Honestly, it all doesn’t look so bad.

Sure, the wood is running low, since his stockpiles are either burnt through or they had been flooded by Rhine’s spell. Any damp wood left over after the frog’s attack is next to useless for what he needs it for, until it has dried out again properly. Sure, the window is still broken and he doesn’t quite have the money together for its repair yet, despite selling all of his daggers. But by tonight, he will. A few more daggers and he’ll have it together.

But this table, this favorite table of his, which is sitting next to the broken window, it is full. It is as full as it might have once been on a day like this, some ten years ago.

Obscura sits next to him. Rhine and Sockel are on the other bench as they all sit there together in the same booth. Hineni stares at the fullness that has found him. He lowers his gaze towards the spread. They can’t buy their dinner from the guild anymore, so he simply opted to go to a new place, down by the dungeon. There are lots of street merchants there. You can buy just about anything from them and that’s exactly what he did. Perhaps he had splurged a little more than is reasonable or responsible, given their situation. But given the cold bite of the winter air, which is fighting a winning battle against their heating system, a good meal is just what the four of them need, not only to keep their strength, but to keep their warmth as well.

Hineni takes off his gloves and scarf, lowering his hand once to hold Obscura’s beneath the table. She hoots, sitting upright in a quick jolt, but then lowers herself again, clicking excitedly with her mouth as if she were in the form of an owl and doing so with her beak. A taloned hand rubs his, down below where nobody can see them doing so. It’s warm.

“Let’s eat,” says Hineni, looking at the oddity that has befallen him.

- People.

He’s kind of sick of iron daggers, honestly.

Hineni hammers away, striking the next blade into shape. But they’re easy money. They’re quick to make and that’s what matters right now. Quantity over quality.

“What about this?” asks Rhine. Hineni turns his head, looking at the boy. He has a mold made out of clay, in the middle is an indent of what looks like half of a dagger. Rhine sets it down. “We can just take this one,” he says, pulling a second one over. “And then this one and we’ll stick them together,” he explains. “Then we seal them, rekindle them and just pour some metal into the top here.”

Hineni thinks for a moment. It’s not a bad idea. He wanted to try making weapons with molds anyways. It could offer a very interesting avenue of production. Though, it begs the question if it’s even economical at this scale?

In order to make one dagger with a mold, they needed two mold halves, which Rhine first needs to make. Those then need to be fired and hardened, then sealed together and then refired. Only then they can start filling them with metal. Likely, they’d have to break the molds afterwards to get the ’completed’ dagger out at the end too, so it would be a one-time use each time. Plus then they still need to sharpen and polish the blades.

“- It’s just not practical for daggers, Rhine,” says Hineni, shaking his head and explaining as much. “In that time, I could already get started on my second dagger here,” notes the man. “It could be a good idea for larger weapons though.”

Rhine shakes his head. “That’s just it!” he says, clenching his fists. He points at himself with his thumb. “I can make the molds while you keep making your daggers, like that!” says Rhine. “Then when you’re done, you can just pour the metal in yourself and by tomorrow, there will be three daggers ready ’for free’!”

Hineni observes the boy. That makes a lot of sense, actually. Of course, the molds can just sit by themselves and then Rhine has work too. He nods. “Make one. We’ll test it first,” says Hineni. “But I’ll handle the metal. You’re not ready.”

Rhine nods and Hineni watches him set to work. The boy is more than eager to prove himself and honestly, in Hineni’s eyes, he’s really managing.

Hineni gives the glass-worker his five-hundred Obols.

(Hineni) paid [{500} Obols] !

“You did good work last time,” asks Hineni. “I’m requesting that you do it again,” he says, looking at the broken window.

The man nods, taking his payment in advance this time. “I’ll get started first thing,” he says. Hineni nods back. Usually it would be smart to pay for such services only after completion of the work, especially if one is paying in full. But he has a feeling that he will be needing this man’s services more often in the future and it would be wise to establish a trusted and positive relationship with him.

The man leaves and Hineni stands there alone in the restaurant for a moment, his hands on his hips as he stares around the large, empty room.

It’s going to be full one day, the room. One day soon. Just like his own table was before. He’s going to make sure of it.

“Obscura’s magic protects them, yes?” she hoots. The great, giant owl, sitting on the receptionist’s counter, lifts a massive wing and drapes it over him. “Hineni feels safe, yes? Protected? Yes?” she asks. “Big safe? Nurtured by mothering Obscura, yes?”

Sockel, already trapped under Obscura’s other wing, pops her head out of the owl-god’s fluff.

“It smells kind of like bird, honestly,” notes the elf, a tuft of feather fluff on her nose.

“Who~!” Obscura vanishes in an explosion of feathers, leaving Sockel and Hineni standing there, covered in the dust of her body.

Hineni wipes himself off, looking at the door. Obscura’s obscuring magic has gotten much stronger. He gave away twenty-seven daggers and has sold six more since the frog’s attack. She’s gotten a substantial boost and that amplification of her passive magic is keeping the frogs away from their door. They literally can’t find them, even if they know where the house is.

Hineni narrows his eyes.

- Bad frogs.

“So, as I was saying,” says Sockel, also wiping herself and then the ledger off. “I think I found something,” she explains. “There’s an account number here,” she says, turning the ledger around to show him. “But the thing is, there’s no withdrawal password.”

“Password?” asks Hineni.

Sockel nods. “Avarice is a serious place,” she explains. “You need a number and a password to look into your account and that’s after they used all sorts of backwater-magic to look at you, inside and out.” Hineni thinks for a moment. “Your parents didn’t have any… I don’t know, weird phrases or anything, right?”

Hineni shakes his head. “Not that I remember.” He sighs. “But this is already a good start,” he says, looking at the number. “Thank you, Sockel. Please keep going.”

She nods. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I think it’s pretty easy!” says Rhine, showing Hineni the book on charcoal making that he had dug out of the library. “Look,” he says. “We just need to make a kiln out of a bunch of bricks,” says Rhine. “Then we put wood in it to dry out. Then, like magic, charcoal!”

Hineni looks at the book. “That seems… too easy.”

“That’s because you’re in the presence of RHINE! -”

“- The river-wizard,” finishes Hineni, waving to the boy with an idle hand as he reads the book.

“Hey!”

Honestly, it seems like a plausible idea. They have the space for it here in the forge in the empty corner in the back. Charcoal, huh?

Charcoal is a very light, dense carbon that is produced by heating plant-matter, generally wood, to a high and constant temperature. This process requires that there is as little air available to the wood as possible. Often, charcoal is made in buried mounds of dirt and mud. Though, a stone kiln is a more pragmatic solution that can be reused repeatedly.

“This is good,” says Hineni. “Rhine. I want you to go through that book. Take some paper, take a pen,” says the man, pointing to the table. “Draw a design for the kiln that we need to make.”

Rhine blinks, staring at him for a moment. “Huh?” The boy points at himself. “Me?”

“There’s only one river-wizard,” says Hineni, nodding his head to the workbench. “Get to it.”

Rhine straightens up. “Okay!” he says excitedly, running off to the table.

One thing that Hineni has noticed about people, whether in Rhine or himself or Sockel or the glassworker or even the owl-god Obscura, is that a little recognition goes a long way. In fact, that itself just seems to be what most people are looking for. He hadn't really ever noticed it before, but now that he is on ’the other side’ of it, he finds himself recognizing that. The simple passive act of being seen, seen for who you are, for what you are, is a great payment to receive and in a way, he wishes that he had come out of hiding sooner. But, after thinking about it and watching the boy flip through the book for a minute, he decides that things have turned out for the best.

Hineni pulls out the leather strap of the man’s armor. The one he had sold the dagger to the other day, out on the street.

It’s a simple job, honestly. These leather straps are just old and worn through from continued, constant use and tension. The straps of an adventurer’s backpack, links of chain-mail, an odd goblin arrow here or there. All of these things add up over the course of a piece of equipment’s lifespan and eat away at it, lowering not only its durability, but also its maximum durability.

Hineni looks over at the item’s menu.

- [Iron Chestplate] - - Quality -

Normal

- Composition -

{Cracked}[Iron Breastplate](Normal)

{Dented}[Iron Backplate](Normal)

{Worn}[Leather Straps](Normal) x 6

- Quality Effects -

None

+2 PHYSICAL DEF

An old, well worn, iron chest-plate with some damage. The worn thin leather-straps are darkened from sweat stains and blood. Weight: 3.52kg Durability: 18/34 (50) Value: 86 Obols

It once had a maximum durability of fifty. But over the span of its life, it has taken so many beatings that that value has been reduced to thirty-four. A significant detriment to a front-line fighter. Even worse, since it breaks more often, it has to be repaired more often. That means that a low-level, low income party is going to be spending substantially more on quick and dirty repairs to stay afloat than a high-level party which has expensive equipment with durability values in the hundreds that rarely needs to be repaired.

Hineni returns to his work, replacing the straps with some of his collection of black leather. But that’s running low too. This whole time, he has been working with materials from his ‘inherited’ stockpile, but those days are slowly coming to an end. It’s all just about gone.

An hour passes.

- [Iron Chestplate] - - Quality -

Normal

- Composition -

{Cracked}[Iron Breastplate](Normal)

{Dented}[Iron Backplate](Normal)

[Black Leather Straps](Normal) x 6

- Quality Effects -

None

+2 PHYSICAL DEF

An old, well worn, iron chest-plate with some damage. Held together with thick, sturdy, black leather straps. Weight: 3.53kg Durability: 23/39 (50) Value: 96 Obols

Hineni nods. That’s a step up. As for the dent, he can just hammer that one in a flash. It’s not a big deal.

- [Iron Chestplate] - - Quality -

Normal

- Composition -

{Cracked}[Iron Breastplate](Normal)

[Iron Backplate](Normal)

[Black Leather Straps](Normal) x 6

- Quality Effects -

None

+2 PHYSICAL DEF

An old, well worn, iron chest-plate. Held together with thick, sturdy, black leather straps. Weight: 3.53kg Durability: 27/44(50) Value: 104 Obols

The final and biggest issue remaining is the large crack on the front of the armor, but that’s only a ‘big’ issue in the sense of the material cost. As a blacksmith, Hineni has the ability to mend broken items like this in a heartbeat.

He pulls one of his few remaining iron ingots over to himself, holding it in one hand and letting his other hover over the breastplate. By using a spell, he can do it instantly. But for a cost, it will drain some of his soul-points and even worse, it will use up the entire five-kilo iron bar. For a crack that likely only needs significantly less than that if he were to melt it and reshape it all by hand. But that would take hours. He doesn’t have that kind of time. He’s willing to ‘spend’ the twenty Obols worth of materials if it means that he won’t be stuck on this project for the entire day.

(Hineni) uses: [Blacksmithing: Repair Metal]

A glow leaves his hand, the iron chestplate shaking as the iron bar beneath his other palm vanishes at the same time. The glow subsides a moment later, the chestplate stops rattling.

It’s done.

- [Iron Chestplate] - - Quality -

Normal

- Composition -

[Iron Breastplate](Normal)

[Iron Backplate](Normal

[Black Leather Straps](Normal) x 6

- Quality Effects -

None

+3 PHYSICAL DEF

A brand new, pristine iron chestplate. It is held together with thick, sturdy, black leather straps. Weight: 3.93kg Durability: 50/50 Value: 155 Obols

He nods, satisfied. It’s not a weapon, but this is good work nonetheless.

Happy, the man dusts his hands and gets on with his day. There’s still so much work left to do. The list is growing longer and longer by the minute and he’s barely ahead of it all. But he’s doing it, he’s managing it. He’s fulfilling his obligations and his responsibilities and, in a way that is paradoxical to his deep exhaustion and tiredness, Hineni feels extremely alert, extremely happy and extremely proud of himself.