Chapter-4 : First Job.

3rd POV

Athena and John have woken up after a good nap in the inn. John still feels stress from the anxious thoughts he had in his bed.

"Hey, John are you ready for our journey, " Athena said with a stern expression on her face.

"Yes, let's go. " John replied with little hesitation.

"Before we leave. I want to ask you some questions, is that okay? " Athena asked him.

"Ask " John replied.

"John you dislike conflict and yet you choose to become my advisor, you could have easily become an author with how you write books. What's the agenda behind this decision? " Athena asked John curious about the reason.

"Well... " John tried to reply

"I think you are not at all worried about your survival. You just wanted war John, you like the sheer thrill of it. I can see it in your body language. I feel more like you are more worried about something other than mere survival. You are attracted to dangerous people " Athena tried to deduce the reasons.

John thought for a while and replied. Athena is right he is attracted to dangerous people.

"You see, no matter where I go, trouble comes after me. Even I become a full-fledged Author. I won't have peace in this world where wars lurk every day. It won't be long before I get dragged into it just like every time. And every human being wants to survive in the world no matter how confident they are. " John declared

"What do you mean by 'every time' and 'trouble follows you' thing. " Athena asked John.

"I can't have peace. No matter what I do. And I don't want to run away from those troubles any more. All I can do is accept those troubles head-on. " John said not wanting to discuss anything

That and he needed to prove himself. A desperate need to make himself known to the world.

They had referred to a map and visited the best blacksmith in the town following the map. Athena had put her boyish clothes and disguise in.

"Hello is there anyone there," Athena said while resisting the urge to kick the door?

John looked for any surprise attacks that can be done. Who knows the blacksmith might be a sociopath for all he knows.

After some time, a black-bearded man with unkempt hair came towards them.

" It's a long time since people other than this town has visited us, " The man said

"So, no one has visited in this town until now. " John said surprised and wary of the statement.

"Precisely, we have fewer visitors in this town. This town's reputation in this town doesn't help in attracting tourists either. Due to amount of crimes happening in the town " The man said to them

"What are the authorities doing while the town is suffering from lack of proper order and security. " Athena asked the man confused.

"Nobles and knights don't live up to their name as defenders. They are more interested in gold rather than peasant's lives. They are robbers who disguise as defenders and protesters while taking bribes from the people in power " The man replied.

The statement made Athena strike a nerve within her. She held back the urge to smack his face. She didn't like when he called nobles pretenders. He indirectly insulted her capacity. Athena lacks in the area of understanding people's proper emotions, it is one of her weak links.

" Could please describe the town more. I don't think that's the main reason people don't visit the town. " John asked

"I couldn't tell you everything. But innocent and naive people like you would be taken advantage of. Human trafficking is common among these areas. Don't hang here too much. " The man told them

"Luckily you aren't a woman or else your fate would be worse than her. " The man told them with a sigh

Athena disguising herself as a man is indeed a good decision. John is happy he is a boy here, but then again he is not completely safe from the predators.

They have moved to the main topic.

"Sir, we are here to add some blacksmiths to our army. Would you join our army? " Athena said tactlessly unaware.

"Umm, sir. It seems that you don't like the town very much. So would please change the town so you would have a proper life. " John said trying to convince the blacksmith.

"I-I... I have memories of my late wife and children here... As I mentioned earlier I have lost them to the human traffickers. I can't just leave here. " The man said.

Athena is still irritated by his lack of ambitions and moving on from the failures.

"But sir. You can continue your life respecting the wishes of your family by starting a new life. I don't much about your wife. But she wants you to find a new wife and have a new family "

"YOU WANT ME TO FORGET HER, " The blacksmith said in a blind rage.

Perhaps asking him to move on is a bad decision. But the blacksmith misunderstood John's intention.

"Sir, I am not saying you should forget her. I am talking about the fact that no one can live alone. Sir, it's harsh but you need a new family and goals in order to cherish your family. They will watch you from the heavens. They don't want you to be depressed and live life in misery. " John told the man.

The man thought for and realized the truth in john's words.

Past is past. And he can't get the time he spent with his family back. All he can do is to move on and spend his new life and look for another woman in his life. He can't just live alone, he is human and needs some attention and find someone who could he share his pains, joy with.

"You are right, I can't live alone. Kid " The blacksmith said with a smile.

"Could you please arrange the more capable blacksmiths in your arsenal thank you. Mr smith " Athena said visibly cringing at the sentiment. She doesn't like sentimental moments.

"So you need more capable blacksmiths eh boy. But why does your voice sound somewhat feminine? And I feel like standing in front of a female somehow " The blacksmith wondered

"Must be your imagination. I had suffered an injury in the past which damaged my voice box " Athena replied remembering john's script.

"Ah! Okay, it seems like I have lost hearing due to my old age. Take no offense to it boy " The blacksmith replied

"I will prepare some blacksmiths in the town for you. In the meantime could you please, gather some ores from the mine. Please take this equipment and gather some ores " The blacksmith replied.

Athena is not pleased by this. "Listen here you li- *mphf* " Athena replied in irritation clearly pissed off by the blacksmith's suggestion. Before she could complete the statement her mouth is covered by John.

"Sorry, Mr smith but Athena is a little eager. Hehe," John replied taking Athena and grabbing the protective gear, and taking her outside.

<Outside>

"Are you mad? Why should we do the things he asks us. We are not some spinless cowards who will do everything some peasants ask of us. And we aren't blacksmiths and neither workers, we have some decent " Athena said in anger, irritated by john's decision.

"Calm down. We should get leverage from him if we wish to achieve anything from him. We should do something we don't like sometimes to achieve our goals. Everyone has did some dirty deeds in the past "

"Ok, let's arrange some workers and peasants who will do the things. I will do it just this time and you do the collecting job. " Athena sighed with annoyance.

She clearly hates doing the dirty labor work. But she accepted to do this in order for this to work.

"By the way, thank you for making him accept to join our forces. I don't think I can make him join by saying that cringy and sentimental speech like you. But I am glad you did it, " Athena said facing her face away from John

"I am glad I have someone in my side, who specializes in convincing people. " Athena smiled with a rare smile.

"Thanks for the compliment. You should be more tolerant towards people. You should have a proper understanding of people's emotions and their values " John advised Athena

"You are right about it, I don't like how they are treating us informally but I will do it. For my ambitions and for increasing our forces. Other than that I hold no sentimental values towards people " Athena declared.

It takes a huge amount of time in order for them to be perfect, after all, they are not perfect people like a novel leads.

A/n: Please don't say. It could be a better decision or they are faulty and stupid. The thing is that they are people and they have flaws. People do mistakes and the main characters are no strangers to it. I am writing a story not a wish-fulfillment with strong main characters. The story is a journey about characters who will develop over time with character development