As I stood at the bottom of the stairs, I was met with a strange sight. There was a large Gnoll crawling around on the floor, her head pressed against the wood. She had been doing this for several minutes now, and refused to respond when I questioned her. I was considering whether I should do something, but decided to leave her be. There were things I wanted to do today.

  However, as I tried to get past her, her hand shot out and grabbed hold of my leg. “Scritchy scratchy,” she mumbled.

  I looked down at her, utterly baffled. “What?”

  “I heard…a scritchy scratchy…” she said, her eyes staring up at me with a fierceness I had only seen from her once. And that was when she was trying to kill me.

  “Uh…okay?” I looked around for a moment and then looked back down at her. Her expression hadn’t changed. “So there’s something…in the floor? In the cellar maybe?”

  She stared at me for a moment longer before her grip slowly loosened and she let go of my leg. “Yes. Something moves.”

  “Alright. Do you want to look for it?”

  There was a moment of hesitation before she shook her head and stood up. “No. I must hunt the turtle thing.”

  “Alright. I’ll…uh… I’ll take a look and see if I can find anything. I won’t be stopping by the guild tonight, so be sure to eat your fill, okay?” I said, eying her as she walked to the door.

  She just nodded and left with her hammer.

  I remained quiet for a moment and then sighed. “The noise wasn’t you, right, little House Spirit?” I said to the air. I expected no answer, and got none. With a shrug I made my way down into the cellar. In the few days we’d been here, we had only looked in the cellar on the first day and had not been here again.

  I did a slow walk through each room, and the food storage area. There was nothing that I could see at first, so I did another round, being a bit more thorough this time. There were signs of…something, but I didn’t know what. Little scratch marks.

  “Alright. Look,” I said in the hall, looking around at the open doors of all the rooms. “I don’t mind that you’re here. But if you’re going to stay here, we’re going to have to come to some sort of arrangement, or agreement…”

  Silence was the only response I got.

  “I’m trying to be nice about this. And-” I paused, and then sighed. “Look, you can stay here, just stay…down here, alright?”

  There was silence, but I caught a glimpse of something peeking out from a doorway.

  “We’re not using this space anyways,” I said as I turned around and headed back towards the stairs. “Not going to kick out someone from a space I’m not using.”

  “Can we really stay?” a small voice asked.

  I paused, but didn’t turn around. “As long as you don’t cause a ruckus and don’t steal from us, you can stay.”

  “Really?”

  With a sigh I stopped and looked back. I saw the small thing peeking from around the doorframe. A Slip Mouse. It was no wonder the barrier on the house didn’t stop them. A Slip Mouse was a foot tall creature that literally could not be contained, capable of literally slipping through space and reality itself. While not particularly strong, they are still considered Tier Five, due to their abilities and the fact that there’s usually a lot of them. “Yes. Really.”

  “Thank you,” their voice sounded a bit shaky.

  This was probably going to be its own little problem, but it was now my problem. “Of course.” I turned and sat down on the steps. “Like I said, we’re not using the cellar. Nor do I have plans to, so rather than leave it empty, you can all stay here. As long as…there’s room enough.”

  “Yes, there is.” The little mouse had come more out into the open where I could see them. They were wearing a sort of…tunic. “We are only fifty.”

  “Ah…” That was a very small amount for Slip Mice. Usually there were hundreds. “Well, I am the Archanist, and as long as I own this place, you and your kin are welcome to stay here.”

  The little mouse was crying, trying to wipe away the tears. “Thank you.” I was starting to see more and more of them appear. They all looked in rough shape. Most of them were wearing rags, and most of them had injuries. I had seen a clan of Slip Mice before, and they were quite well put together. They are one of the species that are highly intelligent but treated as vermin.

  “If you need, you can use the yard. In exchange I just ask that you clean it up and leave me a third of it.” This sort of mentality is probably why both of my lives sucked. I wanted to help. Just can’t help sticking my nose into situations and making other people's problems my problems. But this was a special case that cost me literally nothing to help.

  However I knew better. This was going to cause a problem at some point. No good deed goes unpunished.

  As I stood up and started to go back up the stairs, I had a realization. “Ah, and don’t bother the Gnoll until I’ve explained things to her.” With that said, I made my way back into the main floor, closing the door on the mice.

  It’s always something. Never ending. I just wanted to sit and tinker. Pinching the bridge of my nose I tried to think of all the nonsense I was putting up with. It would all be so much easier if this was a world from a story I’d read. It might be from something I never read, but that would mean it wasn’t popular, or it was obscure. I read, watched, and consumed so much content.

  Countless Video Games, Books, Comics, Graphic Novels, Anime, Manga, Manhua, Manhwa…there were so many websites. Gods I miss the internet. I could get access to so many different forms of media. I just call them all stories now so that I don't get them muddled, or accidentally voice aloud some word that got me labeled as someone from another world.

  That was a fear that I always had in the back of my head. I wasn’t strong enough to take the people who they would send after me, and might not ever reach that height. The most powerful person was a Tier Twenty Five. Though there were rumors that there were monsters stronger, like Demon Lords, or Calamities. But that was all beyond me.

  I was just a Tier Six, who could knock out a Tier Nine. That was my limit right now. In theory I could be classified as a Tier Nine, but there are more things to consider than just how strong you are. How you handled different things played a big part of that, as well as how many spells or skills you could use. I could barely power my gauntlets consistently, let alone use powerful skills or magic.

  I needed so much just to get back to a point I felt comfortable taking hunting quests. Maybe that was cowardly of me… “Let’s go get more magic silver…”

  ~

  There were actually people in Red Bottle when I entered. There was someone browsing, and another was currently buying a few potions. Once the person was done the Kobold spotted me and their face became a toothy grin. “Hello! Welcome back. Come, come.” They gestured at me.

  I made my way to the counter, glancing at the other patron who seemed to be trying to decide between two herbs. “Looks like you’ve been getting some business.”

  “Yes, yes,” they said excitedly. “Since you sold me that red weed I was able to make lots of healing potions, and I can sell them cheap.”

  “Good,” I said with a nod.

  “What can I help with?” They seemed extremely excited to see me, which was actually adorable.

  “I found some water slime.” I pulled out one of the jars as I spoke.

  “Excellent! Yes, yes. Very good.” They took the jar, examining it carefully.

  The other person left.

  “I have four jars in total.” They seemed to brighten even more.

  This seemed to be a very good day for this Kobold. “Good good! Come, come. I will see how much magic silver I can make.”

  Before I could even respond she had darted into the back room. I made my way around the counter, glancing at the front door. That guy had been sizing me up. It might be nothing, but it probably meant trouble was on the way. I made a gesture at the door; “Secure.” With that done I sighed and I followed the excited lizard into the back.

  The smell of a laboratory was intense. A strong chemical smell, with herbs and acrid smells assaulting the senses. I was used to it so it didn’t bother me. I found the Kobold digging through drawers and pulling out different jars and containers.

  When I spotted where she put the jar of water slime I put the other three down next to it. There were tons of ingredients, including several I didn’t even recognize. Looking around at the rest of the lab, I could see that it was truly customized for someone of this Kobolds size. While there were many tables and chairs, there were ladders and walkways all throughout the room. They actually used a wheeled step stool to skate across the room.

  There were hundreds of things I recognized, and it made me think about how I used to make my own potions. It was so annoying that of all the alchemical knowledge I had, the recipe of magic silver wasn’t there. And all Alchemist’s I had ever asked had refused. Even when I offered them hundreds of gold.

  “Make lots and lots,” the voice of the Kobold brought me out of my thoughts as they brought a large cauldron to the area where they had been putting the ingredients. There were also numerous other apparatus; it gave me a nostalgic feeling.

  “Do you know how much you’ll be able to make?” I asked, looking over at some of the things. I’d never had the chance to watch an Alchemist work.

  “Mmmmm unsure. Will depend on ingredient quality. Which is good, but some old.” They had begun grinding certain herbs. “Should know in two hours.”

  I nodded a bit. “I see… Do you mind if I wa-” I paused, glancing back. “Actually, I’ll be right back.”

  “Yes, yes. Go get eats. Will not take long.” They seemed so blissfully unaware of the world in their joy.

  Walking back out I made my way to the front door, which was shaking slightly as someone was attempting to force their way in. “How predictable,” I mumbled before throwing the door open, much to the shock of the person on the other side, who quickly backpedaled. “Can I help you?” I said as I stepped out, closing the door behind me.

  “You are the Impact Archanist, correct?” one man said. He was dressed in a dark blue suit, but what caught my attention was the pin he had on his collar; a Laslow pin. Beside and behind him were four men, three of which were armed and wearing simple padded armor, while the fourth was wearing rather distinct robes.

  “I am,” I said as I folded my arms, making sure to block the door. I could already guess what they were here for.

  “My name is Ralta, and I am here as a representative of Laslow.” He looked at me expectantly, as if he was waiting for me to say something, but I remained silent. He coughed slightly before continuing, “We at Laslow have realized our past mistake, and would like to lift your blacklist, and offer a ten percent discount as an apology.”

  My brow arched. This wasn’t quite the angle I thought they were going to take. “And why would I want to deal with you trash?”

  His eye twitched, and I saw the other men tense. “While there has been some bad blood between us, I believe-”

  “What do you want with the Kobold?” I interrupted, not wanting to listen to him any more than I already had to.

  He coughed again. “Laslow has had dealings with miss Eulreka in the past, and wish to further our relationship and work together in the future.”

  “By dealings you mean murdering her brother, and strangling her business?”

  That got quite a satisfying grimace on his face. “We are willing to offer a twenty percent discount if you will stop dealing with the Kobold.”

  “Get lost,” I responded.

  “Thirty percent.”

  “The Kobold already offered me sixty percent,” I lied, wanting them to shut up and leave. “Now, get out of here before I paint the street with your face.”

  The man took a step back, but the other three reached for the weapons.

  “If you pull out those swords, you’re not walking away.” My gaze passed over the five in front of me. The mage was my biggest concern. I didn’t have any easy way of dealing with one of those right now.

  A few moments of silence passed. It looked like the man was about to say something, until he realized that they had already attracted quite a crowd. “Let’s go,” he said, gritting his teeth. The group turned and began to leave. “If you change your mind-”

  “Get the hell out of here. If I could, I’d burn Laslow and Tunslow to the ground and scatter its ashes in hopes of appeasing the millions that you’ve tortured.”

  As I watched them leave, I heard murmurs from the crowd, “Did he say they killed that Kobold's brother?” “I always thought her brother's disappearance was suspicious.” “They’re really coming around and bullying small businesses…” “Did they call him the Impact Archanist?” “That poor Kobold…” “He should have beaten their asses.” “She’s always been such a sweet little thing, why are they making trouble for her?”

  Once I was certain they had left, I turned around to see the little lizard peeking out of the door. “Did…did they really kill my brother?”

  I looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah.” While I had no proof, the fact that they showed up here was all the confirmation that I needed.

  Tears welled up in her eyes and her legs wobbled. It took less than a moment before she burst and began sobbing. “Why? What did we do? We just wanted to make things.”

  I scooped her up, and felt her small hands grip at my coat. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said softly, moving back into her shop. I didn’t want her breakdown to have an audience. I knew what that was like. “Some people…are just…evil and cruel, for the sake of being evil and cruel.”

  She wasn’t able to talk anymore, simply sobbing and wailing. It had probably not fully set in that her brother was dead. Part of her probably hoped that he would come back. But life was never fair like that.

  It took almost an hour for her to calm down enough to be able to speak. Her voice was hoarse, but she told me what she needed me to do for the batches of different potions she had brewing, as well as the magic silver. Thankfully nothing had been ruined. That would have just been salt in the wound.

  She actually fell asleep at one point, clinging to my coat. It wasn’t a big deal, as she was quite small and light. She was about the size, and weight, of a sack of potatoes. Maybe a bit lighter. I sat down, simply holding her. “Poor little Kobold…”

  It did not take long before she roused from her sleep, hardly half an hour. The reason why was because of the grumbling of her stomach. She sniffled a bit, rubbing her face. “Hungry…” she mumbled.

  “Probably a good idea to get some food,” I agreed.

  Suddenly she froze, her entire body going rigid. She had just realized where she was. “Uh…”

  “I prefer food stalls, honestly. Are there any good ones nearby?” I looked down at her, mostly just supporting her weight and keeping her from falling over.

  Her eyes went down to my coat, which had a large patch thoroughly soaked from her crying so much. “There’s…there’s place near that does…sandwiches.”

  I nodded a bit and shifted before putting her down on the chair next to me. I stretched a bit as I stood up. “Then let’s go get sandwiches.”

  She just nodded and we went out. The stall with sandwiches was actually very close, on the other side of the buildings across the street from Red Bottle. I bought four for twelve copper. After giving her one, we walked back. She was still sniffly, but she was probably out of tears now and couldn’t cry even if she wanted to.

  Sitting in her shop, on the other side of the counter, we enjoyed the sandwiches. They were actually really good. Though they were more like subs than sandwiches, but that was just being nitpicky. They had meat, cheese, and veggies. Lettuce wasn’t a thing in this world, nor was cabbage. But they had something similar to spinach and used that as their leafy green. I was just glad they had garlic and onions.

  She hardly ate any of her sandwich, struggling to eat. Grief made it hard to do things. I removed my gauntlet before moving a bit closer to her and gently rubbing her back. From what I knew about Kobolds, they were extremely sociable and were the happiest when in the company of others. Losing a family member was probably the most painful thing she had gone through. At least, I hoped it was.

  A few more sniffles escaped her. “Thank you…” she said softly.

  I wanted to say that there was no need to thank me. That I was just doing what I could because I can. That everyone should strive to do these sorts of things. But I knew better. “You’re welcome,” was all I said.

  Her hand rubbed her face, wiping away some of the remnants of tears and snot. “My brother always said; people mean, person nice.”

  “Mm.” I nodded a bit. “That is very true.”

  “You very nice person.”

  “Well, it’s not like I did it without reason,” I said, eating the last bit of my sandwich and wondering if I wanted another. “I need an Alchemist, and I’m blacklisted by them.”

  “But they made offer,” she said as she tilted her head.

  “Well, first off, I don’t believe for a second that they would honor any deal they made. And second, there’s no way in hell I’d ever do shit for those guys.”

  She laughed softly, nodding.

  “Like, I wouldn’t use their potions if they paid me to. I’ve always used unaffiliated Alchemists, because they are always better.” I decided to eat half of one more sub.

  We sat in silence for a bit, the little Kobold finally managing to finish her sub after some time. “Silver should be done,” she said before heading into the back.

  I blinked. “Done? You mean you finished already?” I often had to wait days to receive it when I ordered. Was this just how good a Synthesiser was? Or had those Alchemist’s just lied to make it seem like a far more difficult task.

  “Yes yes. Short cook time. Problem comes from so many ingredients and prep method.” I stuffed the uneaten subs into my coat as I followed her back into the lab. “Very expensive. Ingredients cost many hundred gold for batch this size.”

  That caused me to pause. I didn’t have that much money. “That’s…quite a bit more than I have.”

  She looked at me, her brow furrowing slightly. “You will pay off by doing jobs.”

  “Ah-” I thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Right. Yeah, that would work.”

  “Sixty percent discount.” I blinked at her. Apparently she had heard the lie I told to that man. “And you only get half of pay when doing quest.”

  “A discount isn’t necessary, and you can withhold all of the pay from the quests. I have other means of making money.”

  Her eyes narrowed at me. “Friend discount. Not negotiable. But, will not pay rewards until amount paid off.”

  I hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Alright. How much is the total going to be?”

  She was already putting the magic silver into large flasks. It was the most magic silver I had ever seen. “Four hundred gold, with discount.”

  That caught me off guard. Just one of those flasks would cost at least five hundred gold, and there were six of them. …unless every other Alchemist I had bought from was ripping me off, this Kobold was giving me far more than a sixty discount. I took a deep breath and sighed softly. “Alright. Thank you.”

  There was a large grin on her face. “You come buy lots, yes? Do lots of quests. Tell lots of people where get good potions.”

  I chuckled a bit and nodded, moving up beside her to look at the large flasks. After a thought, I reached into my coat. “If they come back, and try to get you, come to my home.” I put one of the house charms down on the table. “It’s just down the street, number 470.”

  Her hand reached for the little charm, but she hesitated. “But-”

  “We’re business partners,” I said, giving her a soft pat on the back with my un-gauntleted hand. “I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you. Alright?”

  There was a smile on her face as she nodded and picked up the charm, holding it to her chest. “Thank you.”

  I picked up one of the flasks filled with silver liquid, examining it. “There’s a really big Gnoll that lives there with me, but you don’t have to worry about her.”

  “Gn-Gnoll?”

  “Yeah.” I started to put the flasks away into my coat, examining each one before I did. “But it’s fine. She’s my-” I paused. “Companion? Pet? Partner? Fuck I don’t- I don’t even really understand our relationship most of the time.”

  There was a snerk sound from the Kobold. “She lives with you, yes?” I nodded. “Do you know what she thinks of herself as?”

  “A pet,” I said without hesitation.

  Again the Kobold let out a snerk, trying to strangle her laughter. “Big pet Gnoll?”

  “Honestly sometimes she’s just a big silly dog.” I was looking at the last flask. “But I care a lot about her.”

  “Do you have…other pets?”

  “No.” I shook my head, and then stopped, thinking about it. “Well…technically no? There’s a bunch of Slip Mice in the cellar that I’m letting stay there. Are they pets…or roommates?” I rubbed my chin a bit.

  There was a bit of laughter from the lizard. “Are you going to get more…pets?”

  “Well, Shuzshu wants me to.” I started to fill the vials of my gauntlets from the flask. There was so much… Each of these flasks could easily fill over a hundred vials. I had never had this much magic silver. For the first time in years I would be able to freely use magic and fight without worrying.

  “Really?”

  “But I’ve no idea what criteria she wants other than strong, but strength can’t really be quantified in a physical way when considering professions. For instance, my tools are what make me strong, and without them I am weak.” All twenty-four vials were full.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  I saw the Kobold slowly nodding, thinking about something.

  “For a second instance.” I pointed at her. “Your strength can’t be quantified in a physical way.” I wasn’t stupid. It was obvious why she was going down this line of questioning.

  She fidgeted a bit, and nodded a few times. “Make strong potions.”

  “Exactly.” I put the flask away, smiling a bit. When was the last time all the vials were full? I decided to change the subject. “I’ll be spending about a week getting my gear and such ready, then I’ll be able to start taking quests. If you need anything before that, let me know.”

  Her expression suddenly turned thoughtful and after a moment she nodded. “Will be fine for few weeks.”

  “Good. If you’re in trouble, go to my house.” With that I started to make my way out.

  “Thank you,” she said again, following me out. “What name?”

  I paused for a moment. “Most people call me Archanist. Or Arc.”

  She nodded slowly. “Eulreka,” she said as she patted her chest, smiling.

  “I look forward to working with you, Eulreka,” I said with a smile, and then took my leave.

  “Yes yes,” was her response.

  Going back to the house, I was thinking about the future. Once those Dwarves were done with getting the material, I could use their forge to complete the bulk work and shaping of my gauntlets. Then I could finish off the circuitry here. Which reminded me that I needed to get several things for the laboratory.

  Turning to a stall that was selling some sort of apple-like fruit, I asked if they knew any place where Artificer’s or Alchemist’s got their supplies. They were a bit caught off guard by my question, but they told me of a place nearby. As thanks I bought a dozen apples. Though it seemed they were called palles, which were apparently grown in an orchard from a nearby town. They were like extremely sweet apples.

  Following the general explanation of the stall owner, I came upon Grawford Supplies. It was actually a sort of chain store that I had seen and actually gotten stuff from a long time ago. Their things were not bad, but not the best. I ended up spending nine gold on everything I would need. Eight on the actual supplies, and an additional gold to have it all be delivered.

  Of course, I went with them as they delivered it. For some reason, they found this weird. But it’s not like I had any way to transport it myself, so hiring them to do so made the most sense. What annoyed me was that they wouldn’t bring the stuff in, so as they unloaded all of the things on the street I had to quickly move it all inside.

  While I didn’t know if anyone would steal anything if it was left in the street for too long, I didn’t want to take that chance. I had been robbed numerous times. Overall, the trips, loading, unloading, and then putting everything into the entry room took two hours.

  I honestly debated waiting on Shuzshu to get back so that she could help carry all of it to the attic. It would probably save me a lot of hassle, but I felt it a bit weird about that so I just started moving things upstairs one box at a time. By the time I was done, I was tired and out of breath. Was I really this out of shape? Physically I was pretty good but my endurance had been shot when I wasn’t paying attention.

  As I ate one of the fruits, I decided that I would need to start doing some training to get myself back into the type of shape I wanted to be. I had been slacking in the last few years because I had a team supporting me. Now it was just me again. Well, not just me I suppose.

  Looking around the attic, it was going to take a lot more effort to get it looking like a proper lab, and not just a room full of crates. I sighed, and took off my gloves and coat before I began setting things up. The most important thing was the circuitry workbench. Dozens of parts and tools all to just do the task of bending and shaping gold into specific shapes.

  I actually enjoyed making magical circuitry. It was like solving a puzzle while you were in the process of making it. Shaping them into intricate shapes and runes that the magic would run through. But it was also the part that I struggled the most with. I knew enough about computers to put them together, maybe fix some things, but if you pointed to something on a motherboard I would have no idea what it did.

  If those stingy Artificers would actually share some of their knowledge, then I wouldn’t struggle so much. But they all see it as everyone for themselves. Every person refuses to share. But only when it comes to certain professions. Magic users gladly share their knowledge, and in fact there are magic schools. If there was such a thing for Artificers, or even Alchemists, then the world would have advanced so much farther than it had.

  Maybe I should head to the southern continent? They are far more willing to share ideas, and I’ve heard rumors of their technology being far superior. Apparently they have trains. But it would take months to travel there on foot. Maybe years. That was another big difference between this world and my previous one, the size. This world was at least ten times larger, which was a hell of a shock to find out. Honestly I can’t even fathom the scale.

  Once I was done setting everything up, I grabbed my gauntlets and began the arduous task of disassembling them. I felt extremely unnerved by even the thought of taking them apart, but I couldn’t repair them while they were in one piece, and the heat that they were going to be under would melt the gold circuitry.

  It would be nice if I could use mythril for the circuitry, but that would require the actual gauntlets be made out of something else. Something harder than mythril with a better mana conductivity. And the only thing feasible to get that’s better in both categories was star metal, which was not only extremely rare, but ridiculously expensive.

  Maybe if I could create an alloy? Make two different alloys, one for the structure and one for the circuitry? I stopped my task of disassembly and grabbed my notebook. I had considered alloying before, but the thought of alloying both never occurred to me. I had even tried to make actual wires, but there wasn’t any material that could suitably coat the circuitry without interfering with it. Wait. Coating. What was that other thing?

  I was trying to wrack my brain. Something I knew of in my previous life. Something that they never used in this world because the technology didn’t exist. Something like coating. But with…electricity. Electroplating. The idea suddenly sprang to my head. Could I electroplate mythril in gold? I just need a way to positively and negatively charge the two materials in the proper liquid solution.

  Lightning magic was something I was quite good at, so I could use that to generate a current… I would need to make something to contain it. Quickly I began going through the supplies that I still had left. I had enough to make a sort of electric generating battery, though it would be a bit overkill for what I need it to do…but it will work, and I can always find another purpose for it later.

  It felt really good to be working again.

  Quickly my work absorbed me and time became meaningless. The sort of focus that can only come with something that you are not only good at, but enjoy doing. Forgetting the world. The past means nothing, there is so much in the present, and the only thing in the future is the next piece.

  “Arc?” A voice brought me back to reality, and I looked over to see a Gnoll, laying on the stairs with her head on the floor.

  It took me a moment to register who it was. “Yes, Shuzshu?” I wasn’t sure how long she had been there, but she had a peculiar look; a mixture of guilt and frustration, but also accomplished. Then I noticed what was in front of her. I thought it was a stick at first, but then I realized it was actually part of a handle. “Ah…”

  “It broke,” she said sadly.

  I sighed softly as I stood up, walking over to her. She averted her gaze. Sitting down on the floor, I picked up what had been the handle of a very large hammer, but was now missing its head. “So it did.”

  “It exploded,” she continued, trying to explain. “It did some magic and when I hit it, the hammer exploded…”

  “Force Feedback,” I said with a nod, reaching out and patting her head. “It’s a magic skill that doubles the damage that it takes, but in return it reflects the same amount of damage back. Let me see your arms.”

  She hesitated before slowly bringing her arms up. It looked like they had been badly burned, the fur having been ripped out nearly up to her shoulders. She winced as I gently touched them, examining them. The damage wasn’t that bad, and it looked like she had already started healing. This confirmed my suspicion that she had some sort of fast healing skill.

  Of course, even with her fast healing, I wasn’t going to let it just sit there. I reached into my coat, pulling out a healing balm. It was a bit less effective than a healing potion, but it was faster, and coupled with her fast healing skill it should help a lot. As I began applying it, I saw as she noticeably seemed to relax. It also had a sort of numbing agent to it.

  “We’ll have to get you a new weapon,” I said softly. “I can’t make anything for you right now, so it’ll have to be a stop gap. I was hoping that the hammer would last till I could make something…”

  A whimper escaped her. “I did kill it…”

  I looked at her for a moment. “Well, that’s good, but I’m more concerned that you got hurt… Questing is dangerous work, afterall.” She watched my hands as I gently applied the balm. I would need to get more balm eventually. Carrying a lot of different ways to deal with injuries was important.

  “I got twelve gold,” she added.

  “That’ll be more than enough to get a good weapon.” I would normally wrap her arms with some bandages after applying balm, but with her fast healing it would honestly be a waste of bandages.

  Suddenly she gently grasped my hands, rubbing them with her fingers. “Hands.”

  “Mm yes, I have been working.” I watched as she seemed to be exploring my fingers. This wasn’t the first time she had seen them, but it seemed to be the first time she paid attention to them. “Ah, and I found the source of the scritchy scratchy.”

  Her eyes suddenly snapped to me and her fingers stopped. “Scritchy scratchy?”

  I blinked at her a few times. “Yes, there’s a group of Slip Mice that moved in. I’m letting them stay, because they don’t have anywhere else to go and we’re not using the cellar.”

  Slowly her brow furrowed as she thought. “Strong?”

  “Not particularly? They are smart and good at getting in and out of places.”

  “Not for pack,” she said rather firmly.

  I laughed a bit and shook my head. “I’m just showing them kindness. If it does no harm to me, and requires no effort, why would I go out of my way to make it a problem? I already made a bunch of problems today.”

  Shuzshu tilted her head to the side. “Problems?”

  “With the Alchemist companies. There’s a Kobold-”

  “Kobolds are good. I like them.” She had started to play with my hands again.

  A rather confused expression popped onto my face as I looked at her. “Yes. And there’s one down the street that I have entered into a business arrangement with. She’s going to make me things need, and I’m going to get her stuff she needs. If she’s in trouble, I’ve also told her to come here. So if you see a Kobold in the house, it’s probably her and you should protect her.”

  She nodded a few times. “Protect.” A Gnoll of few words sometimes. I couldn’t tell if she didn’t like talking as a personal choice, or if it was more from trauma.

  “Yeah. Did you eat?” She nodded. I guess she went back to the guild and ate before coming here. What interesting priorities. “Alright. I’m going to continue working, and come get me after the sun goes down.”

  “You focus so much.”

  “It’s the thing I’m best at,” I said as I stood up. I pulled the half sandwich I had out of my coat, and handed it to her. “This is good.”

  She gave me quite a large grin as she accepted the food. With that, I returned to my work, allowing it to once again absorb me. I could probably stay up late to finish the battery, but there was no rush. It could wait for tomorrow.

  And tomorrow was going to come sooner than I thought, or at least the end of this day as I felt Shuzshu behind me. Looking up from my work and glancing out the window, it was dark. Her arms were already in much better shape. “Tomorrow, let’s get you a new weapon.”

  She nodded and we headed down into the bedroom. “Yes. The hammer was nice…but I want something with a blade.”

  “Like the axe you had?” I began to undress when we entered.

  “Mmm…yes. I liked the big axe.” She was already nude, as was her odd habit the moment she entered the house.

  “I can’t really picture you wielding a greatsword…maybe a Guts sword,” I mused.

  “Guts?”

  “Ah, uhm…hard to explain. But it’s a really, really big and heavy sword.” I sat down on the bed, thinking about the sort of things I had seen in stories. “Buster sword? Maybe Zabuza’s sword? There are a lot of big swords…but I think an axe fits you better.”

  She only nodded in agreement before shoving me down. For a moment I thought that she wanted to initiate, but she simply laid down on top of me. It was…difficult for me to initiate. It was hard enough just to initiate physical contact with her. I wanted to, but I was just…scared. Scared of getting close. It had to be in small steps…

  In the morning we set off to find Shuzshu a new weapon. I was really regretting starting the disassembly of my gauntlets, but thankfully at least the right one was still usable, but the left one couldn't be charged. I don’t think I could go out onto the streets with much confidence if we were both unarmed. Though the Gnoll could probably beat up anyone who would even try anything.

  Looking for a weapon around the area by the blacksmith I had commissioned yielded no results. There was either nothing suitable, or nothing of good enough quality. I wondered where that master blacksmith sent his weapons to, because it wasn’t here.

  Traveling across the city we entered the Dwarven district. That was really the only thing you could call it, and the Dwarves even called it that so the name just sort of stuck. Shuzshu was immediately drawn to a particular store with its sign appearing like a giant axe. Fittingly called Severed Head Smithy.

  “Welcome, how can I-” the voice of the rather soft looking Dwarf abruptly cut off when she saw the Gnoll enter.

  “What’s the largest axe you have?” I asked, looking around at the many different weapons. There weren’t just axes.

  However, before I or the Dwarf could even finish looking around for a suitable axe, Shuzshu had already pulled it down from its place on the wall. It was bigger than me. “This one,” is all that she said.

  I nodded and turned to the Dwarf. “How much?”

  Suddenly his eyes seemed to refocus and his attention snapped to the axe, and then to me, then back to the axe. “Ten gold. It’s an extremely durable composite alloy, though it’s on the heavier side, it lends to its sharpness and striking capability.”

  He hadn’t even finished speaking when I took out the gold, holding it at him. I had to practically wave it in his face to keep him from talking more about it. “We’ll take it. Now just take the gold.”

  The Dwarf got a big grin on his face. “Good, good. You have a very good eye.” Shuzshu had already walked out of the store while the Dwarf double and triple counted the coins. “Pleasure doing business with you!”

  I nodded again and then walked out of the store to find the Gnoll doing a few test swings. “Good?”

  She nodded. “Good.”

  Just by looking at it I could tell it was made of some pretty good materials. Better than that hammer, anyways. This one also came with a strap so she could carry it on her back. I wasn’t entirely sure who this size of weapon would be made for, but it suited Shuzshu just fine.

  On our way back, we cleaned out a street vendor, and while enjoying our meal the Gnoll suddenly spoke. “There. I want that one.”

  “Hm?” I looked at her, and then tried to follow her gaze, but couldn’t figure out what she was looking at.

  “That one,” she said.

  I looked at her again. “I can’t tell what you’re looking at.”

  “That one,” she said again, trying to emphasize as if that would help.

  “You are looking at a group. I don’t know what you want.” There was a lot in the direction she was looking.

  With a huff she stood up and started to walk. I quickly got up to follow her and my brow furrowed and I frowned when I saw where she was going. There were a few carts set up, and two well dressed men trying to entice passers to buy their slaves. There were over a dozen of them, barely presentable. “That one,” I heard her say again.

  “You are literally just gesturing at a group.” I said flatly, but before she could answer again, one of the men came over.

  “My oh my. Looking to buy,” his eyes wandered over Shuzshu, “Or sell? I can assure you that all our slaves are well kept.”

  Well kept. Hearing that term made me feel weird considering the circumstances. The slaves themselves were of various races, some in better shape than others. “Which one?” I asked Shuzshu.

  She moved among the slaves, and I followed her. She stood beside a green, long tailed Lzardfolk, who had obviously been through a rather rough time. “This one. I want this one.” The lizard had a lithe frame, and would have been almost as tall as Shuzshu, if not for the fact she was missing both legs, both at the knee. Its left arm was also gone, just below the shoulder, and it had quite a prominent set of scarring over the left side of its face, though its eye seemed to have gone unscathed.

  “Ah, yes. She was quite a powerful one, although her battle last year left her far from…sellable,” the man explained, wringing his hands together. “I have many other Lizardfolk, if that is what you are looking for?”

  “How’s her magic stone?” I asked.

  The man went rigid, and I saw the slight look of fear come over the lizard’s face. “Ah, you must be a Tamer, yes? That would explain your companions…desire.” It was well known that Tamers could use magic stones to empower their pets. “I can assure you that all of her injuries are physical, and her magic stone is flawless.”

  “How much?”

  “Ah, yes, of course. You see, as she was a prominent warrior before her injuries, and classified as a Tier Seven, she is priced at eight gold,” the man explained with a smile on his face.

  “Eight gold?” I watched him out of the corner of my eye, deciding to roll into the persona that he had placed on me. “Her magic stone is only worth five. I would consider it doing you a favor if I paid you four gold here and now and take her off your hands.”

  There was a bit of hesitation in the man's expression, and he looked over at his partner who gave a slight nod. “Four gold, then.” They knew that they were going to struggle to find an opportunity to sell her with the state she was in. After I gave him the four gold he pulled out a contract from his sleeve, and moved towards the lizard.

  I had never seen the process up close like this, but it was fairly simple. Drop of blood on the collar, drop of blood on the paper. Then, I drop a bit of blood on the paper, and then onto the collar. There was an immediate feeling of connection that made me extremely uncomfortable.

  He then handed me the paper with a smile. “Pleasure doing business. If you ever need another, please don’t hesitate to seek us out.”

  With a nod, I looked over at Shuzshu. “Carry her.” Shuzshu grinned as she picked up the lizard, who looked like she wanted to struggle, but couldn’t due to the contract. A contract which I shoved into my coat. As we walked back home I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

  “Strong,” was the response I got.

  “I get that, but it’s not like she’s capable of fighting.” I looked at the lizard out of the corner of my eye, who was laying limply in the Gnolls arm.

  “You can make her better.” She sounded like she had complete confidence in me.

  “What?” I felt like I was starting to get a headache. “And how do you expect me to do that?”

  “Fix her,” she said simply.

  “Fix her? Do you think I’m some sort of miracle worker? It’s not like I can just make her new-” abruptly I stopped talking. Prosthetics were a thing. Could I do something like that? I think that that is something Artificers are capable of, so that meant that I could as well? “Maybe.”

  Shuzshu nodded, and stood up a bit straighter, proudly declaring. “Strong and smart.”

  Eventually we came into the house, Shuzshu setting down the lizard before she began to unceremoniously disrobe. “Alright…first, let’s deal with this.” I knelt down by the lizard, and much to her surprise, removed the collar. “There.” I tossed it to the side and then suddenly jerked my arm upwards, just in time for a certain Lizardfolk’s mouth to wrap around it.

  Slowly I turned my attention back to her. She was clenching down hard on my gauntlet, trying to bite through it.

  “What was your plan after?” I asked, and saw as her grip loosened. “Sure, you get a good bite, but the chances of me dying from that are low, and then Shuzshu makes mince meat out of you before either of us can blink.”

  While her bite had loosened a bit more, she still did not let go.

  I sighed softly, and gently rubbed her head with my other hand. “It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay now.” That gesture seemed to calm her down as she slowly let go, and I stood up. “Get her cleaned, and then bring her to the attic so I can take measurements.”

  “Yes yes. Get her nice and clean,” came the response, but I didn’t stick around to see. Instead, I headed up to the attic, or I guess I should start calling it my lab. Immediately I sat down, removing my gauntlets before getting to work drawing designs.

  Time passed, and eventually I was interrupted. “Ah. All done then?” Shuzshu had put the lizard onto a chair, nude. While it had become normal to see the Gnoll in the buff, I was a bit caught off guard at the lizard's lack of clothes. However, the Lizardfolk seemed unbothered. I cleared my throat before moving over to her and pulling out a measuring tape. As one would expect from a reptile, her chest was smooth and flat.

  I had to take note of several different measurements, writing them down in my notebook by the designs I had already started to sketch out. I could work up some temporary prosthetic legs for now, but any more would require resources and more time.

  Moving away and sitting back down at my desk I began to work things out. By the time night had fallen, I had finished the prototype legs. “Alright…these are going to be crude, but they should at least let you be able to get around a bit,” I said as I brought the two legs over.

  “You are…very kind…” the lizard said, looking at me with an odd expression. I know that she and Shuzshu had been talking quietly while I had been working, but I have no idea about what.

  “It’s probably my greatest weakness,” I responded, slowly putting the legs on. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the grafting I would have to do. “Try standing,” I said as I offered my hand.

  She hesitated for a moment before taking it, and worked to pull herself upright. When she was standing, she immediately began to cry. “O-oh…oh…”

  “Take slow steps.” I slowly stepped away, having her follow me. I was mostly holding her up, as she was quite unbalanced. “You won’t be able to run or jump with these, but as long as you walk slowly, you should be fine.”

  Suddenly she fell forward into me, and I struggled to stay on my feet. I expected her to get up, but I realized that she hadn’t quite fallen, but was actually hugging me. “Thank you…” she said softly.

  “Uhm…yeah, you’re welcome,” I said after a moment, looking back at the Gnoll. “It’s…going to be a long process,” I decided to explain it to the two of them. “In the next couple days, I’m going to have to…graft certain parts onto your bones.”

  “Graft?” the lizard said, standing up again, though she still had to use me to stabilize herself.

  “Yes. I’ll be using a numbing agent so you won’t feel anything, but you’ll be sore for a while.” I tried to help her stand on her own, offering my hands for support. “And since Shuzshu is so determined to help you, I need at least fifteen gold for the materials.”

  Shuzshu nodded. “Got it. Hunt things, and get money.”

  “I will also need at least three magic stones of Tier Eight, preferably higher. But two of them need to be identical, meaning from the same type of monster of the same tier.” I had no plans to halfass this. No point in doing it if I wasn’t going to give it my all.

  The Lizardfolk had finally started to stand on her own, though she was a bit wobbly. There was a look of pure joy on her face as she slowly walked over towards Shuzshu. I nodded a bit before going back over to my workbench, putting a few things away. The prototype legs didn’t look the best, being made from scrap material that I had on hand, but they would function.

  Glancing back, I saw Shuzshu helping the lizard down the stairs. I smiled a bit as I sat back down, and started to disassemble my gauntlets. Each little thing needed to be removed and checked to see if it needed repairs. The Dwarves should almost be done, so I needed to prioritize this over the battery.

  “Sleep?” I heard from behind me.

  “I’m going to stay up and work,” I said as I tried not to lose focus. “I need to finish this before tomorrow.”

  She came up from behind, putting her arms around me. I felt her nose against the back of my neck. I could feel her hot breath down my back. “Okay,” she said softly. This Gnoll was really good at pushing my buttons.

  I’m not quite sure how long she stayed like that, but she wasn’t interrupting my work so I let her be. She did eventually leave, and I lost myself in the work. Thankfully I had done this so many times that it only took a few hours to have it all completely disassembled, and all of the parts organized.

  Everything that needed to be repaired I had put into my coat, planning to take it over to the workshop and repair it when I went to collect the mythril. However I wasn’t about to let this rare spark of creativity go, and so I grabbed the battery and continued to work on it.

  The Gnoll arrived once more just as the sun began to peak into the attic. “Awake?” came her voice.

  “Ah, yes.” I put down my work, and turned to look at her. She looked concerned. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to make a habit of it. I’ll take a nap when I’m done with this, and wait for the Dwarves. They should come knocking today.” I paused. “How’s the lizard?”

  “Still sleeping.”

  I nodded. “We should let her rest. I’m sure that yesterday was quite a shock to her.” Then I had another thought. “Actually, should probably wake her up so that she can practice walking.”

  “Yes yes. I will go and do this,” the Gnoll said before practically charging down the stairs. I honestly felt bad for the stairs the way she thundered down them.

  “If she breaks them, I’ll fix them,” I said to the air. I turned my attention back to the battery.

  I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but eventually there was a voice. “Uhm…Master?”

  Immediately a shiver ran down my spine. I was not sure how I felt about being called that. “You can call me Archanist, or Arc,” I said, turning back to the lizard who was standing at the top of the stairs, using what had been the shaft of the hammer as a sort of walking stick to help her maintain balance. I took note of how she held the stick.

  “I…do not want to bother…but…there is no food in the house?”

  There was a moment of silence, before I stood up. “Ah, right. Shuzshu and I usually eat out, as we’ve had no reason to have food.” I went to my coat, and pulled out the sandwich from yesterday. “Here. Sit.” I put the sandwich on the table, as well as several of the fruits I had bought.

  “Thank you…” she said as she made her way over, hesitantly and delicately sitting down in the chair.

  After grabbing one of the fruits for myself, I moved back to my work station. I was almost done now, and I just needed to apply a stabilizing source of power. This was where having those cores from the bandits came in handy.

  “You are…not a Tamer?”

  “No. I’m an Archanist. I lied to that slave trader to get a better deal.” I wasn’t sure how she would feel knowing that I had acted that way to get her at a cheaper price.

  “I see…good…”

  “Good?” I asked, not turning back from my work.

  “He was…not kind… Deserved to be…ripped off.” She had quite a slow and hesitant way of speaking.

  “That’s how all slavers are. If they were kind, they wouldn’t be slavers.”

  “This is…so tasty…” I didn’t even have to look back to know that she was crying. “And you are…so kind… Shuzshu said…you are kind…”

  “The place that sells the sandwiches is close by. So I’ll get more when I go out sometime.” I could still hear her sniffling a bit. I wasn’t aware that lizards could cry so much. First the Kobold, now the Lizardfolk. There was that one lizard that could shoot blood from its eyes, but that wasn’t crying. “What’s your name?”

  She hesitated, looking at me and then back to her sandwich. “Velvese…”

  Finally the battery was done. I did a quick test to make sure it was working and got an extremely painful shock. So, yes, working perfectly fine. I stood up, looking over to find a lizard who was apparently watching me electrocute myself with a look of confusion on her face.

  Once I shook off the minor embarrassment from that, I prepped a small tank. Step two was now figuring out if I could actually do the plating. With a bit of fiddling with some scrap mythril, and a bit of gold, I eventually figured out how to get it to do what I want. And it worked. It…actually just worked. I had honestly expected it to take a few attempts, but it actually worked first try.

  That made me even more skeptical if it would have any effect. I first took a gold wire, matching its length to the gold plated mythril, and ran my mana through it. The results were as expected, since I was most familiar with it. Then I tested the gold mythril.

  Double.

  It had straight up doubled in efficiency and throughput. I knew mythril was great at conducting mana, but this was still surprising. This was better than my previous tests trying to use mythril as circuitry. The gold must act as a near perfect insulator…

  Even after checking to see if there was any interference from having it against mythril, I got nothing. There were no problems. It was such a huge relief that something had actually gone right. Something had actually done what I wanted it to on the first try. That never happened. And no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get the gold mythril to overload, even after shaping it into a basic rune and using it to cast a small gust spell.

  I spent a good hour just trying to see if I could damage it, but nothing I did seemed to phase it. Of course, the real test would be incorporating it into my gauntlets, and doing a bunch of live tests. But this was extremely promising.

  “I’m going to go take a nap,” I said, turning back to the lizard that had not left. “There should be someone who is coming to see me, please-” I paused, looking at her and realizing that she was still naked. I did not want to give the Dwarves the wrong impression. “Please wake me when they knock, and don’t answer the door.”

  She gave a nod as I grabbed my coat and went down the stairs. She came down as well, although much slower. I laid down in bed, not bothering to undress and closed my eyes. I was almost asleep when I felt the bed shift. Without even opening my eyes, I knew that someone had sat down at the corner of the bed. Deciding to pay it no mind, I tried to sleep.

  Of course, that wasn’t going to happen as not long after I had laid down, I heard a loud knocking at the door. With a sigh I sat up and got out of the bed. The lizard didn’t even have the chance to wake me up as I obviously startled her when I suddenly sat up. “Tell Shuzshu I will be back in a day or two.”

  “O-okay…” she said softly.

  I made my way downstairs, throwing on my coat as I went. When I opened the door I saw a familiar Dwarf. “Agron, right?”

  The Dwarf nodded. “Boss says your orders done.”

  “Good, good.” I pulled on my boots. “As expected of a Master of that level, he got it done quickly.”

  The Dwarf only gave a slight grunt and a nod. The two of us then made our way back to the forge. It seemed a lot more lively than when I was last here.

  “Ah, it’s the silver hammer,” the Master Dwarf said. “I figured you would be coming straight here. Alright, so.” He led me over to a more secluded forge, one that from what I could tell was made for doing the more robust metals. “We got over five hundred pounds of material. Forty-two pounds of which is mythril.” He gestured to the pile of pale blue ingots. There were eight five pound ingots, and one two pound.

  “That’s a lot more than I thought,” I said as I hefted one of the ingots.

  “There was a lot of it. But, no gold.”

  My brow furrowed. “No gold?” Then what were they using for the circuitry? Did it even have circuitry? I regret not taking a better look.

  “‘Fraid not. But, there was a good amount of adamantine, and orichalcum.” He stroked his beard. “At the end of it, I owe you a few hundred gold.”

  “Hm… Rather than the gold, I’d like to exchange it.”

  He nodded. “You mentioned wanting to use my magic forge.”

  “Yes. And I also need about three pounds of adamantine.” Before he could ask, I added, “A new project came up and my needs changed.”

  There was a nod of understanding. “Alright. Well, you can use the forge as much as you want. I’ll get you that three pounds.”

  “How much would twenty pounds of iron cost me?”

  “Raw, or ingots?” he asked.

  I thought for a moment. “Ingots.”

  “Two gold.”

  “Alright, deduct that from my total as well. How much forging time will you give me?”

  “Well…” The dwarf thought about it a moment and then shook his head. “I’ll give you a good rate. One gold per hour. So you got thirty-three hours worth.”

  With a nod, I ripped the useless sleeves off of my coat. “Then I better get to work.”

  ~

  A lot of the Dwarves came to watch me work over the next day. There was a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it, so I was multitasking as much as my brain would let me. Which, thanks to my profession, was a lot. I had to melt the traps, collect out the gold from them and add the iron to my reserves. I got four pounds of iron, and two pounds of gold. While that was being done I repaired my gauntlets.

  When both of those tasks were done, it was time for the rest of my gauntlets, the parts that I had sold. Building it piece by piece, going off partially from memory, partially from notes, and making adjustments on the fly from problems I remembered having from the finished product. I didn’t put them together as I needed to do the circuitry first, and could do that at my lab. Those pieces were made from pure mythril, and I spent thirty pounds on them.

  I turned three pounds of mythril into wire for the circuitry. The other nine pounds would go into the prosthetics. The adamantine was shaped into three rod type objects, intricately shaped at both ends and covered in runes, as well as a few other pieces that were going to be used. These would later be grafted to the lizard’s bones and stubs. After that was done I turned the iron into steel by removing carbon, I made an alloy of steel and mythril that made an interesting silver blue metal.

  With this steel mythril alloy, I made the parts for the prosthetics. It was good that I didn’t have to assemble everything here, or I wouldn’t have had nearly enough time. Just a quick check to make sure parts fit together, and then they were packed into my coat. I could tell that the Dwarves were annoyed they didn’t get to see a finished product, but they could blame their master for giving me a time limit. At the end, the prosthetics would weigh over thirty-three pounds together, but that would be nine in each leg, with the arm weighing the most at fifteen.

  At the end, I still had four hours left. I made my way out, finding the Master Blacksmith. “I’m done with your forge. Thank you.”

  “Done already?” he said, looking me up and down.

  “Yes, and I believe four gold is my change.”

  He let out quite a hearty laugh, and nodded. “Aye, four gold.” He handed it to me without a fuss. “If you ever need to use my forge again, it’ll be the same rate.”

  With a smile, and a nod, I bid him farewell and headed home. I was tired. I had eaten nothing but fruit while I worked, and I had eaten them all. I was glad I had bought so many. The streets were dark and all the stalls had packed up, so there was no chance of me getting anything to eat. But man did I feel satisfied.

  And to make it even better, nothing even happened on my way back to the house. I had fully expected an attempted mugging or something, but there was nothing. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had walked the streets of any town alone at night and not been accosted.

  The only thing that gave me a few minutes of pause was when a rather familiar little cat nearly tripped me as it started to rub up between my legs. I decided to indulge, rubbing at petting its fur. It seemed to like the attention for a while, and I gave it some bits of jerky I had as rations. It greedily took the offered meat before rubbing against me a bit more and disappearing into the night.

  Entering the house, I had barely removed a boot when there was a thunderous cacophony of noise and I was suddenly ripped off my feet and tightly embraced. Apparently a certain Gnoll did not like my absence. I rubbed her side gently, as it was the only place I could reach. “I’m back.”

  Suddenly she was holding me away from her, turning me this way and that while sniffing me in several places. “Metal. Heat. Coal. Dirt.”

  “Yes, I made everything I needed from the Blacksmith I told you about.”

  Her eyes narrowed at me, as if she didn’t believe me. “Blacksmith?”

  “Yes? The Dwarven blacksmith I mentioned?” I was a bit puzzled, but I had a guess at what she was thinking.

  And she quickly confirmed my suspicion when she said, “Strong?”

  I gave her a flick on the nose, which caused her to release me. “Firstly, not interested in Dwarves. Nothing wrong with them, I greatly enjoy their company, but not my type.” I finished kicking off the second boot. “Secondly-” I paused and then sighed, shaking my head. “Secondly, I’m very tired. I have been up for over two days straight now, and I just want to go to bed.”

  She was holding her nose, looking at me with a look of shock.

  “I’m sorry…” I said softly and began to make my way past her. “But you were hurting me.”

  Up in the room, I had removed my clothes, now once again in my underwear. I was looking at the fresh bruises that I now had from the Gnoll. None of them were too bad, but they were a painful reminder of the sheer difference in our strength. I caught a glimpse of her hiding around the doorframe. “Come here,” I said softly.

  Slowly Shuzshu entered the room, her head down, looking once more like a guilty dog. “I’m sorry…” she said softly, and it looked like her eyes were a bit puffy. I hadn’t noticed before but it looked like she had been crying.

  “Come here,” I said again, reaching out my hands to her. Slowly she came down, putting her head on my lap. “I’m not mad.” I started to pet her.

  “I was scared…”

  “And I’m sorry for that. I didn’t- I didn’t think you would take me being gone so badly…” It sounded like an excuse, but it was always hard not to try and explain your side when you were apologizing for something.

  “I thought you weren’t coming back…” Her arms wrapped around me as she pressed her face into my stomach.

  “I would never abandon you.” I kept petting her as she began to gently lick at my bruises. I really hadn’t thought it through well enough. I should have talked to her. I should have explained it. It was clear that this Gnoll had severe separation anxiety.

  “Promise?”

  “Yeah.” I smiled a bit down at her. “I promise. And I can proudly say that I’ve never broken a promise. I’ve never abandoned anyone, either. But sometimes, as adventurers…we might not see each other every day.”

  Her grip tightened a bit, looking up at me.

  “Some quests take a while. Maybe days, sometimes weeks. Eventually there won’t be any big monsters around here for you to fight, and you’ll have to go further. I might be on a quest that takes me somewhere far. You never know.” I rubbed the side of her face.

  She leaned into my touch as her eyes closed. “I don’t want that.”

  “The alternative is we go on quests together.”

  The Gnoll’s face scrunched. “Don’t want that, either.”

  I laughed softly. “Well, you and Velvese are eventually going to take quests together, why can’t I come?”

  “Too strong. You’ll ruin the fun,” she said bluntly.

  I ruffled her mane a bit. “How would I ruin the fun? We can just go after stronger things.”

  She shook her head. “I want to fight and get stronger, like you. But if you are there, you will also get stronger.”

  I really don’t know what she sees when she looks at me to determine I’m so strong. Although, I did have to admit I could do some pretty impressive things, I didn’t feel I was anywhere near the Gnoll in terms of strength. The bruises on my body proved that.

  “Okay. I’m going to sleep. For quite a while. Make sure to eat, and get Velvese food as well.” I spotted the lizard looking into the room, much like Shuzshu had been doing earlier, though in a much more awkward and obvious manner.

  Shuzshu nodded enthusiastically. “Of course. Velvese is part of the pack now. And until she gets better, I have to make sure to take care of her.” I saw the Lizardfolk shift at the way she was being talked about.

  But I nodded in response and shifted to lay down. I didn’t get to properly lay down, as the Gnoll once again shoved me. I was too tired to really complain at this point, not that I ever did, and drifted off to sleep.