by Phoenix Grey
"Can I help you?" the man asked as he pulled off his thick brown leather gloves, then wiped his hands on the equally thick brown leather apron that protected his clothing.
"I need to buy a sword," Azure told him, his eyes flitting across the blades on one of the walls.
"What kind of sword are you looking for? I'm Garion, by the way." The blacksmith held out his arm, and Azure promptly clasped wrists with him in a firm shake.
"Azure," Azure replied. "And I'm looking for something inexpensive but sturdy."
A smirk crossed Garion's face as if Azure had just told some joke. “One-handed or two-handed?”
"One-handed."
"All right. Let me see what I might have for you." The blacksmith approached one of the walls, examining the swords on it as he went. He hummed to himself as he looked each one over, searching for the perfect blade for Azure. Glancing back at him a final time, as if to assess if he could handle the chosen sword, Garion took one down from the wall and walked back over to Azure to hand it to him. "Try this."
Azure could tell that the sword was cheaper than most of the others just by looking at it. The entire thing was made of solid bronze. He brought up its stats to examine it more closely.
Bronze Sword
Attack: +1-5
Type: One-Handed Weapon
Durability: 15/15
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.8 kg
The stats weren't much better than his dagger. Azure was not impressed.
"How much is it?" He tried not to frown as he continued to look the sword over.
"Two silver, six copper," Garion replied.
Cheap. A cheap sword for a cheap price. I have money now. Splurging on a better sword probably wouldn't be a bad idea.
"Do you have anything a step up from this?" he asked, handing the sword back.
The blacksmith smiled as he placed the sword back on the wall and took down another one.
Iron Sword
Attack: +1-7
Type: One-Handed Weapon
Durability: 20/20
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.8 kg
Azure still wasn't very impressed. How was it possible that goblins made better swords than humans? His last sword had been a Crude Goblin Sword. By definition, that meant it should have been crap. But its attack stats were better than any one-handed weapon he'd seen crafted by humans thus far.
"How much is this one?" He did his best to suppress a sigh of discontent.
"Nine silver."
"Upgrade me one more time." Azure gestured for something better.
This clearly pleased the blacksmith. He placed the Iron Sword back on the wall and took down one with a polished silver blade. Unlike the others that had been made entirely out of metal, the pommel of this sword was wrapped in black leather. It was also more ornately designed, with stylized twists in the cross-guards. Azure took it in hand and immediately noticed that it was lighter than the two swords he had been given before.
Steel Sword
Attack: +2-12
Type: One-Handed Weapon
Durability: 25/25
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.0 kg
Much better. Now this was what he was looking for. It looked sleek as fuck and felt amazing in his hand. Azure gave it a few cursory swings before asking the question that he was dreading the answer to. “How much is it?”
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Garion nodded, the smile still plastered on his face. While Azure initially thought that it was a sales tactic for him to say that"to try to convince Azure that this was the sword for him"it quickly became apparent that the blacksmith was more admiring his own work.
"How much is it?" he repeated in a serious tone.
Garion's smile faltered, perhaps realizing that he was probably going to lose the sale once he spoke the answer. This was not the inexpensive sword that Azure had said he had come for. “Three gold, two silver, five copper.”
Azure hissed at the price before handing the sword back. While he could afford it, it just wasn't worth it.
"You don't happen to know of any goblin settlements around here?" he joked. It seemed that the best gear came from looting, not buying.
The blacksmith's expression was deadpan as he placed the sword back on the wall. “So, what will it be, champ?”
Azure sighed. The stats on the Iron Sword were better than the Bronze Sword, but not enough to make it worth the price difference. Maybe he'd get lucky and find a better sword along his path of adventuring.
"I'll take the Bronze Sword," he said with the absence of enthusiasm that he felt from making the purchase.
They exchanged coin and sword, and Azure thanked the blacksmith and went on his way. Now the only question was how to spend the rest of his day.
Azure knew that the fields near Squall's End were picked clean. If he wanted to do some real foraging, he'd have to go out into the wilderness. His other option was to walk to Roselake and try his luck at fishing.
Unable to decide, Azure flipped a copper. Heads or tails, in this case, was one side with the face of a man that looked like it had been drawn by a sloppy five-year-old and a cross on the other side with the words 'May the King Prosper.' Judging by the lopsided crown on the man's head, he was the king. It seemed like a dumb saying. Being a king alone made that person prosperous.
Azure decided that heads would be foraging and tails would be fishing. Landing on tails had him searching for the fishmonger to price boxes of bait. One box was good for ten casts, which equated to about an hour's worth of fishing. He currently had one in his inventory and estimated that he would be spending at least four hours fishing, so he needed three more.
It turned out that a Box of Basic Bait cost one silver. That meant one copper per cast. Though it seemed a bit expensive, Azure shelled out the money, hoping that there would be a good payoff. This was one disadvantage that fishing had over foraging. You needed bait to do it, and that cost coin. But fish sold for more than most foraging components did. At least, it seemed that way.
Once Azure had finished shopping, he headed toward Roselake, trying to remember what he had read in Enno's book. Worst case scenario, he could make his way around the lake and visit the angler. Actually, now that he thought about it, the worst case scenario would be running into the Asshole Knight. Hopefully, the guy wouldn't try to rob him again.
Azure kept his head down as he walked the path to Roselake. Soon, he saw the lake in the distance, though the splendor of all the roses surrounding it no longer held the same wonder as it had the first time he had seen them. Pausing once he reached the lake, Azure picked a spot across from where Enno's place was. It was a good trek, and he was able to forage a few alchemy components as he went, harvesting three Fireweed, three Wild Onions, and one Blue Mushroom. If he ran out of room in his bag, he would ditch them in lieu of whatever he managed to fish up from Roselake.
You have harvested: Fireweed Uses: Alchemy component
You have harvested: Wild Onion Uses: Alchemy component, Restores +5 HP if eaten
You have harvested: Blue Mushroom Uses: Alchemy component, Restores +10 MP if eaten
Once he arrived at his destination, Azure pulled his Starter Pole from his bag, baited his hook, and cast his line into the water.
The first tug came after three casts. Excitement raced through Azure as he felt a strong pull. Whatever was on the other end of his line, it was big.
He fought to reel the fish in for what felt like ten minutes but was probably only half that time. What emerged from the water was not a fish though, but a crayfish the size of a German Shepherd. As soon as it was fully exposed, it let go of his line and made a beeline for Azure, snapping at him with its claws.
Dropping his fishing pole, Azure drew his sword. The crayfish had great reach, and its thick exoskeleton made it hard to land a hit that did any damage. He finally ended
up sweeping to the side and slicing down on the thinner piece of the beast's cheliped, taking care of one of the claws. Now having a sound battle tactic, it wasn't long before Azure was able to separate the crayfish's weapons from its body and deliver the killing blow.
Defeated Level 7 Large Crayfish. 42XP rewarded.
"Good grief," Azure groaned, sitting on the shore to catch his breath. He couldn't help but think that the low attack stats of his sword had made that fight take way longer than necessary.
Unsure of what parts of the crayfish constituted as loot, Azure picked up the entire thing and stuffed it in his bag. It still amazed him how the mouth stretched to accommodate any sized item. The bags had their own type of magic that didn't exist in his world.
After taking a quick breather, Azure stood and picked up his Starter Pole, baiting it and casting his line into the water again. It took six more casts before he felt another pull. This time, he reeled in trash.
You have caught:
Ruined Leather Boot
Uses: Junk
Damn. No stats at all.
Azure wondered if he should just leave the boot on the shore since it was clearly labeled as junk and probably couldn't be sold.
Two casts later, he pulled in a broken cup and began to wonder if there were even any fish in Roselake. Fishing was way more difficult than he had imagined now that he wasn't at the starter pond.
You have caught:
Broken Cup
Uses: Junk
Five more casts and Azure was surprised to find a treasure chest about the size of a lunchbox on the end of his line. The wood was worn with algae clinging to it, the hinges rusted. Now his adrenaline was pumping again. Surely, this couldn't be junk. He opened up the chest to find what appeared to be a scale the size of his hand. It was thick and gray and glittered in the sunlight.
You have caught:
Dragon Scale
Quantity: 1/1
Item Class: Extremely Rare
Quality: Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Uses: Weapons and Armor Crafting component.
Azure's eyes widened as he saw the Item Class. Extremely Rare. That had to mean the scale was worth a lot. Perhaps this was going to pay off after all.
Now in a much better mood, Azure slipped the scale into his bag, tossed the now empty treasure chest aside, and continued fishing. It didn't bother him as badly when he reeled in another Broken Cup on his very next cast, because two casts later, he caught something else strange.
You have caught:
Box of Basic Bait
Quantity: 10/10
Durability: 1/1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Uses: Must be used with a pole. Used to catch fish.
Azure shrugged it off and put the Box of Basic Bait in his bag. This lake seemed to be chock-full of all kinds of strange things...excluding fish.
Judging by how much it depleted his Stamina to cast"ten points every time he threw his line into the water"fishing all day just wasn't going to be possible. With only sixty Stamina points left, Azure felt it was better to be safe than sorry. He put away his Starter Pole and headed toward Squall's End, staying on the main road. The walk was blessedly uneventful.
When Azure reached town, he immediately went to Garion, feeling that the blacksmith would be the most interested in purchasing the Dragon Scale. Now it was time to see whether his efforts had paid off or if fishing was just as unprofitable as it had been boring.
Azure pulled the Dragon Scale out of his bag and handed it over. The blacksmith's eyes immediately lit up.
"Oh, a rare find," he said, seemingly impressed.
"An extremely rare find," Azure corrected him with a smile. "How much can you give me for it?"
Garion flipped the scale over in his hand, as if the item's stats hadn't been enough to tell him the value of it. "If you had twenty more of these, I could make a fine sword."
"Well, I only have the one, so how much?" Azure gestured for him to get on with it.
"I'll give you one gold for it." The blacksmith never tore his eyes away from the scale.
Yes! Fishing had definitely paid off. And it was especially nice to know that there were more ways to make decent money in The Realm besides just taking on quests from The Adventurers Guild.
"I have a few other things to sell, too." Azure wrangled the Large Crayfish corpse out of his bag.
The blacksmith furrowed his brow. "Good Gods, man, what in the hell is wrong with you?"
"I didn't know which part of this was salvageable." Azure shrugged. The soggy body of the Large Crayfish left a wet spot in the dirt.
"Just the tail," Garion informed him, clearly not pleased that Azure had brought him an entire body.
"Well, if you tell me how to get it off, I want to sell this too. I'll dispose of the rest on my way out."
The next few minutes were spent with Garion teaching Azure how to de-tail the Large Crayfish. It was a messy job. As soon as they parted the tail from the body, a sludge of gray oozed from the cephalothorax. The smell was absolutely horrible, and Azure had to resist the urge to cover his nose.
"Sorry about that." He gave Garion an apologetic look.
The blacksmith sighed. "This is why people do this as soon as they kill them. It's a damn big mess." He walked over to a table and picked up a cloth to wipe his hands on.
"Lesson learned," Azure said, though he still felt bad because he had no idea how to clean the entrails up. They were more liquid than solid, and they were already congealing on the floor. There was a broom resting against the wall near the door, but Azure was worried that if he used it, he'd just make a bigger mess. All that he could do was carry them away with his bare hands, then drag the body off. He was not looking forward to that.
"I'll give you five copper for the Large Crayfish Tail. I'd typically give you seven, but consider the other two payment for the lesson and my time spent cleaning this up." He gestured to the pile of mushy innards on the floor.
Azure sighed in relief for not having to figure out what to do with the gooey innards. "You know what, you can have the tail for free. I feel really bad about this."
The blacksmith seemed pleased, some of his annoyance abated. "Well, now you know."
"I have one more bit of business." Azure pulled his Starter Pole from his bag. "Can you repair this?" He'd learned his lesson from the decay of his Crude Goblin Sword that it was important to fix an item before its durability ran out. Currently, he only had four durability left on the fishing pole, and he definitely didn't want to lose it.
Garion took the pole, looking it over. "It will be two silver."
"Perfect."
Azure dragged the remains of the Large Crayfish to a nearby pig sty while Garion worked on repairing his Starter Pole. By the time he returned, the blacksmith was done. He handed the pole back with now full durability.
"Thanks for the help. Sorry again for the mess." Azure's eyes fell to the wet sludge on the floor of the smithy.
Satisfied with how the day had gone, Azure decided to head to the tavern for a late lunch, then return to his room at the inn to recover his Stamina. He dragged himself up the stairs, his belly full and his limbs feeling like they weighed a hundred pounds each. For as horrible as the week had started out, it had come to a strong finish. And it only got better when he opened the door and found Lonnell lying on the bed.
CHAPTER SIX
THE REALM – Day 51
Azure could hardly wait for his friend to wake up, but he knew how much questing could take a toll on a person. Hell, he'd only spent the day fishing and his Stamina was so depleted that he was about to pass out.
Surrendering to a nap on the floor wasn't ideal, nor was it comfortable after having enjoyed the luxury of a bed for the past few days, but Azure was in such a good mood that it barely bothered him. Hopefully, when he awoke, Lonnell wouldn't be gone again. They still needed to figure out what they wante
d to do regarding the rent"whether they were going to book the room for another week or splurge and pay for an entire month. The latter seemed like a better idea, but Azure wasn't sure how much money Lonnell had managed to earn throughout the week.
"Where in the hell have you been?" was the first thing Azure asked when he awoke to find Lonnell sitting on the bed looking depressed. His head was drooped, and despite having just slept, there were bags under his eyes.
He didn't even smile when he finally looked over at Azure. "All of Pantheana, it feels like."
Azure's happy expression faded. "What happened?"
Lonnell shook his head. "That damned ingredient quest took forever. I just got back and turned it in today."
He hissed, not even able to fathom how much that sucked. "Did you at least get some good loot out of it?"
"No." Lonnell rolled his eyes. "I'd be a much happier man if I had."
"Want to go down to the tavern and talk about it? Beer is on me. I've had a crazy week as well."
Lonnell smirked. "Well, if you're buying."
The two men went to the tavern, and Azure ordered them both a pint. They spent the next hour going over their adventures. Lonnell's story was quite miserable. Apparently, all of the ingredients he'd needed were a day's journey away from each other. It sounded like he'd spent his week foraging, bartering, and killing monsters. Nothing out of the ordinary for an adventurer.
When Azure told Lonnell what had happened to him, his friend immediately chastised him for traveling the roads at night without a torch. Apparently, fire was what kept the monsters at bay. Without it, your heat signature was like a dinner bell.
"That would have been nice to know," Azure said dryly, followed by, "That didn't happen on Crescent Island."
