In the evening I explain to the girls that I am thinking of taking on some extensive hunting work in the coming weeks. Kira is immediately on board. She has clearly been wanting to contribute more to the household using her hunting skills because of her lack of commercial skills like the other girls. Even Mari has her farming skill and Lawra has turned her little stall into more than just a way for me to sell leftover weapons and tools I make from time to time. Lynne remains a steady worker though we could benefit from having her come along with her dismantling and support skills.

However, Lynne seems keen on staying on the farm with Mari and Lawra. That is fine by me, and Kira for some reason seems to think this a good idea as well. No one wants to elaborate. Rin asks if she can come, and Kira happily agrees for me. Ideally I want to find one or more male hunters to join us, but they have to be guys I trust which limits the numbers. I managed to find Brute yesterday, but he said he was busy. "Since there is only three of us so far, we could do with one or two more hunters." With that settled me and Kira head to the guild. I want to find Lak or Teckar. Both I trust.

"Sorry, we have already taken a mission up north along the border with Dain. Poor guy needs someone to party with." Lak seems like he wouldn't mind going on a hunting trip with me, but he already has a steady party. "I am sure Teckar wouldn't mind if you came along, but we are just doing some guard duties, nothing hunting related." I thank him for the offer but it isn't the sort of work I am looking for at the moment. Wonder if Kira has more luck.

Back at the farm I find Kira and Nadi in the kitchen. Seems like we got at least one more hunter in our party. Kira informs me that she couldn't find anyone else. "Did you ask Carna?" "Yes, but she did not want to come." "Why? I am getting the feeling she doesn't like me." The comment was meant as a throwaway comment, and I did not expect Kira to answer. "Don't take it personal, she hates all men." Well that makes a lot more sense now. Nadi has a grin on her face, she clearly found our conversation amusing.

"We could ask the guild to find us someone, but it won't be someone we already know." Kira voices my own thoughts. I might be overprotective of her, but I would rather not travel with some unknown guy when I got Kira with me. Unlike Nadi, most female hunters operate in support roles rather than vanguard roles, which is why I thought Carna would be a good fit. With me and Nadi on the frontline, we should be fine, but if there was another support member on the team like Lynne, it would be difficult to ensure her safety with just two vanguards. As a rule rearguards should not outnumber vanguards. At least that is what I have been told.

"I guess we will have to go with the team as it is." Both Nadi and Kira agrees. Kira asks me a favor on Nadi's behalf. Looks like Nadi is a bit low on cash and needs some of her old amour fixing. Nadi doesn't seem to mind that I have limited experience, but appreciates any repairs I can do. We head to the workshop to make preparations.

In the workshop I inspect Nadi's amour. It is a medium strength leather armor with metal plate padding. Several of the plates are missing and the rest are clearly intent on coming loose. In some ways the armor reminds me of historical laminar armor. The repairs would be easy enough, but I should be able to make this more protective.

Using the leather armor as a base I first remove the old metal plates and using the forge quickly hammer out a large quantity of scale plates. Nadi leaves me to it and joins Kira and Rin in their preparations. Due to the limited time, I spend no time making the armor look pretty, but focus on functionality. The old metal plates were just stitched on for added protection, and left significant gaps that any stabbing weapon could penetrate. Making the metal plates smaller and rounder I hope to make a fully overlapping coat of scale armor.

By early evening I ask Nadi to try it out. Her mobility seems unaffected by the added protection. "It is like a new armor. It even looks like the dragon scale armor high ranked hunters wear." I guess in this world it would be natural to compare scale armor with dragon scales. From what I have read a scale armor made of actual dragon scales would be one of the strongest armors around, but the cost to make one is astronomical. Dragon scales need to be harvested from dragons, they can't be manufactured like steel plate.

Wonder if better metals can be used? High quality steel seems to be in heavy use already, and Alain revealed a surprising amount of knowledge on steel alloys. Cost of materials are probably the main reason most stick to carbon steel even if the knowledge of other alloys are around. I still want to try to make something better. If only I could use magic in the smiting process, I might be able to make something scientists in my old world could only dream of.

With a few more preparation we all meet up in evening, planning the trip for the next day. Kira and Rin have been to the guild to pick up several tasks the guild wants done along our route. The intention was always to head beyond the mountain chain to my mud hut, but the more guild jobs we can complete before getting there the more money and goodwill with the guild we earn.