Shamesh kept watch all night as Isaac and Lenna read Walter's written account of how he had met a mother red fox and how the soul of that fox came to reside in an entirely mechanical body. Walter's account was much better written than his speech and almost seemed eloquent at times, which, for the man that used conjunctions more than regular words half of the time, it was surprising to say the least. Come first light, Isaac and Lenna had finished reading.

Walter sat up and looked up to the sky with a sigh. "Even in this life, it rains every, single, bloody, time I go somewhere." He grumbled and then yawned. It hadn't started raining yet but the clouds were starting to settle into the sky above them like an audience four hours before a music concert. He jumped slightly as his half asleep eyes met Shamesh's from half a dozen feet away and he clutched his chest with a gasp. "Mornin', Shamesh." He said with a nod and then looked around and nodded in greeting to both Isaac and Lenna.

"Good morning, master Walker." Shamesh greeted him.

"After breakfast, give me your first set of clothes." Walter told him. "I have to do each piece individually."

Shamesh nodded and then turned to Isaac. "My lord, which suit should be enchanted first?" He asked his master.

"The suit of ribbons." Isaac replied. "It'll also be the hardest one but if you have that one, the rest will just be for non-combat events and situations. The canvas one that you are wearing now would be a great second one if we have the time for it."

"Very good, sir." Shamesh said and approached Lenna and her backpack for the needed suit.

Walter just blinked a few times before he shook his head at the entire conversation, or maybe it was the reference of a suit made of ribbons that would need to be enchanted. Once breakfast was finished, Gypsy had gotten up and stretched like a cat with dog sized yawn, while Isaac and Lenna joined Walter and Shamesh in the middle of camp. Walter was quickly handed the suit made of ribbons.

"What in the unholy hells is this mess?" Walter commented. "Whoever made this never thought beyond the mundane product." He went on. "This is borderline unenchantable."

"Borderline?" Isaac asked.

"Well, yeah, nothing's entirely unenchantable." Walter explained. "But this's a hot mess. I sure as hells can't use the box for it. The socks, pants and undershirt, sure, but the top's a whole mess that's gonna need stitched by hand."

"Shamesh won't be wearing the undershirt." Isaac helpfully informed him. "He'll be wearing chainmail underneath it and it would be nice if that could be seen, you know, for the aesthetic."

Walter looked up from the suit to meet Isaac's serious gaze. He then slowly turned his head to look at Lenna. "He doesn't wear any head protection, does he?" He asked Lenna rhetorically. Lenna shook her head. "Uses a sword that is short and light enough to be used in one hand but doesn't use a shield or cast spells with his offhand?" Lenna nodded in affirmation. "I believe your husband suffers from 'eighth grader syndrome'. It is an incurable disease that impacts primarily young men, but many young women as well, from the ages of thirteen to well into their adult life at times. There have been cases of the symptoms going away, or being suppressed with time, but aside from severe bullying, I don't know of any treatments for it."

"Now that's uncalled for." Isaac tried to argue but Lenna's crestfallen nod caught him before he could continue. The term definitely gave him a headache but there was enough context for them both to know Walter meant, more or less.

"I have tried, but unfortunately, he is very good at not getting hit in the head when we spar, so it is hard to correct the helmet issue." Lenna confided in Walter.

"I feel like my wife and cousin are ganging up on me." Isaac told them dryly.

"Cousin isn't far off from what we are in this world, honestly." Walter agreed. "And definitely. You need at least some head protection dude. My hat has five layers of impact and four of cut resistance in it. It's still bendable and not as heavy as a metal helmet but it'll stop a sword swing, or a punch from an ogre, from caving my skull in." He then turned to Shamesh. "You need to wear the undershirt under the chainmail. That's where impact resistance should be placed anyway. Understand?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Shamesh turned and looked at Isaac expectantly. Isaac nodded with most faux resignation. "He's right." He told his retainer. "I'm pretty good at not taking hits but the same can't be said for you. Melee combat has never been your strong suit. We can try and teach you some of the basics at some point but you are best served staying outside of it whenever possible."

Shamesh nodded. "I will continue to do whatever I can to be of assistance." He told his master and then turned back to Walter. "I understand." He finally directly answered the artificer.

"Good." Walter replied. "Now, this's all that I'm gonna be able to do before we get to Mat-Cel. Also, I'm charging you one hundred per article per layer that can be put in the box. The jacket part is gonna cost you four hundred per layer. Four fifty if you want it to blend in with the style."

"That's still decently cheap." Lenna commented.

"Mat-Cel?" Isaac questioned.

"Yeah." Walter agreed with Lenna. "Usually I'd charge four fifty for each layer for each piece that goes in the box and double the prices I mentioned for the jacket."

Isaac whistled. "Damn, that's a markup."

Walter shook his head. "No, it's only mildly undercutting my competitors. Most artificers that do non-commission work sell their stuff at that price to the shops and trading businesses. Commission work'll run you double that from somebody that actually knows what they're doing. I'm undercutting by around ten to twenty percent which, considering how much I move around, keeps anyone from gettin' too butt hurt about it." He explained.

"And you can charge less than them because you use the box to duplicate enchantments." Lenna thought aloud.

Walter nodded. "Bingo." He told her.

.

Isaac's eye twitched at the sudden but decently minor needle of pain in his brain. "How much can you get done before we get to, Mat-Cel?"

"Probably two layers on the socks and jacket. Maybe six on the pants and four on the undershirt." Walter explained. "And Mat-Cel is just a palatable name for the absolutely pretentiously named 'Material de la Celestia'."

"Ah." Isaac replied to the last thing that Walter had said. "That will run us, twenty three hundred gold." Isaac quickly did the math. "That's most of what we have with us for spending money. We have plenty in the bank but I doubt the human banks are connected with any elvish ones."

Walter shook his head. "Not directly, no. The Adventurers' Guild can move money around for a decent fee. That service is only for high ranking adventurers, like us, who are prone to working in kingdoms not affiliated with each other." He explained.

"How high is the price?" Isaac wondered.

Walter shrugged. "I don't know. I've never used it. I just know it exists. Probably a lot though because they've gotta get a high level mage with teleportation magic to manually take it from one place to another."

"If we need to pay the Fatebreaker in solid metals directly, we are going to have to use that service." Lenna told Isaac.

Isaac nodded. "Get it done and we'll have the coin." He told Walter.

"Good." Walter told him. "Because the family discount only lasts as long as I feel like it does and need to pass the time."

The next few days passed in mild misery as a gentle but ice cold rain utterly soaked all of the forest and the creatures within to their cores. Walter had a blanket that he put over the saddle and his rifle to keep the leather and metal from getting too soaked but he and Copper were in a constant state of cold and soaked and mildly annoyed about it. Isaac was just annoyed about it. Lenna was taking it well enough but Isaac could see it starting to get to her by the end of the fourth day of straight rainfall. Each night was spent huddled under a canvas canopy, which Walter had strung up between the trees to keep the rain off of them, on top of another large piece of canvas that was used as a floor so they wouldn't have to rest in the mud. Both pieces of canvas were waterproof via an enchantment that Walter had long ago placed on them. It appeared that he was very used to traveling in the rain.

"You said it rains every time you go somewhere?" Isaac questioned Walter with a scowl as the artificer was busy slowly stitching golden thread into the jacket part of the suit of ribbons.

"Yeah." Walter agreed. "Nine outta ten times, at least. Bonus points if it's supposed to be the dry season."

Isaac scowled. "Walter, with all due respect, and as thankful as we are that you are guiding us to the Fatebreaker, I never want to travel with you again."

Walter smirked. "Yeah. I get that a lot." He told him. "Some people come around, most don't." He let go of the needle and stretched out his hand and fingers. "I used to know a guy who had the opposite effect. The man had hardly ever seen rain in his life. My curse to spend half of every trip soaked won out and he swore to never travel with me again."

"Has this been studied?" Lenna wondered. "Aren't there places where it rarely ever rains?"

Walter nodded. "I checked for curses, a few times actually, there aren't any that come up with any Identify that I've ever seen or used." He shrugged. "I've only been down to the great desert once and I was not a fan. The sand sucks. It's rough and coarse and gets everywhere." He smirked at some joke that only he seemed to get until Isaac's head started to ache. It probably would've gone over his head if Walter hadn't smirked which gave away the fact that something wasn't right with his word choice.

"Also, Walter, my near constant headaches from every other sentence that you speak are not helping me make the decision to ever go anywhere with you again." Isaac told him with narrowed eyes and a frown.

Walter shrugged. "I'm not used to anyone getting them." He confessed. "Usually people just think I'm being quirky or something. I've actually been trying to make less references but I'm pretty deep at this point. My pistol's the 'Ace of Spades', my dagger's the 'Six of hearts' because it's got a six inch blade, my rifles are the 'King and Queen of Diamonds' and my bat, which you saw me use on the first Silent Stalker, is the 'Jack of Clubs'." Walter went on to Isaac's steadily building migraine. "These're all references to the standard deck of playing cards where we're from." He helpfully explained to Lenna which did a little to help Isaac's headache. "And that's just the weapons. Everything from Gypsy and Copper's names, to the saddlebags having the words 'Back Pocket' written on them're also references to something that no one else will ever understand."

Isaac was holding the side of his head in pain by the time Walter was finished, but at least he had enough context for most of it, or just simply wasn't thinking about it that hard, so he was able to stand the pain and just force his way through it like he usually did. "Damn man, can you have any more inside jokes?" Isaac questioned as he rubbed his temples.

Walter chuckled. "I have more but I think I made my point."

Isaac nodded slowly. "Yes. You did."

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