"Bah! 'Master Seloph' my left nutsack! That wench can hardly control a fookin' torch, let along a whole blasted forge! Don't even get me started on her hypocrisy! A fookin' elf has the gall to refuse all demis tutelage? Arrogant bitch is what she is, not a bleedin' master blacksmith!" Grimsley claimed as he downed a pint of his homebrew dwarven mead.

Currently, Lone and Soph were sat in the man's house's very dirty and messy living room-slash-forge. A peculiar combination of rooms, that was for certain, but who were they to complain considering the building's size?

As soon as they had found a seat, Grimsley had poured three pints of mead which was from his hometown, supposedly. He handed one to Lone, one to Soph, then kept the last one for himself.

Lone explained how he had first gone to Master Seloph's shop only to get turned away very rudely, so he expressed his thanks since Grimsley was at least willing to hear him out.

Soph had her eyes glued to her drink as both of her hands held the extremely well-carved mug which was containing it. 'Lone never creates alcohol unless he needs it to cook... Maybe I should have a few sips?'

The dwarf sighed heavily as he got up to refill his already empty mug. As he did that, Lone was busy thinking. 'Master Seloph is an elf? Is she a High or Wood Elf? Maybe another species I don't know about? So not all elves live on world trees, huh? That's good to know. I wonder if she was exiled like the ones back on the island...'

Grimsley groaned in pleasure as he sat down and cracked his back before he slouched and sipped on his mead. "Well, Laddie. Ye want tae be ma apprentice, aye?"

Lone nodded. "Yes. I'd love to." He took a big gulp of his drink as he looked around a bit. 'I wonder where the other person is that Soph detected? Through that door? Maybe they're sleeping...'

"Okay. Ah dinnae mind, but what's in it for me? Ah've time tae spare, aye, but not enough tae just throw at some whelp with nary a care in the world. Primal's be damned if ah do this fer free. Ah'm sure ye understand," Grimsley said as he used his sleeve to clean up the mead that had missed his mouth and ended up on his beard.

Lone smiled. "Of course. Like I said, I can pay you. How does a gold coin sound?"

"It sounds like ye only wanne get apprenticed tae me for a month or two. Practice materials arnae cheap, Laddie. Ah also need tae go buy a contracting scroll, an' those buggers sell for ten-silvers, and that's even after ah've gone an' haggled it down at the black market," Grimsley claimed as he finished his drink once again.

'Black market? That's interesting...' Lone frowned lightly as he pondered. "Well, I can give you more money if you need it. I'm not the royal mint, but I'm also not poor. A month or two should be enough for me to learn the basics, right?"

"Hahaha! 'Ah'm naw the royal mint'! Ah'll fookin' remember that one, Laddie." Grimsley bounced back up to his feet and returned to his mead keg. He smacked it a few times in anger when the tap only filled up half of his mug before running dry. "Aw, fook off! Ah'll need tae order another bleedin' barrel today anaw."

He slumped back down into his chair and said, "Aye. If ye've talent, ye should be smithin' iron in a month or two no trouble. Maybe even steel."

'I bet with that much time, I can get advanced or maybe even expert rank skills in this shit. That'll be a good enough base for me to experiment on my own with,' Lone decided internally. "Perfect. A gold coin it is."

Lone took out the promised coin from his pocket and placed it on a nearby table. "What time do we start?"

Grimsley held his neck as he thought. "Well, no time like the present, aye? May as well ge ya an introductory lesson now if ye'd like."

Lone shook his head. "I actually have other plans today. I honestly didn't expect to get myself apprenticed right now. I thought it'd take a few days of showing my worth. Should I come back tomorrow or the day after?"

Grimsley gave him an odd look. "Ye'r a good sort, huh? Cannae say ah hate that. The wee missy is as quiet as a moose though. Vastly different fae yerself. Anyway, aye, tomorrow morn'll do. Dinnae ever come by in the afternoon or evenin' though. Ah'm busy completing commissions at those hours. Ah'll cancel this whole shite if you ever break that rule, ya hear me, Laddie?"

"Yeah, I understand. We'll be back tomorrow morning then," Lone said as he finished his drink and got up.

Grimsley stayed seated as he glanced at Soph. "She'll come back anaw? Ah'm only teachin' ye, Laddie, naw her anaw."

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Lone smiled. "That's fine. She'll just watch. I don't feel safe keeping her out of my sights. Milindo is a harsh place for demis, true, but that doesn't mean that it's perfectly safe for beautiful young human girls as well."

Grimsley shrugged. "True 'nuff. Ah cannae say that ah find her te be in ma tastes, but ah'm a Stone Dwarf, so that's naw surprising ah suppose." He cracked his neck as he said, "Well then, see ya tomorrow morn', Laddie."

"Yes, see you then," Lone replied.

He pulled Soph by the hand, and once they were back on the streets, he asked her a question. "Out of curiosity, where exactly was the second person in Grimsley's workshop?"

"Hick... In the... Hehehe. In the basement sleeping on a bed, I think... Hick..." Lone was shocked by what he got as an answer.

Glancing down at his little companion, he saw that Soph's eyes were half open and her face was obscenely red as she wobbled along next to him. "Did one mug of mead really get you drunk? Did it have a high alcoholic-percentage and my BR healed the intoxication, or are you just a lightweight?"

"I'm very light! And small! And cute... Hehehe... Lone told me I'm cute... He tells me that a lot, you know? Hick. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... Like now, but a different kind of warm and fuzzy..." Soph almost fell over as she rambled on, but Lone leaned down and wrapped an arm around her waist.

He picked her up into a princess carry and laughed a little bit. "What will I do with you now? I doubt we can go to a bookstore or the library like this without making a scene, can we? And you're not a fan of The Summoning Room, now are you? Hmm..."

He glanced at her face and saw that she had fallen asleep as he was holding her. "Huh... Well, I guess we should go back home for now. I can always visit the bookstores and the library tomorrow after Grimsley's lesson."

----------------------------------------

Just as Lone was exiting the slums with Soph still in his arms, several scruffy men and boys wearing rags who were covering their faces with clothes circled him on the street.

All of the beggars or passersby acted like nothing was even happening as they went about their daily business.

Lone frowned heavily as the men and boys drew daggers or very poor quality swords. "If possible, I'd like to talk about this, but I have a feeling none of you would be very interested in doing that, huh?"

One of the skinnier men stepped forwards and laughed softly. "We ain't so unreasonable. If you silently follow us, then sure, we can talk all ya want."

Lone shook his head. "I don't want to. I have a distinct impression that you people don't exactly have the purest of intentions."

"Smart. If you don't follow us, then don't blame us for gettin' a bit violent. You two should sell for a pretty penny, but I'm not too fussed if the merch is a little bit damaged when it arrives," the man threatened.

'Hmm... I have two choices, it would seem. Choice one, go with them and find a good chance to run away. This way, I can avoid revealing too many secrets, but it could end badly if I fuck it up. Option two is that I unsummon Soph, take out my swordspear, and frighten them off with the threat of death. This will kind of reveal The Summoning Room and my Dimensional Storage, but will these slummers know that or spread it about? Hmm... I guess I'd rather take a far-reaching threat over a close-reaching one,' Lone decided internally.

Immediately, Soph's body disappeared and was replaced by Lone's expertly-crafted steel swordspear. "If anyone comes any closer, you're going to lose a limb," Lone claimed in a low and intimidating voice. 'If this isn't enough, I might be forced to use Bone Armour...'

"What the hell..." the leading thug mumbled as his brain caught up with what had happened. His face distorted with rage. "Scary weapon, but who're you to threaten us? Where'd you hide the girl?"

Lone smirked confidently. "Ever heard of illusion magic? I was planning to catch some of 'his' men to torture for the info on 'his' location, but I didn't expect over a dozen of you. Looks like I've got no choice but to kill four or five of you then flee before hunting the rest of you down when my partner arrives, huh?"

"Shit!" The leading man's forehead was covered in sweat as his wrathful face morphed into one of fear and dread. "The boss'll fuckin' kill me... It was a set-up, boys! Run!"

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Acting] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 2.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Acting] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 3.

Lone calmly stood there with his swordspear in hand as he watched the thugs scatter like flies. 'Holy shit. Holy. Fucking. Shit. That actually worked? There's actually someone behind them? Wow. Bluff of the century or fucking what?'

He kept holding his weapon as he swaggered out of the slums, keeping up his tough act. Once he was safely back to the living quarters of Ranton, he found a secluded alleyway for a bit of privacy.

While he was there, Lone summoned Soph again and then unsummoned her with a note saying that he'd let her out of The Summoning Room as soon as he returned to their inn, so if she woke up before then, she just had to sit tight and play some games or start reading one of the storybooks that they'd bought back in Ros.

He had given them to her and she had left them in The Summoning Room after she'd shown some mild interest in reading.

It was very interesting how Soph explained the words to Lone. According to her, the ambient mana in the books was distinctly different from the ambient mana in the ink, making it easy to differentiate them. As a result, reading was incredibly easy for her since even though she was reading the words' mana, the world still translated it perfectly in her head.

Thankfully, there were plenty of lanterns and candles so she shouldn't have a panic attack from the darkness. It was odd, but none of the flames in The Summoning Room ever went out unless done so manually.

"Well... I guess I'll just go back to the inn now and continue my experiments. They utterly failed last night, but I'm not one to quit," Lone muttered to himself as he strapped his swordspear to his back, shoved his hands into his pockets, and then proceeded to stroll back to their inn.