Guild House: Lobby

The rhythmic sound of a trio of stamps being pressed on paper then reapplied with ink was all there was to the quiet Lobby of Blake's Guild House. The stamps were handled in this near robotic manner by Vasha, Blake, and Bread. The Goblin was on her stool behind the front desk, the smith was sitting cross-legged on the counter, and the boy was in a chair

Usually, it was left to Vasha to handle most of the paperwork at the Guild House. From item orders to quests and sometimes mail. Most of which came from Nathan's mother, followed by Ivynns, the guild master of The Eye Of The Blood Leaf, asking about Lu and 'Fay' and a few business reports that needed to fill out by Blake. Nothing from Farimaw, which meant Blake's hide was in danger, but Risabeel had been nagging him about sending his parents a letter or something at some point.

"This is boring!" But sentimental valves were put aside as Blake stretched himself out after getting done with number 70 in a stack of seemingly never decreasing papers. It was a slow day for the smith in terms of item making and quest going, so he decided with a lack of foresight to help his Goblin out.

"Then, can I leave?" Asked Bread with half of what Blake had since he needed to let his master or Vasha go over some of the more wordy ones. "Huh?" Then came a cool breeze that picked up his and Blake's finished stacks.

"At least all you have to is read and stamp, Muffin..." Faking a whimper was Baba, in charge of ordering the stamped papers in neat stacks after Vasha mentioned how 'good' the Ala was at it. "..." Which Baba quickly understood was a way for the little green potato to get back at her. "Hubby, why don't we take a break and go on a date, hmm?" She latched herself around one of Blake's arms.

"Break? Yes. Date? Maybe another time?" Blake sadly declined and got another fake whimper out of Baba. "Hey, don't be like that..." He tried to stop her, but the Ala flew over to where Saffire was sleeping on a couch in her human form with only her scales, which were back to their bright red color. "Why are you going over there?"

Blake's thoughts were soon answered with some fear as Baba floated down to Saffire's head with a playful smile across her face. "Too bad, I'm not as scary or eye-catching as some? If I was, I could be lazying around and perfectly wait for my Hubby to give me a little love talk in my sleep. Eh, Hot-head?" She whispered into Saffire's ear nice and slow. "Oh my!" And was greeted to a firey claw being swiped through her as she turned into air and drifted away.

"If he did, then he better learn that trick of yours, Air-head..." Saffire growled in the middle of picking between getting up or going back to sleep. "...tch!" The former was chosen when she found Blake giving her the usual stare. "Got nothing better to do?"

To that end, Blake turned his eyes to Vasha. "Yes." He gave Saffire an okay sign while the Dragon rolled eyes.

"Sir Blake! Would you not!" Came the voice of Risabeel as she, Mari, and Moco came to into the lobby with a tea set held between them. Risabeel had the teapot currently streaming on a tray, Mari had the cups but let Os do the carrying, and Moco had the spoons and sweeteners carried by floating water.

"Oh? Is tea severed?" Baba cooed, pausing in her current attempts at playing with Saffire to float her way over to the front desk where everything was set up. "Don't just stay there, would you?" She turned back to the Dragon, still perfectly sited at the couch while looking at everyone else.

"Hmm...got any treats over there?" Saffire asked, trying to get a peek at the stuff the girls brought. "Tch!" But a particular wind spirit kept getting in her way. "Fine!" So she got up in time to see Gram walk by in one of his few entrances into the Guild House. "Something happen out there?"

"Nah, just smelt something good is all," Gram answered with a shaking of his head as his claws clicked against the floor.

"Hmm?" Followed by the sound of horseshoes clopping behind Saffire. "Horse." She greeted Nash with a pat on his head while he rubbed his head all over hers. "Hehe! Yeah, yeah! I haven't been messing with you for a while, bud."

Truth be told, Saffire and Nash had a pretty good relationship. Before Blake got the Guild House, the Dragon had to find some random overgrown forest or cave to hide from unwanted attention, mainly Blake. In those times of solitude, Nash was usually the one to come and check on her. From there, it was easy to make friends between them since Nash also shared a love-hate relationship with their red-haired idiot even if the Dragon didn't admit the love part.

"Aww! I didn't know lizards and horses got along so well!" Blake snickered at the 2 of them, with a cup of tea in hand as they came up to him. "And here I thought I was the only one who gets to call you bud, bud." He mostly stared at Nash since Saffire was off looking for sweets that sadly weren't there.

"?" Nash gave his bud a roll of his eyes then eyed the cup in Blake's head. "..." The horse poked Blake in the chest with his nose to get a message across.

"Mari's getting yours ready, bud..." Blake pointed at a thumb at Mari, mixing something up for Nash.

"That horse drinks tea?" Vasha raised a brow at Nash, who was swinging his head and tail to Mari's stirring.

"If he can handle ale, then tea's just as good? Right, bud!" Blake answered while rubbing his elbow against Nash's neck.

"Sir Blake! How could you willingly give an animal such a volatile substance, and for how long ago!?" Lectured Risabeel who pulled Nash away from Blake, fearing for the horse's well-being. "Hmm? Nash, what is it?" That is until Nash himself wiggled out of her hold and went back to Blake.

"How long?" Who was currently thinking about an answer for Risabeel. "Since I was 12? That's when Reiner got me and Gwyn our first taste, right, bud?" Blake muttered, looking at Nash for some confirmation and got it in the from of a head rub. "Right, we stole it from his stash! Hah-ugh!" He would have had a good laugh if it wasn't for Risabeel giving him her stern look. "Hey! We let Gram have booze!"

Risabeel's stern gaze turned into one of surprise as it went to Gram laying on the floor next to Mari's feet with a saucer plate filled with tea at his paws. "Ah? Hmm? Well? So be it. I shall forgive you...but make sure Nobel does not follow your past examples."

"Aww! Does that mean no more drinking games with Baba!" Bread blurted randomly. "Oops!" And he got right back to drinking when Risabeel's gaze fell on him. "I learned it from him!" Like any kid trying to dodge some punishment, he pointed the finger at Blake.

"Hey! I only give you some rum! The games were Baba's idea!" Blake snapped at his student while throwing the blame on Baba even if he was the start of everything.

"Hmm..." Risabeel returned to sternly looking at Blake. "...Baba, did he make any attempt to refuse your proposal?" She asked while practicing her Levitate spell on her teacup. "AH!" Which almost smacked Blake in the face if it wasn't for a gust of wind catching it.

Said gust came from Baba up in the air next to Moco. "I offered, and he agreed. Simple as that." She answered, with her tea kept in a cup of wind just so she could see everything mixing together. "Now, back to you, dear. If you want to be Hubby's lady, you need to be a lady." However, she had an actual cup in hand that she was using to teach Moco some etiquette.

"YAY! Chum will be mine!" Moco cheered, throwing her arms, tail, water, and cup into the air. "Eek!" She threw her arms out to stop the water and the tea from hitting anyone. "Urk! Hah!" And caught the cup with the tip of her tail right above Blake's head. "Did you see that, Chum!? I am amazing, right!? Right!? Right!?"

"Sure, just don't freak out again, okay?" Blake let her have some praise by giving her tail a handshake. "Want anything for not making a mess?" He offered after seeing that too toothy of a smile she had.

"Another kiss!" Moco cheered, getting her face right in Blake's. If she had a normal nose, then it would have been rubbing against Blake's. "Come on! Come on! Come on! You did it once! So do it again!"

"Moco..." Blake was about to tell her 'no,' but that's when he felt the stares. The stares of everyone around him stabbing into his very being for a spoken answer to an unasked question. "GUYS! Look! It was just a peck on the forehead! That's all!" He turned to the others and tried to clear up any misunderstanding. "Ugh!" And wanted to do a full 180 on the spot.

First up were Blake's items. Risabeel was doing the usually stern look, although it was slightly pinned on Moco as well. Saffire was reboiling her tea and stood as a humanoid Dragon. Baba was simply smiling with the intent of remembering how useful Moco's childish mind is. Gram had the questioning look of an older brother. And Moco was still looking for a kiss from Blake without a care in the world.

Next up were people who weren't one of Blake's items. Vasha didn't give a damn and kept the work going. Bread looked partly betrayed, which Blake was okay(?) with that since it meant that the boy wasn't completely after Mari. Speaking of Mari, she was...fine...and the fact that there was a whirlpool in Nash's tea was not in any way a metaphor for what was going on in her mind.

As for Nash, he didn't care whatever Blake did or was going to do with the girls around him at the moment. Being one of Blake's oldest and closest friends, the horse knew his bud better than most. But right now, it was tea time, and this horse never skips out on tea time. So Blake's relationship issues were not his problem. "~!~" However, he did let out a happy neigh in all of this awkwardness.

Crafting District main office building

Within an office dimly lit by lamps was Anthony, The Tinker, Craftsmaster Deller's top student, and the likely replacement for the role of Craftsmanster when the old Orc stepped down. "..." The task at hand had him completely absorbed in it.

This task was figuring out where in the world these randomly appearing dungeons were coming from. A correction he found earlier on was that calling them dungeons wasn't exactly spot on. For starters, while they had traps or challenges in the case of the one Moco was in, the Risabeel was found in lacked any kind of defenses as noted by Blake and by the craftsman teams Anthony sent out to look into these 'Storage Hoses' as he liked to call them now.

His main reasoning for this term was due to the fact of how one would open said 'Storage Houses' that being a hammer hitting a stone anvil found outside of them, like a key to a door and behind that door was all of its owner's belongings. But it wasn't as simple as that the one doing the hammering needed to be a Smith-knight, which was entirely more unknown than these 'Storage Houses.'

The 'Storage Houses' and their belongings so far were an old smithy with a Demon girl affected by Orefication, a system of pathways filled with golems guarding a rare iron tome and an indoor pool where a Merchild was tasked with challenging any who enter. All 3 were affected by powerful spatial magic t based on where they found, that even Nathalie, the foremost expert on spatial magic in Laudonia was impressed by it,

"But why?" Anthony asked the open air as he looked at the mess of information on his desk that ranged from books on the old ways of crafters to reports on these 'Storage Houses' being found outside of Laudonia. Some of which were opened by Smith-knight other than Blake. A rather off-putting fact when Anthony thought about the things that were to come. "No, no, no. Figure this out first, then you can worry about the might of other countries." He put those thoughts aside for now and got back to it.

The reports outside of Laudonia were unsurprisingly the same as the 3 found within it right down to the type of stone and craftsmanship. "Which means one group has to be behind all of this...and judging by the size whatever these 'Storage Houses' were a part of, it could very well eclipse Gorz in size..." The tinker muttered to himself as he tried fitting the layouts of the 'Storage House' together, but they never matched up. "...also with spatial magic thrown in this is like doing a puzzle with pieces from 20 different sets..."

Anthony leaned back in his chair. "A supermassive structure built by from what I can tell the same blueprint with the purpose of holding rare items, challenge those who enter, and performing smithery on some level. But can only be entered by Smith-knights whose numbers are so small that some experts crafters no not of them...hmm?" He just couldn't understand any of it; he was at a complete loss. "Wait? Loss? Loss? I am not at a loss...it is Los!"

With this sudden realization, Anthony shot up from his chair, grabbed a few books, and headed for the door in a near spirt. "AH!" The moment he slammed it open, he was greeted to Toffa, the head of item examination and maintenance in Gorz.

"Oh! Anthony!" She gasped at the sight of a man looking about ready to go off on some life and death mission or drop dead from the bags under his eyes. "I take it you made some headway, yeah?"

"Why, yes indeed! And I need to talk with Master Deller at once!" Anthony was far too excited after cracking this mystery that had been stunk in his mind for almost a month and wanted nothing more than to grab someone and spin them around. "Hmm!" However, Toffa was built like a boulder so the tinker settled from kneeling down and hugging Toffa. Wholely inappropriate in the workplace, but as long as no one that high up saw them, they'd get a pass. "You have no idea how much this business has plagued my mind! Ah Sorry!" He jumped back to his feet the next moment.

"Yeah! Yeah! Keif gets like that when he finds new shinies too! No problem! Heh...heh..." Toffa awkwardly laughed with hand waved at Anthony. "So, uh? Anything I can do for ya? Not asking for extra work or anything! You just ugh...look like you need some sleep..."

"Huh?" While Anthony felt like he was full of energy, his appearance was that of a person who did not know of a thing called sleep or rest. "Ah...right...I could go for some tea or coffee, but you could do something for me, Toffa..." He picked at some of the books he had dropped on the floor when he hugged the Dwarf and held form to her face. "I need you to take this to the Teleportation Center and prepare transport for me and a few others...the numbers will be...work out later...ugh!" He had to shake himself to ger rid of some sleep. "...I wasn't sure about going there due to how close it is to the north, but now I'm certain of it..."

"Sure thing!" Toffa agreed without a second thought, and the last thing she needed was the next likely Craftsmaster walking around while in need of rest. "So, where are you off, eh...?" She asked and found her answer by reading the form. "WHAT!? You can't go there! Deller would never allo-!" In the middle of her yelling, Anthony had given up on trying to stay awake and let himself off forward with Toffa catching his legs while the rest of him slumped over her shoulders. "Oh? Is this what I get for checking on this guy?"

"YAS! Ya fooking idiot!" Came the annoyingly foul mouth of Bearytorats, who also came along to check on Anthony with a bottle of wine being rolled around under his feet. "That was a nice show, by the way." but when he saw Anthony drop to his knees for Toffa, he took the time to see what was going on. "And ya know I'm gonna tell that rat bastard, Deller! That you and his wee lad were throwing yer bodies at each like a pair of goats in heat!" After that, he rolled away.

"He better had joked about that photographic memory..." Toffa hoped, then looked at Anthony with his head nearly touching the ground. "Alright! I'll put you in your chair, get your form to the teleportation center and then fin- no make a hole to hide from the big man for helping you." She decided before tossing Anthony her shoulders like the big hunt of the day and went inside his office.

Chapter End