Mel was excited.
With the new influx of people from the 10th Carriage, she would have the chance to get more work again, and wouldn’t have to force Jax to bear the burden of her quest all by himself.
She knew he needed that money for himself too, so she felt extra guilty having to sell him things she knew he didn’t need. Her only solace in that had been the fact that he could always sell what she had bought from him to someplace else, earning back most, if not all, of the money.
She had just finished making a whip for him on his request, which had been a fun practice for her. She had to get used to making more things than just the regular metal weapons and armors as well.
It had been a weird request from him, however, as he had provided all the threads she could need for the whip in large spools. She had tried asking him where he bought them from, but he wouldn’t tell her.
He kept his source a secret for some reason.
’It wouldn’t be the Leaf Hermit, would it?’ she thought. The Leaf Hermit was a gardener known to grow many herbs, and also raised many silkworms to gather silk from.
She didn’t know how he would have a chance to meet him though.
Mel waited around at the front of the smithy when finally a new customer came. Her eyes widened at the beauty that had walked in, with long black hair falling straight around her like a waterfall.
Her bangs were cut straight, cupping her tiny face, and placing an emphasis on her narrow eyes and bright red lips.
’Good god, girl,’ Mel thought. ’You need to know how much of a danger you are to people.’
Mel was confident in her own beauty as well, but she always dressed down because of it. She didn’t want to be seen as a flower that couldn’t be hurt, but as a hammer that could hurt them.
"Hello, did you just arrive from the 10th Carriage?" Mel asked. "I’m Mel, the second-best blacksmith of this smithy. How can I help you?"
"Who is the best?" the black-haired woman asked.
"Karran, the head smith of this smithy. But he’s backlogged with commissions. If you don’t mind waiting more than a month for your piece, you can find him here early in the morning tomorrow."
"Are you good?" the young woman asked.
"I’m the second-best in this—"
"But are you good?"
Mel narrowed her eyes before confidently answering, "Yes. I am good."
"That’s all I needed to hear," she said. "I wish to request armor for myself, a Sorcerer. But it needs to match this design."
The woman placed a piece of paper before her.
Mel took the paper and was immediately confused by what she was looking at. "Are these... spikes coming out of the armor?"
"They are," the woman answered. "Would that be a problem?"
"If this is what you want, then no, there is no problem," Mel said. "I’ll need to take some measurements and then—"
The woman presented another piece of paper that entailed everything about her physical stats, down to the contours of her physique. She even included how much weight she could confidently carry around.
Mel nodded, writing down everything. "The metal will be reinforced steel. They are lighter, so they will work the best for a sorcerer."
"I understand," the woman said. "Please make the best of it."
"And would you like any runes with that? I can add a few into it," Mel said.
The woman’s eyes narrowed. "You can add runes?" she asked. "Isn’t this the 9th Carriage?"
"Yes. What’s so shocking about that?" Mel asked.
"Just that I assumed you were a passenger."
"I am a passenger."
The woman seemed surprised at that answer.
"And you managed to learn how to make runes in the 9th Carriage? Congratulations. That’s not a simple thing to achieve."
"You don’t have to patronize me. Just say yes or no."
The girl raised an eyebrow. "My apologies if my words were offensive. That was not my intention. I would appreciate it if you could add some runes into it."
Mel nodded and wrote a bit more stuff down. "With what you’ve asked me to make, it should take me 4 days to prepare, and it will cost you 35 stones for the armor, and 10 stones per rune. Is that okay?"
"I am happy with your rates. Thank you."
"Alright, it’s done then. What is your name?"
"Lucille Frosthaven," the woman answered. "You may call me Lucy."
Mel wrote the name down. "That’ll be 20 stones to get started on your armor, Lucy."
Lucy paid the 20 stones and left to find a place to stay. She had seemingly come here directly after arriving at the new place.
Mel packed her notebook and was about to go to work when someone else walked in.
"Hey, does anyone work here?"
"I do," Mel said quickly. "Can I help you?"
The newly arrived individual was a young man with short black hair and brown eyes. After looking at Lucy for so long, everyone else looked so... normal to Mel now.
She couldn’t even tell if this man was supposed to be handsome or not.
"Oh, I was looking to get a weapon made. How should I go about it?" the young man asked.
"I’m a smith. Tell me the details and I’ll make it for you."
"I don’t need much, just a simple spear. It should be about as long as I am tall, and be balanced. That’s it really," the young man said.
"Any material choice? How heavy should it be? How thick?" Mel asked with a sigh. She couldn’t just start working just because it was a ’simple spear’.
"However you want. Use the best material you can. No matter how heavy, I’ll handle it. I’m a warrior."
"Very well," Mel said. "And runes?"
"Whatever you can do."
"You’re fun to work with," she said, noting it all down. She told him the price at the end, 35 stones in total, 20 stones to start with.
"It will take 3 days. What’s your name?" she asked.
"My name? It’s Ning."