Chapter 12

A blacksmith in the city of Stormhammer cannot be called a blacksmith unless you have at least a forge, an anvil, and some coal to work with, most have no metal, at least most who live in the slums of the city, they charge little as long as customers bring their damaged tools and pieces of metal to be melted, Lately some adventurers have come in with broken armor, rusted weapons and some with copper things, the quality of what they returned was low, but their coal was often peat mixed with charcoal, a low flame that did nothing but soften the pieces that hammered these cheap weapons and protections.

Chapatrueno was not like that, dwarf of race, he was one of the few who forged runes on weapons and armor for a fairly low price, it is not as if his weapons split the skies as in the past the great dwarven blacksmiths achieved, however getting a +1 fire or lightning in copper weapons or even in some rusty ones had him as the elite of the blacksmith district. 

Chapatrueno was not always a blacksmith, in his youth he received some magical training, but his master, knowing the low quality of magic, did not teach him to create spells; if others knew his secret, he would probably be killed by the dwarves or by the humans themselves, so as not to lose the monopoly of magic, This humble blacksmith was able to channel the magic around him, such a skill, so impressive that he could even inscribe runes into them, making them the only weapons (no one outside the slums knew about this) that were effective in the forests, thanks to which the adventurer populations seeking to make some fortune and get out of misery had a chance.

In spite of his low prices (2p copper per repair, 6p copper per rune) he had made a small fortune, which he used for his son's education, the boy turned out to be a craftsman of a kind one seldom sees, his steam constructions were known since his childhood, and although he was a poor dwarf he had managed to enroll, Although he was a poor dwarf, he had managed to enroll and was about to finish the profession that would allow him to work on the great ships and war machines, it was his pride, his son reciprocated this paternal effort by working very hard to achieve the highest grades and the recognition of his father.

One day, a week before graduation, Chapatrueno discovered that some of his most powerful weapons were missing, it was not much, but a bronze axe, a breastplate of the same material and an iron helmet cost at least 50p silver, the next day he went to report this to the sheriff of the area, a pedestrian human who lived happily with the little power that represented being who he was in a place where no one needed him.

When he arrived, he was smiling and looking at a steel sword that he waved so that it hung a few millimeters from Chapatrueno's beard.

- "Isn't it beautiful? the mercenaries of the "Steppe Wolves" brought it to me from the forest, they are great guys at finding treasures in the junk".

The dwarf remained calm, the steppe wolves were mercenaries in the broadest sense of the word, they were almost always comparable to bandits, but he came for a complaint, not to question what the sheriff said, he made his complaint, he even explained that he did not want culprits, only his things back, the cynical face of the representative of the authority asked the cost of those pieces, the dwarf told him.

- I don't work looking for things that don't cost more than 1 gold - he replied - go look for the thieves you're selling to, and now get out of here before I arrest you for selling illegal things! 

-What things? -The dwarf's beard bristled at this remark, no one but he knew the honor. 

-The vagabonds you call adventurers, the ones you take care of, are the only ones who have completed missions these days, my boys and I suspect that you are selling stolen goods, the poor dwarf was devastated, he left the place with his head down, he didn't understand what was going on, he paid his taxes and always respected the law, what was wrong with Storm Hammer?

When he returned home, he found another piece of bad news: a note on the door said:

"your son is dead, but since he has already completed 90% of the courses, the money will not be refunded, good morning".

Chapatrueno cried bitterly for days, he did not understand what was happening, his son lived in the guild and had promised to stay away from drinking, but according to the note he was no longer there, when the dwarf ran out of tears he went to the guild to get his son's things, to have something to remind him of how much love they lived, the people there were waiting for another surprise when they decided to receive him, dirty as he was with the smoke of the forge, they showed him with a gesture that his son's "junk" was in the garbage, too embarrassed to fight, he went where they told him, made with pieces of copper and some iron, beautiful teapots of intricate design awaited him, kitchen tools, even some of a mechanical nature told of the devotion he had for them, there among his small tools forged by the afflicted father was a letter:

"Father, you always wanted me to succeed, you believed in me so much that I had to believe by force of your conviction, life in the Guild was very hard, the teachers humiliated me for being humble, my designs never won any prizes, they were not made of gold or at least not of steel, I never cared because it allowed me to continue learning and in time I would have the resources to make them from these materials, but the final project is coming, this must be excellent, otherwise they will not let me graduate and I don't want to pay the tuition again, If it isn't, they won't let me graduate and I don't want you to pay the tuition again, so I'm borrowing your weapons, the ones in the chest, I'm sure I'll find the metals in the forest that will give shape to my creation, if you're reading this, ignore what it's about, but as I know you will anyway, I'm telling you, is a set of hammers for your smithy, also secretly copy your way of shaping runes, just put the Light attribute +1, but I'm sure you'll be proud of me. I love you. Your son"

After that came many days, the dwarf did not know which taverns he was thrown out of and where he slept, most of the time he was drunk, when he did not sleep remembering the smile of his boy on a face with a short beard, so he walked until he passed by one of the premises of prestigious gunsmiths he saw an iron helmet among the 5 gold things, did his sight deceive him? ... no! The +1 defense runes were there and a hastily repaired notch showed that it was a used helmet, everything lost its contour, there was only the bulbous nose of a fat merchant a few centimeters away from his eyes, where did you buy it! I spit at him, the fat man struggled but the press of Chapatrueno's hand did not let him move "wolves bring everything" who is the owner of this store? asked the dwarf with his teeth so clenched that a trickle of blood began to drip, but it was the last thing he said, he felt a hand on his head that threw him to the floor while the voices of everyone finally entered his ears "it's the sheriff's store" when he raised his head he managed to distinguish one of the corporals working for the sheriff "they're going to keep him locked up for a long time" he tried to explain, He tried to make himself heard over the buzzing of his head, but everything was interrupted when the leader of the steppe wolves broke his nose with a blow of his boot, and from the window the sheriff smiled.