NOVEL NEXT 44. Fire Fang
Once he was finished with breakfast, Adam wasted no time in enchanting the sword. He made his way back to the shrine to begin his work, noting the Iyrman who was tailing him.
As he stepped through the Iyr, he noted many children rushing all around. Some were glancing his way, pointing towards him, with his pointed ears pointing outwards.
‘Have these kids never seen an elf before?’ Adam thought for a moment. ‘Oh. Probably not.’
He heard the screeching of a young boy, a boy no more than two years old, laying on his back and punching the air as he screamed. A woman remained beside him, watching him throw his tantrum, not saying a word.
Being a Brit, Adam did what every Brit would have done.
He completely ignored the situation and continued on, as did most of the Iyrmen nearby. He could have judged the parents for the tantrum of their child, as one might have expected of him, but his wallet was not yet that heavy.
The half elf threw a quick glance back towards the Iyrman who followed him, stone faced as any other Iyrman. He was about to say something, but decided against it, recalling the small talk he had tried to make with the other Iyrman not long ago.
‘Looks like even children of the Iyr are just children,’ Adam thought.
Though they were a people much different to himself, at least their children behaved like children. He looked up towards the open sky, and then to all the buildings around them. It was rare to see a lone Iyrman, as most spent their time with other Iyrmen, their families and friends.
‘It’s not a bad place to raise a child.’
He thought of his home, which was different in so many ways. Here, within the safe walls of the Iyr, the children were free to grow up as children, with little worry about anything else. His thoughts strayed for a moment, towards the sister he hadn’t met, the sister he’d never meet.
Once he approached the shrine, with the sun beating overhead illuminating the various runes, he stood, staring at the shrine. For a long moment he stayed like this, causing the Iyrman behind him to wonder what the half elf was doing.
Adam slapped his cheeks, letting out a burst of noise, before he shook the rest of his body and limbered up for enchanting. “Come on, Adam,” he urged himself. “There’s enchanting to be done.”
Adam placed the various gems on the stones, before placing the last in the centre of the shrine. He sat on the stool, which had remained from the day before, and placed the tip of the sword against the gem.
Mana: 3 -> 2
Enchanting
D20 + 4 + 2 = 24 (18)
The hours passed by suddenly as he seeped his Mana into the blade, allowing the gems to sear their patterns onto the blade. They were near identical to the previous runes which had been patterned on Little Paw.
He exhaled and made his way back to the Rot family.
“Are you alright?” the Iyrman asked. It was a new Iyrman, one he had never seen before. She was beautiful, in her mid forties or so, and her hair was shaved on the side of her head, with long braids falling down to her back.
“Yes?” Adam asked, wondering why she was asking.
“You seem uncertain,” she said, her voice soft.
“I’m fine, I suppose,” Adam said. “What can I complain about?”
She nodded her head. She had heard from the Iyrman that he had seemed to be quite frustrated in the morning, so was making sure he was fine at the end of the day since he was done with enchanting.
“Did you enchant well today?” Sonarot asked, inviting Adam to sit beside her as the meat was cooked. She was eating a little meat today, though had an entire platter of various, what appeared to be, potatoes.
“Yes,” Adam said, sitting down beside her. “If I’m lucky the next few days, I’ll be able to complete it in around the same time.”
Sonarot nodded her head slowly, wondering if Adam knew how ridiculous his statement sounded. If she hadn’t seen him enchant such a fine weapon in three days, she would have thought him a liar. His tale about dying twice was more believable.
Adam bit into the meat, but he couldn’t taste anything. It was well spiced and salted, but he was deep in thought. In his last life, he had told Lanarot he would return soon, but that Lanarot no longer existed. He hoped that she would live a decent life, though he couldn’t help but feel something tighten in his gut.
He glanced to Sonarot beside him, thinking about how she was in his previous life. The Sonarot in his previous life had lost her son and husband, and the Lanarot of that life had lost two brothers and a father.
“What are you thinking about?” Sonarot asked, noting the melancholy on his face.
“Just stuff,” Adam replied.
Sonarot just smiled, allowing him to keep his thoughts to himself. If he didn’t want to speak about his thought, she wasn’t going to force him.
“I won’t die,” Adam said, avoiding her gaze. “Not this time.”
Sonarot reached up to brush his hair. “I hope death comes to you late.”
Adam’s lips twitched into a smile. “Late, huh?” A thought crossed his mind. ‘I wonder if I can become immortal.’ He kept that thought away from Bell.
Opposite him, Jurot was sitting with the other Iyrmen, as he had done so previously.
“How come you sit alone?” Adam asked.
“I wish to be alone,” Sonarot replied.
“Do you want me to leave?”
“If you wish.”
Adam wasn’t sure if he should, but she had called for him to sit beside her, so he remained, eating the large portion of meat.
Omen: 9, 20
“Ho, ho!” Adam declared when he awoke in the morning, sitting up.
Sonarot and Jurot, who were in the middle of packing up their blankets, glanced over his way, their brows raised.
Adam grinned wide. “I’m feeling lucky today!” He hopped onto his feet, packing away his blanket, before joining the pair for breakfast.
The half elf walked with a pep in his step, leading today’s assigned Iyrman to the shrine.
Jurot remained behind, glancing to his mother. “Should I keep an eye on him?”
“No,” she said, reaching up to brush his hair. “He is working hard, so we shoud not disturb him.”
Jurot nodded his head, going off to play with his friends, who had yet to leave the Iyr on their journeys.
All the while, Adam approached the shrine, dropping down on the stool again. With his Omen, he was confident in the day, so didn’t spend much mental effort this day to work on his enchanting.
Mana: 3 -> 2
Enchanting
D20 + 4 + 2 = 22 (16)
Omen: 9, 20 -> 9
20 + 4 + 2 = 26
By the end of the day’s work, he could feel something buzz within his mind. A soft tingle, one which accompanied him as he returned back to the Iyr. ‘Am I enchanting too much?’ Adam thought. ‘If it gets worse, I’ll stop,’ he thought.
When he returned, he saw Jurot and the other young Iyrmen gazing at the sky, grunting in their own tongue. He threw a quick glance to Sonarot, who beckoned him to her.
“How was enchanting today?” she asked.
“It went amazing,” Adam said. “I couldn’t have enchanted any better today.”
“Well done,” she said, offering him some meat for dinner.
There was also a small portion of cheese, which was like a punch of flavour in his mouth. Adam shut his eyes tight, having not expected that the cheese was going to be so flavourful. There was a fist of sourness, and a thumb of sweetness within the hardened dairy.
Sonarot just smiled as she watched him consume the favoured cheese of the Iyr, which would always strike those who ate it for the first time in such a harsh way.
Adam swallowed, quickly biting down some meat to wash away its flavour. “You could have at least warned me.”
“Then you would have expected it,” Sonarot said, avoiding the cheese as she ate some more meat.
Adam shook his head and sighed. “I think this cheese is about as much adventure as I want currently.”
“You are working so hard. The weapon can be enchanted over the course of weeks, there’s no need to rush.”
“I just want to finish up the work that I have so I can play once I’m done.”
Sonarot smiled. “Good. Will you enchant tomorrow?”
“Probably. If I wake up feeling lucky, I’ll finish up the enchantment.”
Adam enjoyed the calm and peace of the Iyr, speaking with Sonarot for the rest of the evening as he had done so, until she would fall quiet due to her tiredness.
Omen: 14, 16
“Feeling lucky again this morning?” Sonarot asked as he awoke.
“Yes,” he said, getting up on his feet. “Today should be the last day I work on this sword.”
Mana: 3 -> 2
Enchanting
D20 + 4 + 2 = 8 (2)
Omen: 14, 16 -> 14
16 + 4 + 2 = 22
Would you like to spend XP to empower the weapon?
Adam hadn’t expected the sword to be so easy to enchant. He had been so lucky due to his Omen, but that led to an issue.
He was conflicted.
The sword would be brilliant, far more brilliant than the weapon he made for Lanarot. ‘No way. I refuse. It can’t be better than the weapon I made for Lanarot.’ He refused to spend any experience to make it better.
Enchanting successful!
Shortsword
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.
Deals 2D3 slashing + 2 fire damage.
XP: 1500 -> 1700
‘It’s pretty much the same, isn’t it?’ Adam thought for a long moment. ‘No, this is ever so slightly worse due to critical hits.’ He smiled, feeling much better about the axe now. ‘I should have spent more time on the axe…’
Would you like to name the weapon?
‘Oh, right.’ He stared at he sword, seeing the dark steel with flecks of orange throughout.
Fire Fang (Shortsword)
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.
Deals 2D3 slashing + 2 fire damage.
“You’re done?” the Iyrman this day asked. Once again, it was someone completely new to him. It was a handsome man in his early fifties, which surprised Adam. No doubt this man would be one of the strongest in the Iyr, and yet he was stuck babysitting Adam?
“I am,” Adam said.
“So soon?”
“Yes.”
The older man nodded his head and left it at that. He had heard the unbelievable tale of Adam making a weapon in three days, and he had been asked to check on him this day to see if he could repeat such a miracle. Even glancing at the sword, he could feel it was a decent enchantment.
“I’m back,” Adam said, revealing the sword to Sonarot.
“Jurot, go bring Sodul,” Sonarot said, before inviting Adam to sit beside her. “Did it go well?”
Adam held out the sword for her, which she accepted, admiring the blade. “It’s near identical to the axe.”
“Impressive,” Sonarot said. “It’s difficult to create such enchantments so quickly, especially to keep them at a similar strength.”
Sodul appeared. “I didn’t expect you to be done so soon,” he admitted.
“Don’t worry, I won’t charge you for an early delivery,” Adam joked, chuckling.
Sodul examined the sword. “I will spend the evening with the blade and will return with payment in the morning.”
“Sure, sure,” Adam said. “It’s not like you’ll rip me off.” The half elf yawned, suddenly feeling the lethargy take him. “I’ve been working so hard, so I think I’ll call it an early night.”
“Rest well, Adam,” Sonarot said as Jurot went to admire the sword.
It may not have been an axe, but a good weapon was a good weapon.
Adam lay on the blanket, staring up at the ceiling. “All I’ve done is eat some delicious food and enchant some weapons,” Adam thought. “I should try and get to know the Iyrmen better…” He thought about how rude it was that he came to the Iyr and didn’t immerse himself. ‘Though, I guess making the sword for Sodul was a good thing. I wonder how much gold I’ll make.’
Click banner for Patreon and come join my Discord too!
Sorry, I haven't been able to sleep well recently.
So begins the slice of life arc.
I wonder how long it will last for our fortunate protagonist...