Chapter 51: “Shave and a haircut!”
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Evren stepped out of the house with Joseph and was about to say something to Joseph, when Walter, the guard, stepped forward, holding Evren’s sword in his hand? “Is this made of adamantium? Where did you get it from?”

Evren turned to look at Joseph, with Joseph saying, “Walter, you were asked to keep people from touching anything.”

Walter looked at the sword and then Evren and handed the sword to him, “But this is made from that adamantium.” Evren stretched out his hand to take the scabbard back as well, and said, “Yes, it is adamantium, and I made it.”

“What?! How did you make it? Where did you get the adamantium from? I was told it was impossible to work with adamantium.” He asked as he handed the scabbard over to Evren.

Evren took the scabbard and put the sword back into it and said, “Yes, it is difficult to work with. It took me all winter to make this one sword.” He set the sword back in its place on the front of the wagon and prepared to pick the pull poles up to follow Joseph when Walter said, “Oh! Let me get that for you.”

Evren stepped away from the wagon and offered his position to the young guard Walter. Walter bent down and grabbed the pull poles, lifting them up to waist height. “Oh, these things are heavy.” Evren nodded and replied, “I put weights on the end so it wouldn’t wander off in the dungeon.”

Evren turned to follow Joseph when he heard a grunt behind him. He turned to see Walter struggling to get the wagon to move. Evren watched for a moment, before grabbing onto the pull bar with one hand and pulling. The wagon started moving and Evren let go of the pull bar to let Walter continue pulling it.

Evren followed after Joseph. They were heading to a house that had been empty since the previous occupant had passed away. Evren would be using that house for now as a place to live until they talked further and decided what they were going to do. Evren told Joseph his plans and that he wanted to stay in Anbutan for a while. Joseph agreed, but Isabel set a condition.

“I don’t mind, but are you sure it’s alright?” Evren asked?

Joseph nodded and said, “I know better than to question that woman.”

The condition was for Evren to bathe, with soap, then get a haircut and shave. They would provide him with some clothing to wear after he was finished.

“Did you say something, dear?” Isabel said.

Joseph replied, “I said I love you most, darling.”

The arrived at a small house, Joseph opened the door and stepped inside. Evren followed him with Isabel being the last one in.

“In the back here is a wooden tub you can sit in. Here is soap and a towel for you to use. Now, you know how to do that and don’t need someone to come help you, do you?” Isabel said to Evren.

Evren looked at Joseph and then back at Isabel, “I should be able to, yes.”

Isabel nodded and said, “Good then. We will bring clothes by and leave them by the door. I’ll have Harley come by for the haircut and shave.”

Evren looked at Joseph, to which Joseph said, “Harley’s a woman.” Evren nodded.

“This is the kitchen here; we have wood outside for the stove. We’ll help with retrieving the water, but you’ll have to heat it up. There is a well in the center of town for the water.” Isabel told Evren.

Evren nodded, then looked into the room with the wooden tub. He cast ‘drench’ inside the tub, filling almost to the top instantly. Evren pointed over his shoulder, “I should have no problems heating it up.”

Both Isabel and Joseph raised their eyebrows in surprise. Joseph said to Evren, “You can use magic?! And to such a degree!”

Evren frowned in confusion, “I thought magic was common on this world.”

Joseph said, “Common? Well, I suppose it was once, but we haven’t had anyone able to cast magic around here in twenty-five years or so.”

Evren nodded and looked outside to the wagon that was just arriving, “I can probably teach you if you want to learn.”

Joseph’s eyes lit up for a moment, “Perhaps the younger ones, I’m too old to be out fighting.”

Evren said, “Well, there are some simple and useful ones like, ‘light’” Evren cast light upon the ceiling inside the small house, illuminating it significantly. “And there’s ones like ‘mend.’” He cast mend on a slice in his armor, which closed up a bit.

Evren shrugged and cast mend twice more before the cut completely mended. “Well, it’s a basic spell, but not that strong.”

Isabel took a step towards Evren and leaned in close to look at the mended cut before backing away a step, “Bathe now, please.”

“Yes ma’am.” Evren said with a salute and headed to the tub, putting his hand in the water and casting ‘heat’ until it was hot enough to bathe with. He closed the door to the small room and removed his armor and underclothing.

Using a ladle that was nearby, Evren scooped out some water to wet himself. He used the soap to clean his body and hair, then used the ladle again to rinse himself off. He then climbed into the tub and soaked in the water for a while.

He got out and used the towel he had been provided with, drying himself off, then dressed in the clothing that had been left outside the room. When he was dressed, he put on his boots and exited the small house. Outside the house was a log sitting on its end with Joseph, Isabel, Walter and the guards and another woman standing by it. Many of the villagers were watching from a distance.

Evren walked over to them, and Isabel introduced them, “Evren, this is Harley, she’s going to be the one that will cut your hair and shave your beard. Harley, this is Evren.” Evren looked at Harley and leaned in close to Joseph’s ear and said quietly, “Are you sure she’s a woman? She has no breasts.”

Joseph just nodded in a reply and patted Evren on the shoulder. Evren turned to the woman and said, “Nice to meet you, I’m Evren.” He turned around and sat down on the log, asking Joseph, “I’ve never shaved before, would you show me how to after this?”

Joseph hesitated before responding as if he were trying to not ask any questions and replied, “Yes, of course.”

Harley took out a wooden comb and some shears and asked Evren, “How short would you like it?”

Evren replied, “I’d like it short, something easy to manage would be best.” Harley nodded and began combing Evren’s long hair. As she began cutting, Walter approached Evren.

Walter said to Evren, “That wagon is pretty heavy, you didn’t have a horse to pull it?”

Evren looked to Walter, “No, there were no horses outside, and I am not sure they would have survived the dungeon to be honest. I’ve been pulling that wagon by myself for a while now, it’s gotten heavier along the way, so I got used to it gradually. But yes, it is heavy. I have some things in there that are dead weight, like my anvil.”

Walter reacted to the word anvil and said, “Oh yes. You said you crafted that sword. How long have you been a blacksmith?”

Evren thought for a bit, “Well, I started when I reached my first town, but that sword wasn’t very good. When I reached Plinth, I spent the winter practicing my smithing, so I guess about a year and a half?”

Walter raised his eyebrows in surprise, “A year and a half and you made an adamantium sword?!”

A murmur came from the crowd of villagers, and Evren nodded his head, “I used some notes I found from a dwarven smith that he made while he was learning how to smith.”

Harley said from behind him, “Don’t move your head please.”

Evren replied, “My apologies. Making the sword would have been much more difficult if I hadn’t had my anvil and tools. Even with them it took several months to make.”

Walter asked, “What’s so special about your tools?”

Evren replied, “They’re engraved with dwarven runes.”

“WHAT?!” a man in the crowd said and came forward. He was dirtied from soot and had a leather apron on him, giving Evren the impression that he is a blacksmith. “Dwarven tools!? You must show me!”

Evren stared at the man for a while, the with his eyes gestured to the wagon. “If you can move that wagon around the house with nobody helping you, I’ll show you them right away. If you can’t, you’ll have to wait.”

The man didn’t reply and ran over to the wagon, lifting the pull bars and leaning forward straining. Walter looked at the man and then down to Evren. “Why did you do that? I doubt he’ll be able to move it.”

Evren smiled, “It’ll give the lady time to finish my hair cut.”

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