The feast went on for a while. Knight Dave excused himself and thanked the three-knight cadets.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without you three!”, he said while smiling. He then left them to enjoy the feast and went someplace alone.

He looked at the feast from a distance and smiled. Going for a walk felt like a good idea to Dave at that moment in time, he needed a break, away from everything. He needed to think. He knew going back home without anything accomplished would leave him and his future position in the kingdom in jeopardy. But he didn’t get to walk far away from the feast, he saw smoke coming from a distance and decided to go there instead.

When he went near enough the place, he saw a person, a woman striking away with her hammer near a forge.

“A blacksmith...? In a small village like this?”, thought Dave to himself. After all, this small village in the middle of nowhere wasn’t a place where you’d expect something like this. You’d expect farms or something similar, but to Dave’s surprise, there weren’t many in the village now that he noticed.

Thinking this away would accomplish nothing, Dave decided to ask the only person who could potentially answer his curiosity.

“Hello, Ma’am.”, Dave spoke in a gentle calm manner, but it still managed to shock the person. She looked up and saw someone who was way taller than her and anyone in the village.

“Y... Yes? How may I help you.”, she replied while still being scared enough that you could hear it in her voice.

“Oh. I didn’t mean to scare you...”

Dave walked back while holding his hands up, trying to show her that he meant no harm. It seemed to work, so he continued. “I was just curious as to why you were working away while the rest of the village was having a feast.”

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The woman didn’t reply but instead just stared back, as if she was trying to size up Dave, with curiosity in her eyes.

Dave noticed that and spoke up, “I’m a knight from the capital who’s here for some official business. I assume you’re a blacksmith?”

The blacksmith nodded in return, still not being open enough to speak up.

Dave smiled a little and walked over to her shelf with what looked like some of her finished goods on display. From having farming equipment like hoes and shovels it also had various types of weapons, ranging from swords to spears. Dave made sure that the blacksmith was aware that he was looking at a sword and asked,” May I?”

The blacksmith nodded again, still cautious.

Dave picked up the sword and checked it out as well as he could, he had seen many swords in his life but never one with such work put into it. The more he looked at it and noticed its finer details and the amount of work put into it, the more he questioned why a talent such as her was in the middle of nowhere like this village.

After checking it he decided to swing it, in any way he could. The blacksmith saw it, she knew that a master was using her sword with how refined his movements were. Perhaps he was the most skilled person who has ever used her weapons... or maybe not?

Before the blacksmith could delve deeper into her thoughts, Dave spoke up again. “I usually prefer bigger swords but this... this is a work of art.”

The blacksmith’s eyes glowed up, and she decided to talk again finally.

“Thank you! This means so much more coming from someone like you, someone who’s so skilled with the ways of the sword, someone who has probably seen way too many swords than he could ever count in his lifetime.”

Dave couldn’t help but smile at her words.

“If I may ask you and you don’t mind... What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere? No offense but someone with your talents deserve much more...”

Before Dave could finish what, he was saying he was interrupted by a voice he had never heard before.

“I know right?”, said Ban, shocking the blacksmith who looked like they really didn’t expect to find her here.

“I’m sorry, who might you be?”