Trade agreements

In the following week they are hosted in the village inn. The building has only four rooms. Normally, merchants are not invited to stay here, but instead the dwarves themselves travel to nearby villages and towns to trade.

The first part of the agreement is stipulated exactly the day after. Simon and Velda found themselves in the village hall and to the surprise of the dwarf they immediately closed the deal. The boy begins the discussion by immediately drawing a letterhead from the new Count of Vanein, Zacharias. With this missive, the city commits itself to buy high quality weapons for its officers by the famous dwarf artisans.

"Boy, indeed commander, I am particularly upset by the ease with which you do things. You presented yourself here yesterday with a draft agreement and we are already in a position to sign a contract."

"Count Zacharias Vanein urgently needs this supply, I hope you already have something in stock. It will be our duty to escort the cargo to the city. Upon the withdrawal of the first delivery of material I will pay you the agreed sum. In this way we will guarantee long life for today's commercial agreements."

Smug Igor prides himself aloud of his commander's skill with the other dwarfs.

The second part of the plan was the fun part of the trip. George, Desmond and Simon go to the smiths to select weapons for the Force of Fate company. George takes care of selecting a rather light leather armor model with metal inserts. "This will be ideal for the troops. Armored soldiers will have to settle for the used armor we have found. Then when we have more funds we can improve defense accessories."

Desmond twirling two swords at a mad speed commented "These swords are great, but I think it's easier for the troops to have something simple and short, maneuverable enough to fight shoulder to shoulder."

Simon instead focuses on long guns and says, "I believe that arming the front lines with lances will give us a good lead in a lot of fights. Obviously to use them as best we will have to train the soldiers to fight like a real unit. I would buy some to start training the most promising." Then looking behind the blacksmith's counter "Is that a spear?"

"That is a halberd."

"I changed my mind!" He, taking it in his hand and waving it with simplicity, continues "I want the spears and one of these for me. Perhaps even a short sword, in certain situations this could be exaggerated."

George looks at him astonished "How do you wave it that way! Must be those magical runes, right?"

Desmond "I thought I was the slow one but you're not kidding too."

A small crowd slowly forms in front of the artisans to see foreigners arguing heatedly. The discussion culminates in a friendly challenge to understand who is the strongest warrior. Selin snorts and sits on a barrel playing with daggers. Desmond arms himself with an ax and a small round wooden shield. George with a sword and a medium-sized metal shield. Simon takes the halberd and weighs it in his hands as he watches the two friends challenge each other.

George looks like a wall in motion, no chance. From time to time the sword appears from behind the shield like a sting, pressing the opponent. Desmond never stops the ax movement. Each movement of the weapon ends with the beginning of the next movement creating a fluid and continuous movement. After several exchanges to test the opponent's strength, Desmond's ax manages to break down on the shield, splitting it in half. A few moments later the tip of George's sword passes the thick wood of the small shield. The clash seems to continue amid the dwarves' amazement. None of those present thought that young boys, grown up in a remote village, were so good and brave.

The weapons clash against each other until, in the general silence, with a single hand Simon rotates the halberd by inserting it between the two arms and locking them with the hooks obtained in the shape of the blade. The two look at him stunned and burst out laughing. Desmond is the first to speak "With this you would like us to understand that you are the strongest? Maybe in ten years. So you concentrate on your work as a commander that I'll take care of the rest."

In the afternoon, always with the assistance of Igor and Velda, the commander of the mercenaries makes an agreement for a partnership with the village to purchase all the weapons for his soldiers.

The day after Selin and Simon check the goods and after paying the sum, thanks to the loot that Simon has found in the castle of the Count, they store all the stuff in the magic bag. Velda now accustomed to these things in the presence of Simon sadly shakes her head.

On the third day, leaving the other members of the group free, Simon and Igor head for the workshop where runes experts create magical devices. Apparently engraving runes with magic metal Mithril allows the magic to remain constant for a long time and not fade away in a few hours as for runes traced with the finger or other less valuable elements. Thanks to this knowledge, the dwarves create small magical machines that can do unique things. Unfortunately with time, the village has realized that only very rich people can afford the materials and hours necessary for the realization of such prodigies. It was therefore decided to create only on request or to prepare only extravagant items for nobles with exotic tastes.

Simon looks like a child in a candy store and spends the afternoon asking questions and trying out devices and tools.

The next morning the young commander was convinced. He soon showed up at the shop and shows the treasure found in the Count's monitored room to those present. The object is very simple, it looks like a perforated metal box. On the side there are two runic symbols and inside, after several inspections, Simon has seen many others.

By carefully studying the runes, Simon has understood that the device is used to communicate with another device. The outer runes are clear enough, listen and talk.

The dwarfs look at the box carefully but only the oldest, tired of mumbles, is able to respond to Simon "That's a runic box. I saw one when I was little. In this village there are no more but in the past centuries when the dwarves were stronger, they were used to communicate from one village to another. Strange that a human has one. They will have killed to get it, unaware that it alone is useless."

Simon answers "Bad luck that you can't make it work, but I was wondering, could you build others? Specifically I would like one that can communicate and receive from ten others. I'm going to use it in battle."

"Can be made? I don't know, but for sure I want to try, get my hands on a relic like that is one of my dreams. But you're sure you want to leave it to us, we'll destroy it to study it. You could sell it to some stupid human and make a lot of money."

"True, but you imagine being able to send instant commands to the battlefield without needing the rune skill. The last time Igor enchanted a stone, we could send short messages for short distances. The stone also quickly lost its effectiveness so much that at some point, unable to contact Igor, I found myself unaware if the plan had worked or not."

Igor with his head nods as he says to his fellow citizens "Moreover, if in the next war the humans will see this device in the hands of my commander I'm sure we can sell it to hundreds!"

"You're right Igor, we immediately get to work."

"Okay, but you know that we already agree with the village chief that at least two of you and five blacksmiths will follow us to Mountass. If you are interested, after the year agreed, or even before eheheh, you can also join our company. I assure you that this idea is the most trivial of this guy. He told me some of his ideas for weapons and enchanted devices and since then I can't wait to see one made."

Simon enthusiastically continues "True, once back to our base, I'm going to show you some of my drawings. I believe they have potential. As I told my men, I need an overwhelming force to avoid unnecessary deaths among my troops. I want weapons that can scare opponents. The name of our company must be associated with fear in our enemies and trust in our friends."

An amused craftsman answers "You have great dreams like mountains, my friend."

"They are not dreams, someone told me that it is Destiny."