187. Casting: Wiremu

Metal Lore 2. The Introduction to Smelting was pretty interesting. The melting points of different metals and the different additives that could enhance or weaken the metals. It didn’t even start on Spiritual Enhancements yet. That will start in Intermediate Smelting. Advanced Smelting is working with actual Spiritual metals like Blacksteel. Smelting is just extracting the metal, not yet creating anything. What I need now is someone to walk me through the actual practice.

That was easier said than done. “No, lad. If you want to learn to smelt, you will need to go out to the mines. They do all the smelting there. No point in shipping all the rubbish into town. We just get the ingots. No, I am not going to hire someone who doesn’t even know something so basic.”

Part of the trouble was I wasn’t available to work twelve hours a day, six days a week. So here I was, Quinn Fletcher, in front of a shabby-looking Blacksmith Shop on the edge of the Marshlands, looking to buy. The property is for sale. I look at the signs in the windows advertising cheap horseshoes and equipment sharpening. Various tools were on display, from hammers, saws and nails, to household utensils. Not a weapon in sight. I guess you could whack someone with that frying pan.

A bell rang as I entered. “Can I help you sir?” said an elderly dwarf. She had an apron on but not a blacksmith's apron.

“I heard the smithy here is for sale?”

“You don’t look like a blacksmith.” She eyed the fancy clothes I usually wore to the Lore Society, “You look more like a scholar. Why would you want to buy a smithy?”

“There are several reasons, but I am also interested in hiring a Blacksmith.” Her eyes narrowed, but I continued, “Would you have somewhere we could discuss it? Perhaps with the Blacksmith?”

“You best come in,” she reached behind me and locked the front door, putting an “Out to Lunch” sign on the door even though it was only ten in the morning. I followed her through to the back, where a tidy lunch room doubled as the office. “I will fetch me husband.”

She went out, and Hearing Aid and Thermal Senses tracked her upstairs to the apartment above. A few minutes later, two sets of footsteps came down the stairs. It was very obvious both the forges were cold, and no one was working.

They came back in, and Nissa introduced me to her husband, Bodin. Bodin had lost his right arm. Nissa put the kettle on and made us a cup of tea.

Bodin had lost his arm in an accident twelve months ago, and the pair of them had been trying to keep things running since. Nissa was trying to be his hands. It was too much for them, and they couldn’t afford the Healer fees to get a new arm. They were selling the Smithy to pay for a new arm and then get a job as a blacksmith working for someone else.

“One of the things I want as part of this deal is enough training to become a Metal Worker.”

“A Metal Worker!” exclaimed Bodin, “You have the brains you could be a full Blacksmith in two years as long as you have some skill.”

“And that is the point I don’t have two years. I have three months, maybe as long as six months, and that is only two days a week, maybe a bit more.”

“And you have never worked in a forge before?”

“I have the Repair Weapon Skill at Mid Apprentice, so I have used some of the tools.”

“I don’t have any fancy Specialisations, lad. I am just a basic Blacksmith. No Weapon Smith, Armour Smith, or Spiritual Metals, nothing like that. I do have a Toolmakers Specialisation, but that is it. Horseshoes, tools and pots. That is me.”

“That is all I need. There is no way I can learn more in the time I have.”

It wasn’t hard to come to an agreement, especially when I said I don’t want the apartment upstairs. There was a shed out the back I would use as personal storage and a cot if I needed to bunk down for the night. I would be Bodin’s hands for two days a week, and I would get access to the Forges whenever I wanted. I warned them I might be in late some nights experimenting. I had ideas I wanted to try out with Puia.

It would take Bodin six months to regrow the arm and build some reasonable strength and coordination back into it. I know Appā has had his new arm for over a year and a half, and it is only just getting back to what he was.

After I left the city, they would continue to run the smithy, and while this was a personal purchase, I told them I had ties with Elemental Traders, and they would provide oversight when I was not here. They might also be able to buy it back in due course.

That afternoon we went to the city offices and registered the change of ownership. Quinn Fletcher is the new owner of Western Tools and Metals. I said to Nissa and Bodin that I would not take a lead role in the business as I didn’t have the time, so they could tell people I was an absent landlord.

My first day at work was basically a Health and Safety day, along with lighting the forge and generating a consistent temperature. My Thermal Sensing made it a breeze to keep a constant temperature. My Thermal Manipulation (Mineral) was some help, but the coal wasn’t easy to manipulate. The thick protective gear stopped holes from being burned in my clothes, even if It wasn’t really necessary. I didn’t tell Bodin that yet.

Two days a week wasn’t really enough to turn a profit, but it was a start, and I was paying the wages. I can afford to take a loss for a while, especially as it was going to take me a while just to become helpful in the smithy.

When Bodin eventually got me hammering out some nails, it was a strange feeling. I had initially learned the Hammer Skill in the Quarry almost three years ago, and here I was using it again. Bodin was surprised my Hammer Skill was so high, but it helped with efficiency.

Life was busy. I spent three days at the Lore Society, but I varied the days, so I met different people. Wild Bill had to make appearances with his new friends, even though I said to Tabitha she would have to handle most of the Duke issue. Her most recent plan was to keep the idiot alive, and if she could get him to be the heir, that would really stuff the Duke. She is not sure about killing his two older siblings, but she is working on the options.

I made sure Dianne did one job a week to keep her in good with the Mercenary Guild. I still haven't told Tabitha about her.

In week two with Bodin, I helped him make some Cast Iron Pots to order for a large tavern. The Cast was made from sand, which has a higher melting point than metal. The Metal was mostly Iron and a bit of steel melted together and poured into the mould or cast. This opened up a lot of possibilities for me. I could create my own sand moulds and as long as I had the right metal, I could cast all sorts of things. I wanted him to teach me more right away, but I needed to be patient. It would come.

At the end of the second week, I arrived, and Nissa took me to the office. She looked worried. Apparently, the Army was looking for me. A Lieutenant and two soldiers came looking for Quinn Fletcher. Nissa had insisted I was just an absent landlord, but they had described me quite well, except for the part about me having a snake bond. I hadn’t told them about Tāoke. I also haven’t told Tabitha about this ID. She is going to curse me.

That was a worry. Maybe I shouldn't have used the ID they gave me. I don’t want to get involved with the army again. Tabitha and Modrica are having enough trouble with them. Now I have to think about how to throw them off the trail. Somehow they have picked up that I am in Kirghiz, and it must have been the registration of the property. I should have just put it under the Elemental Traders' name. It was quick of them to locate me. The name must be on some sort of watch list.

I wonder if they have found my Lore Society membership. Will the army be waiting for me when I go in next? This could stuff up everything.