Chapter 15 - Fifteen: To the Master Swordsmith's

Jules had stripped all the way down to her underwear, and just like the other day she was wearing surprisingly s.e.xy stuff. There was definitely more to her than was immediately obvious. She climbed onto her bed a laid back. I was beginning to wonder what she was doing, seeing as she didn't climb inside the covers, when her hand slipped inside her panties. I had to wonder, did she know that I was watching? No, she couldn't I had checked when I was at the counter if she knew about 'appraisal'. There was always the chance that she had lied then, but there would have been no point. This wasn't a show for me, and I shouldn't be watching. If it was one of the other girls, Altria, would probably enjoy the thought and Lillia would want to be the best, but Jules, I was just invading her privacy right now. In the end my conscience got the better of my will to see where this went, and I deactivated the skill.

I should have been going to sleep about now, but the thought of what was going on next door was keeping me up. I had to wonder why a girl like her was alone, she was good looking and had a good personality, but that wasn't it. In this world I could count the amount of men I had seen on my hands. I had only spoken to one the entire time I was here. It shouldn't be a surprise that most of the women here were pent up. Sure, some of the men were only out in the war and would return, but a lot of them were never coming back.

I was fighting the urge to go next door and knock on the door under some pretence, but that would just be suspicious and a little weird. There should be no reason that I knew that she lived next door, it wasn't like we had bumped into each other in the hallway or anything. My rational thoughts won out and I thought better of it. Jules was the kind of girl that if I wanted to get into her room, I would have to use my charm. Unless of course, I was hit with a stroke of luck like the first time with Lillia, but considering that Jules worked the desk in guild that was unlikely.

As I lay there trying to cool myself down, I made a mental note just to make sure that no one ever found out what 'appraisal' did, no one must know. I could live with people knowing what 'special heal' did but 'appraisal' was a different matter altogether.

I woke the next morning and headed straight down for breakfast. Jules was already on the desk, seeing that she was busy I decided not to go over. I had plans for what I wanted to do today anyway. I was going to head over to Beth's armoury and see if I could take her up on the offer of some training. After everything I learned from Liz yesterday, everything pointed to the fact that I would have no choice but to go along with what they wanted and to attempt to fight this demon lord. But that didn't mean that I was happy to die in the process and if I had the chance to learn from one of the best sword fighters in the kingdom, I would be stupid to turn down the opportunity.

Jules was still tied up on the front desk when I had finished breakfast, so I left the guild house without saying hello. Perhaps I would be lucky and catch her going off shift again later. I headed out into the street and made my way through the crowds towards Beth's place. Despite it being so busy out on the streets I still made it there in a short amount of time. Today I couldn't make out the sound of clinking from outside, so I was hopeful that she was going to be around as I entered.

"Oh, good morning Theo. I wasn't expecting to see you. Can I help you with something?" Beth called out from behind the counter.

"I was hoping so. I thought I'd take you up on the offer of training from you."

"I see, Lillia not with you today?"

"No, she had to leave town for a few days, something about family."

"Ah royal duties."

"Yeah I think so."

"Hmm so you are free to start today?"

"Yeah, as long as that is okay with you?"

"I'd be more than happy to run through some of the basics with you today. I was thinking of closing the shop after my order was collected so that would work well."

"Oh, if you were going to have a day off, I don't want to interfere."

"You wouldn't be, I planned to train anyway so teaching as I did so would be ideal. We'll just have to wait until my customer collects the piece I've been working on. Is that okay with you? They should be along any moment."

"Of course, that's fine. You are the one doing me a favour so I'm happy to wait until you're free."

"Good. So, you've been here a couple of days now, how are you finding everything?"

"Well, weird to be honest. There's so much to take in…" I was cut off by the sound of the bell on the door to the shop.

I turned to see a customer approach the counter, they looked important and were probably the one that Beth was waiting for, so I stepped back and out of their way. They looked to be a noble woman, the clothes that they were wearing were functional not some frilly dress or something, but it was clear that they were of high quality and then there was the footman waiting at distance just outside the shop. There was no way that a poor person had one of those hanging around. She had hair a deep red colour and held herself with a certain hard to define air.

I was interested to see what she was here to collect or order from Beth.

"Good morning Beth." The woman said as he approached the counter.

"Good morning my lady."

"Is the piece that I ordered ready?"

"Yes, it is. Completed yesterday." Beth answered excitedly.

She was keen to show off her latest creation to the customer and was already pulling it out from under the counter. It looked to be a sword, at least from the size of it. It was currently inside a wooden presentation box. Beth laid the box down on the counter and opened it up to reveal the contents. I could see right away why Beth had been so excited about this item, it was obvious at first sight that this was a special piece of work.

Inside the box was a rapier, it was exquisitely made and the level of detail and workmanship that had gone into was evident from a mere glance. The metal was brought to such a finish that it almost appeared to glow rather than shine. Its beauty clearly hid its lethalness.

"Do you mind if I give it a whirl?" The noble woman asked.

"Of course, not. It is yours after all."

The noble woman delicately lifted out the blade, she held it in hand for a moment seemingly getting the measure of its weight. Then she unleashed frighteningly fast series of strikes. I must have been imagining it, but it appeared to me if they were slight trails of light following the blade as she swung it.

"It's perfect." The noble woman said as she gently placed the blade back in the wooden box.

"Thank you, my lady." Beth replied, clearly pleased with the praise.

The noble woman waved a gesture to the man waiting outside who immediately came inside and left a small pouch on the desk.

"I hope you will find that sufficient for your services." The noble woman said.

Beth looked inside the pouch.

"But this is too much, it's more than the asking price!"

"The blade is more than worth that much. Please accept it."

"But…"

"Thank you once again. I'm sure I will be back when I want another blade or sharpening."

The noble woman turned and gracefully walked out of the shop. The footman took the case with the blade inside and after briefly bowing to Beth left the shop following the noblewoman.