Asher was pleased to find Brant more than happy to hear they would be continuing with the caravan all the way until Abingdon. The caravan leader had clearly been impressed with their ability to handle themselves in a surprise bandit raid, and they were informed that the caravan would be heading out tomorrow morning.

An unexpected but welcome surprise was the knowledge that they wouldn't have to pay any shards for Brian for this leg of the journey now that he'd decided he was heading to the royal guard academy. It was one of the many incentives put into place to allow and encourage any and all applicants to head to Abingdon and try their hand at gaining entrance into the academy, regardless of their background. Granted, Asher and Samantha still had to pay for their spot on Brant's caravan, but it wasn't all that expensive in the grand scheme of things.

Even after securing their spot on the caravan, Asher still had over one hundred and forty five thousand shards to his name, and he had one final thing he wanted to spend them on. Originally, he'd thought they were going to be staying in Dormaul for a while and thus hadn't prioritized this, but now that he knew they were leaving tomorrow, better safe than sorry.

"I'm going to spend our last evening in the city wandering around the second and third levels and see if I can't find someone selling mithral daggers," he told his companions as they headed back to the elevators. "You guys are welcome to join me if you want, while I'm in the third level at least, but no pressure if you have other plans."

"I'm still hunting for a shop with quality arrows we can stockpile," Samantha admitted, frowning slightly at the thought. "There are plenty with exceptional arrowheads, but the shafts have been lacking. I suppose that's not surprising in a city famous for its metals. And Brian wants to check out some of the ziplines heading from the third level to the fourth, so the two of us will probably break off."

"Sounds good to me. I'll come find you once I'm done with my dagger hunt and I'll dump whatever shards I have left into arrows for you. Should get you at least a dozen or two, right?"

"Ha ha," Samantha said, rolling her eyes as she fake laughed and nudged him with her shoulder. "I know I said they're more expensive than you thought, but they're not that bad. Brian, did you want us to buy you any arrows while we're here?"

"Maybe just a few heads," Brian said after a moment, giving it some serious thought. "I still prefer making my own arrows."

"Honestly, that's probably a good skill to have down the line," Asher admitted. "Not like I know anything about fletching, but it certainly sounds impressive."

"It definitely is, and I'll even admit at this point Brian's better at making arrows than I am," Samantha smiled, laying a proud hand on the blushing boy's shoulder. "At his insistence, Brian's been making all my arrows for the last few years now. He's gotten pretty good at it."

"At first I just wanted to help us save shards and take something off Sam's plate, but then I discovered I really liked making them," Brian grinned, clearly pleased by the compliment. "It's relaxing!"

"I bet! Alright, a mithral dagger for myself, arrows for Samantha, and arrowheads for Brian," Asher said out loud, getting two nods in return as they finally stepped into the elevator and were shot up to the third level. Once they were out, Asher waved goodbye and headed toward the portion of the third level he knew was thick with merchants. "I'll see you guys in a bit!"

As he started his hunt, part of him wondered if he shouldn't head up to the second level first and begin his search up there. If the third level didn't yield what he was looking for, he certainly would, but a large part of him figured the weapons up there were probably far more expensive. The wealthier folk up there would probably have weapons with things like ornate hilts, or jewel-encrusted sheaths, or other useless bits he had no interest in. All he needed was a plain dagger that cut well, he didn't need any bells or whistles attached.

The first handful of shops he hit didn't have what he was looking for. Sure, they had high-quality weapons ranging from daggers to greatswords, but none of them were made from mithral. He did drop a few hundred shards to purchase a silly dagger he found made entirely out of copper, if only to add to his unique dagger collection, but that was it. He finally started asking the different shopkeepers where he could find a mithral dagger, and while most were unhelpful or just flat out refused to recommend him to a competitor, the one he'd bought the copper dagger from finally gave him some advice.

"You need special permits to buy and sell anything made from mithral, along with a few other materials," the merchant explained, watching curiously as Asher slid the copper dagger into his bandolier. "Because of that, the second level has a near monopoly on mithral-based weapons, which lets them charge an exorbitant amount for the metal. There's only a single merchant here on the third level who deals in mithral, and that's because they make their weapons from scratch, they're not just a middleman between the smiths and the customer. They mine the ore in the fifth level, smelt it down, hammer it into whatever they want, and then sell it. If you want to find a mithral weapon without being charged an arm and a leg, they're the one you want to check in with."

"That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for!" Asher admitted, excited to finally have a lead. "Why isn't their shop more well-known? I would have expected anywhere someone could find a mithral weapon for a reasonable price would be insanely popular."

"You'll find out soon enough," the merchant snorted, shaking his head. "Not even getting into her… history, let's say, most of the time she isn't even in the shop, seeing as she spends so much time mining and smithing. And even if you do get lucky and find her shop to be open, that's no guarantee you'll get what you were looking for. I don't even know what skill she uses to do this, but she refuses to sell her creations to anyone she doesn't deem worthy. It's why she doesn't work with an actual merchant to sell her wares. I tried to buy a small rapier once from her with the intention of gifting it to my daughter, and she refused to sell it to me on the grounds that she didn't know if my daughter was worthy or not of such a weapon. She's a loon, plain and simple."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Either way, thanks for the tip," Asher said, having already made up his mind to make a beeline for this curious woman's shop.

The man gave him specific directions for how to find it, which was great, because the mysterious shop was all but hidden away, tucked into the back alley behind a bakery and a store that sold exclusively shoes with metal soles. If he hadn't been told where to look, Asher was all but certain he never would have found the place.

The old, dirty storefront didn't have any sort of 'open' or 'closed' sign, and the windows were so filthy he couldn't even tell if there was any light on within the store. The door was unlocked, however, so with a shrug, Asher headed inside.

The first and most surprising thing he noticed was the sheer clutter. After hearing from the other merchant about how this woman refused to sell her weapons to people unless she deemed them worthy, he'd expected to find her shop lined with fancy cushions, each blade well maintained and resting delicately on a pedestal.

Instead, they were lying in various heaps on a few different shelves, or jammed into barrels stacked here and there. It looked as though he'd stumbled into a well picked over thrift shop that specialized exclusively in medieval weaponry.

On top of that, for whatever reason, the woman refused to use the standard glowing gemstones that every other shopkeeper in the city used to illuminate their store. For whatever reason, she had lit torches lining the walls, casting flickering shadows across the scattered weapons.

It was while Asher was examining one of the torches, trying to tell without using Identify if it was enchanted or if she seriously just replaced them every few hours, that he heard a voice call out from deeper within the shop, causing him to jump.

"You might be the first person to walk in here who looked more interested in buying one of my torches than one of my weapons."

A woman stood in an open doorway, wiping her blackened hands on a towel tossed over her shoulder. She stood at nearly six and a half feet tall and wore a heavy-duty leather smock that was stained with ash and charcoal. She was built like a warrior, with dense muscles and a dangerous look in her eye that told of a past filled with countless battles. Her aura was that of a swirling, grey whirlpool of fractured blades, promising injury to any who dared to get close to her and whispering of a long past of pain and suffering. And strangest of all…

She very clearly wasn't human.

Asher stared at the living statue standing before him, and he blinked as if trying to ensure his eyes were working correctly. Her body appeared to be made entirely from polished iron, and if it weren't for the fact that her chest was rising and falling, or how her eyes were narrowed and focused on him, he would have assumed she was part of the shop itself.

[Smith] - 3/3 Elements (Ferrum)

Ferrum? Is that her race? Never seen that from Identify before. I wonder if it's because I evolved the skill.

Realizing he was staring, he coughed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry… Yeah, I'm not here for the torches either. I'm looking for a mithral dagger, and I heard this was the place to try."

"I hope you're not expecting to just waltz out of here with one of my blades in hand," the smith frowned, continuing to stare as if she was looking through him rather than at him. "What do you intend to use the dagger for?"

"Uh… stabbing stuff?" he replied truthfully, unsure what she wanted from him. He didn't feel any sort of truth-skill in play, but he had a feeling lying wouldn't be the best idea.

"What sort of 'stuff?' People?" she asked gruffly. From her tone, it sounded like she already knew the answer, but wanted to hear him say it for whatever reason.

"Yeah, people. Primarily those I would consider 'bad' people. Bandits, gang members, assassins, those kinds of people," he admitted. "I have the Judgement skill, which lets me know how much pain and suffering a person has caused. Unless they attack me first, I only go after the worst of the worst."

"Hmph," she grunted, continuing to stare at his chest. Finally, after almost ten seconds of uncomfortable silence, she held out a hand. "I can feel that the weapon you relied on most has recently come to an unfortunate end, though I understand it wasn't your fault. No weapon is immortal, and all will fall to either battle or rust sooner or later, as is the nature of metal. Instead, show me the weapon that you've entrusted your life to more than any other."

That's a weird ask… Asher thought, taking a moment to ponder exactly that. With his mithral dagger having been destroyed, he really wasn't sure which of his many daggers that would be. His first thought was his flaming dagger, as that had helped him out of more than a few scrapes. Then he realized she's specified weapon rather than blade, and he almost brought out his heavy boar tusk from within his rift to show her that, seeing as the tusk had saved his life on two distinct occasions.

But at the last moment, he realized there was an obvious answer to the request.

The smith blinked as Asher conjured an old, rusty iron dagger from out of nowhere, the blade still speckled with dried imp blood. It was easily the worst weapon Asher had in his entire arsenal, and it was without question the weapon that he'd entrusted his life to more than any other.

"When I had nothing, this blade allowed me to defend myself from those who wished to harm me and my friends," he said, looking lovingly at the rusty blade he'd decided to keep on a whim all those weeks ago. "It hasn't seen battle in some time, but I couldn't bring myself to give it up. It just felt wrong, you know?"

"More than you could ever hope to understand," she nodded, her eyes hungrily examining the blade. "...Your weapon speaks highly of you. Though it was less than pleased with how you purposefully banged it against a wall."

Asher's face heated up at the memory of smacking the rusted dagger into the wall of Leonard's Guild cell in an attempt to make Jennifer think he was angrily hunting for her, and he looked down at his dagger, wishing he could apologize somehow. Seeing his expression, the woman laughed.

"Even so, the blade doesn't hold the action against you, and it vouches for you as a warrior." She nodded, looking more than a little impressed as something shifted in her eyes. "Congratulations, you're one of the few people I've decided are worthy of my work. You're looking for a mithral dagger, are you?"

"Yes, I need something to help me punch through tough defenses," he admitted, letting out a small sigh of relief. He'd expected some sort of test, so learning she was only talking to his weapons as if they were a background check was a nice surprise. "Can you help?"

"Indeed. I'll sell you a mithral dagger, and it will only cost you fifty thousand shards," she said, pointing at the rusty dagger in his hand.

"Fifty thousand shards… and that dagger."

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