chapter 8

after the fight Arowen returned to his duties as a cook, he made dinner and then gave instructions to his aids, then he went back to the field to continue his training, and he didn't go easy on it either as always, by now he was used to always push his body to the limit and so he did, when he finished he dragged his battered body to the clinic and had Swara apply some muscle recovery medicine and massage his aching muscles, by this time Arowen was already used to the weird situation as well, but that didn't help with the shudder at the thought of a grown ass buff guy massaging him all over, in his opinion it would be better if it was the soft hand of a sexy women, even an old hag would be an upgrade for him but alas the world doesn't turn out how you expect it to, Swara is a known muscle therapist in the base and everyone knows that after a good workout his medicine and massage would speed up the recovery of your muscles by a big margin, and as a result you get stronger faster, but thankfully for Arowen the men just couldn't bring themselves to do it, otherwise there would be no place for Arowen to get his therapy session,

after the therapy was over, Arowen could already feel the miracles of Swara's treatment, as fatigue already left his body and he was feeling stronger already, checking for time there was an hour and a half of free time outside the base left, so he decided to make the best out of it and went to town after he took the money he saved during those few years in the base, and you can say that he had quite a sum saved up, after all he didn't have any family to send money to like the other chore boys and he had no addiction to squander it in, a normal chore boy gets around 5'000 belli a month and Arowen as a head chef he gets 6'000 a month times 24, 144'000 belli plus the raise he got after his promotion 25'000 belli and his first as an official cook 10'000 belli, it became 169'000 and what was left of before he joined, 172'648 belli was the final amount he found himself and so he went on his way to the port city,

on the way there he took 5 min to get there, less than the first time he came here, a true testament to his growth in the last few years, and once there he quickly started to tour around the town, this time everyone gave him some space, it seems that the marines reputation wasn't great after all, the same as in the show, the corruption didn't escape their ranks, but that got nothing to do with him after all he will only remain for a short period of time if you consider a few years short that is

30 minutes into the tour, a skewer in his hand Arowen spotted a shop in a small alley, curiosity got the better of him and he decided to got inside, the sign outside the shop said "Jeel's smithy" and he couldn't help but think

'it would be too good of a coincidence if this is one of those hidden master craftsmen heh' he smirked

the thing is that he was actually spot on, he really stumbled upon legendary blacksmith who in his younger days forged a sword for the pirate king himself, and many other great figures that were not mentioned in the show, he was once renown across the seas as the top blacksmith, but the times change fast he grew old, and the time buried his name in its sands forgotten by the new but his name still lives in the heart of the old monsters around the seas

so without tallying any longer Arowen went inside to see an old man with an eye patch over his left eye, spiky hair with the blackest color he has ever seen, he held a smoke in his mouth, and had a skinny build but he was ripped, every muscle on his arm was defined like ropes wrapped around his arms and legs, in brief from what was visible of his body, he was very strong in Arowens eyes, to him being big doesn't mean that you are strong, he remembers bruce lee from his old life, the guy was skinny but at his time he was known to be the strongest

after checking out the old man, Arowen observed the shop, and to his shock it was empty, no weapon was held on the shelves

'is he even selling a thing, seems like a lost cause for a business'

"what do you need lad ?" the old man asked him, it would seem that he was lazy and didn't care from his tone and gestures, but the old monster was observing him the moment he was in front of his shop, he sensed him immediately, there was just something different about Arowen but he couldn't put his finger on it, his gut told him that the young man was special, and it has never disappointed him,

'he's the same as that kid Roger, no ... more hmmm! it will be interesting'

back to Arowen, he was surprised by the question but quickly got his shit together and responded

"ah! I was passing by and saw your shop, thought I might find what I am looking for"

"and what is it you are looking for!?" the old man asked still lazy

"no need, I don't think I will find it here anyway, sorry for the bother, bye" then Arowen got out of the shop and went back to complete his tour, and by the time he finished mapping the city he had to go back to the base, his curfew approaching