Compelled by Costlessness

[Zade]

He hated blacksmiths. He hated the cumbersome weapons hanging from walls and laying on shelves, he hated the distant sounds of steel clashing between hammer and anvil, but most of all, he hated the incessant, brewing heat that emanated from the back room, where specific orders were crafted to suit the well-paying customer's needs. Sweat soaked the white shirt beneath his long trenchcoat, and beads of perspiration ran rampant over his thin brows and through his messy, black hair - indeed, when one was used to the ceaseless shivers and chills of the Salvic mainland, warmth in confined spaces became more than a small nuisance.

The feeling of irritation was amplified by the fact that he couldn't find anyone to help him with what he wanted. He held a large voucher clenched firmly in his left hand; the small sheet of signed paper was his sole reason for being in the Bazaar in the first place. He wouldn't even have considered travelling here without a freebie to lure him. Sure, it was incredibly busy, and a veritable seventh heaven for pickpockets - but the riches to be made in the crowds could not provide sufficient counterweight for the smell, the clamor, and the distention of hundreds of shopkeepers, clientele, workers, beggars, and worst of all, too talkative miscreants that called themselves thieves. Unfortunately, his supplier had informed him that the voucher would only be accepted as payment by Bazaar shops, and the scoundrel wasn't about to let the three hundred gold it was worth slip away from him.

"Hello!" he spoke loudly, making sure to direct his voice toward the back room. "Anyone there? I'm looking to place an order!" Putting his snide attitude aside - hatemongering wasn't good for business - he strolled toward the counter, so that the salesman could easily spot him. He retrieved a piece of cloth from his trenchcoat and wiped some sweat away from his forehead before returning it to its pocket. The faster he could get this over with, the better.

[AdventWings]

"Oh, hello. Welcome to the Akashiman, sir."

A golden-hair maiden appeared shortly through a door in the back, next to the one with the fierce clashing of steel and waves of heat pouring from its orifice. She gingerly moved to the counter and stood there, waiting to take the customer's orders.

Seeing the young man's sweaty face and pale complexion, she could tell he was not from around the area. If anything, he looked more accustomed to the colder regions of the continent.

"How may I help you, sir?"

[Zade]

Oh great. A dainty damsel and I'm sweating like a snow wolf in the bleeding desert.

He withheld a sigh of exasperation as he reached deep into the confines of his trenchcoat, trying hard not to let the maiden see the clammy spots that had developed under his armpits. Although his hurry to get out of here had not disappeared, his vanity had entirely overthrown it. Moments later, his trusted steel chain lay spread out on the counter, about thirty inches in length, including the three inches of solid weight at both ends. Connected by a lacework of carefully crafted, steel rings, Zade's chain was a fine weapon for blunt impacts, though the materials left something to be desired, and that was exactly why the scoundrel was here.

"G'day to you, too, puppet," he replied smoothly before ushering her attention to the chain with a gesture of his hands. His voice became somewhat stronger, not in the least because the clangs in the background became progressively louder. "See this here chain? I'd like an exact replica of it, but I want the materials used to be... a wee bit more effective. For the weights on both ends, I'm gonna be needing something strong, something heavy. As for the rings..." but he stopped. Although three hundred gold was a lot, he didn't exactly know the price range of new chains in the Bazaar. Thereby, the material he requested might very well be one of the more expensive to forge; he wasn't all that knowledgeable about Althanas's different metals. "Ah well, we'll see 'bout that later. What material would you recommend, luv?"

[AdventWings]

Miri chuckled light-heartedly as she saw it coming a mile away. Still, a customer was a customer, as a good friend of her used to say. After all, nothing too bad was coming from him for the time being.

As the sounds of steel hammering steel switched to a loud sizzle and steady grinding noises, Miri looked down at the length of chain thoughfully and weighted it in her hands. Tossing the object lightly for a few moments, she looked up into the air and gently placed the chain onto the counter.

Luckily for the vagabond, it was a good thing the real owner of this store had already educated her on the subject beforehand.

"If you need mass over durability, I recommend Dehlar for the weights on your chain. It is one of the heaviest metal we have here. For the chains..." She paused momentarily, digging through the paperworks in her mind for the name and description of the material. "Yes, Delyn would do well. I would recommend Damascus, but it may be a bit too lenient when it comes to allowing magical effects to imbue into the metal. I think Delyn would be a good material to go with."

And now, came the hard part for her.

"Umm... If you wish the materials as stated..." The blonde maiden scratched her cheek absent-mindedly, mentally adding up the prices for the construction of the replica. "It would cost you... two hundred Coronian Gold Pieces."

By now, the sound of grinding steel against the sharpening stone had ceased and a large man emerged from the forge. Covered in sweat and soot from head to toe, he looked more like a mountain of muscle than a storekeeper.

"Yes, two hundred gold pieces." Jirou spoke up as he reached the counter. "And it will take a few days for me to finish making your replica. If you want it, come back in three days and I'll have it ready."

[Zade]

The Salvic scoundrel produced the most knowing smile he possibly could with the shiny weapons, the nauseating heat, and the girl's lovely chuckle plagueing his body and mind. He scratched his jaw slowly with one hand as she talked about deh-this and deh-that, trying very hard to hide the fact that he didn't have the remotest idea what she was talking about. Between all the professions taught to the Salvic youth, metallurgy was rather rare - in Knife's Edge, you'd only know about the different metals if you were a traveller, or the son of a smith. Zade was neither, nor did he long to know every detail of smithing, but it seemed to interest the girl behind the counter enough - even if she wasn't the one to forge the weapons - so he hid his indifference between some vague nods until she came to speak in a language that he understood all too well. Money.

Two hundred gold pieces? That leaves me with a hundred... And I'm definitely not planning on returning to this bloody place after I've picked up that chain...

He was startled out of his pondering by a massive frame that suddenly overshadowed the room. At first, Zade thought that workers had shoven in a giant slab of fresh, raw metal through the floor, but as his senses cleared up, he recognized the outline of a particularly awe-inspiring blacksmith. 'Muscular' wasn't strong enough a word to describe him. The man's voice was deep, very business-like; not hostile, but the scoundrel immediately dropped any pretense of bearing a fancy for the lovely girl in his shop, stepping back into a normal, relaxed stance. He softly picked up the steel chain and put it back inside his black coat while he agreed to the price.

"Two hundred's fine, chap," he stated blankly, the heat driving him so on edge that he didn't even feel the need to haggle anymore. "Means I've got some hundred more to spare, though. You wouldn't have any throwing knives I could purchase for that price, would ya? No fancy stuff, just solid and trusty." He would make full use of the voucher, even if it meant buying items that he really had no use for - yet.

Because it's not like I'm any good at throwing stuff, but hey, they'll make some right fine cutlery, I'd wager...

[AdventWings]

"I certainly do, sir. They're over there on the shelf by the swords. Most of them are steel and balanced. If you found any you like, bring them here and I'll appraise it for you."

Finished with his advice, the blacksmith then turned his attention to the young blonde lady who was tending his counter for the past few minutes.

"Thanks for filling in for me, Miri. I'll take it from here."

Smiling coyly at the man, and then taking a glance at the dark-hair customer, she made her way towards the door.

"Drop by at my store later today with the orders, alright Jirou?"

With the creaky hinges of the door announcing her exit, Jirou turned his attention back at his customer and waited to see what else he could help out with.

[Zade]

Oh yes, way to leave me with the man-mountain...

The handsome blonde's departure filled Zade with a mixture of sour feelings, most prominently amongst them the bother of leaving him in a store that seemed way too small for the owner that stood inside it, hulking and sweaty. Doing his best to keep the image of smiling Miri in his mind, he casually walked over to the wooden trestle that the giant blacksmith had gestured toward. He attempted not to look disdainful as his strange, grey eyes scanned over the heavy greatswords next to the throwing weapons - whether that was because of the nature of these blades or his own disability to properly wield one was anyone's guess. He stopped in front of the shiny batch of knives, and his eyes were caught by the projectiles in the top row. Each was exhibited carefully in its own wooden covering. They all looked identical - silvery and razor-sharp - so wonderful that the scoundrel stood still and speechless for a moment to admire the craftsmanship behind them.

"They're right brilliant," he spoke with feigned cordiality, even though his opinion concerning the weapons was sincere. "I'll take however many of these pretties one hundred shinies can buy me, along with the chain, that is." Considering how nice they looked, Zade wasn't counting on leaving with all that many - then again, he didn't know the manners of pricing in the Bazaar. He guided his gaze back to the smith, awaiting an estimation.

[AdventWings]

Glancing over to where his dark-hair customer was viewing the throwing knives, Jirou took a few moments to assess their values before making his reply.

"Iron ones are 16 a piece, sir. Steel are a bit more - 30 pieces per knife. For a hundred gold coins, you'll get 6 iron ones with a little left over or 3 steel ones. Is that fine with you, sir?"

The knives, he knew, were probably a bit more expensive than the customer thought. Steel were usually the harder ones to make, especially smaller blades where finess of fingers produced better crafted ones than the giant claymore on the shelves next to them. Iron would be a bit more up their alley, he reckoned, but it was not the blacksmith's duty to choose.

It was the buyer's right to pick his own wares.

[Zade]

Thirty a piece? Ah well, guess I can't wear that many anyhow..."

"I'll take three steel ones, then," he spoke after making his decision. "That'll amount to two hundred and ninety gold pieces total, right?" He folded out the piece of parchment he'd held in his hand all this time, and showed it to the behemoth blacksmith. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to pay with this lil' paper here. The chap that gave it to me, back in Salvar, told me that the shops in here all took this as payment." The scoundrel gave the smith a moment to prove him wrong, but it seemed very unlikely. He might fall in with the wrong crowd every day of the year, but when it came to money, he knew full well who he could trust, and more importantly, whom not to trust.

A fiendish thought inside his head told him to add in the extra ten pieces for Miri's address, but he quickly dropped that thought, the only evidence that it'd even been there a mischievous gllimmer in his misty eyes. For one, the girl probably lived close to the Bazaar - and Zade didn't exactly fancy the thought of being in this pit of commerce any longer than necessary. Thereby, she seemed good friends with the blacksmith, and the rascal wagered that Jirou wouldn't need more than one hand to crush his spine to little pieces.

"I'll come and pick 'em up along with the chain in a few days, if that's alright with you?" he asked as he stepped closer to the door. He hoped the blacksmith would make his reply short and positive, because he was dying for a gulp of fresh air.

[AdventWings]

Jirou nodded as he received the orders. The blacksmith contemplated on asking the customer to leave his weapon, but the design was simple enough he could replicate from memory.

With the final shadows of the pale-hair customer, Jirou immediately set off to work on the chain-like weapon.

It would be three days before the man returned and the blacksmith was sure to have the weapons ready.