Forging Legends

Chapter 7 - Making Friends

The first thing Reina needed to do was get some money. Fortunately, she still had an enormous amount of dolls she could sell. She just couldn't use them for that job in the Adventurers' Guild. She would need to show her membership, thus revealing the fact that she was the hero. It would do no good to draw the Demon Lord's attention to her.

That brought up the question of how he knew about her in the first place. She was summoned only three days ago. He said something about spies, but how did they contact him so quickly? Was there something like phones in this world? People could teleport, so why not send long-distance messages?

Well, all that meant was she shouldn't stand out. No party and no forging her spirit around people. At least, not until she got farther away...though that did beg the question of where she was.

In any case, Reina entered the town. She could simply sell the dolls to the right merchant. From what she understood, there should be at least one in every town, more in cities.

Reina asked the first person she saw for directions and was pointed the right way. She did receive a strange look, but she didn't stick around long enough for it to become an issue.

After a few minutes of walking, Reina found a woman with an open shop near the center of town. Monster parts were laid out on tables and hung from the overhang.

"Hello." Reina gave a wave as she approached. "Do you buy dead monsters?"

"I do..." The woman looked her up and down. "What are you selling?"

"Dolls." Reina answered. "And maybe some krindars."

The shopkeeper nodded. "Well, I'll buy two full dolls for one soldi. Krindar parts vary, but I'll buy a whole one for 30 soldi."

That was far less than what Reina was hoping for. Celia said the krindar they got could sell for upward to 1 simoleon. Being in a small town had its drawbacks. Still, it was better than nothing.

"Alright, I'll..." Reina immediately saw a problem with her initial plan. She'd have to pull the monster corpses from her weapon's gem, and she hadn't seen anyone with a similar ability. "I'll come back with them."

Now she had to come with a plan for that. Maybe sell a krindar, buy a sack or something, and throw a bunch of the dolls in there.

"Sounds good." The shopkeeper gave her another look. "By the way, are you alright?"

"Hm? Yeah, just had some trouble in the forest." Reina said nervously.

"I see...Well, I'll be open until dusk, sir."

"Thanks, I..." Reina paused at the word. "...I'll be back soon."

She really didn't like being confused with a man, but it'd probably help her for now. The Spirit Forger was a woman, after all. Or a girl, she didn't know what all was said about her.

Reina walked back the way she came, taking a look around her. The buildings in the town were more spaced out than in the capital and the other town she visited. There were still plenty of glass windows, so it wasn't as if they didn't have the means to make it out here. She figured smaller places wouldn't, but there was magic here, so why not?

She stopped in front of a window to what looked to be a blacksmith's shop. The inside wasn't what caught her attention, but her reflection in the glass. Leaves and a few small branches decorated her hair and armor. When she looked lower, she found her pants were in no better shape, with the addition of mud splattered on them. She also remembered that she lost one of her boots in the forest.

"That'll have to be one of the first things I fix." She thought to herself.

Once back in the forest, though not far at all, she gave a quick look around before dropping a krindar from her weapon's gem. It was a bit heavy, but not so much that she couldn't drag it.