It was past nine in the evening when Nick got home. Standing at his front door, he was surprised to find that the damaged spot had already been repaired and given a fresh coat of paint. The work looked quite painstaking.
After unlocking the door, he could see that the crushed floorboards in the entryway had all been replaced, too. Their surfaces even appeared to have been deliberately distressed, leaving almost no noticeable difference in color from the original flooring.
"Although I don't know the true purpose of this chain mail, the physical protection offered by either pure silver or silver-cerium alloy is clearly very poor. If, as you say, you don't expect it to stop sword blows, why not just make silver-thread armor?"
Hearing a familiar voice from the living room, Nick peered inside as he changed his shoes. Sure enough, Bud the Beaver Wesen's short, stout figure was sitting on the sofa, apparently discussing something with Dahlia.
"Silver-thread armor?" Nick was a little surprised by Bud's suggestion. That approach did seem more practical. Specialized work really did call for professional involvement; having two amateurs like him and Dahlia blindly puzzle over it wasn't enough.
Silver was already quite ductile, and adding the rare-earth element cerium would actually help refine its grain structure and improve the quality of the drawn wire. It could be blended with other materials to make a lining or woven into silver-thread armor on its own.
"Detective Burkhart." Seeing him enter the living room, Bud sprang off the sofa as if he had been electrocuted, looking extremely nervous.
"Just call me Nick. Keep talking, don't mind me." Nick waved casually and headed straight into the kitchen.
As long as it wasn't past ten at night, Dahlia would generally wait for him to come home so