Varrulir Ferrarius

"…the Forge of Eternity."

"The Forge of Eternity?"

Hessor had eyes full of worship when he said the forge's name.

"Yeh, the forge of eternity. The forge is only used in special occasions and the weapons that result from it can last for eternity. Well, when I say weapons, I mean there are only a few products from that forge…"

Amadeus got more interested as he heard the dwarf speak,

"The first is the holy sword, Durandal, currently possessed by the church. The second are the twin blades, Hansel and Gretel, possessed by the Daemon Kingdom. Lastly, is the katana, Kusanagi, currently possessed by the Bestia kingdom."

Amadeus had already heard about them but listened anyway. It was clear to him that all of this was very interesting to Velia who was in the carriage peeking her head out. It was easy to tell that it was the girl's first-time hearing this. For him though, there was one question that lingered in his mind,

"Why don't the elves and dragon's possess weapon made by the Forge of Eternity?"

Hessor laughed lightly, it was easy to tell that the dwarf in front of Amadeus was no ordinary one. With his armour looking more exquisite than the others and the fact that the dwarves around them all looked at him with respect.

"Well the elves have the world tree looking over them. As for the dragons, there was simply no need. You could say that the weapons can only be wielded by one race and can be seen as a detriment, a sort of protective charm if the dragons ever considered ruling over the world."

This made a serious look to arise on Amadeus' face, he had forgotten. This world was in no means different to the one that he had come from before. Undercurrents were still happening as he spoke of now. He had taken this world too lightly. He remembered that there was a restriction for the empire to expand its borders, no doubt the three weapons had some sort of part in it.

Amadeus put his thoughts aside when they started nearing the castle. The city was smaller than the empire's capital city, Emerald city, yet it depicted a sort of steadiness that couldn't be found there. It was like the shell of a turtle. Amadeus could feel the energy of the earth encompass the surroundings with the energy of fire accompanying it.

Nearly everything was made out of stone, yet the place was well lit. A giant hole at the ceiling was the cause of all the light as the sun had reached its peak. Looking up, Amadeus could faintly see runes hovering in the air which was probably a defensive formation.

Unlike the emerald city, there was no walls surrounding the castle and an entourage was already waiting for him at the entrance. In front was an unusually skinny dwarf. Nearing him, the dwarf spoke out first,

"Welcome Crown Price Amadeus Drakos. The chief is expecting your highness in the banquet room."

Amadeus nodded as they were escorted into the castle, walking past a group of sharp-eyed, heavily armoured dwarfs who barely spared them a glance before going back to their duties. Hessor stayed behind and joined those very guards. Amadeus didn't care though; he was continuously looking at the walls they passed. Different types of weapons were hung up, all showing a dangerous glint. There were swords, spears, sword-spears, halberds the lot, there was even a three-metre scythe that was hung horizontally. He could tell that each of the weapons and armour were made by the same person due to a small emblem on them. It was of an anvil and two hammers that crossed each other above it.

Apart from the walls being full of weapons, they would occasionally see stands with armour suits for various races here and there. All of them didn't have a speck of dust on them due to being regularly maintained. Apart from this, there was nothing much to see. The floor was made of stone with a simple black carpet in the middle and there being the occasional banner on the walls, wherever there was space between the weapons, of the same emblem.

The whole way, the group was silent due to no one speaking anything. There were no maids or even servants that they saw along the way apart from the escorts. The skinny dwarf that had spoken first was the lead escort and with the way he was dressed reminded Amadeus of butlers, albeit a really short one. A monocle was placed on his left eye and a tiny moustache adorned his upper lip. A raging beard was tied into braids that reached his knees. He walked with his back straight and the slight whitening of his hair was the only indication that the dwarf was in his later years.

Surrounding him were four maids that all were dwarfs. Yet Amadeus had filtered them out of his mind and thought of them as servants, with weird fetishes. There was no difference between the different genders of the dwarves' race.

Seeing that the silence was becoming awkward Amadeus opened his mouth,

"So, these weapons, were they all created by the Chief?"

The skinny dwarf nodded his head,

"Yes. Whenever a new chief is announced, they put their chosen previous works and new works on the wall. These are all for sale, you can buy one at any of our cities. Once you buy them, they will be shipped out in 3-5 days or for a little extra it will be next day delivery…"

Amadeus regretted asking anything because it wasn't that the dwarf was a silent one, he was just looking for a topic to talk about. Once the topic was found, his mouth continuously moved. The maids around them didn't have any reaction while Amadeus's entourage all felt a twitch in their eyebrows. Even the calmest Erika lowered her ears to see if she could block of her hearing without the use of her arms. Only Velia had a curious look on her face as she absorbed everything she saw and heard like a sponge.

"…you can even subscribe to Smithery weekly for 10 silver coins a- oh it seems we are here."

The group gave out a sigh of relief as they saw the large wooden door between them. It was the first time they praised a simple wooden door with all their hearts. Amadeus could swear that he saw the door blush before a large voice interrupted his thoughts,

"His highness, the crown prince of the Drakos Empire has arrived-gahh!"

Amadeus' group felt a jolt with that scream as they heard of something falling alongside a groggy voice,

"Too loud, I'm still hungover and this guy goes off screaming…what?...oh…invite him inside then, why are you making our guests wait outside then."

With that, the large wooden doors started opening and the Amadeus' group were greeted by a sight they didn't expect. A large table was present in the middle filled with all sorts of food and drinks on top. There were only two seats, one on each end, with the furthest looking more like a throne rather than a chair. A tantalising smell breached Amadeus and entourage's nose as the former started proceeding forward with only Erika and Eras behind him while the others were taken to their lodgings.

Velia left, constantly looking back, yearning for the food that was placed on the table. A hint of drool appeared on her face before she was brought back to attention by another maid. The door closed behind the three as Amadeus sat on his seat with Erika and Eras flanking him. With the sound of the door shutting, Amadeus finally got a better look at the current chief of dwarves, Varrulir Ferrarius.

The chief wasn't there. Well Amadeus was pretty sure that he could see just the top of a head faintly showing and disappearing just over the table. A groan attracted his attention as all three of them looked behind them. Lying there was a guard with a large bump on his head and a fissure in his helmet slowly getting up. A surprisingly intact cup lay there next to him.

The three then looked back at the chief and now saw a figure sitting there. What surprised them was that despite having an average dwarven look with earth brown hair and beard tied into braids that could reach the floor, his height was no taller than Amadeus'. Remember, Amadeus was still only eight years old. Despite being surprised, Amadeus gave a smile that hid his inner feelings,

"It's an honour to meet the current chief of dwarves."

A well-hidden surprised look flashed through Varrulir's eyes as he also smiled back,

"Hahaha, the crown prince doesn't need to be so humble. Let's fill our stomachs…"

Amadeus gave a look towards Erika as she nodded back and waved her hand. A large keg appeared causing a large smile to appear on Varrulir's face. Sending the keg to Varrulir, the latter opened the cork and let the smell out.

He didn't even pour it in his glass and immediately drank from it. It felt weird seeing a child-like figure drinking from a keg about three times his size.

After the meal, Varrulir wiped his mouth and looked at Amadeus,

"So, what did you choose?"

Straight and direct, the chief's manners were what Amadeus had expected. Amadeus smile grew as he replied,

"Weapon and Armour."

With that he waved his hand and there appeared a group of materials on the table. Seeing the materials, Varrulir's eyes widened as a shocked look appeared on his face. The chief was already on top of the table looking carefully at the main materials. First looking at an unnaturally big branch,

"A branch of the world tree?"

Then,

"Meteoric Metal?"

And lastly,

"Hihi'irokane?"

Varrulir started trembling with excitement. There were other materials that were rare, but compared to the first three he saw, they were actually common if you want to compare how many he had seen before. After calming himself down, Varrulir turned to Amadeus,

"What weapon?"

A smile naturally found Amadeus' lips as he threw a piece of paper at Varrulir. Catching the paper, Varrulir saw what appeared to be a Hsu Quandao. Looking carefully at the weapon, he turned to Amadeus again,

"Armour?"

This time, Amadeus once again didn't say anything and gave Varrulir a letter. Amadeus didn't know what was written on it, but he didn't pry seeing the look on Varrulir's face. Varrulir didn't say anything and immediately left the place beckoning them to follow,

"Only you, the amid and guard will have to stay behind."

Amadeus gestured for them to stay and followed behind the dwarf ignoring their eyes of reluctance.

- Unknown location -

Within a dark room, nothing could be seen but faint voices could be heard. One was a husky voice with a slight tint of worry,

"What are we going to do now? It was really hard getting that spy into Emerald city."

A manly female voice replied,

"Shut up! It's all your fault for having a spy like that. Why did he have to try and assassinate the crown prince? Within the Emerald city of all places?"

"He probably thought that no one would have expected it-"

"Shut up! It was a rhetorical question!"

A louder and scruffy voice shut the two up. With a hint of authority laced in his tone, it was easy to tell that the owner of this voice was the leader here.

"What's done is done. Ultimately it will be me trying to answer to the higher ups not you two. For now, you two try and get another spy to infiltrate into city."

The manly female voice was there to reply,

"I'll try but that ***** Empress had quite a few capable dogs running around for her."

"I don't care, we were able to get someone in once, we will be able to do it again. This time choose someone that has a brain. As for the crown prince, don't worry about him for now. Dismissed."

With a ruffle of clothes, it was easy to tell the leader had left. The other two started to leave as well before a loud noise broke the silence.

*Clank* *Crack*

A surprised manly female voice was heard following the large sound,

"Holy cr- Again?!"

"I'm sorry, I can't see anything, it's too dark."