Chapter 1288: Searching For The Hero
Chapter 1288: Searching For The Hero
Although I wanted to go meet the hero right away, it was better to get done with other business firsts. We decided to explore the city of Evercraft more thoroughly than before. In our first visit, we barely saw a few parts of it because Felicia was in a hurry to just get back to her house. And the reason why, is quite obvious now, she doesn't like being outside.
First, we moved to buy clothes. Felicia gave us some directions and names, so we visited four different shops she had recommended, which all dealt with textile manufacturing, clothing, fabric, and such.
Two of them only made raw fabric, but it was often times magically enchanted and of very high quality... and cost. The other two, however, sold already made products, and looked very stylish, like no clothing store I've ever seen before.
The only ones that could even compare to the beauty of the building and everything inside were the ones at the Elven Kingdom's Capital. But even then, these had much more variety! Frilly dresses, big ponchos, large jackets, jean-styled pants, the first time I see these, shorts, even swimwear! I didn't know why they had swimwear here when there was no beach...
But apparently, there are special, smaller, and controlled dungeons near the capital that have their own terrains and scenery, similar to mine. And a few of them had large lakes with tempered weather so people often times went there to relax.
Anyways, I mostly bought things for the winter, such as jackets, ponchos, big puffy pants, and sweaters, they were made using magically crafted fabric using the fur and scales of monsters as their main ingredients, despite that, the texture was soft and nice to the touch of the skin.
For Celeste and Celica, I also bought them almost anything they felt like they wanted or liked, Celica bought herself a swimwear for some reason, she found one with frills and ribbons she really loved... Ah, and Celeste bought herself some lingerie, sexy, black lingerie.
She said it was because she was older than me and she was already a young adult, and it was totally fine to wear that for pajamas instead... I suppose she's not wrong, I'll leave it at that.
But seeing that sexy lingerie made me imagine Aquarina wearing those, and then I felt a bit lonely that she wasn't here with me...
At least, once we finished shopping, we moved straight to my goal, seeking the hero!
"Alright so where is this hero you're looking for?" wondered Celeste. "They're not in immediate danger like the two Anima?"
"No, they're actually doing fine on their own..." I said. "So I don't know if I should really try to "recruit" them or something, but I want to have a talk with them, and meet them. I don't know if we'll ever truly go against a Demon King. I would rather... try to rationalize with them. These are more peaceful times, despite what others might think. But they're still someone blessed by a god, and I want to see if I can help them. After all, everyone that's blessed meets them first, and is told to defeat the Demon King. So perhaps this responsibility might be weighing over their shoulders."
"I suppose there's a lot of possibilities of what could happen..." Celeste nodded.
"I don't really like the Gods, they're weird and evil sometimes..." said Celica. "I hope this Ruby person is fine and okay!"
"I'm sure they're okay... At least they're healthy," I sighed.
As we walked across the streets and gasped by the wonder of the city's beautiful buildings and constructions, we moved from street to street, following my Compass Eyes.
Until eventually, at the other side of a narrow street, I found it, a small smithy, at the corner of a darker alleyway, it wasn't as illuminated as the rest, so it was slightly obscure compared to the rest, and least seen.
"Oh, that must be a new smithy, I don't remember it being here..." my dad said. "Are they there?" he wondered.
"Yes, I believe so," I nodded.
We walked closer to the smithy, it looked open, it only had a very rough-looking name on it, made over some wooden table.
It was called...
"[Ruby's Fire Hands]" I said. "Alright, that's her name," I nodded.
"Her, so it's a girl?" wondered Celeste.
"Maybe a boy is called Ruby!" said Celica.
"We'll see once we get inside anyways..." I sighed.
I was slightly nervous, but I stepped forward, opening the door.
The moment we stepped in, a wave of heat washed over our faces, as usual with these smithies.
"Oof, that's hot..." I sighed. "Ah, hello? Someone there?"
I stepped inside, my friends slowly walking besides me with dad behind us.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The entire smithy looked rather decadent.
Pieces of rusted steel over the floor, broken and badly crafted swords, axes, and shields.
Broken pieces of armor, dust everywhere.
Low quality ore pieces, very small ones.
Shattered fragments of beast cores around the floor.
There were a few stone tables, rusted tools, and the smithy itself, blazing with fire as someone was making something.
Or well, trying to.
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
She? Looked a bit frustrated, smacking at the piece of metal with her hammer, her Mana flowing out with a wild fluctuation, she was rather bad at it...
The piece of metal, which resembled a long blade, was slightly broken, and the cracks were growing wider, the heat was not distributed evenly, creating cracks very easily.
"Agh, dammit! It's not working?! But I have the... Ugghhh!"
She suddenly threw the half-assed sword into the floor on a fit of rage, and then sighed, dropping the hammer into the floor.
"Hahh..."
For a moment, there was only silence.
"Um... Hi?"
"HYEEH?!"
She cried the moment I talked, I imagine she didn't hear us entering at all, nor she heard me
the first time I talked.
"How did you get in here?! Who are you?" she wondered.
"Um... Wasn't this a smithy?" I wondered.
"Ah... R-Right, yeah! I-It's that..." she muttered. "A smithy... yeah! D-Do you want to buy something?!"
She quickly stood up, and was almost around my own size, only a centimeter or two smaller.
And once she took off her mask and her protective clothes, a fiery red skin was revealed.
And crimson eyes, resembling rubies.
And... horns?