Elira was all too happy that our talks were over. She immediately ran up to me and asked our parents if she could show me her spell.

The way she asked it made me think she’d taken our earlier words very seriously. I was happy she had, as it added to my belief she was trustworthy enough to learn magic from Cellestra. The only thing that was really making me hesitant was her age, but despite her playfulness, she seemed to have plenty of maturity when it was desired.

I hoped it wasn’t forced onto her the way it was forced onto me.

I remained silent as I thought about the elven girl. My parents adopted her from an orphanage, which meant she’d lost her parents some way, somehow. I wondered how long ago it had been, and just how much Elira remembered. I prayed it was little.

At the very least, I expected her experience after that to have been better than mine. This city didn’t look like it treated its people, especially children, badly.

“Sis?” Elira’s voice and expectant eyes looked up at me.

“Huh?” I let out as I was snapped back to reality.

“Mom said it’s okay. Let’s go.”

She hopped a few yards before pointing her finger in the air, aiming away from me, and started channeling her sparkstorm spell. In the meantime, Cellestra walked up to my side and whispered if I was okay.

“I’m fine. I was… a bit lost in thought thinking about Elira’s history,” I whispered back, making sure the little girl wouldn’t hear me.

“I understand.”

“Looking good, Elira,” I said, turning my attention back to her.

“It’s so pretty!” She let out. “I can’t wait until I know more.”

“As long as you listen to mom and dad,” I said. “You’ll get there, I’m sure.”

The girl nodded as she canceled the spell.

“Hey, Elira. What do you want to be when you grow up?” I asked.

“I want to be like you, sis! I want to learn magic and then explore dungeons! I want to see them with my own eyes.”

“And what do mom and dad think of that?”

“I don’t think they were too happy with it at first,” She said. “They thought it was too early for me to decide that, but later, they said I should at least study hard and become strong before joining the guild.”

“And they are right. Even I got injured. You really need to know what you’re doing, and even then, have to be careful.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

“But,” I continued. “You have plenty of time. Don’t worry about it too much. We’ll help you in whatever way we can.”

“Thank you, sis!” Elira said with a smile. “You’re the best!”

“Glad you like me so much,” I said as I patted her head. “Also, I think Cellestra and I will have a look around in the city. There are some things we’d like to get including a tub to wash our clothes and whatnot.”

“If you need a tub,” My father joined the conversation. “We may be able to help there. The farmer who owns this place has a few steel troughs that will suffice, large enough to bathe in, brand new and they are just sitting there in a storage shed. I’m sure he won’t mind selling one.”

“Well, that does make things a bit easier. What do you say, Cellestra?”

She shrugged. “Works for me.”

“I’ll talk to him and let you know.”

“Thanks, dad,” I said warmly. “Appreciate it.”

“You going to the city?” Elira asked curiously, a hint of sadness in her voice.

“As I said before,” I told her. “It’s important to prepare. We figured some good armor on Cellestra wouldn’t hurt.”

“I see.”

“We’ll be back later, though. Cellestra?”

“Yes?”

“Should we ask the smith to create some armor with our remaining starmetal?”

“Hmmm,” Cellestra thought aloud. “Would it not be a better idea to try to save that? I mean, we have plenty of money. Can’t we get our hands on really good armor, either way? Maybe we can use the starmetal for another weapon later on, or something?”

“I suppose we could. There’s also that crafting a weapon is one thing, but a set of armor is something entirely different. It certainly won’t be done before tomorrow.”

I took the ingot from my back and held it up before Elira. Her eyes had sparkles in them as I saw her pupils trace the shining veins in the metal.

“Do you want to hold on to this until we need it again?” I asked her.

“Sure!” She happily exclaimed as she extended her arms.

I placed the bar in her open hands and almost let go. The ingot was heavy and if I let go of it completely, I was sure she’d drop it.

“Woah. How strong are you?” She said after she managed to carry it, albeit barely. I had given it to her with a single hand, and she was having difficulty carrying it with two.

“Pretty strong. I told you,” I said, flexing my muscles. “Now this is something you can start training,” I added with a grin.

“Woah. That’s a good idea!” She said before I lifted her. I placed her in the doorframe before I told her we’d come here again after shopping.

“Take good care of that, okay?” I said as I waved and Cellestra climbed on my back. “We’ll see you later.”

My parents waved back as well as we headed out, again. Even though we reached our ‘destination’, it still felt as if we were constantly on the move, constantly trying to improve a wide variety of things.

“Think Zearis would be a good place to start?” I asked. “I feel like we’ve built up some trust, and that he knows best where to get what we need.”

“I think that’s fair.”

With the brunette on my back and halberd in hand, we entered Thymhil again. The place was still bustling, but less so than the day before, something which I didn’t mind as wading through the crowd was now significantly easier.

We came to a halt in front of the stall that belonged to the blacksmith that had made my weapon. A few racks with complete armor sets, both mail and plate, stood at the sides, but when I took a closer look at them and ran my hands over the metal, I noticed that the quality of materials used was even lower than the armor I used to wear.

“What is the best armor?” Cellestra asked.

“Plate, for sure, but I’m looking at this steel and it’s not really doing it for me. I mean, it’s okay for beginners, but with our budget, I wouldn’t even consider this.”

“Seems someone knows her armor,” Zearis’s voice called out as he approached.

“I know a thing or two,” I said with a smile. “Hello, Zearis. How is it going?”

“Just the usual. How is your new weapon?”

“Haven’t used it yet. We’ll be going to the Proving Grounds tomorrow. I’ll make sure to test it out there.”

“Do let me know how it does,” The smith said, a most serious expression on his face. “So, you’re looking for armor?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I was hoping you could help us find good quality armor.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, but I am slightly worried about how we get it to fit.”

“It’s not for me. It’s for Cellestra.”

“I see. And your budget?”

“What can we get for forty gold coins?” I asked.

The smith’s eyes went wide at the mention of the apparently substantial amount of gold we were prepared to spend.

“For that,” He said before pausing. “You can get something significant, but for five coins extra, I can offer something even better, a rarity reserved for those with the coin to afford it.”

I took my halberd with a pedipalp so I could cross my arms. If I calculated correctly, we currently had forty-eight gold coins, but we would spend some more on that tub, or well, trough. I doubted it would cost too much, though.

“Do tell.”

“Wolf iron infused steel. Plate armor infused with the strongest metal I’ve seen. The problem with it is that it’s also incredibly heavy and hard to work with, meaning that armor made of nothing but wolf iron is impossible to achieve without the use of magic fire. I’ve only been able to create a 10 percent alloy.”

I chuckled at the seller’s talk. He did have a way of making it sound incredibly fascinating, and I was definitely interested.

“Hold on a second. Why don’t I show you?” He said before walking inside the workshop, disappearing through a door.

Moments later, he returned with a chest plate that had a darker shade of gray than the steel I was used to. In addition, there seemed to be a few discolorizations, showing odd lines of yellow, blue, and a bronze color at the bottom.

He walked up to the side of his stall, and stretched his muscled arms, holding up the piece of armor before speaking with the utmost confidence.

“Why don’t you go ahead and hit it with your strongest spell?”

Faragi

Special shoutout to my new patron. Thank you so much <3

Roethan