Duncan sighed at the blatant betrayal of his trust but he only knew Wazsh for a day and Bolgar even less than that.

Well, it was not anything serious more like a little prank he consoled himself as his blisters healed and his ears stopped ringing.

He felt great again.

"You should consider putting your stamina, health, and mana counters somewhere where you have a constant view of them so you don't end up sleeping in odd places. I don't know how you survived so far without them,“ Bolgar commented.

"Does everyone have these?" Duncan asked.

"What do you mean? Did you spend your life thinking you are special? Let me tell you, other than your weird talent in blacksmithing there is nothing special about you. Hmmmph," Bolgar replied.

Duncan felt awkward and went back to the forge without saying another word. Bolgar followed him to his pommel station and the duo continued their grind in silence which was interrupted by an orchestra of tools striking and grinding iron.

After the first round of four sword blades, Duncan was worried about his tinnitus appearing again so he asked Bolgar for some thin strips of leather which he rolled into two-cylinder shapes and stuffed in his ears. He hoped that it would work at least somewhat but otherwise he could still pour some healing potion into his ears.

After that, the grind continued with breaks every four blades and an application of the minor healing potion on his blistering palms.

Duncan finished his 20th blade for the day as Bolgar called it quits. He waved at Duncan pointing at his ears.

Duncan removed the makeshift earplugs before he could hear Bolgar ranting.

"Are you a bloody machine or what? I tried to keep up with you but what is enough is enough. Come on let's get a drink and some dinner, “ he gestured with his hand and waited for Duncan at the door.

As they walked Duncan checked the two pop-up windows he minimized.

[ You have Learned Blacksmithing Level 6. ]

Strength +0.6

Dexterity +0.6

Perception +0.6

[ You have Learned Blacksmithing Level 7. ]

Strength +0.7

Dexterity +0.7

Perception +0.7

He stumbled and almost fell as he tried to keep up with Bolgar while closing the windows. The new gains brought a smile to his face and Bolgar noticed.

“What are you so happy about? Dinner?” he asked.

“I reached level 7 in blacksmithing,” Duncan replied.

“Not bad, but you have a long way to go to catch up to me. I am level 43.”, Bolgar boasted.

“But you have been at it for how long? I started a day ago,” Duncan responded.

That brought a sour look into Bolgar’s eyes.

“I could have passed level 100 by now if not for lack of materials. Since the adventurers have all left, only merchants supply the better materials, and even they have them rarely in stock. Luckily, I have found an iron mine inside the village borders or I would not have even that,” Bolgar grunted.

“Why don’t you make steel swords instead of iron?” Duncan asked.

“Ohh. So, you know about steel. The short answer is that it would take too long. The long one is that the iron ore in the mine is mostly of low quality and too oxidized. It would take too long just to get it up to par to make steel and the price from the merchants is not much better. It would take me ten times as long to make a steel sword than to make an iron one and the price difference is five times,” Bolgar finished his rant as they reached Wazsh’s bar.

“But you could level your blacksmithing faster with steel products,” Duncan replied unconvinced.

“You can’t eat levels lad,” Bolgar replied and waved his hand and gestured at a table.

As they sat down, he explained further.

“Steel swords last five times as long and take ten times longer to make with only being five times more expensive. Tell me is that something a smart man would produce,” he half whispered.

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“What nonsense are you teaching him now? Good evening by the way,” Wazsh asked from the counter.

“Mind your own business! Bring us two roasted rat legs and two beers!” Bolgar yelled back.

“If I had some high-quality iron ore that would be a different story. It would take me maybe two times as long to make a sword blade and the final product would not just be of good quality at best and I could charge a lot more,” Bolgar whispered and sighed at the end.

“So basically, you are stuck making an inferior product that breaks a lot faster because it is not worth your while to make a better one. Sounds very familiar to my home,” Duncan responded.

“Yeah,” Bolgar said, sighing after.

“Here is your order,” Wazsh said as he delivered two plates of roasted rat legs and two beers.

“Why didn’t you tell me the Low-quality Minor potion is best used externally?” Duncan sternly asked Wazsh who just smiled at the question.

“You are too trusting. Ask me later,” Wazsh replied.

As they started to dig into the food Elland the elf came through the entrance tiptoeing gracefully to the bar and greeting them as he passed by. He was greeted back by everyone.

“Hey Elland, do you have some more of your failed products?” Bolgar asked in between bites.

“They are not failed products. They just failed to achieve the required harmony due to external factors. I can sell you five of them,” Elland replied with his nose in the air as he ordered his glass of wine.

“Yeah. Yeah. Give me three,” Bolgar replied.

“That would be 18 bronze coins,” Elland replied as he pulled out three bottles from somewhere, probably his inventory, and deposited them on their table.

“Here you go,” Bolgar replied as he handed over the coins.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you as always,” Elland nodded and tried leaving towards the bar.

“What do you mean by harmony and external factors?” Duncan asked while sipping on his cold beer.

“The quality of the ingredients reduces the success rate by a lot and sometimes I have to substitute the required ingredients with inferior ones. That leads to less than desirable results. Oh, how I miss those times when ingredients were plentiful,” Elland replied and then seemingly floated towards the bar at his usual place.

“You will hear similar stories everywhere,” Bolgar told Duncan.

“What do you mean?” Duncan asked.

“We have a serious lack of quality ingredients. The ones that are inside the village fence are seldom of enough quality. The merchants charge too much. As such we make do with what we can get. Elland even started growing his own medicinal plants behind his shop and I have to mine my ore,” Bolgar explained.

“Why don’t you go out from the village?” Duncan asked.

“The guards say it’s too dangerous. Look at Wazsh he hasn’t even left his bar for as long as I know him. I think he has a condition…'' Bolgar replied and his voice became a whisper.

“You mean agoraphobia?” Duncan asked.

“No. What’s that? I mean he is a coward...” Bolgar replied quietly.

“I don’t think he is a coward Bolgar. I think the -BEEP- is keeping him stuck in his premises,” Duncan answered.

“What’s up with the beep sound?”, Bolgar asked.

Duncan wanted to say the system but a beep sound emerged. He decided to try again with his employer.

“I think his -BEEP- is keeping him stuck in his premises,” Duncan said and the same thing happened again.

“I think something is keeping him stuck in his premises,” Duncan finally said uncensored.

“Yeah. That something is him being a coward. Did you know he tried to get us, crafters, to go out from the fence to get our materials when he is not willing to even leave his backyard?” Bolgar replied in a whisper.

“I am sure he is not a coward,” Duncan replied as he facepalmed a bit too loudly and Wazsh heard him.

“If you say so,” Bolgar replied as he looked around to see if Wazsh heard them then scrunched down as if that would help.

After they finished their dinner Wazsh came and collected the money owed without looking directly at Bolgar and told Duncan he needed to talk to him. Bolgar left soon after that and Duncan followed Wazsh into the kitchen.

“So, are you enjoying your little bromance with the dwarf?” Wazsh asked.

“Come on Wazsh. No need to be angry. They don’t know the whole story. It’s not their fault,” Duncan replied.

Wazsh sighed and shrugged before saying, “You are right, I guess. It’s just so frustrating.”

“I wanted to warn you that you should not just concentrate on your crafting before you leave for the outside. The nanobots in all our heads remove all hostile thoughts towards you with a few exceptions. On the outside of this fenced village, there are no such limitations. You need to be vigilant and prepared for anything,” Wazsh explained.

“So, you duping me to drink a low-quality potion was your way of teaching me?” Duncan asked.

“No. It was just funny,” Wazsh said with a laugh.

“What are the exceptions then?” Duncan asked, holding himself back from punching him.

“You should under no circumstance be the first one to attack someone in the village... Well, at least not until you can overwhelm the guards."

He sighed before continuing.

"The village’s guards are useless bums but they will make mince meat out of you if you get into a conflict with them as you are now. The other one is rats. You can kill rats all you want. I will buy any you can deliver to me,” Wazsh explained.

Duncan thought about it and nodded, then thought of something he wondered about and asked about it, “All I saw in the village are men. Are there no women here?”

“There are plenty. They just don’t frequent the smithy and bar often and you spent 99% of your time here in those two places as far as I know. Even the Mayor is a woman while we are at it. So are some of the guards,” Wazsh elaborated.

Duncan thanked Wazsh for the warning, said good night as he heard Elland shout for a refill, and went to his room upstairs as Wazsh went out from the kitchen.