Forging a New Experience

A hammer's sound could be heard far away from the destination. The constant clang of steel against steel, but not like a battlefield, this was nothing like that. There weren't commanders rallying their troops, there wasn't war hammers destroying the bones of a knight who tried to face his opponent, it was a constant, more serene clang. More like one that somebody could get used to, like birds singing or woodpeckers pecking.

A pair flew towards the hillside where the clanging could be heard. One was a wyvern, the other a rider. The rider wore a sea blue armor, while weilding her signature lance in one hand, Vidofnir, the lance of Wings. The rider with the green hair landed, and the patter of boots sounded through the shop soon like rain. A soft ring sounded, the bell ringing once the doors opened, and the wooden floor had the footsteps against it. The figure admired the lances on the walls, but all of them seemed basic. Nothing special, basic weapons for footsoldiers. She didn't even pay attention to the swords, she wasn't a sword person. Wyvern riders fought with the lance, and very occasionally the axe. She didn't pay too much attention to the armors, but did give them a look or two, considering she needed a stronger set, but armor wasn't her thing. She had a special ability that worked instead of armor.

The form stopped once she reached the counter, and marveled the pieces on the wall. The special ones, without a price. The wallet she had was completely filled, so she was sad when she saw a nice lance she could have bought. But no price tag meant that they held some sort of sentimental value. But that mattered not, all that mattered was the chime right then.

Ring

That one single ring was followed by some words. "I don't think it's safe to allow your merchandise to go umattended! But uh... Hey! I heard this place was hiring! Mind if I can speak with a manager or something!?" she slightly joked, but was actually serious. She wanted a job, for some decent jewels on the side.

Ean heard the ring of the bell at the door to indicate somebody had entered. He didn’t bother with it too much. When/if they decided to do anything they could always ring the bell at the counter. Ean just hammered away as he listened to the silence. He heard footsteps as the customer wandered around the room, just listening, all the while hammering away as to finish the dagger he was working on. It was going to be a fairly simple piece.

He thought of imbuing it with some magic runes to improve it as a whole. Ean wasn’t good enough to do things like that outside of his smithy but he had his tools with him so it wasn’t hard if you gave him the materials needed.

Ean heard the bell ring as a female voice called out from the shop. A job? Ean wasn’t hiring though. Who told this woman Ean was hiring? Perhaps she ran across an old job flier his mother, the late owner of the store, had put out? Ean let out a sigh as he placed the dagger in the water and steam rose from the molded steel’s heat and placing it on the work bench to cool before heading out to see who the hell wanted to work here.

When Ean got to the front a green haired woman clad in armor stood at his stand. She was slim but taller than he was, probably weighed a little more than he did too. That wasn’t what bugged him though. Outside, through the window, he saw a scaly tail that really soured his mood. Wyverns and Ean never went well together. Ean really wanted to just shoo this woman off and be done with it but he never really got the chance to learn how to handle women and he really didn’t want anyone spreading bad rumors about this place because he didn’t hire one person.

Ean figured that help would be appreciated but working at a smithy required a certain build. Weak built men and most women couldn’t do a lot of the simple work he had to do. Once he put himself in front of her behind the desk Ean merely stood and stared at her. If women were anything like his mother she was going to be persistent so it was best to figure if she was worth anything to begin with.

His eyes traced every inch of the woman’s body. Her face was unimportant but the long hair would need to be tied back in order to put away equipment. Her arms were slender but if you looked closely you could see the tone where the armor wasn’t, the same for her torso and legs. She had enough build to do the work at the very least, as Ean continued to study her in silence.

Lilian heard the banging of hammer against steel... Or at least what she assumed was steel, it could have been any metal really, but that didn't matter. Soon the pat pat of footsteps against the wooden floor arose once again as the blacksmith walked forward, then behind the counter. He didn't say a word, only stood there, staring at her. Lilian felt the heat in her cheeks rise, but she tried her best to not blush. She hated being stared at, especially when looking at her body. She isn't the most well endowed person in the world, but got embarrassed as if she did.

"So, about the job. I assume if you're hiring that you need some extra help? I can go to far away places in a fraction of the time it'd take walking or any other land-based mode of transportation, I can mine minerals and ores fairly well, I have some experience in the craft, and as for forging itself, I do admit to not having any firsthand experience. However! I am willing to learn, plus on a utility standpoint, I'll be an essential addition to save you time and effort that could be put into work orders from clients. So uh... If you're done staring at me like that, what do ya think?"

Lilian did in fact have experience in mining, and Marshmallow could take her wherever she needed to go to get materials. Her father took her to the mines to build strength, and she did have a knack with weapons - spears and axes to be exact. She could tell a fault from a mile away, not to mention compare different lances to fit people. Marshmallow could be an essential addition to the team as well, however if that dirty look gave Lilian the hint she needed, it was that Marshmallow might be a bit of a hinderance.

It would seem she was going to be adamant about getting a job here. Well if he was going to have to do this he might as well do it. An extra person to keep an eye on the shop or to run errands would be useful. He wasn’t particularly thrilled with the wyvern, which was undoubtedly hers, but at the end of the day he needed an extra person for at least one job and, unfortunately, this girl and her wyvern were probably best suited for the job.

Ean at the very least could use an extra hand to gather materials. What he was looking for was too expensive to just go buy and the only place he could find it required climbing a volcano, which would be easier with a wyvern, although he detested the thought of having to ride one, having one in an emergency would be useful.

The smithing world referred to the stones as fire veins and they were found in dried magma and were created when magic energy in nature fused in parts of the magma, creating lines of eternally hot stone that could be used to make heat based weapons or if he needed to, light his forge.

Ean let out a sigh of defeat before heading back into the back room. A clanging and rattling could be heard before the sound of a folding gate being opened outward was heard. When Ean returned, he carried two pickaxes, two shovels, and a bag made of heat resistant coating. “Come on,” Ean told the girl as he threw her a shovel and a pickaxe before opening the door to leave. Ean gave a glance at the wyvern, which he still wasn’t pleased to be around, and waited for the girl to leave the building so he could lock up for the night.

Lilian felt very embarrassed to keep being stared at, silent like that. The man, whom she hadn't even gotten the name of, just seem to study her and the hero couldn't help but slightly fidget in place while he studied her. Finally, he stopped staring, but simply went to the back room. Lilian raised a hand to beckon him back, but he soon returned after some noise in the back room. He tossed Lilian both a pickaxe and a shovel, which she caught with her left and right hands respectively. He told her to follow him, which she did.

"So... Does this mean I have the job!? D'ya need transportation? I can let you ride with me on the back of Marshmallow, er... That is... My wyvern in the front."

She motioned to her wyvern's tail, which she was pretty much certain Ean had seen, but she still made the gesture none the less. She left the shop, and let Ean lock the place up. Marshmallow ran over to her, and Lilian held her hand out to tell her wyvern to stop moving.

"Marshy, lemme put some stuff on your saddle. We might have a job, er
.. Not the kinda job we normally go on. A kinda... Work-job? I dunno. Hold still..."

She finished strapping in the pickaxe, as well as the shovel. Lilian patted and scratched Marshmallow's head, as she turned around to once again greet Ean.

"So! Where will we be off to now, huh?"

“Maybe,” Ean replied, again being as blunt and to the point as possible while also ignoring the part about getting a ride from her which was absolutely not happening. He proceeded to lock the door behind the girl as she followed behind and allowed her to pack her things onto her overgrown, flying gecko. He still wasn’t particularly pleased with having the thing around but ultimately if she was useless on this mission then it wouldn’t be staying for long anyways. Ean still had a scowl on his face when he looked at the lizard but ultimately he always had a scowl on his face so it was hard to tell he was displeased with it. His face was only slightly more of a scowl than it usually was.

After she was done she asked where they were headed. Ean again used his trademark bluntness and lack of speech to explain this and point to the mountain that was visible in the distance. “Volcano,” Ean replied before lifting the pickaxe he was carrying over his shoulder in his left hand, his dominate hand, carrying the shovel in his other hand at his side, before setting out, expecting the girl to follow.

Ean figured it would take two or three days to get to the volcano. In reality if Ean wasn’t such a whiny baby they could probably get there in a day if he would just take the offer to ride the wyvern there but that wasn’t going to happen of his own free will. If they left the wyvern they could head to the nearest town and take the train and be there in a day also but Ean doubted a wyvern rider was going to leave their partner behind.