Beside the forge, the blacksmith master was busy maintaining Lara’s longsword — while her own gaze had been completely captured by the suits of armor displayed beside the counter.
As everyone knows, armor, in the interest of imposing presence, generally gets crafted to look rather…
fangs-bared and claws-out?
Most of the armor on the floor and inside the chests was unadorned, with only the rudimentary outlines of cockscombs and bull-horns visible.
The heavyweight pieces were all kept behind the counter.
One was a set of leather armor that looked as if it had been tanned from the scaly hide of an entire giant deep-sea anglerfish, with what amounted to a hanging lantern mounted on its helmet; another was a sharp-edged set of red-and-white plate armor, its surface polished smooth enough that Lara could almost make out her own reflection in it; and finally there was a thin, form-fitting suit of dark-silver mail, of a material that looked at once like metal and like the chitinous exoskeleton of some creature.
“Tch — they look expensive just at a glance.” Lara had to admit it — she really had been drawn in by these suits of armor.
There wasn’t a man alive who could resist the allure of a full set of plate!
‘0083, run an Identify.’ Deep-Sea Scale Armor ‘Scale armor presumably crafted from the materials of a stranded deep-sea fish.
Performance somewhat diminished.
If mana is supplied to the helmet, it can be made to emit light.’ Heavy Plate Armor ‘Heavy plate armor forged from iron ore.
The red-and-white paintwork lends it a fairly solemn air.’ Full-Coverage Composite-Material Medium Plate Armor ‘Full-body armor forged from a blend of monster materials, mithril, and iron.
The monster materials used are of excellent quality, so the finished armor is sturdy without losing flexibility.’ Out of the blacksmith master’s line of sight, one panel after another appeared in front of Lara, letting her get a clear sense of the information on each suit of armor.
That medium armor utterly stole her heart — though one look at the description and she knew there was no way she could afford it.
Was there any chance she could go earn some money first, buy a suit of armor, and only then set off?
Lara thought it over and decided to drop the idea — for now, taking the letter and getting her condition treated still mattered more.
She hoisted her backpack — and it suddenly hit Lara: hadn’t she, just a few days back, killed a monster?
And by sheer luck, she’d preserved some of its mana-dispersing pelt, hadn’t she?
With that, Lara walked straight up to the dwarven master and pulled the bear pelt out of her bag.
“Master, I’ve got some monster materials here.
Do you take those?” The dwarven master didn’t look up; he only spared it a sidelong glance, kept at the maintenance job in his hands until it was nearly finished, and only then stopped and began examining the material carefully.
“Nice pelt.
This’d be from that bear in the Great Rift Valley — the one that never left its cave, right?
Plenty of monsters in that area, though.
Damned impressive that you got your hands on it.” The dwarven master kept turning the pelt over in his hands, and after a moment he settled on its value: “The material’s good.
There’s a little damage from the cutting, but nothing serious.
I can give you a decent price for it — at ninety percent of market rate, that comes out to about three gold coins.” Lara was thrilled.
She hadn’t expected this hide to fetch such a price.
Didn’t that mean a suit of armor was practically within her grasp now?
“Boss, boss — those suits of armor over by your counter, how are you selling them?” Lara’s delight was written all over her face.
By this point the dwarven master could hardly fail to guess what she was thinking — sadly, the armor was a bit pricier than Lara had imagined.
“The scale armor’s three gold coins, the heavy plate’s two gold coins, and the medium plate’s five gold coins.” The dwarven master watched the smile gradually fading from the little girl’s face in front of him, and couldn’t help laughing out loud: “Haha — you like my armor that much, do you?
Tell you what — I’ll knock the price down a bit.
Fifteen percent off.
Which piece do you want?” Amid all her agonizing, she still ended up picking the scale armor!
A person ought to give themselves the very best.
Or so Lara said.
She couldn’t wait to put the armor on, and with her newly-maintained longsword in hand she walked out of the blacksmith’s shop — though behind it all, it was Lara’s poor little coin pouch that bore the suffering.
Out on the bustling street, a figure fully encased in armor strode forward to a faint clattering sound, drawing the gazes of everyone around.
Lara walked along the street in her full suit of plate, her metal boots clanging against the ground with every step.
The view through the helmet was better than she’d expected, too — it didn’t impede her observation of her surroundings in the slightest.
The weight was just a touch heavier than she’d anticipated, but nothing too bad.
She followed the street down to the harbor where the ships were moored.
The stone-built wharf was thick with barnacles, and only a sparse handful of large vessels rocked in the wind.
Asking as she went, Lara eventually located the ship bound for the Central Continent.
At last she came to a halt in front of a weather-beaten sailing ship.
All around, workers were busy hauling barrels of liquor.
A man with a dark-red kerchief wrapped around his head was leaning back in a chair by the shore, rocking gently with his eyes closed as if resting — and he was the captain of this ship.
Lara took a quick look over the vessel — no obvious damage — then turned to the captain to ask, her voice coming out muffled through her armor.
“How much to the Central Continent?” The captain opened his eyes and looked at the fully-armored man in front of him — after all, not many people would assume that the figure inside a full suit of plate was a girl.
“Destination’s the western port of the Central Continent — Olan City.
The whole voyage takes roughly two months.
Fifty silver per head.” At this point he abruptly stopped rocking, and gave a snort through his nose.
“The stuff you’re carrying takes up space — add another ten silver, sixty silver total.
You’re in luck — we set sail this very afternoon.” In luck, huh?
Lara clenched the coin purse at her waist — inside were a little over fifty silver coins.
A one-way voyage of around a month, with rest stops in between — she couldn’t afford to wait.
She drew a deep breath, and her armor scraped softly at the joints: “Captain, I’ve only got fifty silver.” She suddenly drew her longsword, its cold gleam slicing through the briny air.
“But I can work for it.
I’ll do anything you need.” The workers hauling barrels around the wharf all came to a dead stop at once.
The captain narrowed his eyes, his gaze drifting from the blade up to the plate armor that looked so heavy on her.
“Forty silver, plus you cover your own food.” Then he abruptly grinned.
“But if there’s any trouble, you take the lead.” A sea breeze blew past, and the wind-driven waves slammed straight against the dock, kicking up spray as tall as a person.
Beneath her helmet, Lara’s throat bobbed once.
She always did have the feeling that she carried some kind of water-disaster constitution with her.
“Done.” She dropped her voice low, the tip of her sword sliding back into its sheath with a clean ‘shing.’ “If there’s any trouble, I’ll take the lead.” A ‘snrk’ of laughter came from the stern.
A one-eyed old sailor was mending a fishing net with a curved needle, his thread shining blood-veined red in the sunlight.
“Jack, this tin can’s a sight more reliable than that one last month who could only sing.” The captain abruptly burst out laughing, sending the seagulls perched on the mast flapping off in startled flight.
“Deal!” He gave Lara’s pauldron a hearty slap.
“Get aboard.
Just don’t die on the way.” She stepped up onto the deck at the bow, the fish-stink-soaked planks creaking heavily under her feet, and found the room the captain had set aside for her.
The room held nothing but a small bed, with a heap of miscellaneous junk piled in one corner.
It clearly wasn’t a room meant for ordinary passengers — most likely it had been crew quarters previously.
Sitting on the bed, she pulled off the helmet.
The warm, salt-damp air off the sea had turned her armor into a steamer basket, and Lara’s stamina was draining away faster than she had imagined it would.
She still had a little breathing room before they cast off.
Once they were officially under way, Lara would have to start patrolling the ship.
Leaning back against the head of the bed, eyes closed in meditation, Lara waited quietly for the ship to set sail.
The old sails billowed in the wind, the seagulls rode the wind, and a low, deep horn-blast rang out across the sky — destination: Olan.
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