After the night of his father's funeral, Jason needed more materials. He needed to stop by the Slipner mines, and get more supplies. He had went with his father a few times to get more materials, so he knew where to go. But he also wanted to test something, as he had translated a new page from the book. It showed a rune that would make something more powerful, but the supplies he needed for it were rare. It said that he would need 3/4 saltpeter, 1/8 sulfur, and 1/8 charcoal. Whatever this substance was, it was the next thing he needed to complete the book. While he could get saltpeter from the nearby Filming farm, their families never had a good relationship. His father was never one to hold grudges, but he made an exception for them. When his father was his age, his sister Mary was dating one if the Fimling brothers. Apparently, he tried to rape his sister, and his father made sure to leave his mark. He went up against the three brothers, and pummeled them all. The gentle giant had turned into a raging beast, and broke many of their ribs. Two if them almost died from the beating, had he not dragged them to their home. Since then, their families had resented each other, and the disliking of each other had carried down to the new generation. But Jason knew that neither side was in the right, so he never disliked them. But that doesn't mean those feelings were reciprocated. He never really spent time with their son, John Fimling. So he carried extra money with him, and made his way to the farm. The area where the farms were had the only oak trees in the area, so the pollen coated the ground in a yellow mist. His horses even began to sneeze as they entered that part of the town, which shortly have way to fields of grain. After riding around the farming area for thirty minutes, he found the farm. Out front, it read "Saltpeter Sold Here."
Saltpeter was a byproduct if leaving manure and potatoe leaves out for long periods of time, and was used mainly for medical purposes. As he was driving his cart into the farm, he was stopped by the eldest son Zach. "Now what might you be doing here Jason?"
Zach knew of Jason, but he never remembered meeting him. "I'm here to purchase some Saltpeter."
Zach looked confused, as he never knew of a blacksmith to need Saltpeter. Jason expected him to sound sarcastic in time, but he seemed more so interested than anything. "Now what might a blacksmith like you need Saltpeter for?" Jason had come up with a decent excuse on the way over, and said "My father had many ideas to improve the forge before his passing. I'm taking the liberty of trying out those ideas, and one of them requires Saltpeter."
Zach's time changed to someone who realized they did something wrong. "Oh... Well, sorry for asking why you needed it. My condolences about your fathers passing."
While the Fimling's didn't like his father, he never took away the opportunity for them to place an order. Most of, if not all of their game equipment was made by his father. Zach had Jason follow him to where they stored the Saltpeter, which was in a small shed in the back of the main barn. There were many large bags of the stuff, but Jason only bought one bag. While the price was high, going for three silver, he still paid him the money and went in his way. After Jason got out of the farming area again, the sun had already risen high in the sky. He knew he only had six or so hours left until dusk, so he made haste to the Slipner mines. The road leading their was quite muddy, as the night before they had a sudden burst of heavy rains. As he was traveling through the neighboring town of Salem, he noticed a group of carriages that had stopped at a nearby inn. While normally he would just drive by this sight, their were soilders outside inspecting the carriages. As he got closer, one of the officers came over. "Sorry sir, but this area is currently under investigation. Last night, we had someone come and break four wheels on our carriages. Unless your a craftsmans, I please ask you to go around."
"Well sir, I'm a blacksmith. Maybe I can be of help."
He thought about it for a second, and said "Is your shop nearby? We didn't see any nearby."
Jason realized his predicament, but then asked "Do you have a fire mage with you?"
The officer smiled, and said "I just so happen to be one."
After Jason assesing the damage, he scrounged up some metal rods. The wheels were made from different wooden rods that collected in the center. Some of these rods had been broken, so he came up with an interesting idea. He proceeded to make the rods just slightly bigger than the area he needed then to fit in, and asked the officer to heat the ends of the rods. They didn't stay hot enough to burn into the wood, so he used his heating rune to keep it the temperature he needed. Once either side was out it, he connected then by a piece of metal he forged on. He did this for the four other wheels, which took him a good hour to do. The officers were quite astounded by his work, as the welds were flawless. The metal rods of course looked out of place, but Jason made them look like it wasn't some bootleg fix. The commanding officer came over to him and said "Son, this is some great work. You fixed the wheels, and even made it look quite nice. That extra points, especially for who were taking." All the officers laughed, and Jason had a decent understanding why. That was only added onto when he saw who they were protecting. A woman, who was about 5'10 came out. She had long black hair, olive skin, and a dress of a shade of purple he'd never seen before. Jason knew she was nobility just from her appearance alone, let alone the dress that probably cost more than his whole years pay. She didn't say a word. She just climbed into her carriage, and sat down. The officer then turned back to him and said "Well, now you've seen her first hand. She's a beauty alright, but as talkative as a brick wall... Anyways, here's your pay."
He handed him 15 silver coins, which normally would have cost three times the price for the sudden work. But he took the payment anyways, but asked "So why are you folks coming through here anyways?"
"Well, there's been increasing instability on the northern border with the Velmish Empire."
Jason knew about the Velmish, as they had gone to war with then when he was just a child. He never felt the effects of the war, as it wasn't large or long, lasting for maybe six months. They always had bad relations with the Alstenzian government, so hearing this was definitely not good. But before he could ask anymore questions, they were already leaving. He didn't want to overstep his bounds, so he waited for them to pass before continuing to the Slipner mines.