- [Steel-Headed Arrow]{Talon of the owl-god} -

- Quality -

Normal

- Composition - [Steel Arrowhead](Normal) [Spry-Wood Shaft](Normal) [Anqa Feather](Normal) x4 - Quality Effects -

“Chosen of the owl-god”

Adds additional attributes to the attached weapon - Title Effect - “Talon of the owl-god” +3 OBSCURANTISM +3 WIND DMG +3 LIGHTNING DMG 4 PHYSICAL DMG A steel-headed arrow, lined with trimmed anqa feathers. It has an even balance. ‘Made by weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the owl god’ Weight: 0.73kg Durability: 05/05 Value: 83 Obols

“Three-hundred eighty four,” says Hineni, patting the crate.

The soldier goes through his notes, checking off some articles. He looks over to his partner, who is digging through the container, roughly counting the arrows.

The man counting looks back and nods. “All here.”

“Great.” A sound of ripping is heard, as the soldier tears a slip of paper out of his stack of sheets and hands it to Hineni. Hineni takes it, not bothering to look at it and hands it to Sockel. “Your services are appreciated,” says the soldier. “Your money will arrive on your account within a few business days, once we get these back.”

“Glad to help,” says Hineni.

The soldiers close the crate back up and carry it together out of the front door, which Rhine holds open. They load it onto a cart and then drive off.

Hineni sighs in relief. “Looks like we survived our first order,” he says.

“Survived?” asks Sockel, looking over the order and whistling. “You realize that we made over thirty-thousand Obols on just these arrows, right?” she asks. “That’s a bit more than just surviving.”

“Can I have a raise?” asks Rhine.

“Get lost, twerp,” says Sockel. “As our financial planner, I’ve decided that company morale is a high priority,” she explains. “As such, I’m getting a raise.”

Hineni raises an eyebrow. “You two realize that I have to agree to this, right?” he asks, not entirely sure if they’re serious or not. Though he doesn’t have anything against the idea. The two of them worked just as hard for this as he did.

“It is true!” hoots Obscura, who was sitting above their heads. She flies down, shifting into the form of a small owl, which lands on Hineni’s head. “Hineni can not approve of such things,” she says. Hineni lifts his eyes, trying to look at the creature sitting on his head. “Because he will buy very many pretty things for his darling Obscura, yes?”

“Maybe hunt something that isn’t a rabbit and we can think about buying you something,” suggets Sockel.

Obscura turns her head. “Her tongue is sharp and Obscura’s heart is soft and precious. Devil Sockel!” she hoots angrily. “You will bow your spirit!”

“It’s been a month. I can’t eat rabbit anymore,” argues the elf, leaning in towards him and looking up at the owl-god, who she is apparently very much not afraid of.

“Rabbit is great meat to build muscle though, Sockel,” says Rhine. “I like rabbit.”

“That’s because you’re built like one,” replies the elf.

“Nu uh!” argues Rhine.

“Who~!”

Maybe he’s a bit cranky today because of his troubled sleep last night, but Hineni sighs, getting a little annoyed at their behavior. “You’re all acting like frogs,” he says, throwing it into their quickly heating debate.

The room goes quiet. Talons press down into his head.

He points at Sockel. “Sockel. Add a fair percent to your and Rhine’s pay. I don’t care.”

“You got it, boss-man.”

He looks at Rhine, pulling the owl off of himself. “Rhine. Sweep.”

“Aw… I hate sweeping…” mutters Rhine beneath his breath.

Hineni sets Obscura down. “Take some money and go to the butcher. We can just buy something too.”

“Who~” hoots the owl-god curiously.

Hineni sighs. “Sorry,” he says, walking to the forge, realizing that he could have phrased that less snarkily. “Didn’t sleep well.” He rubs his forehead and heads down the stone corridor, leaving the three of them to fulfill their chores.

By all measures, the steel arrowhead-molds were a triumphant success. Rhine went above and beyond with them.

Hineni stands there in the forge, his hands behind his back as he looks at them.

Maybe the thing that is bothering him is that he was outdone by some hunks of metal? All of his years of experience and work have been outmatched by some hollow cubes and a little melted steel.

Sure, it seems a little silly. But maybe there is something there, to that thought?

The mass production of weapons is a highly efficient process, especially for finicky, small things like arrowheads. Through this government paid order, they made a full thirty-thousand Obols, basically overnight. What’s even ‘worse’ is that these mass-produced arrows all had the blessing of the owl-god too.

It seems silly, but he realizes that his ‘thing’ has become a thing of the past.

The molds, made by himself and Rhine, carry the blessing of the owl-god, which has also enveloped the structure here itself. The magic of her presence has gone far beyond just affecting himself. They’ll be able to fulfill all of the military’s orders with this concept, barring one or two odd weapons.

This all leads up to one thing.

- For standard weapons like these, he himself is just not needed anymore.

His name is on the deed to the house, sure, but anyone could run this place. Hell, sometimes he’s sure that Sockel actually does more to run it than he does.

Hineni looks over towards the stack of metal, aglow in the meek firelight of the dwindling furnace.

He’ll just have to find something else, then. He realizes that the man from his past is standing in the room together with himself, in this very instant. But he’s not going to fall for his tricks. He’s come too far and learned too much to go back down that road.

Hineni picks up a bar of exotic, very expensive metal, examining its prismatic, pink-silvery surface.

- [Orichalcum Ingot] -

- Quality -

Normal

- Composition - [UNIDENTIFIED] 100%

- Quality Effects -

None

Orichalcum: 100% resistant to magic

An ingot of pure orichalcum. It has been hand-smelted, as orichalcum is entirely resistant to all forms of magic. Weight: 5.0kg Value: 5000 Obols

If his ‘thing’, making all of the normal weapons for the sales, has finally come to an end. Then he’s just going to have to develop a new thing.

It’s like the god of death said. He has to make weapons.

- And weaponsmithing can be so much more than just making arrows and swords and axes.

The hammer strikes out, ringing aloud in the forge-tower as Hineni starts his work, far earlier in the day than usual.

Flames blast out of the furnace, licking the tips of his fingers and the tops of his knuckles, as they stray too close to each other during the work.

Orichalcum is difficult to work with, because it is entirely resistant to magic of all kinds. That includes crafting magic, meaning it can only be worked by hand. Given its prohibitive pricing of five-thousand Obols per ingot, it’s also an exclusive material of the upper echelons of society, who strictly limit and control the supply of the five mines it is said to stem from.

The only reason he was even able to get any at all is because of his connection to Avarice.

“Friends in high places,” mutters Hineni, turning his head to look at the metal-owl, sitting on its high perch at the top of the tower.

Despite its magic-resisting properties, Orichalcum is however magical in and of itself.

The magical-scholars of the academy would explain this phenomenon with something like ‘different magical frequencies’ or something about ‘higher and lower dimensions’ or whatever.

- Bunch of wobbly-woo.

Five kilograms is a lot of material for one item, so he had split the ingot in two halves.

The first item he’s making is a shield. It’s not exactly a weapon, but he has a specific idea for it. So it's weaponish. The second item however, is something more exotic.

Hineni spends hours flattening the metal, using a varied combination of his hammer and some very large, rounded, iron spheres. After it’s reasonably flat, he begins curving the edges inward, hammering away for a time.

It takes another hour. Rhine comes in and starts his work, but Hineni just keeps on going, wanting to finish this project today. He’s become a little obsessed with the project, actually.

The man skips lunch and keeps working.

The shield eventually has the right form and shape and attaching a sturdy leather strap to it isn’t a large order of work afterwards.

What’s more time-consuming is the fact that it still has to be detailed and polished.

Hineni isn’t much of an artist, but he sits down with his engraver’s pen and begins scratching intricate lines of detailing around the edges of the shield. Once the lines are set in a place he likes, he repeats his strokes, deepening the grooves into thick, broad channels.

Hineni has his shirt off. He doesn’t know how long it's been, but he’s hunched over the shield, rubbing it with an oiled rag, having finished sanding it half an hour ago.

And then, he stops.

It’s done.

- [Orichalcum Shield]{Ward of the owl-god} -

- Quality -

HIGH

- Composition - [Orichalcum Shield](Normal) [Black Leather Strap](Normal) [Steel Bolts](Normal) x4 - Quality Effects -

“Ward of the owl-god”

Adds additional attributes to the attached shield - Title Effect - “Gaze of the owl-god” +3 OBSCURANTISM +3 WIND DMG +3 LUK 9 DEF Effect: Reflects all offensive spells cast against it back towards their source. An orichalcum shield, covered in intricate detail and workings. It is sturdy and holds well. ‘Made by weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the Owl God’ Weight: 2.21kg Durability: 125/125 Value: 9000 Obols

Hineni smiles, looking at it.

It’s beautiful.

Sure, a shield isn’t exactly a weapon. But with this spell-reflection bonus, it might as well be. Any wizard or sorcerer on the front-line is going to have a very bad time if someone with this shield charges their way. Given its price, probably some knight or low-tier noble officer.

He sets it down, looking around the forge.

It’s late.

He’s tired.

He turns his head towards the door, looking at Obscura, who is sitting there on the floor, leaning against the wall, asleep. A plate of food is on the workbench.

Hineni blinks.

He had been so lost in his work, that he didn’t even notice her entering, let alone falling asleep here.

He turns back to the forge, wanting to work more.

Instead however, he extinguishes the flames. Hineni wolfs down his food in the dying light of the forge and then picks up Obscura, carrying her upstairs in both of his arms. It’s time to go to bed.

The half-asleep owl-god softly hoots, a taloned finger running along his chest.

He lays in bed.

Hineni’s eyes wander up along the wall, up towards the ceiling and then all the way back to the wall at the head of the bed.

A dream-catcher hangs there, hand-made by the owl-god.

Obscura and Eilig have gone to great efforts to seal the house from outside influences. He can only assume that this is at Obscura’s behest, so that he can not have a fourth ‘frog dream’.

And in truth, he really appreciates the effort. But, given how terrible his sleep was last night, how jumbled and garbled it was, full of twisted faces and broken memories of things that exist in the half-space between reality and the dreamscape, it all doesn’t seem to be working as well as hoped.

He closes his eyes and he hears, softly in the distance, the sound of music being played. It sounds as if it were behind some walls, as if its tone were muffled and not really meant for his ears to hear.

His foot twitches. The smell of water-lilies comes to him, stemming from a distant childhood memory.

Hineni opens his eyes, getting up and out of bed.

He looks at Obscura, covering her up and then he returns downstairs.

There’s more work to do.

“Seltsam,” says Hineni, standing in the pitch-black library. “I need a book on skulls.”

It’s quiet, still being the time when everyone else is asleep.

He waits for a moment.

“Ah, uh- h- hello!” says a surprised voice in the darkness. “I wasn’t st- staying here! I just uh, you know, I forgot my house keys and uh, I came back to… get them?” suggests the voice of the librarian, who has never seen. “- …Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” she asks.

Hineni lifts his arms. “It’s my house. My library. I don’t have to wear a shirt if I don’t want to.”

“I uh, I think Sockel made a rule about that.”

“That’s during work hours,” says Hineni. “And I decide when the work hours are, Seltsam. They aren’t now.”

“Oh, uh… yeah, sure. Are you kind of intense today? Haha…”

“I need a book on skulls,” repeats Hineni, narrowing his eyes.

“Sure! Sure!” says Seltsam, sounding far more nervous than usual. “Hold on.”

A minute later, a book slides around the corner, towards his feet. “Here you are, OH! Look at that!” She laughs an awkward laugh. There is a sound of jangling metal. “I found my keys, haha! I guess I better leave then!”

Hineni grabs the book and rolls his eyes, turning to leave. “I don’t care if you stay here, Seltsam,” says Hineni. “But don’t lie to me.”

He opens the door, stepping back out.

“Sorry,” says the librarian.

“It’s fine. Good night,” replies Hineni.

These are going to be very unpleasant things.

But weapons are tools, and sometimes tools have unpleasant purposes. He doesn’t let that stop him right now, as he breaks apart the second half of the orichalcum bar into five separate pieces, each a weight of zero-point-five kilograms.

The fire shines alight, shining over the bags of his eyes and he toils away, determined to get this next project done.

He can sleep after this.

He just needs to finish.