Sophia and Mikael began walking along the merchant district, she here and there pointing at stuff she would recommend taking or having as a backup.
"The stuff you got is barely any good. If you go on a longer mission into the wilderness, no longer than a week, then you are monster fodder."
She made him buy new, thick clothes. The special thing about these were imbued plates around his chest and arms, protecting important organs to an extent.
Also some gloves that had a simple mail on the inside, the outside made with a sturdy leather. She herself also bought new clothes, a sling with fresh rubbers and a new bag, filling it with new bandages, some pills she got from a pharmacy and two expensive potions.
"I had some prejudice against these, but now can't say anything against this stuff other than its ridiculous price. I mean, 2 gold for some pain reliever? I thought munching on a mushroom would suffice, but this is extortion."
Mikael's eyes grew wide as she said how much she spend on some potions.
'Some of the stuff is explained in my book. Should I try and make some of it? It seemed fairly simple, but needs some equipment.'
He pondered for a moment, shaking his head.
'I need to make a second weapon first, and using Roàn's forge should cost a pretty penny.'
His purse was already much lighter then before, good gear being more costly then he expected.
"What are we gonna do when done preparing? Waiting a whole week seems unnecessary."
"Who said we would be kick our heels?"
She took out a paper from her pocket, handing it over for Mikael to read.
"A simple quest, I already accepted it for both of us. It's a stone rank for one person, but for two its much easier, we simply split the profit, 70/30."
"Why like that?" he asked, still reading through the details.
"Because not only do I have to fight and be the spokesperson, but ensuring your well being." her last remark had some sarcastic undertone, but Mikael overlooked it, slowly knowing how she thought.
'This is about exterminating a Goblin Den that took camp in a cave system, around a days worth of travel to the south. They seem to have plundered smaller merchants, possessing simple intelligence as they evade better secured ones... this seems quite difficult for just two, even more for my rank.'
He voiced his opinion, but Sophia just turned it down.
"No matter how intelligent, Goblins are barely a threat, even less without a evolved creature leading them. A Hobgobling would have made a presence to gather more of his kin, so no worry on that front. The forces are suspected around 40 to 50, and I think for us two beautys this is just right."
'Is it tho?' he wondered, thinking back how he handled the 4 Goblins back then.
" If you don't severely underestimate them, fight with your head and make rational decisions, you won't have any problems. After all we should get stronger, I at least want to. Another situation like back then, I don't need it."
Her tone grew colder, but a fire seem to be lit in her eyes. At least he got that feeling.
"Anyway, lets move on. Where did you say the smithy was?"
Mikael led the way, shortly after seeing Roàn from the street working with his assistant. He winked from his spot, and Roàn nodded in his houses direction.
Together the three sat in his living room, Mikael with a drink before him, Sophia munching on some jerky and Roàn puffing his pipe. He said after Mikael asked to use some of the stuff:"Aye, just suit yourself lad. My smithy is always open for ya, at least when I'm 'round. And ya never introduced me to the lady ya brought with ya."
He exhaled some smoke, eyeing the female sitting there bored, one hand on her cheek the other playing with some wood that stuck out from the table.
"Name's Sophia, old man. Just ignore me, am only here for some stuff rookie here can make. And for his weapon, of course."
Mikael rolled his eyes, shortly explaining how they went to Nodan and fought these creatures.
"By my hammer, just out of the village an' already fighting some heavy stuff, huh? Not bad lad, said ya got it in ya." he had inhaled more of his tobacco as Mikael talked, now breathing out lots of smoke, interrupted by some coughing.
"Careful old man, don't want to bury your big Bodie that early in the morning."
He spat out some thick saliva, it landing straight in a bucket solely for that purpose.
"Ya got quite the personality, lass. But I don't mind, this lad here is still green, so teach him some real world stuff. Ya think ya can do that for me?" his big paw on Mikael head, he asked casually, taking another breath and finally extinguishing his pipe.
"Sure I can, even if he learns best by experiencing by himself, rather than getting taught. A bit of a setback rarely hurt anyone."
"So when could I begin with my project? I don't got the whole week for this, maybe a day, and your pellets need a hit of time, too."
He interrupted their weird conversation, wanting to begin making his knife.
'Shouldn't be a complicated process, only need a solid piece of metal, bring it into shape. A handle isn't even really needed, as long as I make the handle round enough. Sure it won't absorb the impact as well, but I only want it for labor stuff. And her ammunition I can make from some cheap fast melting metal compound. Nothing great, just has to be hard enough and not shatter in impact.'
"Right away when ya want. My valuable junk is in the inner forge, as you know, and for that weapon these old ones are good enough."
"Great, how much do I owe you for that?" Mikael asked, having the expensive custom made sword in mind they made back then. 'Maybe a couple of Gold?'
"I don't need ya a lot lad, just use some of this stuff, else my assistant uses it for some of his experiments and ruins it, even if I got to admit his ideas are sometimes interesting. If ya give me some silver ya deem enough I'm good."
Not expecting that, Mikael was speechless. Materials, even scrap, had still many uses and was quite expensive.
" What a generous old man, not common that the old generation keeps an eye on the young ones." Sophia commented, tugging her leg under her bottom, locking like half a pretzel on a stool.
"Ya lass aren't quite the carcass yet yourself. But my lad here helped me out a lot, so some sponsoring is manageable."
He stood up, put on his apron and took his towel.
"Take ya time, we got a long day of work. And don't produce something ya aren't satisfied with, ya life might depend on it."
"He's a good guy, and knows his craft quite well." She said, observing some tools and weapons Roàn did hang inside his room to showcase it.
"Right? Sometimes hes a bit rough, but never would I get a bad impression of him." Mikael replied, already taking a apron of the wall and made it fitting.
"He sure is fond of you. Leaving his forge unsupervised in your hands."
"I guess he is, not sure why tho. Never did anything special." he shrugged, taking of some clothes as he don't need to ruin them in the hot and stuffy room.
"Gotta say, you are looking more build than your small stature make one guess." she whistled, Mikael's arms and body shown. He looked down at himself, and after eating better for some time and exercising frequently, he had build up surprisingly many muscles. Not so much it looked out of place from his stature, but enough to enhance his appearance.
"If I still grow a bit, that would be awesome. But my father was quite small himself, so I don't got much hope there. Anyway, I might need a couple of hours, so..." he wanted to warn her, making her spent the time more useful than waiting here.
But when he began explaining, she already got up, handle in hand.
"I for sure won't stick around for hours, got my time to use somewhere else. See you in the Guild tomorrow morning, alright? Around the first bell if possible."
And gone she was.
"She is quite fast, but oh well. I would've done the same." he said to himself, wearing the apron, gloves and safety shoes. Upon entering the inner forge, he was greeted by barrels full of good quality junk metal, ready to be used and made into his weapon.
"Lets get to work."
Hour later, he emerged from the room, a cloud of water vapor following behind him. He sweated bullets, and the hammer in his hand nearly slid out his fist.
"And lad? Were ya successful?" Roàn asked, already having prepared a cup with cold water, another pipe lit up.
"For my part, yes. And happy how it turned out." He took gratefully some gulps, as he worked nearly uninterrupted on his project and Sophia's pellets.
"I show you, wait a second." he excitingly went back in, not bothering putting on his clothes, the heavy work clothes sticking to his skin.
When he came back, in his hand he held a long knife, without a fancy handle or useless decoration. It was about 35 centimeters long, the blade having a one sided cutting edge and a fairly thick back.
Roàn took the knife, turning it and looking down the blade.
He puffed out his smoke, taking a piece of wood and hacking down on it before Mikael could say anything.
The knife under the heavy swing split the wood cleanly, even digging a bit into the solid table.
"Great job lad, even if the metal plays a good part in it. The missing grip might bite ya back, but not so much ya'll regret it. Center point a bit dar to the front" he said, balancing it on his finger, "but that only makes it better for cutting. Not bad, count me impressed."
He gave back the weapon, and Mikael wanted to sheat it. But then he noticed, looking searching around his body.
"Ah, where do I put it?"
His casual and confused question made Roàn burst out laughing, making the walls shake.
"Hahar, lad, wait a second, I might got something."