Entering Row’s home, the three turn into Row’s cramped workstation. Various Hammers, small mallets, sewing needles, mortars, grinding wheels, and many more gadgets and materials were neatly scattered across two adjacent tables. Row takes a seat at his working desk while Rhea watches close by. Row is diligently inspecting the staff and the new material collected by the red sprite, all the while Lucerna is shifting through a row of books on one of his wooden bookshelves. 

Lucerna reads the title, ‘History of Weapons of Old - Volume I’ and skims through the novel's contents. 

“What exactly am I looking for?” Lucerna asked calmly. 

“Something to let me know what exactly this staff is. If I found tales from previous adventures in the pages of a different book, there’s gotta be some mention of a staff. Maybe a book detailing past weapons? And hurry it up too,” Row rubs his hands together. “I’m more eager than ever to dig into this project!” 

Lucerna turns to the next page of her book. 

“Hold your horses, Row, I am looking as fast as I can, and you have a bunch of books with a lotta different weapons. There’s so much to go through.”

Rhea shifts herself over to the bookshelf. 

“Here, I’ll help.”

Rhea grabs one of the books, ‘History of Weapons of Old - Volume IV’,  and begins skimming through it. She flips through many pages, seeing a variety of weapons including battleaxes, rapiers, greatswords, and dual blades. Her eyes fall upon a pair of caestus, and she suddenly stops and flips back to said page. 

“Uhh… what’re these?” 

Rhea points to the pair of gauntlets and Lucerna scooches over to see them. 

“Oh, those are caestus’,” Lucerna said. “They’re like little boxing gloves used to pack a lotta punch.”

“Oooo! If we ever go back to that Loot Cavern, I wanna use something like that to fight back!”

Rhea eagerly turns her head and sees Row inspecting the gem with a magnifying glass. 

“Say, Row, would you be willing to make these for me?”

“Sure,” he said nonchalantly. “Long as you give me the materials or some money.”

“What? I can’t get it for free?” Rhea asked nicely. 

“Nnnnope.”

A frown falls on the woman’s face as her eyes drift back to the pages of the book. She continues flipping through the pages until she falls upon a weapon that looks similar to what they retrieved in the cavern.

“This must be the closest we’ll get to something like that staff…” 

Rhea’s eyes fall upon a similar staff with a jewel-encrusted slot. She begins reading the small entry. 

“Difficult to find out in the wild, and more complex to forge, Shifting Arms are powerful tools that hold multiple properties. Held by adventurers of old, in the right hands, these weapons are capable of causing great destruction. The Trickster’s Staff can catalyze the natural elements at the head of the weapon, but can only do so given the right element placed in its slot.”

Row is staring deeply into the sprite recovered sprite gem. 

“A weapon of great destruction…” He mutters. 

Row’s eyes are beaming with excitement. 

“Awesome!” He shouts. “If I can manage to jam this gem into that slot, I can make a crazy weapon and sell it for a  c r a z y  amount of Mynt! Then! I can use that Mynt to travel the world and craft to my heart's content!"

Rhea puts her hands on her full hips and stares at the back of Row’s head. 

“You’re willing to sell a potential weapon of mass destruction… for money?”

Row raises his hand and his finger points skyward. 

“A LOT of money! I just need to find the right buyer! And then, I can be riiiich!” He rubs his hands with a sinister grin. “Hyekhyekhyekhyek!”

Lucerna is wincing. 

“There goes his nasty laugh…” 

Rhea raised her eyebrow. 

“Is that why you needed that material from that red sprite?” She asked.  

Row grabs a small magnifying glass and begins to inspect the sprite gem. 

“Not necessarily. At first, I was gonna be experimental and try to craft the sprite gem with something else I had in my closet of materials. The endgame was to craft something fancy-looking and maybe sell it to some sucker overseas and make a small fortune.”

Row puts the sprite gem in front of him. He eyes the tiny piece of material, his face reflecting off of its many facets. 

“But now that we have this staff, I wanna try something else. Red sprites tend to store so much kinetic energy that they spews volatile lightning. Makes sense why this would be labeled as a dangerous weapon if I can stuff this gem in its slot; the staff would probably be able to cast lightning-based spells. Too bad the gem is kinda big. I wonder if I could cut it down into something smaller and stuff it into this weapon. I’d have to use my gem cutter though. And that would take a few hours.”

“You can use a gem cutter?” Rhea asked. 

Row nods. 

“Yup. Among other things, I’m rather proficient with a sewing needle, and I dabble in weapon and armor crafting. You thought all these tools were just for show?” Row puts on a very confident smile. “They don’t call me the Great Craftsman for nothing!” 

Lucerna slides next to him with a cheeky smile. 

“They don’t call you that at all.” 

Row swats her away. 

“But soon they will! Not just Miasto! When I travel overseas, people all across Ziemia will know the name Row Mitsu!” 

Lucerna waves her hand in a playfully dismissive manner. 

“Yeah, yeah. Can the great Row Mitsu get to cutting the gem then? I really wanna see what this staff can do!” 

Row leans closer, covering his hands and body over the materials. 

“You don’t get to touch the staff unless you plan on buying it, Lu! And last I checked you don’t have any money saved up!”

Lucerna stomps her foot. She tries to raise her voice and sound angry, but her calm tone can only go so far. 

“I’ve got plenty of Mynt saved up!”

“Oh yeah?” Row asked. “How much?” 

“Mmm…” Lucerna is growling in a low tone, “Enough.”

“I knew it!” He points. “I know that pouty face! You don’t have anything saved up! You can have all the luck in the world, but no Mynt, no staff!” 

“Grrr,” Lucerna frowns. “Sometimes you really suck, Row!” 

“What can I say, I put my crafting first and my friends second!”

Rhea rolls her eyes. 

“That’s not something to be proud of.” 

“Enough talk, from you two!” Row grabs a pair of working goggles. “Row’s gotta get to work!” 

Row grabs his tools and begins examining and tinkering with multiple gadgets. Lucerna pulls Rhea aside and whispers in her ear. 

“We oughta get outta here. When Row really gets in a working mood, he gets kinda feral if you disturb him.”

“Okay…” 

“Do you wanna head over to my place? We can wait there if you want.”

Rhea nods. 

“Sure, lead the way.” 

For the time being, Rhea heads over to Lucerna’s abode. 

Meanwhile, the dark gray bunny woman and her crew barge through Miasto’s small port at the bottom of the hill. She and her crew walk over to a small outdoor restaurant with plenty of patrons enjoying their meal, containing platters of various seafood atop white tables. The crew dressed in darker colors caught the attention of the table-sat civilians, bringing in side-eyes and careful whispers. The tall woman who leads the pack looks down at the reserved denizens turning away from her confident strut and powerful gaze. 

The tender to the establishment sees the group approaching and cautiously stops what he’s doing to watch them; he puts down the plate he was washing and waits to have a verbal encounter with the woman from behind the counter. 

The dark gray bunny stops at the counter and looks down at the male Kotka. Now that she was closer, the tender seemed a bit nervous, seeing how she towered over him. The well-dressed man tries to put on a confident face, but as he stares at her heart-shaped face and sharp eyes, he dips into a nervous smile, giving away his false display. 

“Y-you’re not from here, are you, ma’am?” The tender grins anxiously. “M-may I help you?” 

Her bright orange eyes shift to the left, then to the right. In both directions were curious citizens and bated breath. The woman’s crew was standing by her side with intimidating gazes. Her voice was the embodiment of power, conviction, and a small bite of allurement. 

“Where’s the Super Senior?”

The tender’s nervous smile turns into a frown. 

“Pardon…?”

One of Fujiko’s men leans against the table. 

“You heard the lady,” the man spoke with a gruff voice and slight twang. “She wants to know where your leader is. You’ll tell us where he is, won’t you?” 

“I…”

The tender gains some resolve. He shakes his head. 

“I’m not sure I will,” he gains the confidence to look the woman in the eyes. “I know who you are… You’re Fujiko Yuuma. Leader of the Fujiko Gang. Oppressor of communities beyond the sea. You people think you can solve everything with-”

Just then, Fujiko reaches to her side and pulls out a small light brown pouch of Mynts. 

THUD

She casually drops it on the table. Its top unravels, some of the silver Mynt spilling onto the brown countertop. Her stern orange eyes glare over the tender. 

“Where’s the Super Senior?”

The tender was eyeing the money, although it seemed he was growing more aggravated at the sight of the shiny coin. He grinds his teeth and starts to glare.   

“And that is what irks me. I’ve heard you and your people think you can just buy your way out of every person and every situation you come across. I’ll say this here, we Kotka are proud, familial people! The Fujiko gang does not belong in Miasto! I would never sell out to-” 

THUD

One of Fujiko’s crew members drops another bag of money on the table. Some of its contents spilled onto the ground. Some of the Mynts roll over to the watchers of the exchange. A female Kotka picked up the coin and gasped. 

“R-real Mynt!”

The male Kotka beside her swats the Mynt away. 

“Ay, don’t pick that up! We’re not selling out to these hooligans!” 

Another one of Fujiko’s members takes one of their bags and tosses it into the air. He pulls out his sword. 

SCHWING

In a single swing, the bag is sliced open, scattering more Mynt across the outdoors. Suddenly a litter of Kotka abandoned their reason and scattered around to pick up the coin, pushing past people, tables, and chairs to grab onto the money. 

“Outta my way! That’s mine!”

“No way! I saw it first!”

“My coin! My coin!” 

The Kotka were rabid for the flood of coins. While the tender took his eyes off Fujiko to watch the chaos in front of him, Fujiko’s sharp eyes remained glued to the man. She leans forward, smiling deviously, attracting the attention of the Kotka.  

“We try not to bother ourselves with pointless fighting. I was being kind by offering you money. The last man I asked refused to tell me despite the coin, and now he rests at the bottom of the sea.”

The tender’s eyes shift to the port. His heart accelerates as he can barely make out a trail of blood that runs from the floor to the end of the platform. 

Fujiko’s crew draw their sharp weapons and aim them at the tender. His eyes dart at the weapon and sweat drips from his forehead. Fujiko is still smiling. 

"Be defiant again, and I will take your life. Now, tell me, where is the Super Senior?"