The Adventures of Rose Hood

I had no more major incidents in the next 12 nations, though it took me 2 weeks to visit them. They either offered help or declined.

I flew to the last destination, Calesen’s neighbor, Drummel.

It was often called the Dwarven nation, or the blacksmithing paradise. Thalia always wanted to journey there, but she was never allowed to. They didn’t care for dragons, and I heard a rumor that they ate preserved dragon meat at noble feasts. Frankly I wasn’t too scared, but I visited Calesen on the way there and Elren said that he and his army were preparing, and to be careful of the kingdom.

I wandered and landed near the gate and shifted before heading to the line. They hadn’t banned slavery; in fact, they were neutral on it. As long as it wasn’t a dwarf enslaved, they couldn’t care less.

I didn’t see any slavers in line, but I did see a lot of dwarves.

One looked at me.

“That’ some good armor ye got ‘ere, where’d ye get it?”

“My sister made it.”

“Interesting, would ye be interested in selling it te me... er... I’ll give ya 30 gold.”

“Sorry, but my sister's armor is worth far more than that, as I doubt anything you could make would even be able to scratch it.”

A few dwarves laughed at my proclamation, not so much at me, as at the dwarf for trying to scam me.

The dwarf muttered then got an idea.

“Tell ye what. I have 10 minutes to break that shoulder pad. If I do so, ya give the armor to me. If ye win, I’ll give you 1000 gold.”

“Sure.”

I picked off the shoulder pad and handed it to him. His eyes widened and he quickly dropped his hammer to manage to carry the shoulder pad.

“How is it so heavy?”

“What? Can’t even hold grammite? And you act like you can break it?”

He examined the armor, his eyes widening as he continued to examine it.

“Tick tock, you have 9 minutes now.”

I smiled as he began to panic. He pulled out a magical blade, and he struck the shoulder pad, but the blade snapped in half. He panicked and used a combination of fire magic and a magical hammer to break it.

His hammer was now shattered. Over the next 9 minutes, he tried fruitlessly to break my sister's work, but broke many of his items instead.

He handed me 1000 gold coins with a grimace at the sheer outworking of his craft.

I picked up the shoulder pad and put it back on my shoulder.

“Real question, kiddo. How can ye even hold that armor, much less carry it so easily?”

“Quite simple, I’m strong.”

As it became my turn to enter the guard looked at me.

“A’ight, state your name and business.”

A few dwarves looked over in curiosity to learn who I was.

“Rose Hood, S rank adventurer. I’m here to conduct diplomacy on behalf of Selethon.”

“A’ight, you are on the list. A bit shorter than I expected of a dragon, but I assume you have proof of your identity?”

I handed him my card, and he gave it back to me nodding.

“Well, Mrs. Hood, welcome to the city.”

At the confirmation of my identity, the dwarf that challenged me blanched. He not only insulted a dragon, but he insulted the work of the famous fire dragon. I smiled at him cheekily before entering town.

_

I entered the guild and I saw a vast majority of the people were dwarves.

“Hello ‘ere, cat. What are ye doin’ here?”

Their accents were harder to understand than Mammon’s.

“I came here to announce myself.”

Then a dwarf laughed.

“What business does a wee lass like you have announcing yerself like ye’re some kinda big shot.”

“Well, as an S rank, I’m pretty sure it is protocol to announce myself when I enter a town. None of the others have had problems with it.”

Their eyes simultaneously widened. Then the whole guild burst into laughter.

“An S rank? That wee lass?”

“I could punt her, and she’d go flying.”

“She’s smaller than a dwarf.”

Then someone came out.

“WHAT’S WITH ALL DE RACKET OUT ‘ERE?!”

“Sir, this wee lass is pretending to be an S rank.”

The dwarf looked at me and then blanched.

“Mrs. Hood, we were awaiting yer arrival.”

“Thank you, I thought while in town I should announce myself.”

“Yes, that is protocol, mam.”

“Boss?”

“Mam, please forgive my men, they weren’t expecting you te look like that.”

“I understand, few people know what I look like. Anyways, I need to go. Have a wonderful day.”

I left the guild; his accent was luckily less thick.

Then I heard a shout.

“YE IDIOTS!!!”

I snickered as I walked to the nearest blacksmith shop to get a checkup.

_

‘So... many... blacksmiths...’

‘Rose, just pick one.’

‘But how do I know if one is quality?’

‘Go in, examine the goods and if they suck then leave.’

‘But that would make me seem mean.’

‘JUST PICK ONE ALREADY!!!’

I saw a human wandering the road.

“Excuse me sir, but do you know which of these smiths are the best?”

“Hah, while I’d like to claim it’s my shop, it’s actually the shop behind me. That belongs to my teacher. They say his work compares to the flame dragon herself.”

“Is the flame dragon respected here?”

“Oh please, they worship her more than they do the gods.”

“Wow. Well, thanks.”

“No problem, kid.”

I entered the shop and saw a dwarf that looked familiar.

“Gallson?”

“Oh. Ye know my son?”

“Your son?”

“Aye.”

“Yes, I do know him. If you are his father, then you must be the master smith I was told about.”

“Ha, my apprentice babbling again?”

“I guess. Is it true that your work is on par with the flame dragon’s?”

“Nah, I used to claim that, then I actually saw one of her pieces. I don’t think anyone could match that craftsmanship.”

“She is amazing.”

“That she is... wait. Is that a set of her armor?”

“Yes?”

“Incredible, how did you get it? It musta cost a fortune.”

“Actually, it was custom made for me.”

“HOW DO YE KNOW THE FLAME DRAGON?!!”

The Smith’s shout caught the attention of some passing blacksmiths and the human I spoke to before. They peaked in as I said,

“She’s my elder sister.”

“Wait, ye’re a dragon?”

“Yep.”

“Woah, that’s cool.”

“Caleb, what’re you doin’ here, I thought I dismissed you.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I heard that the person I directed here knew the flame dragon and I wanted to know how.”

“And the rest of ye, scram, get yer own customers.”

The dwarves scrambled over each other, nearly crushing Caleb in the process.

He got up and walked over to look at me.

“You’re a bit short for a dragon.”

“I get that a lot.”

Then the smith spoke up,

“I actually have a piece I bought from an auction; it was a craft of your sister’s.”

“Really?”

Caleb spoke up.

“Yep, it’s the centerpiece of the shop.”

I looked and sure enough, there was a great sword that was made by my sister.

“Yep, that’s definitely Thalia’s work.”

“Thalia, that sounds elven.”

“Yeah, her humanoid form is a high elf, so she gave herself an elven name.”

Caleb gave a confused look.

“Huh, I always sorta thought she’d appear as a dwarf.”

“Why?”

“Because dwarves are more known for smithing while elves are more known for healing.”

“I’ve seen strong elven smiths.”

“Yeah, but they aren't as known fer it.”

“I see.”

“Well, what are you doin’ in this nation.”

“Diplomacy on behalf of Selethon.”

“Ah, I heard she was seen in that nation.”

“Yeah, and she works as Calesen’s royal blacksmith.”

“Incredible, how did a nation like Calesen get her.”

“My brother is the king.”

“Ah... that’d do it. I guess the rumors of them having a dragon in their army wasn’t false then.”

“They weren’t. Anyways I got to go.”

“Cya then.”

I walked for a bit...

‘You didn’t get your armor checked for damage.’

‘Yeah, I did.’

‘When?’

‘He never mentioned any sort of marks on it when he was gawking, so it’s good.’

‘Goodness, you are smart.’

‘Thanks.’