Guild House
At the front desk was Vasha actually doing something which was putting together a work schedule for Blake since she didn't have anything better to do and because Blake always tried to 'do his own thing' as it were. "Hmm? Okay, if he gets these done by the end of the week, then he should have time to get in a few quests before the next board update...but if Blake does that then he'll be behind on the old orders even with that kid's help...? Ugh...why'd I have to know how to read and write." She groaned, resting her head in her hands while puffing up a fire.
"Got a problem with being smart, Potato?" Saffire's voice yawned from behind, making the Goblin tense up and turn to the Dragon finding her without a thing on but her red scales and scratching at her eyes. "So? What were you groaning about? You were loud."
"Uh, making sure that redhead is gonna do his job," Vasha answered, waving over at the scattered pile of paperwork which Saffire took a look at. "Uh?" By leaning over Vasha, meaning a large an oddly soft scale covered chest went to the back of her head. "Any reason why you're not wearing anything?" She asked after a bit of Saffire randomly grabbing at things on the desk.
"Meh, clothes take too long to put on besides..." Saffire came down lower to rest her head had on Vasha's, rubbing her chin an against the Goblin's hair. "...I've got my scales and...and...you're so~ft..." She yawned, starting to drift off to dreamland.
"Hey, don't fall asleep on me! I still have work to do!" Vasha tried yelling at Saffire, but the thought of telling a Dragon off got to her. "Chief, hurry up and come back! You're in charge of dealing with your weirdos!" She begged as Saffire was pushing her down further.
"Uh? What's going on here?" Blake asked as he and Baba entered the Guild House, finding Saffire sleeping on her breast supported by Vasha sleeping(?) on her own bosom. "But that's a thing I don't mind seeing when I get home!"
"So, you do like them large, hmm?" Baba cooed, locking arms with Blake as she swung him this way and that as they got closer to Vasha and Saffire. "And here I thought the 'help' wasn't going to be any competition."
"I am not..." Vasha's muffled voice came through after wiggling herself out from under Saffire's embrace. "Your...arm?" The first thing she saw was Blake's left arm wrapped in a bloody cloth and held in a sling around his neck.
"What this? It's nothing! See!" Blake played it off as nothing, swinging his arm up and down. "Ugh!" But that only got him groaning as a stinging pain came from his arm. "Uh, see nothing ha-Ow! Baba! What are you doing!?" He yelled at the Ala, who was poking his arm.
"You shouldn't lie when there are people worried about you," Baba warned, pointing over at a broken window where Gram and Nash were peeking in.
"Hmm?" Hearing voices, Saffire shook herself a little and got up. "Ugh, Air-head, of course, you'd want to wake me up for nothing..." Her eyes found Baba first having a small staring constant before looking at Blake and his arm. "...heh! It looks like something got you good eh, Scaleless?" She joked at Blake's injury, but a look from him made a grin she had on soften. "What? That's not how you look at me when your head's in your pants."
"Oh, nothing I was just expecting you to...you know? Be a bit more dramatic about me coming back almost losing an arm." Blake dryly muttered at the Dragon as a two pair of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. "But it's nice that you know when I in the mood."
"Ah! Sir Blake! Have you returned? Vasha told Sir Nathan an-!" Risabeel waved over at Blake, but once she got a good look at him, her face went dark. "Blake!" She cried, running down the steps and rushed to Blake's side, looking at his arm with her hands hovering above it. "What happened to you!? Was it that Demon child!? Are the others hurt!?" She switched her panicked gaze from Blake to Baba then back Blake. "Ah?" Only for him to pat her head.
"See? That's the reaction I was hoping for." Blake smirked Saffire's way with her rolling her eyes at him then along with Baba, stared at Risabeel for some reason.
"Hey! You should give him some space, Risabeel...you too Air-head!" Saffire said to the other two women at Blake's side bit more forcefully at Baba, only to replace them afterward. "Uh?" Until Baba came right back.
"~Oh~ Where has all your concern come from now, eh?" Baba questioned the Dragon floating up to meet Saffire's high and pulled on Blake a little. "Now, come on, Hubby, we should go see if Lu and Rena are here, they know a thing about treating wounds, don't they?"
"Got a problem with that!? If you don't remember he's the reason why I was dragged here so might as well make sure he's fine, right!?" Saffire baked at Baba, roughly pulling Blake to her side with Baba pulling back.
"No, wait! You two must not do such a thing you may open whatever wound he has!" Risabeel protested with the two's treatment of Blake. "Now please, Sir Blake, come with me we should at least try to get you cleaner wrappings." She tried to reach out of Blake, but he still got pulled left and right by Baba and Saffire. "Ah?"
"Well, that's interesting?" Vasha had an eyebrow raised at the three women fighting over who should be taking care of Blake.
"Would the lot of you quiet down!" Nathan yelled at them, turning out to be the other pair of footsteps that were on the stairs. "From what this one has been through, I believe something like that is nothing to worry about." He pointed out after coming to the small commotion. "But more importantly I'd like to know what spoils you may have gotten out of this dungeon run, eh? Another spellbook that I may obtain? Seeing as you have no ability to use one yourself yes...?"
"..." And like that Blake, Risabeel, Saffire, Baba and even Vasha, all gave Nathan the blankest of stares.
"Uh...was I being too forward with my wants?" Nathan reluctantly asked as he scratched the side of his head with sweat running down his face. "Hmm? What's this, smith?" His eyed Moco's Ore being held to his face by Blake. "So, you killed some monster and got a bit of Ore, eh? Why waste your time showing me that?"
"Because this got made with Orefi-! Hey! Give that back, useless mage!" Once Blake got to the Orefication part Moco's Ore was snatched out his hand with Nathan eyeing it like he did with his Iron's Call tome the first time around.
"What? No! I need to examine this right now! I haven't gotten a chance to do any research on Ore produced by your powers yet!?" Nathan shot back at Blake, pulling away from him when Blake tried to grab Moco's Ore. "If I get enough time with this...it could lead to a breakthrough in the magical world! Hmm, hmm, hmm!"
"Like I give a crap about that! Give it back! I have to get that fish girl out of there!" Blake yelled at Nathan, trying to reach out to him. "Ugh!" But his arm got to him after frailing around too much.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm! You don't seem like you should be doing much at the moment, smith," Nathan chuckled at Blake's misfortune, although he did offer an arm to the smith. "Take care of yourself first, please...also didn't you take that thief with you? I sensed his mana when you all left earlier, but now he's gone."
"Huh? What are you talking about he was riding on Nash when we got back." Blake turned to look at the broken window with Nash and Gram still peeking in then at the door expecting Mordecai to be there by now. "The fuck? Did he sneak off somewhere?!"
"He jumped off on our way here, ain't that right horse?" Gram pointed out, turning to Nash who nodded back at the wolf. "I lost his scent after a while, but it looked like he was heading for the city."
"Why didn't you tell me!?" Blake yelled at Gram and Nash, making them dropped their ears.
"~Oh yes~ Hubby, they would tell you about that thief running off while you've got a bleeding arm, hmm?" Baba informed Blake, making him soften his gaze on Gram and Nash then allowed himself to get pulled along by her. "Now come along before it gets any worse...and you two can come too..." She looked back at Risabeel and Saffire, following her and Blake up the stairs without a word. "...you too, greenie."
"I still have to do that guy's schedule so we'll have a ~long talk~ afterward." Vasha went back to the papers in front of her. "Oh? And where's that thing I asked for, Chief?" She watched Blake freeze at her words. "Hmm? Guess that means someone's working a bit more now, huh?"
"Yeah, sure thing, Vasha! And you're doing great!" Blake sent her thumbs up then looked at Nathan ogling the Ore in his hands. "Hey, once you're done with that bring it to my smithy, got that!?"
"Yes, yes, of course, besides, I still need to watch you forge something out of Ore like this." Nathan waved Blake off as he went up the stairs and to his room to do some research.
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Later in the day Blake's Smithy
"When the hell is that guy going to get here?" Blake groaned with his left arm wrapped in some proper bandages and getting some work done with Bread after he, Mari and Os came back. "And why are all of you here?" He looked up from his work at the others there with him and Bread.
Currently inside the smithy were, Risabeel, Mari with Os in its jar sitting at one of the worktables, Baba floating up above, Saffire off on the side resting on a wall and finally Lu and Rena hanging out on the landing.
"You got that Ore magic thing working, right? We came to see your new toy," Rena answered for the others, having set herself on Lu's shoulders.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can just sit around doing nothing," Blake muttered, putting aside an item he got done with.
"HEY! The two of us just got rid of a bunch of Ents! We need a rest, and this happens to be the comfiest place here!" Rena yelled at Blake, jumping from Lu's shoulder to the railing of the landing. "And you shouldn't be so uppity with the people that fixed your arm!"
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"Rena, you're being a bit rude, aren't you?" Lu poked his Fairy partner in the back.
"Whose side are you on Lu?" Rena looked up at Lu heartbroken then set her sight on Blake. "You did this!"
"Okay, okay! I get it! Don't piss off the support!" Blake apologized before Rena tied him up with a vine or something. "I'm just a little bit worried about what that mage is doing up there." He looked up at the ceiling, Nathan hadn't so much as left his room after Blake gave him Moco's Ore. "You all know what happens when I use Ore like that, so trying to think what would happen if more magic was behind it."
"I can't." Bread raised his hand, being the only one in the smithy who hadn't seen Blake forge something with Ore made through his power.
"Oh yeah, that's right you haven't, huh? Well, guess you'll see something cool today." Blake roughed up Bread's hat as he was about to get back to work when the door of the smithy swung open with Nathan holding a book and pen in his hands while Moco's Ore floated around him.
"Interesting! Very interesting, indeed!" Nathan mumbled to himself as he walked right off the landing, slowing his fall down with magic and came up to Blake, all while taking down notes. "I have done every bit of magic examination I could come up with, but nothing I've done so far as put me on any path to figuring out how you are able to cause such a feat to happen to a live monster. As a smith, you already know that Monster Ore is formed when a monster's life comes to an end and the last of its mana is solidified into stone. The same can be said about the formation of magic stones but so far only you Smith-knights hold the feat of doing so to living monsters. Not to mention all the other benefits of it..." He went off at Blake, showing the smith what he had written down so far. "...it is quite interesting if I were to keep studying a bit more I could be on to something...but, I have done all I can for now, so a live viewing of the forging produce please?"
"Yeah, sure..." Blake took the Ore from Nathan then threw it behind him into a ready furnace.
"What are you doing!?" Nathan nearly jumped after the Ore and came up short and watched flames devour it whole. "That is one of the rarest Ores in the world! And you just treated it like a common rock!"
"Well, yeah? I've done it like four times now." Blake shrugged, pushing Nathan out of the way to shovel in a bit more coal in there. "Don't worry about it, nothing bad happened to the others well except Risabeel, but I wasn't the one who turned her into an Ore."
"That is true Sir Nathan, while Blake may be a bit brutish when it comes to most things his care with his craft is on par with you and your own I believe." Risabeel eased things between the two men.
"Yes, his quite 'hands on' if Saffire has anything to say about it," Baba added from the other side of the room. "Or at least from what, Hubby, told me anyhow," She said while groping the air.
"You little! You told her!" Saffire snarled, coming up to Blake with actual fire in her eyes.
"Hey! When we first met, I told her about the rest of you! That's all! Back Dragon!" Blake held his shovel before Saffire watching her bend and melt the head of it like a roasted marshmallow. "Not the everything! Not the everything! Not the everything!"
"Ugh, Lu go get some water, and I'll make a few more leaves, this idiot is going to need it." Rena groaned about to watch Blake get beat up and fried at the same. "Take your time though, hehe!"
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Later
"Alright, kid, you take a swing at this." Blake and Bread were standing at an anvil with Moco's Ore on it after taking out of the flames.
"What? Me? Why?" Bread looked at Blake confused, but the moment his master glared back at him, he shut up. "Right! Don't ask questions, just do!" He brought his hammer up. "Huh?" But Blake took it from him and handed him a spare they had on hand.
"Do it with that one," Blake ordered, taking a step back while shielding the others. "Brace yourself..."
"Hey! Things don't explode when I try to make stuff anymore!" Bread yelled at the others as they got behind Blake or something in the smithy. "Grrr! Just watch me!" He turned back to the Ore and took a swing at it. "Waah!" But the moment his hammer met the Ore Bread got flung backward into Blake's arms, and the hammer he used was smashed to pieces. "Wha? Wha? What is that thing made of!?"
"So? It really doesn't work, guess Reiner was right," Blake muttered, setting Bread down by dropping him to the floor. "Hey, mage, put this in your notes only Smith-knights can forge with Ore made through Orefication." He pointed out to Nathan, who was writing everything down. "Which means I'm up!"
"Ugh, you have gotten someone stronger to do that?" Bread groaned, picking himself up from the floor.
"But then you wouldn't get any stronger yourself, kid," Blake smirked as he pulled his hammer from his belt.
With that, the sounds of a hammer clanging against Ore filled the smithy, and in the time it started to glow. "Now to finish things off! A STRIKE TO FREE YOUR POWER!" The first hit came down, and the Ore's glow poured out into the smithy. "ANOTHER STRIKE TO GIVE YOU SHAPE!" With the next hit, it took the form of a glowing blue rod. "AND A FINAL STRIKE TO FORGE YOUR NEW LIFE!" A roaring torrent of water surrounded Blake once he made the last swing of his hammer that splashed water on everything and everyone around him,
"Hmm?" Except for Baba who was looking up at the ceiling as the geyser pounded into it until it all came crashing back down in a wave that pushed everyone to a wall.
"Wooo! It's been a while, but I'm starting to like this!" Blake's cheered, completely soaked from head to toe while the others let out some groans as they got up. "Hey! Come on! It wasn't that ba-!" His voice suddenly left him as he felt something or somethings digging into his left arm "..." Inhaling deeply with his eyes closed he looked down then opened.
"H-mmh Ch-muuuh!" Looking back up at Blake with pitch black eyes and her teeth dug into his arm was Moco, the Merchild. "Mmmh?" By the look on her face, she was confused, and a bit curious as her eyes seem to move around the room then came back to Blake. "Hrmm?" She tried, speaking but didn't bother to take Blake's arm out of her mouth.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" That is until Blake screamed bloody murder to the Goddess up above.
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Guild House Indoor Pool
"An ocean! An ocean!" Moco cheered, piggyback riding on Blake with his left arm rebandaged up but the Merchild was about ready to lunch off him and into the swamp-like waters of the Guild House's pool, the group had let some rainwater fill it up for a while and were planning on clearing it.
Currently, there besides Blake and Moco were Mari with Os, Risabeel, Saffire, Baba, Nathan floating some of the water made after Moco was forged in the air, and Gram was sticking his head through an open window, the others being Lu, Rena, Nash, and Vasha were off doing their own thing.
"How is that an ocean? It's barely even filled." Saffire grumbled to herself watching all of the lilypads, pound weeds and algae covering most of the pool's surface.
"Don't question it or she'll throw a fit, Hot-head," Baba warned, currently eyeing Moco as she played around with Blake's hair along with Mari and weirdly enough Os.
"Heh! If you are so eager, why not take a dive? Vas often swims in there, so I know it's safe!" Risabeel seemed to have absorbed some of Moco's excitement with her fists held up while Vas sat on her head.
"YEAH!" Moco screamed for joy, jumping up and over Blake's head. "Wha!" But a firm hand grabbing her tail stopped her shot and was hung upside down. "Hey! I want to jump in my ocean, Chum!" She snapped her teeth at Blake.
"You will but let's just get that one thing done first, okay?" Blake took Moco in his arms, getting her in a bridal carry. "Now think about becoming a trident, please?"
"Okay!" Moco cheered, punching the air as she got turned into water that twisted and turned until she became a trident about as long as Blake was tall.
The bar of the trident was a pearly white with a small jet blue tail fin at the bottom. Its top was a three-pronged spearhead with the left and right prongs curved inward while the middle one was straight and slightly longer, finally at the base of the spearhead was glowing blue gem.
"I did it! I did it!" The oh so bubbly voice of Moco rang out from the gem.
"You sure did, now what did you give me?" Blake checked his hands as he gave Moco a practice spin while the little fish girl was giggling. "Hmm?" But after looking at his back for a fin, he couldn't find anything different. "Huh? Don't tell me I got your ey-!" He rubbed a part of his neck and felt small gills running down from his bottom jaw to the base of his neck. "Guess I can breathe underwater now..." He trailed off as he took a step towards the pool, watching an algae-covered bubble come up and pop.
"Hey, come on, hop in! It's not that bad as long as something doesn't get caught between them!" Moco assured Blake that he had nothing to worry about.
"Nah, let's just try this out." Blake shook his head then held Moco over the water and after focusing a bit some of the water floated up and made a ring around the trident's head. "Okay? Now I can put out fires...as long as there's water around..." He swung Moco around a bit more with water following behind her in a trail. "Now back, you go!" With a quick flick, Blake sent the water snaking back into the pool. "Alright, Moco you can change back now, I'll come by when I have some free time to work out some moves."
"YAAAY! ~Ocean~Ocean~" Moco sang out, transforming back to her fishy self. "YAAAAAY!" And launched herself into the air in the process. "I'm Moco, The Shark Trident! Wooo! Hooo!" With a grand splash, she disappeared into the murky waters with a series of bubbles following behind.
"So? What do my partners think of our newest friend?" Blake turned to the others, looking for their input on Moco.
"Sir Blake, you have shown good judgment in your allies so far, so I have no issue with her, in fact, I find her quite cute," Risabeel answered, letting Vas hop off her head to her shoulder then her hand and into the water. "Well? Not quite as cute as Marius or Os."
"I'm with Risabeel on both of those, Alpha, what you say goes in here." Gram gave the usual loyal to Blake answer.
As for Mari, she was watching the water. "Is she what those three are to you?" She asked, pointing at Risabeel, Baba, and Saffire.
"Uhm, I guess? Yeah, she's another one of my partners..." Blake answered but slowly got more and more unsure of himself as Mari started to give him an odd look that reminded him of Saffire when he flirts with girls. "That's weird."
"~Oh~ if my dear sister-in-law is like that I should be on my guard about this one." Baba cooed, floating on down to Mari's side, grinning with her head in her hands as Mari glared at her. "What do you think, Hot-head? Got a name for this one yet?"
"Fish-sticks...and I am not like you, Air-head." Saffire snarled, watching the bubbles from the pool as well, which were starting to get less and less frequent. "Guess she's getting real comfy in there."
"Hey, Nathan, what about you? And why do you have a ball of water floating around you?" Blake asked Nathan currently writing some more stuff down while the water was floating next to him.
"This is some leftover water from that explosion that happened earlier it could be useful, also I have a paper on the lifestyles of Merfolk, and I wasn't sure if the fresh water versus salt water myth was true or not," Nathan answered, waving his pen at the bubbles in the pool.
"Huh? A myth about Merfolk? What are you on about on, mage?" Blake asked further trying to take a peek at his notes, but the mage's writing and page flipping were so fast that Blake had a better time dodging a sword swing.
"Oh? It's about salinity tolerance. You see most fish can only survive with a certain level of salt in the water; otherwise, they would die within a few moments of being placed in a different type of water then what they're used to," Nathan explained, showing Blake and the others a diagram he had drawn in his book.
"A salt water versus fresh water, huh?" Blake turned as one last bubble popped and none came after that...until a long painfully silent minute went by with only Vas poking in and out of the water. "Oh shit!" Which led to Blake diving after Moco. "Come on! Come on! Where are you!?" His vision was blocked off by a green hue of murky water. "!?" Throwing his head left and right, he tried finding any sign of Moco in there with no luck until a weirdly familiar sensation come to his left arm. "..." Bringing his arm to his face, he found.
Moco was trashing at Blake's arm with white eyelids over her black eyes. "?" Until they pulled back and looked Blake dead in the eyes. "!" Then she waved at him before letting go of him. "?" Moco gave Blake a thumbs up and nodded seemingly asking if he was alright.
"..." To which Blake slowly shook his head 'no' then shut his eyes and looked up.
"What is going on in there?" Saffire, along with the others, watched a mass of bubble erupted out of the pool as if some poor animal was fighting for its life and losing badly.
Chapter End