"Come on Mal, don't let him beat you!" Meadhead cheered me on on the side, along with the other children that were being taught.
"Sorry kids, but your teacher isn't going to be me." Spitelout struggled. He was strong, extremely so, his frame wasn't exactly small either. Thankfully I had the strength to back me up. We were currently showing the kids how to immobilise an enemy during one on one confrontations. Displaying different ways on how to lock an enemy in a position as well as how to engage in grappling during a sword fight.
After losing to Valkyr I took most of my fights seriously this time, using everything I knew. After all, if any of my old friends saw me lose again like that they would laugh at me. After getting Spitelout on a leg lock he finally decided to give in after not being able to get himself out.
"This is why you're my eternal rival," He declared many times, "Next time I'll best you just wait." After saying that he reluctantly left as classes were about to come to an end.
"Alright kids, that's it for me today. Do your best in training and listen to Valkyr, otherwise you won't be able to become the best viking in Berk," I told them.
"Yes sir!" They all said.
I walked over to Valkyr who was watching us from the side.
"You did well again today," She complimented. "It takes a lot of my back."
"It's a shared effort," I said, "Anyway, I'll have to go back to the forge to help Gobber out. I'll see you tonight?"
"I'll see you tonight," She confirmed, "I'll be there."
"Alright," I waved goodbye to her and the kids before running off back to the forge.
—
Entering the forge I saw that Gobber was busy with foreign new swords and axes.
"Ah, you're back," He said without turning back, "When you can, Starkard managed to break his wood splitting axe."
"Again?" I asked, already preparing to make a new one.
"He's a smart man, but sometimes I wonder if he can choose when to turn that brain on or off." Gobber sighed. "Who tries to use an axe as a pickaxe?"
"We have our days, sometimes it's everyday," I chuckled, "Looks like we might be out of scrap metal to use though." I realised, "Where do we even get our scrap metal from?"
"Well, they come and go. Usually Johann comes to deliver us some for a couple coins, but he hasn't been here yet." Gobber explained, "We did have an iron mine here once, but the place is bone dry now."
"An iron mine you say?" I was intrigued, "Maybe I can salvage some stuff from there when I have the time."
"Good luck with that then." Gobber said, "It hasn't been used in 2 generations. I don't even think you'd be able to find it in the dense forest. Not with danger lurking around the corner."
"Ah, maybe another time then." I pushed the thought at the back of my head for now. "We'll just have to wait for Johann to make another stop here." I continued on with my work until afternoon. My days were pretty straight forward. Go to the forge to help Gobber out in the morning, then head to the Arena to help teach the children, after that go back to the forge again. Usually once the sun reaches its peak I would be finished most of my work and free to do whatever I want. Although I would spend most of the time still at the forge working on other projects.
Most of them are kitchen equipment to be used in the recipes of Lar's cookbook. I was surprised by how many different things could be needed to make all manner of foods. Thankfully he left behind some blueprints, he would usually hand it to blacksmiths whenever he needed new ones made. The rest I was able to recall from memory since he commissioned me to make some too. On the bright side at least we're putting it to good use, and Valkyr came up with several ways to utilise them as well. I'm just happy I remember him through this.
"Right, I took a look at the design that you made last time." Gobber spoke up. "The device is extremely useful, especially for hitting those higher flying dragons during the raids. If we have some places in a few key areas it'll make defending a lot easier."
"That's good," I remembered giving the bola launcher design to him. The two of us continued our work for another while before I called it a night. The both of us closed shop for the day and went our separate ways. I walked towards the dock as I always did everyday, I made it a habit in case trader Johann would stop by, but to also help out Bucket and Mulch. They often catched a few strange things on the side for me to take a look at. The other week they showed me a spot where an oyster reef had formed, which was one of my favourite delicacies.
Arriving at the docks I saw that it was quite busy, as if he had heard our call Johann had arrived with several ships of goods. I spotted a few familiar faces among the crowd, however since there were too many people I decided to stand back until they cleared out. As the people began to clear out I saw that Stoick was talking to Johann with a troubled expression. I wasn't able to control my curiosity and made my way over to see what they were talking about.
"What? Outlaw Island has been buying large shipments of weapons from your fleet?" I heard Stoick growl.
"Yes, it seems like they're planning some sort of large attack somewhere." Johann said. "Not only them, but the Berserkers have too."
"That doesn't spell out good for us." Stoick sighed. "Thank you Johann, I know you have a business to run. I appreciate you risking it to tell us."
"Don't mind it Stoick, Berk's one of my best customers, plus I have more places of business outside the Barbaric Archipelago." Johann waved it off. "I worry that they're planning something big that may not sit well with you."
"What's happening?" I jumped into the conversation. "I'm getting a lot of bad energy here."
"Ah, Mal," Stoick greeted, "It's just some bad news, our enemies have started to buy various shipments of weaponry from Johann. I just don't have a good feeling about this."
"That does sound bad," I figured, "Why would they even plan on attacking Berk though. It's not like we have anything good for them to pillage."
"Well, it's mostly bad blood between me and their leaders. We don't see much eye to eye you see." Stoick explained. "The leader of the outcasts, Alvin, was a former friend of mine. However, due to his actions I had to banish him from Berk. Now he spends most of his time trying to win against me in every way. The berserker chief, Oswald, doesn't agree with my methods either. He's a fierce man, who believes that in order to convince people, you have to beat them until they side with you."
"Quite the opposition you have," I blandly stated.
"Aye, but it's nothing we haven't dealt with before, and with the addition of our protector. I think we got a good chance to fight them." Stoick gestured to me. "Since you clearly have a background in the military, how about you help with upgrading our defensive measures. Valkyr and Spitelout are incharge of doing it usually. So you can see either of them to talk about it, you see one of them more than enough everyday anyways." He gave me a knowing look. I didn't bother correcting him with the amount of times he's implied it already for the past few days.
"Alright, aside from that," I turned to look at Johann. "Did you get the stuff I asked for?"
"Of course master Mal," Johann clapped his hands, "Specialty spices from the south!"
"Perfect, thank you Johann." I received the related items from him.
"Not a problem," He happily said, "I give my best service to good paying customers. In fact, I managed to get my hands on a higher quality weapon from before. Although it's not something I can carry easily."
"Oh, well I'm in no need of weapons, maybe the Chief might be interested?" I looked at Stoick, "I'll give it to you as a present if you like it."
"Well, if you're offering then I shouldn't refuse. I've seen Hoark's axe and it was a thing of beauty." Stoick rubbed his hands in excitement.
"Oh, then this weapon is perfect for you Chief Stoick," Johann huffed heavily as he dragged out a chest. "It's a hammer that's extremely dense. It was tested by one of my associates and he barely could wield it." Opening the chest he revealed a rough looking hammer.
Stoick picked it up right away to give it a test. "This has some weight to it." He said surprised. "I've never held a weapon this heavy before, even the axe Hoark had wasn't this bulky."
"Looks like it's the perfect weapon for you," I told him. "It might come in handy when we get potentially raided."
"This is perfect, thank you Mal." Stoick admired the hammer. "Looks like I can finally train towards something again, I will need to work to wield this hammer properly."
"Anyway gentlemen," Johann said, "I believe that it is time I call it a night too. That shipment of scrap metal will come by tomorrow. As well as some minerals you asked for master Mal, I bid you two goodnight."