Once we left the Bounty Office, located at the left end of the block, Maisen took us north. The enormous size of the Watch Headquarters truly dawned on me as we kept walking up the block, walking along the same building. When we reached the middle of the block, the captain suddenly stopped walking and turned toward the building.

Distracted by my contemplation, I almost walked into the two Watchmen marching closely behind her. But somehow I managed to avoid bumping into them and embarrassing myself. Following their lead, I turned right and saw another open doorway. Unlike the bounty office, however, this place was guarded by two Watchmen wearing plate mail armor and carrying halberds. I quickly invoked my magic detection, and my suspicions were confirmed when I detected strong auras emanating from their equipment. I glanced at the ensuing pop-ups, taking note of my 200 points increase in experience, and dismissed the notifications. This place must be the armory.

When I walked inside, I saw rows upon rows of weapons, but mainly swords, hanging on the left wall. Armor pieces took up the bulk of the middle and right walls. Shields dotted the area where the floor met the wall all around the room. I saw Maisen conversing with a short man with long, fiery red hair tied into braids. He had a long, bushy red beard that would be the envy of my rural countrymen from back home. The man had forearms easily the size of my thighs. His muscular physique was very different from the gnomes that I had encountered at the bank and the bounty office. Obviously, this was a dwarf. A check of the caption above his head revealed his name as "Bis Durkgank." However, I was very surprised to see what the dwarf held in his hands—a notepad and a quill!

Maisen turned her attention from Bis and looked around the room until our eyes met. "Come over here, Lawrence!" she waved impatiently.

Since the room was surprisingly big, I decided to jog over to her and reach her position ASAP. She wasn’t in the mood to be kept waiting. As I went over, I saw my other companions looking forlornly at the swords on the wall.

Once I reached her, Maisen introduced the dwarf. "This is our esteemed armorer, Bis Durkgank. He's going to take your measurement and then find the right armor for you to wear."

When Bis offered his hand, I took it purely out of habit and politeness. However, I was NOT prepared for the big squeeze as Bis gripped my hand. I immediately received a pop-up that read, "-2 Health." Ouch.

Both the dwarf and the captain grinned knowingly as Bis mercifully released my hand.

I flexed my hand into a fist and released it several times; I wanted assurance that I could still hold a sword if necessary.

"Milord, I didn't squeeze that hard," a gruff voice emerged from the dwarf's throat as he started examining me with his piercing emerald eyes. The man started circling me and stopped after two full rotations. Bis wrote something into his notepad. "Be right back," he promised and left me alone with the mischievous captain.

Sankryn and Giudot finally appeared and stood next to her.

"Who won the bet?" I asked the trio.

The tall Watchman chuckled. "Who would be foolish enough to bet on your introduction with Bis? He does that to everyone he meets for the first time."

"Apparently, it's a dwarven custom," Giudot added helpfully.

"Why is his name 'Bis?'" I asked innocently, taking the opportunity to satisfy my curiosity while the armorer was away.

Maisen looked around the room but Bis was nowhere to be found. Apparently, he had to go into the storage room to retrieve the proper size armor for Lawrence. "To be honest, Bis never really told us how he got that name," she admitted in a low voice.

"The dwarf has a prickly personality and gets angry fairly easily. Nobody messes with him. Those thick arms pack a mean punch!" Sankryn warned as he smacked his right fist into his left palm.

Giudot hunched closer to us and said, "The rumor is that his da lost a bet at the local tavern, and had to pick a name that rhymed with 'piss.'"

"Is that what people think?" a gruff voice interrupted.

The four of us jumped at the sound of his voice and we slowly turned around to find Bis holding a piece of armor in his right hand and a small hammer in his left hand. His bushy brows furrowed together, forming an unbroken line.

Bis slowly shook his head in amusement. "If you must know, my full name is Bisjuklantimohgerdo. I got tired of hearing you tall folks mangle my name and decided to legally change it to Bis. And before any of you jokers ask, I could show you the official certificate from the Church registering my name change. Now, I want you to quench that stupid rumor and tell everyone what my real name is. Got it?" For emphasis, he started tossing his hammer in the air and catching it with his left hand.

The four of us nodded guiltily.

"Okay, I wasted enough time with your foolishness. Milord, I want you to stand right over there," the armorer said while pointing at the southeastern corner of the room.

I turned toward the direction that Bis had pointed. I obeyed and walked over to that section of the room. Unlike the rest of the armory, the walls at this corner were adorned with tools such as hammers, chisels, and brushes. A small work bench leaned against the eastern wall, and a stool was in front of the workspace. I noticed a small canister on the table; I assumed it was filled with oil because there was also a dirty rag next to it on the bench.

Bis grabbed the stool and placed it a few steps away from his table, where he had laid down the piece of armor that he held a moment earlier. "Please stand next to the stool," he ordered.

I did as he requested. I watched as the dwarf grabbed the piece and then climbed on top of the stool. When Bis started fiddling with straps on the armor, I paid closer attention to the armor in his hands. It was a long piece of hard-boiled, dark brown leather in the shape of a jacket. The ends were bound together with the straps. However, I noticed there were large pieces of metal somehow interwoven into the leather.

Bis helped me put on the studded leather armor and then rotated my body slightly so that he could tie three sets of straps together vertically down the middle of my torso. When the armorer was finished he hopped off the stool and started walking around me. His green eyes focused on the contours of my armor to assess its fit on my body. Every now and then, the armorer would lightly hammer a section of the armor to bend it closer to my skin. Afterward, he would push the affected section with his fingers. "How does it feel?" he finally asked after a few minutes of silent inspection and customization.

I turned my chest toward the left and right, stretched my arms up and then out. I did two sets of jumping jacks. "It's not as heavy or cumbersome as I expected," I admitted honestly. I started feeling warmer than before since the leather armor was more like a vest; it didn't cover my arms and the piece dropped to my hips but didn't quite interfere with my leg movement either.

WHACK!

I felt someone slap across my back. HARD. The pop-up confirmed the damage: "-5 Health." I quickly turned around to discover the perpetrator of the assault against me. It was the captain! I stared into her eyes and scowled at the grinning woman.

"It's a tradition among the Watch to test the armor the first time a Watchman gets a fitting," Giudot explained and coughed once.

"But we won't join in," Sankryn added to put my fear of more hazing to rest.

"You're missing out on the fun," Maisen wisecracked and earned another scowl from me.

Bis noisily dragged the stool across the floor and returned it to its original spot in front of his bench. "Will the cleric need other equipment? Perhaps a shield and mace?" he suggested.

The captain looked down at my butterfly-adorned scabbard for a moment and then shook her head. "Lawrence is a relatively new student to the dojo, and the grandmaster will not appreciate it if we mess with his pupil's swordsmanship by making Lawrence use a shield right now," she explained.

"Ah, I see," Bis nodded in understanding. "In that case, I just need you to sign off on the issuance of the studded leather armor. Its quality is rated 'A-,' you see," he said while pushing his notepad and quill to the captain, who quickly signed it and returned them back to the dwarf.

Giudot's eyes lit up at hearing the quality of my armor. "That's not fair!" he protested. "My armor is B+ and so is Sankryn's." It was unfathomable for the newest member of a patrol to have better equipment than his superiors! He was becoming quite jealous of me.

His friend put a hand on the angry man's shoulder but Giudot shoved it aside.

Captain Maisen calmly turned to face Giudot. "It is beneath Lawrence's social class as a nobleman to wear anything lower than 'A' quality, and I'm already pushing the rules by allowing him to wear an 'A-' piece," she pointed out while holding out her left thumb. "Normally, a nobleman should be accompanied by a liegeman or at least a bodyguard. Since he has neither, Lawrence has a need for the best armor that we can offer him." She held up her left index finger to join the thumb. "Third, Lawrence had killed the wererat leader, and if any of the pack remains in Tregome then he will be targeted." She raised her middle finger. "Fourth, he is also a holder of a sacred truth stone and a member of the Church itself. As such, his standing is far above yours and his equipment should reflect this." She raised her ring finger. "Finally, even if you ignore his standing, Lawrence needs excellent protection for a simple reason—his character level." She raised her pinky. The captain slowly turned around to face me. "Lawrence, please let us what your current level is. I'm ORDERING everyone in this room to keep his true character level a top secret. Am I making myself clear?" she demanded.

The two Watchmen and the armorer, who is officially a member of the Watch and, therefore, subject to the captain's orders, quickly saluted. "Yes, Captain!" they barked in unison.

When all eyes in the room turned toward me, I started feeling butterflies in my stomach. I sighed and said meekly, "Currently, I'm level four."

"WHAT!" Giudot face palmed. "I LOST my duel to an AMATEUR?" he moaned out loud. "I thought he was a journeyman!" Giudot was at level seven, and it was humiliating for him to discover that he had lost to someone half his level! It would be one thing to lose to someone at level ten or above that he assumed the nobleman to be, but to lose to someone that low was a poor reflection on Giudot’s swordsmanship.

Sankryn bit his lips to stifle his laugh. When the moment finally passed, he said sympathetically, "It was a duel. Land three quick hits and the fight is over. In a real fight, you would have won. I have no doubt."

The dwarf pulled on his long beard and nodded in agreement. "A duel with three quick love taps is not a true measure of a warrior's strength with his blade," he added. Bis looked at Giudot and said, "I have a feeling that you will soon prove yourself."

Giudot immediately grabbed the lifeline the two had generously provided him. The swordsman casually rested his left hand on his sword hilt. "I can't wait."