Aria was staring at the harvested materials from both the Great Jaggi and Arzuros. There were many parts that can be used to create weapons and armours, but Aria drew a blank on the types that she would like to have.
"Well, based on my memories, I can try making an armour set of either the Great Jaggi or Arzuros, but they do come with limitations. Arzuros armour has higher defense and its skills are great for gathering materials, but Great Jaggi armour is designed for speed and attack. Then again, depending on the generations of the game, their set of skills are different and I do not remember much... However, this is another world, so maybe it will not be the same..." Aria mumbled off as she stared at the sky. After a while, a voice called out to her.
"Heya missy! Soz ta hav ya waitin for us!" Noel cheerfully waved her hand as she walked out of the guild's entrance to the parked carriages. "Wowsie. There are lot'sa stuff ta be brought ta the smithy."
"Noel... How are ya so energetic in the mornin..." Mary followed suit with a sleepy head. "Sides, we just got down n dirty yesterday with these mons and my body's still tired."
"Good morning Miss Aria. I hope that you did not wait long." Gunther came out next and approached Aria while both Peter and Elisia walked out afterwards, biting into some apple-like fruits called Akarubi. "There are some problem with the paperwork and, as the leader of Group 1, I have to make extra-long report and went through some rigorous interview to ensure accuracy."
"Oh no, please do not mind that. I am the one who came too early. I tossed around in my sleep due to the excitement and woke up when the night was still dominating the sky. When I arrived at the guild, the staffs were not even ready. Hehe."
"Gunther, it'll be best if we move now or the smithy is going to get too crowded." Peter swallowed his last bite of the fruit and informed Gunther in a deep voice. Gunther nodded and proceeded to pull one of the carriages while the others moved to do the same. Peter, being the biggest among the group, pulled the largest load.
"Are you sure you do not need my help? I can take some of the load off and carry them."
"Hahaha. I appreciate the sentiment, but it would look bad on us if we made a child carry heavy loads. Besides, we ought to thank you for giving us a portion of the materials."
"It is a way to thank you for your guidance. It is too much for me to have them all anyways, so I thought of putting those materials to good use and craft better equipment for all of you. I hope this will help you raise your ranking."
"Oh tha's sweet! Noel is fallin' love with ya again!" With a teasing face, Noel etched closer to Aria while pulling the carriage only to receive a light knock on her head by Elisia with her trusty magic staff.
"Enough with that, I will seriously report you to the knights."
"Boo... Elisia is too stiff. Some teasin woulda ya good n if ya keep hittin me in ta head I will get dumb ya know. So please stop with ta strike."
Aria looked at the scene and laughed as the atmosphere became as bright as the rising sun.
The group arrived in front of the blacksmith workshop located in the Southern region of the city where most industries were located. The shop recommended by the guild was named Hearth of Forge and it boasted a large number of highly qualified blacksmiths. The smell of molten metal, the sight of dancing flame, the sound of metallic impact and the touch of the heat assaulted Aria as she entered.
"Gunther!" A loud, deep and gravelly voice came out from the back of the shop. A tall muscular man emerged from the hectic background and approached the customers. "What sort of stuff did you get me today?"
"Good morning Sir Lucio. You must have heard about the expedition that were conducted yesterday by the guild. Well, these are the monsters that we hunted down."
"What the hell are you talking about? Didn't Lord Sultier put some kind of a bounty on them? They should have belonged to the Lord." Lucio went and looked at the content of the carriages. "Well, I'll be damn. I've never seen these things. Did the Earl gave them to you, Gunther?"
"I'll be happy if that was the case, but it was this miss that earns the Earl's favour." Gunther nudged Aria to come forward to face Lucio.
"Ho. With that hair and eyes... I see. Well then, let us check these materials and determine what can be made." Lucio turned around and gestured several blacksmiths to carry the materials into the workshop. "Little missy, I need your measurements. Do you know them?"
"My name is Aria and no, I do not have my measurements since I do not know what to measure."
"Alright miss Aria. Since I need your measurements to make good custom armour for you, I will need you to go to the back room and have some of our female employees accompany you to get your sizes. After that, you will need to decide what kind of armour and weapons you are looking for and I will make them."
"Understood."
"Hey, hey, Aria, wanna let me get them measures for ya?" Noel got behind her and placed her hand on her shoulders.
"With my nimble hand- Atah!"
Elisia's wand struck her with a considerable impact and caused Noel to hold her head in pain.
"We are going to the knights station." Elisia made a scary face while looking down on the crouching Noel.
Aria decided to ignore the comedic gag and asked a female blacksmith for help.
After taking several measurements, Aria was escorted to a spacious room at the back of the smithy. There, Lucio was discussing with the 'Will of the Wind' about the materials and Aria joined in.
"These monsters have different qualities and maybe we should do some basic testing to see their flexibility, strength and durability." Lucio recommended various tests since he had never worked with the presented materials.
Gunther nodded at the suggestion, but looked at Aria for approval. Aria looked at the materials and asked Lucio if there are any other available materials that the smithy had in their storage.
"There are only several monsters bones and ores, but you will need to pay extra if you are going to use them. I will give you some discount if you buy in bulk though." Lucio replied while showing Aria the storage room that housed a large amount of materials that were properly sorted out. Aria compared it to the guild master's office and felt that this place was more well-organised. She touched some of the ores and realised that they were similar to those found in the game.
"Miss Aria, you seem oddly familiar with these materials. Did you study their properties or have you had some experience handling them?" Lucio was suspicious as he watched Aria picking out some of the materials out of storage and grouping them together with the Great Jaggi and Jaggi materials. Aria remained silent as she focused on her task and after a while, she looked at Lucio and asked him to teach her the craft to make her own weapon and armours. Everyone were surprised by the declaration.
"Miss, are you crazy? Making equipment for adventurers require years of practice. There is no way that you will make something half decent especially with things we haven't seen."
"Please." Aria bowed. "I am familiar with the materials, but I am not familiar with the machineries in this store. Therefore, I would like your guidance to make the best possible armours and weapons. I do not want the struggles the expeditions members had to go through become obsolete."
Lucio looked at Aria as she maintained her bowing posture and after a long pause, he relented.
***
"Hey Gunther, do you think it is the right choice to leave it to her?" Elisia questioned as she was sitting on a chair while drinking ale in the inn that they were currently staying. "Lucio is known for being strict and can get violent when the apprentice make mistake."
Gunther finished his cup of ale and beckoned a waiter to bring him another cup. "I doubt that Lucio would get violent with Aria. He must have notice that she is related to the Earl and that there is something mysterious about Aria that we cannot understand. It is as if she was granted some kind of knowledge from Lord Flare."
"I suspect as much. She might be some kind of messenger or someone blessed by the god. I have heard about it somewhere when I visited the church to pray and learn some basic healing magic, though I never fully master it."
"Don't blame yaself too much for that." Noel came onto her seat beside Elisia and put down several bowls of stew and spring vegetables salad on the table. "Sides, we got our resident shield ta take the hit for us. Right, Peter?"
"Noel, please stop with the joke. Having someone who can perform healing is very beneficial to us. I wouldn't have survived several hunts if Elisia doesn't know a little healing. Granted, the potion did most of the job." Peter grabbed a bowl of stew and devoured it.
Mary took a bowl of vegetable and ate it while savouring the crunch of fresh produce. "Let's believe in little'ol missy. If ya think too much, ya gonna have a hard time livin life. I'm sure she knows what she's doing with 'em."
"Right, right, Mary. I'm lookin forward ta the bows she's makin for us." Noel scooped out the stew and placed into her mouth before taking a sip of ale. "Ya guys are curious bout what she's makin for ya as well rite?"
The other 3 looked at each other and smiled. They believed that Aria was special and that she would deliver what she had promised. They all cheered with a cup of ale for each and drunk into the night.
They woke up the next day with terrible hangover and were unable to take any quest.
***
"I really can't believe it. You managed to craft several excellent equipment in just a little over a week." Lucio watched in awe at the armours and weapons laid out. "You amaze me with such beautiful craftsmanship. You have talent that all blacksmiths would be jealous of."
"Thank you for the compliments." Aria replied with a tired voice. She had been staying in the smithy for many sleepless nights trying to accomplished what she had visualised. "I have finished all the necessary parts and the rest is just cleaning up..."
"Miss Aria?" Lucio turned to Aria and noticed that she had fallen asleep. Smiling, he carried her to the back room and laid her down on a bench and covered her in a cloth. "Sleep well. The rest will be taken care of by yours truly."
Lucio proceeded to polish some of the blades and wiping them clean before sorting them out neatly for the customers. Afterwards, he ordered an apprentice to inform the 'Will of the Wind' party members who were residing in an inn called 'Paradise of the North' that their equipment were ready to be collected. The apprentice returned within an hour and he informed Lucio that the party were out doing some quest, but he had informed the inn lady to notify the party when they returned.
As the sun began to sink into the horizon, 'Will of the Wind' party members arrived at the smithy, exhausted. Apparently, some unknown creature similar to the Jaggi had appeared in the Forest of Beginners, but since they had experience in hunting down the Jaggis, they did not face much trouble.
"Wow! These equipment look gorgeous. Aria must have given her all to make these." Gunther took the long sword dedicated for him. "The spine of the blade looks like the spine of the Jaggi with teeth coming out. It is as if I had used the monsters' bones itself as a weapon and the sheath is beautiful with shade of purple and orange."
"Miss Aria named it Canine Katana. She also said that she adjusted the length to be suitable for you Gunther, so you got to thank her later."
"Speaking of Aria, where is she?" Gunther put the blade back onto its sheath.
"As expected, she is tired after many sleepless nights and so, she is currently sleeping in the back room over there. I guess she will be staying for the night again today."
"There is no need for that." Elisia pitched in after taking a look at her new magic wand. It was a modified Hunting Horn to be much smaller and could act as a large mace in case of close quarter combat.
"I will be carrying her back to our inn and she can sleep with us in our suite room. Besides, I need to thank her for this weapon; this will greatly enhance our combat capabilities and, will also deter Noel from her usual gag." A scary smile formed on her face.
"Excuse me! I'mma be dead if that hit me in tha head boss!" Noel complained to Elisia to no avail while inspecting her bow made from Arzuros materials.
"Well, if we can get these stuff, guess it's fair trade with Noel's head." Mary practiced nocking her bow that is the same as what Noel had.
"Mary! I thought ya were on my side!"
"Alright, alright." Gunther clapped his hand to gain everybody's attention and to stop the gag. "We will be carrying the equipment back to our inn, including Aria's. We will also be taking a break for tomorrow to familiarise ourselves with these equipment and allow Aria tell us about them."
"I can inform you about them right now."
Everyone turned and saw Aria walking out of a room and stretching her body as she made her way towards the group. It was clear that she was still tired with her groggy steps and her dark eye bags.
"Miss, you've done a lot for us. Please, take care of yourself. We don't mind waiting another day to learn about these equipment." Peter knelt down to see Aria eye to eye and delivered his concern. "The guild master told us to take care of you. You're just 11 years old. Don't take everything onto your shoulders. Allow us to bear some of your responsibilities as well."
"That's right! Come with big sis Noel to our inn! We're gonna clean ya up and snuggle ya onto some comfy bed." Noel exclaimed enthusiastically as she approached Aria.
"There'll be a great party ta celebrate with lotsa food. Big sis's gonna spoil ya good and dress ya up good." Noel was about to pick Aria up when she, out of the corner of her eyes, spotted Elisia's smiling demonic face approaching her with her magic wand cum mace. "Wait, wait! Elisia, I'm just jokin' please put that down."
Aria laughed and agreed with them.
***
"There are other monsters in the Forest of Beginners?" Aria asked when soaking in the warm public bath. "Did they caused any trouble?"
"Not so much of a trouble, but more like annoyance. We did not see any of the so called leader like that Great Jaggi, so there is not much problem in hunting them." Elisia stretched her arms up as she soaked her tired body in the bath beside Aria. "Their colouration is different though; they are blue with blackish stripes, their eyes and mouth or rather, beak, are yellow and they had a red crest like some bird. I seriously do not understand their adaptation in having those colouration since they stick out like sore thumb against the greenery. At least for the bear monster, its colour is more muted into grey and could blend well with the rockface found near the streams."
"However, they're more aggressive than tha'ol purple monsters." Mary was rinsing her short red hair with cold water before entering the warm bath. "Thanks ta that colour, we could spot 'em before they do and ambush 'em"
"Hmm... I guess I could tell you all about them, but I suspect that their leaders might be nearby."
"So they do have some kind of alpha male leading them. I think we should inform the guild master about it and increase the number of scouts."
"Maybe there'll be another hunt for those blue fellas." Noel stood up from the bath and removed the cloth covering her blonde shoulder-length hair before getting out of the tub. "Anyways, I'll be outta here ta get some fresh milk ta drink. Ya'll take ur time 'er."
"Noel, for the last time, milk does not make your breast grow."
"! Sh... shut up! I'm not like ya with those gigantic lumps! Ya're blessed while I need ta grow mine!"
"What I have has nothing to do with what I just said. All I am saying is that milk does not help in growing your breast. You can see that Mary did not do that."
"Hahaha... I've given up ages ago. Sides, it's a blessin' that ours're small cos we're archer. Don't wanna have tha same thing that happen ta Elisia."
"Please do not remind me of that. It was embarrassing and traumatising." Elisia's faced turned gloomy as she clutched her breast while reminiscing of the agonising pain etched into her memories.
"I'm still 17! I'm still growing!" Noel stormed out of the bath as other onlookers chuckled quietly.
Afterwards, the other 3 walked out of the luxury and joined the others in their private room.
"This room is quaint, comfy and warm. It must have cost a lot." Aria looked around the suite equipped with its own fireplace, tables, chairs, candles and beddings made out of wool and feathers. "It is almost like nobility."
"Hahaha. I believe miss Aria had lived in a better room than this one before." Gunther took a seat and offered Aria some tea to drink. "We are pretty famous around here for never failing a quest and as such, many believes that we are blessed by Lord Flare. They want some of our luck and blessing to rub off a little to them and that is why we got some pretty good deal with the owner of this inn, since we brought in many customers."
"In return, it also put a lot of pressure onto us since we need to consistently prove our mettle." Elisia poured herself a cup of tea and sat next to Aria.
"That is why that last expedition to hunt the Great Jaggi was quite stressful since we were walking into unknown threats. Well, as luck would have it, Aria came into our life and performed such incredible feats despite being a newbie. You even shared the harvested materials with us and make such wonderful equipment. Truly, we are blessed to have met you, Aria." Elisia smiled and gave Aria a head pat, reminding the latter of her late mother.
"Well then, after finishing up this tea, we will head to bed and woke up early tomorrow to get use to the new equipment. Miss Aria, as the party leader, I once again express our gratitude for the equipment." Gunther bowed in gratitude.
With a warm feeling, Aria smiled to accept his sincerity and went to bed with a comfortable blanket of companionship.