The plan, much to Stella’s dismay, involved leaving the city and heading off into the woods, something Kir had to do on foot since flying wolfkin did not exist.
The guards were more relaxed about people leaving the city over those entering, and so they were able to depart with little more than a cursory question from the human sergeant at the gate.
On the way there, Stella passed the time by trying to guess what her surprise was. He was surprised they got almost to the woods by the time she really honed in on it.
"Is it bigger than my arm?" she guessed.
"I think so," Kir replied.
"Is it... something alive?"
"Is it long and hard?"
"Yeah but-" New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel✦fire.net
"It’s a dick! Tell me you finally grew one."
"No, it’s not a dick," Kir sighed as Kiryu projected smug amusement into him. "You’ve already guessed that at least six times."
"Girl’s gotta hope. And I’m pretty sure I guessed penis, shlong, tallywhacker, Little Kir, semen serpent..."
"Those are all just words for ’dick,’" Kir protested.
"Can you blame me for being bored? We must have walked a thousand great measures by now."
"Hush, we’ve barely gone five. You did more walking when we were coming north."
"Uh, correction, I did more flying. Having to walk on the ground for ages does not seem like a good surprise, Kir," she grumbled.
"We’re almost there, okay? Just a few more minutes."
A few minutes later, Stella had finally let her disguise drop once they were deeper into the woods. Kir followed her lead a few moments later, halting the flow of mana to his ring.
As she floated around the last line of trees, she said, "This had better be the most lavish fucking-" A scene of utter devastation awaited her. In the clearing were fragments of trees, scorched patches of earth, and dried-out splatterings of exploded gourds. "Great. You have yet another overpowered spell I take it?" she said flatly.
"Actually, I have this-" Kir reached into his dimensional storage and pulled forth Kangetsu.
"So you figured out how to cast magic through your sword? Welcome to every twelve-year-old boy’s fantasy."
Kir rolled his eyes and sent a pulse of mana into Kangetsu, laced with a simple desire. In an instant, Kangetsu shifted to become his version of an MTs255, converted from shotgun to rifle. Thanks to that decision, he was able to fit seven slots into the cylinder - six for "caster rounds" and the seventh for a conventional bullet. His wingbone was set into the stock, such that it would maintain contact when raised to his shoulder for firing.
Unlike its plainer predecessor, his rifle was ornately decorated with blackened patterns of vines and leaves. It was also lighter and utilized a simple spell circle for a red-dot sight with a series of folding lenses to provide up to ten times magnification.
The lenses had been the hardest part of getting the rifle perfect before letting Kangetsu absorb it. Since the presence of magical healing meant most people could simply correct their vision, glasses existed mostly for the elderly to help them read - since their eyes often degraded fast enough that yearly corrections would mount in expense.
Specialized lenses existed for astronomers and ship captains, but the latter weren’t made in Norneau and the former had all disappeared along with the highest viewing structure in the region.
Fortunately, Kiryu’s expertise in archaeological manufacturing techniques was broader than he’d let on and had included some minor experience in how to grind lenses by hand. When asked about why he’d learned such things, he’d responded. "Everyone figured the world was ending, so I tacked on the extra degree just in case I had to do shit without electricity."
"But why did they think the world was ending?"
"Because it was. Look, the moral of the story is: Don’t privatize war and saving the fucking planet."
Once the lenses were finished, Kir had placed the rifle on Kangetsu, and his sword instantly recognized them as weapons and absorbed them into himself, gaining the ability to reproduce them on demand, with all their capabilities intact.
He’d also discovered some cross-pollination in their properties. Thanks to merging the finished rifle with Kangetsu, it was invincible enough to be used as a club if he wanted to, though having a bayonet negated the need for that. Kangetsu’s affinity for conducting magic had also grown to match the wingbone Kir had used as a spell conductor.
"What’s that, some kind of big wand?" She seemed even more disappointed.
"It’s something I’m calling a rifle. This one is designed to shoot spells when charged with mana," Kir explained as he handed it to her.
She went right away to look down the barrel, and he gently pushed it away from her eye. "And that’s relevant to me how? I’m a fucker, not a fighter. What would I ever need to shoot?"
"Well... I was thinking you might love to shoot this..." Kir reached into his dimensional storage and pulled out Stella’s contract. It was written in some kind of parchment, with rods at the top and bottom. He unfurled it, and it rolled a full meter in length before stopping, with Stella’s name written in lacy demonic script at the bottom.
"I made a few demands of Maledict before we parted ways at the Academy," Kir said. Technically false, but Kiryu had been willing to let Kir take credit, even though Kiryu was piloting his body at the time.
"And he just... gave it to you!?" Her mouth was hanging open in disbelief, the rifle coming down as her hands fell to her hips, prompting Kir to gently point the barrel away with his tail.
"Well, it was that or face my wrath," Kir joked. In truth, he could never have killed Maledict directly, but Kiryu could have.
"You..." one moment Stella was standing there, and the next she had her face in his chest, hugging him hard. She said many muffled things from which he could only derive that she was probably swearing a lot, at one point hitting him in the horns with Kangetsu as her grip shifted. When she finally pulled her face out from his solar plexus, she was covered in snot and tears. "Do you not want me anymore?"
It wasn’t hard to tell where her mind had gone. "Of course I still want you, but I told you we were equals and I promised to free you from the contract. I don’t want to be able to compel you anymore."
"But I still get to be your familiar, right?" she sniffed heavily, her eyes in full kitty mode.
"Of course. For as long as you’re able to stand me," he pet her between the horns.
With a heavy sniff, she parted, wiping her face with her forearm for a long moment before she looked up at him with a bright smile. "Let’s kill this fucking contract!"