The entrance to the labyrinth was literally a hole in the ground. It was outside of the city, and required a short walk. Around the hole, vendors and enterprising merchants had set up shaky looking buildings and stalls, selling anything from potions to weapons to clothing. It was like a small boom town, just outside the city proper.
I waited near the labyrinth entrance, the agreed upon meeting point between Hogvir’s smiths, the adventurers who will be doing the bulk of the fighting while in the labyrinth, and I. From where I waited, I could see most of the cleared area around the entrance, gaining a good vantage point over the whole place.
This was apparently a popular meeting place for people entering the labyrinth, as I could see several adventurer parties gathering, before entering the hole. There was a ramp curling around the sides of the hole, and I think there’s a doorway at the bottom, where the labyrinth truly started.
I had decided to wear my long coat for this, as the cloak seemed a little impractical and easy to snag on any obstructions while in the labyrinth. A bag of various necessities was on my back, the strap crossing in front of me. Twilight was hanging from one of my shoulders, and I kept a hand on it to keep the sword from hitting anything. Of course, I also wore the mask. In the hand not occupied by Twilight, I held an absolutely massive greatsword like a staff, the end of the sheath propped up on the ground. The sword was taller than me by a good bit.
I didn’t have to wait long before Hogvir and his smiths arrived. It was a group of seven, counting Hogvir. He was easily the tallest there, even though two of the other smiths could be considered taller than average. All of them have fairly beefy arms, from swinging heavy hammers all day long, and working with heavy metals.
Hogvir, knowing what I looked like, or rather what my mask did, spotted me as I walked over to them, carrying the greatsword.
(Hogvir) “Oh! Is that my sword?”
(Kai) “Yeah. Finished it a few days ago.”
I held out the sword to Hogvir, and he picked it up with ease. For a moment, he held it, admiring the workmanship in the hilt and scabbard. Then he drew the sword, exposing the blade itself. It came out of the scabbard with a great ringing sound, drawing the attention of some nearby adventurers, who were stunned at the sight of such a massive man handling such a massive and beautiful sword. The sword’s form was fairly simple, with two edges coming together to a dull point not meant for stabbing. This was a sword meant to cleave, using its sheer weight to break defences and overwhelm the target. It had mesmerizing patterns in the metal itself, with small lines of alternating light and dark, from the different steels used in the forging process. The hilt, as promised, was fairly large—about the length of a forearm.
Hogvir cackled evilly after drawing the sword, admiring it.
(Hogvir) “Hahaha—That’ll do it! I can hardly wait to test it out!”
Almost lovingly, he put the sword back into the sheath, and held onto it, as there was currently no way to strap it to anything. He turned to the other smiths he had brought along, and introduced me.
(Hogvir) “Alright lads, this is Kai, who some consider to be the best bladesmith in the city at the moment, and who’ll be coming with us on our material hunt.”
All of them nodded approvingly. They were all blacksmiths, and could appreciate the weight behind the words ‘best bladesmith’. All we had to do now was wait for the adventurer escorts to show up. They would be the ones to kill most of the things in the labyrinth while we mined for rare ores, or collected various bits of monsters and magic beasts useful in forging. For instance there are some insect shells which can act as quality metals, and can be made into a good blade or armor. These types of materials also conduct mana better than some of their metal counterparts when forged.
The escort group showed up around thirty minutes later. During those thirty minutes where we waited, I was able to find out a little bit more about the other smiths, and got to know them a little better. They all seemed like relatively decent people.
The escort group, however, I wasn’t too sure about. It consisted of ten adventurers, and I could tell that they were bitter about something—likely they felt that they were above escorting a group of civilians into a labyrinth, even if most of the smiths could crush a skull between their hands.
With everybody ready, we walked down the ramp leading to the doorway entrance of the labyrinth, with some pack mules in tow with tents and emergency foods on them.
Hogvir walked up to the door, and pushed it open, exposing a good-sized cavern with only the one opening into it. We entered the cavern.
(Hogvir) “Alright, everybody stand in the center of the room!”
We moved to where he indicated. As soon as we were there, circular runes started glowing beneath our feet, and the door behind us disappeared. Opposite that, a gateway carved into the rock itself shimmered into existence. Grabbing our stuff, and performing some last checks, we walked into the first floor of the labyrinth.
----------------------------------------
(Veroth) “Watch out! One of them’s escaped the perimeter!”
Veroth, one of the adventurers, yelled as a black wolf-like beast blew past the line of adventurers holding back a dozen yellowed skeletons wielding rusted swords and maces.
(Hogvir) “I got him!”
Hogvir swung out with the sword I had made him, and it quickly found itself lodged into the flesh of the beast. Unfortunately, it wasn't a fatal blow, and the beast was still alive. It lunged at Hogvir in anger, but before it could get too far, the greatsword burst into flame, roasting the beast form the inside, and spewing red flames from its wound. Hogvir grinned widely, obviously pleased at the greatsword’s extra ability.
When he found out about it during our first encounter with a few skeletons, he was surprised at first. So surprised that he dropped the blade, yelling bloody murder, until he realized that the blade hadn’t hurt him in any way. Then, he started laughing maniacally while rushing into groups of enemies, and laying about him with the flaming greatsword. He’s calmed down a bit since then.
In total, it’s been about ten hours since we entered the labyrinth, and we’ve made it to the third floor. I haven’t had the chance to test out Twilight yet, mostly because it would obliterate any of the enemies on these lower floors. Perhaps a floor guardian would be a good target, but we haven’t encountered one yet.
The adventurers cleaned up the skeletons they’d been facing, and we decided that the area we’re in would serve as a good camp for the night. I quietly cheered, with how sleepy I was getting. I had slept a total of two hours this week, since I was working on Twilight and Hogvir’s greatsword, and was in dire need of a good night’s rest. We pulled the tents off the backs of the mules, who had been trained to stay away from any fighting, and have fairly good survivability as a result, and set them up in a semi-circular fashion. I pitched mine near the edge of the camp, and set up some strong wards against entry, before sitting in front of a small campfire made by the smiths, and lit using Hogvir’s greatsword. We cooked some beans and heated some meat over the fire, and had a simple labyrinth style meal, during which I told the others,
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
(Kai) “Alright guys. Just thought I should warn you,but if you try and enter my tent, you will die.”
Some food was propelled from people’s mouths in surprise at that, but they all nodded understanding eventually. I was only slightly exaggerating—the wards would paralyze you for a day, maybe four.
After eating, I went to my tent, and took off my mask and coat before laying down to sleep in my clothes. I could hear the conversations outside the tent, and knew that some of the adventurers and smiths were wondering about my origins, and why I wanted privacy. Some of the things they suggested were quite funny. My personal favorite was that I was a runaway prince, who was masquerading as a bladesmith. There were a few that come oddly close to the truth.
Thankfully, we didn't have to worry about getting attacked while sleeping—the monsters never spawned while people were in the room, and tended to stay in the same areas. We still posted a watch, just in case, though.
I soon drifted into a dreamless sleep.
----------------------------------------
(Ash) “Damn. This is going to be very difficult.”
Ash, the graceful elf, was standing in front of a dilapidated looking building near the red-light district in the city. She had just probed the defences of the structure with her mana, before discovering that it would be very difficult to forcefully enter the small house, due to the invisible lattices of mana criss-crossing around the house.
Yes, she was trying to break into Kai’s home and smithy, mostly to find out more about the mysterious smith.
Jourmont stood next to her, smirking slightly at her misfortune.
(Jourmont) “I could lend you a bit of my power, you know.”
(Ash) *Sigh*. I know. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t come to this, but it seems that Hogvir underestimated the wards Kai has.”
(Jourmont) “Is it really that bad? I would have thought nothing would have given you trouble.”
(Ash) “Well, it’s won’t be impossible, just very hard. It’s very rare that someone’s mana is so pure as that which was put into these wards. And, as you know, the purer the mana, the more stable a spell is.”
(Jourmont) “So, you can do it?”
Ash smiled brightly.
(Ash) “Of course, who do you think I am? Just lend me some of your mana, and it can finish in about an hour.”
Jourmont nodded, and grabbed Ash’s wrist. Immediately, Ash felt an influx of power, and began channeling it into the wards surrounding Kai’s house, slowly and subtly changing their properties. It was delicate work, as one misstep would trigger the wards, and cause them to activate. From what Ash could see, there were some fairly nasty things that the wards would do to any would-be intruder. None of them would be lethal, but there were some which would come close.
Eventually, the wards began changing, allowing two more people besides Kai to enter the house. Kai could change the properties of the wards within seconds, due to the fact that he had put them down in the first place, but it required a precise control of a very large amount of mana to change that from the outside. There were very few able to do this, and Ash was one of them.
She stopped once the wards recognized her and Jourmont as being allowed into the house. At this point, Ash was covered in a thin veil of sweat.
She noded at Jourmont
(Ash) “Done. Luckily, Kai seems a bit uncomfortable with mana control, so the wards weren't as strong as they could have been.”
They entered the house, seeing the smithy first.
They were overwhelmed by the number of masterfully made swords lying about the room, propped up against the walls and scattered on work tables. They noticed that some of the swords were made in a style unfamiliar to them, with one gently curving edge.
(Ash) “Jourmont, I think these have all been forged with mana flow. All of them are mana swords.”
Jourmont’s eyes widened a little, an impressive amount of expression from someone who normally only shows what he wants others to see.
(Jourmont) “Then there’s a veritable fortune just...sitting here. No wonder the wards are so strong.”
(Ash) “Come on, I think there’s another room over there.”
She pointed out a door, and they walked into Kai’s living quarters. Ash spoke a quick incantation, and summoned a small flame
to hover in her hand, and light up the dark room. In the room itself, there were paper diagrams hanging from the walls, displaying various forging techniques and the process of making any number of blades. Ash and Jourmont stood quietly, looking at the designs with some awe—If Kai had thought them all up, them he was instantly propelled to the status of genius in their eyes, due to the complexity present in some of the papers.
Shaking themselves mentally, they began searching for clues about Kai, and who he is.
Sifting through the papers, and checking in those places where a journal might be secreted, they came across a chest by the bed. In it they found some of Kai’s clothing, as well as a crudely forged dagger resting on top. Ash pulled it out, curious about it. It wasn’t well forged, nor did it have any special abilities, and it was just made from crude iron. There were the initials K.S. and a date around ten years ago on it though, so she figured that the dagger had sentimental value to Kai. Digging deeper into the chest, Ash pulled out some clothing near the bottom of it. She had felt that the quality of cloth had changed, and wanted to see what she felt was hidden there. However, once she saw what had been pulled out, she threw it down in disgust.
(Ash) “Egh. Is he a pervert?”
(Jourmont) “Did you say something?”
(Ash) “No!”
She put the garment back at the bottom of the chest, and walked to where Jourmont was looking.
(Ash) “Have you found anything?”
(Jourmont) “No. Kai doesn’t seem to keep much from his past. Nothing, actually.”
(Ash) “There was a knife back there with a date ten years ago on it, and what could be Kai’s initials.”
(Jourmont) “Oh? Where?”
She lead Jourmont to the chest, and reopened it. Jourmont picked up the knife, and examined it.
He came up with a conclusion very quickly.
(Jourmont) “I think that Kai is younger than we had assumed at first. Maybe he isn’t short, but still growing.”
(Ash) “What, why?”
(Jourmont) “Because this was probably the first thing Kai forged, ten years ago. I can think of no other reason he’d keep it, unless it was a gift. But from what we’ve seen, Kai has only kept things made by him, and not others.”
(Ash) “That makes sense. We’ll have to compare it to Hogvir’s observations of Kai when he gets back, see if the theory matches.”
(Jourmont) “Yeah. Was there anything else in the chest, which might give us some answers?”
Ash’s face grew a little red, and she hurriedly responded.
(Ash) “No! Nothing!”
(Jourmont) “Are you ok? You seem flustered.”
(Ash) “Yeah. No. I’m ok.”
Jourmont looked suspicious.
(Jourmont) “Alright. If you say so.”
----------------------------------------