Chapter 266: Bussin’
Kir went to see Sam after his visit to Noir’s grave, with an offer to try something he thought they might like.
Sam, a petite human in their twenties with a compact frame, short hair, and sad eyes, was a maven and the last original member of the Black Sheep; an adventuring group Kir became a part of after being stranded in a dungeon.
"It would... let me... speak more?" Sam asked after Kir proposed using Programmable Magic to overcome the effect their mavenry had on their ability to speak. Sam’s maven ability controlled sound around them, and that meant they had to concentrate on suppressing it just to get a few words out at a time.
"You don’t have to accept if you don’t want to. The magic is complicated, and I don’t even know how it would interface with a person’s body."
"I want... to speak... to my child..." Sam said, tears welling in their eyes. Kir had hugged them then, and after meeting Sam, Lumin had approved Kir’s test, provided he first tried on animals and proved the use of Programmable Magic was safe for non-living constructs. Hence, the importance of completing the bus.
After showing Lumin Programmable Magic, Kir got the go-ahead to produce a prototype.
It took the better part of a month, and Kir stepped in to help Enumasam once Sam got too pregnant to continue smithing.
It was a snowy day when the bulky contraption saw daylight, as the bay doors of its anonymous-looking shed in the city’s 4th District opened. A smoking bribe was all it took to keep Kiryu from blaring improvised classical rock in Kir’s head...
"Take me down to the Paradise City-"
"Stop."
Kir had wanted to go with a basic setup, but Enumasam had taken Kir’s idea of what a proper bus should look like and ran with it, involving his fellow artisans first and then the Creations Guild woodshapers, upholsters, and lastly whitesmiths for finishing the bronze work.