To craft the ideal charms for specific prophets with specific Virtuous spiritual essence, the level of information a charm-smith must possess on their customers must be profound. Profound in the sense that the charm-smiths would have to understand things that even the prophets themselves are unaware of, or cannot explain clearly by mouth.
And while there are different ways to achieve this level of understanding, the most efficient method, was the use of Talismans of intimacy.
Talismans are objects of miracles, giving extraordinary effects and aiding people to perform various tasks that machines and hands cannot accomplish. They exist in various parts of jobs and vocations, and take on a variety of forms based on the materials they were made of.
Izel carried a jotter-full of paper talismans, mostly with the ability to add pre-inscribed elements onto objects without affecting the object's usual state. Just like she had set her sword on fire previously, she could set the water in a glass cup on fire with a similar talisman, yet the water would not heat up nor evaporate.
But if the same talisman were used on the cup, the water within it would boil, leaving the cup aflame until the talisman ceases to work.
There were other talismans, like the plastic books— storage talisman the weapons were stored in, and many others.
Those aside, the main focus now was on the talisman of intimacy.
Izel and Ikky soon walk into a dark secluded room.
"Follow my lead." Izel said, clapping her hands a few times. Faint golden light soon poured down from the ceiling, making a spotlight shine at the center of the dark room.
Ikky did as the young woman asked, before sitting down on the floor right in front of her.
"You ready?"
"Yeah." Ikky replied. "For what though?"
Izel dipped her hands in her overall's chest pocket and pulled out a metallic sheet talisman. Holding it up and facing the surfaces of the talisman to their faces, she let it go, leaving it to float in the air. Then after, she brought out another talisman that looked like a square leaf.
"Okay, this floating thing here is my force, while this leaf one is the talisman of intimacy. Once we get sucked into the forge, I'll be using the leaf talisman to link both of our inner minds together and shuffle it."
"What?!"
"Like scrambled eggs in fact! It will shuffle our memories, and give me all the information I need to create your charm. Then you will also receive some of my knowledge of the arts, so we can both help each other to understand what charms could work with your Totem, along with getting to know your Virtuous spiritual essence to create a more customised charm. Of course, I can just make a regular charm without doing any of that, but it'll be more low quality, and can easily be stolen."
"Wait wait wait? First off, is that why I was able to take the sword along with me? And also, how did you know I had a Virtuous name?" Ikky was very surprised. Had the woman activated the talisman of intimacy yet? It didn't seem like it.
"Yes, and you aren't really trying to hide the smell of your essence."
"What—"
"Back to what I was saying— when we're done making the charm, the talisman will rearrange our memories, putting back all the things I've learnt and found out about you, in your head, and same with everything you know about me, to me. So at the end of the day, you'll be equipped with my perspective of your Totem, and also all the uses and functions I've inscribed on your charm."
"And what do you get?"
"Some money." She answered simply.
Adding salt to his wound, Izel stated, "A single charm of the quality we're looking at can be as expensive as a house in Mahar, so I'm looking at some mighty fine dough here. Hehe!"
Ikky's eyes widened. He didn't know how much houses cost, but considering the fact that he couldn't even save up the money for a single bench in Sumeru for more than three months, he surmised a whole house would be a whole lot of benches worth.
Ikky slowly stood up with his sword in hand as he turned around to leave. He looked miserable, just like the chipped old weapon he was holding. He couldn't afford a house. He wouldn't be homeless if otherwise.
But before he could stand up, Izel turned to her pet salamander and yelled, "He's running away with our money Axe! Get 'em!"
Axe leapt up at Ikky before biting him on the arm as the man raised his guard.
"What the—" He tried shaking the lizard off when Izel herself leapt at his other arm, bringing him down with her weight and superior physique.
"Hehe! Where'd you think you're going, money bags?!" She laughed, pinning him down with the side of the white sword pressing ikky's face on the ground.
"G— get off me!" He exclaimed, trying to shake her off, but to no avail.
"Nope. What's the deal, man? Rick's paying anyway. You can just pay him back in portions." The woman argued.
"Even at that rate, I'd never finish working my debt off! I get payed with food too, so this is definitely not happening."
"Come on~ don't be like this. I'll give you a discount— wait a minute. You get paid with food? Where the heck do you work?"
Ikky stopped shifting for a second to reply, "With Arley. She gives me free food and let's me sleep up stairs if I work for her."
"Huh?" Izel was confused. Since when did Arley start paying people with food?
'The bar is her main source of income, while the food she cooks comes from a free farm run by spirits. Cooking is pretty much just a hobby anyway.'
Food ingredients come from a farm run by spirits, and available to all. The cat-eyed man really could just go ahead and make his own meals without having to work for anybody.
"Are you getting scammed? Wait, no. This is Arley we're talking about, so there's definitely some sort of misunderstanding."
"Hm?" Ikky genuinely had no idea what the woman was talking about.
"You, are you a... a Summers?" The young woman made sure to ask, deducing his last name from the clues she'd gotten from him so far.
"Yes? Ikky Summers." He replied.
"Huh." Izel chuckled, removing the sword from his face.
"I'm Summers too— I was. But then I got adopted by Arley. So I go by Izel Starlight now."
Ikky's eyes widened with surprise, but then a smile stretched across his face.
"Happy for you then." He suddenly rolled to the side, knocking Izel off his body and jumping at the longsword.
He couldn't make it— his face caught in Izel's open palm.
"Tch! Make no mistake here, Ikky. I'mma make this money... by making this charm. So just do as I say and we can both walk away with something good in our pockets."
The young man couldn't answer. But he did try to tickle Izel's hand with his tongue.
'Summers' is a collective name given to children who've been orphaned by calamity spirits, and have no other relatives to take care of them.
The name was gotten from the mighty king of Svarga's last name, 'Summer', and is given to those helpless children to use and be granted benefits that no other children were.
For example, the Summers could use their names to rent free homes, get food and healthcare and even lived like nobles, albeit without the same prestige. Those children could also choose to remove that last name if they ever got adopted. Overall, it was a powerful name that was meant to make those unfortunate people feel safe, protected, and that they were not alone in the vast world... Or so Equinox had heard.
Even the words of someone like the mighty King of Svarga falls to deaf ears the lower it got to the common folk. No one wanted to give privileges to orphans just like that. So the Summers was quite despised, while the King stood revered nonetheless.
"Now Ikky my boy, let's get started. Let's get started!"
She pressed the metal talisman on his head and bumped her own forehead on it. Ikky could only see that overly enthusiastic smile plastered on the woman's face before they both got sucked into another realm.