He stood there, black as the night, with strange smoke swirling around him. When Vandervaar came near him to measure, the wounds on the smith's hand turned red. "It feels surreal," he said. "Especially when it happens to yourself."
Black was in some ways like a child, and in some ways, he was an adult. He couldn't remember who he was, and everything was new for him. But he didn't throw a tantrum, and he wasn't curious like Natalia. He was like a boat in the ocean, just riding the waves.
But if it was so, why did he save Natalia and Pacificia back in the village? How did he know that he could revert the blight man? And more importantly, who was the man that he saw when he touched those monsters?
Vandevaar looked at him, thinking. "If he is strong enough, I think plate armor is the best."
"He is a walking shadow," Cartern said. "Don't compare him to humans. He should be able to handle it."
Vandevaar scratched his beard. "Very well," he said and started to measure.
"He doesn't know about the fact that you people not having money, right?" Cartern whispered to Pacificia.
"He will know, later," her eyes glanced at him.
"Hope that I won't be here when that happens."
When Vandevaar was done, he started to scramble among his collection, searching for a fit that would work. "Ah, this might work," he picked up a cuirass from the pile. "Though it might need some polishing."
Then he searched for the other pieces that matched with it; pauldrons, gauntlets, cuisse, and the like. But they were all grimy, with grey rust crawling around. "This would need some work," he muttered.
He took them all and threw them near the anvil. But he took the sword that was nearby with care as if it was the most valuable thing in that smithy. And Natalia became curious.
"What's so special about that?" she pointed and asked.
Vandevaar turned. "This one?" he said. "This one is for the leader of the resistance. It has Shard-dust mixed with it."
"Shard dust?!" Pacificia exclaimed. Natalia was the one who asked, and it annoyed her that Pacificia intervened.
"Well, yes," he said placing the blade over the top shelf; the only clean shelf that he had. "They provided the materials, so it wasn't that hard."
"I wasn't talking about the difficulty of the task. How did they get their hands on that stuff?"
"Well," Vandevaar turned his eyes. He sat down and checked the cuirass. "Maybe they are not sitting in the fortress, as you thought they were. Maybe, they are in the field, killing monsters."
Natalia wanted answers. "What is Shard-dust?" her brows met in the middle.
Pacificia still couldn't believe it. The resistance that she knew was cowards. They would never send their fighters out into the wild when they could be manning the walls.
"After the Plague corrupted and shattered the seven shards, strange monsters started to appear in the whole of Astrea. Pigs that mutated and had three heads, snakes with ten eyes, and sometimes these monsters had rocks for hearts. Grind them stones, and you have Shard-dust."
Pacificia mumbled the whole thing in a daze. "Why did I tell you all that?" she snapped back. "It's not like you are going to get some."
"You can have your quarrel later," Vandevaar said. "When all of you are out of this smithy."
He had vinegar and sand beside him, and so he started to scrub the metal. He would then beat it over the anvil, and check it back over Black. And after some time, the whole thing was strapped over Black, except a helm.
"I can't find the one that fits with the whole thing," Vandevaar scratched his head.
He scrambled on again, searching for a helm. But time passed, and hoofbeats rang outside. "Well, guess I've more guests," Vandervaar stood up.
Three knocks came from the door. "May embers turn into flames," said the one outside.
Cartern looked around and when he found what he was looking for, he ran to it. "Here," he threw the hooded cloak to Black. "Throw the hood over your head."
Silently, without question, he put it over his head. Vandervaar went to the door and opened it. "I've others inside," he asked the one standing outside. "Is that a problem?"
"As long you have what is ready for us, and as long as they don't get in our way, sure."
And Vandervaar opened the door wide. There were two men outside, and they walked in as if they were gallant knights. They both wore helms, and that made it impossible to see their faces. One of them walked forward, and removed his helm, revealing his face.
He was a gaunt man as if he hadn't slept for days. The sweat and dust from travel turned to a gel and covered his black hair. His mustache seemed to start from inside his nose.
His hollowed eyes looked through the group, and then his fixed over Black. "Why is he the only one with a hood on?" he pointed.
Cartern looked at Pacificia and spoke with his eyes and gestures. "Don't do anything stupid now, we don't know who we're dealing with."
Vandervaar knew what Cartern was doing. "He is not fond of showing his face," he replied. "So, shall we go and see Brigandier?"
"I don't know why everyone insists on naming their horses," had said shaking his head. "It just makes it harder to part with them."
"That's the beauty of it," Pacificia didn't like that logic. "It helps in keeping their memory alive. Take it as an old lady's advice."
The man frowned at her. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"My name is Pacificia," she greeted him. "We are also here for Brigandier."
The side of his eyes twitched. "Well then," he said extending his hand. "You don't say? This is the first time I heard of it, right Vandevaar?"
"Don't listen to her blabbering, sir," Cartern said pushing Pacificia away.
"Why should we step down?" Pacificia wasn't ready to back down. "Ours is a more important cause?"
A vein popped in the man's forehead. "Don't you know that we are the resistance? We are the ones fighting the monsters, so that people like you could walk with heads over your necks."
Pacificia's wrinkled skin tightened. She walked towards Black faster than Cartern could stop her. "Well then," she pulled the hood over his head. "We have someone that can do way more than kill monsters."