"Mmmm.... I... doubt... steel... tastes better... than silk...." I murmured in my sleep.

* blah blah * * blah blah * * blah blah * * blah blah *

"Mmm... ha? Where? Wha?" I muttered as I got up from the noises in the background.

I took a look around, and noticed Harold was speaking to some soldiers. And taking a glance all around us, there was a bunch of carriages clamoring by what looks to be the entrance to a city wall.

"Good luck then, we'll proceed to the lord's mansion" Harold said to the soldiers, and with that, our carriage proceeded forward past the entry gate.

"Where are we?" I asked while taking a look at the town, which I estimate to be about half the size of Hallion.

"Hmm? This is the town of Tiamet, we'll be staying here for three more days until the next night day. During that time, see if you can make as many [Steel Swords] as you can" Harold instructed.

"Sure..." I replied.

Personally, I think Jennifer alone is more than enough, but I'm saving that as a surprise. Either way, I get class quest completes the more swords I make, so there is no way I am going to turn it down anyways.

Shortly after, we stopped by an Inn. Taking a scrutinizing glance, it was nowhere as fancy as the one in Hallion. If anything, it looked pretty average at best...

"Tina, you awake?" Harold called out.

"Mmm... yeah?" Tina replied from the back.

"What about Ariel and Brian?" Harold asked.

"I'm awake Boss, but elder sister is still sleeping" Brian informed.

"That's fine. Tina, go to the Inn and get us 2 rooms. As for Brian, I want you to escort Shiro to the Blacksmithing Guild" Harold announced.

"Do I have to?" Brian complained.

"I don't have the time for your whining, get to it!" Harold demanded.

"... Yes Boss..." Brian relented and got off the carriage.

Hey... I'm not happy about this either! If it wasn't for that damned hero, I'd walk there myself!

"Let's go twerp" Brian called out.

"Hmph!" I snorted, but reluctantly followed as the carriage moved on down the road.

When we arrived there, the guild seemed to be about quarter the size of the one in Hallion.

"Make sure you don't cause any trouble" Brian scoffed and walked off.

Grrrr... Stupid hateful dogkin! Well whatever, I don't have time to worry about that jerk. By the end of this three day stay, I will finally get my first salary! So I need to make sure that I perform well and get the full Advanced Disciple salary.

At the entrance to the guild, I showed the guards my badge. Initially, they made a confused face, probably not expecting a 12 year old catkin to have a commissioned blacksmith badge that would normally be limited to Advanced Disciples or their equivalents, but in the end they said nothing and let me through with no fanfare.

I strode around the area until I came across what seemed to be the smithy. From there, I walked up to the counter to order some ores.

"Are ya one of the new disciples missy?" probed the dwarf at the counter.

"Nope! I am a full fledged commissioned blacksmith!" I proudly said while handing him the badge.

"...Is that so... then how can I be of service missy?" the dwarf replied in surprise, but quickly got his act together.

"Yes, I'd like 100 [Iron Ores] and 100 [Coal Ores]" I requested.

"Alright then, give me a second" replied the dwarf and headed to the back.

It is pretty interesting that no one seems to question me or anything. Is it maybe the runes on the badge somehow act as verification? Kind of like the Adventurers Guild tattoo? I really should learn more about these runes... everything from [Slavery Collars], to guild identification seem to operate on them. And I can even use them to improve my gear to an extent, so I should definitely see if I can get more skill levels in that. Yup, that should probably be the first thing I use my request on if I can't find a way to learn about it myself.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Here ya go missy! 100 [Iron Ores] and 100 [Coal Ores], please double check" the dwarf announced.

"Seems about right, thank you very much" I declared after carefully checking them, and began placing them in my [Item Box].

"No problem missy, since ya ordered so many ores, I'm guessing ya'll be staying here for quite a while?" asked the dwarf.

"Hmm? nope, I'll be staying here for only three days. Thanks again, I'll come by again in a day or two when I need more" I replied and walked off.

"Any time missy! Wait, more?!" exclaimed the dwarf being left dumbfounded.

That day, I managed to make a total of 20 [Steel Swords], and all of them turned out above the quality score of 6! With that, I managed to complete two [Creationist: Weapon Creation] quests giving me an extra 6 [PER]!

I could have probably made more, but I was more focused on improving my quality over focusing on quantity. Thinking about it in the short term, it might seem better to produce more rather than worry about quality, as that would get more [PER]. But if you look at it from a long term perspective...

Wait... what am I saying? At this rate, it's not long term at all, but right around the corner! If I am not mistaken, at this pace of making swords... 43 more, and I would need to start make [Steel Swords] with quality score of 7 or above to qualify for the class quests!

Well either that or [Holy-steel Swords] with quality score of 6! And as it stands, I can't exactly churn out equipment of that grade as I please. Believe me, I tried, out of the nine holy-steel items I made, only two ended up reaching that quality. To make something like that requires a huge amount of motivation, resolve and concentration...

The worst part of all this is that one of them ended up being for that darn hero! grrrr.... Oh, not that I'm insulting you Jennifer! You are most definitely a beauty, just you're way too good for that wretched hero!

Anyways, if I improve even by 0.1 quality in any part of the process, it would be a great help. Because if the prices of that wolfram steel is any indicator, I wouldn't be surprised if it took me an entire year just to save up for some [Mithril Ore]. Which means my most important goal as far as crafting is concerned, would be to reliably make magical items with quality scores of 6 if not 7. If I could do that, it should be able to replace the need for mithril in class quests. And as far as equipment goes, if I could pull off named items made out of wolfram steel with a quality score of 6, I think I could come pretty close to the performance of mithril. There is the weight issue to consider, but I can get around that with use of Holy Power.

That said, improvement of quality was not the only reason why I only made 20 swords. The other reason was that I wanted to check out the exhibition hall. I still have a few items saved up that I could sell after all...

Before going into the exhibit hall, I went to check on the rules to see how they might differ, and by the looks of things, this place sets the minimum quality score at 4 instead of 5. Which doesn't really help me much, because the only item I would sell that is below the quality score of 5 would be my [Holy-steel Healing Dagger], but unfortunately that has a quality score of 3. So pretty much, I'm out of luck... which is too bad, considering that holy-steel would probably sell really well...

Entering the hall, I was a bit surprised that there were only 6 people selling stuff! Though all of them being dwarfs, but never the less...

I took a short look at their stuff, and what can I say, I'm far from impressed...

I initially wasn't planning on selling on the first day, but if it's like this... I might as give this a shot for a bit and see how things go...

I set down by a good spot, and took out my wares. Sadly, my disguise was destroyed by that wretched hero, but I have other means.

"COMMISSIONED BLACKSMITH, UNLOADING AN [IRON SPEAR], [IRON AXE] AND TWO [IRON DAGGERS] AT 10% DISCOUNT FROM MARKET PRICE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY! FIRST COME FIRST SERVE!" I yelled while waving my commissioned blacksmith badge!

Yup, It goes without saying the entire room turned their attention to me in an instant! Soon after, the crowd began to swarm towards my goods! hehe

Dwarf or no dwarf, a commissioned blacksmith badge generally means that the guild sees me as an official blacksmith! In comparison, Intermediate Disciples are only seen as apprentice blacksmiths at best. Well... in my case it's an exception, but they don't know that! * evil grin *

I couldn't exactly do this in my own guild, since there, I am still counted as only an Intermediate Disciple even with the badge. But here in a foreign guild, they don't know of my status and only see me as a commissioned blacksmith, nothing more, nothing less. And it goes without saying, I'm going to take full advantage of this loophole!

"Can we try the weapons?" asked one of the men in the front.

"Sure, no problem!" I replied.

The man picked up the spear, and began swinging it around.

"This is a pretty decent spear" exclaimed the man.

Of course it is, who do you think made it! hehe

"Alright, I'll take it!" announced the man.

Having my stuff finally acknowledged after all this time feels pretty darn good!

"That will be 1 gold and 35 silver coins" I happily pronounced.

"Here you go" said the man handing me the money, "Pass my thanks to the smith" he then added as he left.

Yey! my first sale! Wait... Ha? What the hell does that suppose to mean?!

"I'll take this [Iron Dagger]" said a woman interrupting my thoughts.

"O-Okay, that will be 72 silver coins!" I hurriedly replied.

"This is a mighty fine axe missy, might I ask the name of the smith who made this?" asked a dwarf as he closely examined the [Iron Axe].

"Uhm... Shiro..." I answered, a bit perplexed by the phrasing.

"Hmm... I made up my mind, I'll buy it!" declared the dwarf, "It's a shame I couldn't meet the smith myself though..." he then muttered in disappointment.

Are you serious?!?! I am freaking standing right in front of you!

Then it suddenly dawned on me! Could it be... that the badge is not limited to the smith, but also their party members as well? And they are thinking that the smith is just using me as a lackey?!?! Guh! Damn you all for looking down on me! I clench my fists ready to explode!

But... if I say something... will they still buy my stuff? commission badge or not?

This is so darn infuriating! Nevertheless, for the sake of my future mithril set I need to endure!

"...that will be 1 gold and 8 silver coins..." I replied devoid of all enthusiasm.

By the end, I easily managed to sell everything, getting 3 gold and 87 silver coins. After I sent 2 gold, 70 silver and 90 iron coins to the Hallion guild by the counter, I was left with 1 gold, 16 silver and 10 iron coins as profit.

Maybe I should make something out of the spare [Iron Ingots] I got stocked up, and sell it either tomorrow or the day after. And you know what? On the last day, once I sell all my stuff, I'll make sure to make it painfully clear who the true smith really is!

Since all sales are final, it would be too late for them to return it anyways. On top of that, it would be a good experiment to see if the badge is good enough to cover their prejudices or not. Though somehow, my expectations are quite low on that front... Not that I can blame them or anything, since I wouldn't normally expect high quality equipment from a 12 year old either... * sigh *

With about 10 minutes left till the end of the exhibit hall, Harold walked in.

"There you are, pack up whatever you need and let's head back" Harold announced.

"I already got everything, so I'm ready to go!" I responded as I made my way towards Harold.

"Is that so... how many were you able to make?" Harold asked as we began walking out.

"Only 20..." I replied.

"Really? That many in such a short time? I hope you didn't skimp on the quality..." Harold cautioned.

"Nope! All of them are top quality, guaranteed!" I proudly declared.

"Well that's good. How is your [Item Box], you have plenty of space?" Harold asked.

"So far I'm good..." I instinctively replied, only to soon realize that maybe I should have said otherwise and see if I could get another skill level...

Well either way, I'm in no hurry... there will be plenty of chances to devour all their skills and more!

After a few minutes of walking, we finally made it back to the Inn.

"Alright then, I'll be going now since I have some other things to take care of. Make sure to have Brian bring you to the guild tomorrow" Harold said as he began to leave.

"W-WAIT!" I exclaimed with all my might!

There is a HUGE problem that I can't just let go no matter what! If I remember correctly... they took only 2 rooms... and looking at this Inn, it does not look like they have large multi-sized suites like the ones in Hallion. So that means that I won't have my own room, but instead I'll be sharing a room... which means...

"Uhm... about Ariel..." I hesitantly muttered.

"Don't worry about Ariel. Me, Ariel and Saron are going to be staying at the lord's mansion these three days. So you'll only be sharing a room with Tina. If there is nothing else you need, I'll be on my way..." Harold informed.

THANK GOD!

"Nope! Everything is just perfect!" I beamed with a smile as I enthusiastically went into the Inn.

After having some decent dinner at the Inn, I soundly went to sleep.