Chapter 52: The Eccentric Blacksmith (1/2)
Azar listlessly left Albert's side and went deeper down the hall to find someone. For some reason when they were making their choice of rooms, he chose the one at the extreme end, furthest away from the others and hadn't been out since.
Azar wasn't equip to handle people like him and always did his best to avoid any form of lengthy conversation with him, mostly he would send someone in his place but he had no such luck this time.
He soon approached the last door at the end of the hall and could faintly hear the sounds of metal striking metal coming from behind the door which made him frown. They had only been here a day and he was already so settled in that he was now using his room as a workstation. Azar didn't like it when people toke advantage of others and he wouldn't be kind to anyone that did, even if Bungo was a bit strange, he should at least have some common sense.
Then agian perhaps right now he wasn't the best person to be taking the moral high ground. Still, Azar couldn't just ignore it when someone took it too far, if he didn't stop him now, he might soon start ripping stuff out of the walls to finish his work.
Azar furiously pounded on the door instead of knocking and his strength almost ripped the door from it's hinges. Feeling a bit embarrassed by the loud bang he had created, disturbing the peace of the quiet hallway, he calmed down a little and waited for the door to be opened. It was a loud knock so he was confident Bungo would have heard it no matter what he was doing.
Soon he heard some slight noise coming from within as someone approached the door. The door swung open and a short burly man with a thick beard appeared before him, he had a single dark horn on the top of his forehead that went with his bald head. His pale red skin was darker than usual and he had a gloomy atmosphere around him.
Berlin Bungo stared at the unusual visitor for a while before his grey eyes settled on Azar completely. The dull look on his face instantly disappeared and an ecstatic smile appeared across his face. He immediately spoke without restraints. ”Chief, you came at the right time. This place is amazing, you have to see this, it's incredible. I've been working for so long now yet no one has complained about the noise, do you know what that means.”
”That, they're tired of you.”
”Haha Chief you jest, No... This entire castle is not only laced with valuable metals but somehow they had managed to carve magic runes all around the entire castle. At first I had no idea how they were able to stabilize the various properties of high level metals and what the runes were for but now, I think I'm starting to get it. I'm also sure some of the runes are for soundproofing and reinforcing and also some form of preservation.”
”Oh... Since when are you a Runesmith?”
”I wish I was Chief, this place is a treasure trove for Runesmiths. Come look at this, I think I can incorporate some of this runes into my work giving enough time. I wasn't really too keen on leaving the settlement but i really owe a lot to Lord Ty for bringing us here. If just the servants quarters has wealth like this then I can't wait to see what's in the other parts of this castle.”
When Berlin spoke of Tyler it finally dragged Azar out of the flow of the situation and he remembered why he came here. Berlin was a type of eccentric that was weird and stayed away from people when he wasn't interested in them but could go off for hours if he found something interesting to talk about or if he was speaking to someone with similar interests.
”Speaking of Lord Ty, we need your help to perform a task for him.”
”Really, do you think if I do well he'll let me study the rest of the castle.”
”Mmm... Maybe.”
”Brilliant! what's the task.”
”Oh it's just fixing the main door of the castle as well as the main gate, if you can. We no longer have a Carpenter or Carftsman to handle some of the job so you'll have to work alone.''
”Well, that's fine... Mmm, I'm still working here but I guess i can stop for now, so let's go, I'll grab my tools.''
Azar was speechless by Bungo's immediate acceptance, normally he would want to finish his work no matter how urgent the situation was, he also didn't cared who called him but now he was in such a good mood and had so much appreciation for Lord Ty that he was willing to leave his work incomplete.
Berlin quickly graped a small tool box from amongst a pile of different sized ones and headed for the door in a set of coarsely-designed coveralls, that were surprisingly well maintained. Although it had a couple of stitches on them, they were made of very comfortable and easy to move in fabric. They both left his room and headed to the main entrance of the castle.
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Albert watched Azar leave disgruntled and sighed inwardly, he then proceeded to leave the castle and headed for the outer wall, to check up on the guards he had posted tower at the front of the castle, in order for them to observe the surrounding situation last night. He hadn't expected the snow last night so he had been a little paranoid when he couldn't find Tyler.
He had been quite worried about the scouts in the area spotting them the entire journey here so he made sure they took extra precautions and erase their tracks as best they could. He was also quite worried about the scouts finding out about Lord Ty before his plans were completed.
He didn't imagine the settlement being part of his plans at first, not to mention the additions of the trolls and Kobolds, although with his nonchalant attitude towards the entire situation he might have set up several contingencies.