James found himself seated on a couch across a low table from the Jez, the Guildmaster. She had thrown sheets over the couches, to keep them clean, but James still felt bad for tracking dust and sweat and soot into her office. He was trying to figure out how to word an apology as she looked him up and down with an appraising eye, but she spoke before he settled on an answer.

"Smith James, how's it been smelting that Red Iron? You don't look much worse for the wear."

"Uh, it's been fine? Why, is there something wrong with the ingots I made?"

She shook her head. "Nope, they're fine. Better than fine, in fact. They're great. A few of them even registered as 'Pure' when I inspected 'em. How'd you do that?"

James could only shrug. "I dunno. They still just come up as Red Iron ingots when I [Appraise] them." He paused. "Oh, I did notice there was some other ores mixed in with Red Iron Ore. I started another pile and started checking more carefully after that."

Jez raised her eyebrows and blinked at the blonde young man across from her. Despite his skinny arms and claiming to need basic forging training, he'd put in two full days working the hottest smelter in Cordova, probably the hottest smelter in all Iberteria, and he didn't even look tired.

And now he'd found some discrepancy in the ore shipment?

She leaned back and rubbed her chin. "Other ores, huh? I'll need to have a look, but if you're right, I'll be having words with the merchants. Extra words, after that debacle with the delivery."

She sent James down to fetch a few samples of the other ores, and considered the note her daughter, Marlie, had written her. About the Knight Suero's request for financing on James' behalf, to be repaid 'in favor or in coin, at a later date.' An unspecified later date, of course.

She sighed. Dealing with nobles was such a pain. Even just Knights, bottom of the totem pole as they were.

The foreign-looking Smith returned carrying an armful of ore, and she pulled out a tray and he laid them out. Her eyebrows shot up again.

She held up one piece of ore, nearly the same shade of as Red Iron. "And what makes you think this isn't Red Iron Ore?"

James picked up another piece of the same ore from the tray and examined it.

Impressive.

"Well, at first it was my skill, [Ore Identification]. It couldn't recognize what it was, even though the Red Iron all showed up just fine. So I looked a little closer and the color is just a tad darker, and doesn't it have a kind of wetness to it, when you feel it?"

Jez rubbed it with a finger tip and sure enough, James was right.

She'd never noticed that about Blood Iron Ore before.

Smith Class Skill [Ore Identification] has reached level 5.

She blinked, and then frowned.

"James, what's your level in [Ore Identification]?"

"Er, it's four."

"Only four? In truth?"

"Uh, yeah."

"And how did you get such a high level in [Ore Identification] anyway? You told Marlie you didn't work as a Smith much."

"Well, I don't really want to talk about it, but I guess you could say I worked as a Miner? I basically lived in one for over a year," he chuckled awkwardly.

"A miner…? Hang on, do you have the [Mining] Skill?"

"Yep," he answered simply.

Jez leaned back and folded her arms, hiding how astounded she was. She'd thought that a bit of mistaken lore, that Smiths could even get that Skill.

"Huh. What level is your Skill in [Mining] then?"

The blonde young man frowned. "I really don't want to work in a mine ever again, Guildmaster."

She waved her hand. "None o' that, call me Jez. And no, I was just curious."

She waited a moment to see if he would volunteer the information anyway, but he just sat there stony-faced.

"Alright, fine," she conceded. "Back to these ores. This one is Blood Iron Ore. Fairly uncommon, but useful in certain applications, especially as an alloy."

She set down the Blood Iron Ore and picked up the next, a yellow ore. "This one is Lightning Iron Ore."

"Lightning?" James twitched, just slightly.

Jez noted it but didn't comment. She simply went through the rest, ending on Stone Iron Ore.

"It's an advanced aspect of earth. Doesn't take well to alloys or even cementation, but it's sturdy enough on its own, though heavy as sin, and mostly spent making Stoneplate Armor. No better armor for piercing protection than Stoneplate."

James nodded, clearly fascinated. His right arm twitched, and it didn't go unnoticed.

Everyone had a tell. Some peoples' eyes glazed over, some stared into space, others cocked their head.

Jez grinned. "Ye get another level in [Ore Identification]?"

Stolen novel; please report.

James nodded. "I did, yeah. Thanks for the training."

"No, thank you," she countered, rubbing the piece of ore in her hand. "Now our levels match again. I never thought to try telling the ores apart by feel. I wonder if there's any other ways to tell them apart."

"Sound," the boy offered instantly and guilelessly.

"Huh?"

"The metals sound different, too. When you mine them, and after they're smelted."

She stared at him, face reflexively going to the neutral mask she used with nobles, but the boy didn't notice. He just put the ores he'd been holding back on the tray. When he looked up at her again, he did a double take, and looked worried.

"Uh, is something wrong?"

Jez smiled toothily.

A predator's smile.

"Oh no, nothing's wrong. The opposite, I'd say. Tell me, Smith James, what else you can do besides identifying ores and smelting Red Iron."

At first, James was nervous. But he relaxed soon enough, and after some discussion, Marlie interrupted.

"Ma, are we gonna lend Smith James money or not? I got Weaponsmith Bruno downstairs waiting hoping to sell his wackadoodle oversized war hammer before he goes home tonight," she said as she barged in without knocking.

"Oh, uh, didn't realize you were in here with—oh crud."

"Marlie…" Jez said ominously.

"I'll just be go—"

"Wait," her mother said imperiously. Marlie turned around with an expression like she was going to the executioner's block.

"How much is the war hammer?"

Marlie gulped. "They, uh, settled on two dollars."

Jez cocked an eyebrow. "A bit low, but acceptable, I suppose. Bruno needs to value his labor more highly, especially as a Weaponsmith."

"I told him that, too!"

Jez turned to James.

"And what else do you need, other than the training?"

James' mouth fell open, then he closed it and thought a minute.

"Armor, but—"

Jez couldn't help herself. "Armor?"

The blonde Smith shrugged with an awkward expression. Jez narrowed her eyes and took more careful note of the fading bruise around his eye.

"We'll cover the cost of some chainmail, too, though you'll need to get a gambeson or leathers yourself. We just don't have 'em here."

"Ma!" Marlie exclaimed. Jez waived her hand dismissively.

"It's fine, another couple dollars is fine."

"It, uh, I mean, my lord insists that it has to be Medium quality…" James stammered, but Jez interrupted him.

"James," she looked at him seriously, "do you know how many people there are in Iberteria who can smelt Red Iron properly?"

"Uh, no?"

"It's six, including you." This failed to elicit the reaction Jez was expecting. But she continued on gamely. "And do you know how many people can produce Red Steel?"

"Uh, five?" James guessed.

"No, now that El Cid has passed away, it's two." Jez grinned again. "Soon to be three. Marlie, make a note for Finney when he gets back. He's gonna train up James here on cementation and when he's passable, I'm gonna get him up to snuff on making Red Steel."

And so it was arranged: that the Legendary Smith would work for the Smithing Guild in various tasks like ore identification and sorting, steel production, and other tasks as necessary to pay for his training expenses. Notably, the Guild chose not to indebt the Aspirant Knight, a decision that raised the esteem of the Smith in the Knight's eyes.

James exited the Guildhall with his new war hammer resting on his shoulder just as the Steward approached from the street. The Steward's expression tightened at the threat wafting off the Smith now that he was armed. But there was no hostility directed at him, so as he did with most everyone else on the street walking around armed, he merely greeted his fellow retainer, confirmed that nothing bad had happened while he was out, and they set out to return to Headquarters.

"What happened with that guard captain?" James asked.

"Hmph. Once the extent of his crimes and corruption came to light, his noble patron not only abandoned him, but joined in the prosecution. Former Guard Captain Flores, his son, and his son's little gang are all sitting in cells by now. Starting tomorrow morning, a city guard will escort you to the Smithing Guild in the morning and back at closing time."

"Oh, good," the Smith said innocently.

And so the Smith settled into his new life in Iberteria.

He finished smelting the Red Iron, and got to see samples of not only the ores, but also the pure metals that were kept as reference materials in the Smithing Guild.

He received a set of chainmail, Medium quality, and the Aspirant Knight arranged for him to receive an unmarked gambeson to wear underneath.

Various chores at the Guild let him start paying down his debt, and then Smith Finney returned, and started training him in the art of cementation. James' Skill improved, and he learned the [Inspect] Skill, which let him determine a metal's composition at a finer level than the more general [Appraisal] did.

The Smith even started harboring dreams of paying off all his debt just from producing Red Steel. Being paid over a dollar a day was beyond his wildest expectations.

And then Marlie informed him that once they were done with this batch, that was it. There wasn't enough demand for Red Steel, which was normally incredibly expensive, for them to sell it all without crashing the price in the market.

So James had to abandon his dreams of freedom and he turned to the basic training course.

For a week he learned all about the tools of his trade, and how to properly work metal. He even learned wire drawing, and managed not to lament too much that he hadn't figured it out himself in the Dungeon. He learned about compressive and shear and torsional and tensile strength, and the designs that kept metal in its intended shape despite abuse.

The Smith came to suspect that, perhaps, Jared wasn't quite the master of Smithing he'd thought he was back in his home village.

He still liked him, though. Jared was a good guy.

And at the end of the week of basic training, James spent the last of his saved up money from producing Red Steel on materials, and produced his own Medium quality forging hammers and tongs.

In those three weeks James had avoided any further altercations in the city streets, and his time walking with several of the city's guards gave him insight into the safer and more dangerous areas of the city, and how to spot trouble ahead of time. The city guards especially had an insight into recognizing trouble even before Skills could pick up on it, and James began to learn how to read a crowd, a skill he never would have learned in his home village where there were no crowds.

In those same weeks, the Aspirant Knight finished his transfer process and was assigned to an investigative squad focusing on the internal security of the Kingdom.

Several important, but reclusive, persons of interest had dropped contact in recent years.

"More importantly for you, James," Suero said as they ate dinner together for the first time since arriving in Cordova, "I finally have time to deal with the Bag of Holding. We'll be taking it to the Merchant's Guild to empty it and sell what you collected in that Dungeon, first thing tomorrow morning."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.