Round the capital fraxia went, touring the shops and trying all different kinds of food from the stands set up all along the roads. Dwarven creations lined the windows of shops and the clang of hammers and the roar of forges could be heard
“Why are you so interested in some hot and sweaty forges. Let's go back to the nicer side of town where we can BUY me some clothes.” The goddess said somewhat irritably. I guess i should probably pick something up for her.
“Because i need to get a fake or prosthetic limb and the dwarves are the best craftsmen around.”
“Why not just use those solid state mana limbs or just re-attach your old ones.” the goddess questioned.
“Because my dear goddess, while i regen my mana faster than my limbs use it i won't be able to regen as fast with them on, and moving is a function i cannot go without so i need to replace it and that is where the dwarves come in. As for re-attaching my old ones I, A) don't know how to reattach my fucking arms and legs(I’m not some doll you can sew back together), B) what other choice do i have with gods and monsters wanting a piece of me and C), i think this might be a great time to try out something i saw in a cartoon ” i said with a smile.
“So you're going to get some crude mechanical limbs all on a whim.” she said incredulously.
“Who said anything about mechanical. Your little explanation on my spatial storage gave me an idea. Which by the way do you know the spatial storage rune, i’m pretty sure there was some spatial magic runes right?” I replied.
“Do have any idea what that kind of rune could do to your mortal world. There's a reason the gods took it away in the--.” she stopped talking after realizing what she said.
“Oh ho, so that's why spatial magic died out. Turns out the gods are a lot more active in the fate of mortals than they let on.” i say with a little raised eyebrow.
The goddess grinds her teeth for a moment. “It was for your own good! Do you have any idea how that power was abused. Mortals, just teleporting in and out of kingdoms and the domains of the gods. So the council decided to take it away and only recently did one god in particular ALLOW those ruins to be found despite the consequences they would face.”
“Really, who was it?” I am a little curious which god was bold enough to go against an edict from the godly council.
The goddess opened her mouth to answer but then a strange shadow seemed to fall across her face. Her face went pale and she shivered just for a second.
“It appears such person wishes to introduce himself personally.”
If it’s someone who can make an elemental goddess a little skittish then i certainly doubt i’m going to enjoy this.
“So are you going to give me the rune” I ask.
“Even if i did know spatial magic i wouldn’t give it to an impertinent child like you.” she said in a huff.
“No matter. If the princess agrees to my proposal i won't have to ask the gods for the rune.”
“Why do you even want it?” she asked.
“I have an idea on how i can use it to fix my arm.” i said.
Although the goddess was a bit puzzled at my response i ignored her and we continued through the capital weaving in and out of stalls. Freelia was struggling to keep up with my small and nimble frame as we made many turns down alleys and through bazaars.
“Are you purposely trying to make that womans job harder” she asked.
“Yes as a matter of fact. If we don’t lose her we won't have a chance to look for a workshop we can use. Now shush so i can concentrate on making her life difficult.”
After about twenty minutes of running down twisted streets we finally lost her. I should be fine as long as i can get back by the 15th hour for that for the meeting. I ran past some nasty looking guys and ducked into a small blacksmith shop off in a side alley with a hammer and armor painted on the sign and heard the sound of bell. Inside are shelves with swords made of high quality steel and and armor embedded with glowing blue jewels.
“Just a moment” i heard from the back of the shop.
I head to the back and find a sales girl adjusting a display. She had light brown hair and sea green eyes with the trademark pointed ears and light gossamer wings of a sylph.
“Hello and welcome to--oh, little girl are you lost.”
…I really need to change my appearance. I keep my mana limbs hidden in my cloak and slowly walk towards the counter. I hope since i’m dressed in red i won’t be discriminated against just because it's the color of the salamanders. Time for some cute little girl bullshit.
“Uh, daddy went to find a blacksmith and mommy was busy so i wanted to help daddy by looking for a blacksmith as well, but i can’t find my way back.” i said with crocodile tears.
“No no, don't cry. Little girls shouldn’t be wandering around by themselves, come on let's go find your daddy. Hey Grandpa gerald i need to run out and do something. So can you get up and mind the counter” she called into the back.
Little girl tricks always work, and i really hope i don’t have a repeat of the amazing uncle pedo, but with my luck lately this gerald guy could very well have a sex dungeon with gradeschoolers all over the place.
“WHAT!.” came a loud voice from the back.
I could hear the sound of glass breaking and heavy footsteps. Out behind the counter staggers a dwarf with white hair and beard in a leather apron and a bottle in hand.
“Grandpa gerald, get up and mind the counter for me. I need to help this girl find her dad.” said the sylph slightly aggravated at her Grandpa's appearance.
“Don’t wanna. Tell her to come back tomorrow.” I hear in response.
“Did you even hear me. You need to get to work. Now put down the bottle, washup and mind the shop while i’m gone.” she said while taking the bottle from the dwarf.
He squinted at me and walked closer. His even from a few feet away i could smell the scent of stale beer, barf and sweat.
“So who's your papa little thing. I imagine that he must be a great man if he can afford to give his daughter clothing made of Rank 6 materials” he said with a suspicious look in his eye.
Crap, that usually works, but i guess there's a first time for everything. Why didn't i think a blacksmith would recognize high quality materials.
“It’s a long story.” i said.
“Does it look like i’m busy.” he said motioning to the empty shop.
“He’s a great hunter. The best in the village, and i wanted to be just like him. He let me come on trips with him and carry what he killed, but one day when we were in the woods washing up a monster attacked us and i got injured. Daddy and mommy say it wasn’t my fault but it was. Daddy would stopped hunting and mommy had to take care of him, but without daddy hunting the village is getting attacked by Demonic beasts.” i said with a sniff.
The dwarf got up, motioned for the sylph girl to go back to the counter and started walking away.
“Kid when your ready to tell the truth c’mon back, but until then stop wasting my time with silly sob stories.” he said gruffly.
“Grandpa!” the sylph lady shouted.
“Wait” i said grinding my teeth.
The dwarf turned around and gave the sylph a look. He turned back to me grabbed a chair and sat down. I really need to get new limbs but i could very well be handing someone a loaded gun. Immortals want to kill me and i’m crippled until i replace my limbs and i can’t re-attach my old ones so i really need this.
“I think introductions are an order. I am Gerald de Gert and this is my granddaughter jenny” he said.
“My names fraxia. I come from the Ryalia but i came here due to some circumstances.
“Which means.” he said impatiently.
It’s a long story.” I said.
“Does it look like i have a packed schedule.” he said motioning to the empty store.
“Grandpa, you know customers could come in at any time.” the sylph said.
“Jenny you know we won’t get any customers except for the one in front of us for a while. So stop your worrying and go make something.” he said waving his hand aimlessly.
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The girl, jenny, took a look at me and then glared her Grandpa. I suspect she’s debating whether or not to slap her grandpa. I start off telling them about what happened in the woods and how i killed the boar. Coming to the part where i lost my right arm and leg the sylph was just looking at me in tears and the grandpa dwarf was raising his eyebrows. I left out parts about the goddess and the talking with the death goddess since no one has actually seen a god in thousands of years.
I explained what i needed and told them i was planning to sell parts of the boar in order to pay for it. I looked up and found they had mixed reactions. Jenny was sitting down with just an awed and pained expression on her face and the dwarf grandpa wasn’t much better. He rubbed his eyebrows, got up, opened a crate at the other end of the counter and grabbed a bottle and pried it open and started chugging it. Jenny slowly got up and just hugged me.
Gerald stopped drinking his bottle for a moment and asked “do you actually have a way to back this up other than that cloak”. At this i took off my cloak and showed them the glowing blue limbs.
I broke off the hug with jenny and sat down and deactivated them so the stubbed ends could be seen. I didn't have much to wrap them in this morning so they were just scabbed over, but needless to say it wasn’t pretty. The skin around them was red and irritated by all the physical activity i had been doing all day and i suppose i was lucky they didn’t open again and start bleeding during my run around the market. Jenny gasped and went right back to hugging me, her grandpa just looked at them and frowned.
“Your parents know about this kid.” he said.
“If they knew then it would spread and i would be hounded for my talent and that would just put them in danger even more.” i said downcast.
He walked over and started poking and prodding at them even at jenny’s objections. “Have to say, i thought i was done looking at that kind of stuff after i left the army, but it still as gruesome to look at it as ever. Although it looks like they aren't infected which is good if you want to get replacements, but selling parts of a Rank 6 monster is going to attract attention even if you did tell your maid girl to stay in disguise. I can buy the materials off of you and that can cover the cost, but i’m afraid you won't get as good a deal as you would at an auction house. The only place in Rilang city you could possibly hope to sell them without raising suspicion is the Golden Plumage auction house.” he said.
“I just told her to go sell it in the city.” a bit panicked. If they trace it back to me i can expect the vultures to descend in droves.
“I suggest you change that order and take your materials to the proper place to be sold. Likely your girl would just go to a regular craftsmen shop or pawn shop where she would be ripped off and pursued.” he said.
The afternoon bell rang out signalling the 14th hour. I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late. I’ll try and catch Silva before she gets off work and give her some specific instructions on where to sell it.
“I have to go meet the princess soon, but i’ll be back. Can i ask you to keep my secret?” i questioned.
“M’dear, you need not worry. Your secret is safe, but i will expect a full explanation as to how you managed to beat something armies can’t tomorrow. In the meantime do you mind if i ask for a sample of the boar. As a dwarf i am excited to work with such excellent materials.” he said while while taking a swig.
I opened my spatial storage and took out an incisor tooth.
“Here, you can do whatever you want with it but be careful with it. I don’t want everyone finding out i have more of these or i’ll be swarmed by certain unsavory people.” i said thinking about all the merchants or slave traders that would love to get their hands on me.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go blabbering about it in a bar or something. RIGHT grandpa.” jenny said very pointedly. Although she was still hugging me.
“Sigh, as you wish dear.” i could have sworn he said something else under his breath.
“Best not keep a Royalty waiting, but know that if you need someone to talk to--.” she didn’t say anything else and just hugged me tighter.
I was used to getting sympathy from people but i can tell she really means it. Outside of Blake no one knows my secret so i’m a little skittish about telling them. But for them to respond like this i was expecting them to be curious about how i got my strength but more then that they actually...care.
I break the hug with jenny again and gather my cloak and said my farewells. On the note of my family i was taught by kyanu that time moves differently in places of high magical concentration but still i’m starting to miss Blake’s annoying screams about boyfriends and mom and dad's somewhat loud midnight shagging. I’m starting to wonder if my abnormal parents have anything to do with my abnormality?
POV Jenny
Hi, my name is jenny and i run a family blacksmith shop with my grandpa. Years ago when i was 10 my mama who was an elite and papa who was an earth mage died in the war so my grandpa took me in. He ran a blacksmiths shop with grandma and taught me how to use the forge, how to run a store and use simple math for changing Magi crystals.
6 months ago Grandma died and Grandpa started frequenting the tavern. I ended up taking him home more than one time when he was dead drunk. We fell into debt and Grandpa racked up a serious drinking tab and it got worse when the collectors said they would take the shop as collateral if we couldn’t pay up in a month, and i can’t be sure but i think they had been scaring potential customers away.
For over a week we i tried but failed to attract customers when a little girl ran in. I thought she was lost and told Grandpa that i would be going out to help this little girl find her parents. He stopped me and started questioning the little girl like in the stories he told me from when he worked in the army.
At first i thought he was being heartless as usual but then the little girl started telling an unbelievable story about how she killed a huge monster and skinned it. At first i thought she was just being a child and making up stories but as she went on something about her expression was familiar like the ones i used to make all those years ago. To cap it all off she took off her cape and i nearly fainted. Her right arm was cut off at her shoulder and was tinged red, and her right leg was completely gone.
I started hugging the little girl like she was my own, wishing she was my own so i could take care of her forever. She talked about how she wanted to replace them and how she was going to sell the materials from the monster to pay for it. Even if it we went broke i swore that i would forge the best arm and leg possible for her. We said our goodbyes and she went to go meet her princess which i’m still having a hard time believing.
Grandpa immediately went to the forge and started working on the tooth the little girl had left behind.
“My, my what do we have here.” said a sultry voice.
I squealed and quickly turned around and was greeted by the sight of one of the elite guards. Grandpa came out of the forge and saw me and the elite. What was an elite doing here!
“Greetings high one, what can i help you with today. Perhaps a new swords for your journey.” grandpa said going into merchant mode.
The Elite in question was a sylph lady who had an alluring and mysterious aura. She was clad in scanty armor that barely hid important places and was leaning on the counter sucking on a candy from one of the street vendors.
“I want what that little girl gave you, and don’t bother to deny. I can smell that intoxicating mana all over this place especially on your hands and in that room behind you. Of course if you refuse i can always ask my little helpers here to get it for me. ” she waved her hands and two massive brutish, bare chested faes appeared. One grabbed grandpa and the other pulled on my arm.
Just what had we gotten ourselves into, was all i had time to think before the world went black.