Talking, What Else

After eating breakfast, which Luna spent the entire time apologizing in between eating, I drive my Motorcycle to the joint guild hall. Before eating I sent Kallen and Kagiyama a text saying the swords were done. They asked me to bring them here in thirty minutes. It's been a little longer than that as I store the bike and walk inside. I immediately see Liz, who was waiting by the door.

"You're late buster!" She says with a smile upon seeing me.

"Oh no! Please forgive me." I say sarcastically while bowing slightly and she laughs.

"Come on mister, let's go." She says once she stopped laughing. She leads me down the halls and past the meeting room. We enter another room I've never been in. Inside is what looks like a Blacksmith's Workshop. Unlike mine, however, this one is at least three times as big and has two sets of forges and anvils. In the corner are a wooden table and chairs. I see Kallen and Kagiyama sitting down and talking with someone I haven't met before. She's tan and has long firey red hair. She's wearing a small leather top that exposes her abs and shoulders. She has on leather pants and a belt with a smithing hammer, and a few other tools I don't recognize.

"We're back!" Liz announces and the others turn to us.

"Eric, thanks for coming." Kallen says while standing up. The other two do as well.

"Where're the swords?" The woman asks me confused upon not seeing them. "Sorry, if that came out as rude. I just love weapons and making them. So I wanted to see them. Oh! Sorry again, let me introduce myself. My name is Sally, nice to meet you." She continues.

"Nice to meet you too. My name's Eric. And here you go." I say taking the two swords out of my inventory. I hand them to her and she takes them. She starts looking them over and gives them each a test swing.

"Eric, Sally here is a Blacksmith who we've employed. She's great at her job and well respected. She's also capable of Analyzing weapons. It's similar to your Observe, in that she can tell the quality and general damage of the weapon." Kallen says and I nod.

"How many weapons have you made?" Sally asks me.

"Four, including these." I answer and she looks at me shocked. I sigh internally and brace myself for the questions I know are coming.

"Really? How are you so good at this? Is it because of your skill things?" She asks and surprises me. I didn't think she knew about my skills.

"Yes, although I do have an anvil and hammer that are both epic and enchanted to increase anything I make with them." I answer.

"How long did it take to make these?"

"I made them this morning. It took about an hour per sword, give or take."

"Could you make another here? I have the metal ready. I'd just like to see the process up close." She asks but before she can answer Kagiyama cuts in.

"Maybe in a bit. We have something else to discuss first. Eric, could you sit with us?" He says and I nod. We all sit at the table and he and Kallen take out a few jewels from their Spacial Pouches.

"Here, as payment for the swords." Kallen says and I nod before storing them away.

"Eric, we've been trying to get information out of the Devil of Temptation for a while but all he's said is this, I won't talk to anyone other than Eric. So, as much as we don't want to do as he wants. We'd like you to talk with him." Kagiyama says.

"Sure, I wanted to talk to him as well. When would we do that?" I ask.

"We're planning on tomorrow, at 5 PM, that way we'll have enough time to prepare." Kallen says and I nod.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's get smithing!" Sally says while taking my hand.

"Go ahead." Kagiyama says and I stand up. Sally pulls me to the forge where some metal ingots are already heated up. She steps back and I get started. I take the ingot out and start hammering away. I notice her shocked expression when she looks at how quickly I'm going. After about an hour I finish. I set the blade down and wipe the sweat off my forehead. Beforehand I had unequipped my shirt to prevent it from getting covered in sweat. Someone tosses a towel at me and it lands on my face. I take it off and see Liz giggling and blushing slightly. I start wiping away the sweat and Sally examines the sword.

"This is good. But it's not as good as the others. Probably because of the hammer and anvil." She says and I nod. "Thank you, Eric. I learned a lot about you today. I look forward to working with you."

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"Right sorry. So the guilds are planning to pay you to make weapons. But guilds can't hire other guild leaders. So instead, I'll commission the weapons from you and give you the materials. Then I'll pay you afterwards, so I'll be like your boss in this." She explains and I thank her. I tell her bye before leaving with Liz. I put my shirt back on, by taking it out of my inventory and putting it on.

"Eric, are you free now?" Liz asks.

"Yeah, why?" I ask her.

"I asked to meet up with you remember?"

"Yeah, do you want to do that now?"

"Yep, we'll just go straight there. By the way, here. This is for you." She says handing me a small thin card. I take it and see it's a Motorcycle License.

"Thanks. I drove past a cop on my way here and started sweating bullets." I say and she laughs.

"You should thank Kallen. He got you one, but the government only gave it to you on the condition you read this." Sye continues while taking a large book out of her bag. I take it and see it's a manual for driving Motorcycles. I sigh and store it away as we leave the building.