Varian stepped out of the store, throwing a newly acquired tent into his bag of holding. It was about the same size as his, and a little on the expensive side. But, Elwen did need a new one, and this one seemed to suit their purposes best. All the other ones he looked at were much too big, fitting multiple people inside, or were made of a really cheap material. He didn’t think they would be comfortable, or even last the trip to Marsburg. So, he settled on this one.

Now, he was going to check out that dwarf smith he heard about. He wasn’t sure what he would have for sale in his store, but he was hoping for a magical weapon. The dwarves were renowned for their runesmithing, although he had no way to know if this dwarf was a runesmith. He hoped he was, but he would be happy with a good quality sword even if it wasn’t enchanted.

The shop wasn’t too far away, so he ducked into the store only a few minutes later. He saw a dwarf sitting at a counter against the right wall, who he presumed to be the smith. Looking around, there were a few items on display.

A few suits of armor lined the wall to his left, displaying various styles and types of coverage. He wasn’t currently in the market for a suit of armor, but if he was, he would certainly consider the dwarf for it. There was one suit that caught his eye. It was a full plate suit, polished to be almost glowing. The craftmanship was exquisite, perfectly covering every inch of the mannequin behind it without impeding movement. The joints were covered with plates that would move as the joint was articulated, covering the joint at all times through the movement without any gaps.

There were various types of weapons lined up on his right against the window, displaying them to passersby. There were swords, knives, pears, glaives, basically any weapon he could think of that would actually be useful. The ones in the window were a little too ornate for his tastes, but there were more items on display in the back of the store.

Walking over there, he began inspecting all of the weapons there. There were various swords hanging on racks. Some were slightly different lengths or had different tapers. Others were a little thicker, with longer handles. There were some really weird swords back there as well, like a really large sword with a wavy upper section. It didn’t seem very practical, but maybe it had some special purpose that he wasn’t aware of. It was much too long for him to practically use, so he disregarded it, returning his attention to the more moderately sized swords.

There were several swords that appeared to be made of different metals, their color being the only indication that they were different from the rest. He would have to ask what they were made of; he wouldn’t want them to be weaker than the common steel swords.

One particular sword caught his eye. It looked much like the steel swords, but he noticed that it was a little brighter than the others. Picking it up, he rotated the blade along its long axis, getting a better look at the surface of the blade. There were no imperfections, no marks left over from the forging process. It was light too, maybe a pound lighter than a regular sword. Stepping away from the racks, he gave the sword a few swings. It was a good sword. It rested well in his hands; the balance was perfect.

“You have good eyes, Sir.” He heard a voice call from behind him.

Turning around, he saw the dwarf standing before him.

“It is a fine sword. What material is it? It does not feel like steel; it is far too light.” Varian asked.

“Of course it is, I made it,” the dwarf replied, chuckling. “Most warriors turn it aside, thinking it just another decorative sword. The nobility cast it aside as well, thinking it made of lower quality metal.” The dwarf’s face returns to a neutral expression. “They are all fools. It is made from magic silver, imported from my homeland.”

“Mithril?” Varian muttered, looking at the sword closer. Acquiring the mythical metal was something on his bucket list, he never thought he would find it here.

“Not quite. It’s similar, but doesn’t quite have the same properties of mithril.” The dwarf corrected. “We still haven’t figured out how those bloody elves make it.” He angrily muttered under his breath.

“It’s stronger and lighter than even the best steels, like mithril. Doesn’t quite have the same magical conductivity, but it works well enough for most applications. That one doesn’t have any enchantments applied, but it does have a slot for a mana stone in the pommel.” He continued.

“Why not enchant it? Surely it would sell better that way?” Varian asked.

“I could,” the dwarf shrugged, “but that would ruin the fun. Nothing beats watching those idiots pass up on the best sword they’ll ever see. Putting an enchantment on it would tip them off.”

“How much for it?” Varian asked, sheathing the blade in the accompanying sheath that lay just behind where the sword was on the rack.

“Two hundred golden dragons and its yours.” The dwarf grinned.

“It’s expensive.” Varian grimaced. He didn’t need a new sword right now, but he certainly wanted it. This sword was more than a few steps up from what he had. Still, it was far too expensive for him to buy. Now. “Well, if I ever need a new sword, I know where to come. You make weapons, Mr…”

“Ironhammer. Thoric Ironhammer.” The dwarf said as he put out his hand.

“Varian Shadowstorm.” Varian gave his own name as he shook the dwarf’s hand. “It is good to meet a skilled smith such as yourself, Mr. Ironhammer.”

After a few minutes of discussion on the dwarf’s work, Varian left the store. His trip to the Adventurer’s Guild was similarly brief, and he managed to sign up as a temporary adventurer, so he could take quests from the city’s Guild, but wasn’t officially ranked and his status would only work in this city for the next two weeks. It wasn’t perfect, but apparently the process for regular adventurers was much more complicated and took longer, so he settled for this for now.

Now, back to the library. Hopefully Elwen hasn’t gotten in trouble.

 

Meanwhile, Elwen leisurely read in the sofa chair, hidden away in a little alcove in the library, surrounded by shelves of dusty books. A little lamp to her side provided all the light she needed, a blanket all the comfort she wanted, as the book provided her entertainment. She wasn’t reading just for pleasure, though the book was genuinely interesting. She had come here looking to find something to improve herself, to make herself more useful, and it looked like she had found something.

The book was a scholarly discussion on a type of ancient magical tool, or perhaps a magic technique, Elwen still wasn’t sure. She hadn’t gotten that far yet, the beginning of the book mostly just talked about different uses for the stones. Apparently, the ‘Venefici Lapis’ were a type of rock that magic users could use in conjunction with their magic. It seemed that the most common usage was as a sort of battery for spells, storing mana so that mages could cast magic without using their own mana.

She still hadn’t found out exactly how they worked, or where she could find one, the book hadn’t gotten into detail on what exactly the stones were. It seemed that only magic users could use them, unlike modern magical tools, where most were designed so that anyone could use them, as long as the tool was powered.

In a way, the stones almost seemed to be a more primitive version of the magic crystals that are more commonly used today. As far as she knew, magic crystals were mined from crystal geodes deep underground. The geodes were relatively rare, making the crystals expensive. In addition to their rarity, the crystals also needed to be refined to be useful, further increasing their price. There were different qualities of the crystals as well, with the higher-quality crystals having both a higher mana capacity and output. In terms of electrical batteries, it was like the higher quality batteries held more charge and had a higher current output.

Flipping through the pages, she scanned the text, looking for any useful information. While the subject was interesting, if she could find anything that told her where she could find one, there was no point in continuing.

A particular passage caught her eye. It compared Venefici Lapides to a similar, but different in a way that she had yet to figure out, tool called a Tanchen Dentose. It claimed that both were capable of storing magicis, which she figured was an old-timey word for mana, but that the Tanchen Dentose were, over time, replaced by the Venefici Lapides because they were more stable. Apparently, there were incidents of users of the Tanchen Dentose having them accidently discharge or explode. The Venefici Lapides did not have the same issues.

The author continued to describe other benefits of the Venefici Lapides, but it was difficult to understand what he was actually saying. There was a lot of other technical jargon in the passage that threatened to break her brain, but she was pretty sure she managed to figure out what most of it meant.

The Venefici Lapides had a higher ‘magicis potentate,’ which she translated to magic potential, or mana capacity. The better ones could also have a higher ‘conversio iactura,’ which took her a while translate to conversion ratio, or how much mana the user got out of the stone in comparison to how much they put in. The author used something called an ‘aurum’ to compare the two tools, which she figured was a unit of mana measurement, with a particular example of a famous mage’s Venefici Lapis having a ratio of three aurum returned for every four put in, while the typical Tanchen Dentose having a ratio of only one to three.

However, the Venefici Lapides were, according to the author, much more expensive and difficult to produce, which was the reason why they weren’t widely adopted sooner. Apparently, the construction of a Venefici Lapis required specialized tools and knowledge, while the only requirement to create a Tanchen Dentose was a blank.

This revelation caused Elwen to pause. If she was interpreting it right, she could put her mana into a blank and use it to store her mana for later use. It would solve some of her mana problems, namely that she could store a certain amount of mana for emergency situations while using her own mana supply to learn new spells. She had been concerned with running out of mana the past few weeks because it took so much mana to learn new spells with the spell book circles. The headaches had been terrible, but it also made her nervous that something would happen when she was almost out and she wouldn’t be able to help. This could solve that problem.

This book would require more study. She turned the pages back to where she left off. Hopefully, there would be more information on how to make one of these ‘Tanchen Dentose’…

While Elwen was engrossed in studying the book, Varian stepped into the library. He immediately began to look for Elwen.

‘In a place this big, it’ll be difficult to find her…’ He thought, scanning the rows of bookshelves.

After about twenty minutes of searching, he decided to give up for now. Clearly, she was hidden away somewhere in the shelves. For now, he would just see if the library had any of the information he was looking for. If he sat in the lobby, Elwen would find him when she was done. There wasn’t another exit to this place, so she couldn’t miss him. And if he kept one eye up, he wouldn’t miss her either.

He settled on a large atlas that he found on a short shelf near the entrance to the bookshelves. It was time to update his geography knowledge.

Elwen happily walked down the aisle, holding a book close to her chest. She hummed a simple tune, a smile evident on her face. She had gotten what she wanted from the book, both entertainment and knowledge of a new way to potentially use magic. Truthfully, the technique was not new, in fact it was likely older than most of the magic that she had used so far, but it was new to her. Now she just needed to figure out how to actually use it…

Come to think of it, wasn’t Varian supposed to join her after running his errand? Shouldn’t he be here by now? She started to panic; her smile faded. Did he leave her?

‘No, no,’ she thought shaking her head. ‘He wouldn’t leave me.’

She was pretty deep in the library, so he probably just couldn’t find her. Maybe he’s in the lobby?

She came to the end of the shelf and poked her head out, hoping to spot him over the wall.

‘He’s pretty big, so he shouldn’t be too hard to find…’

Her eyes moved to the door.

‘He’s not there…’

She scanned the chairs and tables filling the open space before her.

But try as she might, she couldn’t find him.

‘Maybe he did leave…’

Her vision began to blur a little, a tear forming in her eye.

She quickly wiped it away, frantically clearing her eyes so she could continue her desperate search.

She checked the chairs again. Maybe she just missed him the first time. Or he was turned around so she didn’t recognize him.

‘That’s not him...’ she eyed a man hunched over on a desk.

‘Neither is he…’ she saw another man carrying a stack of what seemed like twenty books.

‘Is that?!’ a large man stood up from a chair in her peripheral vision.

‘No, it’s just a bear…’ He was a little too fuzzy to be Varian.

‘Wait a bear?!’ Her eyes jolted back to the bearman.

‘I guess there really are animal people…’

Suddenly, she saw something else move in the corner of her eye. Turning toward it, Elwen saw that it was the big bear she was looking for.

She quickly ran up to him and gave him the biggest bear hug she could, letting some of her built up tears leak out.

“Varian!” She cried into his side.

She felt his arms wrap around her.

“Ah, there you are. I was looking for you earlier, but you weren’t out in the lobby.” He said, gently rubbing her back.

“…”

“…”

“I thought you left me…” She cried in a small voice.

She felt his hand freeze.

“I will always come back for you,” he said, his hand resuming its comforting caress.

“…”

“…”

Elwen felt Varian lower a bit, and she tightened her arms around him. She didn’t want to let him go.

After a while, she opened her eyes. She found herself sitting in a cushioned armchair, much like the one she had been using earlier, when she was reading by herself. Looking around, she found Varian sitting at a desk. Her chair was just to the side of the desk. It looked like he had moved it closer to the desk, there weren’t any other of these armchairs at tables.

Varian was reading a book, although Elwen couldn’t tell which. Standing up, she moved over to his side, grabbing his arm and resting her chin on his shoulder.

“What are you reading?” She asked.

“It’s the history of the Kingdom.” He responded. “I was trying to get a better picture of what’s going on here. The information here is definitely more detailed than anything we got on the internet. It doesn’t cover recent history, though.” He closed the book, slowly standing up.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked, turning around to face her.

“Um… I didn’t interrupt you, did I?” He stopped reading as soon as she woke up. She didn’t even remember falling asleep. If he was doing something important, she didn’t want him to stop just because she interrupted him.

“No, of course not,” He replied, “I was just waiting for my little kitten to wake up.”

‘L-little k-kitten?!’ Wait, with what she had seen with the bearman earlier, there probably could be a catperson…

‘Would Varian have liked that… Should I have been a catgirl?’

“… I wasn’t a bother, was I?”

“Of course not,” he said, rubbing the top of her head, “I had been meaning to look for information, and I found plenty while you were resting.”

‘A lie, I didn’t find anything. All these books are uselessly old, the only thing that was remotely useful was the atlas, and that only covered this continent, before all the border changes from the war.’

Elwen closed her eyes as Varian petted her. She had somewhat mixed feeling about him doing it. Every time he did, she felt like he was treating her like a child, but at the same time, it felt really good.

She took a step back, pulling away from his hand.

One could think that this was a sign that she didn’t like it, but Varian could tell from her flushed cheeks that this was far from the truth.

“D-did we need to go somewhere?” She sputtered out, looking away from him.

“Not necessarily, but I thought you would be getting a little hungry by now. We haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast.” He responded. “So, I was thinking of going to a little café I heard about.”

“Umm…” In truth, she wasn’t really hungry. But a café sounds like it might be fun, especially if they had yummy deserts. “Sure, sounds good!”

“Well then, shall we?” Varian asked, holding out his hand.

Elwen happily took it, and they left for the reception counter. They still needed to collect their deposits before they left the library.

After they collected the gold, they stepped into the hidden courtyard before making their way back onto the main street with the promise of sweets and the end of their journey.