“I see, thanks for answering my first question mayor, my second question is a more simple one, since you go out of town to sell the swords made by Smith I guess in the same way you can go out to buy stuff that the townspeople may need” - He doesn´t seem to be troubled by this question, but I notice that he doesn't speak much, being bother or tiredness, if it is too much of any of those the conversation can´t progress.

“If in any given moment you need something, you can tell me and I will buy it, I only need you to pay me in advance so I can buy the thing, after I buy it, a few days later, a merchant should be coming to deliver the stuff” - I suppose that should be enough, I thank the mayor and say goodbye to him, it looks like more than selling the swords the mayor is pretty much our only contact with the exterior, that being the case this man will be a good source of information in the future.

I go back to Smith a little exhausted, he waves at me and points to the house, it's time to sleep, I grab my sheet and lie down in the floor, I've been here for three days but I¨m still not used to the cold floor nor the little food, I wonder if it IS even possible to get used to that stuff

I wake up again in this empty place, I stand up and stretch, my arms hurt a little but it´s a lot more manageable than the first day, but I don't know if I can keep working like this, even if my body can adapt to this amount of work I don't know how much longer it can keep going without a day off, because you do need to rest even for a day, but that day you´re not working to pay for our food.

I pick my sheet and put it on the table, but the moment I lean to the table I feel a little stitch in my neck, I guess sleeping in the floor is already giving me trouble, there must be something I can use as a pillow while I'm here, I go out to have breakfast and make the first two swords of the day.

The forging process feels quicker this time, maybe the practice is making me faster in this stuff even if it is only by mere seconds, maybe it's just easier to work without having to deal with pain muscle, in any way making the bare minimum of 4 swords a day is no longer a concern to me, we manage to make the first 2 swords and take a break to eat, while Smith is pouring water in the jar he suddenly throws a question to me.

“Very well, looks like you're getting used to working here, even if it's just a little, although I´m surprised by your quick improvement, our objective isn't making these 4 swords is it?” - so that´s what it is, being curious is only normal, I did say that the objective was to make 6 swords per day, and it´s good for me that he´s interested.

“Even though in the moment I said that lightly, it is indeed a complicated thing to do, in these last 2 days I have been thinking in ways to make it work, right now I have the bases to work on a plan B and C” - “what about plan A?”

“It died rather quickly, don't worry about it” - Smith gives me a jar filled with water and sits down close to me, he´s full of curiosity, that's perfect since I do need the help of Smith to make any of my plans possible since I own nothing in this world.

“Starting from plan B, this one is pretty simple, I want fire magic, if I could get a book or scroll that could teach me that kind of magic it would be a huge advantage in forging swords, applying the fire magic I can keep the swords heated, meaning that we don't need to use the oven that much, in the best case scenario we won't be using the oven at all, it would make the production faster AND lower the cost of it”

This is one of the practical uses that I can see in using magic, just keeping the sword on a heated red takes a lot of the forging time, if we keep the heat going while the sword is away from the oven and just change the spot where the heat is to keep up with the hammering the forging time will go down by a lot, my only concern is that being always heated may damage the sword but it´s in general a nice plan if I say so myself.

“I understand, it is a clever way to use magic, though I must ask, do you know how to read? are you compatible with fire magic?"

…………

That is an excellent question, I don't know if I can read this world´s lenguaje even if I can talk to the people.

“So this is plan C, molds, a mold works in a very simple way, you melt some metal and pour it in an object with a sword-shaped cavity, after the metal gets cold it will take the shape of the cavity, this molds can be made with sand since it is resistant to high temperatures and it´s easy to give it a shape, the downside of this plan is that you have to wet the sand so it stays in the given shape, meaning that the production cost will go up, but in this instance you can just let the mold cool down while making a second sword, we may be even able to make 8 swords a day.”

“I´m not sure how this mold thing works, but you said melt, we have a small oven that gives us a small flame, how exactly are you going to melt the metal?” - “With...fire magic? don´t worry, these are just some ideas that came to mind, just give me some time to think of a plan D.

That was depressing, the cruel reality is just too cruel to be overcomed with just cleverness, I have been thinking on ways to use my knowledge and the rules of this world on my advantage but it looks that I can´t bend reality on my favor, maybe my only option is to make those swords with something else than wits, but I don't know what could that be.

After I ate and rested a little we put ourselves to forge again, once again we finish the 4 swords before sunset, I still have some energy left so I ask Smith if I can borrow one of the swords, he easily accepts and I take one of them and go out to looking for an open space.

Even though I don't have someone to teach me how to fight, right now it should be enough to familiarize myself with the weapons first, at least for now, holding it from the handgrip I start moving the sword around, first I move it like I use to do when I sharp it, the grip feels a little loose, I guess it can't be helped.

After moving it for a while I start swinging the sword, I do my best to keep the swing always in direction of the edge of the sword, I don't know how much this will do for practice purposes but it's the only thing that I can think of, I would love to practice in some wood or tree since I know it would be better, but the sword itself is pretty low quality and I don't want to dent it. or worse, break it.

After a few hours swinging the sword around I come back to my senses, looks like I was in some kind of trance or something, the sky´s orange right now, it won't be long before it goes dark so I get back to Smith, even if it didn't do much as a practice thing it did helped me to relax and leave my mind blank, so at the end it was time well spent.

I get back to eat and sleep, this routine is getting boring but there´s nothing I can do about it right now, at least my neck isn't hurting, but I'm pretty sure the sore will come back tomorrow, again, nothing I can do about it right now, even though the muscle pain becomes smaller as the days come by, I'm afraid that it may also apply to my energy since I'm not eating well, I need to hurry and think of a plan D.

I wake up again laying in the cold floor, the pain in my arms is barely there, also moving my head it looks like the neck is okay today, but there´s something that gets me worried, the sun hasn't come up yet but I'm awake, the reason is my stomach, I feel really hungry, I guess there's a limit on how much can you ignore the hunger with just bread and water, if I don´t do anything about it it might get really bad.