The Blacksmith and the Wizard

On the following day, still pretty early in the morning, I went to the town with the little fox on my shoulder. Unlike the stupidity of last time, I took my armor and sword off beforehand and hid both wrapped in the blanket that I used to disguise myself previously.

It was amazing, people could only see me as Dagger as long as that sword and armor were with me, but my face was only one more in the crowd... I suppose it's just natural, it's hard to make an accurate drawing of anyone on a wanted poster, and the people who actually saw me as Dagger were from the last city, the wizard Gabriel and the Coventry people, including his majesty himself and his family... Her daughter, especially, probably can never mistake my face.

Well, I hadn't time to just enjoy seeing not being recognized...I needed to do what I came here for. I was in search of a blacksmith who could sharpen my sword and adjust my old armor... It didn't take long for the fox to discover what I was really doing, however, and it started to tickle me on the neck.

"H-Hey! Look, I know... I promised you, but let me at least take care of this? It's important!", I said and the fox continued to tickle me, mercilessly, for a while longer, until it sighed on defeat and gave up, allowing me to check a blacksmith first.

This town was actually pretty small... Not many people were walking around and selling stuff like in that other city. This helped a lot, it was easy to his workshop, indicated with the sign of an anvil and hammer at the entrance... A bottle was also on the sign, however... I wonder why.

"Excuse me...", I said while entering the building, whose door was already unlocked.

That place was certainly unusual... The room could be divided into two halves, on the left side the anvil, a furnace, and some tools showed that this was the right place, the blacksmith, while on the right side, shelves and a stand, both filled with bread and what seemed to be cakes, indicated a bakery rather than a blacksmith... Both sides have doors that leads to mysterious rooms...

"May I help you?", a man taking care of the tools on the left side asked me.

I approached him slowly, while still looking around, confused if that was really the place that the wizard lived as well or not.

"Well... I am here for a request... I have... A few tools that certainly need some adjustments due to their intense usage and age... Could you... Perhaps, make these adjustments?", I asked. Only now I realized that I was forced to expose my identity if I was going to request him that... I felt insecure about allowing him to work on my armor and sword or not. But with a deep breath, I put the blanket over in front of him and undid the know, revealing the armor.

"What the-? This is stuff from the military... But this armor design..."

"Yes, it's an armor made for me... Yes, I am Dagger Ever-"

"I will have to stop right there... I will contact the authorities!", he said and grabbed his hammer to use as a weapon while I instinctively took my sword from the things of the blanket.

"Look, I don't want trouble, just want my armor to be adjusted and my sword as well"

"Well, I don't trust you!", he said and tried to approach the exit door, but I blocked it while my fox headed to one of those mysterious doors, in case they are actually exit doors as well.

"What's happening here?", a man asked, coming from a door from the bakery side of the room. Upon seeing me, he let his tray with loaves of bread fall on the floor and revealed a magic wand... He was probably a wizard...

"Look, this is all a big misunderstanding... I just want adjustments on my armor and sword, if you don't want to do anything with me, then I just leave quietly"

"Armor? Sword? You?", the wizard asked in confusion.

"Yes, she's Dagger Everblade, Mike! We gotta tell the authorities and arrest her before she does anything!".

Upon listening to that, the wizard closed his eyes for a second and put his wand down, much to my relief.

"Come on, Giulio, she might be Dagger Everblade, the criminal... But I never heard of her killing anyone, she isn't really a bad person, is she?"

"She is a rapist, Mike... A lesbian rapist. I can't let her do anything to my-"

He was suddenly interrupted when a door on his side opened now, the one blocked by the fox and from behind, a small little girl came, looking curiously at the situation...

"Dad... What's happening?", she asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing, you can just go back to your room, I will handle this...", the blacksmith answered the girl, who scanned the room for a second and nodded, a bit in fear, going back to her room... Not before the fox jumped on her arms, however.

"Ah, a little fox!", she said and the fox started to play with the girl's neck, tickling it and nuzzling her head. "You didn't tell me you found a fox for me, dad..."

"He didn't...", I said. "The fox is with me".

The fox nodded to confirm what I said and then came running back to me, climbing up my body while the girl did an attempt to follow it, only to be stopped by her father.

"Stop! Don't get near her, she's evil!", the blacksmith claimed while the girl looked at the fox. With a sigh, I gave up... I put the sword down on the floor and the fox too.

"Hey, look... I don't want trouble, I already told you... I can just go away...". The girl looked at me up and down, and then to her father, in strong confusion.

"Dad... Is she really evil? She looks kind and the fox is cute... I don't want her to go away", the girl said... This was probably so unfair, using his own daughter to convince him. But it was good for me, at least.

"Okay, okay... I will dot it, but if you do anything, I swear that I will hit the nail on your head!", he said and started to examine the armor and the sword to do his job while the fox happily jumped towards the girl, who started to have fun with the girl. It seemed like I would be stuck in here while the fox or the girl didn't get tired...

"So, Dagger... I heard a lot of news about you recently, but you aren't really a bad person, are you?", the wizard suddenly asked, while cleaning the mess he has done by letting the tray fall on the floor with the loaves.

"Well... I suppose..."

"I was just thinking that you must have suffered... Considered dead, being a woman in this world with your dream of being knightess being shattered... It made you reflect on your bad actions and now you reappear to regain your honor, isn't that right?"

"Uh... Of course... I am impressed, you saw right through me", I lied and he smiled a bit.

"I am sure I can help you with your journey with something from my bakery store, why don't you buy something?"

"Well...", I took a look at the loaves of bread and the many cakes on the bakery and then to the sack of money... It was probably more than enough to pay for the blacksmith services and pay the wizard something. "Sure, what do you have to offer?"

"I have vitality loaves of bread and cakes, love potion cakes..."

"Wait... What's all of that?"

"Oh, don't you know? I guess not all wizards who create potions think of that, it's just natural that people don't know about it. You see, potions don't really have a good taste, so I put them on food so they can at least taste better... Meaning, all those loaves, and cakes you are looking at are all with some kind of potion... Would you like one?"

"I would like to have four loaves of vitality bread, then... They are made to heal, right?"

"Yes... Well, that will be 40 coins", he said and I paid him up, while he picked up loaves from the shelves and gave me.

I realize now, but I might need a bag or something similar, I can't really walk with four loaves of bread being carried in my hands. It's very impractical...

But for now? I had a promise I did for the fox to fulfill... It's time to have some fun and just rest from training intensively... I really hope this is not a waste of the precious time I could be using to train.