I stood in front of the shop door, wishing that I did not have to enter, but before I could change my mind and turn around to head towards Kenneth the hunter, Ryuu stepped forward and opened the door, making the tiny bells chime audibly through the shop.

…I was too late…Well, in for a penny, in for a pound I guess…

“WHICH FOOLHARDY NUMBSKULL DARES TO ENTER MY-OH RYUU!! Come in, man, and let’s have a good talk! You can’t believe how many idiots I’ve had to deal with today.” Master Tang suddenly changed tunes.

Ryuu raised a hand in greeting. “Hello, old man. While I’d love to have another discussion about the many copious uses for your special metallic alloy, I actually came here for a different reason today.” He turned towards me with a look that said ‘what, you’re not inside already? You puny mortals really are too timid’. Well, it seemed to say something like that.

But, in front of a man whose temper comes and goes like the wind, I decided to speak as little as possible. Hopefully I can gain a bit of good will from being Ryuu’s hero-in-training…I never thought the day would come so soon when I’d have to rely upon this narcissist for help.

I remembered Blacksmith Tang’s murderous aura. Guh! I’ll simply have to put up with it, then. I do not want to be on the receiving end of Mr. Evil Chris Kringle’s dark aura. Yes, he does resemble Santa Claus a bit…when he’s not trying to kill someone.

“Ho? Here to buy the young lady one of my sturdy swords?” Blacksmith Tang asked. He thumped his chest with a confident hand. “Don’t you worry. I, Blacksmith Tang, may be very busy, but I will undoubtedly create the best sword possible for her.”

“Hmm? Then what about the sword you made me earlier? Does that mean that mine will no longer be the best?” Ryuu teased.

Then he got to the point, with an evil glint in his eye as usual. “Actually I’m here because Big Kuma told Miss Jade, here, that you were looking for some help, and she decided to come straight here, even after hearing that Kenneth the Hunter also needed help. Do you know what she said when I asked her why she decided to come here first?”

Blacksmith Tang was listening with some bit of interest. “What? What did she say?”

Ah! There it is! My evil Ryuu senses are tingling! He’s about to----

“She said ‘since I now have a weapon, I need to know how to take care of it and make some basic repairs. Some may be okay with dying, since to them it’s just a game, but I was always taught that one’s weapon is one’s life.’” Ryuu said with his evil grin.

----HE DID IT!! Aaaaahhh! Nooo! Don’t go saying that! Those aren’t even my words! This is harassment! Harassment, I say!

I could feel my face heating up as they both looked at me. I’m pretty sure my face was beet red, by then.

“Ryuu-” I began.

But, before I could speak any further, I paused nervously. Blacksmith Tang, who had originally been standing behind the store counter, had vaulted over it and approached me.

He put his hand on my shoulder. Is he going to throw me out too!? I felt panicky inside, remembering what had just happened. He seemed to be glaring at me, too, which didn’t seem to be a good sign…Ryuu, knowing what was coming next, grinned wickedly as he watched the show.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

This is it! I prepared myself to be thrown outside. But, instead of being thrown, a gloved hand clapped my back, causing me to stumble forward under its onslaught.

“Well said, young lady! You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, there! It’s not many that understand how important it is to keep their weapon in top condition. It’s like I always say, even a god’s metal can be ruined by an idiot that doesn’t know how to treat it. Hey, what say you learn under me for a bit? I guarantee you won’t find a better blacksmith for miles around.” He laughed and his earlier glaring face melted into a jovial one.

A blue box popped up.

Blacksmith Tang is offering to take you under his tutelage. Will you accept?

Becoming Blacksmith Tang’s Apprentice

Yes

No

I glanced at Ryuu, who pretended to be examining one of the blades on the wall. He knew this would happen! I narrowed my eyes. The amount of Ryuu’s lined up to be pushed into the lava increased by a third.

While this was indeed the direction I was hoping for…it felt like I was being manipulated. I had no evidence of such a thing, but I simply felt that it was there, like the faint smell of meat in the kitchen after it had already been cooked and eaten and the dishes washed.

Well, I suppose there’s really no true harm done. I thought to myself. I had come here to learn anyways. What’s the harm in it? I pressed the blue Yes.

…I can only say that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But, for the rest of you, I shall be brief in my description, as narrating everything that happened in that shop would take up several books and an entire encyclopedia collection. Naturally, I have neither the time, nor the patience to narrate such a long and dullish sort of story.

It wasn’t the hard work that got me. I already had prepared myself for something like that, but that old man…he really loved to talk about metal.

From the time I entered the forge, to the time I left, all he would do while I worked was to talk about metals, even as his hammer rung out striking the impurities out of his next molten target.

Before I could even work the forge, I had to do small things: fetching coal, working the bellows, skimming the slag, etc. Only after Blacksmith Tang was satisfied that I had the basics down did he allow me to hold a hammer.

My first attempt? It was of a rather normal grade when I had finished. Old Man Tang was surprised because usually a first try would end up as either an inferior grade or metal scrap. But, he seemed to attribute my good luck to his metallurgy brainwashing. As if anyone couldn’t tell that metals were his one and only sweetheart~.

I and Ryuu, however knew that it was the result of luck being one of my highest stats. But, we let him think that way, anyways.

For an old man, he sure was kind of cute sometimes. And I’m not saying cute as in ‘a boy that I’d like to be together with’ cute. No, his cuteness stemmed from a genuine innocent delight in metals. As long as it was anything about metal, his gruff and grumpy appearance would melt as if he were staring at a pile of fluffy baby kittens or something.

I quickly learned to have recourse to discussing about metals whenever I seemed to aggravate Old Man Tang too much. Ryuu just sat in a chair against the far wall, with his eyes closed the whole time I was working. I would have said that he was sleeping, but I don’t know anyone that would be able to sleep through the immense racket of hammers that we two were making.

As things were, the time quickly flew, and I had forgotten to eat or sleep for four days and nights in game. But, I had completed producing my first ever steel sword! I already had a sword, though. Since the stats in the sword I had made were slightly less than average, I decided to sell it instead of keep it.

And so, I earned my very first coinage, and graduated from blacksmith apprentice to journeyman at the same moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryuu opened an eye and looked at Jade and Blakcksmith Tang, still hammering on pieces of red hot metal. Good. I wasn’t sleeping. I wasn’t sleeping. Nobody will ever know of this….

End of Login Entry 5

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