14 A Month In

I had no idea why some people were hell bent to make others' life a misery. I had no dealings with people of that village, whether good or bad. They forced me to work under the guise of 'You need to pay us back', which I agreed to. The tasks were taken care of, and I even followed their stupid rules, but that didn't seem to be enough for them.

These immature and spoiled kids made my blood boil. 'I swear you will regret this one day. I'll make you regret this, count on it', I thought before heading to my bed. The following weeks looked pretty much the same. I'd go to work early in the morning, and try to fish in the evenings. Thankfully, it was almost summer, therefore the days got longer and longer.

The bunch of youngsters tried to find trouble with me almost constantly, but never during my tasks. They'd only look for me once my tasks were completed. Sometimes they'd even wait for me at the gate, just to make sure they'd catch me. Moreover, I had to get crafty with my trips to the river. They were able to find my net a few times, and simply destroyed it.

There wasn't anything I could do, besides making another net. Of course the grudge was noted, and I had plenty of those in my mind. The more they messed with me, the more I wished for their disappearance. There was one more thing I heard concerning the trio. The woman, whose name was Senty, was in actuality the granddaughter of the Village Chief. Moreover, the Village Chief was the exact old man who 'saved' me.

That explained why the old man seemed so strong. The position of a Village Chief was usually taken by the strongest, or the most resourceful person. Some people tried to establish their own villages. These people would be called founding members, and of course had the most to say inside such village. Even villages such as Freemount, there were three founding families, and they, together with the Village Chief, made all the decisions.

Though Senty's and her lackey's harassment was akin to hell, this gave me an opportunity to improve myself. That woman had to be trained under the watchful eye of her grandfather, otherwise there was no real explanation how she could be as strong as she was. Each time we met, they chased me, and 'fought' me. Of course I'd only receive beatings, but with each passing day, I'd get more used to her moves.

Another good news was the improvement of my strength, and stamina. Thanks to fishing, my body was able to recover a bit. Though still skinny, my skin wasn't as shrivelled as before. Due to my body recovering somewhat, the tasks became easier. Of course, notifying anyone about that wasn't in my interest. I'd still take the same amount of time to complete each task, with the difference of feeling less tired.

My job in the field changed as well. Once the field was ploughed, it was time to plant the seeds and water them. This became my job, or at least the watering part. Thankfully, they supplied me with a cart and barrels for water, which was pulled by an annoying horse. The horse was lazy, and wouldn't listen to anyone, even the farmers.

Though the horse was annoying to work with, and tried to bite me a few times, at least it wasn't my job to pull the cart around. Of course during rainy days, there was no need to water the field. My replacement task was simply working longer for the blacksmith.

The farmers were a good source of information. At first they wouldn't talk next to me. After a while though, they simply ignored my existence, and talked about various stuff. They'd talk about the blacksmith whose name was Grond, about news and gossip they'd hear from merchants, or people who visited the village.

From time to time, they'd mention a doctor. There was only one guy who treated people in that village, and it was the same guy who fixed my arm. Apparently, he was an outsider that only the Village Chief knew. The doctor was a man of few words, but they didn't complain about his treatments. Apparently one farmer was a bit scared of the doctor, because he'd smile for no reason when treating serious injuries.

The person they'd mention the most was Senty, and her grandfather. She was only seventeen, and already betrothed to another man from a larger village. Due to such marriage, their village called Horseplain would develop, and rise to a higher acclaim. 'Why bother with me?', was the question on my mind upon hearing that. She was supposed to get married, and yet chased around a guy who simply minded his own business? That didn't make me less angry, this only served as further tinder for the fire already burning hot.

Nonetheless, after that month of work, a new task awaited me. The day was progressing as usual, until my arrival at the smithy. To my surprise, the blacksmith was present. A weird occurrence, since he'd be gone every time I'd show up for my task. '...What's he's up to now?', I asked myself.

"You're finally here. Good, I'll show you a new ingot you'll be making from now on. Watch me carefully, this will be your job from now on. Understood?", he said before proceeding to demonstrate. He grabbed two cups of iron ore, added two spoons of powdered coal, then a small spoon of white powder. With that mixed, he placed it inside the furnace to melt.

Once the mix melted, he collected some stuff floating on top, before pouring it into a flat bar mould. Once that cooled down to a workable temperature, he began hammering. The mould already made the metal flat, but he wasn't flattening the metal. He was pounding on one end of it, to curve it on top of the other end. That took a while, until he flattened and reheated the metal again. The same step was repeated five time. Towards the end, he was sweating like crazy.

After the fifth cycle, he melted the metal to a certain degree. The metal wasn't exactly fluid, it behaved more like slime. He poured that metal inside the ingot mould, then hammered it into position. The metal was quickly cooling, so there wasn't much time to form the ingot. Nonetheless, the blacksmith was finished. Once he pried the ingot out of the mould, he showed me how to polish it and stamp his smithy's name.

The ingot was silvery and really eye catching. If he didn't show me the process, I'd assume it was silver. "... Haah... Do you remember everything?", Grond asked once the ingot was completed. "Yes, what is this metal called?", I decided to take my chances and ask. "You don't have to know that. All you need to know is proportions, and amount of cycles. Be sure to take full cups of iron ore, and two spoons of purified coal, no more than that. Also this small spoon of lime, it's crucial. Another crucial point is collecting the impurities once the mix melts. Do not forget that step, understood?... Alright, I'll leave the rest to you". With that said, Grond left the smithy. I went to work, and repeated the process Grond showed me.

"Clang", "Clank", "Clang"...

The metal was about two times harder, than just normal Iron. More strength was required to bend that thing in on itself, which meant more effort. During the process, I had to reheat the metal in order to make it workable. 'I should maintain a specific temperature. Otherwise, this will take me forever', I thought.

I was able to complete two cycles, before needing a proper rest. 'No wonder he was sweating like mad. This thing is hard to make'. My guess was that he taught me how to make steel. The final product looked like steel, since it couldn't be silver. Fifteen minutes later, I remelted the metal and worked on it once more.

Just one ingot took me enough time for the blacksmith to return. When he came in, I was at the polishing stage, so he waited for me to finish. Once the ingot got polished, he grabbed it off of my hands, and checked it from every angle. "Hmmm... You may leave now", he said. I've wondered whether he had other sentences in his vocabulary. He always spoke the same thing at the end, which made me wonder if he wasn't bored of it. Either way, I left the smithy since my task was done.

After my task in the fields, I encountered the two lackeys next to the gate. For some reason, Senty wasn't with them. My initial thought was, 'She's hiding somewhere to ambush me. For sure', but she never appeared. I was easily able to lose the other two guys, since they weren't as fast or strong as Senty. Once again, they chased me up to the house, but didn't try to enter. "Why you scared?", I decided to taunt. "You'll get yours, you bastard. Live in that cursed house all you want, hehe. Once you get cursed, we'll be the ones laughing", one of them replied before they left.

'Cursed house? They hell are they on about? Idiots, if there were curses here, I'd be cursed a long time ago... Though it makes me wonder, why they consider this house cursed', I thought, but then my stomach grumbled, meaning it was time for my dinner.

After my dinner, I left my house and cautiously headed towards the river. The two lackeys were nowhere to be found, therefore my way there wasn't obstructed. 'Thankfully, they didn't fine the net. I can start straight away'. Before casting my net, I dug a hole in search of worms. These were used as a bait, once the net was cast.

The fish quickly gathered around my net, thanks to the worms struggling in the water. With my pray ready, I pulled the net out, catching four small fishes. 'Not bad, this should be enough', I figured and folded the net. Before I could hide my net, the trio appeared once again. I decided to simply sink my net, then grabbed my catch and ran away.

"You ain't going anywhere, bastard!", Senty shouted frustrated. They were quite far away, since I spotted them quickly. Senty almost caught up to me a few times, but she couldn't get a kick or a punch in. This made her even more frustrated, but I didn't gave a damn. Ten painstaking minutes later, I arrived back at my house. "You cursed bastard, I'll get you one day", she proclaimed before leaving.

"These fucking bastard. You'll get me one day? I'll pay it back a thousand times, believe me you bitch", I said quietly to myself. Fortunately, my house had a fireplace, and wood was always next to it. I just needed some tinder and sticks to make a fire. '... They should be gone...', I scouted the area through a small gap of my doors.

I quickly found a few sticks and a sharp stone. 'This can be used to make some wood shavings', with that in mind, I returned hastily. My second dinner was ready in no time. Although I was a bit tired of eating fish all the time, there was no way to obtain any pig or cow meat. 'I can't complain, it's better than that porridge'. I sat there and stared at the fire slowly crackling away.

'Will they really let me go?'. This thought appeared often in my mind. What sort of guarantee was there they'd simply let me go? None, none at all. They didn't monitor me as much anymore, though still escape wasn't that easy. If the granddaughter was stronger than me, then what about the Village Chief? I was just too weak to escape at that point.

Moreover, I needed a weapon in order to survive inside the forest. 'Ha, there's no way I'll be able to smuggle a sword, even if I could steal one. Besides, Grond doesn't really make weapons much. He usually makes tools, but from iron... I wonder what he does with the steel, or whatever. Anyway, for my weapon, I'd need something small. A knife... Or a dagger', I figured.

A dagger would be something, I could smuggle in my private area. My clothes, if one could call the that, were lose and free handing. No one would notice anything, but one problem remained. 'Grond doesn't make daggers. Perhaps he makes a knife or two, but that for villagers, and when needed. I'd need to make it myself...'. That posed another problem, materials. I couldn't take the materials, because Grond was really specific about them.

'I can't take the materials raw, but I can take the offshoots', I figured. During ingot smelting, there are losses. These losses are small, and barely noticeable, but losses nonetheless. "I just have to make sure to collect everything. Grond rarely cleans the floor, I can take those shavings and whatnot. This should provide me with enough metal after a while", I said to myself.

The production of a dagger was a different story, but gathering materials sooner was better than later. My plan of action was decided. I'd collect metal until there was enough to make some sort of weapon.