"The river Vitas divides Edor in two. The great river and its tributaries are the life-giver of the surrounding area, causing the soil to be fertile all year round and the river cities to become rich beyond belief but the river which gives also takes.

In the year 888, Vitas flooded the remains of the old imperial capital sinking it completely. Slowly over the course of years, an island was formed and a group of clergymen settled themselves there naming it Havenfall"

-Extract from "History of Edor"

 

 

---

 

 

  The sun dwindled in strength as the day slowly approached its inevitable end. 

A synchronised dull noise could be heard in the deserted alleyway as two hooded figures walked on the cobbled street in a dire need of maintenance. The two quickly crossed the broad arterial street, preferring to roam in the endless alleys and passages of the lower residential district than trying to trek the busy main streets clogged with waggons, carts and the like of the many farmers leaving the maritime city.

  An ocean breeze carrying the odour of the fish markets assaulted Iris's keen nose making her grimace as she got closer to the dwarven blacksmith, elf wondered what the ever-hungry girl beside her thought about the smell.

 

*Ding* * Ding*

 

  Iris pushed open the solid oak door letting Kia walk inside before closing the door behind her. Behind the counter stood an unusually tall dwarf with a lush dark brown beard and wearing blacksmith apparel.

 

"Greetings, how can I help?" The dwarf spoke with a Lower-eastern-vitasy accent.

 

"Where is the owner?" 

 

"Old man is currently unavailable." The man said.

 

"What happened?" The elf asked.

 

"I don't know, he barricaded himself in the workshop and refuses to leave," The dwarf said. "We are waiting for an adventurer team to come back, for some reason he is obsessed about talking to them. Heard from a friend they might have damaged his rune anvil.

 

Iris glanced at Kia standing beside her with a raised brow. "That's unfortunate, maybe we will come back later."

 

"Why are you here anyway?" The dwarf said.

 

"𝑄𝑒𝒔𝒕!" Kia suddenly broke her silence with a broken Common.

 

The tall dwarf stared at Kia with wide eyes, finally answering.

 

"...Q-Quest? I can deal with those, could I see your paper." 

 

"Sorry what?" The elf who had her eyes glued to the back of the girl's hood replied.

 

"The thing you got from the guild," The dwarf said. "Oh! I did not know you would be the ones, but where is your delivery?"

 

"Ehh, o...outside yea, it's outside." 

 

"Sure, it will be an excuse to check on the old man anyway." The dwarf muttered.

 

  The dwarf showed them where to go as he walked behind them. Beside Iris, Kia seemed to beam with energy as she hummed happily behind the dwarf.

They approached a large orated wooden door and their guide loudly knocks.

 

"Fuck off!" The muffled voice replied instantly.

 

"It is the adventurers you were talking about!"

 

From behind the door, a loud series of clatters and bangs could be heard. The door swung open with an exhausted Kroswad behind it. Under his eyes, large black circles could be seen. He quickly grabbed Kia and shut the door.

 

"Ahem." A deep frown appeared on Iris's face as her foot blocked the door from closing.

 

"Go in, fuck off now Junior."" Kroswad glared at the elf before glaring at the other dwarf and slamming the wooden doors again. 

"You, how did you fix it!?" Kia did not answer him, instead, her eyes seem to scan the dimly lit workshop in search of something. "Answer me!" Kroswad's hands flew towards the oblivious girl.

 

"Calm down, Kroswad." The elf quickly reached for the dwarf's collar and lifted him smoothly in the air. 

 

The shocked dwarf glared at Iris before his eyes flickered onto the tip of the silvery spear she held. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. 

"How did she fix my anvil. I need to know, please." A singular tear rolled down the dwarven cheek.

 

The elf put down the teary dwarf, she scanned the room for Kia finding the girl holding the mysterious metal sphere.

The dwarf slowly approached Kia, he peeked behind his shoulder finding Iris walking close behind him.

 

"I don't know what is your name lady but how did you manage to fix my anvil, I can give you anything in my shop just tell me how." 

 

Kia lifted her eyes from the clockwork sphere and looked at the dwarf.

"I fixed the mana linkages between the auxiliary runes, the cardinal enchantments and the orichalcum base. The internal connections of that thing were so awful that I could not stand to look at it. They were so tangled up that mana could not flow, they looked worse than my first attempts at a similar magical technique of slow but efficient use of energy." The girl said.

 

  The dwarf shrank in fear as the pale girl spoke in her native tongue.

A moment of complete silence passed before Kroswad dared to lift his eyes from the stone floor, giving Iris an uncomprehensible look.

 

"Ehh... She said that she fixed mana linkages between parts of the anvil, they were tangled up." The unprepared elf attempted to covey Kia's explanation to the best of her abilities.

 

Kroswad's mouth worked silently as he repeated and rerepeated what was said, his expression betraying his confusion.

 

"The mana inside should last for some time but you should refill it at some stage, else it will crack under the stress of working with little energy." Kia broke the silence as she spoke.

 

"You should refill the mana inside the anvil before it runs out or it will break." Iris explained the shocking news to the cowering dwarf.

 

  The confusion on Kroswad's face was understandable as everyone even the peasants knows that dwarven runes are extremely difficult to make but they are everlasting as long as you keep them with care.

"H-How?" He said.

 

"Pour a liquid with a large amount of mana on the anvil, I did that and it worked," Kia said not bothering to lift her head from the bronze sphere.

The elf translated the answer given, most likely for a different question than the dwarf intended.

 

Kroswad shoulder started to move up and down before maniacal laughter could be heard throughout the workshop.

"HAHA! Hh ancestors, how my pride got the better of me. I don't know who you people but you have my eternal thanks. No my entire family up to my lil'grandkids are indebted to you, it is a dwarven promise. I will order Junior to treat you better than his own birth mother! And-" 

 

"Let's not involve other people in this," Iris shook the mumbling dwarf. "Actually, no one can know about what happened here, is that clear?"

 

"On the honour of my ancestors and me, not even a whisper will leave this place," The dwarf put his hand on his heart. "But my honour does not allow me to be given such charity without giving something back!"

 

"What is that she is holding?" Iris said.

 

"Oh, that's something found in dungeons quite often. No clue what it does, you can take it." Dwarf said. "Maybe to celebrate I will craft you a weapon worth the follower of such inconspicuous runesmith."

 

"Sure, you can do that. We also have the iron from the adventurer guild quest and we have to be paid normally no special favours." The elf said to the overly enthusiastic dwarf.

 

"Yea, I understand knife-ear, let us go for it then."

 

The elf tapped the busy Kia on her shoulder and beside her, a huge pile of rocks appeared out of nowhere. "What the fuck! You are going to drive me insane if you realized that! You can use inventory to store so much!"

 

---

POV Change

 

 

Two mysterious creatures just exited my shop leaving me with a gift from the legends. Maybe the knife-ears are right in one thing, higher beings do walk among us unseen, unnoticed by us mortals.

 

"Old man, you are alive."

 

"Junior, the wanker Roússel will beg us to move back to the merchant quarter!" So many possibilities rushed through my mind as Granitus smiled upon my family from his granite throne. 

 

"You invented something, old man?" 

 

"Something like that, also stop calling me that and go back to work we have a business to run." I have to write everything I was told by THEM, "Go write a quest for monster blood for the adventurers Junior!"

 

I have to get materials for my magnum opus!

The Blackbeard legacy will be restored!