On a road going up a hill
"Yes, that's it, keep it up, you're doing well, Risabeel," Nathan said while sitting at the table inside the cart with Risabeel in front of him.
"I am?" Risabeel had her hands held up and was trying to keep a small egg-sized ball of purple mana from either going out of control or fizzling out.
"Yes, you are." Over the time Nathan spent with the party he had been teaching Risabeel how to use a bit of magic, granted she was only able to gather up a small bit of mana and nothing else, but progress was progress.
"~Hmm~ Not bad, Risabeel." Baba was there as well along with Saffire and held up her pointer finger to whip up a ball of wind about the size of her head. "Won't be long until you can make one like this." She moved the ball around a little blowing some air into Saffire's face.
"Grrr! Are you just trying to tick me off now?" Saffire asked with a growl then made a ball of fire in her hand. "Cause if you ar-OW!" She winced when something smacked the back of her head, making her turn around. "You litt-!"
"No fighting in the cart..." Blake warned with his bestiary in hand ready to come down on Saffire's head again then he turned to Baba. "...Same goes for you too." He gave Baba a light tap as well and sat down at the table with everyone.
"Nicely done, Smith-Knight," Nathan said, taking his eyes off Risabeel's progress to look at Blake. "And about what you told me of your powers and its effects on you and your 'items,' I must say it is interesting, very interesting indeed." Another thing Nathan did while traveling with Blake was learning about Smith-knight powers.
"You said that the first time I told you...so what's new?" Blake muttered like he didn't think much of it, but he was actually interested in learning more. 1) to help him become a better smith and 2) help Risabeel with her memory loss. "Doesn't mean I should let this guy's head get too big." He thought, knowing how full of himself Nathan can be.
"At the moment not much, once I do get back to Le Fay I may go to the grand library to do some research, however..." Nathan held his hands like Risabeel and made a ball of mana of his own. "...I would like for you to mimic this action?"
Blake raised an eyebrow at that. "Huh? Sorry, mage, I'm not really sure magic is right for me."
"It never hurts to try, simply focus on bringing out the power inside your body." Nathan insisted then split the ball of mana in two. "Nothing too hard." Then he made them fly around him and turned one into a ball of lightning while the other became a ball of iron. "That, however, might be too much."
"Whatever..." Blake shrugged and went along with Nathan's request holding his hands up and focused...but after a few seconds...and then a few minutes nothing happened. "...Well, what did that do for you, mage?" He asked after putting his hands down.
"Hmm?" Nathan had a thoughtful look on his face as he nodded to himself a few times. "It appears that you lack any potential at becoming a magic user like most of the world...however many have bypassed this with items created through smithery..."
"Tell me something I don't know," Blake butt in not sure where Nathan was going with this. "Items forged using monster Ore takes in its user's mana and changes it to match that monster's mana letting the user do stuff like control fire but only through the said item, so what's your point?"
"I was getting to that..." Nathan gave Blake an annoyed look before speaking again. "...remember how I was able to see that your mana had been mixed with the others even after you stopped using them?" He asked, holding a hand to the girls as each of them had a ball of their own mana in their hands.
"Yea," Blake muttered not paying much attention to Nathan.
"Well, I am sure that you know that it is not something to happen normally correct?" Nathan asked, and Blake nodded to which Nathan clapped his hands together, puffing out his mana balls. "Exactly! Not only do they give those mirror transformations to your body but to cause changes within your own mana is unheard of! Well? From the little information I have on smithery done by Smith-knight at the moment, do you have anything to add?"
Blake held up a hand and shook his head. "Nah, I've told you about everything I know, after all, I'm not sure about what a Smith-Knight is? Hell, the only reason that I know as much as I do now was from Reiner." He answered, unable to tell Nathan anything more useful.
"Hmm? Understandable...I wonder if Le Fay has information on Smith-Knights..." Nathan rubbed a hand under his chin to think, but once Blake gave him a happy look, he quickly changed his tone. "...If I have the time to waste on such a simple task for myself! Hmm, hmm, hmm! Maybe I could get one of my under classmates to handle it." He said with a smug look on his face, but even Risabeel wasn't fooled by it.
"Yeah, sure thing, mage." Blake let Nathan have his way and got up from the table to head to the driver's seat. "Yo, Lu, Rena, how's it going?" He asked, finding Rena on top of Lu's head while he was at the reins and dropped down next to the Elf.
"As good as it can get, nothing out of the norm," Lu answered, keeping an eye on the road until Gram came up to the cart from behind, riding on his back was Mari with a small jar of something blue in her hands. "Except for...you know? that."
Blake nodded in agreement. "Yea, things haven't been normal since I started this trip." He pointed out thinking back on some of the weirder stuff that's happened to him such as peeing in on a dude, trapped in a cave with a naked Dragon girl, carried into the sky by a wind spirit, getting sucked on by a slime. "Hey, Mari, what's with the jar?" He asked after waving to his little sister.
"Os is in here!" Mari pulled off the lid and out came Os, which made some bubbling noises on seeing Blake. "Gram, doesn't like it when Os' gets in his fur and it wanted to ride with me, now back you go, Os."
"Ooo..." Os let out a sad set of bubbles and gave Blake a little wave before going back into its jar.
"Seriously? A big bad wolf like you doesn't like getting dirty?" Blake looked at Gram, who was sniffing the air.
"Hmm? Other than the blood of my hunt or a wild time with a woman, I'd rather not get messy if I can help it." Gram smirked and proudly raised his head to the sky with his fur a dazzling sight to behold. "It's just one of things I was forced to grow up with or beaten into me, I guess."
"AWWW! But Gram if you never get dirty then I can't bathe you anymore!" Mari nagged, pulling at some of Gram's fur roughly. "...And that means no more belly rubs, either!"
"!" At that sound of that, Gram stood up straight. "Haha? You don't need to bathe me for belly rubs, right?" He wheeled his head around to Mari, but she turned the other way. "Hey, Alpha, a little help over here?"
"What're you looking at me for?" Blake asked in return, pointing at himself. "You should know by now; What Mari wants, Mari gets." He explained then leaned back into his seat to relax a little.
"...Can't say no to you, then bathes it is." Gram grumbled with his head low to the ground while Mari was giving him light pats on the back of his neck. "Huh?" Until his nose twitched, making him look up almost knocking Mari off. "Yo, we're here."
"HELL YEAH!" Blake launched up from his seat and slammed his foot down with an arm pointing up at the top of the hill. "Nash! No more holding back! Top speed!"
"!!!" Nash blew out steam from his nose and dug up the ground under his hooves before going into a full gallop up the hill even with the weight of the cart he was pulling.
"WHOA! Nash! Slow down! Please! STOOOOOP!" Lu tried, pulling on the reins to keep Nash under control but let go to stop Rena from flying off.
"Hah! Didn't think you had that much in you!" Gram ran alongside Nash keeping a slower pace for the horse as they went up the hill until they jumped off the top.
"Hello! Gorz!" Blake yelled as he got a good look at Gorz, the capital city of the Laudonian Kingdom in all its glory.
Nestled between four mountains was a large city with multiple sections broken apart by roads and paths making it seem like a massive maze from the hilltop, in the spaces between the mountains were, of course, massive stone walls to keep out any would-be attackers at bay.
"Haha! Finally, here!" Blake cheered after an odd month's long worth of traveling he was finally here.
"What in the name of the holy Goddess on high! Is wrong with you!?" Nathan's enraged voice came from inside the cart as he pushed passed the curtain with his hair and clothes in disarray.
"Shut it, mage!" Blake told Nathan off, giving him a quick glare then went back to looking at Gorz then a certain someone or Demon popped into his head. "Oh? Right! Risabeel! Come take a look!"
"Yes, Sir Blake?" Risabeel asked, looking for Blake but her eyes were soon set on Gorz once Blake pointed at it for her. "Oh, my! So this is the grand capital of Laudonia!" She gazed intently at the city, taking in as much as she could until she noticed something that struck her as odd. "Sir Blake, if I may ask, could you tell me why one would build there?" Risabeel pointed at one of the mountains, going up its side was a series of buildings that went up to a castle with some red flags blowing in the air. "Hmm?" Then she noticed some other buildings on two of the other mountains.
"Ah! I can answer that, my dear!" Nathan offered to explain with a hand going to the mountain Risabeel was pointing at. "You see unlike other cities and the like, our king's castle isn't at the center of everything instead it was built as you can see on one of the four mountains around the city, that one being named Mt. Nyth, while the other two are owned by the House Ovis and Le Fay..." Next, he waved his head at the mountain opposite Mt. Nyth, having a castle just as big as the king's. "Mt. Loc is owned by House Ovis for its bountiful amount of gold ore and gemstones..." Then he pointed to the next mountain with this one being very different from the first two since it was hollowed out to fit a large dome. "...Finally, there is Mt. Gylch which houses the Le Fay School Of Magic! Where yours truly goes to master the arts of magic."
"Oh, why thank you for the explanation, Sir Nathan, but what of the last mountain?" Risabeel asked, looking at the last of the mountains with this one being bare of any buildings.
"Ah? That would be Mt. Nod...? If I am correct it is currently owned by no one in particular," Nathan answered, having to take some time to think there was something over there but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. "However not that it matters much, other than the fact those in its shadow are the riffraff."
"Well, then none of that matters to me! I'm just here to drop off a weapon order and set up shop!" Blake declared, grabbing Nash's reins and dropped down. "Now get back inside we still got a way's to go!"
"Hmph! Just keep your pace below racing speed, would you?" Nathan went back inside after exchanging heated looks with Blake.
As for Risabeel, she sat down next to Blake. "If you would allow it, Sir Blake, I would like to stay with you as we approach Gorz?" She asked, looking intently at Gorz to the point that her eyes seemed to sparkle.
"Heh, sure thing!" Blake smiled at her, then moved a little bit closer to her. "It also gives me a chance to teach you how to drive the cart." He offered the reins to Risabeel, but she held up her hands in protest.
"A-ah, that is alright, Sir Blake, you, Marius, and Sir Lutwig are enough for driving. If I ever required a way to get around then I would much rather ride Nash if you will," Risabeel explained but her voice was a tad bit shy about it, and she moved her hands around as if trying to hide something until she accidentally gave the reins a hard crack. "Oh, my!"
"!!!" Nash took that as another call to go fast and like earlier, he blew steam from his nose and dug up the ground.
"LU! GET ME INSIDE! NOW" Rena yelled in fear and pulled on Lu's hair.
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"I'm with you on that!" Lu quickly ducked into the cart just before Nash took off again with Nathan terrified screams heard from inside.
"At it again are we? Five seconds that's all you get!" Gram was all of another light jog and let Nash get ahead start nearly losing sight of him. "Your 5 seconds are up, horse!" He growled, chasing after Nash.
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15 minutes later
After that great race of screams, growls, laughs, and neighs the party had arrived at one of the gates of Gorz. The south gate to be exact which was a large pair of iron doors in the center of an even larger white stone wall that even Saffire in her Dragon form couldn't see over. Hanging off the top of the wall were red banners with what looked like fiery Phoenixes (Remember Orange's for legendary monsters) on them and red flags blowing in the air. Stationed at the wall and around the gate were guards heavily clad in Phoenix styled armor with winged helmets, red capes that had feathered shoulders and a Phoenix engraved into their chest plates.
They who watched over the comings and goings all day and night, from attackers of all kinds, be them man or monster, none shall pass the City Watch!
"Oh, my, there are quite a great number of people here!" Risabeel looked around at the now busy road which had turned from dirt to stone as the sound of horse hooves, and wagon wheels were heard along with the voices of the people going to the city, many of whom paused to take a look in the party's direction with faint whispers between them. "...Sir Blake, could they know that I am a..." Risabeel pulled her hood as far down as she could to hide her horns from any onlookers.
Blake gave her head a light pat to calm her down. "Yea, I don't think they care about you that much." He pointed at Gram the reason for all the stares.
"That is quite the beast you've got there." A friendly traveler asked coming up to Blake on horseback. "Are you by chance working for a circus, friend?"
"Nah, I'm just a blacksmith looking to set up in the big city," Blake answered and looked forward to the gates with a smile. "The wolf kind of followed me here, I guess."
"Oh really? Well, best of luck to ya!" The traveler told Blake moving away with another one coming to take their place to ask Blake about Gram.
After getting through the hassle of answering the same questions over and over again, they made it to the entrance. "Halt!" Came from a guard who held up a hand to stop Blake. "Firstly, I would like to welcome you to the capital city of Laudonia, Gorz!" He threw a hand towards the inside of the city. "But before you are allowed to enter, I must ask what is your reason for coming here today?"
"Weapon delivery from the town of Fairmaw forged by the blacksmiths Reiner and myself, Blake," Blake explained to the guard making him nod a few times then Blake turned to look back inside the cart. "Hey! Lu, mind grabbing that letter on my hammock?" He called out, but instead of Lu Nathan came out holding a letter. "Trying hard to be useful, I see?"
"Hmph!" Nathan just gave Blake the letter and got off the cart. "I have nothing to prove to the likes of you! I simply wish to do one last thing for you before I depart from the party," He informed Blake acting high and mighty, then he pulled out a red booklet from his robes that he flipped open for the guard. "I am Nathan, a mage at Le Fay School Of Magic are my papers in order?" He asked as the guard looked at the booklet which showed most of Nathan's personal info.
"...Yes, everything on your city-pass looks good to me." The guard nodded after double checking the pass then took out a stamp that he pressed to Nathan's city pass leaving behind a crowned Phoenix on one of its pages. "But don't most of you spellcasters come through by magic?"
Nathan flipped his city-pass closed and turned to Blake, annoyed. "...I had some 'problems' with that." He muttered, turning back to the guard. "Is there by chance a grounded port-stone attuned to Le Fay here?"
"Yea, just head into the office over there." The guard pointed to a set of stairs going up into the wall. "Now then that letter you got there, kid." He took the letter from Blake and skimmed it. "Oh! So it's you that we've been waiting on! What took you? You're a week overdue!?" The guard roughly waved the letter around at Blake.
Blake just rubbed the back of his head at first. "Uhm...ran into some problems along the way but nothing too big and the weapons are all safe." He pounded a fist on his chest for some added weight to his words. "Not even going to try and tell this guy the shit I've been through."
"Well, whatever better later than never as they say." The guard was ok with it and called out to another guard and gave them the letter after exchanging some words. "Alright, you'll have to drop it off at the war armory on the west side yourself but don't worry you can't miss the thing, and they'll know you're coming I just forwarded it to them." He explained all good and ready to let Blake pass through except he was still standing there thinking to himself. "Oh, yea! I almost forgot besides the mage, you and the rest of your group aren't from the Gorz, right?"
"Well, yea, I'm pretty sure about that why?" Blake asked a little confused by the guard's question.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm! Oh! That look on your face is quite amusing, smith," Nathan snickered to himself at Blake's question. "Allow me to explain!" He held up his pass again. "Currently anyone trying to get into Gorz has to pay a fee unless they are official citizens of the city, who are all issued one of these city passes. Also, important visitors such as royalty or guests called by one of the heads of the Founding Houses do not need to pay."
"Okay, guard man, what's the rate, then?" Blake ignored Nathan by turning right back to the guard, leaving the mage to stand like a statue in the sun.
"Depends, fill out a short list of the people with you mostly their names and races then line'em up, and I'll tell you the cost." The guard answered and handed Blake a pen and paper to get started. "And don't worry horses and uhm? Pets aren't taken into account." He added, with a thumb pointed at Gram.
"Pet?" Gram asked, slightly annoyed by the term, and the guard, along with many of the other travelers all looked at him more amazed by the giant wolf. "Something on my face!" He snarled out, and everyone else just turned away. "Hmph!"
"Byline 'em up' you mean you want to see all of them right?" Blake asked with some sweat going down his face because of Gram's actions, and for some other reason, when the guard nodded, he sighed. "...Right..." That would have been ok with him if he didn't have a naked scale covered Dragon girl hidden inside. "Got to think fast or I'll get sent to jail for being an out of control pervert." He thought, going inside the cart and eyed Saffire.
"What?!" She growled at him for staring and quickly covered herself with scales all over.
Blake held his hand to stop her. "Saffire, listen to me here, I never thought I would ever have to say this to you...but I need you to put some clothes on." He told her in an overly serious and detached tone.
"Huh?" Saffire was lost and gave Blake a blank look. "That's a new one, are you okay, Scaleless?" She asked, finding Blake very unlike his usual self, even walking up to him and poked his head. "Did you hit your head or something?"
"Funny. Look, the guard outside isn't going to let us in unless he sees everyone, which means you too. So, want to get out there like that?" Blake asked, waving his hand up and down at Saffire's body.
"Of course not!" She yelled at Blake, knocking his hand away. "Problem, I don't have any clothes if you didn't notice the first time."
"~Ahehe~ I can help you with that, Hot-head." Baba offered and took Saffire by the hand, leading her to the hammocks and pulled a curtain behind them.
"...Okay? Hey, Lu, how is yours and Rena's names spelled?" Blake asked, already writing his and the others' names down.
After getting that done, Blake waited for Baba and Saffire to get done until Baba stepped out first. "Well, is she decent?" He asked, and instead of answering him, Baba pulled back the curtain to show Saffire dressed in a long white skirt and a red short-sleeved blouse looking like a perfectly normal girl. "You look good..." Was all Blake could say to her then he looked at Baba. "...not bad but I'm surprised you even had something that fit her, Baba?" Blake asked the Ala and pictured her in the same clothes, but the only image he got was her looking like she was playing dress-up.
"~Oh~ It's just something I kept from back when I went out hunting for young fellows like you, Hubby," Baba answered then went around Saffire to touch up some things. "And even if it's a bit plain with your hair, eyes and 'personality' you should still turn some heads."
"A-a-ah, thanks..." Saffire took the compliments to heart and held up her skirt a little show that Baba also gave her a pair of red shoes. "...but it does feel a little weird wearing clothes after so long, and the chest is a little uhmm...?" She trailed off with a hand going to her chest and blushing.
"Tight?" Blake asked, catching on to what Saffire meant.
But Saffire had something else to say. "N-no, actually it's a little lo-loose." She shuttered out just as the top of her blouse slipped down, showing more of her breast than wanted.
"Huh? Loose? How?" Blake raised an eyebrow at Baba while Saffire was trying to keep her top on.
"~Well~ I guess I was a bit of a cow back then, hehe!" Baba giggled with her hands on her cheeks as she remembered her past then went and got a brown corset vest for Saffire. "Now this might feel a little uncomfortable at first but..."
"AH! What are you doing!" Saffire yelled when it left like she had the air in her pushed out.
"Just take it like the powerful Dragon you are..." Baba hummed, and after getting it on Saffire, she tightened the lace on the back and tied it into a bow. "...besides it's better to look like a lady men want to talk to than one they want to stare at ~hmm~" She added, nodding over to Blake.
"What are you even talking about!" Saffire growled at Baba, but strangely it was in a whisper making Baba smile up at her. "...Well?" She asked, looking at Blake for his words on her now finished outfit.
"Didn't think you could look any better!" Blake complimented her with a smile and Saffire lit up. "Hmm...?" Then he rubbed his chin as his smile got wider. "...Then again, I have seen you at your best, hah!" His laugh was a bit on the perverted side, and it showed through his face.
"Tch!" Saffire did the only thing one can do when dealing with a pervert; burn them! And threw a fireball at Blake's face.
"STOP! DROP! AND! SCREAM! WAHHHHHHH!" Blake cried in pain and fell out of one of the side doors, rolling on the road until Mari got off of Gram and dumped Os on him. "Thank you, Mari!" He quickly got up after that and patted her on the head then did the same for Os. "Wait?! No! Stop! OOOOOSSSSS!" Which resulted in the Slime trying to molest him.
"Ugh?" To which the guard and anyone else around were looking at Blake confused as he was fighting off a Slime that only went for his pants.
"Here's your list, guard man." Blake handed the list to the guard then went back to fighting with Os until he forced it back into the jar Mari was holding. "And safe!"
"Ugh, thanks...?" The guard waved the list around to get some slime off it then read it over just as the ones inside the cart came out. "...Alright, one male human, four female humans, one female Fairy, and one female Elf..." He made a note of the races and genders of Blake's party...as far as he could tell.
Lu was about to say something, but Gram beat him to it. "Yo, what about me?" He walked up to the guard and looked down at him.
"Ah! Yes, one male w-
"Greater Wolf!" Gram snarled out, scaring the guard stiff then sniffed him. "I've got your scent now! So get it right or else!"
"Oh, why yes one male Greater Wolf marked down! Even though you don't have to pay! Haha!" The guard quickly corrected himself and looked at Blake. "Now the entry fee...in an account for what you're doing for the army, that's going to be 150 gold coins flat."
"And here you are kind sir." Blake already got the right amount there with him in a bag and gave it to the guard who gave it a count over then nodded.
"Alright! Then you are now officially able to enter our magnificent city, cause no nor look for any trouble!" The guard made way for the cart then bowed his head to the group as they did the same.
"Alright! Everyone back in the cart; that's all I needed you guys for." Blake told the others, and four remained those being Risabeel, Saffire, Nathan, and Mari who went back to riding Gram. "Ok, explain?" He asked, looking mostly at Saffire and Nathan since he already knew Risabeel wanted to check out Gorz.
"If you haven't forgotten, I am going be using the port-stone here to return to Le Fay, so our time together has come to an end," Nathan answered as proud as ever. "If fate deems you worthy of needing my magical powers again, then I shall think about it, good day to you, smith." He began to walk away but not before bowing his head to the two girls that were there.
"Whatever, useless mage." Blake waved him off then turned to Saffire. "What about you?"
"I just need some air, and I get stuck in there longer than anyone else!" Saffire answered rudely then played around with her skirt. "...And with these, I don't have to worry about people staring that much."
"Even me?" Blake asked, getting back into the driver's seat and helped Risabeel up then held out a hand for Saffire.
"Unfortunately, unless it's another girl, you're always there with your perv eyes." Saffire groaned already getting looked at by Blake after she got up and sat down next to him. "...Really?"
"Something tells me you wouldn't like it if my 'perv' eyes looked elsewhere." Blake teased, and with a crack of the reins, they made their first moves into Gorz.
Chapter End