A New Star Chapter 71 (Patreon)

The evening special was fast, compared to the day trains, both in that it proceeded at a somewhat reckless pace, and in that it had fewer stops along the ling from Umberton to the capital. We were not the only ones with first class tickets, but I used the time to meditate while the Count schmoozed with several minor nobles who were overawed by the old codgers presence. I let the constant clacking of the rails lull me into a deeper state of focus, turning inward to examine that realm within my mind where the orbs representing my affinities resided. The space was strange in many ways, not least of which because the real Alexandra resided here, in the very depths of the space, and yet her affinities were not present. It raise more questions about how magic and mana worked than it answered, but I let those fall away as I examined each of my affinities and my progress. I felt I was on the cusp of breaking through with several of them, but the process had slowed down over the last few years.

Still, with my insane levels of compatibility, I was already setting records with the pace I was on, and I would continue to do so. The academies were very proud of their H-rank graduates and boasted about them, but I was a couple months shy of the age to enter the academies and was already at J-rank. Based on my current pace, even with it slowing as I started moving through the middle grades, I would be M-rank at the least by the time I turned eighteen if not more. And I would do it with half a dozen or more affinities, not just the three that most people put all their focus on. I could understand how difficult it was if one didn’t have a very high compatibility, to focus on multiple affinities plus on weapon training, it required a lot of time and enormous effort. That was also setting aside people’s constitution, or body affinity, which most people barely worked on at all.

My meditations were eventually interrupted by the train arriving at the station in the capital, a massive edifice of stone and glass that was clearly constructed with the desire to convey a sense of awe to anyone arriving in the city for the first time. It was not my first time, and I barely waited for the Count and the Silver Lady, knowing we would be heading to the Count’s estate first. It was already well into the night and no shops would be open at this hour, so our first order of business was to hurry up and wait, letting the night pass by. We were greeted by the Count’s staff, impeccable as always, and led to rooms to rest, though the Count and Silver Lady took brandy in the parlor. I had no interest, either in drinking or in the two old folks’ reminiscing about bygone days, though I was not a teetotaler.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast cooked by the Count’s excellent chef and staff, we followed the old man’s lead as he made his way to a shop he had in mind for our little errand. He made his way through upper district and into a fancier part of the merchant’s quarter, a place with much nicer shops and buildings than much of the rest of the quarter. The building the Count led us to was nothing all that fancy on the outside, which was a good sign, in my personal opinion, as places that went very hard on the ostentatious displays often didn’t focus enough on the craft itself. The building had two stories of a gray stone with a story of dark wood and a roof of dark green ceramic tiles. Inside, the front room of the first floor displayed armor and equipment commonly used by adventurers, including backpack and tents, though the armor was clearly the focus. Much of what was on display was very well crafted and lacking any frills or excess ornamentation, another good sign, though there were two suits of armor that bookended the counter opposite the front door that were clearly much more. Unlike other shops or even other trades, even gilt and ornament on armor could act as a testament to the craftsperson’s skills and capabilities, and the two show pieces proved that amply.

Each of the show pieces was a suit of full plate, crafted from some kind of silver metal, something that didn’t look like steel to my eye, but something that glimmered in the oil lamps the brightly lit the showroom. The piece on the right had a slightly narrow chest piece that was crafted to look like the feathered body of some divine beast, the intricate work done in layering the metal and crafting the feathers quite spectacular. My assumption, based on the motif and sizing, was that it was armor designed for a woman, though a man could have worn it just as well. It was complimented, in many respects, by its mirror piece, also of the silver metal, but worked to look like it was covered in fine, delicate scales. While the helm on the rightmost suit had feathers that swept back from the brow, hammered into the helm to look like some kind of feathered crown, the armor on the left had a set of horns that started above the brow, flowing low over the top of the helm and rising to a sharp point at the top of the head.

“Impressive,” I commented, the Count having noticed my interest.

“Welcome! Ladies, gentleman, what can Arnold’s Armory do for you today?” a clean-shaven young man wearing black pants and a dark green shirt exclaimed.

“Come now, Ross, it’s me,” Emmanuel said to him, recognition lighting the man’s eyes a moment later.

“Why, Emmanuel, it’s been years since you’ve come in person. To what do we owe the pleasure?” Ross said.

“This is Ross Smith, grandson of Arnold Smith, the owner and head forger of this business,” the Count explained to us before turning to Ross. “My good man, this young lady with us is an important student of mine that requires a better suit of armor than what she has been using. Not only are we looking for quality, but she’s scheduled for a large dungeon delve in four days. If anyone can expedite an order without sacrificing quality, it’s your shop, for certain.”

“Well, we can certainly make something nice for her,” Ross said, scratching at his chin for a moment. “In four days, however, will be a little tough…”

“The time is no issue,” I said calmly, darkness swirling around my feet before rising and covering me in plate armor. “The armor is a bonus; I can protect myself well enough.”

“Fascinating!” exclaimed Ross, quickly coming out from behind the counter to examine the armor I had created. “To use an affinity so adroitly to create a full suit of armor! And it’s coverage and shape are exactly what I would expect of a well made set of full plate. I would assume you would like a set crafted in this likeness?”

“I hadn’t even though of it,” I answered truthfully with a shrug. “I leave such things to the professionals.”

“Well, come, come,” Ross said, gesturing us to follow him back through a side door. Rather than lead us into the back of the building, he took us down a hallway and out the back door of the building, moving into a small yard. The yard was small not because there wasn’t much space behind the building, but because the shop had built a second building between the back of the building and the alley that ran through the middle of the block of shops. It was clear their operation had expanded beyond the point where they could use half the first floor of the store to work in and had built an entire smithy behind the main building to work from.

The side of the smithy facing us had a massive door on rollers that was slid all the way open, the heat pouring out of the workshop enough that I could feel it right as I exited the first building. There were four people, three men and one woman, working various materials through various processes in the main room of the smithy. Forgers were not so much traditional smiths as they were crafter that used just about any materials to forge weapons, armor, and some simple devices and equipment. A forger could do everything a more ‘traditional’ blacksmith could do, from making nails to crafting full plate armor, but they weren’t limited to metal nor to specific types of craft. A skilled forger could work metal, bone, blood, wood, stone, and more, combining anything they needed or wanted into any one of thousands of products, including highly customized items. The best of the best were capable of creating legendary items, things not quite as good as Gungnir, but that had a level of power and capability that far surpassed other items of the same type.

Ross led us into the forge and got the attention of a man that would make a grown grizzly bear look like a toddler, standing at over seven feet in height with arms like the trunks of redwoods and more muscle on his frame than someone who spent twenty-five hours a day lifting weights. The man was also getting on in years, if his salt-and-pepper hair and long beard were any indication, a little more of it going to white than was the black that was clearly his original color. Despite his unbelievable size, the man wasn’t hammering at metal, as one might expect, but was instead very carefully carving a set of runes into a piece of bone. We waited a minute for the master to finish, the man putting down the tool that looked more chisel than pen before turning to us.

“Emmanuel!” he boomed, having just the kind of deep, resounding voice one might expect from such a colossus.

“Arnold!” Emmanuel said, clasping the man’s forearm and slapping at his shoulder, the noise producing a resounding thunder in the workshop. The other forgers were clearly used to such antics and loud noises, as they barely paused to glance over before immediately resuming their work.

“What can I do for you, you old, crotchety bastard?” Arnold boomed before looking over at the Silver Lady and myself. “And who are these two?”

“Lady Jeanne Audierre Highcourt, Z-Ranker of silver, healing, and lightning,” the Silver Lady introduced herself.

“Alexandra,” I said, not sticking to formality but grasping the man’s massive forearm and shaking it.

“Strong,” he grunted after we let go.

“She is why we’re here,” Emmanuel explained. “She needs a suit of armor, nothing exceptional just yet, as she’s not quite done growing, but something she can wear into dungeons for the next year and get some good use out of.”

“Ah, that’s no problem. Simple request like that are fast, unless you’ve got something interesting for me?” Arnold said.

“A bit of sky steel,” Emmanuel said, producing two bars of steel from somewhere.

“I can use that,” Arnold said, his eyes lighting up. “That’ll make this a little more interesting.”

“Arnold prefers novel items and materials,” Emmanuel explained to me as the massive smith inspected the bars. “If you bring his shop something interesting enough, he won’t charge more than pittance to do the work, as it’s the challenge that excites him these days.”

“And the other boys and girls,” Arnold said, jerking his head towards the other workers in the shop. “You have anything interesting, little lady?”

“Just this,” I said, shrugging casually as I made Gungnir appear from the subspace it always slept in when it hovered near me.

“By the Gods!” Arnold exclaimed, joined by the other forgers, all of whom had stopped their work at the appearance of the spear, one of them missing the piece he was hammering and hitting the anvil instead.

“That…that’s a g-godly relic,” the other man stammered, staring at the spear with wide eyes.

“Make my armor within three days and your lot can examine the spear for one hour,” I said to Arnold before making the spear disappear again.

“Young Lady, with that as an incentive, I’ll have your armor done by tonight,” the massive man said, a distinctive gleam in his eye. “Come back tomorrow morning and it’ll be ready.”

“You don’t need my measurements?” I asked, slightly surprised.

“Already got it,” Arnold said, tapping right next to his right eye. “I can scan the body proportions of other beings around me with just a glance. The armor I make’ll fit just like a second skin with hindering your movements just from my having seen you.”

“Fascinating,” I said, peering at the man’s eyes for a moment. He had managed to embed part of one of his affinities in his eyes, clearly using in his craft to further his work. It would be valuable beyond just measuring a person’s size, as he could likely use it for all kinds of fine measurements and adjustments while crafting.

The other smiths, including Ross, were still staring at me, but a reprimand from Arnold had them all scrambling, back at work in no time. Ross waited until we had confirmed everything with Arnold before leading us back to the shop, wherein we bid our farewells and departed. The Count attempted to steer us somewhere for some business, but I had stopped pay attention and simply walked off, moving into The Dark as he tried to intercept me. Whatever his plans were, he could damn well do them without me, as I had other business to see to. The first of which was going to be paying my old friend Lester a visit.

The knight errant had been hard at work, raising all of his affinities several times in the last few years. Beyond that, he had been my eyes and ears in the capital, moving as I desired but also taking his own initiative to investigate things and report information back to me. He had hired two people to work under him just six months ago, asking me about them first. I told him that they were his responsibility in all senses; he could hire whoever he wanted, but any time they fucked up, it was on his head to deal with it. He had told me he had found a set of twins that were very good at sneaking and gathering information, and I had told him to focus on the gangs in the city as he had been, using the new employees to monitor them more closely. Such organizations had been rather quiet since I had come in and smashed up their little necromancy smuggling operation a couple years ago, but they were stirring again, and I felt it was time to take a more active hand, especially as this also involved my business with Pietr and Robin.

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