Shawn

Aldred turns towards me and asks, "Shawn, could you pull out the quest?"

I nod my head before getting the quest pamphlet out of my storage ring and placing it on the table.

Quest Title: Bandit Problems

Difficulty: 1 Star

Description: Either capture or kill the bandits camped in the Ash Plains on the Isle of Drifting Ash

Requirements: N/A

"The Ash Plains?" I mutter out loud after reading the quest description.

"Yeah," Aldred says, "The plains aren't very far from here. Maybe four or five leagues from the city."

"Why aren't the city guards taking care of the bandits?" I ask out of curiosity.

"The guards don't tend to do much unless the crime is being committed within the city borders," Amber says in response to my question.

Really?

I guess they are city guards and not island guards so it makes sense, but you would think that they would do something at least.

Wait, if the guard didn't post the quest, then who did?

"Who posted the quest?" Hank asks the question on my mind.

Aldred looks at Hank and raises an eyebrow while saying, "You should know this, but it was most likely the people living outside of the city who posted the quest."

"Why don't those people just move into the city?" I ask, not understanding why they would risk their lives to live outside of the city.

Aldred turns to me and says, "It's because they don't want to pay the taxes of the city or deal with the city rules."

"The taxes are really bad in this city thanks to the Island Lord," Amber whispers to me in explanation.

I nod my head towards her in appreciation.

It's no wonder these people would rather live outside of the city then.

"I feel as if I have been forgotten over here," Leah suddenly says from next to me.

"Sorry," I turn towards her and apologize.

She waves her hand in dismissal before saying, "It's fine. I have to go to the Guild for work anyways."

"Good luck with the Guildmaster," Amber says to her as Leah gets up from her seat at the bar.

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Leah turns towards her with a smile before saying, "Thanks!"

She then turns towards me and says, "It was nice talking to you Shawn, we should do this again some time."

I wave towards her in response before she leaves the inn.

Sorry, but I would rather not wake up this early again.

A loud shout can be heard from the second floor.

Okay, I might not have a choice in that.

Elizabeth speaks to me for what might be the first time since meeting her, "You get used to it."

I look at her in surprise before nodding my head and focusing on Aldred again as he begins to speak.

"First, we should show Shawn the White Furnace," Aldred says before standing up from his seat.

We all follow suit before heading out of the inn.

"What is the White Furnace?" I ask out of curiosity.

"The White Furnace is the best smithy in the city and is run by a friend of mine," Aldred calls over his shoulder.

Interesting.

It would be nice to have access to a good smithy in case one of my swords or my armor is damaged.

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It takes us around twenty minutes, but we finally arrive at a large, white building made out of bricks.

I wonder what material that is?

The building is in the shape of a large dome with several chimneys sticking out of the top, all of which are expelling smoke.

"Strange looking building," I mutter unconsciously as we approach.

"How rude," I suddenly hear from the other side of the front entrance before the door opens outward towards us.

A dwarf and an elf appear from behind the door. The dwarf has a smile on his face while the elf has a frown, but the frown swiftly departs as soon as he sees us.

Or more specifically, as soon as he sees Amber.

"Amber! What brings you here!" The elf says with a bright smile on his face, completely contrary to the frown that was there previously.

I guess he has feelings for Amber then.

"We are here to show our new party member the forge," Amber says without returning his smile.

And they don't seem to be reciprocated.

The elf furrows his brows in confusion before looking at me and saying, "This rude one is a member of your party?"

He then proceeds to study me for a few seconds, specifically my mask, before seemingly dismissing me with his eyes and turning back towards Amber.

"I don't think he should be in your party," he says without a hint of remorse.

Amber raises an eyebrow and says, "Well, it's a good thing that you don't have a say in the matter then."

She then turns to the dwarf and smiles before saying, "Hey, Nevik! How are you?"

Nevik laughs a full-blown belly laugh before saying, "I'm great! How 'bout you? You guys have a new party member?"

Amber continues ignoring the frown on the elf's face as she says, "We are doing pretty well! Shawn is a new member to our party, so I hope you take care of his equipment in the future."

Nevik turns towards me with an appraising look in his eye, but instead of acting like the elf did, he looks surprised upon seeing my mask. Then, his surprise turns to glee.

Does he recognize my mask or something?

If he does, he doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he just says, "Aye, we would be happy to take care of his equipment in the future!"

This seems to surprise the elf next to him, who then turns to appraise me again before appearing confused.

The elf doesn't seem to understand why the dwarf is so happy, but he does at least seem to be smart enough to understand that there is a reason for it. Seeing as he is no longer ignoring me and nods his head towards me.

I am taken by surprise for a second before returning the nod with one of my own.

All of this plays out in front of the others as they watch in surprised silence.

Not just the elf's new reaction and disposition towards me, but the dwarf's reaction to me in particular seems to surprise them a lot.

This is getting interesting.

Nevik suddenly grins even wider as he says, "Come here any time you need your gear looked at, alright?"

I nod my head towards him, "Okay, I appreciate it."

The elf surprisingly addresses me and says, "Why don't you come inside?"

Everyone but me gapes at the elf in surprise who in turn snorts at the attention and turns to walk back inside the forge.

I glance at the others before looking at his back as he walks away.

That is one strange elf.

I wonder why they even stepped outside in the first place if they were just going to go back inside?