The door came open, and a little child's head peeked through it.
"Hello, Yarn. Would you let us come in to see your master?"
The boy nodded to Tuarine, and squinted his eyes at Ren for a few seconds trying to decipher if he was important or not.
The forge was hot, and the clanging Ren had heard outside was louder, and now reverberated across the place. They spotted Doma immediately they entered. The Blacksmith was occupied with striking, and trying to straighten a great sword on an anvil.
'Who's that for?' Ren could not imagine anyone in the village would need such a bulky sword nor would they be able to properly use it.
There was a hearth at the center of the building, where they did their heating, and next to the hearth was the anvil on which Doma struck the great sword upon. Igots of various metals stood in multitudes across all various corners of the hut.
"He doesn't like to be interrupted." The little boy spoke.
"Oh I know."
The short beefy man did not even do as much as pay the two a glance. He simply continued the monotonous act of striking the red hot sword, and this went on for about good five minutes, and then upon getting the perfect shape he had visualized, and the perfect hardness, he dipped the great sword into a water bath, at one of the ends of the stone hut.
Now he acknowledged his visitors, and now could some talking be done. He cleaned his hands dirty with soot with a piece of cloth that was even dirtier.
"Miss Tuarine, how lovely to see you." Doma said with a sincere smile, he then turned to Ren with a mix of confusion and curiosity on his face.
Tuarine stepped forward, "Doma, this is Ren Hanaki, Tunish's most recent resident."
Ren made a mental note for the name of the village, and he instinctively lunged his right hand for a shake. Doma, and Tuarine eyed his hand wondering what it was that he meant.
Ren chuckled, and pulled back his hand, 'Silly mannerisms.'
"I must step out more, when did little ole' Tunish get a new man? Refreshing to see, I was getting tired of all the funerals. What can I do for ya?"
The blacksmith arms were the biggest arms Ren had ever seen on a man, they were like tree trunks, and they were covered with so much hair. A thick mustache sat atop his upper lip, and he had his short black hair slick back like he was some aristocrat.
Ren cleared his throat, understanding what the blacksmith said with his accent gave him a little trouble.
"I would like to get a sword for protection. A good sword that would be with me for a long time."
Doma cupped his chin, assuming a serious worried countenance, and then burst into laughter, "Of course, that's what I am best at. I will even throw you a discount."
"How much is that?" Ren asked, knowing fully well that he had no money, no money that he could use at least.
"Just a silver and two copper coins. You should see what they charge in the cities." Doma joked, and laughed aloud to his own joke, his little boy joined him, and so did Tuarine with a light chuckle.
"When will it be finished?"
"Hmmm, I'll get on with it now, so by tomorrow it'll be ready."
"Alright then sir," he turned to leave, it was not like he had to get the sword, Eldrad had only suggested it, and if things became grim, he had his rifle, and a few bullet casings to rely on.
"A down payment must be made. Half preferably."
'Oh of course.' People were always keen about money.
Ren's mind briefly sped up its thinking speed as he thought of an appropriate answer that would suffice, anything that was better than 'I do not have the money right now.'
'Trade by barter should not be a foreign concept to this lot.'
"I don't have the money. I come from a distant country, and I had no means to earn this nation's coins until now. However, I have some valuable items to which I can trade you the sword."
"Hmmm…" The Blacksmith looked at Ren from his feet up, and saw that he dressed well, even in items Doma hadn't seen on people, like the boots that he wore.
"What valuable item might interest me that I'll be willing to trade a sword?" He glanced at Ren's shoes again.
Ren had just the thing,
"Glass cups!" Ren said excitedly, holding out his hands.
Obviously, no one but Ren knew what that was, and Ren had been counting on that. The fact that they did not know meant either glass cups were nonexistent or they were rare. There was the possibility that the people of Tunish were as tasteless as not to be bothered about things such as glass cups. Whichever it was, it made for good conditions for trade.
Ren described it as best as he could. A container that was fragile, transparent and appealing, but of course, none could catch on. Ren figured that Tuarine must have spotted some in his home earlier but she did not know what they were.
"Trust me, they are incredibly valuable. Or you could wait for some days, while I make enough money."
"No no, let me see this glass cup thing."
Ren smiled, he simply had built so much grandeur around the item that the Blacksmith would not settle for coins that he had been paid for most of his life. This was something new, something different.
The farmer cultivator held out his right index finger, telling that they should wait, and he went out the door.
He headed straight for his house, and he thought to pull out his stat screen on his way.
[The god of trade and intelligence has gotten interested in your bargain.]
He swiped through the numbers, all he wanted to see was just how much time he had left.
[Quest: Great Sword]
[Make a successful sword purchase from Doma]
[Reward: +2 charisma]
[Duration: 2 days]
[Faliure results to: -12 favor points, -1 charismatic]
[1 day 19 hours: 20 minutes]
He still had time. He got to his home, and briefly checked his animals, and crops and he saw that all was good, nothing had come to affect his assets. He went right into his home, and he spotted two small glass cups on his table. He had used them to drink some of the few whiskeys that he had with him. He gave them a quick clean, and immediately rushed out.
A few minutes later, he appeared in the forge with the cups hidden in his hands. He was trying to build suspense, and he was doing a great job at it.
Tuarine had left like Ren knew she would, a woman built that tough was always needed somewhere, he was grateful that she had been kind enough to lead him to Doma.
He held the items behind his back, approaching the Doma who kept busy with admiring the sword. Of course, the blacksmith saw him coming. He stopped as the blacksmith suddenly stopped, turning to him.
"Let's see these glass cups you speak of."
He pushed the delicate beautiful objects forward, they were wine glasses, flutes he had gotten on the occasions that he received wealthy visitors, he had never put them to good use, and he did not bat an eye about trading them.
Doma's eyes lit up, Ren had interested him with the description of the cups, but seeing them inspired happiness in his heart, he had never seen anything that was as perfectly crafted, it was a perfect gift, a bow to another great craftsman.
"You have got yourself a deal!.