It turned out, Sophia promised those soldiers breakfast for their help yesterday. Naturally they deserved more, but they honorably declined any compensation.

Everyone could see that Sophia and Georg weren’t rich, so the soldiers were simply content with doing a good deed.

After preparing food for the four men, Lilly, Iain and Sophia also ate their tasty breakfast.

Sitting on a table with good friends, everyone’s mood was naturally excellent. This way time quickly passed and all of them got ready for today’s work.

Since Sophia couldn’t move around much and had to use a crutch Iain made for his sister’s patients, she decided to help Lilly, who had to replenish her used up medicine.

Therefore, the two girls went towards Lilly’s shack, while Iain began work in his smithy.

Despite his young age, Iain was a great smith. His father always said smithing ran in their blood.

Iain didn’t understand when their noble family picked up smithing, but he was always impressed as he watched his old man work.

As soon as he was old enough, he was eagerly learning from his father. Just as his parents predicted, Iain was a natural born talent.

Every morning as Iain stepped outside the house he would unconsciously smile. Delightful memories of him and his father emerged in his mind as he laid his eyes on their old oven.

To avoid the thick smoke filling their house, they built their workplace in a separate, rather open building behind their small garden.

It was here, that the old Rottal showed Iain how to light a fire for the first time. It was here, that Iain learned how to control the fire temperature, how to keep his hands save from fire and how to heat up metal.

It was also here, that Iain formed his first crude knife under his father’s appreciating gaze. In the following years he would soon learn how to create the sharpest edges and the sturdiest tools.

Sadly, he hadn’t yet reached his father’s level, but Iain could already be counted as an experienced smith.

In a good mood, the young man looked at the work which laid before him today. Yesterday before Sophia came home injured, Maria brought a worn out, dull scythe.

She asked him to sharpen it as much as possible and forge another one for them. Typical for her, she was even considerate enough to already get a wooden handle from the carpenter.

Well, it wasn’t that surprising. After Franz died, Maria took over his farm. Naturally this produced a lot of work for a single woman, so she soon married Ralf, the carpenter’s son.

Iain chuckled slightly as this reminded him of that one story during their wedding. However, this would stay between him and Ralf.

As he inspected the old scythe Iain shook his head. This would probably be the last time this tool could be sharpened. Maria and Ralf were smart to already order a new one.

Still, as always, he would do his best. One thing he learned from his father was to not be satisfied with inferior work.

Therefore, Iain sat down on a small stool next to his whetstone and began his workday.

A screeching noise soon echoed through their neighborhood. At this time the village was already bustling.

People would be surprised if they didn’t hear the familiar tunes coming from the smithy.

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Soon a harmonious mix of noises arose throughout the village. Josef watched as these simple people happily began their work.

Hearty laughter could be heard as men gathered to take care of the fields outside the village. Children began to run on the dirty road, adding liveliness to this peaceful place on Earth.

Carried by this scenery, Josef slowly made his way towards the smithy. He quietly thought how good it was if every place could be like this.

Sadly, this small village was rather an exception than the rule.

He sighed lightly as he knew how unbefitting these thoughts were of him.

If the captain walking a few feet behind him knew what was going on in Josef’s mind, he would probably think the young scribe had gone crazy.

Just yesterday he watched his supposed protégé murder someone in cold blood, but today the latter already bemoaned the state of the world.

At this point the old veteran only wanted to finish his job and never have anything to do with Josef again.

With those two conflicting mindsets, Josef and the captain soon arrived at the smithy.

Mustering the lavish house and appreciating its tidiness, the two men slowly approached the source of those obvious noises.

As soon as they came around the corner, they saw a young man sitting with his back towards them, working on a whetstone.

The smith before them had a muscular body, coupled with a lean build. One could imagine the force this young man could generate when he formed metal with his hammer.

Josef was sure this man was the strongest human he had seen so far. He lightly threw the captain a disapproving side-eye, but the latter didn’t dare to look at his face anymore.

After waiting a few minutes, Josef’s proud mind began to turn displeased. Obviously, the passionate smith was too engrossed in his work to notice them.

Deciding not to wait any longer, Josef let out a low shout:

“Good morning young man. Can we ask for some of your time?”

Although surprised by the sudden shout, Iain’s body remained steady. If he were to suddenly react, he might damage his work. Thus, Iain had learned early not to be distracted by his environment.

Slowly bringing his whetstone to a standstill, he put the scythe away and stood up with a smile on his face.

“Good morning, Sirs. I am Iain. Are you here to fetch your soldiers or do you have some work for me?”

Josef and Iain mustered each other as they shook hands. The young scribe kept his cold face, while the young smith always showed a smile.

Since his purpose here was to test the Rottals, Josef was surprised when he couldn’t feel any magic from Iain.

If there was anything special about the smith, then it was his overly hairy skin, which didn’t seem to show any signs of being burnt.

After a somewhat awkwardly long pause, Josef also spoke up:

“My name is Josef. Yes, I am here for my soldiers. But I also have something to ask, after hearing so many praises from the villagers yesterday.”

“Oh? Well, I try to help if I can.”

“Thank you. Could I ask you to take a closer look at this then?”

With those words, Josef let go of Iain’s hand. He reached inside his jerkin and slowly took out a strange metal plate under the captain’s surprised eyes.

Full of curiosity, Iain took this metal plate from Josef and observed it closer. Unbeknownst to Iain and even Josef, an impossibly small rune on this metal plate suddenly blinked once before staying dormant again.

In Iain’s eyes this plate didn’t have anything special about it. Other than the finely formed wave pattern decorating the whole piece, it didn’t seem any different from normal tools.

As he watched Iain fiddling with this metal plate, Josef suddenly had an uneasy feeling. He didn’t know why, but he now wanted to quickly get his job done.

“Do you see anything? My lord found this piece a long while ago. It is said to belong to an old Germanic tribe.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea. However, I don’t think Germanic tribes would have such fine crafting methods. Hmm… now that I take a closer look this material seems a bit strange.”

“Well, if you can’t find anything, it can’t be helped. I also thought about letting your sister take a look.

Since this piece was found in a temple and surrounding inscriptions seemed to implicate some form of a healing ritual, maybe she would notice something.”

“Sure, if it’s that important to you we can let her try. Come with me.”

With those words Iain went past Josef and the captain and made his way towards the formerly ‘temporary shack’ where his sister treated her patients.

Looking at the building in front of them Josef cursed the unreliable David. How could he call this a shack?

Although Lilly’s workplace wasn’t as luxurious as the Rottal home, but Josef and the captain still considered it a normal house the first time they arrived in the village. It was almost a waste to use this place for treating patients.

Once the trio arrived at the door Iain only knocked twice before going in without waiting for allowance. This made Josef slightly doubt his speculation, but everything would be proven later.

As soon as they entered various smells of differing herbs reached their noses. Amid dried herbs and some boiling pots sat two beautiful women, forming the perfect stereotypical picture of what witches were supposed to look like.

While Sophia gently smiled at her benefactors, the redhaired, younger woman suspiciously observed the newcomers.