“Well, that one’s bad.”

He then carefully considered the others one more time before slipping them into another place than his quiver as he wanted to check them more carefully later on a flat surface. Allanar looked at the arrow Joe had tossed aside then back up to Joe.

“You do not want your weapon?”

“It is now bent. That makes it worthless,” Joe replied with a shrug.

“It cannot be reforged?”

“It could, but it would require rebuilding it from scratch, essentially.”

The Matriarch picked it up with that statement, “Then we will have the blacksmith do so. He can use this material.”

Joe nodded, “If you say so.”

All three headed away, the Matriarch dismissing the lady who’d brought his arrows for him and they headed on to the master blacksmith. Just when he was going to begin the confrontation, the Matriarch laid a soft hand on his forearm, just at his elbow. Joe glanced over, but her arm was already removed and she wasn’t even looking at him.

“Master blacksmith,” she called softly, regally.

The blacksmith turned and saw Joe standing there. His eyes flicked to the finger bone resting on his shoulder, tightening his eyes and keeping the frown to a twitch when he recognized it. He returned his gaze to the Matriarch and offered a bare bow, but held it.

“Matriarch.”

“Could you repair the eccentric’s weaponry. We are grateful for his aid yesterday.”

He rose from his bow and nodded his head, “Of course, Matriarch.”

The Matriarch handed his arrow over to him and he held it in his hand before he sneered a bit, “This is… ruined.”

Joe smiled, “Thus the need for repair.”

The blacksmith looked up at him, “I did not know your blacksmiths were so … poor.”

Joe’s smile grew even more, “It was not made by blacksmiths, but by machines… golems.”

The blacksmith’s sneer fell, his face flattening as he hid all emotions, “Golems?”

Joe said nothing and the blacksmith continued to stare at him, “Golems made this?”

Joe nodded, “Yes.”

The man stared at him, questions burning in his gaze but he refused to answer them, handing a different perfect arrow to the man “Please make another ten exactly as this. If you can duplicate it that would be wonderful.”

The blacksmith stared at him, then down at the second perfect arrow in his other hand, “I can duplicate it, but the … feathers will be of metal.”

“That would be unwise.”

“What material is this… feather?”

“You would not know it, but is not metal.”

The blacksmith stared at him again but then turned his gaze back to the arrow. He considered it carefully before calling out to another who came running. A quick back and forth had several more apprentices scouring the field and bringing back metal detritus and weapons left on the field. The blacksmith placed hands on each one while also holding the arrow, nodding or shaking his head as each piece was brought. Soon, a small pile of weaponry began collecting at the blacksmith’s feet, ever growing, until the blacksmith finally nodded and called the others to stop. The blacksmith then narrowed his eyes. He picked up two swords and a spearhead, then began concentrating, speaking softly and seeming to move or wiggle, even his fingers wiggled despite being constrained from holding everything. Suddenly, thin streams of something came from the swords and spearhead he held, some thicker, others a bare wisp, and began weaving together, rapidly forming a new arrow.

But, the arrow suddenly stuttered and the blacksmith frowned, turning to the bent arrow and staring at it with deep eyes.

“Something… unusual… this is…”

The blacksmith grunted and stared at the arrow for a bit before his frown furrowed more. He turned to look at the piles of weapons and armor at his side before he grimaced turned away. His eyebrows then knit even more as pain began to well up slightly, obvious in the small hints shown around the edges of his eyes, adding to the crow’s feet there. In front of the blacksmith’s chest, mana welled up, twisted in a strange form, then something like a miniscule ball of dust began spitting out and adding to the construction of the arrows.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Soon, arrow after arrow formed until the blacksmith had eight floating before him with the two swords mostly gone and he barked out an order at another apprentice who picked up another sword and laid it against the wrist of the blacksmith; the wrist of the hand that had been grasping the spearhead and swords. The last two formed then as well, one of thickest streams of something now coming from the new sword resting on the wrist of the blacksmith. And with that, another ten arrows floated in the air right beside the first; perfect replicas of the first but without any feathers. The blacksmith dropped the swords and spears even as he reached up to grab the newly created arrows before finally huffing, slouching forward slightly from exhaustion. Joe nodded his head, grateful, although he did make sure to keep his eye searching the materials for any mana signature in it. He found them bare.

The blacksmith carefully inspected all the new arrows cautiously before he bundled them up and handed them to Joe. Joe settled all of them back into his quiver before holding out his hand for his original arrow.

“Please?”

The man stared at him for a bit before nodding his head and handing it to Joe. He then flicked a glance at the finger bone on the Joe’s shoulder before turning away. The Matriarch then looked at Joe and Joe smiled back at her, but waited silently for a bit. The blacksmith walked away, moving to the side, no longer wishing to be near Joe or the Matriarch. When he moved, Joe followed discreetly behind until he was once again near him. He did not crowd him, but always remained close enough for the blacksmith to hear him and the Matriarch speaking. Joe kept it to small talk, and although the Matriarch seemed to grow a bit more anxious, she played along.

Finally, when the blacksmith had moved closer to the resource manager that was in charge of harvesting the corpse, he began.

“So, the harvest goes well, Matriarch?” Joe glanced at the Matriarch with this, making sure to catch her eyes before smiling subtly. She seemed to catch it, her eyes widening slightly but she did nothing, simply turning away to reply rather normally. Man… so nice to have someone who just gets it so quick!

“Reports show it is going well. Do you have any wishes for your gains, Eccentric?”

“I have considered it. I am uncertain that the corpse of the giant is of much use to me.”

Joe’s statement shuddered through the area like a reverse bomb. Everyone in the area suddenly grew silent, the short statement sending a stutter through the surroundings as the people froze for a second on hearing before quickly attempting to appear disinterested.

“You do not wish its resources?”

Joe chuckled, then shrugged, “It would be a waste, and the effort to care for the corpse!”

The Matriarch stared at him, acting appropriately moved and feeling a moment of tension, “Then what would you have us do with it?”

“Does your clan have need of it?”

She blinked, her breath skipping. Wait… she didn’t know I was giving it to her? I thought it would be… obvious. What am I going to do with a forty meter corpse! Where am I even going to put it?!

Her reply was well rehearsed, but still came out a bit breathily as she struggled with her surprise, “Our clan could… always use any and all resources!”

Joe nodded, “Then, I would like to offer it to you, with a single stipulation.”

She stared at him, not replying but nodding. Man… didn’t think this would be so overwhelming?

“Those of your clan who have insulted me… or treated me poorly; they receive no benefit of any kind from the resources of this giant; they gain no levels in using these resources to craft, nor make, nor do they gain any benefits of completed artifacts using even the smallest portion of this corpse, nor do they gain any other benefits of any kind related to this corpse and its use or function. I believe that to be a suitable statement on the wisdom of respecting others.”

Joe stared at the Matriarch and her breathing only increased, although she did well to hide her excitement, keeping it very soft and reasonably hidden so as to not make it obvious in action or volume. Joe did not look away from her. She stared back up at him then nodded.

“I am… incredibly grateful, eccentric.”

Joe smiled then handed the finger bone to her, “Excellent. I believe this belongs to you.”

She nodded and accepted it before turning to the resource manager, “This was retrieved from a clanner. Find how it was inappropriately acquired and punish all involved. The one who had received it has already received his punishment, much worse than any I could give.”

She punctuated the end of her statement with a deliberate glance towards the master blacksmith, and when she looked over, Joe followed her gaze to find the man barely constraining his anger while he clenched his fists in rage. The man locked eyes with him a bit before turning away and grimacing. Joe did nothing, finding the whole affair rather boring, but he did want to help out the Matriarch. He turned back to the Matriarch.

“Ah… I believe this is also yours,” Joe said as he pulled out the force quad core. He quickly expressed mana into it to make certain, and felt a bit of relief when it wasn’t exactly as perfect as his other cores. There was a bit of resistance to the mana coming from the core as well as from how it spit out down into the earth where he had aimed it. Huh… not exactly perfect… but very close. Did my hurricane arrow do that? Or… maybe the other’s, too? Bunch of people were shootin’ mana at it before, huh… Joe blinked out of his musings to see the Matriarch staring at him. He quickly reevaluated and pressed the core towards her.

She didn’t stop staring at him, seemingly a bit shocked and Joe simply put it into her hand, then spoke a bit softly, “Use it well. You will find it… not the same, but similar to the others I gave you before.”

She seemed confused by that final statement and she searched his eyes carefully. He held her gaze and attempted to impart weighty meaning to his gaze and she suddenly understood, her sudden intake of breath a bit more noticeable as she glanced down at the core before looking back at him, her face poorly hiding her shock. She immediately looked back at the core, staring at it and Joe felt her mana stir. She then began to emit mana out into the force quad core.

Joe glanced around quickly, very worried about others watching but noticed nobody really seemed to be looking at them, let alone at the Matriarch and what she was doing with the core. He flickered his gaze back down to the core as mana streamed from it due to her manipulations. She made sure to keep the mana streaming into the earth or in a small bubble immediately around her, depending on her efforts. Only a small portion of the bubbles enveloped a shoulder and arm, but Joe found himself not really impaired by the affect. Her incredible control, however, had him watching with avid interest.

She did not do so for long, though, as she rapidly put the core into her storage then hid her trembling hands within the long wide sleeves of her dress. Joe nodded at her, but she seemed a bit shell shocked, not really aware of her surroundings. Joe stifled his sigh and just stood by her side, awaiting her need to collect herself.

She took a deep shuddering breath before calling out, “Continue. The harvest is now ours, thanks to the generosity of the eccentric!”