The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 29: Penny for your Thoughts

Axel, for one, was just glad his second batch actually looked pretzel-esque. He'd had to go out to buy more ingredients after his first attempt had gone up in smoke. Not because he had used it all up, unfortunately, but rather because he had noticed the burning bread while washing dishes and, in his rush to turn off the oven, accidentally knocked the bag of flour directly into the sink of soapy water.

That had been a mess to clean up, though prying off the charred blobs from the baking sheet had been much more depressing.

Still, that whole dishwater mishap aside, he was somewhat impressed that it had only taken two tries to get anything presentable. There had been quite a bit of trial and error for the entire process, including just getting the ingredients in the first place: figuring out what baking powder was called in this world had been a struggle.

It was worth it, though. This batch tasted good, and even looked vaguely like they were supposed to. That's a win in his book.

He readjusted the tray of pretzels he was carrying in order to free up a hand, ignored the sign on the green door that proclaimed the store closed, and let himself inside. It was oddly busy, he noticed immediately, with seven people—not even counting the old blacksmith himself—working in small groups around the forge.

It was a good thing he'd made so many pretzels.

These weekly blacksmithing lessons had originally just been between Pei and himself, to help him work out the differences between medieval Western and other-world 'Eastern' techniques. But after a week or so, some of the old man's other apprentices began occasionally joining in. It fairly quickly became more of a group activity discussing methods or brainstorming new tricks rather than individual study.

It had taken some convincing, but Axel had even gotten Pei to extend invitations to some of the other metalworkers in the village. He didn't seem very happy with the idea, but he did it anyway. Suffice to say, the old blacksmith was glad that not many took up the offer.

Until today, at least.

Of the seven people, Axel only recognized one: Tanso Hagane, who, as an assistant smith, was very aptly named. The man seemed a bit preoccupied running herd on some of the others, but he spared a moment to wave hello when he spotted him by the door.

As for the head blacksmith himself—who looked more frazzled than Axel had ever seen before—well, Pei noticed him a moment later. And grinned, though the expression was somehow both strained and amused at the same time.

"Oh good, Hen-dama. You finally made it." He huffed. "Took ya long enough."

That nickname was new, and he wasn't even sure what it meant.

The 'dama' part sounded kind of like the word for 'ball', and 'hen' could mean 'side', but that made no sense. So 'hen' or 'dama' had to mean something else, too, though he couldn't think of what. He really missed languages where one sound meaning different things was an exception, and not basically the situation with every word.

"I thought you called me—" Axel tried to recall the exact phrase, "—'you crazy-brained Blondie'. When did that change? Also, what does 'Hen-dama' mean?"

The old man shrugged. "You're a strange one, that's why."

Right, of course, 'hen' could also mean 'strange'. Though 'strange ball' made about as much sense as... oh wait. He was being called an odd-ball.

Well, he couldn't really argue with that.

"And besides, I decided I needed to change it up 'bout half an hour ago," Pei continued, tone grouchy even though there was no real heat behind it. "Since ya've stopped being the only blond menace I have to deal with."