“My strongest spell?” I asked. “Trust me, you don’t want me to use that here. The collateral damage would be disastrous.”

“Didn’t take you for a mage,” Zearis replied, raising his eyebrows. It was obvious that the image of me with a high-quality halberd and knowing a thing or two about armor gave him the idea that that was my specialty. Unfortunately for him, my magic went far beyond my physical capabilities.

The smith reached for the first weapon he could find on the table next to him – a steel short sword – and handed it to me.

“I suppose you know how to handle one?” He asked to which I nodded. “Great. Use that, I’m certain you’ll be impressed.”

“Can’t I use my own weapon?” I inquired.

Zearis shook his head. “Starmetal will still be able to damage a ten percent alloy. It won’t be much, but I don’t want to sell damaged goods. Twenty to twenty-five percent wolf iron will completely negate it, if you were wondering, but you can’t get that here.”

I nodded, grateful for the information.

I prepared the sword, ready to stab. I would try to contain my strength as I doubted that was something the smith had accounted for. He held up the armor a second time and nodded, giving the go-ahead.

I thrust the weapon forward and hit the steel. The tip of the sword easily glided off the plate and I inspected its impact. I was pleasantly surprised to not even see a scratch in my reflection.

“Again,” The smith instructed with confidence, prompting me to put some more force behind my attack. Once more, the armor survived without any damage.

“You can do better than that!”

Fine. Have it, then.

I thrust the sword forward a third time, putting in all the strength I could muster, hoping that Zearis would possess the strength to be able to withstand the force behind my blow.

His muscled arms were not just for show, that much was clear after my strike. He had no trouble holding on to the chest plate, and when I surveyed the damage, I noticed that the sword had suffered far more than the armor.

The tip of the borrowed blade was bent slightly from the impact, which caused Zearis to smile widely. When I next took a close look at the wolf iron-infused metal, there was a bit of a scratch, but the smith’s confidence was more than justified.

“Sorry about the sword,” I said, feeling guilty for damaging it.

Zearis chuckled.

“You think I wasn’t prepared for that? Hell, that’s easy to fix. So, whatcha say?”

He was quick to continue his negotiation from earlier, and I, after seeing this demonstration, was eager to buy a full set of this. Our savings would evaporate before our eyes, but Cellestra’s safety was worth every coin.

“Forty-five coins, right? We’ll take it.”

“I knew you would,” Zearis said with a smile. “Cellestra, may I invite you inside to get it fitted?”

The brunette looked into my lower eyes, a hint of hesitation in her own, but I nodded and lowered myself.

“Alright,” She said as she stepped off and followed the smith. I took a small detour and partially walked inside the forging area as the brunette and Zearis walked through it, the smith handing the damaged sword to one of the others for repair, before they both disappeared through a door at the far end.

I noticed that the man that Zearis handed the sword to was the same person who hurt himself with a hammer the other day. His hand was fully bandaged and I was surprised he could still work. He seemed to be in pain still, and the sight of it made me feel sorry for him.

He looked at me for a split second before he focused on the sword, or well, he tried to. It wasn’t hard to see his pupils darting to me every few seconds, seemingly still amazed at my existence.

I placed myself on the ground and addressed him.

“I won’t do you any harm, you know?”

The man tried to ignore me, and seemingly intensified his gaze on the weapon in response.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Londis,” He said with a single word, before he reached for a hammer and, with his uninjured hand, started hammering the tip of the sword.

“Kealyna,” I said my own name. “Londis. Please let me have a look at your hand.”

“Why?” He asked, not bothering to look at me.

“So I can heal it. It looks painful to work like that.”

“You can heal?” He asked after finally turning to me.

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I nodded. “Yes. I should have done that before. I’m sorry.”

“And why would you do that?” He asked skeptically.

“Honor,” I said. “Want me to help you or not?”

Londis sighed and placed his hammer on the anvil with a sigh before moving his stool and placing it in front of me. He couldn’t help but stare into my lower eyes as he sat down again, carefully unwrapping the bandages in the process.

When his hand was revealed, I winced at his injury once more. Part of his hand was blue and purple from heavy bruises, and I was certain that at least one of his joints was broken. How he managed to use the hand, still, was a mystery.

“By the goddess,” I let out. “How can you even work like that?”

“I’ve had worse.”

“Still…”

I summoned a bit of warm water to clean his hand as to prevent infection if there were any wounds that were going to be closed by my healing light, for I wasn’t sure if it would help with those. I thought it better to be safe than sorry.

After cleaning, I cast my spell, several times as I saw the bruise shrink and joints assume a more natural shape. A snapping sound and a wince of pain from the smith confirmed that he had broken something, not a surprise to me when I looked at the hammer he hit himself with.

Londis eventually seemed to lose his apparent coldness towards me and when I finished, he thanked me warmly, checking out every inch of his mended hand.

“No problem, but please, watch what you’re doing next time. I swear I’m not that special.”

“I’ll try. Thank you for the healing,” He said, opening and closing his hand repeatedly before he picked up his stool and moved back to the anvil, tossing his used bandages in the fires of a nearby forge.

I watched him hammer the bend out of the sword, before he moved over to a pedal-powered grinding stone to grind away the remaining damage. A few minutes later, the door opened and Zearis led a heavily-armored Cellestra through it.

I giggled as I watched the brunette, whose head was mostly obscured because of a helmet that looked similar to Selleron’s, minus the plume, struggle to even walk. She stumbled more than walked as she was clearly unused to all the added weight.

“You doing okay in there?” I asked with a hint of a tease.

“I’ve been trying for minutes. How the hell did you do this?”

I shrugged, a smile on my face. “Practice, I guess. The good thing for you is that the idea is for you to not move around in it. That being said…”

“I can’t not move forever,” She replied.

“Exactly.”

“Practice makes perfect I guess,” She said as she waddled forward. I couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“We’ll get there. Have you arranged payment?”

Zearis nodded. “All set. I hope it serves you well.” He patted Cellestra’s back, almost making her trip. I was just in time extending two legs to catch her.

“Oops,” Zearis let out, realizing what he did.

“It’s okay,” Cellestra said, as I helped her stabilize.

“Thank you for the suggestion,” I said to Zearis as Cellestra struggled to climb on my back. I had to support her with my legs and once she made it, the extra weight I had to carry was noticeable, but it didn’t add any additional strain. “We’ll make sure to visit again when we need anything.”

“Happy to hear that,” The smith said with a smile. “Good luck tomorrow.”

I waved as we exited the workshop and halted in the center of the city to see how Cellestra was doing.

“I’m doing fine. It’s just that I’m totally not used to this. Are you okay?”

“This is nothing,” I said. “Don’t worry about me. I knew that I was getting myself into.”

I paused for a few seconds as I went over our plans for the day.

“Is there anything else we need from here?” I asked.

“Don’t think so.”

“In that case, let’s go home and see if my dad was able to arrange something. Gods, we really need to get some more money soon.”

Cellestra giggled. “Thank you for the armor, and I’m sure we’ll be able to earn it back once we’re in the guild.”

I nodded before I spoke with playfulness in my voice.

“We better.”