I had chatted with the trader about where he got the weapons from, apparently it's been spread around quickly already. Many factions have gotten their hands on many of the weapons, the better ones even going to kings and Lords of many areas. It wasn't really any of my concern now, no one would be able to reproduce those weapons anyway.
Walking back to my place, I saw that Gobber had assembled a team to begin construction of the bedroom area of my home. I was surprised at how fast they managed to get it up, they've already begun to branch off with the other section of the house already.
"Ah, look who decided to show up." Gobber saw me walking towards the place and called out, "Everyone, finish up the roofing and we can call it a night." Leaving the people to work, he waddled over to me.
"I've added a couple viking twists onto your little home if you don't mind." Gobber said, "Mostly dragon proofing, so it doesn't burn down too quickly."
"I appreciate it, it's looking very good." I appreciated the work in front of me. "Honestly I feel like the land was a little too big."
"Well, I'm sure it wasn't meant for one person only," Gobber sighed, "Hey, maybe you'll get yourself a wife and have kids running around. That'll surely make this place lively." He laughed.
"I don't think I'm ready for that yet," I honestly said, "Maybe someday though."
"Gobber! We're finished!" A man called out.
"Perfect! Let's go to the Hall, drinks are on me!" Gobber yelled out. "Alright kid, it's good to be used. We'll come back again tomorrow to get some more work done, and don't forget to come to the forge at sunrise."
"I won't, thank you for the help." I waved at him as he left. Looking at the house that's under construction I sighed, unsure of what to feel about everything. However, I will keep my promise with my father. I'll do my best to honour the promise our family had with the first chief.
—
I sat in front of a campfire cooking some of the fish that the fishermen had given me. The rest I had created a tower of racks for them to be smoked. That way I don't waste so much fish, the whole process took me the whole day. Fortunately there weren't any dragon attacks yet. So there was nothing for me to do. Tomorrow, I'll be helping Gobber out at the forge which will be quite interesting.
Feeling the cool wind on me I felt a hint of nostalgia, this didn't really feel any different from the expeditions I've gone through from the other side. It would be nice to have some company, but I hope it will get better.
"Why aren't you with the others?" I heard a soft voice ring out from the dark. A small light could be seen getting closer to me. I stared at the figure and felt a slight tingle in my brain. It was Valkyr, without her armour. She was wearing casual clothing, although it had beautiful embroidery on the hems of her skirt. She had a leather top and wore a loose cloak.
"Ah, Valkyr," I stood to greet her, "What brings you here?" I dragged a log to the fire and motioned her to sit.
"I'm just here to drop some of the crab I cooked up. They gave me too much for my family to eat, so I figured I'll give you some since you bought the spices for me" She handed me a basket of roasted and boiled crabs. "I roasted some of those and the rest I boiled in a mix of spices. It turned out pretty good."
"Thanks," I received the crabs from her. To be honest they did smell very good, especially the ones boiled in the spices. You could barely smell any hint of fishiness on it. "You really are quite good at cooking, if you go to the south you might be a pretty good chef."
"You're praising me too much," She smiled, "It's one of the few things I can do in this village anyway. Training to fight during the mornings, patrolling town, then going home to cook, and find some other hobbies."
"I guess it's not much of an exciting life," I commented, "Aside from the dragons I guess it's pretty peaceful."
"Not really, we have some occasional raids from some of the other tribes here, mostly the outcasts and the berserkers." Sighing, she stoked the fire, "It would be more peaceful if they didn't attack us, but that'll leave me with not much purpose in life."
"Is there really nothing else?" I was curious, "How about someone to spend time with you know?"
"I'm the only person in this village at my age, who would I spend time with? I'd rather be carried off by a dragon than hang out with vikings 20 years older than I. Plus they have better things to do, and the younger ones just like to pester me." She complained.
"The troubles of being a beauty," I laughed. Her face flushed slightly, although the flickering flames covered it slightly.
"You shouldn't casually say that to a woman, unless you want them getting the wrong idea." She glared at me. "You must've been quite the lady magnet when you were back in the south."
"Not at all," I sadly said, "Otherwise maybe I wouldn't be here, but even then I don't think I'll ever be ready to love yet."
"Why not?"
"I'm just not so sure," I honestly said, "And I'm afraid it wouldn't go too well."
"That's fair I suppose," She agreed. "Well, I better go now, it's getting too dark."
"Alright, be safe, thank you for the crabs." I waved her goodbye.
"Oh, right, don't forget. Tomorrow afternoon, your training starts." She called back before disappearing into the dark.
Feeling some of the loneliness be alleviated, I enjoyed the food and headed off to bed.
–
The next morning I woke up without much of a hassle, though I wouldn't really say that it was much of a sleep than anything. I was used to being in a half sleeping state to keep a lookout for any danger.
Preparing myself for the day, I walked out the dimly lit world. The sun could be seen poking out over the horizon, however its light could not reach the archipelago yet. Feeling that the morning was going to be good, I walked slowly to the direction of the forge.
BOOM!
"Dragons!"
In an instant the day's tone had shifted.
"Looks like it won't be a peaceful day after all." I exhaled my thoughts. Speeding up slightly I watched as the other villagers quickly got up to prepare to defend against the dragon raid. Strangely enough, multiple dragons have passed by me as if I was invisible. It's remarkable, likely because they're smart enough to determine that I wasn't a threat to them. Although there was one that decided to view me as an easy meal.
A big fat brown dragon spewed a ball of fire towards me, which I promptly dodged. Seeing that its shot had missed, the creature decided to charge at me, flapping its tiny wings as fast as it could. It was similar to a bee buzzing around you. I stomped the ground to gain enough air, landing on top of the creature it didn't know what to do. As if to contradict my statement beforehand, it charged directly into a house. I simply hopped off seeing its plans, and the blundering beast crashed headfirst into the home.
"My house!" A heard a voice cry out.
"Sorry!" I quickly ran away from the scene.
Avoiding other troubles, I finally made my way into the forge. There was a lineup of Vikings already by the window with broken pieces of weapons and armour. I gave them all a quick greeting before heading inside.
"Ah, you're quite early," Gobber saw me come in. "Take an apron from there, and we'll get you started."
"So what do you want me to do?" I tied the apron on my back, "I can do smelting, forging, and whatever else most blacksmiths can do."
"That's good, we'll start with the basics, help me melt down some scrap metal, and sharpen some of the dull swords there." He pointed at a corner. "Also hand some spares to the people at the window."
"Sounds good." I walked up to the window first and asked the first person.
"I need another sword."
"Coming right up." I walked over to the weapon's rack and began to sharpen the weapon quickly. After seeing the shine, I gave it to the man right away, in return some scarps were handed to me.
"I need an axe!"
"Alright!" I threw the scraps into the large crucible and worked on an axe. I could hear some explosions just outside, but Gobber advised me to just focus on the work at hand. Aside from repeated sharpening, I occasionally poured slag into moulds to form weapon heads. The work was fast, which didn't give much space for thinking about anything else.
The morning passed by quickly.