As I walked through the room, a few beastmen shot me the odd scathing look. Some even snarled as I got too close. Given the large plates of food in front of them, I assumed they were likely trying to protect it from pilfering. Not that I would. I was plenty full from my own breakfast thank you very much.
I ignored the looks and odd animalistic noise as I approached the first open counter. “Good morning,” the same panther-looking girl said in a bored tone. Her demeanor changed the moment her nose twitched. She looked pissed and instantly turned hostile. With a clipped tone, she asked. “What can I help you with today?”
With a shake of my head, while I tried to ignore the odd response, I calmly inquired, “I am just here to see if a merchant has turned in my sword.”
“Name and weapon type.”
“Kyren and Chisa Katana.”
“Yeah, we got it.” She said, though she didn’t make a move to retrieve it.
We stood there watching one another for a good minute before I reproachfully asked. “Well?”
“Is there anything else we can do for you or are you going to continue to waste my time?” Her tone dripped with venom as she glared daggers at me.
I was surprised that my eyes didn’t hurt given how hard I rolled them. “Can I have my sword?”
“Sure, that will be…” She started only to get interrupted by Barti.
“Free, or has the guild changed its policy regarding merchants and guild member orders?”
“We haven’t but…” Her eyes were locked onto something behind and above my shoulder. It was likely the elf she was looking at given the origin of his voice.
“Then please get the sword.” His tone was cold as she quickly vanished into a cleverly hidden nook.
I twisted around to face him and found my nose practically rubbing his shirt from how close he stood. Frantically side-stepping, I maneuvered enough that I could breathe without ruffling his shirt. Finding myself a bit flustered, I tried to change the subject. “What was with her?”
“I wonder…” His eyes followed me though based on how he was talking, I doubted he was seeing me. We stood like that for less than a minute before she scampered back to the counter with my sword clutched in her small hands. The elf didn’t even ask before reaching out and taking the sword from her to inspect it.
“If that is all you need, please clear the counter so that the next person in line can come up.” Her voice was saccharine sweet though her eyes practically told me to go away. With another eye roll, I took the hint and walked away.
Barti caught up to me as I entered the training room they had rented. Once inside, he passed me the sword as he spoke. “Not a bad weapon. It has quite a bit of potential but only if you treat it well. Speaking of which, do you know how to take care of your weapon?”
“Not really.” I took the sword and placed it back into my inventory. “I have never had the chance or reason to learn such things.” Not unless it was similar to re-sharpening some of the more expensive bits I used to use at work. Don’t ask.
“Good. I think we will start with that today.” Out of his inventory, Barti pulled out a table, a jug of water, and some other miscellaneous items. “I assume you still have the knife I gave you?” As I nodded, he continued, “Get it out. We will use it for your training before you sharpen your sword.”
His hands moved fast as he popped a shallow pan in front of him and filled it with a good inch of water. The stone he placed into the water was visibly rough and made of a greyish material. “The first thing you need to do whenever you sharpen a blade is to work out any of the dings, dents, and chips located along the edge of the blade. Do not worry about getting the larger ones or those located anywhere else. Leave such damage to a professional to deal with. You are only doing this to keep your blade maintained between visits to a trained blacksmith.”
With a visibly dented and dinged-up knife that he pulled out of his inventory, he started to work at the stone. His motions were smooth as he pulled the blade toward him in a single, curved motion. “Make sure to get as much of the blade as you can in a single pass so that you don’t overwork or miss a section.” The blade flipped to the other side as he returned it to the top of the stone. “Also, make sure that you work both sides evenly.”
He made sure to wash off the metal shavings every few strokes. Slowly, the dings and dents smoothed out. They didn’t disappear, nor did the spots seem repaired, but the edge looked better compared to what they had been.
One of his hands gestured at the pan and stone. I took his spot and tried to mimic his motions but I had never been one to work while someone watched me. Doing so tended to cause my work to degrade and today was no exception. My hands shook as I pulled the blade toward me in jerky motions and with uneven pressure. Footsteps approached me.
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Without warning, the elf’s reached around my body. With a body stiff from shock at the invasion of my personal space behind me, I didn’t have time to react as his hands covered mine. My heart fluttered at being in such an intimate position.
Now, the guy was hot in that fantasy story way. Likely the combination of power, confidence, smoothness of movements, and his physical features played a part in how attractive he was. Which would be good and all if I wasn’t straight as a freaking arrow. Plus I doubted he felt that way about me. Hell, he had been married. That simple reminder was like having a bucket of ice poured over my head.
Either he didn’t notice or he ignored my reaction as he didn’t hesitate in correcting my posture. His hands rotated mine so that the blade was angled more while also pushing into it a touch harder. Both hands stayed on mine as he continued to work the blade with me until I finally could do it myself.
As he stepped away, he pulled the pan with him. The stone inside went to the side while another replaced it. The new stone was lighter in color. “This stone will help to refine the edge. The edge created is considered the first usable edge. Though considering the creatures you might go against, I would not recommend stopping here.”
Even though his hands moved faster as he sharpened this knife, the movements were just as smooth as with the previous stone. When he passed the pan to me, I tried to repeat the movements he demonstrated while holding my hands. The thought of which caused my cheeks to heat up in embarrassment. While I didn’t move even half as fast as he had on the first stone, he didn’t have to stop and help me. Given my current reaction, I was thankful as fuck for that.
With a nod at my work, he grabbed the pan and replaced the stone with one that was nearly white. It would have been completely white if not for the visibly marred spots from where something had damaged the stone at some point in its life.
As he worked over his knife, he spoke, “This stone is used for creating a decent edge for the amount of work we have done on the blade. It is enough to cut through most of the creatures you will be going up against for quite a while.” He held up the blade and let me inspect the edge. It was mostly smooth. The only breaks were from a few pretty decent nicks that looked like they might have been caused by something heavy smashing into it.
I didn’t need him to pass the pan to me this time. I reached over and pulled it to me. Getting right to work as he watched me work the edge. A smile lifted my lips as he didn’t reach over to help me or correct my posture again.
When I got the edge to a decent point, I looked up at him. Barti shook his head. “Keep going. Add more pressure as you work the blade.” He continued talking, likely after seeing the confusion that flashed across my face. “You have been slowly decreasing the pressure since earlier. At the moment you are barely touching the blade to the stone.” With narrowed eyes, I returned the blade to the stone with a focus on increasing the amount of pressure I applied to the blade.
Mid-stroke, Barti reached over and snatched the blade out of my hands to inspect the edge. Within moments, he declared, “Good enough,” as he passed the blade back. His other hand shoved the pan to the back of the table and pulled out a bundle of brown material. The end with tassels was quickly tied to the table as he spoke. “This step is for creating a polished edge. It not only helps to enhance the sharpness of the blade but also cleans up the side of the blade itself. If you need to attend some sort of ceremony, I would recommend you perform this step. Other than that, there really is no reason for you to take the time to do so.”
The strip crossed over the table as he held it taught in his hand. In a single smooth motion, he pulled the blade across the material. His hands moved slowly as he made sure to get every part of the edge. As I watched him, I tried to figure out how he was going to work on the other side. Would he switch hands or something else? As soon as he reached the tip, he flipped the blade along its spine. Pushing away from his body as he worked on the other side.
Back and forth, he worked on the edge for a couple of minutes before finally holding the end of the strip of material toward me. Out of curiosity, I asked him, “What is this?”
“Leather from the back of a Thornback Lurker. Damn pests ate any creature they could run down or trap.” Welp, that explained the organic look of the material. Also explained why I had no clue what it had been. After all, it was my first time seeing some sort of leather strip. As I moved to slide my blade down the leather, he reached over and grabbed my hands, holding them in place as he spoke. “This does not require any pressure other than that of the weight of the blade.”
As his hands released mine, I relaxed my grip and let the blade practically dangle in my hand. I took my time as I worked the blade back and forth. The motions were soothing enough that I lost myself in them. An unknown amount of time later, Barti broke me out of my trance as he took the blade from me.
“Not bad. Keep remember that, no matter which step of the sharpening process you stop on, the next step is to clean the blade. Gently rub one of these cloths over the surface as you remove any flecks of metal. It will also help to absorb the leftover water and oil.” As he spoke, he handed me the blade and a cloth. We both took our time as we cleaned the blades.
“While not all blades will require this, it is good practice to oil your blades.” Barti’s hand reached out to the last item on the table. It was a small flask of glass filled with some sort of yellow-brown liquid. As he moved it, the light it reflected shifted. The liquid inside became more of a gold than a yellow-brown. With a small dab of the liquid on the cloth, he rubbed the blade down. I watched as he took his time to make sure he didn’t miss a spot.
When he finished, I turned to my blade. Mimicking him as I oiled my knife. His eyes watched me as I worked over the blade. As I finished, he nodded. “I think you understand enough of the basics to at least not damage your weapon. Pass me your sword and go join Mindi for a bit of training.”
Given his skills, I was more than happy to have him sharpen my Chisa Katana but I had been under the impression that I was supposed to do so. Then again, maybe this lesson plan had taken longer than he thought it would. How long had it been since breakfast anyway? I looked around for some sort of clue. Surprisingly, I found the girls were in opposite corners doing various exercises. Tindi was beating up a bag while Mindi looked like she was meditating as various elements floated around her. When had they joined us?
Barti coughed and I realized I was still holding onto my sword. Quickly passing it to him, I walked toward Mindi, curious what sort of training was in store today. Hopefully not something that would cause me to pass out. Given that my blue bar had been partially filled when we got here and it was now, we had been here a while and I hadn’t even noticed. Maybe I should inquire about how long it would be until lunch?