Weaponsmith: Volume 2: A Crafting LitRPG, page 20
The three of them stare towards the wall, separating the booths.
"- Nevermind…" says Seltsam. "That was weird, right? Sorry."
"Rabbit facts are a change of pace as far as I’m concerned," says Sockel. "I’m just sick of eating them."
"Good news," says Hineni. "Today’s dinner isn’t rabbit. It’s leftover bread and soup."
Sockel sighs, looking at the pot.
"Should I bother asking what kind of soup it is?" she asks.
Hineni stares for a moment, considering his options. "…Chicken," lies the man. "It’s chicken soup."
"Oh. Huh," says Sockel, pleasantly surprised. "Wait… chicken or ‘chicken’?" she asks suspiciously.
"Yes," replies Hineni, sitting down.
"What’s wrong with chicken, Sockel?" asks Rhine. "Don’t you like it?" he asks, grabbing the ladle and filling a bowl. Hineni and Sockel exchange a look. Hineni shakes his head. Sockel nods.
"It’s fine, I guess," she says, sighing again. "Better than rabbit."
Rhine leans around, holding the bowl out to behind the booth, without looking.
"Thank you," says Seltsam.
Hineni does consider that this might be his chance to finally ‘catch’ the girl and to see what she looks like. She’s sitting in the booth by herself and there’s nowhere to escape if he just jumps up right now and takes a peek.
Rhine fills another bowl up and sets it down in front of him.
But that would be a very frog-like thing to do.
Hineni stares down at his soup.
Watching his noodles float around the ‘chicken’, he can’t help but think about tadpoles and minnows, which doesn’t really help his appetite.
This is what he gets for listening to that frog by the pond.
* * *
"Anything?" asks Hineni.
Obscura shakes her head. "Obscura peeped with her many eyes, but she saw no shadow of the woman who waits."
He nods. "Thanks for trying," says Hineni. "I’ll get Sockel and the thieves’ guild involved," he says, rubbing his chin as he thinks.
Kleidet is still missing, not having shown up for work again today.
It could be that she’s just sick, but he would at least expect her to check in and let them know if that were the case. Maybe it’s just unfounded paranoia. But Hineni doesn’t want to just sit by while one of his people is missing.
What if this is something the frogs are up to? What if they found out she had sold them out?
Hineni looks around the room.
He hasn’t seen Eilig either, since that night upstairs.
"Have you seen Eilig?" asks Hineni. Obscura shakes her head. "Eilig is scared of you," he says. "Why?"
Obscura hoots softly. "Many fear Obscura’s sharp grip," she says, showing him her hands. "Hi~ ne~ ni~ knows this well."
Hineni shakes his head. "Eilig was afraid that you’d hurt her if she told me the truth about you," he says, looking at her. "Why?"
Obscura tilts her head, floating into the air. "Does her Hineni think that nurturing Obscura would hurt her nest-friends?" she asks, puffing out her chest. "Insulting!" she hoots. "Cruel Hineni!"
Hineni sighs, lifting a hand. He supposes it does sound like he was accusing her of something. "No, sorry," he apologizes. "But she was scared for a reason,'' he says, looking around the house.
"The fairy knows deeply the life of Hineni’s mother," explains Obscura. "And for the life of Hineni’s mother, Obscura’s kin was a big-scary shadow," hoots the owl. "She knows the memories of the dead."
Hineni looks at her and nods.
He supposes the situation is rather awkward, when you really think about it.
His mother had essentially ran away from her home, living in a far-off place where she knew nobody, in order to keep him safe from the very being he ended up engaged to of his own free will and a bit of happenstance.
— Life sure is funny.
He supposes that for Eilig, a close friend of his mother, who knows this whole story, this is certainly a delicate situation. In essence, he’s not only killed his mother. But he made her largest, most life-changing decision fully null and void too.
Hineni sighs.
It’s all very complicated.
* * *
Hineni stands in the forge. The order of pikes is well on its way to being finished, if only just within the deadline. But it looks like they’re going to make it.
He looks over towards Rhine, who is busy at work smelting the metals down into sterling-silver. He’s able to do this by himself now. Rhine’s arms are covered in bruises and scuffs. It seems that Sockel has been teaching him how to fight.
Hineni had figured the boy would be sensitive around violence, but he seems to be in good spirits, if not even excited.
Perhaps the context matters?
He returns his focus to his work.
"You can take tomorrow off, Rhine," says Hineni. "You need a day to rest too."
"It’s okay. We need to get started with the axes next," says Rhine, looking over to the note, pinned on the wall.
Hineni shrugs. He had assumed that Rhine would give that answer. He really seems to value his work here. "How’s the dungeon going?" asks Hineni.
"Great!" says Rhine, wiping his forehead. "I tried out my new staff on floor eight and it poisoned everything there at once!" he beams. "I felt super strong."
Hineni nods, thinking for a moment. "Why floor eight? What about floors one to seven?" he asks, looking over his shoulder.
"Oh. Sockel made me kill the monsters there with my hands," says Rhine, looking down at his palms. Hineni lifts an eyebrow, wanting to question this. But then he decides against it. He’s likely just being over-protective. Sockel knows what she’s doing. "It was rough."
"Keep up the good work," says Hineni. "Just make sure to rest now and then too."
"I will," says Rhine.
Although Hineni isn’t sure how true that is, really.
* * *
Dear valued customer, Fifteen thousand Obols have been added to your account balance after the sale of one magical item, as discussed. Your current balance: 78246 Obols The auction of the further three delivered objects is in progress. I will keep you updated. Avarice.
Hineni hands Sockel back the slip of paper.
It looks like another skull has been sold.
"I got some contractors interested in building the vault," she says. "What do you have in mind, exactly?"
Hineni shakes his head. "This is your field. I’ll leave the details and planning up to you, Sockel," says Hineni. "Just make sure it's secure and well hidden. That’s all I want."
"’Secret bookshelf wall’ hidden or ‘blood-ritual sacrifice to open the door’ hidden?" asks Sockel.
"Follow your heart," says Hineni, lifting an eyebrow.
"Will do," says Sockel. "I’ll get everything started then."
He nods. "Any news on Kleidet or Eilig?"
Sockel shakes her head. "Nothing yet. Eilig can’t leave the house. So we just need a wizard from the academy to tell us if she’s still in here," she says. "I’ll get one. As for Kleidet, I stretched some feelers out. Just gotta wait and see."
Hineni sighs. "I’d be lost without you, Sockel," says the man, looking around the restaurant. It’s fairly busy today and Obscura is running around, hooting up a storm as she tries to get to everybody in a timely manner.
"Yeah," replies the elf, her ears twitching. She points at him. "That’s going to come back to haunt you one day, by the way."
"I’m sure," replies Hineni. "But until then, keep your feet off the desk until after work-hours are over," he says, looking down at her boots.
Sockel rolls her eyes, pulling her legs down from the counter. "Hard ass."
"Somebody has to keep you people in check," says Hineni, walking off to get back to work.
* * *
It is late at night.
Obscura lets out a long, tired hoot, falling into bed very gracelessly.
Hineni stands by the door to their bedroom, looking at her. Her taloned feet lay off of the bed and her face is pressed into the bedding. She’s just kind of laying there, letting out a long, unending hoot. He can’t help but notice how unusually pitiful it sounds.
"Good work today," says Hineni. "You were really hustling."
"Obscura has underestimated the endurance of the waiting-elf," says the owl-god. "She has legs of metal, like Hineni."
Hineni looks down at his fleshy legs and shrugs. He pulls a chair over from the corner of the room, sitting down on it. He grabs one of her feet and starts rubbing it. "That’s because you’re always flying. Most of us have to walk all the time," he explains. She hoots. With Kleidet missing, the owl-god had to take over waiting tables.
Obscura turns her head over, not bothering to move any other part of her body. "She will massage him next, yes?" she asks.
Hineni blinks, his eyes wandering over her razor sharp talons as he looks back down. "That’s okay. Thanks," he says. "I’m good."
"Who~"
"Who~" he agrees, turning his head to look out of the bedroom window.
It’s quiet for a time.
The two of them look back at each other.
"Who~" they say at the same time. So it only counts as once.
Chapter 78: The mystery of the missing crunchy fairy and the woman who waits is before us
Hineni stands downstairs in the ice-cellar, his ungloved hand running along the cold walls.
"Eilig?" he asks, looking around the room.
No response.
His eyes wander back to the ice, which is still intact and hasn’t begun melting. That means she still has to be around the house, right?
Hineni looks, peeping into the doll-house, which is held aloft in the air by strings of ice, dangling from the ceiling.
It looks like she’s managed to furnish it a bit with some scraps that she’s found around the place.
— He rubs the back of his head, feeling bad.
Maybe he should make her some furniture? He still remembers a bit of carpentry from his ‘other’ life. Not that he likes the prospect, but Eilig deserves nice things too. He feels like he can make that sacrifice.
But first he has to find her and Kleidet.
* * *
Colorful birds sit atop the roofs of the many houses of the city, chirping their spring songs and scooting around with youthful energy from side to side, performing an array of dances.
People are abound, walking along their routes on the way to their businesses, homes, shops, friends or just to anywhere at all really. Perhaps the dungeon. Perhaps to a nice bench in the park. It is impossible to say, as the faces of the people here are as many and as varied as the colors of the spring birds.
Hineni sighs, taking in a deep breath of the warming air of what promises to be a kind season.
The last hints of winter have vanished now for good, not only on the world all around them, but also on the faces of everyone present here. The mood, with the sun being brighter than it was before, the air being warmer than it was before, is noticeably changed from the way it had been in winter.
Now that it is warm enough to stay outside and that all of these good sensations are abound, people reflect that in their mannerisms. The groups walk slower than they usually would. Hineni marvels at this, remembering how fast everyone always was when he watched them through his window. Their conversations are more open and loud and loose. Even the shopkeepers and the street-vendors seem more generous with their handing out of free samples.
— Though this could also just be because he’s outside with the owl-god.
"Who~" she hoots excitedly, as Hineni hands her a piece of candied fruit on a small stick.
"So how come you don’t ever go to the dungeon?" asks Rhine, looking his way.
"The dungeon?" asks Hineni. He looks down the street, towards the silhouette of a large gate in the middle of the city. "Why would I?"
Rhine shrugs as they keep walking. "I bet you could destroy everything there with your magic!" he says, excitedly.
"Maybe," replies Hineni, looking around at the shops around him. "I guess I don’t like it though. Destroying things," he explains, walking for a while longer. "I like to think that I’m here to make stuff, you know?"
"- You mean 'make stuff that destroys things'?" asks Sockel.
Hineni thinks for a time.
It’s true that he could have gone into the dungeon after he left the orphanage and came back home. It would have been an easy way to make money. But he supposes that he simply hadn’t really ever wanted to use his magic. It was a topic he never wanted to go near.
He feels that now he doesn’t really think twice about his magic anymore. He’ll use it if he has to, but he still prefers just crafting things.
"Huh…" says Rhine. "What about you, Sockel?"
"What about me?" she asks, lifting an eyebrow. "I worked a desk job at the other guild."
"Sure, but why?" asks Rhine. "You could’ve just killed your way through the dungeon too."
She looks his way. "Do you have some trauma or something, or what’s your deal with violence right now?" she asks. Rhine blinks, rubbing his lip with the back of his thumb. "I like working desk jobs," explains Sockel. "You’d get it, if you grew up in the forest." She shoots Hineni a sideways glance.
He supposes that the secret of Sockel’s work is just that, a secret that is between the two of them.
Rhine nods, not catching this. "…What about you?" he asks, looking at the owl-god.
Obscura stops, holding out an arm to the side. "Foolish boy," says Obscura. "Wise Obscura does not sully her jewel talons with grubby monsters," she explains, lifting her other arm. "As the Hineni-wife-to-be, she is provided for in full. There is no need for her to work."
"Huh…" says Rhine.
"Was I informed about this?" asks Hineni. He looks at Sockel and points at Obscura with his thumb. "Sockel. Cut her wages."
"You got it, boss-man," replies Sockel, wandering over to a stand selling drinks.
"Who~!" protests Obscura. "The sock-elf will do no such thing!" she hoots. "Obscura has need of her pretty coins!"
Hineni looks towards her, grabbing her hand. "It was just a joke," he says. "Anyway, what do you even buy?" he asks. "I’ve never seen you spend money."
"Obscura has a great need of many things!" hoots the owl-god. "Do not question her extravagant heart’s desire for fine luxuries!"
"I saw her buy a bunch of frog-shaped candy once," says Sockel, coming back with two bottles she just bought. She gives one to Rhine.
"Thanks, Sockel," says Rhine.
"SILENCE!" screeches Obscura. "The sock-elf will one day learn respect!"
Sockel shrugs. "Sure. Whatever." She nods her head. "Come on, twerp," she says, sipping her drink. "There’s a cool place over here that sells poison in the back if you tell them a secret password."
"Really?!" asks Rhine excitedly, running after her.
Hineni sighs, looking back at Obscura.
"I didn’t know you liked candy," he says, squeezing her hand.
"Who…~" she sadly hoots. "I bought the Hineni-man candy for their thirty-third day together, yes?" He nods, remembering. "However, her heart was ensnared by the devilish sweets," says Obscura, squeezing his hand. They walk after the other two, who are scooting on. "I like to rip them open and nibble on the fluffy insides."
Hineni stares at her. "That must be very detailed candy."
"…They are expensive," replies the owl-god, lowering her head.
"Don’t worry," says Hineni. "We’ll manage," he says, making a note to buy some later.
He eyes the crowds as they wander through it.
