The morning sun shined high in the sky, with its rays warming the world. The buildings on the left side of the road cast shade onto the ground, providing cover for Loganel and Redgilus. The brick road was filled with residents going about their business, with numerous stores open and catering to customers. However, Redgilus had a different store for Loganel in mind. That was the reason why they ignored the numerous blacksmith and tailor stores they came by.

Redgilus led Loganel away from the Academy, and to an area near the city wall. Here, the streets were fairly clean, but not as clean as the ones in the busier part of the city. In addition, it was quiet quite, with only a few people walking around. This lack of pedestrians was due to the closed stores, which Loganel peeked over and realized that these stores only opens later in the day.

"You come here a lot?" Loganel asked as he looked around the red light district in its sleep.

"Just pass by sometimes," Redgilus answered without looking back. Instead, he continued his walk down the street with Loganel trailing not far after him. "Laurina would kill me if I ever did go into one of these stores."

Loganel then studied the different buildings. Most of the buildings were multiple stories tall, and the tallest was five stories. In addition, many of them have balconies, which Loganel assume is where the women of the night stand to attract their guests.

So at night this place is the exact opposite of what it is now, Loganel thought.

After walking for a bit, Loganel followed Redgilus into another street. The buildings here appeared normal so Loganel assumed that they were no longer in the red light district but rather some ordinary area of the city.

"You don't usually come here do you?" Redgilus asked without stopping.

"Yeah," Loganel answered. "I usually stick to the area near the Academy."

"Just so you know," Redgilus said as he stopped in front of a townhouse with a blacksmith sign hanging from a bar that extended from above the door, "some of the best stores aren't in downtown."

Loganel followed Redgilus into the building with the ringing of a small bell chime attached to the door signaling their arrival to the store's owner. Inside, Loganel's eyes were caught by the numerous weaponry and armor that were on orderly display in places within the store such as the weapon shelves on the left wall and the wooden stands and shelves. Loganel followed Redgilus as he walked up to the wooden counter at the far end of the store.

"Redgilus," an elf with medium length blonde hair greeted them as he emerged from the back room, "welcome. What would you like today."

"Not me but my brother," Redgilus stepped aside from the counter and signaled for Loganel to approach the elf.

Loganel walked up to the counter. There, he realized that the elf appeared quite young. However, he wasn't deceived by the looks since the life span of elves are longer than humans, meaning that they stay young for a tremendously longer time than humans. Therefore, Loganel assumed that the man was older than him.

"I need a new sword and armor," Loganel said. He then reached into his pockets and took out the purple crystal. "Would this work as a payment?"

The elf took the crystal from Loganel and studied it. He nodded his head as he turned the crystal in his hands as he sought to learn more about it. "Your first time going to a blacksmiths?"

"Yeah," Loganel answered, "my old sword was enchanted so it never dulled or rusted."

"I see," the elf nodded. "How about this. We use this, to make your weapon."

"You could?" Loganel asked.

"This is a nice A class magic crystal," the elf said, "would work wonders if it is used to make weapons or armor. But if you do use this as material, it'll cost you."

"How much?" Loganel asked.

"Since you're Redgilus's brother," the elf appeared to be thinking. "Thirty silver and I'll get you the whole set, which includes a whole set of armor and a sword. How does that sound?"

"Thirty Silver..." Loganel repeated in a voice only he can hear. He frowned as he tried to recall how much money he has left.

Loganel closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on the Storage Ring his father had given him when he left the Ainzloft territory for Astalan. He then looked for the money he has left.

Only thirteen Silver left...Loganel frowned as he counted again and again his savings.

"Don't have enough?" Redgilus asked. "Here." He took out a bag of coins from his hip pouch. "Juliana gave this to me this morning when you're still asleep. There's twenty Silver in there. If you still don't have enough I'll pitch in some."

"Where'd she get the money?" Loganel asked as he accepted the bag from Redgilus.

"Probably saved up," Redgilus answered. On his face was still the same, sleepy expression he always displayed. "So do you have enough now?"

"Yeah," Loganel said, summoning a bag of ten Silver from his Storage Ring. "Here, thirty Silver."

"Alright," the elf nodded as he walked over to a clothing stand and took an apron from it before tying it around his waist and wearing it. "Do you want more of the crystal used on the sword or the armor?"

"Sword," Loganel answered. "And for the armor, make it something light but durable."

"Don't like metal platings?"

"Not too much," Loganel answered. "I need mobility for my combat style."

"You...Spellsword?"

"Yes," Loganel answered as his eyes followed the elf as he walked over to the shelves behind the counter and started looking at materials.

"Style preferences?" the elf asked as he looked over what he had in stock.

"Color...something dark. Not much from there."

"Alright...hold on..." the elf made some mental notes. Then, he walked over to the door of the backroom that he came out of and knocked on the door. "Hey, we got a customer."

"Alright," Loganel heard a woman's voice coming from the backroom. Soon, a young-looking elf woman with long, blonde hair dressed in a cropped tank top walked out of the backroom yawning. She appeared to be asleep earlier.

"This is..." Loganel looked over at the male elf.

"This is my sister," the elf answered. "She's the blacksmith here."

"The blacksmith isn't you?" Loganel exclaimed in shock.

"You got a problem with that?" the elf woman said in an annoyed voice.

"No," Loganel's answer was tamed by her authoritative aura.

"My name is Merian," the male elf introduced himself, "and this is my twin sister Meriath."

Loganel looked over at Meriath, who approached Merian and took the crystal from his hands. She then proceeded to study the crystal by bringing it up to a light. "Good quality..."

"He wants more of that used on the sword," Merian answered.

"What type do you want?" Meriath suddenly asked without taking her eyes off of the crystal or stopping what she was doing.

"What?"

"I'm talking to you," Meriath said in a somewhat irritated voice.

"Ugh..."

"You know what," Meriath sighed, "come with me to the backroom."

"I..." Loganel looked over at Redgilus, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Go on," Redgilus nodded.

"Hurry up," Loganel heard Meriath call out from the back room.

In the backroom, Loganel discovered that it wasn't a resting area of any sort. Instead, it was a forge with a furnace that has a roaring fire burning. Judging by the fact that the room was still not that hot, Loganel concluded that the fire was just lit by Meriath.

Loganel looked around for Meriath, and discovered that she was sitting near the furnace with her legs corssed and studying him.

"Yes?" Loganel asked after being exposed to the interrogative look from Meriath. "So how do you fight?"

"I ugh...I'm a Spellsword."

"Combination of magic and swords right?" Meriath nodded. "What type of sword? How long you want the blade and how wide?"

"I don't know much about this," Loganel decided to be honest about his lack of knowledge on the craft. "So I'll let the master decide."

"It was already me that'll decide," Meriath turned around to tend to the fire.

Loganel stood there awkwardly. He didn't know what to do. In addition, the large fire in the furnace now raised the temperature of the room significantly, and Loganel could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His eyes wandered over to Meriath. Her cropped tank top revealed much skin, and Loganel could see sweat forming on her. Then, his eyes wandered to her exposed cleavage. However, he calmly looked away.

"Where'd you get that crystal?" Meriath's words broke the silence within the backroom. "Just by looking at you, I can tell that you're not experienced. What did you do to get this crystal? This shouldn't drop from weak monsters."

"I ugh...the Cleaver in Ekeletas," Loganel answered.

"Killed it huh?"

Then, it was quiet once again. Loganel was now sweating a lot from the high temperature, causing his head to feel dizzy and his clothes to be drenched. However, it would appear that Meriath did not have any of the problems that Loganel had.

Bored, with nothing to do, Loganel decided to observe Meriath as she worked. His eyes followed her movement as she went over to a cabinet and looked through the drawers for the metal to use. Then, he observed as she swiftly went back over to the forge and with a pair of tongs grabbing onto the metal, began heating it.

"Can you not stare at me like a pervert?" Meriath suddenly said without looking over.

"I'm not," Loganel answered.

The silence once again returned to the room as Meriath was absorbed by her work. Loganel could feel her passion as she worked. Despite her cold attitude, Loganel felt that she has a burning passion for her craft.

"So what're you doing now?" Loganel asked as he watched Meriath stare at the metal in the furnace.

"I'm smelting the metal," she answered.

"...How long have you've been making weapons?"

"Thirty years," she answered.

"Are you um...from here?'

"No. Moved here forty years ago with Merian."

"Aren't you afraid of getting burned wearing that?" Loganel asked. He had a good reason to ask since Meriath was wearing a cropped tank top that only covered her breasts and exposed her belly, waist, and arms.

"If you're skilled in what you do," she said, "you won't make mistakes."

"Right..."

"What're you doing in here?" Meriath's question caught Loganel off guard.

"What?"

"You know you could've left earlier you know. Sword's not gonna be done until tomorrow. I know its a bit hot for normal people. So you don't have to stay. And if you leave, I could better focus on it."

"...Then ugh...see you tomorrow," Loganel said as he walked to the door that led to the front of the store.

Upon emerging from the backroom, Loganel could feel the normal temperature air cooling him down. His sweat drenched clothes also made it so that he felt that it was a bit too cold. Loganel looked around and discovered that Redgilus was sitting by a small table sipping some tea, and Merian was over at his workshop on the left side of the store drawing on paper.

"You're finally out," Merian smiled and called over. "Come here, I need to get your measurements."

Loganel followed his orders and walked over to him. There, Merian had him raise his arms straight out to the side of him and maintain that pose. Then, Merian used a tape measure to measure the length of Loganel's arms. Next, he measured how wide around his arms were.

"You want a helmet?" Merian asked.

"No," Loganel answered.

"Alright," Merian continued.

After about ten minutes, Merian finished all of the needed measurements. He had written them on a piece of paper that he placed next to what he was drawing earlier. Loganel peeked at the drawing and realized that it was a design for his requested armor.

"You're all done for the day," Merian said to him. "We should be able to get the armor done tomorrow by dusk. So come pick it up around that time."

"All done?" Redgilus walked over with the cup of tea still in hand.

"Yeah," Loganel said. "Thank you," he said to Merian.

"No problem," Merian answered. "You want some tea before you leave?"

"No thanks," Loganel responded.

"Well, Redgilus just leave the tea cup on the counter," Merian said. "I'll take care of it."

"Thanks Merian," Redgilus did as Merian said he could. Then, he walked out of the store with Loganel.

The sun was already directly above their head when they walked out. the city was also quite lazy from the warmth of the sun. As they walked, Loganel could see many employees of the different stores resting their heads on the counter.

"Don't forget to come pick it up tomorrow," Redgilus said. "I told my party that I'll only be taking today off."

"Thanks Redgilus," Loganel said as they headed back to their dorms.

"Don't need to," Redgilus chuckled. "I'm your brother."

Author's Notes:

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