Chapter seven

The first thing I did after entering the village was to head towards what I assumed was the market district, once there I hung about observing different transactions to gauge the value of the currencies they were using. After a short time I figured out that they used a base 100 system, meaning 1 gold coin=100 silver coins =10000 copper coins= 1000000 iron bits. Value wise a decent meal costs a copper coin, a decent inn costs 25 coppers per night, and I could probably get decently dressed for under a silver coin.

Now that I figured out how the money system works , I made my way to the village blacksmith. It seemed to be situated right next to one of the very few buildings in the village that was properly maintained and was in good condition. This building had a crest over the door that showed a bow and a sword crossed over a shield and underneath it in neat lettering it said 'mercenary guild' . I was really curious about that place , but first I had to get some of the local currency so I went into the blacksmith's shop. Inside I found display cases full of all kinds of weapons . There were separate display cases for swords, axes, spears, and war hammers. On the walls hung wooden mannequins wearing all types of armor from heavy plate mail, to scale mail, and finally chain mail. The moment I entered the place a rather short but heavily built man stared at me suspiciously, which was understandable since I didn't look like I could afford bread let alone anything in here.

" Are you lost kid? I think you've entered the wrong place sonny." Even though his voice sounded amicable, there was a barely hidden edge of steel underneath that showed that he was not someone to be messed with.

"Hello, my name is john and I just wanted to know the prices of the ores here."

He seemed taken aback by my polite introduction. Then he seemed to look at me for a couple of seconds shrugged and replied, "I'm Walter friends call me Walt. As for prices I can answer that for you."

" I was wondering how much orichalcum costs."

He chuckled and answered as if he was humoring a child , "Well a high class ingot of orichalcum the size of a babies fist can go for 120 gold coins."

I stood there digesting his words and finally came to a decision. I took out one of the door hinges that were sheared off when the pod doors were pried open and put it on the counter in front of Walter. For a second he just stared at it for a second then lunged for it. After he picked up the metal he tasted it with his tongue, then his round eyes became even rounder. He took a small hammer from some where under his coveralls and struck it against the hinge, after hearing the clear note that rung out his eyes turned even rounder. He told me to follow him and ran quickly to the back of the shop. When I arrived he was putting the hinge on a pedestal with a magic circle on it and after a while the hinge started to float and glow a bright gold color. Walter fell on his knees and suddenly started speaking in rapid German. He calmed down enough to turn towards me and said, " Do you know what you have here?"

"You tell me Walter."

"Its pure orichalcum, all the books say it is impossible but its right here under my nose ... Hahaha" he was starting to get hysterical so I decided to cut to the chase before he loses all his reason.

"So how much will you give me for this?"

"What do you mean? I can't afford this , this little piece of metal is worth more than everything I own..." There were tears in his eyes as he admitted this to me.

"Tell you what, you seem like a pretty honest and nice guy so how about this, you pay me 120 gold coins and give me permission to work freely in your forge and I'll give you the metal." I knew I was probably losing a lot of money but I liked Walter. He didn't try to cheat me and he was probably the kind of friend you could count on when you're in trouble so I wasn't overly bothered.

He immediately ran to the back of the room opened a heavy door took out a sack of money and without even counting it gave it to me afterwards he ignored me and continued to stare at the metal. I discreetly put the sack of gold in my pocket dimension. After leaving the store I heard running behind me and turned around and behind me was a flustered Walter trying to catch his breath. After he gained his composure he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. Then he said a single sentence and left, but the importance of the words were not lost on me. The simple sentence he said to me was...

" You can call me Walt "