Meet the blacksmiths

Youngwoo, Hilda and Holly quickly took their steps towards the smithy, leaving Ieva (and Iris) near the testing area. Well, actually, the short blonde quickly started following them, so none of the three had to rally her to return to the smithy. While walking, he was sure to observe the blue-haired girl a bit. Immediately, he noticed how energetic she was. Even her careful and slow steps seemed like they were taken with the will to break into a run.

Remnants of his talk with both Iris and Ieva still remained in the back of his head. He found it... quite difficult to wrap his head around it, in all honesty. It sounded improbable that someone could believe Earth didn't exist, but then again, a person like this was walking just next to him. No, but this was an issue he'd have to sleep to process. For now, he had to focus at what was at hand.

Taking a look behind himself, he noticed how Ieva had already pocketed her phone, Iris seemingly having told her everything there was to talk about. There was a large smile planted on her face as she walked leisurely about 15 metres behind them. Surely she was happy about what she heard. Well, good for her. Iris was floating around her, and as per usual, there was a look full of boredom on her face.

They quickly made their way through the barren ground. Youngwoo couldn't help but ponder. Just why was this place SO empty? It was huge, and yet, there was only a single building and a testing area? Most of the place was not used at all. 'Perhaps there will be something in the future?' He thought. Well, he had never been in blacksmiths district, so he couldn't tell if in the future there was anything more than what was now. However, thinking about this now, another thought appeared in his mind.

'What happened to Holly after Ieva died?' He didn't want to think about that. That girl was seemingly idolizing Hilda's sister (at least that was the vibe he got from her), so he couldn't imagine how broken she must've felt after she got the news. This was, again, another reason why he wanted to confront Clairvoyant.

But, he shook his head. He had averted that future from happening, and he didn't intend on allowing anything alike to happen. Even if he had to fight with the Shadow Cult.

As he was lost in thought, he didn't even listen to the talk Hilda was having with the blue-haired girl, nor did he notice how quickly they reached their destination. Noticing with corner of his eye that his girlfriend stopped, he halted his feet as well, and looked up.

4 men were working on some weapons. One of them was hitting surface of a spear head with a hammer to give it its proper shape, another one was fixing arrowheads on their shafts, next one was fixing some metal plates together, presumably to create an armor. The last blacksmith was sitting on a chair, resting with his back against the wall, a newly created blade gleaming in the sun's beams as it was resting by the smithy's wall.

Noticing their arrival, the four heads turned to them with a glint of curiosity. Seeing that Holly was with them and Ieva wasn't signing anything to them, they said nothing, and returned to what they were doing. The blue-haired girl quickly turned to Hilda and Youngwoo.

"Aunt Hilda, mister Youngwoo, these are my friends." She went from one to another. "Mister Chuck." She pointed towards the man shaping the spear's head, to which he formed a smirk and nodded lightly. "Mister Jarmo." The man fixing the plates in an armor's form rose two fingers to his forehead and did a semi-salute gesture. "Mister Robert." The man busy with fletching let out a 'Hmm' sound, seemingly to let Holly know he heard her, but couldn't look up from his work. "And mister Seojun." The man sitting down waved to them lightly.

"Hello." Said Hilda, and looked at Youngwoo.

"Yes, hello." He repeated her greeting.

Holly soon got her hand on the door's handle and pressed it, inviting the two inside. Youngwoo stepped in after Hilda, and as he looked back, he noticed Ieva waving at him a little dismissively with Iris floating just above her, so he simply closed the door, understanding her gesture.

They entered a large room. There were 2 furnaces placed on either side, looking like the typical reverberatory furnaces, with somewhat small input doors on one side each and blazing fires presumably dancing inside, their smoke output somewhere in the back and (also presumably) connected to a single chimney.

Immediately, he noticed 2 men. The one to the right was sharpening a sword on an electronic whetstone, while the one on the left was hammering away at a red-hot piece of metal, which was starting to take a shape reminiscent of an axe.

Both of the blacksmiths looked up at them.

"Oi! I was not expecting you to come around as well!" Said the one to the right. "How're you, Hilda?"

"Doing well. How have you been doing, Raman?"

"Same old, same old." He nodded lightly, but there was a wide smile on his face. For some reason, he was very happy to see her. Or, was it something about Youngwoo, perhaps?

"Hi, Mark." She turned to the other man. Hearing her, the man stopped what he was doing, and signed to her with a smile, after which he returned to his work.

'Is he mute?' Youngwoo pondered, seeing how the man didn't even try to open his mouth to speak. Well, it wasn't a rule that Tower accepted only fully capable people. Even around Youngwoo in the apartment building ran by Valentine there were multiple people who lacked a leg or an arm, disabled in one way or another. 'Tower doesn't differentiate between healthy and disabled...' He could only nod to the thought with a little grim expression.

"Youngwoo?" He heard Hilda's voice. "Did something happen?"

"Huh? Sorry, got lost in thought." He replied hastily. "What did you say?"

"This is Raman. He's the blacksmith master in Safe Zone." She nodded towards the man to the right.

Youngwoo took a step closer and shook the man's hand. He was at most 180 cm tall, but his posture was strong and muscular. In fact, the former was certain that this blacksmith had more strength in one hand than he had in two. There were short, black hair covering nearly half his face, forming a nice, dense hairstyle seamlessly connected with his beard. His face had wide jaw and a little puffy cheeks, both a nice, brown color (likely from scorching heat of the furnace, but Youngwoo wasn't sure if that was how things worked). His eyes were of deep brown color, and a large nose gave him a clear impression of Indian roots. His body had some visible fat, mostly on his belly hidden underneath his working clothes.

"Youngwoo Lee." Youngwoo introduced himself, bowing his head a little.

"Raman Ox." He said with a calm voice, and his hand closed on the taller's one like a vice for a moment. "You're Hilda and Ieva's friend, you're our friend. But you hurt them, and we hurt you. Got it?"

"...Yes, of course." Youngwoo fought the urge to hiss a little. This man had some serious strength in his grip, enough to cause discomfort and probably enough to break half the bones in his hand if he wanted to. Could he break chestnuts with this strength alone? Probably yes.

"Come on, Raman." Hilda rolled her eyes. "He's a friend. He really is."

"Oh, I heard." The blacksmith smiled widely, and winked at her. What was the meaning of the gesture?

"..." Hilda didn't reply, but she did turn her head away from the two. Still, Youngwoo noticed how her cheeks started gaining a bit of pink to them. Did Ieva run her mouth? Knowing her, it was probable.

"This is Mark." Raman guided Youngwoo towards the other blacksmith. "Holly's dad."

The man in question paused the hammering, and looked at the two in front of him. Hurriedly, he put down the hammer and vices which he used to hold the axe head on the anvil, and took off his gloves as he offered a handshake, which Youngwoo promptly accepted. This man exerted much less strength, and his overall aura seemed much friendlier than Raman's initial one.

He was roughly 176 cm tall, with disheveled, dirty brown hair of length just a little bigger than Raman's and blue eyes. A small nose and slick ears that reminded Youngwoo of Iris', his smile was warm as he nodded towards him, seemingly a gesture saying 'Hello.'. His body was much slicker than the other blacksmith's, as he didn't have really toned muscles, but he clearly did have some strength in his hand.

"Youngwoo Lee, nice to meet you." The swordsman repeated his introduction, and bowed his head again.

Mark signed something in the air, and Raman's voice rang:

"He's saying 'it's to meet you too, Youngwoo.'."

"I see." Youngwoo formed a small smile as he released the handshake. "Please, don't let me disturb your work." He took a wide step back, positioning himself just next to Hilda.

Mark looked towards Holly and nodded towards her, after he returned to his work. Taking her hint, she said:

"Aunt Hilda, mister Youngwoo, please come with me to the guest room. Dad and uncle Raman will come in minute." She looked over the two men, and started going between the two furnaces. As the three of them entered the corridor. After walking past a single door, the blue-haired girl entered the second one, leading them into a 5 by 5 room with a large round table, 8 chairs and some minor decorations. The walls we painted in silver color, and sunlight was entering through large window. Over to the left, a small kitchen was visible, consisting of an electric stove, 2 large drawers, a sink and a fridge.

Both him and Hilda sat down by the table while Holly went over to the sink and got hold of the teapot. After filling it with water, she put it on the stove and turned the machine on.

"Aunt Hilda, do you want the usual black coffee?"

"Yes, thank you." The red-haired woman smiled warmly.

"And you mister Lee?"

"Just a tea is fine, thank you."

"Sugar?"

"No, thank you." He shook his head a little. "So, um, you're Electromancer, you said?"

"Yes. That's my skill. Electromancy." Holly nodded.

"..."

"It means I can control electricity to an extent." The blue-haired girl took out her hand as she sat down with them. In an instant, a few small bolts of electricity arced between her fingers. "And I can also charge myself to run faster for a bit."

"So that's how you ran from smithy to testing area so fast?" He nodded, but his affirmation came out more like a question.

"Yes!" She smiled happily, seeing him understand quickly. "I move a lot like that! I want to level the skill up as soon as I can."

"What rank is it now?"

"..." Holly looked at Hilda. Seeing how the red-haired woman was nodding lightly, she took a breath. "It's C-rank for now, but I started as D-rank. And what about your flower petals, mister Lee?"

"They're a part of a bigger skill, but for now they're only F-rank." He replied, looking over to Hilda. 'Yeah... I will probably have to explain this to her a bit...' He thought. If they were only colleagues, part of the same guild or whatever, he'd not have even tried to explain the situation to her. But now... well, he knew well that lies won't get him far, especially with the 'Charismatic Leadership'. But, that was an issue he could prepare for later. For now, he had another thing in his mind. Didn't Ieva promise him a commission if he gave her Aliki's details? "Say, is it possible to commission a piece of equipment here?"

"...?" Holly frowned momentarily. "Y-Yes, my dad and the others are blacksmiths after all, but... you'll have to talk with uncle Raman about that."

"I see." He nodded lightly, not wanting to push the issue. 'I'll talk with Ieva about it later.'

"Did you want to commission something, Youngwoo?" Asked Hilda, visibly intrigued by the talk's subject.

"...I'm not sure." He shrugged. "The sword I have is nice for now, but I was starting to think about an upgrade."

"I see." Nodded Holly. "Oh!" She suddenly turned and got up, walking to the teapot. "I'll pour us something!"

Meanwhile

Ieva was beaming with a radiant smile as she was stepping towards the smithy. She couldn't help herself; everything she heard from Iris would prove to be a valuable weapon in the war with Shadow Cult. She was sure that this would erupt sooner or later. Not even Youngwoo could stop it, and she knew it. But thanks to him revealing who Shadow really is and by placing his relation with them under a big, tense question mark, she knew two things. One was, they WERE afraid of him, and would tread very carefully in the future. And two, Hilda and everyone around her would be safe for now. Yes, there was no reason for Ieva to not be happy about how things turned out.

'Now, for the final touch...' She tapped in her phone for the final time. A long message, packed into an encrypted .txt file, was sent by Discord to the only two Tinkerers she trusted. Inside that file was a very, VERY accurate description of Aliki Spyros. Iris had a sharp eye, and with a little bit of gesticulation she gave Ieva all the smallest details about the girl. Heavens, she was sure that she even knew that woman's bust to the last millimetre, her hair to its exact Hex color value, her weight down to the last gram. Yes, she now knew everything about Shadow's appearance. The message she sent was simple.

@Lithium: sent a file 'For_fuck's_sake_stop_playing_Bejeweled.txt'
You know what to do. [12:02]

@515Jolteon515: Copy. [12:04]

@Awesomebbq2011: Got it. [12:07]

After she got a confirmation, she turned her phone off and walked to the smithy. Passing by the four blacksmiths outside, she put her hand on the door handle and entered the place.

Immediately, she noticed how Raman was putting the sword he had finished onto a weapon rack in the corner. Among the weapons, there were a few swords, spears, axes, and quivers with arrows. Turning to her, the man asked:

"Oi, aren't you in a good mood?"

"Sure am." She replied nonchalantly. "And what about you? Met Lee?"

"Yup. Seems decent enough." The man shrugged, taking care of his workstation. "Hilda seems content with him."

"Trust me, she's more than 'content' with him."

"Oh, I can imagine." He smirked widely.

"Say, can I ask for a favor?"

"Sure thing. What is it?"

"See, Lee helped me out big time lately, so I wanted you guys to make something for him as a reward."

"Well, if it's you asking, sure. What did he want?" Raman tilted his head a little in a questioning manner.

"..." Ieva looked at him blankly for a moment. '...I didn't even ask.' She looked around for a moment, but failed to notice Iris. Yes, she was gone the moment she stepped into the smithy. "...no clue."

"...pfft." He snickered momentarily. "Oh well, I'll ask him about it, if it's fine."

"I'm sure he won't reject. So, where are they?"

"Guest room. Me and Mark will come in a minute." Said Raman, looking towards the more slender man, who was putting the axe's head away for now, and was starting to clean up his work station.

"Got it."

Ieva went to the guest room quickly. She got hold of the handle and stepped into the room. There she noticed the three of them sitting by the table sipping their drinks while the white-haired woman was floating just below the ceiling, clearly bored as usual.

Heads of the ones sitting by the table turned to her. Immediately, Holly got up and seemed to almost jump towards her.

"Aunt Ieva! Do you want a coffee?" She asked, looking like she was about to start vibrating with excitement.

"Sure. You know what I like." She smiled again and sat down next to Hilda.

"You seem..." Started her sister.

"Content? Yeah, I am. You know, good news come in all shapes and sizes, don't they?"

"...yes, I suppose they do." Hilda looked at Youngwoo with a little puzzled expression. If there was one thing she knew about Ieva, it was that she would never smile unless she had something on her mind. And knowing her, the 'something' was probably not of the best nature to whomever might be receiving it.

He shrugged lightly, showing that he didn't know the cause either. Well, she couldn't blame him. After all, he only met Ieva briefly on a few occasions, and before the park 2 days ago, they likely didn't talk. No, she couldn't just be overthinking this. Wasn't Ieva allowed to smile?

The door opening shook her out of her thoughts. Raman and Mark stepped in with leisure steps and glanced over everyone present. The Indian man walked over to the stove in kitchen and smiled, seeing that there were two coffees waiting for him and his coworker.

"Oi, Holly, thanks." He said, grabbing both drinks and going to take a seat near the girl.

"Of course, uncle Raman." The girl turned to him with a smile. "Just the way you both like them."

Mark smiled widely. Immediately, he got hold of his cup and sat next to his daughter. As he took a sip, he scanned the faces of everyone currently sitting. Was he trying to get a hold of the situation before he entered the conversation with Raman? The Indian man quickly sat down in one of the free chairs.

"So, Lee, right?"

"Yes, mister... Raman?"

"Right on spot." The man smiled. "So, how long was your stay in the Tower, if I may?"

"Uh, about 6 years by now. What about you?"

"Just a little over 5. But Mark and Holly had been here for 9." Raman looked at his coworker and then at the blue-haired girl. "But you know, we got talents for blacksmithing, been working in the city, and when they started raising ruckus about the noise, so we moved here."

"I see." Youngwoo nodded. "Works of labor sure do shape body and mind, don't they?"

"Haha, yes, they surely do." Raman laughed wholeheartedly. "Well then, let's get to the point. Is there any piece of equipment you want? A new weapon? Some piece of armor? An enchantment? Something else?"

"???" Youngwoo looked at Raman with a surprised gaze. Then, he looked at Ieva, who simply shrugged, as if saying 'Just roll with it'. Hilda's look, just as surprised as his own, was alternating between Raman and him slowly. "...why do you ask?"

"Well, I'll be blunt. Ieva asked us for a commission for you. She says that you helped her and she wanted to pay you back."

Youngwoo, Hilda and Holly looked at the blonde woman. She looked over them and rolled her eyes without saying a word.

'I helped her out?' It wasn't like Youngwoo didn't know what it meant. Giving Ieva Aliki's details was surely a big help, but... it didn't make sense for her to be talking about that. Nobody knew, nobody COULD know what he did before. Unless she omitted the details of his 'help' (which she couldn't, since he was sure Hilda would ask him about it later), there was no way for this to be true. What was she planning? Suddenly, the woman in question said:

"As I said, you really helped me with that battery before. I had my doubts, but you didn't break it, so I wanted to pay you for your trouble."

"..." 'Shit, now what? Just... ah, fuck it!' "I said it was no problem, no need to be repaying me."

"You say that while still swinging that rusty piece of scrap around." She eyed him momentarily. "Come on, it's the least I can do. That battery is my life's work."

"..." He turned to Raman. '...what battery? What the hell does she mean?! I'll have to ask her later.'

"Come on Lee, don't be a stranger now." Said the Indian man. "Trust me, it's a rarity for Ieva to be thankful to anyone, so this is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Seriously, anything you'd like made? Anything reasonable, that is?"

"Youngwoo." Suddenly, Hilda got into the talk. "Didn't you say you wanted an upgrade for your sword?"

"Exactly mister Lee!" Added Holly. "I heard you with my own ears!" She seemed weirdly excited about this. Then again, what was she ever, if not excited?

"...yes." He nodded, and looked at Raman. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like a longsword."

"Any specifics? Effects?" Raman pulled out his phone. "Size, design?"

"Uh... I was looking for something with effect of reducing cooldown on skills. My skills don't have much cooldown, but they can connect together and have therefore much longer waiting times."

"Hmm... reduction of cooldown is not possible. Not at our current skills, at least."

"I see... Is there anything else that's possible?"

"We can affix a Magistone to it and enchant it with Holly's skills to give it a boost to attack speed and make it lighter than it typically would be. Or we can, alternatively, give it a Magistone with some enchant from Ieva, and it will have other effects, depending on what she manages to get."

"I see..."

"But that still requires a Magistone. The higher the rank, the better the effect, and higher the cost. We can get one on our own if you don't have one."

"How much do those cost?"

"F-rank is about 50 gold, but C-rank is roughly 800, rising to 1000."

'...that's quite expensive!' Youngwoo's eyes widened momentarily. 'Can I even get my hands on one?'

"I'll provide the materials." Said Ieva. Noticing everyone's questioning gaze, she shrugged. "What? He did help me big time. I owe him as much. If you want a C-rank battery, I'll get it for you. Not like it's much an issue. Most of my drones operate on C-ranks anyway."

"...alright then." Continued Raman, but there was a bit of hesitance in his voice. 'Just who is this Lee? Ieva never acted like that for anyone! Not even for Hilda!' He thought, unsure. "So, a C-rank battery base for enchantment, got it. Any additional effects you'd like?"

"...not really. I don't want to be a burden for you, mister Raman."

"Okay then. And anything about the design? Color or construction?"

'...do I want anything?' Youngwoo wasn't sure. The sword he had been using for years now was pretty handy. Its handle was large enough for both his hands to rest on it with a bit of freedom of movement, and he didn't care much for design. But, now that he thought about it, there WAS one thing that he always wanted it to be.

"Is it possible for the blade to be purple? If it's not too much trouble?" He asked, but he didn't have much hope. Blacksmiths in 2043 could do it easily, but this was only 2040. He couldn't be sure if coloring technique was advanced enough yet.

"Purple? Got it. It's not a problem to color the blade, but I'm kind of surprised. It's a rarity for anyone to go for a different color than the typical gold, silver or the likes. A pleasant surprise to be sure."

The talk kept on going on for some more minutes. The big talk turned into small talk, and as it did, Holly, Hilda and Mark also got involved in it (although the last one's words were conveyed by Raman). The time flew quickly. 14, 15, and soon, at 16, they all ate a dinner. In the evening, Hilda, Youngwoo and Holly went to the training grounds, and after checking out Hilda's new scepter (which turned out to be the same one she received from Savi, but now with an enchantment from Ieva) and generator her sister brought, they went away. Having said their goodbyes, the three of them soon ventured out and towards the city.

Before the time reached 19, they all separated. Ieva stepped into Workshop, saying that she needed to finish something, and although Hilda wanted to stop her, the former simply told her that she'd had nearly entire day off.

Soon enough, Youngwoo and Hilda were standing in front of her apartment building.

"Thank you for today." He said, hugging her tightly. "I'll see you soon."

"See you soon, Youngwoo." She replied, soon planting a kiss on his lips.

"I'll be going for floor 13 tomorrow. You want to join me?"

"...I wish I could." She said, looking a little down. "But my guildmaster lately decided that we needed to make a move. Unless he says that we go for floor 13, I won't be going there for upcoming days."

"...I see." He nodded lightly. "Don't overexert yourself, alright?"

"I'll keep that in mind." She smiled.

"Love you." He kissed her on forehead, and then on lips.

"Love you too." She replied, and inputted the code to the door. No more than 10 seconds later, she was going further in the corridor. Though, at one moment, she turned around and blew Youngwoo a kiss with her hand. He smiled at her gesture. He still couldn't believe this woman, this perfection, was his girlfriend. The very thought made his heart thump in excitement.

'...I guess it's time to go and rest. The floor 13 awaits.' He turned on his heel and started walking away, Iris silently levitating above him.

[A/N: I am terribly sorry. I dug this hole for myself, and now here I am learning about construction of different types of furnaces and trying to make things have some sense to them. If anyone with greater extent of knowledge about this wants to correct me, feel absolutely free to do so. Also, neat fact I found out. As of May 2022, the largest blast furnace in the world is in South Korea with inner capacity of a little over 6000 cubic metres.]