The morning of my second week was different from the mornings of my first week. I woke up in the affordable inn I was staying at and ate a quick breakfast, I then left and instead of heading to the adventurers guild to pick a quest for the day, I headed for one of the many blacksmiths in town. I chose this one because Vikir himself suggested it, but I was starting to doubt him because the building looked run down. On the outside the building was all wood, but the wood was graying and cracking. The inside wasn’t much better, weapons were scattered on tables or haphazardly thrown in barrels with no rhyme or reason. It was also obvious that the only time dust and cobwebs were cleaned from the weapons was when a customer picked one up. The rest of the weapons were covered, I was starting to doubt the high praise Vikir gave this place, but he did say not to judge it by how it looks.

There was no one else in the store, it was only me, but it wasn’t silent, I could hear a hammer in the back playing a rhythm on metal. I walked up to the counter and rang the dust off the bell Tck tck. . . As the bell rang out, the hammering didn’t stop, but I did hear a muffled conversation in the back and a young boy with messy black hair wearing overalls and a flat cap appeared behind the counter, with his dark brown eyes barely reaching over the counter to look at me.

“How may I help you?” asked the boy.

“Uh, hi young man, I was recommended this place by my friend Vikir, he said it would be a good place to buy quality weapons.”

The young boy stared at me, registering what I said.

“One second” He replied before entering the back again.

Another muffled conversation happened and the hammering in the back finally stopped, interrupting the metal rhythm. After a few more seconds a dwarf with long unruly gray hair and beard with the ends singed by fire appeared behind the counter, and just like the young boy, he could barely see over it.

“What’s your name lad?”

“It’s Yuri sir.”

“And you said Vikir recommended you to this place.”

“Yes sir.”

“Hmmmm. . . well if Vikir really did send you, what’s his favorite color?” he stared me down, waiting for my answer.

“Uh. . . I. . . I think purple,” I answered nervously waiting for a reply.

“Hmph, relax lad, I’m just messing with you,” He snorted with a chuckle.

“Oh thank gods,” I sighed in relief.

“Vikir is a good kid, he’s the reason why I’m still in business, without him, ooh, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love,” he chuckled.

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“The name is Gernir Lighthammer, what can I do for ya today?”

“Nice to meet you Gernir Lighthammer, I’m looking for a few things, the first being a bow.”

“You came to a dwarven blacksmith, for a bow?” Vandal asked with an unamused look.

“Well in my defense, I didn’t tell Vikir I was looking for a bow, just a place that sold weapons.”

Gernir stared at me for a few more breaths then chuckled while shaking his head, he then turned his neck towards the back.

“Vandal, bring a bow, arrows, and a quiver.” Gernir shouted at the back.

I heard rumbling in the back as we waited a minute before the young boy, apparently Vandal came and placed a bow and a quiver full of arrows on the counter.

“Thank you Vandal, that is all.”

Vandal gave a slight bow to Gernir and turned towards me to do the same with a slight smile on his face.

“Personally, I have no interest in anything outside the forge, but that boy loves crafting with leather and wood, so we have some lying around each that he made in practice. But don’t worry, the tips of these arrows are metal, I made them myself.”

“Wow, this is perfect, this is exactly what I was imagining.”

“Well if I’m being honest, it’s a good starter set, which should be perfect for someone as green as you, but will a dozen arrows be good enough for ya?

“Honestly, this will be enough for now.”

“That’s good to hear, if you ever need more, then any weapon store should do, so what was the other thing you were needing lad?”

“Oh, I was also hoping to buy a dagger as well, you know, just in case something tries to get close to me.”

“I got something that’d be good for you greenhorn.”

Gernir reached under the counter and pulled out a dagger and unsheathed it, the dagger casted a faint light blue light in the store.

“This is a dagger that I accidentally enchanted with faint glow, it can be used as a substitute torch if you ever in dire need of light. But that’s not all, it also has a one time use, where if you pour mana into it and say flashlight, it will blind any that look at it, but that will also get rid of the faint glow affect, so I wouldn’t use it haphazardly.”

Gernir resheathed the dagger and slid it over to me.

“First, flashlight being the trigger word is funny, secondly, I don’t think I can afford something like this.”

“Oh please, it’s fine, the enchantment is really nothing special, I’ll also just charge you the same as a normal dagger, besides I would rather know it’s valuable to a greenhorn instead of it sitting under this counter collecting dust like the rest of the wares.”

“Thanks Gernir, I appreciate it.”

I paid for all the equipment Gernir provided me, I attached the dagger to my belt loop, flung the quiver with arrows over my shoulder, and carried the bow in my hand. I was finally equipped with a real adventurers weapon. As I was leaving the store waving goodbye, Gernir called out to me.

“Stay safe out there Yuri.”

“Will do, thanks again Gernir and Vandal.” I shouted loudly as I left, hoping Vandal would hear me in the back.

After leaving Gernir’s smithy, I made my way to my next new destination, a barbershop. If I was gonna be an archer, then I couldn’t keep having my hair flop in front of my eyes. It took a little longer than I was hoping to get a haircut, mainly because the barber wasn’t to happy about me having weapons on me, but enough begging allowed me to get a quick haircut, I went with the short and messy look, don’t have a name for it, but it doesn’t look terrible and it’s out of my eyes, so I’ll take it.

After my haircut I went and found Vikir doing some shopping for food in the market, he usually shops at the same stalls after breakfast.

“Hey Vikir.”

Vikir turned and saw me.

“Sigh what’s with the hair and the bow?”

“I’m starting my master plan.”

“So you’re master plan was losing an eye and then becoming an archer?”

“. . . yeah, pretty much, good plan right?” I said smiling with confidence.

“No, but sadly it does make some sense.”

“See. Also what’s your favorite color?”

“Uh, it’s purple?”

“Oh, lucky.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”