The bell on the door rang as Nathaniel came into the store, " I'm coming." A voice came from further in the store though the was no one at the counter. The voice sounded rushed, impatient even. Minding his own business Nathaniel looked at the various weapons on the shelves.
The metallic stench of blacksteel suffocated the room, bows, shields and swords, other weapons which he could not identify filled orderly on the shelves surprisingly with no customer in sight. He walked over to shelf that had bows, he picked up a bow that had the grip made of rosewood with streaks of lines that curved gently allowing for a firm grip. The upper and lower limbs tips had blacksteel, flicking the bow the thrumming sound of the string reverberated in the store. The bow was a good balance between heaviness and sturdiness. Its design impeccable.
Both qualities said a lot about the blacksmith. Nathaniel wondered why such a man was in such a village, why not go to the cities or towns.
Nathaniel was fascinated , he moved over to the left side of the shields, he picked up one of the arm bracers made of leather, he recognized the leather. It wans dark brown but the roughed leather of the rank 1 earth serpent still looked good.
Nathaniel moved over to the swords, his eyes brightened and his breaths became deeper as if panting at the sight of great swords but short swords were the best bet. Though he was a magician which man would not love to wave a sword, testing his mantle and that of his enemy.
Most of the swords were made of blacksteel though not all were enchanted, blacksteel was the most metal ore common on the market. "Mmghhn." Nathaniel turned to the voice dragging him out of his engrossed self. A man stood in the middle of the doorway to which he assumed led to the back of the workshop. " So, what are you buying?" The man was the personification of impatience, arms crossed over the smithing apron he wore as his finger tapped his upper left arm. His face was blatant disregard however not for the customer but because he had been disturbed amidst forging. Soot marks covered his apron and the burnt smell wafter mingling with the smell of metal. The man whom Nathaniel presumed to be Kahn the blacksmith.
" This arm bracer, both of this short swords and that leather armor over there." Nathaniel said as he pointed at various items disregarding the man's manner's. He had at some point came to obsess over people's etiquette.
Kahn looked at him then at his selection of weapons. " Alright." he said, " That will be 32 gold coins." He said as he went over collecting them and packaging them up. The was no slip up with the price, Nathaniel paid the full price as left as he came.
Kahn looked at the departing figure of the man after a few seconds he went back to his smithing. Nathaniel headed out to the open fields outside the north gate, since his magic was unreliable he had started to train his sword mastery, he had gotten used to his current balance of his body when he fought.
After walking about 15 minutes to a secluded spot, he stood before a tree, the tree extended high above the line of sight. Its trunk though with littered with sword slashes.
Standing still, the cool breeze calmed his restless mind. Nathaniel got into a stance, his left leg behind his right leg, center of balance lowered. His arm felt the grip of the new sword, it was new and would take some getting used to. "Haa!" He lunged slashing the tree, the sword left a deep mark as its enchantments of hardness and sharpness glowed. A deep slash marred the tree, the deepest of the marks. He continued slashing trying out while traversing the forest increasing his agility and reflexes.
The night set, bringing a close yet opening the eventful day tomorrow for the scouting of the labyrinth the following day.
The following day...
Nathaniel felt comfortable in his armor, the bright morning brought life to the somewhat sleeping village. " A 3 pound bag of green scorched beef jerky and 3 loaves of dry brown bread." " A gold coin." said the merchant. Nathaniel bought supplies as merchants who opened their stalls lining their somewhat inexhaustible pockets. A hundred gold no matter how he filtered he found his pockets feeling lighter.
He walked towards the church of Minthes, the hymns welcomed him into the cathedral. If he did not know that he was in another world Nathaniel would thought from the look of the cathedral that he was still on earth. Rows on benches on both sides of the path leading to the altar.
The red clover however replaced the cross, old rose wood made the benches bringing along a smell like a breath of life to the cathedral.
" How may we help you kind sir?" A male apprentice approached Nathaniel, he was dressed in similar garments to Lilian. " I am here to offer alms and pray for the miracle of protection. " Nathaniel said to the man. " Please tell apprentice Liliana that Nathaniel Wilton offer's his gratefulness." Nathaniel took his leave, it was time for the scouting expedition, the members were meeting at 10:30 am in the guild master's office.
Heading into the office, Nathaniel was welcomed by the sight of seven men dressed in armor, the mood was still, he was the last to arrive. Martha and Lavender stood beside the guild master Rodrick.
" I thought you had bailed on me." Rodrick said musing, "What the fuck is he doing here?" Leon shouted bringing the attention onto him, Nathaniel turned his gaze however he redirected it to Rodrick ignoring the squealing chimp.
"Leon, calm down or you would you rather sit this one down." Rodrick said unforcefully, Leon swallowed nervously at those words. " I will cooperate." He still held a grudge but he prioritized himself first. The tense mood relaxed as Rodrick continued " This is an important mission, Nathaniel I have already briefed them. You guys can discuss the particulars amongst yourselves. Your purpose is to verify the labyrinth's location don't get any funny ideas. Understood?"
"Yes guild master." The men said as they turned to leave, Nathaniel looked at Leon questioning the guild master's choice, a rookie on such an important task but he was a rookie himself.
" My name is Carl, I am a tank and leader a of this scouting party, Nathaniel right?" A rather lean man approached Nathaniel, a modest demeanor with a height of 5 foot 10, seeing his physique Nathaniel thought he had heard wrong however the firm grip of Carl's handshake said otherwise.
" Yes, I'm Nathaniel. Pleasure to meet you." Carl's badge as a B rank hung onto his left shoulder, establishing his might and authority. The departed towards the south gate.