During the journey to Darland, Reynard sold a lot of his magic items in the nearby towns and cities. He only left so potions and scrolls, things that could be carried around in Marien’s Scroll of Holding, and the magical lump of gold he planned to craft with.
This ant that they had a lot of money between the two of them. Enough for Reynard to buy his own forge.
However, when he went to actually do that, he t an obstacle.
"No. What, you ca to our city and know nothing about it, foreigner? Land and buildings here can only be owned by those who were born in Darland! And you need permission from the Order of Snow or the Order of Winter if you want to own a magical workshop," a house seller explained. "I’m not selling unless you show citizenship docunts!"
The Order of Snow and the Order of Winter were two local magical orders that owned the city. Both inherited sothing from the Loremaster of Frost and were fighting about this for several centuries—this much Reynard found back during his ti with the caravan.
"Can I rent a workshop, then? And make a business there?" Reynard asked.
The seller frowned, but nodded.
"It’s not illegal. But I’m not offering! Go, and take your swine with you before it chews my shoes!"
"Chili isn’t a swine, he’s a Forge-Boar!" Reynard huffed. "C’mon, let’s find so other place, then."
This was easier said than done. But Reynard didn’t give up, and Marien quickly joined in to help. Out of her own curiosity, if nothing else, and to pull Reynard into local restaurants, they t on the way.
But she proved to be very helpful. After a week of searching, when Reynard was thoroughly sick with all the locals...
"How dare you not rent us a building? So what if we are foreign? Does that make us worse? Looking at you, I think this makes us only better!" Marien said to yet another seller who refused them. "Do you want money, or do you not? Bring in the docunts for the rent imdiately!"
And the seller caved, despite scoffing in disdain at Reynard’s politeness earlier.
"F-fine, miss... Just a minute..."
’Her fake na should’ve been Karen, not Julia,’ Reynard thought, watching this with a smile.
The building they rented was just a shed on the corner of Darland, near many other smithies, tanneries, and workshops. It was much larger than the tiny workshops for students in the Blue Bismuth School, but when the wind blew in the wrong direction, the place stank terribly.
Reynard couldn’t complain, since he planned to add to this stink.
With more money, he bought the basic tools he needed to set up his workshop and a pen where Chili could work as his pet helper.
During one of the days he was busy fixing it up, Marien ca in with a happy smile on her face.
"Oh, you are still doing your forge-things, dear? Will you make sothing nice when you finish?"
"Good afternoon, my songbird! But of course. Do you want a new gun? Or just sothing pretty?" Reynard asked, pulling back from the sltery he was putting together.
"Hm... I don’t know yet. Anyway, I ca to share wonderful news! A man from the Order of Winter offered a contract job. I would fight for them! Sotis."
Reynard’s jaw fell.
’Shit, just... How distracted I got with this forge?’
Marien was staring at him proudly.
"Fighting for them? Against whom?"
"Against Order of Snow. I was told that sotis, they attack businesses owned by the Order of Winter, so they have to keep hiring rcenaries to protect them. I thought—this sounds just like a job for ! Not as good as hunting monsters in the wilds, but... The wilds are so cold right now. " She pouted pitifully.
Chili oinked from his corner and approached Marien. She was the second person the Forge-Boar liked. By now, the boar was as tall as Marien’s knee.
He playfully nudged her legs, and she scratched behind his ear.
"I can’t take you with everywhere, Chili. You are too slow!"
Reynard quickly put together what Marien hadn’t been told.
’Order of Snow attacks Order of Winter? I bet it works the other way around, too! And targeting businesses instead of the orders themselves... This, to , feels like a gang war rather than a war between two magical orders. And they got Marien roped into this... Well.’
"Just be careful, please," Reynard said. "As soon as you reach the Albedo stage, you should learn Spirit Armor. This should go quickly, shouldn’t it?"
He eyed Marien’s aura. She had tried to break through to Albedo twice already, but both tis returned to Final Cycle Nigredo. Now, she raised her chin.
"Of course! I’m too good to fail three tis in a row. I shouldn’t have failed even twice! Focus on your own refinent instead, dear. You have reached the Second Cycle Albedo while we traveled... But if you keep going like that, you will go on the Fiftieth Cycle without reaching the Final one!"
Reynard poked his tongue at her.
"We still have money! I could go to the market right now, buy ingredients, and blow through... Well, at least two Cycles!"
Marien put her hands on her hips.
"Why wouldn’t you, then?"
Reynard looked at his workshop.
"Because I have to set this up, of course. I need to improve my weapons... And make sothing for you!"
He left it at that and didn’t ntion another reason. This reason wasn’t fully ford yet, but as Reynard examined the white mana in his Inner Athanor, he beca more and more sure about it.
At so point, to advance to the Final Cycle, Reynard would need to brew a potion to refine his mana. Until now, he could balance it with the right catalysts... But now, the sheer amount of Earth Mana was too much for sothing like that. Magi with more diverse elental mana usually didn’t have this problem... But Reynard suspected that Marien would have it later on.
Perhaps it was already making it harder for her to reach the Albedo stage.
"Then I will wait for the results, dear. And will tell you all about the fights I will go through!"
Watching how flippantly Marien acted, Reynard really hoped she would be alright out there...
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