It took half a day to reach the road where he had met the orcs chasing the merchant.

Buddy looked into the direction Jimeno the merchant had shown him where the next town was and noticed again that the road entered a forest.

<<So about two more days to Fennvall, eh? Well, let’s get going then!>> [Buddy]

The weather was clear, and the road was dry - the going was easy.

As evening was about to fall, Buddy had reached the other end of the forest and found a clearing.

All over the clearing were wagon wheel tracks of various sizes and depth.

A recently used stone ringed fire pit had been carefully built near the road, away from the forest side.

This was obviously a well used stopping point for merchants and other travellers.

Tonight, only Buddy was here.

<<Guess I’ll just crash here for the night… Shame I got nothing to start a fire with…>> [Buddy]

And in the dusk something started to glow.

A soft PING PING PING… sounded out in the cool evening air.

<<Oh… that small pouch on my belt is glowing…. Huh, a piece of paper?>> [Buddy]

Buddy removed a folded piece of rough paper out of his glowing belt pouch.

The pouch stopped glowing as the paper started to shine.

Buddy unfolded the paper.

It was empty.

“....” [Buddy]

“Is this thing on? One, two… oh it is? Thanks… Hello Dear! This is a recorded message, so I’m afraid it is only one way… if you ever enter a temple, we can talk then. I see you have made some interesting connections. I sort of hoped you would… well more on that later. For now… remember how I said there was magic here? Well, you can use it, too, and I’ll start you off - put some dry wood into the fire pit and then - imagine the wood burning. That is pretty much it. Try it! Might take a few attempts, but with practice you should be able to start a fire with hardly a thought! Stay safe, Dear! Um... So... How do I turn this o...” [Auntie Sounding Goddess]

<<Oy! Like voice mail - they have that here, too, huh. Magic? Hm, if that works, that will be very useful! OK now, there should be some dry branches lying around… ah, here… and one of the previous campers even left a couple of cut logs… handy! Now… just… think about fire?>> [Buddy]

Buddy carefully set up the wood in the fire pit and stared at it.

He could easily imagine fire, having worked with fire every single day for his working life.

But part of him was naggingly thinking <<Nah, you can’t just THINK fire into existence…>>.

<<Ugh… I guess I’m not cut out for this… I mean, why did I expect to look at wood and just think ‘BURN!’ ???>> [Buddy]

Buddy half closed his eyes and his mind went blank for a moment - he no longer was concentrating on the fire pit, but images of the thousands of comforting flames he had worked with during his life floated in his mind.

A wisp of smoke.

And…

A small flame appeared in the fire pit.

“OY! What???” [Buddy]

This Buddy exclaimed aloud as the flames spread.

<<Oh… the moment I didn’t care anymore… then! Seems my own ego got in the way! Well now, this is handy... I’ll need to practice this ‘not caring’ a bit more! What did my old Judo sensei call that when I was a kid… Mushin? Something like that?>> [Buddy]

Buddy hunkered down, a rock for his pillow, and slept into the night, warmed by the cozy glow of his small campfire.

---

Morning again.

Buddy made sure the campfire was well and good extinguished and cleaned up.

<<Don’t want the next party to curse me, do I? Whelp, off we go, got almost another two days to go…>> [Buddy]

Wispy clouds wandered high above across the sky.

A cool breeze rustled through the trees, whirling up the early fall leaves across the road.

Buddy enjoyed his quiet walk.

Shortly before noon, Buddy passed another campsite.

<<Oy, wonder if every half day or so there is one of these travellers campsites? Guess a lot of people move on these roads real regular. Well, I’m not tired yet, so might as well move on to the next one.>> [Buddy]

A few hours later - passing through another forest - Buddy arrived at the outskirts of endless wheat fields.

A small village was just up ahead.

Buddy quickened his step a bit.

It was late afternoon when he finally arrived.

There were only eleven houses of various sizes in the village - one was a small inn type with a three horse stable.

<<Hm, wonder if they’d let me sleep in that stable - better than out in the open…>> [Buddy]

Next to the general store was also a blacksmith that still seemed to be open - the coals in the forge were still glowing at operating temperature.

Buddy gravitated towards the smithy as if he were a magnet attracted to a chunk of iron.

There was shouting going on in front.

“You useless woman! You messed up my wheel - how am I supposed to get to Fennvall with the thing wobbling all over like that!” [AngryBaldy]

A thin bald man was yelling at a young woman wearing a smith apron.

“I’m sorry, but I told you I only know how to shoe horses and do simple smithing, but you insisted I repair your wheel...“ [YoungSmith]

“Why you!!! And you still have the nerve to ask for payment? I demand you pay for a new wheel - you ruined this one!” [AngryBaldy]

“No, I told you several times I can’t repair it perfectly, but you wouldn’t listen! So the risk is on you!” [YoungLadySmith]

“Why you… I aught to... Bang... to the moon!” [AngryBaldy]

The angry bald man lifted his fist, threatening the young woman.

His fist stayed stuck in the air.

“Oy! What do you think you are doing, Mister?” [Buddy]

Of course Buddy was holding the angry man’s arm in his vice-like grip - no matter how hard the bald man tired, his arm did not move a hair’s breadth.

“Let go!” [AngryBaldy]

“Hm, nope… I don’t like people threatening my colleagues.” [Buddy]

“It’s OK, I can handle nuisances like this myself…” [YoungLadySmith]

Buddy took a look at her…

<<Oy? Fluffy-fluffy tail and wolf type ears? Are they for real?>> [Buddy]

The female smith standing with one hand on her hip was a beastkin of the wolf type.

Her arms were roped with muscles, and even though not huge like Buddy’s arms, he saw they were indeed impressive guns.

<<What’s that anime word… oh right…. KAWAIIIIII!!!>> [Buddy]

It was all that Buddy could do to not get red in the face.

The bald and now frightened man was still struggling to free himself from Buddy’s grip, impotently hitting Buddy’s arm with his free hand.

“Oy, of course! I was protecting this guy from himself. Can’t have customers hurting themselves, can we? Can I bother you to hand me your hammer for a moment?” [Buddy]

Behind the lady smith on an anvil was an absurdly large and heavy looking smith’s hammer.

“Hm, I suppose? Here...” [KawaiiLadySmith]

The wolf eared and fluffy-fluffy tailed Lady Smith twisted around, grabbed the ridiculously large hammer with one hand, turned back, and handed the hammer head first to Buddy.

Buddy easily accepted the hammer as if it was just a normal sized one.

He placed the hammer - handle pointed up - carefully on the smithy’s floor in front of the annoying customer.

“Thanks… OY! That’s got a nice weight to it! Wonder if I should make one of these for myself? Anyway…Oy, you, Mister with a bad attitude… I’m going to let you go now, so see if you can lift this hammer.”

“Well… ok… it’s just a hamm… ehh?? I CAN’T?!?!?!”

The surprised bald man even tried with both hands, but even grunting and having veins bulge in his face, barely could move the huge hammer a finger’s breadth.

“See? If you had hit the lady smith here, you would have ended up breaking your own hand. We smiths are some of the strongest people around, you know - it comes from all the iron we work with. Now then, I’ve done hundreds of wagon wheels, so with Lady Smith’s approval, I’ll fix your wheel up while you wait… Ok?” [Buddy]

“Sigh… well I suppose if you are actually a colleague? This… customer brought in this wagon wheel the other day and wanted me to weld  the cracked steel ring around the outside. But I only do simple iron work here, like horseshoes, nails, and fixing plows - my master passed away before I could learn more, and I never got a chance to go learn at the smiths in Fennvall…Oh, and I’m Truteria, by the way...” [Truteria the LadySmith]

“Oy I see, that’s the wheel here… well it’s not a bad repair job, actually, but I see the center line has twisted just a bit… happens to the best of us! Welding a damaged ring is a pain… here, let me show you how I usually do this…” [Buddy]

Buddy helped himself to a wide chisel from the tool wall, and with one strike of his own hammer, deftly split the steel ring that circumferenced the wooden wheel.

Then with the now released ring, he strode over to the forge and carefully heated parts of the ring, transferred to the anvil, hammered, returned to the forge to heat the next section, and so on.

All the while Buddy talked.

“So first, let’s make this all one long bar, so we can get a solid straight line, because any damaged wheel ring that can be reused has been stressed by the pressure of the wood, rocks on the roads, and the changing seasons… takes a bit of work without a power-hammer, but all we got here is our muscles, so why not use them.” [Buddy]

Truteria was drawn in by Buddy’s tireless work and started to intensely watch his movements.

“Oh, I see that’s where I went wrong - I tried to just re-weld the existing ring…” [Truteria the Smith]

“That would be the easy way, but sadly it hardly ever works… Oy! Now that I’ve squared everything up, we can flatten it out again to the right thickness and width… if you want to help with that, it would go quicker…” [Buddy]

“Sure!” [Truteria the Smith]

Truteria grabbed her extra large hammer and the sound of DING… ding ding… DING… ding ding… DING… echoed around the smithy, as both she and Buddy worked on the steel to reshape it.

“Ok, we are getting there… few more taps… OY! Done! Now let’s check it against the wooden wheel frame, and let’s start curving it…” [Buddy]

More hammering, and the straight flat bar of steel started to look like a ring again.

“And as we bend, we just need to make sure we keep everything on center… like so…” [Buddy]

“Amazing… even my master didn’t work this fast…” [Truteria the Smith]

“Oy, well you just have to strike while the steel is hot… Ok, now let’s just make the ends overlap a bit, same as you’d do for a barrel or bucket... tension to the whole ring… and now we stamp it over the frame… and to weld it we can use a scrap piece as a proxy… like so… I’ll leave the weld up to you… yes, yes, perfect… and… cool down the steel to force it to shrink into place… and we are done!” [Buddy]

“Wow... you really know your way with metal… I mean, we did all that now in what? Half an hour?” [Truteria the Smith]

“So, here you go Mister Angrypants, better than new. I guarantee this wheel will last you for another five years. The wood and hub are still good, and the steel band will keep it safe for at least that long. And... you better learn to manage your temper. If I ever catch you threatening anyone again, I’ll… well you won’t like it, see?” [Buddy]

From the scrap barrel Barry took a short rod of iron as thick as his thumb, and bent it easily.

“Yes yes... Sorry sorry… I’ll behave, I will, thank you master smiths... “ [RelievedBaldy]

No normal human or beastkin or even orc would have been able to even come close to the feat of bending iron that way, so that action had impressed deeply on the uncourteous bald man.

The apologetic bald man bowed several times to Buddy and then even towards Truteria before taking his repaired wagon wheel and scurrying off.

“You won’t have trouble from him again. By the way, good weld there… um, sorry to be asking, but you must have studied about four years now, yes? So you are around, what, nineteen?” [Buddy]

“Fffeeeeehhhhhh? I’m only fifteen, though! I... I started learning at thirteen, but my master passed away last winter, so I only had half my apprenticeship…” [Truteria]

“Oy?!?! Only fifteen! Really?” [Buddy]

“I’ve been trying to teach myself how to do different things with metal from what little notes master left, but… It has been really hard going.” [Truteria]

“Well, you really are good already, the way you can judge the temperature from the colour… even journeyman blacksmiths usually can’t do that as well yet!” [Buddy]

“So… Can I ask who was your master?” [Truteria]

“I’ve had countless masters - it is important to learn as much as you can to always keep going forward with the craft - at least that is what I think…” [Buddy]

“Oh… that makes sense...Um… will you be my teacher?” [Truteria]

“Oy, that would be an honour. But... I have to get to Fennvall to shop.” [Buddy]

Truteria looked down, her hands first clenched into fists, then opened up again.

“Oh… sigh… I can’t leave here right now, I don’t have enough funds for even Fennvall for more than a day or two, so I was hoping...” [Truteria]

“Oy, chin up, Truteria! Here… How about I stick around for a couple of days, and you can grill me on whatever you want?” [Buddy]

Truteria’s tail swished back and forth and she clasped her hands together with moist eyes, looking up at Buddy.

“Would you? Honest?” [Truteria]

“Sure - and on my way back, I can stop by again. After that, well, I live a couple of days by foot away, so I can come visit every month or so for a bit, if that is OK?” [Buddy]

Truteria nodded, grinning.

A set of words formed in Buddy’s mind and he felt a pressure to say them.

“Oy… Dear smithing sister Truteria, I am Barry Marks the Black- and Silver-smith. I hereby take you on as my kōhai... My junior... I swear to teach you whatever I know in the name of Aun… in the name of our Goddess of Smiths.” [Buddy]

Buddy held out his hammer towards Truteria.

It was glowing the same golden colour as his pouch had, the evening before.

“Oh! Um… Dear smithing Master Buddy! I am hereby your smith apprentice Truteria Scartree of the wolf beastkin clan Grimfang! I promise to learn all you teach me and to use our sacred craft given of our Goddess of Smiths for only good!” [Truteria]

With that, Truteria stretched out her huge hammer with a gentle DING against Barry’s hammer - and for a brief moment, both hammers glowed golden.

The glow spread out - golden dust motes softly descended to the floor where they vanished.

The hammers’ glow died down after a few silent heartbeats.

“I’ve… I’ve never seen this happen before - when I made my vow to my old master, our hammers never glowed.” [Truteria]

“Well, my Aunt… heh…. I mean our Goddess of Smiths seems to have a soft spot for me, so I guess she is watching over us.” [Buddy]

Buddy smiled and spoke softly, looking down on his tail wagging junior smith.

His hand instinctively started to stretch out…

And stopped.

<<OY! I can’t just give her a pat on the head! That would be bad!>> [Buddy]

Buddy forced his hand to lower into the traditional position of a handshake.

Truteria dropped her hammer and grabbed his hand with both of hers.

“Um… you were going to pat me on the head, weren’t you?” [Truteria]

“Oyyy? You saw thru me… Well I didn’t want to do anything disrespectful, but yes I was tempted… sorry sorry!” [Buddy]

Buddy bowed several times, his face red.

“If it’s you I don’t mind at all!” [Truteria]

She leaned her head in closer and placed Buddy’s hand, which she still held, onto her head, and looked up with a grin.

Buddy noticed her canines were much longer than a normal human’s.

Truteria was was mostly human with no fur visible - except for the wolf ears and tail.

In some of the anime with bigger budgets Buddy used to watch, beastkin were often portrayed closer to the original animal standing on two legs and having fingers and thumbs instead of paws.

“Oy… so there is still some light out… how about we check what you know, so we can kick off tomorrow with a full course of learning?” [Buddy]

Truteria nodded.

“Yes, here, let me make a set of horseshoes and matching nails - I have an order up for them, anyway.” [Truteria]

So the two smiths spent another hour, with Truteria answering Buddy’s various questions.

When Truteria was done with a fine set of new horseshoes, Buddy was nodding and grinning.

“Oy, well, you can stop calling me Master… you are a smith, no doubt about it. You have all the basics down to perfection - we can just expand on that, now.” [Buddy]

“Um... So I‘ll call you big brother then?” [Truteria]

“Sure! That is... only if I can call you little sister…?“ [Buddy]

“I… I’d like that… I only have younger siblings and always wanted an older sister or brother… big brother!” [Truteria]

<<SOOO KAWAIIIIIIII!!!>> [Buddy]

“Um… getting dark… do you think the inn would let me sleep in their stable?” [Buddy]

“Ehhh??? Well sure, but I thought you’d take over my old master’s room. There's only just the bed left, but I’ve got enough clean sheets and covers… You are my teacher now, right?” [Truteria]

“Well, I won't say no! That is certs better than a stable!” [Buddy]

“And... I was hoping I could show you to my parents - they run the inn here - and I want to invite you to super there. I’m not really a great cook, so most days I eat there anyways…” [Truteria]

“Dear little sister, you are spoiling me!” [Buddy]

“Fufu fufu… well, come on then, big brother…” [Truteria]

---

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