once was exceedingly difficult for him, and his life being on the line did not help at all.

And that was not to mention projection, the only magic he had been practicing, wouldn't help at all for trying to cut away the darkness. In the first place the reason he had been learning projection was to get him used to gathering and manipulating prana, not cut through darkness—

Zheiro paused in his thoughts. Manipulate prana?

If he could manipulate prana properly the way he wanted it to, it might be possible to cut through the darkness. Perhaps shape his prana into the form of a blade or something, Zheiro didn't know.

But first, that would require some extra practice as his skill with magic was still weak, so Zheiro decided to end for the day and return to where Thrycius was.

----

"So…" Zheiro trailed off, looking at the magical looking sigils and marks all over the ground surrounding their campsite. "What is this?"

"Oh, those?" Thrycius asked, not looking up from the sheets of parchment he had been writing on. "I set up a base for you to return to. Is there anything wrong?"

"I, uh…" Zheiro stuttered, at a lost of words as he continued looking around the campsite. "Just what does this all do?"

"It's a barrier, or sorts." Thrycius answered, replacing one parchment full of writing with another from his bag. "It basically makes monsters avoid this area in general, so you can rest here for whatever reason without fear of the monsters."

"Is… that so?" Zheiro asked, still looking around. "Considering how complicated this looks, this probably isn't viable for traveling we had been doing earlier, right?"

"Sure," Thrycius said without much interest, still busy writing as he replaced yet another piece of parchment. "Actually, why are you back already? The day's not over yet."

"I just wanted to practice Projection a little more before I return, that's all." Zheiro said. "That's okay, right?"

"Hm? Yeah, that's fine. I already admitted that your training with magic hasn't gone as far as I would have liked, so if you want to practice some more before trying to bring down those skeletons again, then go ahead," Thrycius replied with his usual grin, yet still not even once looking up. "You are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need."

"A-ah, okay. For some reason I thought you might have said no, so that's a relief," Zheiro admitted, sitting down. "Is there anything I need to know about these magic symbols lying around?"

"Just don't mess them around and it'll probably be fine," Thrycius said uncommitedly, again replacing a piece of parchment full of writing. "As for me, I'll probably also be leaving to do a few things here and there, so don't worry if you come back here to find me gone."

"Is that so?" Zheiro asked. This wasn't the first time his companion left to do something, as he had noticed first while they were travelling in the Forest of Beasts. Zheiro had already decided not to ask him about it after Thrycius' response back then, so there wasn't really anything much else for him to say about that.

And so, Zheiro sat down and began to practice Projection once more.

----

A few days passed as Zheiro did nothing but try and master Projection.

Trying to concentrate was much easier here as Thrycius wasn't rambling as much as he did before; many times his companion would spend the time furiously writing on parchment, constantly replacing it every few seconds or so.

Zheiro wondered how he was able to write so quickly, but when he asked Thrycius just said 'practice'.

Zheiro didn't really believe it, but he didn't push it, either.

Other times his companion would just stand up and leave for a few hours, only to return as if nothing happened.

Zheiro guessed he was replacing all the parchment he had been writing on, among other things, but at the same time he wasn't sure if it was possible to make it to the nearest city and back that quickly. There was no way a simple town would hold that much parchment, after all.

In any case, during the times Thrycius left was when Zheiro made the most progress with Projection, for there was nothing to distract him.

Once he was able to manipulate the prana to some extent the rest was surprisingly easy for him. Thrycius offhandedly commented one time that it was due to him already having trained his imagination as a sculptor, which also made sense to Zheiro; after all, Projection was to shape and materialize prana based on his imagination.

But when day, they were suddenly interrupted.

"I found you!" A shout suddenly rang out while Zheiro was trying to focus on manipulating his prana again. "Prepare yourself, sculptor!"

"Ack!" Zheiro yelped in surprise, letting the prana he had in his hand go wild. Before he knew it it exploded in his face, but Thrycius had fortunately immediately stepped in to reduce the damage to both of them.

Scrambling for his sword, Zheiro whipped it up to face the intruder, finding himself facing a woman.

In response to finding a sword suddenly being pointed at her, the woman tilted her head. "What are you doing? You are a sculptor, are you not?" She asked, not really looking worried at all.

"Yes, I am a sculptor, but you just told me to prepare myself, so what else could I do but take that as a challenge?" Zheiro frantically replied.

"Are you an idiot?" The woman asked, perplexed. "Are you planning to challenge me with a sword?"

"Oh calm down already, Zheiro," Thrycius interrupted. "She may be here to challenge you, but it's definitely not for a fight."

"Eh?" Zheiro asked, looking at his companion. "Is this another legendary person that you know?"

"A legend?" Thrycius asked. "Well, you could say that, but it would be more accurate to say a legend in the making. She is the upcoming (in)famous painter Sarui. Are you sure you've never heard of her?"

"Sarui, Sarui," Zheiro mumbled to himself. "No, the name doesn't really ring a bell."

"For a nobody like you to recognize me, I must be pretty good myself," Sarui arrogantly laughed to herself. "But for the one I came here to challenge to not know me, I'm surprised. Shall I educate you on what it is you need to know?"

"There's no need," Thrycius laughed. "Zheiro here is a bit ignorant on the ways of the world, so of course he wouldn't have heard of you. But the same goes for you; you may have made quite a name in your own country winning every single art contest, but outside of your own country you aren't really as well known as you might have thought."

"Is that so?" Sarui asked, surprisingly not too worried or shocked about the fact. "Then I'll just have to travel the world and prove to the other countries that indeed the greatest artist in the world is me!"

Zheiro sighed. Thrycius was annoying enough, but this woman was also just as bad as she got on his nerves.

"So?" Zheiro asked. "Since you're a painter, did you come to challenge me to an art contest or something?"

"Exactly!" Sarui nodded in satisfaction. "For someone as ignorant as you, I'm glad that you are not as stupid as I initially thought."

Zheiro could palm his face in absolute annoyance.

"And after I'm done with you," Sarui said, as if her victory was already decided. "You're next!"

"Me?" Thrycius asked. "There's no need, I already acknowledge you as a great painter. And besides, our methods of art are vastly different; you, as a painter, is a visual artist, whereas I, a storyteller, is an audio artist. Both are enjoyed in entirely different ways, so trying to compare the two is pointless. In actuality, we could combine our art to produce something even greater."

"Hmm," Sarui said, thinking about it. "Do you at least claim to be the greatest storyteller in the world? Because I would expect no one less if they were to work with me."

"Out of all the storytellers in the entire universe, there is none better than me," Thrycius boasted with a grin. "The question is whether or not the same could be said about you among all painters in the world."

"Ha!" Sarui laughed. "That's the last thing you should worry about, for there is none better than me! But I'm going to have you prove yourself to me, so tell me a story."

"Oh, I certainly will." Thrycius said, nodding. "I have to live up to my reputation, after all. But aren't you forgetting something?"

Sarui looked at Thrycius, who was pointing off to the side, and followed his finger to find Zheiro inching away from both of them.

"Get back here, sculptor! I have yet to challenge you to a duel!"

Zheiro sighed as his temporary escape from the two very loud and crazy people completely failed.

----

"So, an art duel." Zheiro said.

"What about it?" Thrycius asked.

The contest between the two was decided to start a few days after they met so that they both could prepare the tools necessary, as well as get some warm up before hand.

"After all," Sarui had said. "You're clearly not up to your prime if you had left a huge trail of failures in that forested area earlier on. There would be no point to my victory if you were not at your best."

Failures, Zheiro grumbled to himself. Those were just for practice, so of course they weren't perfect!

During the time before the actual contest, Thrycius had also told Sarui the story of the legendary moonlight sculptor Zahab in all his glory; the same story that Zheiro had been told before they had begun their journey.

After it was done Thrycius simply smiled as Sarui, who ended up fully immersed within the story, had to take a moment to recover from just how amazing his storytelling was.

"Hmph," Sarui had finally said as she regained her composure, as if nothing had happened. "You, the greatest storyteller in the world? Very well, I shall allow it."

"Ha! Ha ha ha!" Thrycius doubled over in laughter in response. "You shall allow it? That is the best compliment I had ever received! Ha ha ha!"

"But of course," Sarui had replied, crossing her arms in absolute confidence. "I am the greatest painter in the world, so of course I have the right to allow it."

After that exchange Sarui had also allowed Thrycius to be the judge of their little contest, deeming worthy as the only one in the area to understand true art.

Zheiro sighed, just thinking about those two and their interactions.

"Is it really okay for me to take on her challenge?" Zheiro eventually asked. "It's not going to slow down my progress as someone wanting to be a moonlight sculptor, is it?"

"What? No, of course not. Why would you ever think that?" Thrycius asked with his usual grin. "This is your chance to show off your skill as a sculptor. You want to be the best sculptor in the world, right? If you can't even win a challenge like this, you'll never be able to become one."

"No, I just wanted to make the most beautiful sculpture anyone has ever seen…" Zheiro trailed off, recalling the promise he had made.

"And to do that, you need to become the best sculptor in the world," Thrycius concluded with his usual grin. "So go do your best and prove that you are worthy of such a title."

"But she's a painter and I'm a sculptor," Zheiro protested. "I could understand if she was a sculptor like me, but she's not. I don't need to be the best artist in the world as long as I can be someone that can create a sculpture more beautiful than any has ever seen before."

"Zheiro," Thrycius sighed, a defeated smile on his face. "If you always back down from challenged, you'll never get anywhere. Why are you hesitating? If you want to be the best sculptor in the world, you shouldn't simply wait for an opportunity, but to step forward and grab it with your own hands."

"So, I have to be like Sarui." he said unhappily. His first impression of the woman wasn't all that great; she was honestly a harder person to deal with than even Thrycius, who at least wasn't as arrogant as she was.

"I never said that," Thrycius replied with a grin. "You don't need to be arrogant or headstrong to be the best in the world; having humility is just as fine. But if you sit back and do nothing, you won't ever get anywhere, don't you agree?"

Zheiro nodded in silence, for he really didn't have any argument against that.

And thus, Zheiro having decided to fae Sarui in their art contest, decided to spend the next few days practicing his carving skills instead of magic, up until the day of their contest.

----

For once, Ixia was alone again.

Lately, the Queen had been visiting even more than before, but the number of visits from the King had drastically dropped since the day the Queen had accused him of sending assassins after Zheiro.

The Queen, of course, instantly assumed that it was because he was too ashamed to visit her, but Ixia wondered it if as because he was still busy trying to find proof.

Perhaps it was both, or perhaps they were both wrong, Ixia thought, but she wouldn't complain about having the opportunity to properly recall her past in peace again.

Even with the King visiting less often now, however, for some reason it felt like she still barely got any time for herself. Whether it be due to requests from other nobles, the Queen herself visiting, the servants coming and going, and many other incidents, Ixia found herself only able to spend a few hours a day to daydream, as she was now.

There just never seemed to be enough time, Ixia thought.

"No time? If there's no time, all we have to do is make more!"

Ixia smiled as she recalled one of her childhood friend's favorite phrases, as silly as it was.

Even as children there never seemed to be enough time to do everything they ever wanted to do, but trying to literally make more time was obviously impossible. But that didn't stop her childhood friend from making such comments.

"Make more time, huh?" Ixia said softly to herself, smiling at her memories. "Having more time to daydream would be nice, but I also don't need more time to spend waiting for your arrival."

She didn't get the chance to daydream long, however, as a knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.

"Who's there?," Ixia called out. "The door's unlocked."

The door slowly opened to reveal a man she had never spoken to before, albeit barely familiar. Ixia's thoughts raced to place where she had seen this man before as the man spoke.

"Are you Tailor Ixia?" The man asked politely.

"Yes, I am she," Ixia replied, thoughts still racing as she tried to place where she had seen him. "Did you need something from me?"

"Somewhat," the man replied. "I am—"

"Ah!" Ixia suddenly exclaimed. "I remember now, you're the court magician! But what does the king's personal court magician want with me, a tailor?"

"I see my reputation proceeds me," the magician nodded, bowing slightly. "Although, I come to ask you about something. Did you make this?"

Ixia looked to see the magician holding up a familiar garment she had made a little over a month ago.

"Yes, yes I did. I don't think you were the one who requested it, though." Ixia observed, frowning slightly. "What about it?"

"A few weeks ago I found this just lying outside my door with a single note, telling me to experiment with it as I pleased. Considering its high quality, I was rather reluctant to do so, but nobody ever mentioned missing any clothes, either," The magician started. "Eventually, I gave in, but to my surprise I found the cloth highly conductive of magic, far more than even my own robe and wizard hat."

Ixia blinked. Was that really possible? She was just a tailor herself, having never dabbled into magic. Why would the clothes she make be more conductive of magic?

"So, I came to ask if you made this garment," the magician continued. "Not only is the quality exceedingly high, I've never seen anything like it."

"As confusing as this is to me," Ixia replied, "Yes, I did make it, but I have no experience with magic. Are you sure you got this right?"

"I was confused too, and quite dubious of my own findings," the magician admitted. "But even after a week of testing I always got the same results. I was going to ask if you had experience with magic, but you already answered that, huh?"

Ixia simply nodded.

"It might be possible that the way you made it contributed, or the materials that you used could have an effect," the magician continued, "But I won't delve into that. You do have your own secrets after all. The other possibilities include you inadvertently applying magic as you sew, entirely without your knowledge, or that someone else changed the properties of this garment. Therefore, I have a request to make of you."

"A request?" Ixia asked.

"That's right. Make an article of clothing for me, and make sure no one else comes into contact with it." The magician replied. "In exchange, I can always try to teach you magic or something."

"Teach me magic?" Ixia asked. "But why?"

"Well, if someone has the potential to learn magic, then why should they not?" The magician asked in return. "And I already benefit a lot from this garment here; controlling the flow of prana has never been easier than before when wearing this. Therefore, I think it would be equal exchange."

Prana? Ixia blinked at the unfamiliar words, but decided to ignore it. Besides, magic?

Yeah, if she could learn magic, she could definitely become stronger.

It didn't take her long to come to a decision.

"I'll make something for you, so please teach me."

And thus, although she would end up losing even more time to daydream, in exchange she would be learning magic.