Kailan found the weight of the blade to be negligible. It was the width that bothered him. Nodachi blades had a width of around one and a half to two inches, but the width of this giant sword was almost a foot. It simply didn’t suit his combat style.

Kailan placed the blade back down in its place on the weapon rack. “I don’t like the width.” He said as he looked at the other swords on the rack.

“That blade is what we call a Breaker Blade. It’s fundamentally useless to normal humans because it’s too big, heavy and unwieldy. But for Hunters who possess extreme strength and flexibility it becomes feasible. It’s designed to literally break your opponent, thus its namesake.” Olive explained.

“I’m more geared towards fast and flexible combat.” Kailan stated as he ran his hand along the blade sitting next to the Breaker Blade.

“That’s a Zweihänder. It was very popular in the 16th century. There isn’t much demand for them but they do sell. There are two on the rack. One is 200 centimeters long with a 170 centimeter blade. That’s the one you’re touching. And the other is 150 centimeters long with a 120 centimeter blade. Neither are enchanted with any kind of abilities. And the blade widths are two inches on both.” Olive figured Kailan would be most interested in one of these two blades as the size and weights were similar to a Nodachi.

“Special abilities aren’t a problem. I have a weapon buff spell.” Kailan said as he picked up the larger of the two Zweihänders.

It was almost the same size as his old nodachi and the width of the blade was far more acceptable. The shape was different but he could adapt to that. It was probably the closest he would get. Kailan held the sword straight out as he did before and gave it a single swing. The blade fell perfectly, stopping just an inch above the ground the same as before. It was much lighter than the Breaker Blade.

“How much?” He asked as he observed the craftsmanship of the blade and hilt.

“Don’t worry about it Kai. Olive just put it on my account.” Rebecca smiled seeing that her brother seemed to be satisfied with the blade in his hands. There were actually several blacksmiths that worked for Olive, but she could tell this blade was one that Olive had forged herself. Meaning that it was an exceptionally good weapon.

“It’s no nodachi, but it’s close. This should work fine for now until I can find one or have one made.” Kailan thought to himself as he ran his fingers down the blade, feeling the smoothness of the edge.

“Got it. I’ll have it wrapped up. I’ll also throw in the cleaning and sharpening kit for free. My little discount for you.” Olive said as she smiled at Rebecca.

Rebecca was one of her regular customers and she had introduced several people to her shop. So she naturally had a good relationship with her and didn’t mind giving her a bit of a discount.

Kailan handed the sword to Olive who carried it behind the counter. One of the clerks brought out a large wooden case that had apparently been measured specifically for this particular weapon.

After handing it off to the clerk, Olive walked back over to Rebecca and Kailan. Standing with her hand on her hip.

“What about you? Isn’t it almost time for your annual weapon maintenance?” She asked as she stared at Rebecca.

“I don’t have them with me. I’ll bring them in next week.” Rebecca replied.

“Pumpkin. Where’s your mother?” Edward asked as he surveyed the store. It wasn’t very large so she shouldn’t be able to hide anywhere. Yet he had somehow lost track of her.

Kailan and Rebecca also started looking around. “Over there.” Kailan pointed out as he looked towards the far side of the store.

Maria was standing in front of one of the weapon racks. She had picked up a morning star and was weighing it in her hands. The look on her face showed her excitement in handling it. She apparently felt everyone’s stares as she turned to look at them.

Her grin quickly turned sinister as she stated. “The Corrector.” Patting the shaft of the weapon in her opposite hand. Everyone’s faces twisted in fear and concern.

“I don’t think we should have brought mom into a weapon store while she’s drunk…” Kailan said to no one in particular as he stared ahead.

“I’m beginning to regret having done so. Just think if she were to become a Hunter…” Rebecca responded softly as her face mirrored Kailan’s.

“I’m beginning to pity the poor creatures trying to come through the dungeons…” Kailan replied.

“Honey! Honey, put that down. It’s dangerous… Honey!” Kailan and Rebecca listened and watched as Edward rushed over to Maria, attempting to take the morning star away from her, unsuccessfully.

“Hehehe…” Maria cackled as she dodged her husband.

“Your mom is nuts, Becca.” Olive could only stare in bewilderment and with some trepidation.

“I’m sorry. She’s had a rough day.” Rebecca replied apologetically.

“I take back all of the worry I had for mom all this time. She’s going to be fine. But I may not be…” Kailan thought to himself with some concern.

“Definitely need to take her out for girl’s night.” While Rebecca had her own thoughts on the matter.

Edward was finally able to retrieve the dangerous weapon but now he had another problem. Maria was upset that she had lost her toy and was glaring daggers at him. He knew he was in for it.

“Mom, why don’t you come and check out Kailan’s new sword. It’s really big and sharp.” Rebecca called out as she moved to grab her mother by the arm. At least this way she could keep an eye on her.

“Ooo, it is?” Maria seemed to be placated by Rebecca’s suggestion as she moved with her to the counter where the Zweihänder was resting.

The clerk, taking his cue, removed the cloth wrapping he had placed over the Zweihänder. Maria ran her hand along the blade admiring it. Her drunken stupor seemed to evaporate at that moment as her grin became gentle and loving. No one seemed to notice this.

“Ooo, the new Mana Guns.” Edward broke the moment with his fawning.

Kailan shifted his gaze towards the weapon rack Edward was looking at. It was filled with handguns and rifles. There were some that had strange blue vein-like lines going through them. There were even some bullets that had a light blue glow.

“You even sell these?” Kailan asked as he hovered his hand over the guns with blue veins. He could feel the strong Mana coming off of them.

“Well this is the US. Guns are popular no matter the era. The regular ones are only effective on creatures up to level 3, assuming they're Plebeian rank. The ones with the blue lines are specially crafted with Mana Crystals to make them more effective. But they’re still only good up to level 5 or the early Mortal rank levels. After that most creatures are too fast for the bullets to even hit them.” Rebecca explained disdainfully.

“The glowing bullets are also outfitted with Mana Crystal heads to increase their penetrative effect.” Olive interjected.

"There's no point in looking at them. You'd be better off with a bow and arrow." Rebecca carried on as she pointed to another rack nearby that had various types of bows on it.

"Because it's limited to low level creatures?" Kailan ventured.

"There's that. Plus it's easier to use skills with bows and arrows than with guns and bullets. Skills make up for the slower speed of arrows. Then there's the cost. Mana Crystals are pricey and it takes a lot to make Mana Guns as metals don’t naturally absorb Mana. So a lot of Mana Crystal has to be inlaid into the metal, similar to when you’re enchanting armors or weapons made of metals. Not to mention the bullets. You waste the crystal in the bullet everytime you fire it so it's nothing but a money sink. Only really rich people buy them as they're more of a novelty." Rebecca explained.

Rebecca turned to point at the bows and arrows that were lined up.

“Bows on the other hand don’t need costly crafting with Mana Crystals because they’re made of wood. A living element that absorbs Mana naturally. They usually only have one small one to enhance the material. The arrows also only need to have the arrowhead lined with Mana Crystal. It doesn’t need to be entirely made of Mana Crystal so even though they get used up each time you fire an arrow, the cost is much lower.”

"That's why shops will only stock a small amount of guns and a larger stock of bows. Even though bows sell more, one sale of a Mana Gun is equivalent to a month of sales of all other weapon types." Olive jumped in as she rubbed her fingers together showing an expression of greed.

“Daddy. You’re not getting one.” Rebecca chided succinctly.

“Aw, but pumpkin.” He put on a very pitiful face as he pleaded.

Rebecca just stuck her tongue out at him in response.

“Mom, we should get going. Don’t worry, it’s coming with us.” Rebecca turned to her mother who was still admiring the sword Kailan had picked out.

“Where to next?” Edward asked as he assisted the clerk with wrapping the blade and locking the wooden case.

“To the armor shop next, of course.” Rebecca stated with joy.

Kailan grabbed the large strap on the wooden sword case and swung it over his shoulder. The case was fitted for the length of the Zweihänder with a couple inches on the top and bottom so it was actually 6 feet and 9 inches tall. Quite a bit taller than Kailan. Zweihänders also had large embellished guards and sometimes parrying hooks about a foot down from the guard. So the case was just over a foot wide to accommodate them.

“Hah! You look great carrying that monstrosity. Becca can tell you about the maintenance schedule. Make sure you come back often or it might break down on you. Nothing lasts forever.” Olive stated as she patted Kailan on the shoulder.

“Got it.” He responded with a smile.

“Come on. We have to go all the way to the other side of the building.” Rebecca called out as she dragged her mother along.

“Tell that old coot I said hi.” Olive yelled as everyone rushed out of her shop.

Rebecca walked back along the sidewalk the way they had come but continued on to the very end of the block before turning the corner. No one really looked at Kailan who was carrying the large, almost 7 foot, wooden case. This was a Hunters market so sights like this were common. In fact when they had first arrived, Kailan couldn’t help but notice that almost everyone had some kind of weapon attached to them or in cases like his.

Rebecca continued down the sidewalk to the next corner and then turned into the shop door located at the very edge of the building.

As everyone walked in they could smell the scent of leather, lemon and metal. One of those things seemed a bit out of place until they noticed a young man wiping down the counters with a bottle of lemon scented cleaner.

“Be right with you.” He called out.

“Old peg leg. Get out here.” Rebecca called out. Luckily no one else was in the store as Kailan and Edward felt embarrassed at her yelling.

The young store clerk that was cleaning nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard this. He turned and glared at everyone but when he noticed Rebecca his face turned into a smile.

“Becca!” He called out with joy.

“Hey Billy. Where’s your grandfather?” She responded as she smiled at the young clerk.

“Don’t call me Billy, it's embarrassing. Call me Will.”

“You’ll always be little Billy to me.” Rebecca said as she smiled at him.

Billy blushed shyly before looking up and down at Kailan. He was fixated on the large wooden case he was carrying.

“Who in the bloody hell walks into a man’s shop and calls ‘em ‘Old peg leg’?” A deep gruff voice with a thick irish accent sounded out from the back of the shop as an older gentleman wearing a brown apron, similar to Olive’s, walked out.

Kailan was surprised. This man was a little over 6 foot, had medium length white-grey hair and a beard to match. He was clearly an older gentleman but he was large and built. In fact he looked as healthy as a horse. Not what you would expect from someone his age.

“Old Roger, what else do you call an old man with a fake leg?” Rebecca replied smoothly with a hint of a smile.

“You little brat. Come and give your uncle Roger a hug!” He yelled out boisterously.

“How are you Uncle Roger?” Rebecca swooped in for a hug before facing the old man, still in his arms.

“Good, good. How are you little lass?”

“I’m great. Olive said hi.”

“Oh, that busy body has time to at least send a messenger to greet me. Hell must‘ov frozen over.”

“Haha. Uncle Roger, these are my parents and my little brother Kailan. We came to get him fitted for some armor.” Rebecca pointed towards Kailan and her parents as she introduced them.

“Mom, Dad, Kai, this is Roger Clarke and his grandson William Clarke. Uncle Roger handles all of my armor. He’s been in the business since almost the beginning.” She proceeded to introduce Roger and Will to her family.

“Oh, are you Steel Roger, the famous armorsmith?” Edward asked, surprised.

“Aye, that’d be me. A stupid nickname the other forgers came up with. On account as I started my business forging steel armors. The best.” Roger responded with pride.

“So he’s famous too?” Kailan whispered to Rebecca.

“More than famous. He’s one of the top armorsmiths in the world. Billy is his grandson and apprentice. After the Merger Billy's parents died and Uncle Roger took him in. The incident that killed his parents was also what took Uncle Roger’s leg. Lucy, one of my friends from Twilight Garden, introduced me to them. Billy was only 11 then, and that was eight years ago. I’ve been coming here for my armor ever since.” She whispered back.

Kailan didn’t expect there to be such a lengthy backhistory.

“So, you need an armor? Judg’n by that big case on your back, I’d say you be wield’n a two-hander, am I right?” Roger asked, inspecting Kailan’s body.

“Yes. A two-handed sword. But my combat style is more geared towards speed and flexibility, so nothing restrictive.” Kailan replied while lifting his arms up for Roger.

Kailan had been through many armor fittings before in Asgard. And it was common to have to be refitted after a period of time. After all, the body changed over time. Especially for a 14 year old boy. So he would have to have his armor refitted or replaced, and thus he would need to be re-measured frequently. So he could tell that Roger was truly a professional just by observing how he was measuring him.

“Aye, I can have something made within a week. Any preference to style?” Roger stated simply as he finished examining Kailan.

“Do you have any premade armors I can look at?” Kailan wasn’t really willing to wait that long for custom armor. It would be fine if he can find something simple.

“I do. But it won’t fit perfectly.”

“That’s fine. I don’t need full armor. Just something to cover my back and upper chest should do.” Kailan explained as he looked around at the various armors hanging from racks.

“Are you sure Kai? That’ll leave most of your body unprotected.” Rebecca didn’t think it was unreasonable to wait a week for armor. In fact it was a very short time for custom armor. It normally took twice as much time.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m not really used to wearing much armor to begin with. In fact I only had a chest plate, some gauntlets and greaves before.” He responded.

Rebecca didn’t like the fact that Kailan didn’t want to wear full armor. Considering his stat distribution and how powerful he clearly is, a little armor shouldn’t slow him down by much at all. Even if it was some type of leather armor it was at least better than nothing. Her face scrunched as she stared at him.

Roger thought for a moment.

“Com’ere kiddo. You all wait here.” He waved for Kailan to follow him.

They both walked to the back of the store where the forge was. There were display mannequins lined up along one of the walls, and the area around them was relatively clean compared to everywhere else. Roger walked up to one of the mannequins and placed his hand on top of the pauldrons that were attached to it.

“Try this. It’s a leather armor with light plating. It’s not a full armor so there are no catches at the joints, making it flexible. Both the metal and leather used are from a level 6 dungeon that was raided recently. The stuffs lighter than steel and harder than diamond.” Roger explained as he pointed out the different key points of the armor.

It wasn’t a full armor but it was armor that covered most of the body. There was a chest plate and pauldrons for the upper body. Bracers up to the elbow for the arms. Greaves for the lower legs and a belt with faulds for the waist. The first section of the armor was leather made from hide, it was layered to make it tougher and thicker. The second section was a thin metal plate that had been riveted to the leather.

It would cover most of the body but not get in the way of movement. And it appeared to be close to Kailan’s size.

“It’s a new type of light armor I’ve been working on. Higher level materials are hard to come by but they make sturdy and flexible armors. It’s not enchanted but it’s tough and it won’t limit your movement. Plus it’ll give your family peace of mind. How would you like to test it for me?”

Old Roger had managed to get his hands on the materials because of his status as a skilled craftsman. When he started working with them he discovered they were far tougher than anything he had ever seen yet easily pliable. He had been considering a new type of light armor to craft that incorporated both the flexibility of leather and the strength of metal but didn’t have the right materials.

That was when he got his hands on the ones he used to make the armor he was offering to Kailan.

“The craftsmanship is excellent. Are you sure?” Kailan replied as he admired the armor, smiling. It really was well made.

“Sure thing. It’s no problem. You’re Becca’s little brother right? That’s enough for me. Besides, if you don’t wear it then who will? Com’on, let’s check the fitting and I’ll make the adjustments now. It won’t be a perfect fit but it should do fine.” Roger also had a smile on.

Every craftsman wanted their crafts to be praised. Even more so, what truly made smiths happy was when they could find someone that wanted to use their wares. Although Roger worked tirelessly to craft this new armor he really didn’t have anyone in mind when he did. Seeing as someone with the right type of combat style for a light armor like this appeared at his front door, it was perfect timing.

It didn’t even take Roger an hour to make the adjustments to the straps. The armor was designed for a man of average height and build. Kailan was just this at 5 feet 10 inches. And he had a somewhat muscular athletic build. So the armor fit him better than either had anticipated. When Kailan and Roger walked back out from the back room everyone stopped and couldn’t take their eyes off of Kailan.

“Wow. That’s perfect!” Rebecca said as she clapped her hands together.

“Gramps. Isn’t that…”

“It’s an armor designed precisely for a warrior like young Kailan here. Becca, I’m putting it on your account, but there’s a discount since your brother here is also helping me by testing out the armor.” Roger cut off Billy as he explained.

“I’ve never seen armor like that before. It looks great!” Even Edward was impressed. The armor fit his son very well and it seemed to suit him.

Maria had started sobering up sometime ago. When she saw Kailan wearing the armor and moving around, twisting, testing his movement, she knew that she would have to face him going off to do something dangerous just like her other children. She sighed heavily as she pretended to be tired.

“Let’s head home now. I’m exhausted.” She said to everyone as she walked out of the shop on her own.

Billy helped to package up the armor as Roger discussed the maintenance details with Kailan. Then Kailan, Rebecca and Edward left, catching up with Maria.