82 REQUEST & SHELTER

With directions from a guard, it did not take them locate the local smith. It took her and Isaac, who was leading the horse by the reins, several minutes to reach his place which was located on the outskirts. Even a distance, loud but muffled sounds of a hammer striking metal could be heard from the place.

The building they came to stop in font of was larger than a vast majority of the structures in Tima. It had two different sections. The first was like many of the structures around town, having been made from hardened clay with a thatched roof and a moderately sized chimney poking out at the top. The other section was constructed with large stones and stood almost twice as tall as the first. This part of the building had metal sheets covering the top with an even larger chimney. Unlike the other section, it had no windows. The hammer sounds were coming from here while its massive chimney continually puffed out thick smoke.

This was the place, no doubt about that.

As they got closer, the metal door of the smithy opened to expel a soot-covered, tan-skinned youth around the age of fifteen. His figure was large, displaying impressive arms that held a wooden box of what was likely the latest forged items. The top of his sweat-riddled head was cleanly shaven and, if not for the thick black apron, he would have been bare chest.

The boy only seemed to notice them after elbowing the metal door shut. He took a moment to stare her up and down, then did the same to the pale knight. His eyes lingered much longer on Isaac as he appeared to be admiring the obsidian armour, but he quickly got out of his trance and brought his attention back to her.

"Hello, you looking to buy something, or d'you want to request an item be forged for you?" he asked. His tone was neither rude nor polite.

"Making a request is not of out of the question, but we would like to browse the wares first," she replied in a tone gentler than his.

The boy nodded. "Follow me then. If there's anything you want to know, you can ask Mother. If you're requesting an item to be made for you, you can also talk to her; she will tell Father when he finishes." With that said, the youth's attention returned to Isaac. When he spoke again his tone was more animated. "You're a knight, right? That's amazing! There is only one knight in Tima. Tight now he's protecting the baron."

"The one who lives in the castle on the hill?" Sage asked. "What can you tell me about him?"

"Lord Ennard?" the youth's tone was dull again as he responded to her. "He's okay. Mother says he's not as good as the previous lord, but he's not as bad as the lords from the stories. He used to visit town every month, but this month he's not visited once. He's probably sick, been a lot of sickness here lately; but father says Lord Ennard's just too taken with the musician to bother coming down."

"Musician?"

"Yeah," the boy replied. "Didn't see her since she came in the middle of the night, but my friends who did say she's beautiful like a fairy. She went up to the castle and never came back down."

"Oh," Sage replied. She did not ask any more questions.

The boy looked at Isaac again and his tone- which had sounded increasingly lacklustre when talking to her- regained its excitement. "Your armour looks neat, never seen anything like it. What's it made off?"

"Titanium," Isaac responded. The bastard's response lacked the grumpiness with which he addressed her.

"Titania?" the you asked in confusion.

"Titanium," the knight repeated in a light-hearted tone. "It's a metal lighter than iron, but stronger than steel."

"There's such a metal?" the boy asked in amazement, stopping to push the door to the second section open.

The wooden door swung ajar and revealed a room with racks and shelves hosting knives, pots, spears, bows and woodcutter axe heads. There were one or two swords among the bunch and leather armour worked in a similar style to the one worn by the guard who had given them directions to this place. On the side of the room, opposite the one they entered, was a counter at which a plump woman with a comely face sat. She was originally humming a song Sage was unfamiliar with, however, when the they stepped into the shop, she perked up and faced them with a smile.

"Welcome to our humble shop!" she greeted with a pitch that was a little too loud. Her gaze scanned Sage up and down before continuing. "You must be the alchemist everyone's talking about. Anything we can help you with?"

"Yes my good lady," Sage responded brightly. Then- twirling on a single toe- she spun two-seventy degrees, stopping with both her index fingers pointed at Isaac. This act seemed to catch the shopkeeper and the boy off guard, something she pretended not to notice. "We were hoping to procure to procure a helm for Isen here, but…" she looked around the shop again before responding in a dimmer tone "… it seems there are none here."

The woman quickly recovered from seeing her antics and responded in tone that kept its politeness. "That's fine deary. Although this is a peaceful town where only the guards wear armour and carry weapons, my husband makes all the armaments around here including for the lord." Her gaze shifted to Isaac before continuing. "If you allow us to take measurements of your head, my husband will be able to make a helm that that fits you perfectly." She paused for a while before resuming, this time with a hint of curiosity in her eyes and tone. "By the way, why are your eyes covered dear?"

"That was my fault," Sage chimed in cheerfully. "I was studying this awesome spell to increase my alchemy skills," controlling her tone top dip, she continued, "but I lost control of it and he took the brunt of it. So, he has to keep wear the cloth for at least a month to recover properly." She motioned to scratch her head when she uttered the next part. "My bad, hahahaha!"

"Oh," the woman looked flabbergasted. "Your potions can't fix it?"

In response to the question, Sage dropped her hand and made her head hang. "The effects of some magics cannot be cured except with very powerful potions. I'm ashamed to admit that I am still a novice. I yet to learn how to craft such potions."

"Oh," the woman said, voice taking on a consoling tone. "I'm sorry to hear that deary." After saying this she immediately shifted gears as her attention landed on her son, who- after entering the shop- had hauled an dumped the wooden box on the counter. "Can you take Sir Knight's measurements Ron?"

"Okay," the youth replied. He grabbed what looked like measuring tape from one of the shelves and walked over to Isaac and using the opportunity to resume the conversation they were having before entering the shop.

"So, what is this titanios metal? Where is it mined?"

While the boy took the bastard's measurements and queried him, Sage struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper. She asked about the town, its inhabitants and local customs. None of the answers she received were out of the ordinary.

She also wanted to know if there were any bookstores around and for directions to a decent inn. The latter she was given easily, but the former; unfortunately, there were no bookshops in Tima. The only such place the smith's wife claimed to know about was in the city of Rupheus, which an eleven-day journey from Tima on horseback.

"Lord Ennard has a library," the shopkeeper saw fit to reveal. "You could visit him and ask him, I'm sure he would be happy to accommodate an alchemist."

To this Sage brought up her hands and waved them in rejection. "The lord is such an important man, how could little old me bother him with my unimportant affairs?"

Especially if doing so was guaranteed to bring about complications. She was better off looking for maps in the next town.

Taking Isaac's measurements was not a lengthy process, although the boy kept pestering the bastard to tell him more about the metal his armour was made out of.

"How soon can we come and get the helm?" she asked the shopkeeper.

"That depends on the quality deary," the woman responded. "If you're looking for a run-of-the-mill helm for the sake of just covering up, then you can come back today. But if you want something that can actually protect the head, it would be better to come and collect the day after tomorrow."

Hearing this, Sage quirked in puzzlement. "The Equinox is tomorrow. Will it be safe for your husband to work then?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," the woman brushed it off. "Hal loves working during the seasonal heights; says it gives the item he crafts an mystic aura, whatever that means."

"Okay. Then the helm of quality is the aim. How much poorer will it make me?"

The agreed price was a gold coin, which she slammed on the counter before leaving the shop with Isaac at her heels; the boy looked disappointed to watch them go, a completely different feeling from what she got from the knight.

Outside the helhurst waited stiffly while Nyx perched on its back. The horse seemed to be as fond of the cat as it was of her. When the two of them left the shop it walked over to Isaac, who took its reins, while Nyx jumped off its back and into her shadow. After that, they followed the shopkeeper's directions to the inn.

Minutes later they were staring up at their destination, one of the only a few buildings in Tima with more than one floor. The writing on the placard hanging above the door read Nice Inn & Tavern, not a very imaginative name. There was a stable at the side with normal sized horses inside. Isaac led their horse to the stable while she walked up to the entrance and pushed it open.

The common room she found herself was the smallest she had seen since coming to Aran. There were less than ten tables, of which one of them was currently occupied; it was a man and woman duo in leather armour. The former had a sword resting against the wall close to him while the latter wore a cloak with a bow strapped to her chair.

For safety's sake, Sage used {Index} on them, starting with the woman.

Race: Human (Human)

Physique: Grade 4

Mana: D (White)

She was not a threat. Neither was her companion.

Race: Human (Human}

Physique: Grade 4

Mana: C (White)

Being reassured, she walked over to the counter, where a portly woman with puffed up cheeks sat.

"Could we please have a room?" she asked the innkeeper.

"A single room for the both of you?" she asked, her gaze moving between her and Isaac, who had just entered.

"Of course," she replied, not at all carrying for the whatever assumptions were forming in the woman's head.

"Since the Equinox is upon us you will be wanting the room for two nights, right?" the innkeeper asked. "The price is one and a half silvers for a night, so three silvers."

Sage nodded an paid the price before the woman called to her almost equally stout daughter and asked her to lead the two of them upstairs to their room. The room itself was nothing impressive, just a space with a double bed, an empty wardrobe and an empty chest. After introducing them to their room, the innkeeper's pre-teenage daughter gave them the keys and excused herself, closing the door behind herself.

When her footsteps had disappeared, Sage let out a deep breath and flung herself on the bed. Nyx came out of her shadow to do she-could-not-care-enough-to-care, while Isaac took the only seat in the room to continue brooding. These would be their lodging to wait out the Equinox.