…that she has already had a servant deliver the earring to Torras the Jeweller for appraisal. Torras is one of the legendary wandering craftsmen known as the Ghimaadi, who were capable of working with the most difficult and rare materials to create wondrous works of art. He promises Strongarm that he will tell him where the earring is if he gives him three pieces of Sudani Glass, a substance rarer than Mithril and Orichalcum put together.

It is my belief that this man is the creator of the legendary Shard Sword, which is wielded by Duchess Valonia to this very day.

Huan Strongarm: A Bartfort Folktale, by Lufas Maphaahl

The others must have returned the signet ring without them, because Brad was already crooning over the Berserker Sword when Leon and Angelica caught up with the group. It was a one handed longsword almost too long for him to lift, its blade glimmering with purple energies that matched his colour scheme.

"Isn't it beautiful!" Brad gushed, seemingly blind to the red rings around Angelica's eyes. "It's my new best friend!"

"You should try some practice swings to get used to it," advised Guts. "It's important to get used to a new weapon before jumping into real combat."

Greg flinched slightly. Three out of the three spears he had ruined today had all been mass produced trash he had grabbed carelessly off a shelf. At no point had he trained with any specific weapon.

Jilk and Chris admired the new sword, while Julius was nervously avoiding his fiancée's gaze. Olivia looked suspiciously between them, and seemed dangerously close to punching the Prince in the nose. "We should get going," said Angelica, her voice hoarse from crying. She coughed and tried again. "Dama said she sent the earring to a jeweller named Torras. I've been to his shop."

Torras was based in the Crown District, which was the part of the city surrounding the palace and housed the truly rich and fabulous. There was a long line of people in front of the shop that led down the entire street, but as soon as the clerk noticed Angelica they were allowed to cut in front. She led them up a flight of stairs to the second floor, where a slim, good looking man with long black hair sat at his desk.

"I'll be with you in a moment." He was carefully putting together a model dragonfly out of precious gems, each of which had been carefully sculpted into a to-scale body part: this one was an eye, this one was a segment of leg, and this one was a wing. When he was done he placed it on a shelf, where a small zoo of animals and insects crafted from glittering jewels was starting to build up. "Ah, Miss Redgrave! How can I help you?"

"Torras," smiled Angelica. She shook his hand in a businessy sort of way. Leon had discreetly taken her to Jarl's house before they met up with the others, and Cattleya had helped her clean up and apply some makeup to hide the fact that she had been crying. Luckily, the guy seemed to be buying it. "It's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Can't complain. I'm planning on making an entire garden out of these things: that way my wife can enjoy the flowers without triggering her allergies." Torras put away his tools and rose so he could take off his apron. "What about you? That fiancé I keep hearing about treating you right?"

Julius had never cringed harder in his life.

"He's been placing more effort into communicating," said Angelica croakily. "We came because someone called Dama Dhuramil sent an earring over to be appraised. Has it arrived yet?"

"Oh dear." Torras pulled a beglittered handkerchief out of his breast pocket and began nervously dabbing at his forehead. "I'm afraid it hasn't, and at this point it probably never will."

At this point no one was particularly frustrated anymore. They just exchanged wry grins and shrugged in resignation. "And why is that?" Jilk asked courteously.

"Because as she was crossing the street, Madam Dama's servant was run down by a horse!"

The smiles vanished. "That poor woman!" Olivia gasped. "Is she okay?"

"Quite dead, I'm afraid. The Saint rest her soul."

"Don't grieve too hard," grunted Leon. "She was a violent alcoholic, and liked to beat her husband and kids."

"At this risk of sounding callous," coughed Chris self-consciously. "Did you happen to retrieve the earring?"

"I did not, no." Torras spread his hands in a 'What can you do?' sort of way. "I was called in to identify the body and sort through the belongings since I was on the scene, but there was no jewellery of any kind."

"So it's a dead end?" Greg whispered. He had been resolved to finally get himself a decent weapon, and had been looking forward to redeeming himself on the next bullshit sidequest. His face was the very definition of a cancelled Christmas. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I may have a solution." Torras pulled a painting of two sheep watching the sunset off the wall, revealing a large safe. He looked at them pointedly until they got the hint, turning their backs while he keyed in the combination. "I don't suppose you are familiar with the Ghimaadi?"

The artefact he pulled out of the safe was like nothing any of them (save Leon) had ever seen before. It was like an ebony frame that lay flat on the jeweller's desk, and at its centre was a shallow dome of smooth, opaque glass. Three odd fixtures were attached to its circumference, and looked like they were made to prop something up.

"The Ghimaadi Clan - my clan - is an ancient line of craftsmen that can trace its origins back to the discovery of the dungeons themselves. We specialise in working with the rarest and most difficult materials one can find in their depths: Mithril, Orichalcum and, of course, Sudani Glass."

Olivia cocked her head, like a bird. "What's Sudani Glass?"

"It's a rare substance found in some dungeons," explained Brad. It figured he would know, since most of his Events happened in the library. Nerd. "It can only be found on a very specific, very rare kind of floor where everything is made of multicoloured glass. It's beautiful and expensive, but not really useful for anything."

"Or so one would think." Torras gestured to the three fixtures around the rim of the device. "If I were to have only three pieces of Sudani Glass - one red, one green and one blue - then I would be able to use this artefact to find any nonliving thing on the main Holfort continent. The more unique the target, the more accurate the device."

"And we just need to get them for you?" Angelica clarified. "Three pieces of Sudani Glass?"

"Of the specified colours, yes!" Torras beamed. "Just come on up as soon as you have them all. My door is always open."

The party filed out of the shop, getting some distance from the massive waiting line. "I have some sources we can hit up for potential leads!" Jilk looked thrilled at the idea. He hadn't really been demonstrating his skills as the token shady character recently, and seemed to see this as an opportunity to assert his forgotten character traits. "Should I see what I can dig up?"

"Dude, I already know where we can find all three-"

"I'll go with you!" Julius interrupted desperately. "You… You always help me so much, why not let me help you from time to time!"

Jilk teared up a little, completely missing the pleading look he directed at Leon. He guessed - correctly - that the Prince just wanted space from Angelica. "Fine. But be quick."

They scarpered off, leaving the Duke's daughter to glare bitterly after them. Her red eyes almost seemed to glow with resentment. "While we're waiting, would you mind looking over my swordplay?" Brad asked hesitantly. He had apparently been as impressed with Guts as Leon was. "Like you said, a new weapon needs getting used to…"

"Sure," said Guts casually. "I don't mind."

"Great! I mean… Cool."

"Mind if I join you?" Chris pushed his glasses superciliously up his nose with his middle finger. "One can never have too much training."

"I don't see why not!" Brad shot Greg an inquiring look. "What about you? You in?"

"Uh… Maybe later." The redhead turned to Leon, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Look, I… I may have been wrong about the whole… you know… my stance on gear…"

"Yeah?"

"And you… you're the Knower of Secrets, right? So I was wondering, do you… uh… have any recommendations?"

"Olivia?" Leon grunted. "Tell this man about a spear. It is called the Robber King, and any time it strikes a weapon it has a chance of draining its durability to repair itself. Does that sound like the sort of thing you'd use?"

"Definitely! Where do I get it?"

Leon gave him detailed directions to a large wardrobe in an obscure guest bedroom of his own mansion, which had the spear in question fixed to the back. He ran off, leaving only Leon, Olivia, Angelica and Earis.

"Miss Angelica?" The fairy had finally gained the courage to ask now that the boys were gone. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"It's just… you took a really long time to catch up, and for a moment there it looked like you were crying…"

"I said I'm fine!" Angelica spat. "Just… Just leave me alone!"

"Let it go, Olivia," said Leon quietly. "She doesn't want to talk about it."

"But she's upset!" Angelica's hands balled into fists. She ground her teeth, the fairy's pity enraging her even more than the Prince's rejection. "I can't just-"

"Shut up!" Olivia stumbled back in shocked silence. "Shut up, okay, just shut up! I don't need your pity! I don't need you to pat me on the back just so you can go home and feel like a good person! I'm not a fucking charity case!"

"I wasn't trying to-"

"Julius abandoned me, okay? He threw me away like an old food wrapper! Everything that I've ever worked for my entire life was for NOTHING, and I have no idea what to do with my life from now on! Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Angelica, of course it doesn't make me happy to know you're in pain-"

"This is all your fault!" Angelica spat. "Everything was alright before you came! Now… Now Julius…"

She fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably into her hands. Leon and Earis panicked as people began to stare, desperately shielding her from prying eyes.

The fairy just watched, speechless, as one of the most composed young women she had ever met broke down into pieces. For the first time since passing through the Fairy Gate, Olivia wondered if coming to the human world had been a mistake.

Side Quest: Shards of the Ghimaadi

Summary: another early game quest from Summoner, originally offered by Varyssa the Ghimaadi. The three pieces of glass are originally found in the sewers, the temple and the Iona Catacombs. The reward, the Shard Sword, has one of the highest damage outputs in the early game. Personally I like to equip Joseph with a longsword and shield combo as soon as I reach Lenele, then switch to the Shard Sword the minute it becomes available. It is literally indestructible, and is in your inventory forever once you have it.

According to the game's lore, the people of Summoner are the Sudani: basically angels whose wings fell off following the death of their god. The Ghimaadi are a travelling group of Sudani who long for the days when they could fly, scavenging shards of their glass cities that shattered with the death of their god. In this story, Sudani Glass is just a very rare, mineable dungeon resource while the Ghimaadi are just insanely skilled craftsmen. Yay lore!

In the game, Dama's servant had no personality outside of her demise. The only reason I made her into an abusive alcoholic was to provide a reason for why Leon didn't save her life ahead of time. For the record, her husband went on to get a job working for Gaston and inherited all of Ragneli's money when he died, being the eldest of his illegitimate children. His children grew up happy and well adjusted: one of them married the eldest son of Carla Fou Wayne and while the other inherited his mother's addictive personality he eventually got his act together and started the Holfort equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous. No innocent NPCs were harmed in the making of this chapter.

The Robber King is a recurring weapon in the Drakengard series. It also appears in the Nier games, where it is called The Spear of the Usurper.