Chapter 957 957 Royally Hammered

Chapter 957 957 Royally Hammered

The sound of hammers on anvils caught the attention of King Petros as they approached the forges. He knew that Wolfe could make quite a few items simply by layering magic, but that definitely sounded like a proper forge working.

"The raw materials are made with magic, but it needs a complex process to blend them and create a true masterpiece of a weapon, and not just a mundane item with a spell slapped on it like a label." Wolfe explained as they walked into the forges and the Demons returned with one large and one smaller keg. Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

"Oh, a keg for now and one for later?" Petros asked.

"Nope. One of whisky and one of ale. Which do you prefer? Dwarven liquors are incredibly tasty, and we've become a little addicted since we got here. You can't get anything this good in the Demon Realms." Risa joked.

They had lots of good liquor in the Demon Realms, and the Wrath Demons usually preferred spiced liquors, heavy on the cinnamon, but she had taken a fancy to the Dwarven ale, and drank it in quantities that made the actual Dwarves in town proud.

"Shorty, where are you at? We brought ale." Risa called as they walked in.

"In the back, I've got visitors from another world." A hoarse voice replied from the back room.

Thorin's apprentices were there, along with a Fae tour guide, who had convinced the old Dwarf to show off some of his skills for them.

The Dwarf's smile got impossibly larger as he saw them walking in with the two kegs, and he set aside the piece he was working on to come over and greet them.

"You're just in time, this work is thirsty, and I neglected to restock while I was finishing up my latest attempt. I tell you, this one's a beauty, and I'm pretty certain the council will pass it." He announced, before extending his hand to Wolfe.

"Shebbediah Stoneforge, but you can call me Shorty. It's a pleasure to meet you, Patriarch Noxus."

Wolfe shook his hand. "I believe you know the others already, and this is King Petros of the Fallen."

Risa poured out a round of ales using the Dwarf's mugs from the wall of the forge, and the visitors looked cautiously into the foamy liquid.

"It's Ale, you have it in your world as well, but this is the good stuff." Wolfe explained.

"This is how the humans like it. Chilled in a glass so they can appreciate the flavour." He explained, knowing that the Dwarf had just come from Faerie, and had very little experience with the species yet.

Shorty looked intrigued, and used a pair of clean tongs from his workspace to throw a half dozen cubes into his mug before filling it with liquor.

"Sometimes other species have good ideas. I still don't trust chilled ale, though."

Drinks were poured, and Wolfe realized that none of Thorin's apprentices had any experience with drinking. Their pace with the ale was fine, but they nearly choked when they tried to drink the whisky like water.

"You'll get the hang of it soon enough. Would Your Highness care to see my latest work? It'll be up for sale once the council comes to appraise it in the morning. I'm going for my Rank Six Master Smith certification, you see." Shorty asked.

Petros was intrigued. "There are Ranks to Mastery of your craft among the Dwarves?" He asked.

Shorty nodded. "The Dwarves take forge craft very seriously. At every Rank, you need to test to prove that what you can do is in the top five percent of what others your Rank can do, if you want to be called a proper Dwarven Master. I was a Rank Five Master, and then I advanced, so now I'm trying to convince them to grant me my Rank Six Mastery.

It's been thirty years now, but I'm close, I can feel it, and this hammer is glorious."

He went to a locked safe and brought out a Dwarven Mythril hammer, intricately inlaid with gems, Dwarven Runes, spell arrays modified from Wolfe's work, and finally, a delicate wire hand wrap that was carefully wound to create the emblem of Forest Grove.

Not with dyes, but by actually changing the alloy of the wire at set intervals, so it naturally formed the logo once the wire was wrapped.

With the mana sight of a King Rank mage, Petros admired the hammer, and all the different layers that were used to create it, including gem arrays, as his people used in their items. It wasn't quite the same, as they were layered with Fae Magic, but the concept was the same.

"Whether or not they name that your masterpiece, I would like to purchase that from you." King Petros announced once he had inspected it.

"Wonderful, we can settle on a price after the Masters determine its worth. Now, let's celebrate." Shorty laughed as he poured a mug full of liquor on top of fresh ice.

"Oh, whisky on ice is good. I'll have to talk to the girls about getting me an ice array."