The path to the blacksmith's house was no easier to find the second time, even having found it once before. That was partially because they weren't sure exactly where it was in relation to where they'd exited the forest. The rest was down to how nigh invisible it was. After an hour or two of going back and forth on the road, Kelima finally spotted it. The walk out to the blacksmith's was much quicker. That was aided in no small part by the fact that Kelima wasn't petrified that something terrible was going to jump out and kill her. She knew what dangers lurked this close to the road. After the dungeon, she also seemed to understand that very few of them were a true threat anymore.

They hadn't even made it to the clearing where Nari's home and forge were before her massive dog came bounding out to meet them. Terry summoned a bit of jerky from his storage ring and shamelessly fed the big, friendly brute. He still wasn't sure if it was some relation to a dire wolf. If it was related, it was a much more benign creature. He scratched around the beast's ears for a few seconds before continuing on toward the clearing. Nari's pet bounded around in a display of happy playfulness that Terry was pretty sure he'd struggle to deal with full-time. By the time they stepped into the clearing, the blacksmith was standing in the door of her forge. She lifted an eyebrow at the sight of them.

"I wondered what had Petal so excited," said Nari.

"You call your dog Petal?" asked Terry.

"What of it? I like flowers."

Terry held his hands up in mock surrender. He definitely didn't want to pick a fight about something that minor.

"Just surprised me, is all."

Nari gave them a somewhat disappointed look and said, "I take it you didn't make it to the mine."

Terry and Kelima exchanged a glance.

"What makes you say that?" asked Kelima.

"Well, you're here. You're alive. You both look pretty ragged. That usually means that you got partway there, had a burst of sanity, and turned back. Not that I blame you. It's not like I'm getting ready to go out there. I just can't make what you want without the orichalcum. I can still make you something pretty good, though. My way of saying thanks for at least trying."

"And because of that letter," said Terry.

"Yes," said Nari. "And because my sister did something shady and sent me that letter."

Terry nodded along, as though he thought all of that sounded fair. He could see Kelima giving him a disapproving side-eye. Before other-Terry decided to weigh in, Terry summoned a big chunk of the orichalcum ore from his storage ring.

"Will this help?" he asked, tossing the ore to the Nari.

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She caught it, mostly on what looked like reflex to Terry's eyes. When she took a good look at the rock, she made a choking noise.

"You actually made it to the mine?" she gasped.

"We did."

"Did you kill the monster there?"

"We didn't," said Terry, shooting Kelima a warning glance.

The noble girl gave him a subtle nod. There were lots of reasons to keep people away from that mine. Terry's burgeoning friendship with Eliza was possibly the least relevant of them. It had been pretty clear that Eliza would defend herself and, more importantly, could defend herself. Anyone who went out there looking for trouble was going to find it. Better to spin a story of sneaking around. Nari couldn't take her eyes off the ore, so she didn't see the exchange of looks or Terry's momentarily conflicted expression.

"Then, how did you get this?" asked Nari, finally looking at them and holding up the rock.

"Carefully and quietly. We never saw what the monster was, but it was dangerous enough that other monsters avoided even getting near that mountain."

"But mining is loud," said Nari.

"I'm sure it is," said Terry. "But it's not like every piece of loose ore in every tunnel had been picked up. We took our time and gathered what we could without drawing attention to ourselves. That being said, don't ever send anyone else out there. Not unless you're trying to murder them without getting caught. Just getting to that damn mountain almost killed us. Kelima here got hurt bad enough that I had to give her a healing potion."

Nari winced and said, "Oh, no!"

"Oh, yes," said Kelima with a distraught expression that didn't appear even a tiny bit feigned. "Trust me. It was every bit as horrible as people say it is."

"Anyway," continued Terry, "don't send anyone else. I doubt any normal adventurers could even get there, let alone safely avoid the monster inside that mountain. We barely did it. That's not a calculated risk. It's just asking to die."

Nari grimaced. It was pretty clear that she had intended to do exactly that, now that Terry and Kelima had proven it could be done. With his warnings in mind, it appeared that she was at least reconsidering it. She looked at the ore in her hands and then up at Terry.

"Did you get more than this?" she asked.

Terry could see her looking for a sack or something else that might indicate that they'd hauled some ore back with them. Terry gave her a half-smile and nodded.

"We did. It should be plenty for what you need. I'll even let you have some of it, but I want you to make me something in addition to the swords."

"Not the hat," whispered Kelima.

"I want a hat," proclaimed Terry proudly. "A very special hat."

Nari gaped at him.

"You want me to make you a hat? Out of orichalcum?"

Terry pointed at her and said, "Yes, I do."

The woman spluttered for a little while before she finally said, "We'll need a lot more ore than this."

She held up the rock she was still holding, as though she was trying to make a point with it. Terry nodded. He held his hand out in front of him, palm down, and ore started falling onto the ground. Nari's eyes got bigger and bigger the more ore that fell. Once Terry judged that there was probably enough there to make five or ten swords and his hat, he lowered his hand. Nari staggered over to the pile and dropped the piece of ore she'd been holding onto the pile. She waved her trembling hands over the pile.

"This is… This is… This is unbelievable."

"So, is that enough to make what I want?" asked Terry.

"It is," answered Nari in a weak voice. "And a whole lot more."

"Great."

After a few more seconds, Nari gave Terry a penetrating look.

"You have a storage treasure."

Terry said nothing.

"This is all of the orichalcum, right?"

"You should pull aside what you need for my projects and enough for one or two of your own," replied Terry while ignoring her question.

"This is all of it, right?" she demanded.

"After you do that," said Terry, "we should talk about my hat."

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