After I accept the offer of the smith he hands me some knives that appear to be kitchen knives, after that he grabs a brown and thin object, it reminds me at the stuff hanging at the entrance.

“Use this thing to sharpen those knives” - I can't help but to look at him in confusion, he sighs and explains that is a wolf pelt that he uses to sharpen objects, it seems that I have to drag the knife around the wolf pelt, I have to do it while I keep the knife inclined like I´m trying to peel the pelt, I follow the instructions and try to sharpen my first knife, but it looks like I'm doing it wrong, the man sighs again and takes one of the knives, I hand over the pelt and he starts sharpening it in quick moves, that makes a very peculiar sound I must say.

“Put a little more strength to it and be quicker, don´t tense your hand, stop moving your arm so much and use your wrist” - After he finishes sharpening the knife he hands over the wolf pelt and tells me to do the rest, grabbing the pelt I move the knife around trying to imitate the movements of the smith, while I'm doing that I notice the man is looking at me with a smirk in his face, I don't know if I'm doing it right this time or he´s holding his laughter because of my weird moves.

While I´m working with the knife and pelt the smith goes inside the little wooden house, a few seconds later he goes out with two pieces of wood and throws them in the little stone oven, then using some pincers he grabs the piece of metal he was hammering before and puts it inside the oven, I suppose he hasn't finished working with that.

After sharpening the knife for a few minutes I touch the edge with my thumb to check if it´s ready, clearly this way of sharpening the tools is efficient, I put down the knife and extend my hand to grab another one, it looks like I have six more to go, and I'm feeling a little tired already, I hope I´m able to do all of them, holding the next knife I sharp it in the same way as the first one, but this time I change a little my posture trying to reduce my energy consumption, I do feel more comfortable this way but I'm not sure if is properly working since I had to be sharpening it more time this way.

Around half hour later I grab the only knife left having both arms already destroyed, it's hard even to lift them, still trying to think in a positive way, pain is a sign of progress, the tiredness of today will become the muscles of tomorrow, muscles that will get rid of the monsters, everything goes to being a better hero, I begin sharpening the knife, my movements are really strained and being honest I don't know how I´m capable of keep doing this, I guess I will finish this last one by sheer willpower, after all i´m doing this one very slowly, the smith had already finished with the piece of metal a few moments ago, I didn't pay much attention but it looks like the blade of a sword, it seems to be half meter long, but it´s just the blade, the grip seems to be missing but he stopped working on it, he is instead very entertained watching me suffer.

I finally finished my assignment and put the last knife in the pile beside me, the moment I do this i see a loaf of bread approaching to my face, it's the smith, I guess it's time to take a break, I take the bread and the jar that he was holding in the other hand, there is only water inside it and the bread doesn't seem very fresh, I´m eating like a slave, a little of my joy of being in another world just vanished, being this tired I can't even complain, taking the first bite I notice this bread is a little salty, I think I´m going to need more water, while I'm eating the smith starts talking, breaking the long silence that lasted the thirty minutes we were working.

“We were going to take a break to eat after you finished half of the knives, but when I turned around there was only two left” - the smith takes a pause to laugh and then continues - “that being said, the last one was a fierce battle, very interesting to see”

“Yeah, I´m actually very tired, but do not worry I just need a little rest and I'm ready to keep going, just...let me have some air first” - the moment I say this the smith looks at me like I'm some kind of creep, I can understand being a surprise to see an energetic guy in this dark place, but it's still a little painful being the weird one since to me the whole town is the ones that act weirdly.

“For sharpening one of those knives I get 2 Gil, you sharpened 7 of them, having a total of 14 Gil, that bread on your hand costs 5 Gil and a bucket of water that gives enough water to fill 20 jars costs 50 Gil, as it is, you have already paid for the food and drink you have, but if you want to keep working I won't deny you the pleasure”

That is interesting, let´s say I sustain myself with the barely minimum, 3 breads and 6 jars (those should be around 3 liters of water) cost in total 30 Gil, that is just so I don´t starve, although I´m pretty sure that with just bread and water I would starve anyway, besides I will be working all day in a hot place like this doing physical labor, it will be better to eat and drink something with a little more quality.

“I appreciate your kindness but I won't eat charity food, I have yet to pay for half of my food today, there´s still 16 Gil more to go and enough time before sunset” - it seems my answer moved something inside the smith, he starts to quickly eat the bread and stands up from the ground, he goes inside the little wooden house while I keep eating, whatever he is doing he can do it, I just want to rest, sadly it doesn't take long before he goes out with a weird thing on his hand and looks at me like he is about to do a little mischief.

“Hey young man, have you ever forged a sword?” - that was quick, my arms haven't rested yet, I can´t hammer a thing right now but I'm still curious about how to make a sword, I propose I watch how he finishes making the sword while I eat, luckily he accepts, I don't know how this man can still have energy left but I applaud his resilience.

it was pretty interesting to see him mold the handgrip of the sword and lastly attach it to the sword with something that looked like thick nails, I guess this thing works even though it looks very rustic, after that he slices a piece of the wolf pelt that I used to sharpen the knives and ties it up to the same handgrip, I guess it goes there to ease the grip on it, though I´m not sure since I´m not an expert in the topic, after that he rubs the blade of the sword in a rock for a while and finally he uses the pelt to sharpen the sword, after doing all that he takes the sword and looks at it for a brief moment and then gives it to me.

“These swords will be bought by the kingdom, we will sell each one for 100 Gil and the production cost using the cheapest materials is around 80 Gil, right now it is only possible for me to make two of these per day and this is the first one, if you help me do two more I will take the second one as your creation and you will be 4 Gil above your food fee”

The kingdom buys these swords? that´s intriguing, not just that, it buys low quality swords, I wonder if they give these swords to the rookie adventurers or something like that, I personally believe that the best choice for a rookie is a lance but I'm not the kind of guy that is constantly telling the people how to spend their money, if they want swords then give them swords, right now I need to focus on what's in front of me, this man is giving me a good deal, but I´m not a conformist, I should rise the bet.

“You say you can only do 2 of these per day, IF I manage to increase the daily production to 6 swords, will you give me a salary?” - The smith is just frozen in place, he obviously doesn't believe me, a normal reaction since a freshman that comes out of nowhere says he will help triple the production, though I have the confidence that I can do it, I could be totally lost if we're talking about smithing but I still have confidence in my ability to adapt.

“If you help me make 6 swords every day then I will give you a 200 Gil weekly salary, that is with food and housing, though if you really can do something like that you would do better working somewhere else, in a place you're not feed with trash food”

What he is saying is true, if I can replicate the process I have in mind then I should do it with a more expensive weapon and it will be easy money, but in this dark and small town there´s something that caught my attention, in the way here we went by some houses but in that time I saw no one, not a single person got out even if they had curiosity, the people here wants to stay away from a stranger like me, the perfect place to conduct experiments, a place where people keeps their distance and nobody asks questions.