Claire’s tour ends us at smithy. Smiling, she explains, “This is the shop where I made most of the money I needed to start. You see, this family comes from a line of magic smiths, though the current generations do not have anyone with the ability to wield mana. So when I was starting off I made some money recharging artifacts and magic stones. Whenever I come to this town I stop by and help.”

She knocks and quickly enters the store, the rest of us closely following. Inside is a simple storefront, with a counter blocking off access to the rest of the building and two simple display cases framing the left and right walls. I notice a film sheen of magic on the cases, probably something to secure the wares, none of which are magical but are of a fine quality nevertheless. 

A young lady is at the counter, watching the door with sleepy eyes. After a slight delay, her eyes widen with a pleasantly surprised glimmer. “Claire! You’re back! How did the festival go? Did you get to contract some spirits? What was the spirit blessing like?!” She asks, her speech gradually gaining speed as she goes on.

Claire smiles, replying, “The festival was a lot of fun, we had a lot of normal festival things, a village feast, singing, dancing, and storytelling. Then there was the blessing, and let me say the legends were no exaggeration. Spirits of every element got together to bless the land, and I sensed a huge amount of mixed elemental mana gently coating the mountain. I even got to contract four greater spirits of earth, water, fire, and wind! They are pretty shy though, so they are keeping a low profile.”

Heh, pretty shy. I am pretty sure they are just overwhelmed by being near two spirit kings all the time.

Turning to me, the young lady asks, “Any what about her? You never told me you had a twin! Do you dye your hair or does she?” I see Claire trying to get a word in, but she can’t get a chance to speak. “Why is she only coming down the mountain now? Also, who are these other two, it's rare to see a full party of female adventurers. That is, assuming they are adventurers. They have that air. Anyways, when are you going to introduce us!”

Claire has a wry smile, finally getting to speak. “Well, if you would ever stop talking for even a second, I was going to do so. This here is my sister Robin, and no, we do not dye our hair. You can say the reason she didn’t come down before was because she was unable to. She is actually just begging to start adventuring, as she spent most of her life dedicated to crafting. It's why I decided to bring her here as soon as we came.” 

Claire turns to face us, “Everyone, this was my first friend off the mountain, Alex. As you can see she is a little… excitable, but she is a good person. As this shop is relatively high end, they don’t get many customers and most of their work is commission or repair, so she is usually left alone to hold the fort. Speaking of which, where is the rest of your family?”

Alex's happy smile cramps a bit, and she spits in annoyance, “Mom and dad went on a ‘walk’. Who knows when they will be back. And my two brothers, having seen your success when you came back, decided to go register and are out taking on every request they can.” 

Quickly regaining her former enthusiasm, her eyes start to sparkle again as she rapidly speaks, “But you spent all those years crafting!? Since you’re Claire’s twin, you must have magic as well, can you demonstrate? WAIT. Are you… a magic crafter?! Are you a certified spirit mountain smith?!”

A magic crafter certainly, but certified… I doubt anyone would believe me if I said I was part of the now Ancient Empire. 

Thankfully, Claire responds for me, “You know there's no such thing as a certified spirit mountain smith. Old Tarkin’s family has a tradition to see other smiths before returning, but there is no title or anything.”

In the short time it takes for Claire to take a breath, Alex turns to me and asks, “Blah blah blah, everyone knows of the quality of the works of Spirit Mountain. You have to be a magic smith though right? If one twin has magic, 99% of the time the other twin will have magic as well. Can you show me something! Craft something I mean, not just show me what you have. Claire might not have told you, but our family used to be magic smiths, unfortunately that ended a few generations ago. But that means we all are interested in seeing one actually at work!”

After being so easily surprised by the teleportation trick earlier, I actually do have something I want to create for our little group. “Sure, I can show you. I actually want to make something to prevent us being caught by surprise again. I plan to make a specially designed hybrid staff estoc with several enchantments.”

As Sif doesn’t have a weapon, and Lyn seems to do just fine with her fists, I want to create something that will stop unexpected lesser artifacts from surprising us while doubling as something for Sif. So I am going to make a staff where you discard the outer case and use it as an estoc if needed. I don’t think anyone would truly be able to make it to her if she was serious, but it never hurts to be careful. 

Alex excitedly shoots to the door. “Come on, I’ll lead the way. Oh, I am going to rub it in all their faces when they get back and realize they missed out. The workshop is just past the armory, let's gooo!”

Smiling wryly to each other, we follow, but I pause in shock when I see the shield hanging, centered above the door on the far side of the room. Noticing my gaze, Lyn and Sif also are shocked upon seeing it, stopping as well. 

Noticing us all stopping, Alex turns to face us, looks to where we are staring, then exclaims, “Oh, I forgot! You’re a mage so of course you can sense mana. Ya, that shield up there is a genuine greater artifact passed down through the generations in our family. It’s so old we don’t even know when it first appeared! Our old family tale states that it was the teacher of the first magic blacksmith of the family who gave it to him waaaay back. They say it brings us good fortune, but none of us truly know what it does, not that we can use it anyways.”

But I know what it does. That story of hers was partially correct, for the person I made this shield for was the only person to support me when at the mage’s college. My teacher.