Chapter 19: Adventurer! (2)

After asking around for a short while, they had found their way to the Blacksmiths that they needed to go to also known as Durans Smithy which was also one of the better Blacksmiths in this area too.

Velt and Lilith slowly pushed open the door and proceeded to enter the Blacksmiths whilst mentally noting just how many weapons and equipment there was lying around and atop shelves. It almost looked like it could be a war armoury with the sheer amount of equipment.

Generally speaking, the Blacksmiths wasn't too packed during this time of day and the people who usually came were all regulars in purchasing equipment from them, hence the man at the counter had long since noticed them enter and allowed them to look around for a short while before promptly calling them over, "Hey, yeah you there the boy and girl pair" he said informally yet not rudely to which Velt and Lilith turned their heads towards him and made their way over,

"Is there anything I can help you two with?" he said once more.

"Ah, right, sorry we was so intrigued by the amount of weapons and equipment that we almost forgot what we originally came for" Velt said whilst scratching the side of his head awkwardly and Lilith chuckling in the background slightly. "Could you happen to be the one that issued the Quest for Metal Ores?" Velt asked once more politely.

"Ohhhhh! so I take it you two had picked up the Quest then? well, yeah, it certainly was us and you've came to the right place." He said smugly.

"Yes, if it's okay with you, could you explain to us the kinds of Metal Ore you'd like us to extract as we haven't gone on this style of Quest before (haven't at all lol) and we noticed it didn't specifically say on the sheet which ones you'd like." Velt said curtly.

"Ah! Of course! Hahahaahaha!! I completely forgot about that!" The Blacksmith said whilst rubbing the back of his head and laughing aloud. Velt thought they were quite rowdy but also appeared to be very nice.

"First things first, my name is Belek, it's nice to meet you two" Belek said with a big smug grin.

"Ah, right, my name is Velt and this here is Lilith, it's our pleasure to meet you too" Velt said with a slight smile and bowed in tow with Lilith.

"Velt and Lilith is it... alright, I'll remember your names! hahaha! so anyway, what was we talking about...?" Belek said whilst thinking to himself, "Oh! Yes, the Metal Ores! right, we want you two to look for these ones" He said whilst simultaneously whipping out a sheet from seemingly no where and placing it in front of us.

The sheet had a few Metals wrote down such as Iron, Copper and Silver Ores. He had also wrote their basic appearances and what sort of areas they'd be in within a mine. According to Belek, he wanted us to gather around 2 Kg of each and if possible, then try to procure more too as we can be overpaid on the Quest if so.

Velt wasn't too sure just how hard it would be to obtain 2 Kg of each however seeing as it wasn't a large amount, he considered it as a rather easy starting request from Belek.

"That's fine, we should be able to get these for you before nightfall, however, if I may ask, do we need any kind of tool in order to get these metals?" Velt asked calm and thoughtfully.

"Of course, you'll need a pickaxe to mine those ores, well, if you were strong enough then you could simply take it with your own hands but in this case, I assume you're both beginner adventurers, right?" Belek asked with a small grin.

"Ah, we are. We only just started actually and this is our first Quest with the Adventurers Guild." Velt said in return.

"Hmmmm, that should be okay, well, you certainly picked a good quest for your first one! hahaha" Belek said whilst laughing heartedly, "This should be relatively easy even for you two who have just started and should only be at H Rank, generally speaking the only thing you have to look out for is the night time and also the Kobolds, i'm sure you've already gathered information on them too though." He said once more.

Belek then proceeded to head towards the back of the shop where he picked up a simple yet polished looking pickaxe and handing it to Velt, "here, take this one with you. Remember not to lose it though, otherwise you'll owe me" Belek said whilst laughing once more.

"Thank you very much" Velt said whilst bowing slightly with Lilith in tow again.

After that, they asked Belek on where the map was and he generously gave a small map in return of how to get there and back and they made their way out so as to get the mission done before night fall.

"Velt, are we going to be okay? Since we don't have any money currently and no shelter" Lilith said with a slightly droopy look.

"We should be just fine Lilith, with the map that Belek had given us, it states that we should be able to make it there in around 2 hours as it wasn't too far from the gate we entered through. We should be able to get this done before evening time seeing as it's still morning coming along lunchtime. Also, we have the rations that we saved back at the camp still with us which should last us about a week if we ration correctly, so we should be fine Lilith, don't worry." Velt said with a bright yet thoughtful smile and moved his hand to rub the top of her head in order to ease her worries just that little bit more.

Lilith having noticed Velt's beaming smile and the gentle yet warm hand rubbing from side to side across the top of her head, blushed slightly before beaming an equally warm smile back and noting that things seemed a lot easier and calmer when Velt was around. Velt appeared to have a very calming yet mountain like aura to him from Lilith's perspective as she thought of how safe it felt to be with him.

It should be okay, me and Velt can make it through this! ~ Lilith thought whilst pumping her tiny fist around happily.

Around an hour later, they had arrived at the Gate they previously left from and noticed that the Guards had changed this time around however the Captain was still there. Velt sent a small wave his way before proceeding to make his way over.

"Thank you again for helping us earlier" Velt said curtly with a small bow.

"No problem at all, but you're both leaving already... are you perhaps going on a Quest for the Adventurers Guild already?" the Guard Captain asked.

"Ah, yes, we're doing a small quest for Belek the Blacksmith to procure some ores from the nearby mines." Velt said in return.

"Oh, well, be careful out there, you don't want to get into a fierce brawl with the monsters in the forest between us and the mines, it might be easier for you to go around the forest albeit taking around 30 minutes longer... it should at least be safe on that route as peddlers use it all the time." he said whilst pointing in a certain direction away from the Gate.

"Oh, thank you, we'll heed your warning and make haste to get back before nightfall" Velt said,

"Thank you for helping us" Lilith said too. (Honestly speaking, I feel bad having it so that Lilith isn't really talking unless she talks to Velt, I really want to try and make her talk more.)

And with that being said, they were outside of the Gate they had entered just a few hours before ready to go once more.