34 - Balricks Blacksmithy

"Is this the place?"

Val asked Lizzy and Bindy if this was the place, but it was Bobby who answer,

"Yeah this is our dad's blacksmithy, he is a magic blacksmith so he can help you with what you need."

Dobby then added,

"He's the best in town, so we can guarantee the quality!"

Both boys were beaming when talking about their father, it was clear to Val that they were very proud of him.

Val nodded and the group walked inside. As Val entered the building he noticed a plethora of different weapons and armor displayed around the shop. There was a young girl around the same age as Val who was sitting at the counter of the shop, she looked rather bored but perked up when she noticed the group enter.

"Big sis Lizzy, Big sis Bindy!

Welcome, to the shop!

Why are you guys here?"

As she greeted Lizzy and Bindy, she got up from the counter, rushing over to hug the two girls. To Val, it seemed like they were pretty close.

However, Bobby and Dobby were annoyed at being ignored, Bobby spoke up first,

"Poppy, are you not going to greet your big brothers?"

Followed by Dobby,

"Yeah, we are your family so you should greet us first!"

Poppy looked at her two older brothers but did not respond, instead, she turned back around to face the girls and gave a small snort.

Val quietly observed the interaction, finding it funny but not daring to laugh out loud because it seemed the twins were quite dejected about being ignored by their younger sister.

After a few minutes of the three girls chatting, Lizzy remembered why they were there and introduced Val and Leo to Poppy,

"This is Val, our new... friend... and his familiar, Leo. We are here because they needed something. Val this is Poppy, she is the younger sister of Dobby and Bobby."

Lizzy did not know how to explain their relationship with Val, so she decided to call him their friend.

Poppy had been so preoccupied with catching up and talking to the two girls that she had not even noticed Val or Leo. When she was introduced to Val and Leo she froze.

She was surprised, the only other boy she had been introduced to besides her brothers, was Jim and she hated that arrogant guy. When she looked at Val all she could notice was how handsome he was. She tried to break out of her daze by shifting her view to Leo, but that did not help because Leo was an incredibly cute feline.

After a few moments, Val broke the silence, helping Poppy break out of her daze,

"Hello Poppy, my name is Val, I was actually hoping to have a custom magic short sword made. I have some specific beast material that I would like to use, would your father be able to make one for me?"

Poppy had finally come out of her dazed state and responded professionally,

"It is possible, my father would not mind helping a friend of my brothers, but he would have to have a look at the materials, and magic weapons can be very expensive, you look younger than my brothers, around my age. Would you be able to afford it?"

Poppy looked a little hesitant to ask Val if he would be able to afford it, but had to. After all, it does cost a lot to have a customer magic sword made, even if the materials are supplied, and Val looked to be a similar age to her so she did not know how he would be able to afford it.

Val smiled and replied calmly,

"That's great, that's right, I'm younger than Dobby and Bobby, I'm just 10 years old, but you don't have to worry about money, I've had some fortuitous encounters and so money is not an issue for me."

When Val described being attacked by the most notorious bandits in the area as 'fortuitous' the group cringed and was reminded how abnormal he was.

Poppy was surprised but did not want to let the conversation with the handsome boy end so she replied,

"Oh, I'm 10 years old also, if you can afford it then it should be okay, you will have to work out the details with my father first though."

Val understood the blacksmith would need to know the specific sizing that would be optimal for Val and other details. Val was also curious about Poppy,

"You have awakened, so are you also an adventurer like your brothers?"

Poppy shook her head as she replied,

"No, unlike my brothers, I awoke talents and skills which were compatible with blacksmithing and when I develop my skills, it will also be possible to become a magic blacksmith like my father."

This comment made both the twins look down in shame, but they did not say anything, they both knew it was true but there was nothing they could do about it. To become a blacksmith and a magic blacksmith, you needed specific talents, and it was ideal to awaken specific skills as well.

"Oh that's awesome, I hope you become an amazing magic blacksmith in the future! Is your father around? Would I be able to talk to him and organize my request?"

Poppy was hesitant to end the conversation, she liked talking to this handsome boy but knew she had a job to do so she explained,

"He is in the back working, I'll inform him about what you want but you might have to wait for a little for him to be available. Is that okay?"

Val nodded and Poppy rushed into the back where the forge was to inform her father, the group waited patiently for a few minutes. Val was looking around at the weapons and noticed they were all well made, similar quality to the one given to him by Mr. Gregory, with some being even superior. There were not any magic weapons, but that was not too surprising, you could not leave such valuable stock laying around where only a 10-year-old girl was watching.

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After 15 minutes Poppy and a large man who looked like an adult version of Dobby and Bobby came out of the back, he was about 2 meters tall and had a muscular build.

Poppy was slightly different looking to the men of the family, she had dark red hair which only came down to her shoulders, with big brown eyes. She was not the most attractive girl Val had seen but was still quite cute.

The man had a look at the 5 kids in his shop, two of them were his sons and the two girls were members of his son's party. He found the remaining boy quite interesting, he was a half-elf and had a Light Ray Lion cub as a familiar. He faced Val and introduced himself,

"Hey kid, I am the father of those two brats, my name is Balrick. My daughter told me you want a magic short sword made, is that correct?"

Val nodded and introduced himself,

"Hello sir, my name is Val, an F-Rank adventurer. Yes, that is correct, I have a few materials for use, but not the metals unfortunately. Money is not an issue for me."

Val had realized it would have been better for him to have taken some of the metals that had been found at the bandit's hideout, instead of leaving them to the merchants, but there was no point in dwelling on past mistakes, so he just confirmed everything with Balrick.

Balrick nodded and said,

"Alright come with me in the back, the rest of you wait out here, we shouldn't be too long."

Everyone nodded and Val and Balrick walked into the back office.

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Val and Balrick discussed some of the specifics of the blade of the short sword, which Val wanted to be around 55 cm (21.65 inches). Val wanted a single-sided blade, with the blade slightly curved (This type of sword is called a wakizashi and is the middle-size Japanese style sword, between a katana and tanto). After they had decided on the style and size of the sword Balrick requested the material Val had, Val handed over the Fangs and Claws of the adult Light Ray Lion. Balrick was surprised at first because the material was very rare and high class, but remembering that Val had a Light Ray Lion cub as a familiar it was understandable how he could acquire these materials.

Balrick informed Val that he could not guarantee what skills the short sword would have, there would be at least one, hopefully, two or more because Balrick was fairly skilled at making magic weapons but could not guarantee anything.

This surprised Val, who did not have a lot of knowledge about magic blacksmithing. He had learned that the skills were random to an extent. Some parts of the skills could be determined, for example, the skills this short sword will have will be Light Skills, but the specific skills will be unknown till the sword is used. The number of skills can be guessed fairly accurately based on the quality of the materials and the skill of the magic blacksmith but there is no guarantee.

Once that had all been organized and Balrick had taken the items, they determined the cost. Val knew it would be fairly expensive but was unsure about the specific amount. Balrick said it will be 3 Gold, which Val happily accepted, for a normal 10-year-old or F-Rank adventurer this would be an impossible price but for Val, it was not an issue, he still had a ridiculous amount of money.

Once their chat was complete, and the agreement was made and confirmed Balrick informed Val it would take 2 weeks to complete, and Val happily accepted, he expected it to take some time to make.

After that, the two of them left the back office and returned to the others.