‘Never would’ve thought I would buy clothes from that man...’ Rin thought.

In the end, Rin decided to ignore the conversation with Malkorn while Merial had bought her a total of three outfits.

One was the blue dress she had tried on earlier. The second was a black cloak and the third was a dark dress with short sleeves, decorated with floral patterns which finished with a layered black skirt.

'Where are we...?'

Realizing that they were walking with no direction in mind, Rin paused her steps.

“Which way was the smithy’s union?” Rin asked.

“Ah, you want to do something with that horn, right?” Merial asked as Rin nodded, “Alright we’re on the right track anyways, it should be just further up ahead.”

In just a few minutes, the two reached the building of the union which housed different types of blacksmiths. They walked through the building hearing a multitude of sounds. Primarily the clanging of hammers on anvils, but there were also the sounds of people discussing trade.

Looking for a smith to work with, Rin used identify on the blacksmiths she passed.

[Apprentice Blacksmith – lvl 9]

[Apprentice Blacksmith – lvl 12]

[Beginner Blacksmith – lvl 14]

Most of them had their wares placed on racks, but when she looked through them and examined the weaponry. Rin found them all to be at a very low quality, each a fraction of her sword’s strength that she got from the wolf boss.

“Why are the blacksmiths at such a low level? The items are all crap too,” Rin asked.

“We’re only on the first floor right now, these guys are all beginner blacksmiths,” Merial explained and pointed in front of them, “Come on, the stairs are just over here.”

Walking up the stairs they reached the second floor and soon were hit by a wave of heat.

‘It's hot...’ Rin thought and wiped away the sweat that had formed on her forehead.

Activating her ice aura, she created a cool area around her and pulled out a drink. Just before she was about to take a sip, she heard a rustling sound coming from the elf. The ranger had taken off her cloak to reveal a much more blessed body than hers.

“Like what you see?” Merial teased, sensing the girl’s gaze.

Rolling her eyes, Rin pushed Merial away and walked over to a female blacksmith clanging away at an anvil.

[Blacksmith – lvl 25]

She looked to be incredibly concentrated in her work thus Rin chose not to interrupt her and instead walked over to her wares. Examining the items, she found them to be much better than what was downstairs, but it still didn’t satisfy her.

‘Still not good enough,’ Rin thought.

Looking around the floor, many other smiths had a long queue of people. She figured that it would be annoying to wait, she searched once more and found a lit room without a line. Walking towards it Merial suddenly grabbed Rin’s shoulder.

“You might not want to go to that one,” Merial warned.

“Why not? There are no customers in front meaning that I wouldn’t have to wait,” Rin replied.

“Well, it’s just that he’s a little weird, different, I’ll be waiting for you to finish. See you later,” Merial said quickly, scurrying away in a blink,

Confused, Rin didn’t know what to think as she started to walk towards the workshop.

Reaching the workshop, Rin opened the door as a little bell rang.

Peaking inside, the place looked to be empty other than a chair and a table with some bread on top of it. There was no sign of anybody being there save the clanging sound of metal coming from a room in the back.

“Hello!?” Rin called into the workshop.

Not immediately getting a response, she waited for a moment but nothing happened as the hammering continued without a pause.

‘I guess I'll just go in,’ Rin shrugged.

Stepping into the room, the wooden floor creaked under her weight as she headed to the back. The door of the room was already swung wide open while the inside was made with a dark cobble stone. At the end of the room was a forge that spewed intense flames. While at the center sat a boy on a bench, clanging away at an anvil with his hammer.

Knock... Knock...

Rin tapped the doorframe with her knuckles in an attempt to get the boy’s attention, but he still didn’t seem to notice her.

‘This little brat...’ she grumbled.

Deciding to walk in front of the anvil, she stood in front of the boy and examined him.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

[Blacksmith – lvl 44]

‘Pretty high for his age,’ she thought, quite impressed.

The boy looked to be thirteen years of age and had curly dark hair the color of charcoal. While his eyes were covered by his hair, his visible facial features were quite soft although they were blemished with smidges of soot.

The young smith looked to be quite immersed in his work as he hadn’t yet noticed the girl standing in front of him. While Rin had a smile that had unbeknownst crept onto her face. She had always enjoyed watching a dedicated craftsman do their job.

But right now wasn’t the time for any of that, she had came to find a smith with a purpose in mind.

“Yo,” she said, flicking the boy’s forehead.

The clanging of the metal immediately stopped as Rin watched the boy fall off his bench and onto the stone floor. Suppressing a snicker in the process.

“Hey!!” the boy exclaimed.

He immediately jumped to his feet and held his hammer tightly in his right hand. But when he turned to see his attacker, the hammer dropped from his hand and onto the stone with a clang.

“Pretty...” he muttered in a daze.

Rin rolled her eyes when she heard his comment. She knew that the body that she had woken up in had quite the natural beauty. But the reactions she had received from other people were starting to get annoying.

“Are you able to take a commission?” Rin asked.

“Huh?!” the boy snapped out of his daze, “Yes, I can! Anything for you!”

Sighing, Rin regretted not listening to the elf’s advice as she took out the horn from her inventory. Holding it out in front of her, she presented it to the boy who was far too young for this line of work.

“What do you ne-”

His voice paused as he took in the item before him. Sweeping back his hair to get a better look, Rin was able to see a set of fiery, passionate eyes.

“This... where did you get this??” he asked wide-eyed.

The boy walked up to Rin; eyes entirely focused on the horn in her hands as he completely forgot about the beautiful girl in front of him. And before she could react, the smith snatched the horn right out of her fingers. He brought the item closer to his eyes as he began to thoroughly examine every part of it.

“Hmm, yes...this will do,” he muttered, “How much for it?”

Rin frowned at his words, first he had completely ignored her and now he had seemed to forget all about their conversation.

“I’m not selling it kid. I literally just asked if you could take a commission from me,” Rin sighed.

She then held up the damaged bracers that were destroyed when the wolf boss had bitten her arm.

“You know, to replace these...” she explained.

The young boy looked up at her voice and laid his eyes on the equipment in her hands.

“What the hell did you do to th-”

But when he noticed her piercing glare, he muttered an apology.

“Sorry...”

Rin started to scowl but soon released a sigh. She had already been through so much just talking with Malkorn. And all she wanted to do was lie down in bed, however, she would decide to be patient for the time being.

She had seen the boy’s abilities for a split second and he seemed to be quite skilled in his work. ‘Also, he’s just a kid,’ she thought.

“So, are you able to make a set of armguards using the horn?” Rin asked.

“I should be able to,” he replied.

“How much will it be then?” Rin asked.

“Hmm, for you it will be completely free!” the boy said excitedly.

Rin could have just accepted the boy’s offer, but she felt that it was wrong. She didn’t want to take advantage of a kid who was chasing after an unreachable dream.

“I can’t accept that,” Rin shook her head.

She then created a table with her ice and dumped out ten E rank mana cores onto the surface, “How much are these worth?”

Rin didn’t know the value of most items in the world and having minimal use for the cores other than a quick snack. She would see if she could use them as payment.

The boy looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before replying, “E ranked mana cores are a silver each. Usually, I would ask for eight silvers to cover the production cost, but along with the other required materials it would come to a total of 12,”

Rin fished out two more cores from her inventory and placed them onto the table, leaving her with around ten left.

“When do you think you’ll be finished?” Rin asked.

“Come back in around two days, I’ll be done by then,” the boy answered cheerfully.

He held out his hand for a handshake which Rin obliged towards, but when he tried to grasp onto her hand for a second longer, she froze his hand causing the boy to yelp and release his hold. Sighing, Rin turned around to leave but she was soon stopped by the boy.

“Wait! What’s your name?” he asked, “I’m Cole.”

“Rin,” she simply replied before exiting the shop.

Leaving the shop, she quickly found Merial at the top of the stairs leading to the first floor.

“So, how did it go?” Merial asked, interested in what happened in the workshop.

The two started to walk down the stairs as Rin thought about how to answer the question.

“Well, he agreed to a commission and he’s going to make the item for me. But he did seem a little odd...” Rin explained.

“I guess that’s not so bad,” Merial replied, “Last time I saw him was on a dungeon run and he was only looking at the women in the party. Brat almost got himself killed...”

“Is that so,” Rin muttered.

As they walked out of the union building nightfall had already arrived but the elf looked at the white-haired girl in suspicion.

“Wait, how did you pay?” she asked with a brow raised, “I doubt you have any money, and since I wasn’t there how did you...”

“I just gave him some of the mana cores I had,” Rin replied nonchalantly.

Merial narrowed her eyes, “Do you know how much E ranked cores are?”

“Well, he said that they were a silver each.”

“...E ranked cores are fifty coppers, he basically gave you a 50% discount,” Merial sighed.

The elf thought that the boy was immature, and if he continued to chase after women. There would come along one that wouldn’t only exploit him, but also break his heart.

The pair soon continued back to the guild building and when they neared it, a guard on duty took notice of the two and walked up towards them with a smile.

“Why if it isn’t Merial and the new girl. How are you two doing?” the man asked.

Rin looked up at the voice and recognized the man she had first encountered after leaving the dungeon.

“Heya Nathaniel,” Merial replied cheerfully, “We’re doing great, I was just showing her around the city.”

“That’s good to hear, it really is a beautiful city,” he smiled, looking at the vibrant streets.

“Oh right, did you fix what happened at the ice forest dungeon?” Merial asked.

“Hmm... Yeah, I did. Well sort of did. All I found was a frozen battlefield, but instead of the usual boss slime. There was a giant corpse of a wolf,” he explained.

Continuing his words he turned to Rin, “It left me with too many questions, but I think I know who the culprit is.”

“Yeah, it was me,” Rin said in an apathetic tone.

Being tired along with being both physically and mentally drained, didn't help as she prepared for the barrage of questions to come.

“You can talk?!” Nathaniel exclaimed, “Why didn’t you just say so at the dungeon entrance? Wait how? Were you trolling me?"

'Troll...?'

She shook her head, “I don't know about any trolls, but I just learned the language today."

Wide-eyed, he turned to the elf, “You're kidding right? Really?”

Merial revealed a mischievous smile and nodded, “I taught her.”

The man stood there, unmoving and dumbfounded as he tried to take in the information. A beautiful girl who appeared out of nowhere with capable battle skills and unmatched intelligence. He just couldn’t fathom the enigma in front of him.

“Is he okay?” Rin asked.

“Eh, who cares,” Merial shrugged and led the girl into the guild building.