by Logan Jacobs
“Of course, anything else?” he asked.
“Depending on how far I have to travel, we might need horses,” I said. “Or whatever kinds of steeds you have here.”
“The mine is nearby, so you won’t need any horses to get there,” Elrin responded, then he paused and rubbed his chin. “Gerulf might have a few working breeds left, though. His farm was razed to the ground during the last raid, and he hasn’t had the heart to try to rebuild. He won’t need the animals if he doesn’t return to the land.”
I nodded and took a deep breath. After learning about the trade for Elissa’s hand, I knew that I had to save her happiness as well as the town. Elrin hadn’t been too pleased when I implied wanting to sleep with the young woman, but since he offered marriage to one man, I figured I had a fair shot as well.
“I know that some duke’s son is coming in a few days to marry your daughter,” I said. They both seemed surprised at my knowledge and shared a startled look, but I ignored them and continued. “If I clear out all of the goblins and bring back your livelihood, I want to be the one to marry her.”
Elissa’s eyes sparkled with hope, and she reached across the table to grasp my hand. Her skin was soft against mine, and her fingers trembled as she withdrew them.
I nearly snatched her hand back up again, but I hadn’t earned that right just yet.
The leader of Addington didn’t explode this time at what I asked for. In fact, he was silent for a bit, and he sat back in his chair and rubbed his beard as he thought about my demands. I had saved my soup this time, and scooped it casually while I waited for him to decide if he would grant me my wishes or not.
I was a patient man, and I quite literally had all the time in the world. If he came back with anything besides a ‘yes,’ I would just restart the moment and try again until I solved this puzzle.
This was a waiting game, and I could wait forever.
Elrin finally sighed and nodded his head. “I will do as you ask, but I have a condition of my own.”
I had to bite back the groan that lifted into my throat. There weren’t any strings attached when I demanded supplies the first time. I might have been asking for a bit more this time, but come on, man. I was giving him a surefire way to save his town, and he wanted to lay conditions on me?
Whatever. If I didn’t agree, I could just restart again. “Lay it on me.”
“You will have all you have asked for and more.” He lifted a finger and smiled at me. “But if you do not complete the task before the duke’s son arrives, Elissa’s hand will be off the table.”
“And when is he supposed to get here, exactly?” I hoped it was a few weeks at the very least, but the look on Elissa’s face told me not to get my hopes up.
“A courier arrived four days ago with a message from Lucian. He and his army will be here by nightfall, three days from now.”
Chapter 6
Morning came with some confusion and a bittersweet mixture of disappointment and pleasure. Part of me had expected to be unable to stay in this world if I were to fall asleep. There were plenty of Groundhog Day style movies made in my time where people relived the same day over and over again. Death and sleep always brought them back to the morning of whatever day they were to repeat. Although my newfound abilities meant I had control over when I returned in time, I assumed that I would have the same drawbacks.
And yet a much larger part of me was delighted that it hadn’t just been an epic and amazing dream. I really had killed an evil sorcerer and taken his dagger. I really had saved an entire town from a horde of kobolds. I really had sweet-talked one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen to be bound with me. This wasn’t going to be some bragging story I told around the water cooler at work. This was my life now, and I was a god.
It was surprising how little that bothered me now that I had a whole day of awesome under my belt.
Breakfast was a simple affair. Food came from small gardens instead of large farms because of all the raids. Elrin probably got the best of the best, which meant everyone else had to make do with what they could. Torya still went out of her way to make sure the soup was hot, the bread was lightly toasted, and that I had all the butter I could ever ask for. A little bit of bacon would have made it even better, but apparently the last pig had been slaughtered long before I arrived.
I was going to have to live without bacon for a while.
I collected my weapons from my room and created a new save point before heading downstairs. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon by the time I left the inn and headed for the forge. I had slept like a dead man, probably because of the thousands of battles and everything else that had happened the day before. My muscles were aching from all the exercise, so I walked through the quiet streets doing some basic stretches.
Some of the townsfolk were starting their day and greeted me as I passed. Most were probably still eating breakfast, but I imagined it wouldn’t be long before the town was filled with the noise of everyone going about their daily routines. The town had an eerie kind of echo to it with all of the empty or boarded up buildings, and I hoped that by clearing out the mine, I could bring in some new business. Maybe new settlers would travel to the town and everything would return to normal.
I arrived at Jaxtom’s forge after a few minutes of walking. Everything in the town was fairly close together, with Elrin’s house situated near the heart and all of the other important buildings circled around it. It seemed like good planning on the surface, but I had to worry about the potential for fires. If one house caught, the rest would be ablaze in a matter of seconds, and there wasn’t a lake or reservoir nearby that I knew of.
Jaxtom’s forge was the only important building that wasn’t nestled in the center of the town. It sat on the western edge, to the right from the inn, and was one of the closest buildings to the tree line in the distance. A small stream ran very close to the back of the shop which was probably one of the reasons he chose to build the forge there. Water was important for metalwork, I knew, though I had never actually smithed anything in my life.
That was going to change today.
Mahini was already at the forge and perched on one of the long tables near a big-ass anvil. She was dressed down compared to yesterday, but it didn’t diminish the fierce fighter I knew was hiding just beneath the surface. The only plate armor she wore covered her torso, and it was shaped in a way that made it look like a metal corset. A leather shirt of some kind was tucked beneath the plate with the sleeves just barely poking out at her shoulders. She wore an off-white, skin-tight, long-sleeved shirt beneath that, and her hands were bare to the wrist except for the bandage covering the wound on her left palm. Her pants were tight leather that hugged every delicious curve, and the worn leather boots she wore stopped just beneath her knees.
Jax had his back to me, and Mahini’s melodic voice floated through the air. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but her eyes were sparkling, and a radiant smile formed on her lips, so I knew it wasn’t a deep conversation.
The blacksmith’s shop would have fit perfectly in a game of Elder Scrolls. A large open hearth sat along the far end of the three-sided room, and it was already filled with glowing coals. There were three long tables, one of which Mahini was sitting on, that were covered in some tools, folds of leather, and blocks of unused metal. More tools were hanging in an organized manner on the wall over the table closest to the hearth. On one table laid a crude sword, obviously in the process of being refined.
A grinding wheel stood a few steps from the open front of the shop. It was one of those old-fashioned ones that ran by repeatedly pressing on a pedal underneath with a foot. Several barrels sat in the corner behind the grinding wheel, and an anvil dominated the center of the workshop. A hammer laid across its surface, and from the soot stains on the handle, I could see it was frequently used.
A proper house connected to the left of the workshop, and I could only imagine how warm it must have gotten in there when the fo
rge was up and running.
“Good morning, Great One,” Mahini said when she spotted me. She slipped down from her perch and gave me a bow. “Did you rest well?”
“Very,” I said as I walked over and gently touched her shoulder as I placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I haven’t slept so well in a long time.”
The mercenary tensed under my touch, but her sweet lips still opened for me, and her tongue briefly danced with mine. After the kiss was over, she glanced at the smith, and then she bit her lip slightly before she gave me a worried look. The beautiful warrior clearly wasn’t comfortable with me kissing her in front of Jax yet, and I figured that I was going to need to get more familiar with the townspeople so that Mahini would be more willing to do some PDA.
Chime.
“Good morning, Great One,” Mahini said once more. “Did you rest well?”
“I slept very well, thanks,” I replied.
“Mornin’ there, Bash,” Jax greeted with his signature growl. He was the first to call me by my nickname, and it made me grin. “Here to get yourself a new sword?”
“What, don’t think you can fix up the one I’ve got?” I teased.
The big man snorted. “That little sticker worked well for you in the field yesterday, but it ain’t going to work to take on the goblins. You’d be better off with a shortsword in close quarters.”
“So you heard the news?” I snickered.
“Mayor let everyone know you and Mahini here are going to save the town,” the smithy chuckled. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen you kill them kobolds yesterday. Was quite an amazing sight. You’ll still need a better weapon, even if ya are a god.”
“What about this?” I drew the sorcerer’s dagger from its sheath and held it out for the blacksmith. “I got this in the catacombs, and it worked well for me there.”
Jax took the dagger from me as if it were his firstborn son. He balanced the blade on his fingers and let out a hum of what I hoped was approval. Then he took a small hammer from his line of tools and struck the steel. The air vibrated with a clear note that seemed to hang over the shop like a wispy cloud.
“Not bad,” the blacksmith admitted as he handed it back. “Could probably do with a sharpening, but it’s nice and balanced and is obviously well-made.”
I grinned as I returned the dagger to its sheath. It might not have been the most amazing weapon in the world, but if it had Jax’s stamp of approval, I knew that I was on the right track.
“But that sword of yours…” Jax shook his head and eyed the sheath on my left with disdain. “I’ll be makin’ you a new one, whether you want it or not.”
“Actually, I was hoping I could learn how to make one for myself,” I said.
I could have been speaking in another language all together from the looks the blacksmith and Mahini both gave me.
“Why would you want to learn such a skill, Great One?” Mahini asked.
“Think I can’t do the job right or somethin’?” Jax growled.
I lifted my hands. “Whoa, hey, no, not at all! It’s quite the opposite, actually. There weren’t many chances to forge swords where I’m from, so I would love the opportunity to try my hand at it.”
Mahini glanced at Jaxtom as the big man remained silent. She sighed deeply and stepped closer to me. “A blacksmith’s trade is very sacred to him. Jax’s apprentice has been ill since the last raid, and his recovery has been slow. For him to teach you and ignore the boy is cruel.”
“Is it really asking a lot?” I figured masters would want to show off their stuff and teach people the basics at the very least. “I’m not asking for you to take me on full-time, Jax. I just want to try it once.”
Of course, my “once” had unlimited uses.
The big man crossed his arms and stared at me for a long time. It was like staring into the eyes of an angry bull. One wrong move, one wrong word, and he would charge me with his horns at the ready.
“You’ll watch first,” Jax finally growled. “And if you can keep quiet while I show you my technique, maybe I’ll show you a thing or two. Again, you might be a god and all that, but this is my temple.”
“Alright, let’s do this!” I let out a whoop and pumped my fists a few times.
Mahini’s soft chuckle at my side made my giddiness soar even higher.
The two of us sat on Jaxtom’s table as the man tied his thick apron around his middle. He gave the forge a few breaths of air from the bellows on the floor before he picked up two blocks of metal. Then he weighed them back and forth like a scale before putting the left one back down and picking up a new piece. Another quick weighing session happened before he put down the right block. He did this twice more until he was satisfied with the block in his left hand.
“Whaddya think?” he asked as he chucked the block of metal at me.
I barely caught the thing as I wasn’t expecting him to toss it. The metal block was dense, but it wasn’t as heavy as I would have expected it to be. It was about the size and shape of a brick, with just a little more weight to it. The block had a bit of tarnish to it, so it didn’t shine like I imagined a freshly made sword did.
“I dunno,” I mused and handed it to Mahini to test. “I think the sword I’ve got now might be a bit more useful than this thing.”
Jaxtom chortled and motioned for Mahini to toss the hunk of metal back at him.
She did so without a word, and the blacksmith dropped the block into the open hearth.
While the metal heated, Jax selected some of the tools from the wall. He placed each one in a line on the table except for a pair of long thick tongs that he placed in a pouch at the right side of his apron.
The blacksmith returned to the hearth and pumped the bellows a few more times to get the metal block red-hot. He then used the tongs to pluck it from the coals and carried it over to the anvil. A sharp ringing filled the air as he struck the metal numerous times with a large hammer. Every few strokes Jax would shift the metal block while also hitting the anvil with the hammer.
I gave Mahini a puzzled look at this action, but she merely shook her head and placed a finger to her lips. If I wanted to know, I would have to wait and ask afterwards.
Jax continued this process of heating the metal and hitting it with a hammer more than a dozen times. Each turn found the block just a bit more elongated than the last, until it was about the length of my forearm and about two of my thumbs thick. The whole process had taken about twenty minutes.
A new tool was added to the current roster as Jax snatched it from the table. It was a long metal wedge that couldn’t have been more than two inches in diameter. The tapered edge was like a chisel, and Jax placed it against the profile of the block of metal. He smacked the hammer against it several times until the wedge sunk in slightly.
I had no idea what he was aiming to do.
After a few more rounds of heating, Jax slammed the wedge into the metal block even further and followed along an invisible line, until the thing split clean in two. Now he had two sheets of metal that were the length of my forearm, but only half as thick as when he started.
“Daggers!” Mahini exclaimed brightly. “Are those for the Great One or do you have a commission?”
Jaxtom gave a half-smile as he inspected the two sheets of metal. “Bash can have one if he’d like, but that one he’s got should serve him just fine against the goblins. Elrin wants a fancy gift for the bastard coming to marry Lissy in a few days.”
I grinned at Jax’s statement because it was nice to know someone else didn’t care for this stranger coming in to steal Elissa away. I wasn’t much better on paper yet, but I guessed that the God of Time got a few passes for being new around these parts.
Not to mention how much of a badass everyone saw me as.
“What if I’m the bastard who’s gonna marry Lissy?” I teased.
Mahini shot me a surprised look while Jax merely barked out a laugh. “If you manage that one, Bash, you’ll need to sleep with both
these daggers under your pillow.”
I laughed as the man tossed one of the daggers-to-be into the hearth.
Mahini nudged me and tilted her head. “You asked for Elissa’s hand?”
“She’s not thrilled with the idea of marrying some duke’s son,” I replied with a shrug. I watched the metal in the forge slowly turn orange. “If I’m saving the town, I may as well save everyone, right?”
Those piercing blue eyes of hers flickered in the light of the flames every time Jax pumped the bellows. It made me squirm to have her giving me such a direct stare, and I gripped the edges of the table to keep my hands from shaking.
“I’m very fond of Elissa,” she said at last as she turned back to face the flames. I let out the breath I had apparently been holding. “She is not a born fighter, but she has more heart and fire than some of the men here.”
“I agree,” I said as I shrugged again. “Worthy of a god, as are you. So, I decided that both of you will be mine.”
“Yes, Great One,” Mahini said as she bowed her head slightly to me. “It is a wise decision. We will both serve you well as your women.”
Well, shit. That worked pretty damn good the first time without me having to restart.
I had expected Mahini to throw a fit about me pledging myself to her and then asking to marry another girl just a short time later. Instead, it seemed as though she strongly approved of the match, and was even hoping that I would be better for Elissa’s flame than the duke’s son.
The clanging of Jax using the hammer filled the workshop again and cut off any potential conversation we might have had. After about half an hour more of pounding, the metal sheet was about half its former thickness and was now long enough to include my entire hand. Jax spent another five minutes or so banging on one end until it had a little finger sticking out of it.