Chapter 170: Training Arc #1...or is this the third?

Chapter 170: Training Arc #1...or is this the third?

You do know Im a blacksmith and not a metalworker, right lass? the big tough taz snorted at me after looking at my concert stage plans, shoving it back to my side. He sounded offended for some reason, but I wasnt sure why.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

I know, I know, but you should be able to make these trusses and pillars, right? If we provide you the necessary materials for them, I pointed at the metal parts of my concert blueprint.

Lass, coming to a tazong for all your metal needs aint gonna work when the bladdarg tazongs smithy is smaller than what an apprentice gets to work in. By Crustacias twintails, youve seen my wagon, that aint got enough space to smelt these giant bars, Grimnir finally explained. Anyways, the carpentry parts are for an elf. Stone and metal are dwarven specialties, but you aint getting me to make something when my tools aint gonna cut it.

Grimnir had been pretty proud when he described how he made his wagon during our first visit, informing us how long it took for each of the multiple iterations until the forge was large enough to his liking. Since he had experience building something like that, I thought it would be smart to let him look over the blueprint for my concert stage. But, I guess I didnt think about the possible issues very thoroughly.

I have already asked the merchant guilds branch master if there are any metalworkers in Cedaraille, but he denied knowing any. Well, that is to be expected without a nearby mine, Saori sighed as she looked at the blueprints. Still, I think we should order the raw materials in case we find somebody who can turn them into something usable. I think ordering an obscene amount of ore as the initial suggestion would be best. We can prod Newt if he would accept it or if he will reduce it to something he believes would be manageable. What do you think, Ellaine?

I think that would be for the best. Concerning the lumber, we could either have Mister Newt buy whatever amount we believe we need, or we can do it ourselves and cut down trees. Hestia, do you think you can sand the timber smooth enough for you to walk on?

Hmm? I thought you were a priestess but youre also a carpenter?

Seeing Grimnirs bafflement, I pulled out a chair and table from my storage, the ones I made for our partys restaurant. Both pieces of furniture were simple and made out of wood, without any elegant designs or symbols carved into them, since I wasnt able to translate these ideas into practice yet. Touching my own work, I could feel the smooth surface on my fingers as I rubbed against them.

Hmm, decent work. Nothing to complain about if youre not comparing it to elven craftsmanship. Ha, the last thing I thought an Aurena priestess would know is [Handicraft]; usually, youre too pure to consider anything but the artistic pursuits, Grimnir snorted, giving me an idea of how a dwarf viewed the Church of Aurena. Aurena was the humans patron goddess, meaning Artorians like Ellaine who worship her were the majority, making it interesting for me to hear the opinions of other races.

Well, Im not your typical white robe, I shrugged dramatically as I said that, believing it was fine that I wasnt how people would envision a priestess.

As we were talking, a waitress from the street eatery we were currently visiting finally brought out five full bowls of food to our table. In them, pink rice was glimmering under the noon sun, adorned with scrambled fried egg, pieces of long onion strips, diced ground meat, and plenty of sliced mushrooms. The smell steaming from this bowl was stimulating my nose, causing my mouth to water and my mind to feel invigorated. This was proof of the chefs hard work.

As I bit into it, the umami-filled rice began to cover my tongue, invoking a smile on my face. The scrumptious pieces of meat and egg mixed well with the rice as a unique sour taste drove my brain to remember it for the future. The crunchiness of the onions and the spongy taste of the mushroom gave this rice bowl the necessary texture to feel pleasing.

Gasper Wasp Rice Bowl

A rice bowl made using Gasper Wasp organs. Any lingering toxicity was eliminated during the cooking phase, where the rice was colored pink after the organs mixed with cepillium

Cepillium was what Peolyncians called onions, which were actually toxic in this world until you cooked them, as raw cepillium could give you a terrible stomach ache. Trust me, I experienced it once. Which makes it sound weird that the people in Cedaraille are actually mixing it with gasper wasp organs.

Yes, gasper wasps, the giant wasps we fought in the dungeon which had venomous stingers. They werent part of the local environment per se, but since they could be hunted in the dungeon, people seemed to have gotten creative with them. When we asked the hunter guild for the prices of the gasper wasp meat, they told us they were almost as cheap as kobold and goblin meat.

Well, I wont complain if they can make eating bugs delicious. Although, it is rather lacking in spices.

Hahaha! Great! Waitress! Davincz kazan ungari! Give me as much as the bowl can be filled up again, lass! Grimnir trumpeted to the waitress with an empty bowl.

When the waitress brought him another bowl, Saori couldnt help but frown at him. Why exactly are we treating him to food, Hestia? From the looks of it, his appetite seems to be as terrible as ours She was unenthused with the idea of treating Grimnir to more than one bowl of food.

When I explained how long we had to wait for her outside the merchants guild, Saori sighed and ignored the fact that Grimnir was ordering more bowls. Well, it wasnt like Saori and I could stop eating, ourselves; we, too, followed Grimnirs example.

Ooooooh? With how scrawny you two looked, I didnt think you would have such an appetite, Grimnir noted. I mean, Im pretty sure Im more muscular than when I was on Earth, so I dont know what to say to his remark. Well, you two eat healthier than those two.

Saori and I looked over to Tasianna and Ellaine. Tasianna was already done with her bowl but was staying quiet, not ordering anymore since she preferred vegetable dishes over meat. If something Saori cooked was too meaty, Tasianna would usually cook something for herself, only eating meat dishes if she wanted to improve her own cooking skills.

Ellaine on the other hand

How is it? I asked her.

Uhm, well, it certainly is special. Using such weird monster parts for ingredients it looks like the people are being creative. It certainly fits how the duchys ancestors lived Ellaine looked at the pink rice with suppressed disgust. It wasnt terrible but where are the spices? The cepillium and wasp innards are the only source of taste; it is so one-dimensional, relying purely on those two ingredients. I guess there's some harmony, though?

Shes a human noble, yeah? Grimnir asked me, to which I nodded.

How often has Ellaine eaten stuff only served to nobles? Pretty much her whole life. How often has she eaten stuff from Saori? Quite often up until now. How often has she eaten simple grilled meat and fish? Once, and that was during our duo hunting week. Now, how often has she eaten street food? This was her first try.

I just gained [Poison Resistance Lv. 1] from eating this Ellaines mortified face seemed to have turned slightly pale from that announcement. Before she actually got sick, we gave her bowl of rice to Grimnir and promised to cook something more normal later on.

While giving her [Poison Resistance] might not have been our initial plan, getting Ellaine used to common food was one of the goals. Greenveil nobles are supposedly known as gourmets due to how bountiful the harvest can be in their duchies, which led to most of them becoming extremely picky eaters. Ellaine had her preferences on how her meat should be seared, how the vegetables should be cut, and how the dishes should be garnished.

For somebody who couldnt cook herself, she had a list of details she wanted before feeling satisfied with her meals. Fortunately, shes been very lenient concerning Saoris cooking, which was good but not Michelin professional level, and also what we are selling to people in our restaurant, as we werent serving nobles.

After a hearty lunch, and giving Ellaine some cake and toffel chips to appease her, we returned to Grimnirs wagon where I began explaining what our partys next plans were. As we will stay in Cedaraille until SpringSun about three weeks from now, as today was the 14th of WinterMoon I told them I had decided to accept Grimnirs request to hunt down a molten rock for his hammer.

We need a blacksmith. If he can provide what we need, then I do not see anything wrong with helping him out. It is simply another step towards our goals, Saori agreed to my idea. With Ellaine also agreeing, Aurora was unanimous in this decision. Well, I am still not sure why we are not considering other blacksmiths, but okay.

A tazong is fully capable of besting any manling when it comes to smithing, wolfkin, Grimnir grumbled at Saoris offhand remark.

Saori waved her hand, not expecting the taz to suddenly feel offended like that, I am not questioning you, Mister Grimnir, so please calm down. Anyway, are you completely unable to craft equipment? Even leather ones? If you could, I actually have a request that would demand your skills.

Outside Grimnirs wagon, Saori called her garms to emerge from her shadow. As if they were wet, the giant wolves shook their fur before staring down at Grimnir. Since people had trouble spotting the garms collars back in the dungeon, we had mana threads attached to their collars to act as LEDS once they poured mana into them; otherwise, their black fur would cover the collars up and people would assume that the garms were hostile monsters.

We still had to calm down a few people who saw the four appear, but once it was done, Saori had enough time to explain to Grimnir what she had envisioned. The garms needed more protection from attacks, so we planned to have leather armor made for them from a few C rank hides. Specifically, the hides from the trolls and orcs wed killed recently.

Please, take a look, Saori showed the dwarf her obsidian claw protectors and displayed its ability to store and shoot venom. This requires us to get a new hammer for you, but would you be able to recreate them for all four?

Grimnir inspected the claw protectors on Saoris hand, touching and analyzing the structure. Ahhh, this was made by a tazong or somebody who can recreate our techniques. Hmm, I cant remember which clans technique it was, but this is undoubtedly from an inko. Tazics have larger hands, more suited for big projects, while inkos can be almost as dextrous as elves when it concerns finer and more detailed work with their human-like hands. Hmph. Itll be tough, but I can create something like this when its for your garms.

Woah, you can? From the sound of what you said, it honestly didnt seem so, I remarked in surprise from his last sentence.

Hmph. Youre lucky you met the taz with milk drinking hands, unlike any other, Grimnir said, eyes softened before patting Saoris hand lightly. The difference between their hands was obvious from a distance Saoris was covered in fur and around the size of a normal womans while Grimnirs were rough and hard like stone, looking larger than the average mans. It reminded me a bit of Ognis, the dwarf who was responsible for our equipment in Firwood.

Did I say something wrong? I wondered as Grimnirs face looked sullen.

Saori continued by also mentioning tools for her garms to carry her mana threads more easily. Up until now, Saori had to take her threads from her storage and throw them to her pack, which would waste precious time during a battle. Just as we girls needed gear to become stronger, so did our garms need their own gear.

Hmm, alright, I understand. Think of me making the leather armor and thread holders as your payment for helping me get that rock. Delving that deep into a dungeon without proper preparations is suicide, so if you four need anything, come over and Ill try to craft it. Just, dont ask for anything concerning metal weapons or armor, Grimnir shook his head in annoyance. I aint making something Bleidla can blame me for. The best or nothing at all.

Got it. We can take care of provisions and potions, I patted Saoris and Tasiannas shoulders. Do you mind if we spend some time getting ready in the dungeon? Leveling up, training skills, and getting a feel for the dungeon?

Take your time. I aint leaving this city until I get that magma rock or I die trying to get it, but I prefer doing the former, you hear? My pride aint gonna accept you lasses protecting me during the spelunking, so Ill get myself ready, too. Dont dawdle too much, though. And with that, we said our goodbyes to Grimnir for the day. He was quite rough around the edges with moments of sadness I couldnt understand, but one of our goals for coming to Cedaraille was set. Now, we just needed to get ready to reach it.

The first thing we needed to do was to fulfill the agreement related to the merchant guild contract Saori got for us, which meant I had to get my voice ready for tomorrow amongst a few other things. Saori went to the Chefs Guild with Newt Sarlenzias letter of recommendation, getting our restaurant a good spot close to the two adventurer guilds and the merchant district to best serve our two main customers: Adventurers and merchants.

With the bureaucratic part dealt with, we now needed to make the rest of our preparations for tomorrow. Once back at the inn, our party rented a spot in the kitchen for ourselves, which the innkeeper gladly allowed after I offered to heal any problems he or his family had. The perks of being a white-robed priestess.

As our party had grown to four people, Saori decided to expand our menu by one or two dishes. Actually, the real reason was Saoris increased confidence in the kitchen and that Ellaine promised to handle the ledger and numbers afterwards, saving Saori a good amount of energy which she could use to focus on cooking.

Tasianna was also feeling more comfortable around humans and believed she could use her catalyst to help serve our customers. She didnt need to create ice daggers all the time, she could also mold the mana slime oozed from it to create flying trays to deliver drinks and food to the tables. She didnt need to rush too much and could focus on customer service while her trays handled the rest.

What was Ellaines job in our restaurant? Well, she couldnt cook, she was slow with cutting vegetables and meat, found washing dishes dull, and wasnt a professional maid like Tasianna. There wasnt much she could do except being a manager, taking care of our finances and also our rations, right? Wrong!

Honestly, I never expected to play an instrument in front of others again, Ellaine commented while polishing her geigler. The last time was when I played it in front of you, Hestia, during our first meeting. Father and Mother practically forced me to practice in anticipation of your visit.

Oh, so you faked your joy back then. Sorry about that, Ellaine, I replied, remembering how elated Ellaine had appeared back then, not expecting she was just acting happy and excited. Well, who knows? After were done practicing together, we just might be ready for the opera in the capital.

You jest, Hestia. You are good, I am not.

Color me surprised when I heard Griffonpeak had an opera where nobles performed in front of aristocrats and their associates, which included well-known merchants like Newt or vassal houses. An opera wasnt a place for an idol, it was home for conductors and musicians like my parents; however, that didnt mean I wouldnt want to experience performing at one. I was raised by classical music and plenty of opera and broadway visits, after all.

While Ellaine thought I was joking, I do think Ellaine could be a decent musician with some more practice and confidence. So, performing with me during work hours was my way to help her grow more. She couldnt do the manual work like Saori and Tasianna, but she was able to be artistic. Live music performances were part of Auroras trademark experience.

A note from AbyssRaven

The song for today is something more soothing. Honestly, love this song. "Fly me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra: Rawr

Female vocals for this song is [T]/

If you guys want to support me, Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 17 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr!

If you guys enjoyed this chapter then, please follow the story. If you guys want the story to grow, then giving it a rating or a favorite will do wonders: Rawr

Thank you for reading this chapter.

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Sunday, June 6, 2021 1:37:54 AM Germany [Member of Zard Skwad]

Bio: Hey there, AbyssRaven here. I'm just an avid Light Novel and Fantasy story reader who randomly thought of a story and began writing about it.

I eventually found out that I've been spending a bit too much time with building, planning, and researching for the story, that I've decided to just share it with others.

Writing is mostly a hobby for me, but I would still love any kind of criticism to improve on it.

I'm also german, so please excuse anything that sounds a bit weird...I wouldn't mind you pointing it out though.

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