I woke up the next morning free from the head cold that had caused me to mess up the rune crafting yesterday. It may have been my dwarven body, or my youthful vigor, but either way I was happy to be healthy again.
Once I got to school, Bekhi and Zikruk cornered me to get answers about what happened yesterday. They had noticed that I was forced to stay after school and were more than a bit worried about me.
"Kvalinn, what happened yesterday?" Zikruk asked. "This is the second day in a row that you have been kept late at school. If this continues then you might develop a reputation as a troublemaker."
"It can't be that bad." I shrugged dismissively. "This only the second time I've been asked to stay behind after school and I'm sure at least a couple other students will get in more trouble than me."
"Possibly, but your classmates will be your future customers, and if word about you staying late from school multiple times spreads through the clans, then it could severely impact your credibility and my ability to sell your weapons. It could even get bad enough that you would find it difficult to get married due to any reputation you acquired here."
"Seriously?" I raised my eyebrow skeptically. In my previous life, school indiscretions were usually forgotten quickly and rarely affected life after graduation.
"Seriously." Zikruk confirmed with a nod.
"I guess I'll have to avoid causing trouble then. I wouldn't want to make your job harder for you."
"Enough about that." Bekhi cut in impatiently. "What happened yesterday? Did you make another dangerous rune? Would it work on a weapon? Could you add it to a weapon for me?"
Since class would be starting soon, I quickly summarized the events that had occurred after school. Leaving out the important details relevant to crafting the runes due to their classified nature.
"So you were cleaning the testing room from the mess you made yesterday, but isn't using a rune a bit of overkill?" Zikruk asked. "My father told me that runes can be extremely powerful and dangerous, both to craft and use, using one for cleaning seems…" Zikruk trailed off, so Bekhi cut in.
"It seems like a waste of a rune. It could have gone onto a warhammer! Imagine, swinging around a hammer that can melt the shields of your opponents, it would have been awesome!"
"Maybe, but it sounds to me that Kvalinn just messed up his rune crafting again and angered the Elders more than he already has. If this keeps up, then forget developing a bad reputation, he might even end up in their book of grudges."
Bekhi and I both paled a little at that thought. In dwarven culture, a book of grudges was used by every adult to keep track of any slight against them, and if you landed in an Elder's book of grudges, then you either needed to bring the full weight of your family to give a gift that would pacify them, or run for the hills.
Bekhi grabbed me by the shoulders. "Kvalinn, don't do anything else to anger the Elders! I don't want you to be added to their book of grudges! I don't want you to go- I mean, I still want you to create weapons for me!"
"Don't worry, Bekhi." I said with a wry smile. "I already promised my father that I won't do anything out of line, and Elder Thrikrondromm said that I'm not allowed to create any runes at all for several years. So my ability to cause any kinda destruction to the school or youth center is rather limited."
Zikruk snorted, both in amusement and annoyance. "But not impossible for you. I'd put down gold that you will somehow manage to make something both odd and destructive. Remember when you made that spinny thing you called a boomerang? It didn't have any runes but you still nearly killed Bofur with it."
I chuckled in embarrassment. When I had made the boomerang, I had just learned how to make throwing knives and was trying to make boomerangs shaped like a bat so that I could copy a superhero who shaped everything like a bat. Unfortunately my dwarven training had worked too well and the resulting boomerang flew across the youth hall, and impaled a shield being held by Bofur, the Elder's assistant, earning me a long lecture from Elder Threrburk.
Our conversation was brought to a halt by Elder Rongrim entering the room. Just one look at his face told the entire class that he was somehow grumpier than yesterday. Even though dwarves lacked magic, there seemed to be thunderstorms gathering between his furrowed brows. His usual morning glare that sent students scurrying for their seats, lingered on me for a bit longer than normal, but he eventually started his lesson. Just with a few more swear words mixed in than would ever be allowed for any human teacher to use.
The rest of the school day went by without issue, however the Elders were just as cranky as Elder Rongrim had been. I found out from Elder Thrikrondromm during his class, that the shields that had been used yesterday for the rune testing had been rendered useless by the excessive heat, and so most of the school staff were forced to stay up all night filling out reports and budget requests for the Thane. That was the reason for their excessive grumpiness.
Elder Thrikrondromm continued. "Yesterday's failure has shown me that you are too unstable for even rudimentary training. So henceforth, you are forbidden from making, testing, or even thinking about a magic rune outside this classroom. Furthermore, you will not be creating another rune until next year, it will take me that long to make sure that you understand the runes well enough to not bring down the mountain."
Once school was over, Zikruk basically forced me to leave school with him. "Come with me, Kvalinn. Today we are going to the youth center to show the other kids that you aren't in trouble with the Elders."
"Elder Threrburk isn't still mad about his singed beard, is he?" I asked in concern. Last time I had visited the youth center, I had been testing a new forge song and the resulting rune had imitated fireworks and had injured several students, and more importantly, had singed Elder Threrburks beard. I had been avoiding the youth center since then.
"He's still uttering occasional swear words that I need my father to translate for me, but he's mostly calmed down. I don't think he will try to kill you anymore, probably."
I was still a bit skeptical, Elder Therburk's anger over the singed beard had been on par with a fanatic nerd who got told their favorite show got canceled, but Zikruk was adamant that I needed to show up at the youth center to keep my social record clean, or at least start to mend it. So I hesitantly followed along and went to the youth center with him.
When I entered the youth center, all the bustle and chatter that is normal for a group of kids, died down in an instant. They all looked at me like I was crazy for showing up. Eventually Elder Threrburk's voice boomed out in the silence.
"What are you all staring at?! Grip your shields tighter and ignore Kvalinn Disasterbringer. Those who aren't holding shields, grab one, and prepare for a game of shield wall. Kvalinn is your opponent." Glaring at me with the fiercest glare of the day, he continued. "Kvalinn, grab your weapons. You are tasked with breaking through the shieldwall. Alone."
Elder Threrburk gave me a parting scowl before returning to his chair at the head of the hall. With its elevated status, and how often he came down to save kids from their own stupidity, I had taken to privately referring to it as the lifeguard's chair. Unfortunately I couldn't use that joke since none of my peers had ever seen a bigger body of water than the town well.
"So it's good old fashioned hazing." I muttered to myself. "Not exactly ideal, but better than having the hammer brought down on me." I was being literal about the hammer. Some students either angered Elder Threrburk, or stepped so far out of line that they received blows from his hammer as a form of discipline. Most of the time, the students were wearing helmets or armor when they received the blows, and when they weren't, well, the medical station was always kept well stocked. "But calling me 'Kvalinn Disasterbringer' might be a bit harsh."
My muttering must have been louder than I thought it was, or Elder Threrburk's ears were really good, but he whirled around and fixed me with a glare that petrified me in fear.
"Disasterbringer is the perfect title for a student that has destroyed innumerable pieces of equipment on their first day as a fifth year, and turned several test shields to scrap the second day. If you manage to graduate without bringing the mountain down on top of us all, then I'll kiss an elf!" Elder Threrburk then stormed off to his chair, muttering ear blistering curses until he was out of audible range.
I glanced over at Zikruk, who had wisely disappeared into thin air the second Elder Threrburk had caught sight of me, and was now approaching me again. "I won't get the title of Disasterbringer, right?"
Zikruk looked at me dubiously with a long pause before replying. "It's… possible. You may want to explore the world a bit after graduation. Achieve some renown that will cause the elders to forget any events that occurred during our school years."
Last names for dwarves were usually decided at the age of maturity, or around the age of thirty. At the yearly gathering of the clan, all the children who were hoping to be admitted to the clan as adults would be examined by the elders of the clan. The deeds and actions of the applicants would be heavily scrutinized, and if the elders found them worthy, then their names would be added to the clans records and titles would be awarded based on their actions. And to be clear, lying during this ceremony was punishable by banishment or death, so no one even thought to try it.
"What's the matter, Kvalinn?" Bekhi said with a laugh. "Kvalinn Disasterbringer sounds awesome! Honestly, I hope to get a cool name like that from the elders of the shepherd clan."
"Maybe you should come with me when I leave the mountain. I'm sure with you by my side, people will completely forget about me." My suggestion was completely innocent. Bekhi was the best fighter I'd ever seen, and I was certain that if she left the mountain then she would kill a giant, a dragon, or maybe even a demon lord. By accompanying her, I'd gain enough acclaim to be admitted to the clan as an adult, everyone would forget about breaking the testing room a couple times, and I wouldn't gain the name 'Disasterbringer'.
Nothing against any dwarves by the name Disasterbringer, but I was trying to bring the technology of the 21st to this world, and I seriously doubt if anyone in either world would look twice at the gadgets from someone named Disasterbringer. It wasn't exactly a name that inspired confidence.
Despite my intentions being purely innocent and with just a bit of subtle machinations, Bekhi seemed to take my suggestion in a different way.
"G-go with you when you leave the mountain?!" Bekhi's face blushed a deep shade of red. "W-why are you asking me that!? Tomorrow I'm gonna go extra hard on you in training."
Bekhi then rushed off to the armor racks to get ready for the game of shieldwall. Zikruk shook his head in frustration at my confused and questioning look.
"Kvalinn, you really need to get out of your forge more often. Maybe go out for beers with me and my friends once and a while." He then left me to get his armor.
In my previous life, I hadn't had the best luck with relationships, but I wasn't completely oblivious to what was going on here. I could guess that Bekhi had feelings for me, and I kinda liked her back. But I wasn't looking for a schoolyard girlfriend. Besides, I was currently totally focused on learning how to make steam engines for home use, also learning how to make my runes just a little less threatening to my life. Almost freezing to death from my rune of snow had left a deep impression on me.
I mentally put off the issue of dealing with Bekhi's feelings for another day, and went to don the practice armor. I'd probably be receiving a lot of heavy blows today from my peers who were hoping to make a good impression on Elder Threrburk, so I went the whole nine yards for self defense. Greaves, gauntlets, helmet, breastplate, chain mail, shoulder pads, the works.
With all that defensive armor, I didn't suffer any life threatening injuries, but I was badly bruised and banged up by the end of the day. Enough so that Zikruk had to help me home.
"Disasterbringer is starting to sound more and more like an appropriate title for you." Zikruk grumbled as he supported my weight on the path home. "Make sure you keep your head down at school until graduation. If you don't then you might find that Bekhi is the only one willing to marry you."
I mentally and physically shrugged, wincing in pain as my muscles protested. "Eh, we have another twenty years until we can even think about getting married. I'm sure she will find someone better than me by then." Marriage was near the bottom of my priority list right now.
"If you say so. But if you manage to survive Elder Thrikrondromm's training until graduation, then your worth as a marriage partner will rise significantly. That is, if you do get married. Runesmiths are infamous for their devotion to their craft. But regardless of marriage, please do not anger the elders any more this year. Our future profits depend on it!"
I nodded in exhaustion and agreement. My yankee instincts wouldn't allow me to do anything else but agree to keep my head down to protect future profits. Although I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to follow that mandate.
Later that night, when I was working with my father in the forge, I asked him if I'd get stuck with the name Disasterbringer. I really did not want that name on my metaphorical drivers license.
"Heh, don't take it too seriously, Kvalinn. You would only get that name if you brought true disaster to your clan or mountain. Something like losing a battle, or causing a war between clans or kingdoms. The last dwarf who was granted that moniker caused a war between Einangrad and the Kingdom of Zaihan. At the same time, he caused a rift between the warrior clan, the weapon clan, and the King of Einangrad, which deprived the mountain of weapons and nearly brought ruin to everyone above and below the surface. The title of Disasterbringer was well earned by that rock-chewing dolt."
I nodded assuringly to myself, since I was pretty averse to causing wars and clan disputes, I'd probably never get the title. Just need to avoid angering the elders for another ten years then.
"Let's finish up for tonight and I'll tell you how I got my title of Blazingbrand. That way you can see how names are usually given." Father helped me clean up the forge, and then I got out the beer mugs while he delved into his memories.
"It was back when my beard was still short, and I had yet to be deemed a master by my father. I accompanied Aundarord and his father on a merchant expedition to the various cities in Einangrad. The underground roads were, and still are, very dangerous, full of goblins, orcs, trolls, and other monsters whose sole purpose is the extermination of dwarves. Even with all those dangers, we were still a party of less than a hundred. Aundarord's father had hired a contingent of dwarves from the warrior clan for protection, and it was my job to repair and maintain their weapons.
There were numerous attacks during our travels through the under roads, but nothing that the guards couldn't handle. Until one day, there was an attack so fierce that everyone was called to the defense, myself and Aundarord fought alongside the trained warriors. I had been in the midst of repairing a sword, so I took part in the battle with a red hot weapon that was quenched in the blood of orcs and goblins.
The leader of the pack mistook my glowing weapon for an item with a magical rune, and directed his attention towards me. Fortunately for me, the goblin leader was so intent on stealing my weapon that it left itself wide open for a blow through the heart. My actions that day spread in song and story through the warrior clan, and a few years later, I was given the name of Blazingbrand, and it was thus entered in the weapon clans records."
Father drained his beer mug to refresh himself. I poured out another mug for both of us, thinking over his story until a question popped up.
"What happens if I don't do anything worthy of mention by the time I'm thirty? Will I be stuck with Kvalinn Ekgorsson until I die?"
"No, every clan has a few generic names for underachievers and slackers. So if you ever run into a weaponsmith with the name of Bellowspumper, or Firetender, do not trust them with any important tasks. Also, if you perform something of note for the city or kingdom, then the Thane or King can recommend a name change to the clan." Father gave me a quick glare over the rim of his mug. "The same can be done if you cause offense or disaster to those in authority. So be cautious when dealing with the higher ups."
I gulped nervously and nodded. "Yes, father."
Seeing that his warning had made its way through to me, father nodded and took a final swig of his beer. Satisfied that he was fulfilling his fatherly duties in teaching life lessons. "It's getting late, and we need to be up early tomorrow to resume the work we put off tonight. Good night, Kvalinn."
I went to bed that night and resolved to do my best to follow my teachers instructions, and avoid the title of Disasterbringer. Anything but that.