EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 54: Familiar Faces

Pa.s.sing a familiar house, Eric spoke up, "Oh right. Turn here, the smithy is just ahead."

Before long, the group found themselves standing in front of Tom's smithy. The man himself was just taking a break, standing in front of the forge, a pipe in his mouth emitting a faint aroma of burning herbs that invaded their nostrils, clashing with the acrid smell of burning metal that pervaded the smithy.

"Hey Tom. We're not bothering you are we?" Eric asked cheerfully, greeting the blacksmith.

Seeing the half-elf Tom groaned, "Ye haven't broken your weapon again already have ye? I jus' fixed that!"

Eric shook his head, "No worries. It's still good as new," he reported, drawing the sword and presenting it to Tom as proof. Inspecting the blade, Tom nodded, "I'd prefer if ye'd keep it that way. Well if ye aren't here fer a new blade, what're ye here fer?"

"My friends just arrived in Tonbura after hearing news that the best blacksmith around resided here. They were hoping you could take a look at their gear," Eric replied, the flattery rolling off his tongue as Mark and Griffin exchanged strange looks behind his back.

Tom's face brightened upon hearing this, "Aye? Well tis certainly true that me wares are better than any of the hacks that ye'll find in the other villages nearby. Come come, let me see yer weapons."

Unclipping his mace from his belt, Mark walked forward, handing the weapon to Tom. Griffin followed his lead, unhooking his shield from his back and holding it while Tom inspected Mark's mace.

"Ye've been giving this one some decent use," he commented, looking at the small dents and chips in the iron, "I'd recommend buying a new one entirely ta be honest. No saying that as a seller, but as a professional. This weapon's already been repaired to its limit, but the damage to the underlying metal is pretty severe. I can repair it, but it'll cost ye almost as much as a new weapon made with better materials."

Handing the mace back to Mark, Tom looked at Griffin, admiring the enormous muscles which nearly rivaled his own that bulged from the half-orc's exposed biceps, "A half-orc eh? Ever thought of working in a forge?"

With a surprised look Griffin shook his head, handing his bracers to Tom as he did so.

"Really? I think ye'd be suited fer it. I've already got one otherworlder apprentice but I certainly wouldn't mind another. Come see me if ye ever change yer mind," said Tom, pointing to a figure hunched over the whetstone at the back of the forge itself. Craning his neck to see, Eric felt a shiver run down his spine as his green eyes met a mismatched pair of gold and violet eyes.

Seeing Eric, Seryllia's gaze turned cold, sc.r.a.ping the blade of the axe she was sharpening against the whetstone with much more vigor than was required, causing a shower of sparks to fly as she glared at the half-elf. Reverting his gaze, Eric looked back to Tom who just had finished inspecting Griffin's armour and now turned his gaze to the shield.

"Ah now this is a much higher quality item. If I'm not mistaken ye got it from the militia rather than a village blacksmith aye?"

"Uh yes. It was a reward for defeating a dangerous pack of wolves near Vinbera village."

"Ah Captain Melvin must've given it to ya then. Vinbera, that explains the poor workmanship of yer mace. Ye got it from the village smith aye?" Tom asked, directing his question to Mark.

"Yeah. I bought it off him for a few silver."

"Ptew," Tom spat, "Connor is a hack and a disgrace to blacksmiths. Tell ye what, I'll actually charge ye less if ye buy a new mace. Just because ya deserve ta use an actual weapon."

"Sounds good. I'll take you up on that offer," Mark said before pausing, "Only…"

"Only what boy?"

"Well I need to save some money to learn healing magic. Do you know how much that will cost?"

"Maria at the chapel will teach you for free if ye just agree to help her out with some ch.o.r.es. Ye don't need to worry about paying for divine magic," Tom said dismissively.

"Alright, in that case it's a deal."

"Good! Now as for you," Tom said, turning back to Griffin, putting emphasis on the 'you', "Yer shield is good. Captain Melvin must've taken a shining to ya, because this is one of the shields he would've received before tha material shortage. I can fix it fairly easily, it'll only cost ya a Srick and a few Cirts."

Nodding gratefully, Griffin paid the smith, who set to work eagerly, fired up at the sight of working on a quality item for the first time in days. As Tom worked, Griffin and Mark shot strange glances at the elf working in the corner of the smithy, alternating their gazes between her and Eric. Ignoring the pair, Seryllia continued to glare at Eric who just looked at the sky innocently.

"How do you know her?" Mark whispered, nudging Eric in the ribs to get his attention.

"Remember the chick I told you guys about? The one I fought and then invited to try out for us?"

"Yeah?"

"That may or may not be her," said Eric awkwardly. Mark raised an eyebrow, "And by that you mean that's the girl who still probably wants you dead?"

"Yuuuuuup."

"Well don't just stand there. Go talk to her. At least try and see if you can make her not want to kill you. I know that's a tough task for you but it's for the benefit of the team."

With a small sigh, Eric slumped his shoulders. Turning, he glanced at Mark who gave him a steely look which told him that he was serious about the matter. Dragging his feet, Eric approached the elf whose glare only intensified as he approached.

"Hey. Been awhile," Eric said, mustering as much jovialty as he could manage.

"Oh so you recognize me now. Glad you didn't forget the person you used for target practice," Seryllia responded venomously. Eric winced, did all women want to kill men? Or was it just the ones he knew, he wondered to himself as he groped for words to continue the conversation.

"Did I use you for target practice? I seem to remember being used as a piece of wood on a lumberjack stand myself. Maybe my memory's just bad though," he retorted.

Seryllia snorted at this, "Sure seems like it, since you just spent the last five minutes staring at me. I suppose I should be glad that you at least have the b.a.l.l.s to approach after that. I wasn't sure if you'd even have the decency to do that."

"Hey. You didn't exactly make a great first impression you know. For your information, I have met plenty of people in Fate who haven't tried to kill me upon our first meeting," Eric informed her, only half lying.

Giving him a disbelieving stare, Seryllia continued to sharpen the battle axe, grinding it against the whetstone to produce a razor sharp edge.

"What? It's true. Not everyone wants to kill me you know," Eric reiterated, earning him a short bark of laughter from the elf.

This isn't going too well, Eric thought glumly to himself. So far all he'd managed to accomplish was making her even angrier with his reluctance to approach her. Watching her work the whetstone, he decided to try a different approach, "So you're a blacksmith's apprentice now? That's pretty cool. Learn anything useful so far?"

"Just how to sharpen weapons so that they kill the things they hit," Serylia responded sharply.

"Oh. That sounds. Useful…" said Eric, trailing off as he realized what the thing she was referring to probably was.

"Is Tom a good master? I've been looking to learn a profession myself. Not sure if I want to learn blacksmithing, fletching, or something else."

"He's great. Treats me well, pays me for my work. And he's promised to make sure that anyone hara.s.sing me will be denied service," Seryllia responded. Eric paled at this, if he lost access to the smithy then he would have no way of repairing his weapons. While he was trying to learn magic, that didn't mean he wanted to abandon melee fighting.

Seeing his reaction Seryllia grinned, "Just kidding. But don't test me. He likes me quite a bit. He'd probably seriously consider it."

"Noted. Have you considered my offer from last time? Trying out for our team?" Eric asked. Relieved that they were at last having a semi-normal conversation.

"Nope. I told you already. I play solo. If you need help with something and have enough coin I might consider it. But I'm not your friend and I'm not joining your team."

"Well technically you are my friend," Eric said slowly, miming the action of adding a friend to the friends list.

Seryllia's only response was to flip over the axe she was sharpening, pressing the other side of the axehead to the whetstone. Watching nervously, Eric watched as she finished sharpening the axehead, admiring her work before hooking the battleaxe into a sling on her back.

Seeing his expression, Seryllia gave him a feral grin, "Oh yeah. I've got a new weapon now. Want a closer look?"