Turning around, Desmond was confronted by a beautiful woman who was a little under 6 feet tall. She had long, light blue hair that she kept tied back in a flowing ponytail. Her eyes were a shade of teal and seemed to glow with excitement as she approached. She wore slightly revealing blue leather armor that emphasized her massive chest. She had intricately designed black and blue tattoos that covered her arms, chest, and went all the way up her neck. They had no specific pattern, but they looked like complex tribal tattoos with general floral patterns mixed in. On her shoulder sat a small blue bird, that upon closer inspection looked to be made of living ice.

This was Alivia, the hunt leader of his and Ben’s previous party. She was a talented calamity class hunter who had nature and water affinities. She focused on the summoning aspect, and Desmond knew not to underestimate her or Ala on her shoulder.

“Hey Dez, got a minute to talk,” Alivia said in a friendly tone as she approached.

“Sure, but can we talk and walk? I have to get this corpse out of here before Richard loses it on me.”

“Works for me,” Alivia stated as she walked towards the far doors. Desmond followed behind her, carrying the corpse as they walk in silence for a moment. As they passed through the doors leading further into the compound, they ended up in a hallway with much more privacy.

“I’m, ummm, sorry about your, you know, loss and...” Alivia said in a despondent tone as she tried to find the right words. “Fuck, I’m not good at this! I’m just sorry about what happened, you know.”

“Yeah, I get it. He was an ass! But he was still a friend. I appreciate the sentiment,” Desmond replied, straining to keep a straight face. It was common for hunters to offer condolences for fallen comrades. So he would just have to get used to this for a bit. Still, receiving condolences for someone he murdered was a little off-putting. “Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?” Desmond said as they continued walking down the hallway.

“Ah yes, I know you just, ummm, disbanded your last group, but I was wondering what your plans were now?” Alivia said, now back in her friendly and upbeat tone.

It was clear to Desmond that she was about to try to recruit him back into her party. When he and Ben left their group and went off on their own, it must have left a large hole in her party. A hole that would be at least partially filled if he just decided to return.

Desmond had always got along well with Alivia and her group. However, most of her summoned pets seemed to hate him. But then again, they hated everyone but Alivia. Even now he could swear Ala was giving him a mean look.

The reason he had left Alivia’s party in the first place was to follow his target, Ben. But, Ben was also the reason he joined the party initially as well. Honestly, most of his life had been dedicated to his vengeance up to this point. This put Desmond in a weird place, where he didn’t know what he wanted to do, now that Ben was dead.

“I’m honestly not too sure. I haven’t exactly made plans beyond handling this corpse,” Desmond said, gesturing to the panther he was carrying.

“I know things can get, confusing after a friend dies,” Alivia said compassionately. “I personally find throwing myself back into hunts with my companions the best way to handle and overcome it.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Desmond replied, still trying his best to look somber. “I might have to do just that.”

“On that note,” Alivia said with a new hit of seriousness in her voice. “I would like to offer you your spot back on the Blue Roses. The group just hasn’t been the same without you.”

Desmond knew she was only offering this because Ben was dead. Alivia had loathed Ben, and that friction played a large role in Ben and Desmond eventually parting ways with the group. Alivia had even tried to convince Desmond to stay after the falling out, but he had refused for the obvious reason.

“Hmmmm, now that’s an option,” Desmond remarked as he put on a pondering face, then replied with his already prepared answer. “I’m afraid I can’t give you an answer right away. I have a lot of things to consider now, with Ben’s death and all. Talk to me before you head out on your next hunt. I should have everything figured out by then.” This was mostly the truth, as he was feeling lost right now and didn’t want to burn this bridge before he had the chance to fully consider it.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Alivia said, looking slightly downcast. “I just want you to know you’re always welcome on my team, Dez.”

“That’s appreciated, Alivia,” Desmond said while coming to a stop at a door and making eye contact. “I will talk to you about this later then. For now, I got to get this thing taken care of,” he remarked while gesturing again to the panther on his shoulder.

“Of course, I will see you later,” Alivia said, looking a little flustered for a moment. She then turned around and walked right back the way they had just come from.

She clearly had nothing to do in this direction and was just walking with him to have this conversation. Desmond was not blind and could see Alivia’s interest in him expanded beyond just wanting him to be a party member. He had noticed her interest in him before but had never really thought deeply about it since he had been so consumed with his revenge at the time.

The only reason Riki had made any headway with him was that she was significantly more, forceful, with what she wanted. Desmond honestly didn’t know how to respond to Alivia’s affection. Now that his revenge was over, he had started to look at the world in a whole new light.

Hunters were far more open relationship-wise than people had been in his past life. Honestly, this whole world was different in that sense. There was no one-man, one-women religious sentiments here, and it was common for wealthy or powerful people to have multiple spouses. With certain enchanted items working as a form of magical contraceptive. There were fewer consequences to being promiscuous, and many hunters took advantage of this.

Pushing these complicated issues from his mind, Desmond opened the hallway door and walked out into a large walled courtyard. The courtyard was vibrant, with many trees, flower beds, and even several small ponds with gazebos. There were many roofed walkways throughout the courtyard that led off to the other structures within the Lodge compound. The place was quite busy at this time of day as Desmond could see many clerical staff and hunters moving to and fro.

Desmond walked towards the merchant square, taking his time to enjoy the scenery. The Expanse was a truly beautiful place when you’re not constantly worried about something trying to kill and eat you. Here in the Lodge was one of the few places you could actually enjoy this scenery in peace. He strolled past a patch of blue bell flowers that glowed in a soft light alongside a tree with pitch-black bark with blue leaves that seemed to drop little blue sparkles down on the ground around it. They were both rare and expensive plants, but no one would touch them here in the Lodge.

As Desmond arrived at the merchant square, things became much more crowded. With people standing almost shoulder to shoulder as they shuffled about. The merchant square was rather small, with maybe 20 shops located around the square and a dozen or so stalls set up in the center area. With how small and quaint this place was, it was hard to imagine that many of the most expensive materials found throughout the whole Empire passed through here.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Desmond headed to a blacksmith he knew. He made good time as most people simply got out of the way when a massive man carrying an even larger panther walked towards them. He entered a small weapon shop in the northern corner of the square, needing to duck to get through the doorway. The place was lined with weapons and armor of all kinds, hanging from walls and set up in racks. The shop had quite a few patrons and was clearly doing well for itself despite its small size. It had a bit of a cramped feel to it, a feeling Desmond was not helping with standing there overburdened by a corpse. Desmond quickly made his way past several patrons and into the back of the shop, making sure to greet the clerk on the way by.

Exiting the shop’s back door, he found himself in the blacksmith proper. There was a giant forge, two different anvils, quenching barrels, an assortment of tools, weapons in various stages of completion, and many different types of ores and ingots scattered around the place. The whole place looked like organized chaos, and the man standing in the center swinging his hammer was Barco, the blacksmith he was looking for. Barco looked to be in his fifties, but Desmond knew looks weren’t a good way to judge someone’s age out here in the Expanse. He was also jacked, as all good blacksmiths should be. He was wearing a simple blacksmith apron with black trousers that had clearly seen better days and was currently extremely focused on whatever he was hitting.

Desmond slowly made his way around until he saw that Barco was working on a greatsword made of some kind of black metal. The thing was huge, easily a foot and a half wide, and almost as tall as Desmond himself. For a few minutes, Desmond just watched the man work, fascinated by the craft. He was currently not using any magic or enchantments. It was just a skilled blacksmith shaping metal. After a few more minutes, Barco set down his hammer and addressed him, while still looking at the blade.

“I thought I told you to just sell your shit to Sue,” Barco said, not even gazing in his direction. “She will give you just as good of a price as I will. So why are you always coming back here to bug me?” Despite his words, Desmond could tell he wasn’t really upset. He just liked complaining, and his wife Sue, would put up with none of that, so the customers had to.

“What, no hello to an old friend?” Desmond asked. “Besides, I think this is a little outside Sue’s normal price range.”

“Old friend my ass! You’re still just a whelp. You got to be over a hundred before you can say that kid,” Barco barked back as he turned to address Desmond. He was momentarily stunned when he saw what Desmond was carrying over his shoulder. Desmond placed the corpse down on a nearby table, just putting it on top of the hammer and assorted ores that were already there.

“Old is relative, you old man! I have known you for almost half my life. That makes us old friends,” Desmond joked back.

“You know I have a great-granddaughter older than you,” Barco said as he moved over to inspect the corpse. “Now, where did you find this? A mutated shadow panther and this toughness. It would seem you finally became a calamity class hunter. About damn time kid. I don’t know why you have been avoiding it these past few years, but now you can actually bring me some quality shit. You looking to sell or get something made?”

“I was hoping to get a cloak made and sell the rest,” replied Desmond.

“Hmmmm, I don’t work with leathers myself, but I know a guy. Give me a second here,” Barco said as he walked over to a notepad and scribbled down some numbers.

This is why Desmond always came here first. Barco is probably the best smith in the Empire, and on top of that, he always ‘knows a guy.’ Desmond would swear that this man had more connection than the Emperor himself. Although the smith would not be interested in most of this corpse. Beast bones played a prominent role in all crafting out here in the Expanse, and Barco always needed quality material.

“Since the corpse is so damaged, I can offer, 23k LP. This is after accounting for the fee of leather working and the crafting of the cloak,” Barco said as he looked up from his pad.

It seemed like a reasonable enough price, but how Barco expected to get a calamity class corpse with less damage was beyond him. Calamity class beasts were not exactly known to just roll over and die. He personally thought the carcass was relatively intact.

LP stood for Lodge Points, which was the most common currency used out here in the Lodge. For most hunters, the Lodge also acted as a bank. Personally, LP gave Desmond a very digital currency vibe that he didn’t quite like. Now that Desmond had a spatial ring, he had every intention of keeping his wealth in beast cores rather than LP. However, having some LP on hand was still good to make working with Lodge merchants easier. LP was not a physical thing but something that only existed in the Lodge’s ledgers. The Lodge had some way of magically tracking all transactions made using LP and had an entire branch of their organization set up to manage this currency.

“That’s fine. Now, what were you working on over here?” Desmond asked as he walked back over to the black great sword.

“Ohhhh, that was something I meant to talk to you about,” Barco said as he came over to the anvil. “I have been considering your little problem with weapons. The need to get more toughness without the use of mana to support it, and this is what I came up with. It is a type of Dardacium alloy that is great for hardness but horrible for mana conductivity. Which doesn’t matter to you, and does bring the price down. Well, a little down at least.”

“So you were making this sword for me?” Desmond said with a smile on his face. “And you wonder why I keep bothering you?”

Barco snorted, “I just don’t want you to die young. Maybe one day we could actually be old friends. This here, might be able to help with that. I mean, I can’t have my customers dying. Who would I sell my shit to?”

Another reason he always came here is that Barco actually seemed to care about his well-being. They had developed a strong friendship over the past 8 years of working together.

“How much is a blade like this going to set me back?” Desmond asked.

“Oh, not too much. I would say around 23k LP,” Barco said with a smile.

“Nice that it all adds up,” Desmond said as he looked at the still missing pommel. “How long until it’s finished?”

“Should have it done in a day or two,” Barco answered. “It’s really more of a club than a sword. Because of the high hardness, I had to blunt the edges to remove any possible fracture points. But when I’m done with it, you won’t be able to break it if you try.”

“It sounds perfect,” Desmond said with a smile. It was just what he needed. A lump of metal shaped like a sword that didn’t break.

“You want to fill out one of those LP slips?” Barco asked.

“Nah,” Desmond said. He trusted Barco wouldn’t screw him over, and the whole thing came out to zero LP anyways. “I can’t stay and chat though. It’s been a long few days, and my bed is calling me.”

“Yeah, I definitely don’t miss sleeping on the dirt,” Barco said. “You should really think of picking up a crafting profession, Dez. Blacksmithing would suit ya, and besides, you always get to sleep in a nice soft bed.”

“I’ll think about it,” Desmond replied with a chuckle. “Thanks as always Barco. I will be sure to bring some beer when I stop in to pick up the sword,” Desmond said as he started making his way back to the smithy door, now free of his burden.

“You better, you ungrateful bastard! And it better not be that cheap shit you youngins like to drink! Hardly better than piss!” Barco yelled before bellowing out a deep laugh.