“So, how do ya intend to create this here machine?” Hervey asked the group, motioning for them to follow him through a heavy wooden door in the corner of the room, beside the end of the counter.
Walking through the door, the group took in the workshop; hammers lined the walls and a great forge took the place of the furthest wall from the door. Next to it, an anvil of unreasonable size to match both the forge and Hervey himself. The fire in the forge burned low, awaiting fresh air and a blade to forge.
“Uhh…” Grant began, scratching his head, “well, uh… “
“Do you have something to draw on?” Jack suddenly interjected. “I need to draw it out to explain the mechanism.”
“Hmm…” Hervey scratched his beard. “Attwell, grab me my drafting equipment!”
Attwell nodded and ran off through the door they had just walked through to retrieve the equipment.
Grant looked back at Jack for a moment, and Jack nodded in approval.
“Well, I guess I'll let you handle things here. Does anyone else want to work through this with Jack?” Grant asked the rest of the group.
“I have some experience with robotics, so I'll lend a hand; maybe I can give some useful input,” Helmut spoke up. Grant nodded.
“Anyone else?” Grant continued and was met with silence.
“Well alright, then why don't the rest of us head out and see what else we can figure out about this place in the meantime.”
“Sounds good to me,” Nicholas replied, with Angelina nodding in agreement.
Attwell came running back into the shop and quickly handed off a roll of paper and assorted tools to Hervey before moving slightly out of the way of the group.
“Perfect, thanks, Atty,” Hervey exclaimed, patting his apprentice on the back before pushing a hammer off his anvil and rolling out a sheet of paper.
“Now, let's see what you got,” he said, holding out a pencil to Jack.
Jack picked up the pencil while Hervey leaned in to watch. The rest of the group paused to listen for a moment as Jack began his explanation, then bid farewell to the soon-to-be inventors, turning away and making their way from the shop.
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Leaving behind Jack and Helmut, the rest of the group stepped out of the store and were greeted by much the same amount of attention as when they had first left the castle, to the discomfort of the entire group, except for Hitomi, who paid no attention to the curious citizens around her. Hitomi stepped in front of the three earthlings and faced towards them, ears perking up and tail swinging in excitement.
“Nyaa! What do you want to do next, nyaa? Perhaps you want to stock up on supplies for your journey, nyaa? Or experience the city’s cuisine, nyaa? Or...” she began, leaning forward a little and slowly inching closer to Grant, looking up into his eyes.
“Perhaps something more? Nyaa…” Hitomi finished, raising an eyebrow at Grant suggestively, again squeezing her breasts awkwardly between her arms.
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With an expression of visible disgust, Angelina gently pushed Hitomi back to a comfortable distance from Grant and asked for a tour of the city instead. Hitomi happily obliged and ran down the road, dragging Nicholas by the arm, with the other two quickly following behind.
Running down the stone road paired with seemingly identical rows of wooden houses on either side, the group eventually reached a fork in the street. The building in front of them was a four-story structure, with a triangular tower in the middle. The building was covered in rows of glass windows and built out of a red brick-like material reminiscent of early industrial era structures back on earth. There was a small iron sign hung by nails next to the door that no one could clearly see from a distance. Hitomi then jumped in front of the group again.
“This is the adventurer's guild, Nyaa! It was founded by a group of heroes many hundreds of years ago and has been the best place to hire adventurers for quests ever since!” Hitomi bubbled, continuing her schtick of being a tour guide that never learned about the concept of personal space or what is and isn’t socially acceptable.
“That’s… uh… Great? C-can you get off me, please?” Nicholas stated while gently shaking off Hitomi.
“Nyaa! Oh, alright…” Hitomi slinked away for a moment before her tail shot back up, and she returned to her usual, bubbly self.
“Well, come on, let's go in! Nyaa!” Hitomi exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing Angelina and Grant by their wrists and pulling them forward through the door, with Nicholas letting out a sigh and slowly following in behind.
Inside the building, the group could see dozens of adventurers chatting, eating, or generally taking a break from their contracts and missions. At the back of the building was a large reception desk attended by five receptionists, which was surrounded by most of the people in the room. Hitomi pushed through the crowd with the three heroes in tow and asked a receptionist for registration.
“Hold up, ma’am. I’m sorry, we are not interested in registering,” Angelina stated, to the shock and displeasure of Hitomi.
“Nyaa! What do you mean, you’re not interested in registering? Becoming an adventurer is the first step in becoming a hero, Nyaa!! How could you save the world if you sit here on your hands and do nothing to help the people of it, Nyaa?” Hitomi fumed at Angelina as her ears flattened against her head in frustration.
“We were here to get a tour, not to sacrifice our lives to live as mercenaries! Besides, we contacted that blacksmith for a reason; we can afford neither the time or energy to do this!” Angelina replied, becoming slightly irritated that Hitomi would even suggest, let alone sign them up, for what were essentially military contracts.
“Nyaa?? Can't afford the time to do this? No, you don't have the time to be playing around with a blacksmith's hammer while a demon gathers his strength! This is what you were summoned for, Nyaa! Don't tell me you intend to abandon us!”
“What? So you expect the five of us to charge in with swords and bows and *maybe* win? Or more likely get our asses beat and die? We will get to dealing with the devil when we have the slightest hint that we won’t turn into ashes as soon as we step into the battlefield,” Grant said, joining in on the argument.
“You’ll be fine so long as you get stronger, Nyaa! And becoming an adventurer is the best way to do it! This is the tradition that we’ve followed ever since the first hero, Nyaa!”
“Well, that’s too bad, isn’t it? Tradition dies here with us. Now, no offense to whoever the first heroes were, but they were idiots for thinking they could charge headfirst into battle with no preparation. I think it’d be best if we head out now, before we make even more of a scene,” Angelina shot back.
“But you-” Hitomi stopped and took sudden notice of all the eyes on the group, stuttering her reply for a moment before looking down at the ground, her face beginning to redden. “Fine… Nyaa… but don't say I didn't tell you so when things go bad…” Hitomi replied under her breath, admitting defeat.
Angelina apologized to the quickly gathering crowd of people and dragged Hitomi out of the door, the rest of their group in tow.
“Well,” Angelina said. It had been several hours since they left the workshop, the now dark orange sky reminding them of that fact. “I think that about does it for today; we should check back at the workshop.”
The rest of the group agreed with Angelina’s sentiment, ignoring the silent cries of protest from the cat-eared pervert in the group, and headed back to the blacksmith.