HBWnovel Chapter 5: The End of a Long Day
Chapter 5: The End of a Long Day
Chapter 5: The End of a Long Day
Chapter 5 The End of a Long Day
After Gareth and I enjoyed a good laugh at our impending good fortune, we got to work. “How many coins can you make in a day, Storme?” Gareth asked. He was serious now and probably thinking about all the things we could buy.
“Let me see how many large steel coins I can make today. The smaller value coins will be easier to spend without drawing notice. We will have to think about creating a reasonable enterprise to cover our growing wealth in the future. I am not sure to what extent we should include Freya in our plans,” I informed Gareth.
Gareth raised his left eyebrow. Yes, I had a soft spot for Freya, and if I didn’t include her initially, I usually caved after she begged and pleaded for a little while. I didn’t have any siblings in my past life. I was learning how to be an elder brother and genuinely cared about her. I wasn’t sure where the disconnect had happened with Pascal. I think it had to do with the fact he was a bit jealous of me growing up as I had learned things quicker and was really well-liked and praised by the townsfolk.
I focused and made my first steel coin. Well, a lump of...not steel. “Looks like iron ore, not quite as shiny as steel,” Gareth helpfully supplied, taking the small chunk. “Well, if you can’t make steel, the copper will do.” He was trying to placate me because of my obvious failure and my frown.
I thought for a few minutes trying to draw on my past life’s knowledge. Steel had carbon in it. My ability could only create metal. Well, Gareth was right; I could always make copper. I was disappointed, though. Then I spotted the crates of coal in the corner of the barn we used in the stove. I retrieved one lump of coal, took the lump of iron from Gareth, and focused on my ability to shape metal.
It was the first time I could feel myself drawing from the aether core in my chest as I blended the iron and coal. It didn’t help my constant feeling of heartburn. The metal lump flowed over the coal, and I could feel the iron responding to my will to draw in the carbon. I zoned out for a bit, trying to find the correct balance and make it homogeneous throughout the lump.
When I was finished, the excess coal fell away from my hands as dust. Besides needing to wash my hands, I now had a good lump of steel. I looked at Gareth, pride on my face. He spoke in a whisper, “That was amazing! It took you a few minutes, but I will be an orc’s cousin; you did it!” I turned the lump in my hand and focused on making it into a shiny new large steel coin. I flipped the coin in the air over to Gareth, who caught it with lightning reflexes. Yeah, Gareth was not only big but also a phenomenal athlete, quick, strong, had excellent balance, and while he rarely talked, he was also no dummy. “Stormy, we probably should dirty up the coins a bit. I mean, if we started spending shiny new coins all around town, that would draw attention, right? I don’t think I have seen more than a dozen coins this shiny in my entire life.”
I nodded and had been thinking the same thing earlier about the copper coins I had made. “Yeah, I know some basic magics can make coins clean and shiny, but it would be suspicious if we were always spending shiny coins and didn’t have the magic to clean them. Ok, Gareth, let’s see how much steel I can make.” I focused and started pulling on my aether to make a big lump of iron. I could feel the aether leaving my core again and focusing on my hand, pulling the most aether I had pulled to date. The ore ball grew, and I got distracted when the weight reached three pounds (1.35 kg), causing me to fumble and drop it, breaking my concentration. I had plenty of aether in reserve, but this was good for now.
I looked up to see Gareth’s jaw was slack, and his eyes bulged a bit. I picked up the lump and brought it to the coal crate, ignoring my friend’s dumbfounded stare. I found I needed to be fairly close to the metal work, my shaping skill on it, no more than 20 inches (50 cm), before the effort became unwieldy, like trying to tie down a tarp in a wind storm with thin twine.
The iron flowed through the coal as I felt out the best balance between hardness and brittleness. To make my feat even more impressive to Gareth, I formed the new steel into 48 new large steel coins. This took a few minutes as I had to do the first few individually before figuring out a trick to make them in batches.
Gareth was right there when I was done picking up each coin and inspecting it. “Damn, Storme, we are going to be rich.” While he was focused on our new wealth, I tried something new. I was combining my two abilities. I tried to create copper and create it directly into a large copper coin.
Success! I turned over the shiny new copper coin, feeling the weight. Gareth interrupted me, admiring my work, “Can you make other things? Armor or swords? Storme try and make a dagger with these steel coins?” He grabbed a handful of coins, pushing them into my hand. Huh, that was a good question.
Did I need to have knowledge of blacksmithing, just know the shape or the end result I wanted? My metal shaping skill was much more powerful than I had realized. It gave me a ‘familiarity’ with the metal as I worked it, allowing me to balance the alloy or additives and eliminate impurities. I took 11 of the large steel coins Gareth had pressed into my hand and started working it into the shape of a large kitchen knife with a full tang. I had previously helped my mother replace the wood and leather wrap on knife handles, so I knew what I wanted to make.
The knife was 10 inches long (25 cm). “No, Stormy, make a dagger instead,” Gareth whispered, focused on my work. He was hypnotized by the flowing metal. I altered my thought, and with a thicker blade and tang, the two-edged dagger was now just 8 inches (20 cm). I then remembered watered steel from foggy memories, Damascus steel, folded layers. Could I do that?
I restarted and folded the metal. It looked like a puddle in my hands to Gareth, but I was working hard to fold the steel. Two, three, four, five—compressing the metal after each fold. The 5th fold started to require effort. The 7th, and I could feel myself needing to invest some aether. I could have gone further but stopped after 11. I then reformed the short dagger with the full tang and handed it to Gareth. He gasped and spoke with excitement, “Wow, that is an amazing blade. How did you get the ripples in the steel?”
I was pretty tired and not sure how much aether I had left. I needed to experiment more to find my capacity. I spoke very lightly, “It is just watered steel. Folded steel. The master weaponsmiths in the city do it this way in order to add aether dust to enchant the blade.” I admired the dagger with Gareth for a while before he spoke again.
“Storme, can you make another? We each should have one, and I will get sheaths from Master Aldrich.” I nodded and grabbed 10 of the large steel coins in each hand. I focused on one hand and then the other working the metal again. This dagger was much larger than the last, 13 inches (33 cm). When I was finished, I handed the new dagger to Gareth.
He now held both blades. “You know, Stormy, both of these blades are fine works of art. I will purchase sheaths and handles for them. But I think I should get the larger of the two. You know, since I am bigger, after all.” His grin had returned to his face. I was kind of spent, but I did have a good comeback after my morning bath reminded me of something.
I cracked a big smile. “Yes, Gareth, the bigger of us should get the bigger blade,” I said, reaching for the longer dagger. His face contorted in confusion. Well, even though I had fragments of memories from my past life, Gareth was still just twelve years old and didn’t process my comeback.
Well, even though nudity wasn’t so taboo here, we still swam in our undergarments because the girls were usually there as well. So my friend didn’t realize, even with his large size, that he was outclassed. “Nevermind. Take the daggers to get them sized for sheaths and handles.”
Gareth hesitated for a bit before starting to slowly turn toward the door. He probably didn’t want to miss what I would do next, as today was highly entertaining for us both. “I am just going to meditate for a bit and try to figure out my aether core. I promise I won’t do anything exciting without you.”
The ‘Gareth grin’ lit his face, and with his back to me said, “Well, just don’t get into any trouble without me.” With Gareth gone, I spent some time getting dirty. I cleaned up the barn a bit. My focus was cleaning out the loft to create a decent workspace. I managed to get filthy and blew out lots of dirty snot as dust invaded my nostrils. I was going to need another shower and my clothes cleaned again. The upper loft was eventually cleared, and the old family couch was mostly cleaned. I had it positioned on the far side of the loft with a short table in front of it. That way, we could sit by the tiny window at the back of the loft and not risk getting walked in on while I worked in the future.
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Human Male
Disposition Unfriendly
The black-haired girl to his right:
Gudrun Busk
Age 13
Human Female
Disposition Neutral
The fat kid with dark brown hair:
Lornom Coalrock
Age 12
Human Male
Disposition Unfriendly
And the last boy looked very nervous, and his face indicated he was related to the leader:
Honmik Mogensen
Age 11
Human Male
Disposition Neutral
I decided to try to scare the group. I put my pack down. I reached into it as they watched me like hawks and manifested a simple short blade of iron with a slight curve. They all took a step back and looked at each other for direction as I spoke confidently, “There is a five silver bounty for the heads of bandits in the city. Who is first?”
Well, I felt pretty cock sure with a weapon in my hand, and then a fist-sized stone slammed into my shoulder and ricocheted up into my head. Two more stones hit me, and I wasn’t sure from which direction as I was already dazed. The pain told me one hit me in the left thigh just above the knee, and the other connected with my sternum. The head graze had me seeing stars, and by the time I oriented myself, I found the four racing to the city. I was bleeding a little from the head, but other than that, I would just have some nasty bruising.
I ended up limping most of the way back to Hen’s Hollow. I forced myself to walk as straight as possible when I reached the sentry. It was Yadam, and he knew me well. I headed straight for the bathhouse. Once there, I pulled out the soap, and Edel stopped her washing for a minute to extract two cubes of soap and also produced the promised coins. She mentioned something, but I didn’t catch it as my eyes surveyed the bathhouse. Mostly old men and no sightline to the women’s side. I waved to two business owners I knew before leaving. I could probably get some jobs if I socialized a bit, but I needed to rest. It had been a long day.
I stopped by the pub. They had meals to go. Tonight was a loaf of bread with olive-seasoned paste, soft spiced jerky sticks, and boiled yellow carrots. I packed the food in the pack and headed home. It seemed to take longer than normal to get there.
My family was in the kitchen eating dinner. I told them I had eaten already and was heading to bed. I was sure to keep the bloody side of my head out of their view. I was filthy, and I noticed my parents’ slightly concerned looks. In my room, I realized that I must have dropped the impromptu short blade I had conjured when trying to scare off the city kids. The rock must have given me a concussion, and I dropped the blade. I went to my tiny room, stripped off all my dirty clothes, and fell face down into the waiting blankets. It was only a few seconds before I was fast asleep.