Exill hurried to the Central Market in the Inner City not knowing the predicament Iris was facing back at the Guild. He wandered around the weapon stalls until he spotted a glimpse of his quarry’s red hair, finding her comparing a large steel buckler against a similarly sized heater shield.
“Have you made up your mind?”
“Mn.”
Exill [Appraised] the steel buckler and hard leather cuirass that came out to 800 Denars. He nodded at her sensible choice.
“Good choice, I can fix your shield if it breaks. Have you thought about the material and design for your sword?”
“How much would it cost to make it out of mithril?”
Exill paused as he took out his clay tablet and wrote the prices of various metals down for Envy to easily understand.
Ingot Price (Denar) Bronze 80 Iron 100 Steel 150 Mithril 250 Adamant 450
“You see these prices here? This is per ingot. It also depends on the purity of the metal, but this is a rough guide price. A dagger will require one ingot, while a shortsword would require two. This means that a Mithril shortsword would cost around 530 in materials, accounting for the handle and leather strips.”
Envy nodded, her scarlet eyes burning with desire. It looked like her mind was made up.
Exill shopped around for basic smithing tools and purchased a mithril bar for himself to upgrade the spearhead. It all came out at 450 Denars, reducing his total funds to 750. He would need to work hard to pay for rent, Diallo’s loan, and the store’s renovation, which he estimated to total 3,000 Denars.
Exill sighed several times as he walked home to the Smithy. He dearly hoped things would turn out alright because it would be incredibly awkward if he couldn’t make next month’s rent.
He assigned both Blacksmith and Expert Blacksmith as his active jobs and set to work heating the forge as soon as he returned home.
“Envy, I’m sorry I forgot, but can you grab a small cask of oil so I can quench the blade? The Tanner’s should sell some cheap.”
Exill forged late until the night, working a continuous twelve hours with short breaks to complete both Envy’s shortsword and his mithril spear tip. [Appraising] the shortsword, he was surprised to find it had a market value of 950 Denars and held one empty slot for enchantment.
It would be profitable for him if he could sell this. The only thing lacking was a blacksmith’s touchmark, an imprint on the blade signifying the smithy of manufacture. He had handled one while working at Ham’s Smithy and was familiar with the intricate runes signifying the dwarf’s heritage.
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“Without that… I guess this is the most that could be earned.” [Price-Range] unlike [Appraisal] provided a clearer picture of the mithril sword’s value, but had the downside of consuming a lot more mana.
Mithril Shortsword Price (Denar) High 1550 Median 950 Low 665
Unable to prove the sword’s provenance, the best he could hope for was 665 denars in the open market, barely worth the cost of labour. There was a reason wares produced directly by Master Blacksmiths held such a premium. It was the only guaranteed way to gain an item that could hold two enchantments.
Exill had been surprised to learn the ability to see empty enchantment slots was not common to everyone with [Appraise], and put it down to being a residual benefit from [Planeswalker]. If he could find a way to counterfeit blacksmith touchmarks – there was definitely easy money to be made there.
He reluctantly handed over the sword with both hands to the Vampire, whose scarlet eyes glittered in the light of the forge.
“Do you like it?”
“Mn, the balance isn’t perfect, but it will do.” Envy disguised her excitement with nonchalance, she knew complimenting made him big-headed and insufferable.
“You should have told me where you wanted the centre of balance before I annealed it! Regardless, it’s decent considering it is my first sword so pay up.” Exill’s ego took a hit, but he adamantly held a sooty hand out for payment.
Pocketing the labour fee of 200 Denars, he affixed the new spear tip at the end of his haft. Unlike the leaf shaped blade of the former tip, this one was barbed at the trailing edges to inflict maximal tearing damage.
The flames of the forge were extinguished and Exill crawled into bed and promptly fell asleep.
***
Exill groaned as the sound of knocking woke him up the next morning. A low murmur could be heard when the front door opened, and two sets of footsteps climbed the stairs. He swept hair from his forehead and tried to rub the sleep out of his bleary eyes.
“Good morning.” Iris stammered a nervous greeting as he came out of his room, “I came to check up on a few things from our discussion yesterday.”
Envy was leaning against the banister with a sweat soaked tunic and the new sword sheathed at her side. She had probably been practicing her form while he slept in. He gestured that he would be alright, and she climbed down the stairs to continue her exercise.
“I didn’t expect to see you so early today. I’m sorry for my appearance.” He apologized for his dishevelled state.
Iris examined the young man in front of her. There were dark circles under his eyes and his perpetually tousled hair was swept back revealing his forehead. One arm of the tunic was rolled up to reveal taut biceps that flexed with every gesture. Her mind blanked as the carefully rehearsed script fled her thoughts.
“I… I talked to some of our members about your renovation plans, and they should be dropping by this morning to give you a quote.”
“That was fast, thank you very much.” He nodded appreciatively and waited for her to continue. She nervously glanced back down the stairs and approached him, holding the two tickets to the play aloft. It had caused her a great deal of grief yesterday and she was determined to put the matter to rest.
“Erm… I wanted to ask you…” She hesitantly began, “Do you think Envy would like to go watch the play with me?”
Exill blinked. Dumbstruck by the imagery of the apathetic Vampire enjoying a cheesy romance. He carefully shrugged, “Why don’t we go ask her?”
They climbed down the stairs where Iris repeated her question.
“Mn. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
The two humans were equally astonished, but Iris recovered first. There weren’t many women in the Guild, and she was eager to make a new friend who was close to her age. Besides, she secretly admired the Vampire and thought she was very, very cool.
“Ah! then I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. I’ll head off now, sorry for bothering you so early in the day.”
Exill waved her goodbye and sat down on the bench by the entryway, examining Envy’s fluid sword arts as she continued her practice. Feeling his gaze on her, she eventually sheathed her sword, turning to face him.
“How does it feel to go on a date?” He mischievously asked, a sly smile creeping up the corner of his mouth.
“Tch.” Envy clicked her tongue in disgust, then climbed up the stairs to wipe herself down.