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After finishing the setup in the music room and disbanding, we decided to borrow Melua’s atelier to repair Hom’s guitar.

“Going out of your way to fix a broken guitar just because Hom wants to use it… Master, you’re really soft on her, huh?”

Even though she probably wanted to go along with Estea, who said she’d continue practicing at the dorm, Melua had come with me anyway, saying she wanted to observe the repair process.

“Well, I guess.”

I wasn’t sure if “soft” was the right word, but it was something my father and mother would have taken on without hesitation. Personally, I was looking forward to using alchemy to customize Hom’s guitar so it would suit her perfectly, so I didn’t consider it a hassle at all.

“Now then…”

I placed the guitar we had brought back onto the workbench and examined it. The surface was in terrible shape—paint peeling off, riddled with large scratches. But the back had no major damage and was relatively clean. Thinking about how it ended up like this, maybe the previous owner had been in some kind of accident. Even so, they hadn’t thrown it away, and I was grateful that the shop owner not only kept it but also generously offered spare parts when I said I wanted to take it and repair it.

“But seriously, will you make it in time? The instrument shop said it’d take at least a month, didn’t they?”
“Well, that’s how long it would take if a craftsman did it normally.”

I replied while removing a rusted screw. Considering the standard workflow of a specialist, that much time made sense. Even just repainting would require disassembling it, stripping the existing paint, sanding it down, filling in the deep scratches, and only then applying a new coat.

“So that means… you’re gonna use magic or alchemy after all?”
“That’s the plan.”

To be honest, if I used the Ars Magna, I could cut down the time significantly—but letting Melua see me use that was a bit questionable. I wanted to avoid drawing any more unnecessary attention, so I decided to put anything related to painting on hold for now.

“I’ll ask Alfe to handle the magic part later, so I’ll start with the alchemy work first.”

It would be easier for Melua to follow along if she understood the process. As for the magic, dropping Alfe’s name would be convincing enough—and I’d need to get her to play along later as well.

“Hm? I’m really curious to see alchemy-based repairs too, but if it’s magic, couldn’t I, her master, handle that part instead?”
“I’d appreciate that, but are you sure?”
“Of course! I mean, she gets to monopolize both Master’s and Alfe’s talent and skill, right? I’m kinda jealous~. I’m your disciple too, so I want to give off that ‘we’re all one big family’ vibe, you know?”

As she said that, Melua looked at the half-disassembled guitar with clear envy in her eyes. …Ah, maybe she had something she wanted my help with as well. Knowing the guitar repair had to come first, she might have found it hard to bring up.

“…If you’re that jealous of Hom, does that mean there’s something you want, Melua?”
“Tons of things~. But I know you’re busy right now, so I’ll narrow it down.”

Her blunt honesty made me burst out laughing.

“That lack of restraint really is just like you, Melua.”
“Right?”

Seeing my smile must have reassured her. Melua cheerfully replied and shifted her gaze to the guitar body, now fully disassembled.

“If we finish the repairs early, I’ll hear out your carefully selected request.”
“As expected of Master!”

At my suggestion, Melua beamed, her Pure Eyes shining brightly. Just like with Alfe, the golden hue of the Pure Eyes seemed to strongly reflect feelings of joy.

“Alright then, let’s get started—I’ll strip the paint in a flash with earth magic!”
“Sorry to trouble you, but could you handle that?”
“Of course! And don’t feel bad about relying on me, okay? I’m your disciple, after all—use me as much as you want~”

Rather than her position as a senior, Melua seemed proud of being my disciple. In that case, while I’d help her in return, I’d make sure to rely on her properly as well.

Using earth magic wasn’t a bad option, and during the Zersteller, she had already shown she excelled at it. If so, she was probably thinking about the Sand Smoother spell that I had considered.

“I’ll take you up on that, Melua. I’ll leave the body to you. I’ll handle filling in the scratches later, so for now, could you just strip down the surface?”
“Okaaay~!”

Melua nodded, lifted the guitar body with wind magic, and began her earth magic incantation as she carefully examined its surface.

“Sand, spread and level—polish it smooth like a mirror. Sand Smoother.”

Being a Pure Eye user, she handled simultaneous casting with wind magic effortlessly—just what you’d expect from Melua. As I watched the guitar body’s paint get stripped away and polished by Sand Smoother, I moved on to the next step.

The neck had warped around the fingerboard and parts had come loose, so I removed the metal bars known as frets and replaced them. Fortunately, among the parts the instrument shop owner had given me, there were ones that fit perfectly, so the replacement went smoothly.

There were still some minor scratches, but those could be cleaned up nicely during repainting. While I was at it, maybe I could leave a message for Hom somewhere on it—she’d probably be happy about that. Personally, I was genuinely glad she had grown closer to Estea and started interacting with her more proactively, so I wanted to preserve that in some form. When she looked back on it someday, I hoped it would remain as a cherished memory.

Now then… for filling the scratches, Kaitaba—the same material used in bricks—should work well. It wouldn’t take much, and maybe there was some here in the atelier.

“Hey, Melua. Could I borrow some Kaitaba?”
“Of course! It’s in that cupboard over there~”

As if she had been expecting the question, Melua used wind magic to open the cupboard door. When I walked over, I saw a bag of clay-like Kaitaba inside.

“Now that the paint’s off, the scratches are pretty big but not too deep. If you fill them with Kaitaba and then carefully bake it with fire magic, it should turn out great. You could also just let it air-dry before painting—it’d be ready in about two nights.”

Melua, having finished polishing the body with Sand Smoother, spoke as she checked the condition of the scratches.

“Yeah, that works. Fire magic is fine, but since I’m asking you, could you combine it with wind magic and turn it into a drying spell?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea! Like the thing you use to dry your hair when you go camping!”

Melua nodded happily, immediately understanding what I meant. I’d never used it that way before, but it did sound convenient to remember.

“Then I’ll fill them in now—can I leave the drying to you?”
“Got it~”

I’d relied a lot on Ars Magna, but when this kind of teamwork was possible, it wasn’t bad to rely on others either. Unlike back when I was Glass, Leafa had plenty of people she could depend on.

That was a pretty big change in this new life of mine.

“Thanks. Having you here really helps, Melua.”

I quickly filled in the scratches with Kaitaba and asked Melua to handle the drying. Next, I replaced the rusted part known as the pickup and reattached a new pickguard.

While I was at it, I decided to have Melua take care of the painting with magic as well. In this case, there was a composite water-and-earth spell called Painter that generated coating material, so having her disperse it as a mist with wind magic would work best.

“Melua, could you handle the painting too?”
“Of course! Painter makes it easy in one go. For the color, how about a cherry sunburst like your bass, Master? A sunburst is where the color gradually darkens from the center outward, and I figured a cherry tone would look really cute.”

The fact that she paid attention to such fine details showed she understood my preferences well. Come to think of it, she had liked the appearance of my magical tools from back when I was Glass, too.

“Let’s go with that.”

Melua nodded and, as if she had been waiting for this, began chanting her painting spell.

“Water and earth—blend together and form color! Painter!”

And just like before, she seamlessly layered in wind magic without chanting. This spell could reproduce any color the caster remembered, so she carefully matched it to the shade of my bass as she coated the guitar.

Now then, while the painting was underway, I decided to modify the simplified formula embedded in the pickup—the core component of the guitar.

Normally, a guitar used that formula to send sound signals to an amplifier, but I adjusted it so it could pick up and reflect Hom’s emotions as well. Since she had chosen this guitar with special feelings, she’d surely be happy if the guitar could respond to her in turn.

Once Melua finished drying the paint with her drying magic, I installed the modified pickup with the added formula and attached the new pickguard. I’d think about the finishing message a bit later, but for now, the guitar should at least be playable again.

“We actually made it in time! Master, that’s insane!”
“Well, I figured it’d be fine as long as I understood the principles, and more importantly, your help sped things up a lot, Melua.”

When I expressed my gratitude, Melua’s face lit up with unmistakable delight.