Chapter 20

They designated two empty spaces of the cave to the guards and the Rising Moon. The collected things by Eleonora filled around 7 similarly sized spaces with a lot spilling into the cave itself. Walking towards their space Selmar looked around, seeing paintings, instruments, weapons, clothes, armor, odd machines, metals and other materials. Everything showed signs of long aging, most of what she had collected stood the test of time though. There wasn’t enough food for all of them, a problem that needed to be addressed first. Selmar delegated a couple guards to sort and order all of what she had collected. The rest would prepare their quarters for the coming months or longer.

Eleonora didn’t stay put either. ‘Everyone’s gonna walk through here all the time now.’ She took one of her chests and moved it to a secluded part of the cave and put it there. After another three trips, she had her couch, chests and her closet there. ‘I do trust them…but just to be sure.’ She went and got enough metal of each kind for a heavy weapon like her own. ‘What about armor though…’ she looked at the old armor she wore and thought she might want a different one at some point. “Maybe one of them knows about metals.” She said to herself as she sat on her couch. All the beds and most of the furniture she’d found was rotten or just dust at this point but one of the nicer houses had this leather couch in it. She wondered often what kind of beast or animal possessed such a time resistant hide.

Eleonora got up and left her newly claimed part of the cave, asking the next best guard about the metal. She found a woman moving around crates and started talking right after she set down the crate. “I’m sorry, do you know anything about metals?” the woman looked at her puzzled “Oh hey there...Eleonora was it? I know as much as the next best bloke but I think George has some experience in smithing. Might be worth asking him.” Elly thanked her and moved on, walking through the now very active caves around all the things she’d collected in her two years. ‘Finally some space’ she noticed as she could pass through a cave that was previously overloaded with paintings and books.

“George?” she asked two guards that passed her. One pointed to their backs. She found him at the end of the cave, standing over a small table where another guard and himself were drawing the outlines of their new quarters. “We’re not including a bar...” he said just as his attention shifted to the new arrival. “Why no bar?” Elly started as she closed in on the table. “Wow...not bad...having so many people is certainly a help...and I assume experience in internal architecture?” the other guard grinned and nodded “See George? At least some can appreciate my refined skills!” he said before George shooed him off. “How may I help our most beloved benefactor?”

“I heard you have experience as a blacksmith. I’d like to know something about the metals I’ve collected here.” he nodded and gestured for her to follow “How much do you know?” they reached another cave where boxes were still being stacked. “Nothing really...I fought with wood before finding this thing” she gestured to her halberd that hung from her back. “I see…well let’s start with colors then, you’re not colorblind I assume?” she shook her head “No...is that a thing?” George opened a chest and took out some sort of metal “Apparently so, heard about it from someone who saw a guy beat up because he fucked with some dark red adventurers. But good, well this is simply steel...I say simple but for most this is the best they’ll ever get and it’s damn good steel you’ve got stored up here.” he put the steel back and opened some other crates that had their contents written on their tops.

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“This is bronze, you know the adventurer ranks?” she nodded “Good, lowest rank. It’s got no real use in fighting to be honest...against steel that is. I’d rather fight with bronze than wood. I’ve heard it has uses in alchemy...Selmar once mentioned something about his ability and using bronze but I’m not sure about that.” he put the bar in his hand back and got another one “Silver, well it’s silver. If you’re up against a demon you should prefer it to steel, anything stronger is better though. Silver coating on the other hand….” he got another metal, a light blue shining one “This...this is Amarith, and what you’ve collected here is worth….well a lot. And many guards will be able to get a massive upgrade to their gear thanks to your efforts….at least that’s what I hope will happen with it.” he put it back “Amarith is pretty much a better form of steel...in any way...don’t ever mention something as simple as that to a blacksmith though, they’ll lynch you.”

“Now this is called Dark Rose, dark red shine to it and it marks the second highest adventurer rank. You know why the tags of dark reds are only coated?” she shook her head “Because the metal is fucking heavy...how you even managed to get all that up here...” she looked at the metal and took out a bar ‘It is heavier now that he mentions it, but it can’t be that much.’ she thought as he continued his explanation “It’s likely one of the strongest metals out there...at least of those I know of. People don’t use it because it’s both rare and much much heavier than most other metals. Some use a layer of it on top of shields or armor. I wouldn’t suggest it to a rouge type or any warrior that needs to move really. Oh and it’s one of the hardest metals to work with, even more so than this...” he held up a greenish slab of metal “This….this is Vanom Steel and holy baby let me tell you.” he got closer to her “You’re sure you just want to give this all away? Because this piece in my hand alone is worth a fortune.” she shrugged “I don’t really mind it...” she said ‘They’d just kill me and take it all if I refused. Like this I seem like the benevolent traveler plus I get to keep more wealth than I’ll ever need.’ Eleonora didn’t explain her train of thought to George as he rambled on about the qualities of Vanom Steel ‘It’s light and not as strong as the Dark Rose...guess I’ll go with red...fits me anyway.’

“There are some other materials you’ve found...like the chest plate you’re wearing but an expert will have to look over those. Might be alloys, rarer metals or something we’ve not seen before at all.” Elly thanked him for the explanation and went back to her cave, leaving him to his many new responsibilities ‘Like building a bar...no way they’ll accept a no there...not after three years in the north.’ The grinning woman whistled as she twirled around her halberd, reaching her sofa.

‘So Dark Rose for the halberd it is...armor though...might not be the best idea with the rose. Even with my strength there is no benefit to using it...with the weapon it’s weight will heighten its strike power but armor?’ she sat there for a while before deciding to postpone that issue ‘Vanom maybe? But then my eyes would be less striking...’ grinning she yawned and made herself comfortable for a quick nap.