15 Piano wire Instrument strings (1/2)

Shiarra, Jericho, and Princess strolled into town.

Ken followed from a distance as he was excited to take his friend on an adventure, even if there was a third wheel called an older brother ruining the atmosphere he hoped for.

”Thank you, heroes for bringing water to our home!” The old village head cried in happiness.

The three received a completed quest notification. [You have brought water to the town. Residents will treat you as people worthy of respect. You have gained 300Exp. You have leveled! Claim the rewards from the village elder.]

”Yay! We reached level 5!” Moira cheered.

”Heroes, follow me.” The man walked towards the center of town to a nearby storehouse. ”As much as it pains me to say this, we don't have much we can give you.”

{Called it!} Glaw voiced to Jericho. {This is why we don't deal much with humans; there is never an equivalent exchange.}

”In the building behind me is a storehouse of items that are either seen as defective products or we don't have anyone who knows how to use them. We are also willing to teach you about different skills. We have some skill books regarding leatherworking, tailoring, mining, and blacksmithing. Each of you can choose three things either from the storehouse or skills I mentioned.” He opened the door. ”I am sorry again; it is the best we can offer you.”

Jericho placed his hand on the old man's shoulder. ”It's alright. You have just made it through a hard time. It makes sense that you would have very little to offer.” He and Shiarra walked inside.

”Um, Mister?” Princess started. ”Can I have the skill books on tailoring and leatherworking? I want to be able to make wonderful outfits for my brother and I for when we perform and I don't know how to do either of those.”

The old man smiled and passed over the two books. ”Now then, do you want another book? Or do you want to go look inside for something?”

”I'll go inside now.” She smiled as she joined her brother and the warrior.

Shiarra looked around the warehouse. After a bit of searching she picked up a few scrolls and left the building.

The warehouse was mostly empty and filled with dust. A dark blue and black stained acoustic guitar rested in the corner. Next to it was a similar wooden object that had a longer bridge and more tuning machines but lacked a neck.

Jericho immediately picked them up and let out a sigh that the strings were broken. He was happy to have his first in-game guitar and zither, even if they lacked strings He opened the compartments on the ends to find three plectra and a handful of finger picks. ”Looks like I have a lot of piano wire to make for these two instruments.” He muttered to himself. ”Now where can I find…”

Princess tripped over a container full of metal ingots. ”OW!” She cried out.

Jericho came running over. ”Are you alright?” He asked.

”Yeah, I just didn't expect to suddenly trip.” She replied pointing to the box.

”No way,” Jericho muttered as he stared at the container. ”Did the game designers know piano wire was made of this stuff?”

”Eh? Did you find something interesting brother?” Princess's interest was piqued considering the in game pain faded almost instantly.

”Steel, with an extremely high carbon count;” He replied. ”It is the material used in a lot of things back in the start of the millennium including the piano wire. I have a large collection of it at home in case any of my strings break. Why is this metal considered a defective product?”

”I don't know, but do you have a use for it?”

Jericho smiled and pulled the two unstrung instruments from his inventory. ”While one guitar is not enough for most of my guitar songs, to find these two beauties here is already a great reward. They just need to be re-stringed.” Jericho picked up the box of ingots and put it in his inventory. ”Have you found something you want?”

”I asked for the books on making clothing from both cloth and leather. We performers need more outfits than just one!”

Jericho let out a happy laugh; ”such a thoughtful little sister.”

”Yep, then I can make me beautiful cloths and can make you some fun costumes to play your instruments it.” She winked and stuck out her tongue playfully.

Jericho continued laughing as he ignored the slight chill of foreboding he felt. ”What else are you going to pick then?”

”I don't know, help me find something!”

The two resumed their search until they found a slightly damaged simple dress that was ankle length in the back and just below knee length in the front. ”It's so pretty!” Princess squealed in delight as she took the dress that mysteriously shrunk to her size by the power of the game mechanics.

Jericho agreed it would look good on his adorable 12 year old sister. He was relieved that it wasn't a leotard, since it would lower the chance he would have to fight off any loli-cons even if the game had safety measures in place.

The two exited the warehouse and were greeted by the village head once again. ”I hope you were able to find something to your liking.” He replied.

”We were. If it is alright, may I borrow your village forge for a bit? There is something I wish to make.” Jericho asked plainly.

”Of course! If he knows what you are trying to make, Theodore the blacksmith can help you out.”

”Thank you.” Jericho replied, looking forward to the meticulous work to fix up these instruments.

Shiarra placed her hand on the bard's shoulder with a sigh. ”I'm going to head off for a while you two. I'll hang out with you again sometime.”

Princess looked over to the warrior. ”Where are you going? Do you want us to come with you?”

The woman laughed as she adjusted her wrist guards. ”I am going to go bash some monster skulls in for the next bit; I need to train up my weapon skills. It isn't something you want to join me on.”

”Oh,” Princess replied sadly.