53. A Cool Weapon

53. A Cool Weapon

Turot grumbled something at Adam, sniffling. The young boy was currently eating a buttered bun, sometimes dipping it into his meat soup, which formed his breakfast.

“He called you a betrayer,” Jurot said, biting into some cheese, which had been denied to Turot.

“I’m sorry, Turot,” Adam said, staring down at the young Iyrman. He was still young, in his mischievous years, so of course he would touch the pillar which he wasn’t allowed to. He hadn’t expected Adam to betray him, though.

Adam had expected the night to calm him down, but it seemed that Iyrmen continued to simmer in their rage, something he should have expected.

“Lying is bad, you know?” Adam said.

“I wasn’t lying,” Turot grumbled, sniffling still. “I didn’t say anything.”

“That’s lying by omission.”

“I don’t lie by mission!” He cried, his face twitching into anger.

‘How adorable,’ Adam thought. He was eating two breakfasts that morning, one for his stomach, one for his heart.

Jurot stared at Turot and shook his head, eating the cheese which should have been the boy’s. “I didn’t expect you to lie, Turot.”

Cheese which did not belong to him tasted the best.

“I didn’t lie!” Turot squeezed the bread tight in his hand, about to toss it, when Sonarot grabbed his wrist, gently.

“It’s okay, Turot.” Sonarot pulled him up onto her lap and kissed his forehead. “You’re going to answer properly next time when I ask you, yes?”

Turot sniffled once more, but relaxed his grip on the mangled bread. “Yes...”

‘I should try and get back his favour somehow,’ Adam thought. He bit into the cheese, which was thankfully mild. ‘I need to keep him on my side if I want to be accepted by the Rot family.’ He continued to eat the cheese, noting Turot’s covetous gaze.

“Do you like cheese?” Adam asked, trying to hide his smile.

Turot narrowed his eyes, looking away. He bit into his bread angrily.

Adam stared at the bread for a moment. “Here, let me do something for you,” Adam reached over, waving his hand over the bread.

Spell: Tricks

“There,” Adam said.

“What did you do?” Turot asked, bringing his bread to his chest, having thought Adam would take this from him too.

“Why don’t you take a bite?”

“Is it poison?” Turot asked.

“Do you think I’d be stupid enough to poison an Iyrman in his own home, surrounded by two people who could hack my head off?” Adam asked, raising his brow.

Turot narrowed his eyes, his face scrunching to suspicion. Sure, no one would dare to do that, but Adam had betrayed him once before.

“No, Turot, it isn’t poisoned.”

Turot looked to Sonarot, who nodded her head, before he bit into the bread. Sonarot believed Adam wouldn’t try anything funny, either.

The boy’s eyebrows dropped as he broke apart the bread and ate it. He stared at the bread, looking it up and down, before tearing into the centre. He said something in his tongue, mouth still full of bread, his face filled with confusion.

“Cheese?” Sonarot asked, turning to look at Adam.

“Magic is a wonderful thing,” Adam said. “I flavoured some of the food when we were making our way. I thought, since he can’t eat cheese, I could flavour his bread for a moment.”

“Ah, yes,” Sonarot said. “Tricks?”

“Yeah.”

“He flavoured some food to taste like chicken tikka masala,” Jurot said. “A dish from his home. It was nice.”

Adam stared at Jurot, brows raised. “How did you remember that?”

“You told me,” Jurot said, simply. “Why would I forget?”

“I just didn’t expect it.” Adam smiled slightly.

Turot kept eating the bread, but soon it returned back to tasting like bread. He stared at Adam with wide eyes. “You can do that again?” Turot asked, raising the bread towards Adam.

“Maybe another time, when you aren’t being punished.” Adam didn’t want to undermine Sonarot any more than he already had.

Children needed to be punished properly. To his surprise, the Iyr didn’t hit their children. He thought that they would, and they wouldn’t make excuses about it, dismissing it as spanking, but they were much nobler than he had expected.

“Okay,” Turot relented after a moment, still staring at his bread, wondering if he could find some cheese in it. He was still unsure how Adam had flavoured it, and then kept an eye on the half elf. ‘Must be an elvish thing.’

Once he had earned Turot’s favour again, he went off to enchant. He followed another Iyrman, still to be watched. He noted a large number of small creatures about, which seemed to be very common in the Iyr.

Sonarot had finished making the meat and vegetable soup, pouring it for each of them. There was also some bread, as there always was, and some cheese.

“I heard you had a lot of fun with the children this morning,” Sonarot said. “Katool was especially happy.”

Adam’s face soured. “It’s hard being an adult,” he mumbled.

Sonarot tilted her head in confusion, and the other Iyrmen gave him a side glance.

Today he was escorted by another Iyrman, but he wasn’t in the mood for small talk.

“You understand me, don’t you?” Adam said to the axe, rubbing along the handle and then the head. “I would have used Omen, but...” He placed the axe down and sat on the stool, sighing out his worries before he began enchanting.

Mana: 3 -> 2

Enchanting

D20 + 6 = 18 (12)

Omen: 1, 14 -> 1

14 + 6 = 20

Once again he pulled the Thread of Fate, causing a bard’s lute to snap during his performance, causing all the people to jeer. He quickly scooped up his hat, full of copper coins, and slipped away, sighing.

Once he was done with the enchanting, he rubbed along the axe’s head. Adam could feel the magic already form within the axe, which was warm to the touch. “Fire?” Adam wondered, staring down at the axe head. He brushed the handle tenderly, before carrying it back to the Rot family.

He continued to add to his recipe book that night, adding in fish fingers, which he wasn’t exactly sure how to make. ‘Fish, cut up in rectangles, breaded... right?’

Omen: 8, 11

Sonarot threw him a glance, wondering how lucky he was that morning. Adam paused for a long moment, trying to use maths to figure out the average quality of the weapon if he used the 11. Adam smiled, nodding his head.

This morning he was prepared to face against Katool and the other other children.

“Bring it,” he said.

Spell: Guidance

1D3 = 3 (3)

Athletics Check

D20 + 4 + 3 = 18 (11)

This time he ran laps around them during catch the Iyrman, and when it came time to toss the balls at the target, he hit the centre more times than not.

He stared down at the children, who had been unable to keep up. Katool stared up at him, seeing the wicked grin on his face.

‘M-monster,’ the child thought.

“You’re in a good mood,” Amokan said, sitting down beside Adam as he bathed.

“Yes,” Adam said, recalling the beating he had given the children. “In the best mood.”

“Are you feeling lucky?” Amokan asked.

“Quite.”

“How powerful is your magic?” Amokan asked.

“I’m just at the First Gate,” Adam said. “I should be close to Second Gate spells soon, but I’m not sure.”

Amokan slowly nodded his head, unsure if he should believe the half elf. He was strong, physically, could he truly be so close to Second Gate spells at his age? If he was, then he’d be far more powerful than Amokan and the other Iyrmen had assumed.

Adam clapped his hands together once he was at the shrine, and he grabbed onto the axe handle. “Come on! Big money! Big money!” he shouted, eagerly, causing the Iyrman assigned to keep an eye on him to peek in to see what he was doing.

Mana: 3 -> 2

Enchanting

D20 + 6 = 20 (14)

[Would you like to spend XP to empower the weapon?]

‘Oh, this time you’re asking me?’

[Yes.]

‘Right, well, let’s spend...’ Just how amazing did he want this weapon? He didn’t want it to be the best weapon he had made to date, he wanted Little Paw to be amazing in its own right still. ‘100?’

Battleaxe

Requires Attunement

You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.

Deals 1D6 + 1D3 slashing + 1D3 fire damage.

You gain the ability to cast Flame Bolt.

[Would you like to name the weapon?]

‘Whoa, that’s a cool weapon.’

Cool Weapon (Battleaxe)

Requires Attunement

You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.

Deals 1D6 + 1D3 slashing + 1D3 fire damage.

You gain the ability to cast Flame Bolt.

‘Wait, no, that’s not what I meant.’

XP: 1910 -> 2150

He stared at the battleaxe, annoyed.

‘Damn it, Bell!’

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