The Harukian Chronicler 24 Reunited, And It's A Kick Chapter 24

Currently, I have an issue that I need to speak with my father about, a small experiment that I did for myself… and I found something out which may surprise him. We're at the table eating dinner; some roasted boar with a vegetable soup, and I must say this food is as delicious as always. Waiting until I am able to breach the conversation of the table…

"What's wrong Zeri-dear, is the food not good?" Snapping out it from my mother's pleasant voice, I realize I have not been eating. Giving her a quick apology, I begin to eat so as to not worry her; "Is everything okay, you haven't been yourself tonight. If there is something on your mind, you can talk to us." Oops, I worried my mother… and father is looking at me with a bit of worry on his face as well. Please don't look at me like that…

"It's nothing really, mom, just an experiment I did that bore fruit. Wanted to talk to dad about it." Sort of chewing with some boar in my mouth; "And before you ask, no it's not the Hoppers. Those gluttons have yet to do what I theorize them to do." Indeed, the hoppers don't really do anything…

"Oh? Then please tell me the results of your experiment… and the experiment that you were doing?" Father answers with an interested tone, before mom pipes up;

"It's nothing dangerous is it? I won't forgive you if you were doing something that could harm you, dear child." That tone was something dangerous; and mom's face was giving me second thoughts of explaining. Though since father asked, and I'm not hurt… maybe?

Taking a deep breath to collect my thoughts, organizing the data that I have gained from my experiment…

"Well, I was experimenting with the thought of Armoring, and how to improve the process itself. From what I could… test… the power can be increased easily. The speed at which the Armoring spreads is still a bit annoyingly slow, but I am still working on that." Listing off the benefits I have learned of, Father nods slightly before holding up a hand;

"What do you mean the power of Armoring can be increased, exactly?" The question is simple, but is filled with curiosity and warning… even I can feel the danger coming from mother if this is dangerous. However, this is actually a simple process with no danger to the user, if you can get the hang of it.

"It's simple really; let's take this as an example." I hold up my right arm, letting the ichor flow all the way up to my shoulder; my small claws coming out. Along with the change the ichor hardens into a chitinous material, small spiked appearing on the side of my forearm. At the moment, everything is jet black, and nothing really stands out above the norm; "This amount of armoring already reserves ten units of my mana. My original thesis was about what would happen if I try increasing the amount of mana that it utilizes… but theory and practice are two difficult sides of a coin." Using the basic understanding of mana manipulation that I have, I begin flowing more mana through the chitin of my right arm…

Slowly amber tinted silver lines begin to crawl along the chitin, glowing with a slight savage light as the ichor begins to grow more dense. My claws look a bit sharper, and the spikes on the side of my arm grow a tiny bit longer. With the level of understanding I have with the ability, this is the most I can do with one arm.

"As you can see, by reserving five more points of mana; I am able to add a bit more to the armoring itself. Through testing, I am able to cut a bit deeper with my claws and spikes; and the glowing lines can expel mana with every strike." This has been my pet project ever since father did that lesson on Armoring for all of us, to try and figure out different forms of it; and how I can utilize them.

Though I had expected them to be surprised, happy… something; they both sighed softly before my mother gave a slight giggle, hugging father from behind and smiling at me;

"Well, you are Zekiel's child, so it's not so surprising that you would begin experimenting at such a young age. At least it isn't something as dangerous as your father's experiments." She then gives father a tight squeeze, to the point he has to tap on her arm to tell her to let go. Nihlis laughs slightly at this sight, while Yehai continue to eat his soup without caring; though I can tell he is interested in this line of power.

"So if I may ask…" Juniper pipes up in the corner with a mouth full of meat; "What is with the color of the lines? I'd have expected them to be something different… since it's little bro." I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or a back handed insult… Mom is laughing though, and father is just shaking his head…

"The magical effect in the armoring would have to be his own mana aura; which isn't too much right now since he is still a child." Zekiel nods slightly as he thinks this over; "Silver like his hair, with amber after his eyes. It's a gentle and kind feeling mana, which fits him rather well." Ugh, what's with that… I'm going to have to teach my mana that I am indeed a harsh and cruel man, with no regard to anything… I'm not even buying this.

"As you grow older, get affected by different natural magics, and even your own experiences in the world; your Magical Aura will evolve and change to fit the forge inside of you. Nihlis should have more holy power coming from his Aura, while Juniper will be more fire and brimstone." Mother says as she continues to hug father from behind; I can see that the old man is quite enjoying the loving. I just ignore them and go back to my meal, giving a glance to Yehai and Nihlis with my eye; quite happy to see that the advice I gave them took root.

…

…

One week until the cla.s.s ceremony at the guild; and today we're here at the market with the family. Looks like mother and father want to teach us kiddos how to make a contract with a magical beast. So we're here at a caravan that is known to sell smaller magical beasts; which is good since they want us to get messenger beasts first.

While the adults are mentoring the other children, I slowly slink away from the pack to begin searching through the many cages on my own. This is quite a many beasts in cages here, from birds to monkeys… is that an aardvark… who would use an aardvark as a messenger? Well… each of these creatures are magical beasts, so they each have a special ability with them that makes them somewhat useful if you're wanting that. If I didn't already have max level on my eye, going through each of these creatures would have maxed it ages ago. By the way, did I mention they can talk? Cause they can f.u.c.king talk!

Honestly, today I have a migraine, and each of these creatures keep talking to me, asking me to buy them… and they're all useless. Seriously, normally I'd pick one that I like the look of, but today is not the day to do this. They just keep talking and talking, at this rate I am going to begin biting b.i.t.c.hes and trying to consume something.

"Hey kid, buy me, I'm able to sense minerals in the soil. Kids like you enjoy digging in the dirt, right?" A purple monkey with twin horns on its head screeches as I walk past. It is able to sense rocks within five meters; that is useful, but it's useless for me at this moment. That, and I dislike the sound of its voice.

"Hey, hey; come on and buy me. I can easily help you get women to fawn all over you." An orange Guinea Pig with spines begins to chuckle at me… this one is just on the principle. Who wants a lewd rodent as a companion…

"If you buy me, I swear on my life that you will never be lacking in gold. I have some sticky fingers when it comes down to it." And there's a blue minx starting to tell me that it's a thief. That could be useful, but at this moment I don't need it.

"Come here kid, I can tell you a secret that will give you gooseb.u.mps. Even though I'm a chicken; BWAAAK!" Then there is this black chicken telling all forms of jokes… they're funny. I will give it points for the funny jokes that can get me to laugh; but again, right now it is looking quite delicious.

Lord, these voices remind me of fresh meat walking into a prison for the first time; every single inmate telling that person what they plan on doing. Never been to prison, don't plan on going anytime soon, but now I know what it feels like from this minor experience. I am slightly regretting getting out of bed today, as I continue to look around and examine each of these creatures to find something useful. I wish I had learned an ability that allows me to turn my ears off for a time.

No, no, no, no… so many different creatures, none that look to be within my list of things that I wish to have a.s.sociated with me. Rubbing the bridge of my nose I just slowly make another circle around the area of cages; having to listen to every single creature once more. I can see that my siblings have already chosen their first companions, so right now they're just waiting on me… if I wasn't such a meticulous person, I'd just choose one.

I can't take this anymore though, it's too loud and I am about to bite some product and eat it here in the middle of a crowd; I do not need that on my record. Looking around, I quickly scoop up the cage of a sleeping Crow, which squawks at me as I accidentally jostle its cage, and quickly make my way over to my parents. Letting them know that I am finished choosing something for my first scout, and quickly make my way away from the talking beasts.

…

Back sitting at the table of the longhouse, I am currently nursing a nice cup of warm tea to help with my headache, listening slightly to what my father has to say about making a contract with a magical beast. Honestly, I knew how to do this for a while now, but making a contract with a Hopper would be sort of a waste… they don't do much. Just taking a look around to see what my siblings have chosen for their first contracts… I am glad to see they did good.

Juniper chose a golden fox with twin tails, with glowing red lines all throughout its fur. I feel my sister is going for a form of gimmick with all the warm colors she is going with. This creature, which she named Karana, is even able to breathe fire for it's first form ability… yeah, she's going for something. It's even better that given enough time and resources, Karana will be able to evolve into a higher being; more useful than anything I saw in the shop. For size though, it is the middle ground, being as high as her shins at the shoulder, which I don't know if that's big or not.

Yehai has chosen a blue scaled drake for his creature, naming it Chaka. The scales are nicely accented with a yellow glow for sigils surrounding its limbs and back. This one also has the ability to evolve further, but from what I can see it is just a way for it to grow bigger. Now I have images of Yehai riding into battle on the back of a blue drake… though that might not be far in the future, as it's already at father's waist at the shoulder. From what I can see though, the only ability it currently has is an immunity to Electro mana; and a Cryo mana enhancement.

Nihlis actually went small for his creature, and it fits him quite well as it has feathers. A small green robin, with no glowing sigils but a small horn on top of its head. It's about the size of his clenched fist, which is good for scouting and being a messenger, also fits with him being a Hunter. Its ability is 'Shared Sight' which means that it can share its sight with an ally… kind of self explanatory there; and its name Recko, is quite hilarious.

Then there is my choice; this squawking Crow, jet black as night with glowing blue sigils that remind me of the tails of a Galaxy; and it honestly is not happy. Apparently he was having a nice dream when I jerked the cage and woke him up, and he has not stopped complaining about it since then. It wouldn't be so bad if he was the size of a normal Crow, but no, my lovely luck just had to be on my side with this one. He's a rank three magical beast; a once in a million shot to find randomly in a small caravan… oh goody me.

Since he is a rank three, that of course means that he comes complete with three lovely abilities… able to cast Aero spells of the destruction and illusion schools, Shared Senses, and finally; Fear Scream. He's able to cause fear to those of lower level than him when he lets out a loud crow scream. Right now though, he is continuing to scream at me for ruining his dreams…

"Listen, Brigga, would you shut your maw for like five seconds. Your constant screaming about 'dream this' and 'dream that' is making me rather p.i.s.sed." I growl as I shove my face against the cage, "If you keep it up, the term 'Eating Crow' will no longer be a term for me."

"Eldest brother, could you silence the squawking of your crow please, we're trying to listen to father." Yehai glares over at us, scratching the head of Chaka. "What is it even upset about, to the point of not being quiet?"

"Brigga has been complaining non-stop about me waking him up from a good dream; must have had a bunch of female crows around him in this dream… or many shiny things." My eyes slowly look over at Brigga, who snaps his beak shut now…

"It was about shiny things, thank you." The crow meekly says, but now shutting up. I let out a sigh before drinking down some more of the tea in my cup; my headache growing ever stronger now, I can feel it in my horns. Father gives a cough before shaking his head before rubbing the bridge of his nose;

"I won't ask… should not be surprised you can understand magical beasts… won't even ask since I know you probably don't know why you can do it." Father says as if it's a great big secret, drinking a cup of tea himself while rubbing his head… "Indra, darling… could you finish the contract explanation for me please. I need to talk to Zeri as to what is going on with our… special… physiology." Father stands up, kisses mother's cheek, and lets her do the teaching as I pick up Brigga's cage and follow the older demon into the back rooms. So apparently this headache isn't something normal; color me surprised.

…

"You're old enough to know about this… even though you have suffered from this headache for your entire life every year. I also won't ask the patrons as to why we share the same day…" Father continues to drink his tea, sitting back in his favorite chair and just trying not to sound too pained. "It happens to everyone with Cieri's Blessing, once a year they get a headache that makes them wish for the tender embrace of death. Happens on the same day every year; you can set your calendar to it."

"Well you're full of p.i.s.s and vinegar today, course I nearly began biting at the loud voices of the magical beasts back at the plaza… so I can't say anything to that." Letting out a sigh, I lay back as Brigga keeps quiet right now, which is a good idea. Two Wrath demons suffering from a headache that makes one want to devour sin and h.e.l.l themselves… a Crow isn't anything to the two of them. "So is there anything on this blessed planet, that can mitigate the effects of this 'blessing' of ours… or is it just sit back and complain all day?"

"Sadly, I have a way to mitigate the pain… you currently do not. Your mother is my medicine, and I am not sharing." Zekiel quickly dodges the cup that was thrown at him, holding up his hands in surrender, "Okay okay, calm down child. I'm not joking that your mother is my medicine… you need to find your own wife who can help keep your mind off of it. It's pretty much a grin and bear it type of thing; but I have many things to help me bear it." Quickly taking a drink of his tea, Zekiel leans back against his chair and rubs at his forehead, letting out the longest sigh.

"So what you're currently telling me is… ugh, can't even think of a witty remark at this moment; please just put me out of my misery…" This day has been nothing but pain and misery for me…

Laying here on the bed, experiencing the worst pain I have ever been in, I begin to slowly wish that I didn't pick that f.u.c.king trait for myself. This is actually worse than the previous years… what was I doing in those years that kept me from feeling this… I can't even think anymore. Karen, if you're listening, update the f.u.c.king description of that trait; Warning: Will experience headache every year that makes you want to disembowel yourself just to feel something new.

It is at the worst moment of it, that I feel something very cold against my forehead… and lord that helps more than anything else I could potentially think of doing. Opening my eyes, and there is my mother, being the beautiful angel of a woman that she truly is… well she is half-angel… but the cold towel on my forehead feels wonderful right now.

"Oh, sorry dear, did I disturb your rest?" Indra smiles down at her little child, gently stroking at his silver hair, sitting on the bed next to him with a small smile; "You skipped through to dinner, would you like to eat with us?" She didn't like seeing her child like this, but since he inherited the trait from Zekiel, then it is something none can control. Though it breaks her heart she really can't do anything to help his pain…

"Yeah, I'll be right out, thanks mom." I slowly make my way to a sitting position with a pained voice, watching as mother smiles and walks out of the room to prepare my plate of food. While that is happening, I knock on the Brigga's cage to wake the poor bird up so I can let him out. Since I didn't have much thought process going on due to the headache; I just quickly go through the contract making with Brigga. It's pretty much the same as how you make a contract with spirits in the forge; so I went with a similar contract with my crow follower.

Well for now, let's just go grab something to eat, now that I have this taken care of… for now.

…

…

So, I gave in to my curiosity and looked at what cla.s.ses I would be able to take during the ceremony… due to the fact that Grandfather wanted to take us three boys to a local blacksmith to get us weapons for our birthday. I couldn't exactly choose a weapon properly without seeing what I would be able to do though; so I cheated. Now there are a few other issues though…

The forge our grandfather brought us to, is the forge that supplies the town guards, and is usually where the Jarl's family gets there weaponry. Father has never stepped foot in here, by the asking of the smith; an old human with a slight beard, and flesh as blackened with soot as the night sky. Wonder if he knew about my ability though, cause the second I stepped foot in here, my eyes scanned everything in the room… let me tell you… I'm not happy.

The items around me are actually quite well made, and well polished on the outside; one could even fight a dragon with some of the swords here. You know; if that dragon was old, in firmed, and been dead for a couple centuries. They're well polished on the outside, but the quality is just f.u.c.king bad.

h.e.l.l, the blacksmith Boris, only has the skill for smithing at level one… it is quite amazing that he is able to make a sword of even such shoddy quality. Speaking of; out of twenty swords in this shop… only four have a quality of NORMAL. It is nearly a laughing stock to what you would picture an actual forge to be. Looking at the smith though, as he rubs his hands together and is talking to grandfather; my mind goes to dark places where I punch him in the smug face.

"Jarl Bandi, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today?" The sleaze oozes out of Boris' mouth…

"Hey there Boris, just bringing my grandsons out today to give them their birthday gifts; and their cla.s.s awakening will be coming up too, so why not give them a head start? Whatever weapons they need, please give them the best you have." Grandfather is too trusting, why else would he look at these weapons and still trust this man. "Also need to put in an order for some more arrow heads for the guards, they seem to break rather easily when they have to use them." Oy, didn't you just say something worrying there?

"Right away my Jarl, the boys can look around the store to try and find what they wish; the arrow heads will be finished by the overmorrow." His hands are still rubbing together; rolling my eyes, I barely scan around the room with my eye ablaze… and this guy is f.u.c.king around with my family, can a good boy really keep quiet?

Walking up to a nearby weapon rack, I pick up one of the swords that the smith has on display; examining it closely with my hands and eyes. The weapon is a shortsword, nearly a dagger is the length can be said to be anything, with a wonderful shining look on it. The guy did a good job making it look like it was of normal or decent quality; this particular shortsword is of Poor quality though… plated with silver to make it look better. Taking a closer look…

(Plated Silver Iron Sword)

-Quality: Poor (Looks Decent)

-Damage: 1d3+STR/5

-Durability: 10/10

[Str 15 needed to Bend - Str 25 needed to Break]

[Created by a lack l.u.s.ter blacksmith who has more skill in deception than actual smithing; could easily break in combat if the wielder is not careful. Suggestion of Mala: Do Not Buy.]

Sighing softly to myself, as I let my eye slowly fade away, I close my left eye and look over at the smith and my grandfather; letting my smile spread on my face as if nothing is wrong;

"So how much is this shortsword? It looks rather decent." The smith sniff slightly, looking at the sword for but a second before waving his hand; Grandfather though slowly gets a more serious face… wonder why…

"That sword is nothing special here, I am willing to let it go for a measly six gold. It's a silver weapon of decent quality, so it is guaranteed to not bend or break with anything save for fighting a Golem of Earthen element." His disgusting smile plastered on his face, as I look to the blade… a sickening smile spreading on my face as I grab the blunted blade with my other hand…

With the smith and grandfather watching me, I use my modest seventeen strength score… and much difficulty… to bend the sword as far as it could go; taking a few seconds. As I do this, the smith lets out a cry and he leaps towards me, only to be stopped by my grandfather, who is now not looking happy in the slightest. Once the bend has been made, I drop the sword at my feet with a smile on my face; looking at my Grandfather

"Hey, old bear, I'm going to go look for a competent smith to forge my weaponry. Have dad come on by to have a look around the shop, and he'll tell you the same stuff I could; that he is rather s.h.i.tty." I nod slightly before making my way out of the shop, "Make sure Yehai and Nihlis go out and find what they are looking for, this guy is no good when it comes to weaponry." With that I make my way out of the shop, and begin to make my way towards another of the smiths in Freyjan…

…

…

If I didn't mention before, Freyjan has a total of three smiths to its name, with one of them just so happening to be a deceitful piece of c.r.a.p that has been taking advantage of people through shady business. Worse part is that he made it so other people would not buy too much from the other two smiths in town, thus placing them in the poorer side of town. I had done some research on both of these guys, and the third guy is perfect for Yehai and Nihlis.

He is a Lizardman by the name of Kilkun; and his specialty is pretty much shields, spears, and bows. Weaponry that his people are better known for; he can also make a range of light, medium, and heavy armors. The only thing is that he can only work with most low end metals such as iron and copper; since his creature type has a few issues with temperatures too high. Decent smith though, with a skill rating of five and a good production skill group rating of three. Also most of the items in his shop are of normal quality, with a few at decent, and even higher quality. There are even a few Masterwork items with Normal quality, so he has clout when compared to the first smith.

However, what I want can only be made by the second smith of Freyjan; who is a bit more special than either one of the other two smiths. This man goes by the name of Barbaros, and he just so happens to be a Magma Elemental; mixture of fire and earth types of mana, and fully sentient. From my research of his shop… he doesn't have anything in there, as he is a lazy drunkard who doesn't really work anymore due to certain things. His skill though is top notch, being of the level six with a production group level of five; he does have the skill to make things, if he has the drive to do it.

Looking to check the positioning of the sun, checking the time, I make my way to Barbaros' shop… Brigga weighing a bit heavily on my horn as he sits there…

"So explain to me why you're doing all this again? Seems a bit… much… if you ask me." Brigga squawked towards me, preening some loose feathers from under his wing as we pa.s.s by some lady crows sitting on a rooftop. I roll my eyes at the large bird that has chosen my horn as a resting place; can't really be helped as my shoulders are too small for him to roost on.

"It's mostly because I'm bored, and this is very fun. Plus that f.u.c.ker was selling shoddy wares to my family, and I couldn't just stand by and let him do that." I innocently say, with a simple smile;

"So you humiliate him in front of your grandfather, the one paying his bills; and show the actual quality of goods that his shop sells. Yeah, a good child you certainly are." To which Brigga lets out a caw of chiding;

"Touche, bird; I'll remember that when I need feathers when I am fletching some arrows later." My retort comes fast, but Brigga lets out a squawking laugh at it.

…

The guy could at least take some time to work on the actual look of his store… the place looks like a group of bandits had come through and ransacked the place for every nail they could. Boards are coming off the walls and falling down, with holes in the roof where there shouldn't be any. h.e.l.l, the sign that stated this was a place of business was nearly touching the street below, and could very well take out the next random pa.s.serby if their luck was low enough.

I could feel my eye twitching as I look at the state of the building, wondering if my own brain might be a bit defective at this point with how it works… my head tilting to the side slightly.

<"come on="" boy…="" don't="" be="" going="" nuts="" on="" me="" this="" early…"=""> Baalish chokes by with a chuckle, honestly I feel as if I am going a bit insane with how things are going today. I know what I need to do, and how it will work, but the final destination of the lines all depends on how my luck decides to roll.

With a sigh, I make my way into the dilapidated building, expecting it to fall onto me and end my life here and now; surprisingly it holds with my meager weight, there are such things as miracles. Looking around the interior, not much better than the exterior; even the forge is running cold right now. Not really unexpected considering he is a drunkard, but at least have some pride in the work that you do.

Now where was that drunk b.a.s.t.a.r.d this time of day again… thinking to myself as I wander through the shop to try and find him. Not in his room, and not in the kitchen… don't smell anything from the attic s.p.a.ce, so the only place left is… and yup, there is Barbaros, drunken sleep over his anvil. Seriously, can't be that comfortable but here he is sleeping like it was the highest quality bed of furs and straw.

Now that I get a good look at him, I realize what a Magma Elemental looks like; darkened skin with lines of fire moving throughout the mana channels of the body. With his fiery hair and muscles on muscles; easy to see why this guy is able to be such a decent smith. Now if only he wouldn't drink himself into an early day, then this place would actually be filled with stock.

…

Going back outside for the time being, I quickly make my way to the local well to grab a bucket of cold water; crisp and refreshing since it's pretty much clean ground water. Filtered to a point, but you at least don't have to worry about too many parasites and disease from it.

Next step of my master plan to make my life easier, go back into the forge, hoist my bucket of water up; and toss the entire contents onto the sleeping drunk. This has the added affect of immediately waking the f.u.c.ker up so I can speak with him, though the detriment of making it so his disposition of me starting out is not the best.

Well water; for all your drunkard waking needs.

…

"Lords take us, who comes in and interrupts a man's rest?" Barbaros quickly wakes from his stupor, losing about half of his buzz with the cold water reacting with his flesh. His yellow eyes turn to stare at the small demon child that appears to be holding a bucket with him, his head tilted as he watches the older man's response. "Lad, why are you walking into a smith's forge, and dumping water on an elemental of the fire attribute? I'm not open right now, come back when I am finished drinking."

"Yeah, and that day will come when the ground quakes to symbolize the end times I am sure." Rolling my eyes before tossing the bucket to the side, leaning against the wall and looking at Barbaros; who gets up from where he lay and wiping the water off of him. Brigga was smart and stayed outside for the moment to keep his eyes on the street, just in case. "Good lord, you reek of booze; and not even weak s.h.i.t, how do you afford that when you don't even open up shop? When was the last time this forge of yours was even awake long enough to make something of quality?" Chastising him, good going me; starting this work relationship out strong.

"Boy, you may have a sharp tongue, but you do not understand the workings of adults. Talk again when you have drank your first draft, and payed your first taxes." Barbaros makes his way to the nearest chair, sitting to steady the spinning room before grabbing a nearby bottle and taking a long drink from it. From the smells of it, something close to a grain alcohol of some decent strength. The old elemental looks over to me before rubbing his head; "I have heard of you from around town, the young half-demon who has a love of sitting for hours carving at wood. Part of the Jarl's brood if I am not mistaken; how may I be of service? I may get to it within the next month."

Within the next month? Really, if I didn't already look into him, I'd have begun this entire thing thinking that he was some kind of lazy. Rubbing the back of my head as I sigh softly to myself I begin to plan ahead of how I am to word everything and ensure that this man is on my side…

"Listen old man, I'm here since I am able to tell you're better than that Boris fellow; and you have as more wide selection of things you can make as compared to Kilkun. I'd like to offer you a trade; I can a.s.sure you that you'll have work… and you'll get information." My eyes never leaving the man, I grin at him with a fang filled smile, knowing the exact tools I needed to chip away at his resolve…

"As if a brat like you would know anything that I would find interesting… and why would I want constant work when I can get along with everything that I already do?" Barbaros takes another long swig from his bottle…

"Aswei."

As I state this name, Barbaros spits out all the alcohol he was drinking then looks over at me with a wary temperament; then he does something I wouldn't have imagined… he set down the bottle.

"Okay brat, I'm listening."

"She's dead. Village raided years back, and killed by the banditry that came through. Everyone else was sold as slaves or thralls, depending on where you're from." I shrug slightly; said I had info, didn't say it was good news... and he picks up the bottle again…

"Well, can't say I'm not surprised… but isn't that just ruining your bargaining chip?"

"She had a child, a daughter. Sold as a thrall. The child is yours, Barbaros Kragthorn." My gaze grows a bit cold as I start to give out information; the bottle getting put down again…

"And what makes you think that the child is mine? There were plenty of men in that town, the child could be from any one of them."

"That's because she's a half-breed like I am. A fire-elemental halfer, quite the personality on her as well; she has your eyes, I pray she doesn't pick up your drinking habits." That is when Barbaros looks at me with a hint of surprise on his face, mostly masked by confusion.

"You make it sound like you have met this child before; though if it was true then she'd have to be-"

"She's eight years of age this season, enjoys swinging a large weapon around. From what I have seen, she has a crush on the meat stall's daughter. If I am not mist-" Interrupted by large hands instantly on my shoulders and shaking me; through desperation and maybe a hint of rage…

"If you are playing me, not even the Jarl would be able to protec--" A lot of interruptions going on, as a tan and muscles leg kicks the old elemental in the face, sending him back… a couple centimeters, this guy is much stronger than an eight year old. I look up to see Juniper glaring venomous daggers at Barbaros; like she was going to kill this man…

"Do not lay a hand on my little bro, got that? Don't care how much bigger you are than me; I will kick your a.s.s up and down this town!" Juniper growls aggressively, moving to stand between the two of us. Though I am happy that she has my back, and that Brigga actually did a proper job this time, I gently pat her back to calm her down;

"Don't worry Juni, nothing wrong happening here. Though I am sure you shocked him in a different way than that kick of yours." I smile at her, then look over at Barbaros who is looking at Juni with a look that could be the cross between… surprise, deep pain, and what could be seen as relief?

"Are you… could you… aswei's daughter?" Barbaros is taking his time to find his voice, having some difficulty trying to bring about the thoughts in his head.

"That was my mother's name, aye. That would make me her daughter; question is, were you acquainted with my mother before her death?" Juni doesn't drop her wariness from the man, having attacked her brother is one of the most grievous of sins to this young lady. Though she now has her own confusions since he knows of her mother…

"Oh, let me introduce you two; since this may be the first time you're meeting." I step out from behind Juni and get between the two; mostly cause the meatheads won't do anything proper without help. "Barbaros, this is Juniper Haruk; she was adopted into my family after being… liberated from the thrall merchant. She's a bit of a hothead, but I feel she gets that from her father." I kind of hint this to Juni… but her head is already producing steam… rubbing my face slightly I continue; "Juni, this is Barbaros; he's a Magma Elemental working as a blacksmith. Also, around eight years prior to now, he went to a small village while wandering the land; had a tryst with a local woman named Aswei, who gave birth to a daughter. Following so far?" I may be a little harsh with this, but honestly… with these two you have to be direct.

Funny enough, I could see gears ticking in her brain, the hamster working overtime to get the idea moving through her thick skull… and there's the lightbulb as she points at Barbaros with a gaped mouth…

"Wait, you're telling me, that this man here… is my father?" All right, so she did get the general gist of what I was hinting at… couldn't get more obvious if I put a neon sign above his head and a marching band playing… well guess here it would be more like a sign board and a bardic troupe. Sighing softly I shake my head and rub my temples;

"Yup, this man right here is the one who sired you. My eye allows me to see quite a bit more information than father's… which includes a general mapping of one's lineage." I kind of rub my right eye, remembering the amount of info that was fed to my brain while experimenting… did not need to know all that… "Barbaros, Aswei may be dead, but the result of your night together is in front of you right now. I'd suggest doing what comes naturally…" And do so he did. Barbaros is already giving Juni the biggest of hugs I have ever seen in my life… save for mother; woman can squeeze all life from you if she isn't careful.

For the time being, I'll let these two go on talking and figuring things out; but within a few minutes Barbaros lets Juni go from the bear hug, standing at his full… seven feet I want to say… and looks over at me;

"Alright kid, so you said you had a job offer for me; and a request for a weapon? I'll make you a weapon for free for this occasion, but you'll have to pay for everything else." He looks so smug about that offer, but it is quite a good deal… kind of lacking for reuniting one with their long lost daughter, but hey I'll take it. "So what weapon would you like?"

"Of course it would be a shortsword or dagger, since you enjoy using short blades." Juni looks very happy, but I can still see a bit of confusion on her face, maybe not fully sinking in…

"Spade." I answer with a flat and matter of fact tone, making both of them tilt their heads as I swear I can see the question marks above their heads… "You know, a shovel. Two handed, fit for my height right now; material and quality doesn't matter at this time since… well…" Looking down at my self and sighing; "I am still growing after all, would have to trade for a bigger one sooner or later." Looking back at them… still looking confused… "I'll explain later, but that's my order. And I'll talk to the old bear to see if he'd be willing to switch to you and Kilkun as the smiths he uses."

I'm going to have to explain everything to these two later, but for now I just allow them to have their moments, and for Barbaros to take my measurements. This spade will be the first step to my future, so I do hope it is something at least decent; but having taken care of his regret, maybe he'll get back to his normal self…

Hopefully…

End of Chapter 24