CHAPTER 35 FITTING

Penny frowned, “He saved my life, Lorin.” She placed her hands on her hips, giving off the air of a sassy child.

This time it was Lorin’s turn to frown.

“Besides, it’s not like he’s actually an elf anyw-” Penny quickly slapped a hand over her mouth before glancing at me.

I just laughed, “It’s okay, Penny. If you and Garrus trust him then it doesn’t matter to me.”

She nodded but still seemed a bit embarrassed about spilling my secret so easily.

“Uh, do you wanna explain or should I?” She asked me.

“You can.”

“Alright then, so it’s like this-”

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By the end of the story Lorin was stroking his beard thoughtfully before glancing between the two of us.

“Y’ aren’t yankin’ my chain are ya?” His eyes were squinting a little between us both.

I just shrugged, “Not like we have a particular reason to lie about this. If I didn’t want you to know anything about me it seems better just to not say anything than make up an unbelievable lie in the first place. And honestly? I highly doubt I’m the first person this has happened to in some capacity.”

He stared me down with deliberate intensity. I held his gaze levelly, I’m not sure if he was trying to play some mind game or just trying to discern if I’d crack under pressure and give something away.

It’s kinda hard to give something away when you’re not hiding anything though.

Eventually he just snorted and turned away, “Fair enough. I believe ya. Penny isn’t the type of kid to lie anyways. Well, glad you could make it back safe, kid. Although I guess I have tall and lanky there to thank for that.”

I shook my head, “Honestly, it was just returning the favor. And currently I’m still in debt to them two to one. Besides, I’d have a hard time sleeping at night if I didn’t put my best effort into saving her. Hell, even if I did put my best effort out and still failed I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.”

“That’s a dangerous way to look at somethin’.” Lorin retorted.

“I disagree. I think I know what you mean though. I can’t save everyone, especially not at the level that I’m at now. But how can I expect myself to save anyone else if I wasn’t able to save her? If I can’t start with the person in front of me, almost quite literally, then how am I going to eventually be able to move to people marginally beyond my normal reach?”

Lorin stopped for a moment, before letting out a guffaw.

“I like you kid, what did ye’ say your name was again?”

“Alexander, although most people just call me Alex.”

“Alex, yeah that don’t really sound like an Long-Ears name now that I hear it. You don’t look like a good sorts, but that’s just the Elf part of y’ coming to the front, ye’ sound like a good sorts at the very least.”

I huffed a bit of air through my nose at his declaration.

“So what are y’all here for anyways, doubt it was to introduce the newbie to me.”

“Alex needs to get fitted. Currently he’s just been running into every fight in what he’s wearing now.” Penny answered before I could say anything.

“I see I see, yeah that’s probably not the best move to pull. What kind are we thinking? Or rather, what kind of fighter is he?”

Penny answered again for me, “He’s a spell-blade, or he’s got the startings of one anyways.”

Lorin huffed, “Naturally. Hardly ever hear about an Elf wanting to take a hit. None that purely focus on the physical aspects of their classes, always some sort of combination.”

“Whatever,” He said, “Normally I’d suggest some form of chain, or maybe if you wanted to go heavier a splint-mail or a half-plate. But even with your strength scaling as it probably would you probably want something even lighter than those. And knowing that you’ve got elf blood running through your veins now I’d assume you want leather?”

He glanced at me trying to get a gauge on my reaction.

I smiled and shrugged, “Nailed it in one.”

He snorted again, but it was more amused than anything else.

“Fair enough, I’ve seen my fair share of long-ears before. I don’t currently have anything that’ll fit you, so I’ll have to get some measurements. Should only take me a few days. Maybe two if I don’t get any other projects in the meantime.”

“Alright, step over here and I’ll measure ya out.”

Lorin indicated a place next to the counter that had a little box drawn on the floor. The next fifteen minutes or so were him directing me into various poses while using a measuring string to get the exact dimensions for the armor.

It didn’t take long before it was over. Lorin was putting some notes down on a sheet, as we talked over the final detail of the armor. Pricing.

“Hmmm, I think 45 silver seems like a fair price. Two days of work plus resources. You’ll have until the armor is finished to get the amount ready, which should be plenty of time for your group.”

I nodded, “Can I just pay now?”

“If you’ve already got the amount then sure.”

I fished out a gold coin and placed it on the counter. Lorin just eyed it then me.

I raised an eyebrow, “What, I didn't have anything smaller after they paid us for our last mission.”

He snorted again before breaking out the change for the coin.

“We done here?” Lorin asked looking between myself and Penny.

Penny spared me a glance before replying, “Yeah I think so. We’ll see you in a few days then?”

Lorin just huffed like a stereotypical grumpy dwarf, not bothering to reply to Penny. She didn’t seem to be offended, I assumed this was just probably how he acted all the time.

Penny grabbed my hand again as we stepped outside the door.

“Well, that’s that. It’s starting to get pretty late again, you wanna go get something to eat?”

I looked up at the sky. The sun had passed its peak a long time ago and was sinking into the horizon.

“Sure, starting to feel a little hungry myself anyways.” I said with a smile.

The rest of our little afternoon date went very well. We chatted about little things, she told me stories of her growing up and all the antics she got up too.

“Oh, mother was furious with me at the time. It was my best dress that I had, and there was a wedding ceremony we were expected to attend the next day. I guess it wasn't unexpected that I wasn’t allowed to play with Jordan again for the next several months. Mother had me clean all the dirt I tracked everywhere and then made me clean the dress myself as well as punishment, I wasn’t allowed to do anything else until it was as spotless as it was before I got it dirty.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Penny had plenty of stories like that. She had gotten up to plenty of mischief in her early years as a child. What seemed to be left unsaid was what her relationship was with her family now. All her stories were about things that had happened years ago, nothing that involved them recently.

I decided not to bring it up, if it was something she wanted to talk about she would tell me.

The night came to its eventual end and we ended up back in front of the inn that I stayed at.

“I had fun tonight, Alex.”

“I did as well, we’ll have to do this again sometime soon.”

We stood there holding hands for a moment.

Before I could change my mind I stepped forward and kissed her. She didn’t seem the least surprised when it happened and instead leaned into it slightly.

It seemed to last forever, but all too short at the same time. She gave me a slightly bashful smile as we pulled away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Alex.” She said as she walked away.

Today was a good day.

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I take back everything I said about this stupid fucking arm.

It was impossible to use for combat. The thing looked perfectly fine and was… Sophisticated to a degree. But using it for anything other than broad gestures was almost impossible.

“Maybe you just need more practice with it, this is your first time using it after all. That and you probably need time to let the skill grow.” Garrus spoke with a bemused smile on his face.

I glared at him before directing my attention back to my arm. I just really struggled with getting it to do what I wanted it too. Move the way I wanted, hit the way I wanted, swing the way I wanted, hold things, etc.

Maybe Garrus had a point and I just needed more practice with both the skill and the arm. It didn’t make it any less frustrating however.

Garrus stood opposite me, we decided against using weapons for now and he was just lightly sparring against me. Although a light spar for him was a title match for me. I was already sweating pretty badly by the time we decided to take a break.

If there was one good thing about this arm though, it's that it’s durable. Despite taking several heavy blows that probably would’ve hurt my normal arm it hadn’t even cracked.

“Come on, let's go for a few more rounds. Maybe you’ll figure something out.”

I sighed but put my hands up in a stance and got up onto the balls of my feet. Garrus was holding himself back a lot, he mainly let me rush forward and attack him while he deflected and tried to counter hit me.

He hit me more than I hit him.

I rushed forward leading with my right arm in a straight jab. Garrus casually slapped it away, as he did that I stepped in trying to keep him from being able to swing.

Something I forgot to account for was the system. Just because we were roughly the same height and he wasn’t overly muscular, did not mean we were even close to being the same strength.

Garrus just pressed his arms to my chest and heaved. I went flying backwards. I landed on my back and bounced before managing to roll into a kneeling stance.

Garrus just gave me a ‘really?’ kind of look.

“How did you expect that to work out for you?” He asked me.

I sighed while standing up and brushing myself off.

“Mainly I just forgot how bullshit the system is in some regards. Without the system, people's bodies have to follow certain laws of physics. One of those being that people the same height and weight in muscle tend to be the same strength. However, here that’s obviously not the case. So I was trying to get in and mess with your reach but a light shove from you is enough to knock me off my feet rather than needing your full strength to accomplish the same thing.”

He nodded as I explained what I was thinking.

“Well get back up, let's keep going.”

I ran towards him again feinting with my right in the straight jab again before crossing over with my left and trying to slip past his counter punch in turn. Garrus saw it coming from a mile away, whether from experience or just a difference in reflexive speed he easily managed to dodge my left before aiming a roundhouse kick at my side.

I lightly hopped, putting my hand on his leg to push off and balance myself in the air before landing and instantly spreading my legs into a half split to dodge his other leg as it came around to my shoulder.

After his foot passed overhead I dodged backwards with a single hop and then dashed forward putting myself perpendicular to his body before rotating to slide around behind him. Garrus reacted without even looking by throwing his elbow backwards.

I grinned, before reaching out to grab his elbow before it ended it’s rotation. I pushed trying to make it carry on turning, I placed one of my feet behind his and planted my body to forcefully rotate his and throw him to the ground. I tensed, pushed, and it was like pushing against a brick wall.

“Fucking stupid, unfair strength advantages.” I growled before trying to jump backwards again.

Garrus just laid an arm on my shoulder before I could make it more than a couple of inches.

I just sighed again.

He allowed me to keep some of my dignity by not throwing me to the ground again.

“Hmmmm,” He hummed thoughtfully, “Honestly, you’re hand to hand isn’t bad considering the circumstances. I’d even wager that you’re one of the better fighters for your level given that you don’t necessarily have any skills dedicated to it currently.”

He was right about that, it was actually kind of strange that I hadn’t gotten a general skill for it and voiced my thoughts as such.

“That’s not surprising, were you specifically aiming to try and get one? Is it something you even really want at this point?”

“Uhhh, no not really. If I’m having to fight with my fists, something has gone horribly wrong. Even if I lose my sword I still have magic to fall back on to cover myself. If I’m completely out of mana and my weapon is gone? I’ve already lost.”

“It’d probably be better to have the option and not use it than need it and not have it though.” Garrus countered.

“I’d rather just run away at that point.”

“And if you’re not able too?

“Then I’ll go down swinging.”

Garrus frowned at that.

“You can’t realistically expect me to guarantee a win in every single situation, Garrus.”

“I guess that’s fair.” He said, but I could tell he wasn’t really satisfied with that answer.

“That’s probably enough sparring for me, you’ve probably got a good enough idea of how it handles currently. At least for a first impression. Probably test how well it conducts your magic.”

I nodded.

I took a few steps off to the side where I raised my wooden arm and then fired off a [Paralyzing Blast].

Somewhat surprisingly, it actually did come through my arm. It might have something to do with the fact that the arm was crafted with my magic, so it was functionally a part of me. But maybe I was reading too far into it and I just needed something convenient to properly work as a catalyst to cast spells, which is why my sword worked for some skills but not others.

“Excellent! Looks like you’re able to use it to shoot out your skills again. That’s good.”

“I think that’s good enough for some basic testing. I’ve got some ideas for you going forward. Let me know what you think. Each morning you should create a new arm. Rather than waiting with an arm that’s only, by the barest meanings of the word, barely functional, you should be getting rid of the one from the previous day and make a new one. This gives you an opportunity to work on your skill and test out ideas on how to make better ones.”

“Also, until you get your armor we should come out here and spend several hours sparring and working on your coordination with your new arm. The sooner you start getting comfortable with it the better. It’ll only be for a day or two anyways, shouldn’t take Lorin that long to make it for you. After that I think I’ve got another mission lined up for us, so we’ll start prepping for that afterwards and set out on our next mission.”

I didn’t really have to think that hard about it. It was solid advice.

“I like it, I’ll have to see if I can find a way to make the arm more quickly, or at least get the making of it down more quickly. It probably doesn’t need to be as detailed as it is right now, I just need something functional that can also move smoothly, an artistic design probably isn’t necessary for that.”

Half of what I said was more just mental notes for myself rather than Garrus but he nodded along.

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“Are you guys done yet? I’m booooooored.”

Penny yelled from off to the side where she was idly rolling around in the grass.

Karif and George had declined to come out today, they had something to do but Garrus had mostly just brushed it off with the vague notion of ‘stuff.’

“You know you’re always welcome to join us rather than lazing about.” Garrus yelled back at her.

“Nah, I’d win if I joined in.”

“Pffft, in your dreams maybe.” I retorted.

Penny stopped rolling, her eyes settling on me in an intense stare.

“You looking to get your ass beat, pretty boy?”

I looked at her and feigned a surprised expression, “You can reach that high?” I asked incredulously.

She was completely still for several moments just looking at me. Then, almost faster than my eyes could track, she flipped herself onto her feet and launched herself towards me.

I instantly activated every skill I had that would help me create space, including placing multiple barriers in her way as I dashed away from her, lightning streaking off of me as I tore across the open field.

I didn’t make it far.