"It wasn't really that hard…" Blake gave his honest opinion, but it wasn't enough to convince Sakuya.
"You're kidding, right? Don't even think about perfecting it, it would even take you months to comprehend a beginner rank runic ability, and you say it wasn't that hard!" It seemed that things were far from over, so Shino had to intervene.
"Well, well, the best thing is to accept that Blake is someone special and not think things too much, but yes, this should not be leaked to anyone else, if any sect finds out about Blake's talent, they will do everything possible to force him to join them and it won't be especially nice."
"I understand..." Blake didn't need to hear anymore if his master told him that was for the best.
"My mouth is sealed, but it won't be free, hehe." Sakuya was aware of that too, but couldn't help but tease a bit.
"Sakuya..."
"Okay, I won't say anything, I understand that bad things can happen."
"I'm glad you understood, well, it's a bit late now and the inn won't take care of itself. Now that I think about it... Oh no, Sakuya, we have to hurry up!" Concern washed over Shino's face after he let out those words.
"Why are you acting like this…? We left Pia alone, this is bad, very bad! See you later, Blake, by the way, I heard that Gaius was looking for you!" That was the last thing Blake heard as he watched as the mother and daughter duo disappeared into the distance with a speed that could be said to be superhuman.
Seeing that he no longer had anything to do in that place, Blake began to look for the exit of the small forest and after a few minutes, he was able to return to the town to later remember what Sakuya told him and go to the blacksmith's shop.
It wasn't too late yet, so it was still open, he opened the door slowly and the first thing that entered his vision was the calm redhead behind the counter who instinctively turned his gaze to him.
'Okay, we've been through this too many times, it shouldn't be that hard to start a conversation now that we know each other a little better, right?' Blake already had his goal in mind, so it didn't take him long to get closer to where Raven was. "Hello, Raven."
"Hello..." The typical monotonous greeting was what came out of her.
'Well, this could be said to be a breakthrough.' Blake continued to give his all. "I see you're working hard, right?"
"Not really."
'Well, that didn't go as expected.' He understood that he had to choose a topic of conversation, and he remembered what had happened on the morning of that day. "I heard about the raccoon, there was no accident at the store?"
"Several minerals were stolen." Raven herself looked incredibly calm as she said that.
'So, it happened here too.' Blake thought that the problem was bigger than he thought. "I thought I'd take the request of taking care of it, if I'm lucky I'll be able to recover the things he
stole."
"I see, that would be of great help." At Blake's sight, the interaction was a complete success, he was about to try to drag out the talk a little more, but what he saw next to Raven was enough for him to capture his attention.
"That's?" What had seen Blake was nothing more than a small vase containing a flower that seemed to have withered long ago.
"That... It's the toyherb you gave me a few days ago." Raven also noticed Blake's look and had to clear his doubts with a bit of hesitation.
"How strange, I didn't think it would fade so quickly." Blake was sure that not enough time had passed for that to happen, so it seemed strange to him.
"The toyherbs are very delicate, unless you add a life elemental array, they won't last long, I put it in this vase with water, but in the end, the inevitable happened." Blake listened carefully to the reason and seeing that the flower was completely withered, an idea occurred to him at that moment that did not go unnoticed by Raven. "What are you doing?"
"I just thought I'd change the view a bit... And that's it!" Just as he said that Raven could see how instead of the withered toyherb from before, there was instead one that seemed to be full of life, the scent that gave off from it even reached her nose and she felt really relaxing.
"You don't have to, I know you're the owner of the Sharance tree farm, you shouldn't waste your crops like that."
"It's not a big deal, besides, you said you liked them, right? This is just a gift from me, I still have a lot in the fields, so I'd like you to accept it."
"I… It's okay, thanks." Blake knew he'd done the right thing. He was glad to put some toyherb in his inventory.
"You're welcome, by the way, do you know where Gaius is?"
"He must be in the oven room."
"Then I'll go there, I heard he was looking for me, see you later, Raven."
"Goodbye..." And without waiting, Blake walked straight to the room that Raven indicated, leaving Raven with a thoughtful look on her face.
Just as he entered, a wave of heat hit his body causing him to break out in a rapid sweat, around could be seen a large number of already finished weapons as well as various ores of different types, and right at the bottom as he seemed to be immersed in hitting iron hot, was a dark-haired man with a look of concentration that seemed impossible to remove.
"Gaius... Gaius!" Blake tried to get his attention, but no matter how hard he tried, he ended up giving up, he even tried to move Gaius, but despite their size difference, he couldn't move him a millimeter, it seemed like it would last for a long time, but when Gaius finished hitting the piece of iron that was in front of him and putting it in water so that in the next instant a small sword appeared as if by magic, that was when he realized Blake's presence.
"Ah, Blake, what are you doing here? Are you interested in the forge?" Grateful that he finally grasped his existence, Blake began to explain the reason why he was there.
"Actually, Sakuya told me that you were looking for me and I come to see if you needed anything."
"Oh, I remember, I really needed you for a request, of course, if you're not too busy." Blake understood and asked for more information.
"Not at all, what is the request about?"
"You see, just now I just ran out of iron, do you think you could get me some?"
"Only that?"
"Yes, thanks to that raccoon I fell a little short on some ores, and right now I need to use iron for some commissions they did for Raven. I thought you could help me through; you will need a hammer to collect the iron. Here, you can have this." And without waiting for confirmation, Gaius tossed Blake a simple hammer that seemed to be made of wood.
[Acquired: Cheap Hammer.]
"Are you sure to give it to me?" Blake did not find it strange to hear the voice of the system despite everything.
"Yes, no problem. Anyway, I don't know if you know, but to find iron you just have to hit rocks that have gray bumps, you can easily find them in the Privera forest."
"Gray rocks, right?"
"Exactly. Oh, and you don't necessarily have to use this kind of hammer, you can even use a battle hammer, they work the same way."
"I see..." 'Although, why would you use a battle hammer to collect minerals?' And leaving those thoughts for later, a notification that was common to him told him that that was it.
[Do you want to accept the request?]