The Author Is Speechless
Chapter 208: Dwarf’s Pride

Chapter 208: Dwarf’s Pride

After receiving the payment, Viktor followed a small map that Jeo gave him and reached the end of the bandits’ town. It was near the town wall so Viktor saw no sunlight. The environment was dark, gloomy and filled with bugs.

"People actually live here?"

Suddenly, he heard a sound from the shop in front of him. It was the round of iron getting hammered by a strong force in a continuous phase.

It was the shop of a dwarf that Jeo talked about.

Viktor entered the shop and felt the intense heat. The heat from the burner was so hot that he had to step back a few feet. He then looked inside the shop and saw a small man hammering a hot, glowing iron.

He was making a small knife.

"Excuse me, are you the dwarf called Sakami? Jeo sent me here."

After hearing the name Jeo, the dwarf stopped working and looked back. He then walked near the door and said, "It’s rare to see Jeo sending a kid over here. Aren’t you pretty young to raise his interest? Oh? A mage?"

Viktor was also surprised to see that the blacksmith was a woman. He then said, "I’m here to get a good staff. He said you can make one with a rare material I found. It’s related to an important quest."

Sakami looked at Viktor and said, "Level 3 mage? You’re too weak, you know. Wind magic won’t help you much. Even so, I’m sensing great power from you. You’re not some ordinary punk. Also, you don’t smell like a human. Tell me kid, what are you?"

"I never expected to get appraised by a dwarf in my whole life. Your eyes focus on something that shouldn’t be focused on. Anyway, since I’m here for help, I should hold my anger and be patient. Kid, mind if you let me use your workshop for a day?"

Viktor was vexed because someone else looked into his personal matters. He was okay with letting her use the material as she wishes but when she used her appraisal skill on him, he changed his mind.

"I don’t let kids use my workshop. Moreover, you’re not older than 15 so why are you calling me a kid?"

"Let’s negotiate, okay? I will give you a good piece of dark gold for letting me use the shop for a day."

"D..dark gold? Who told you about dark gold? It’s supposed to be a national secret. And why should a kid like you have dark gold?"

Viktor went inside the shop and closed the door. He then took a small piece of the materials and said, "This is your payment. So are you willing to let me use the shop now? It’s a very important part of Jeo’s quest."

The dwarf was shocked to see the material in her hand for the first time in her 200 years of life. She was so excited that she began to tremble. But her shop was also important to her so she said, "If you let me see what you will do, I will let you use my shop."

"Very well then." Viktor’s cold expression changed and he turned into a happy, cheerful-looking boy. He then took off his dark long cape and said, "I will be using your well for a bit. It’s so hot in here."

Viktor then took off the rest of his upper clothing in front of her and started to pull a bucket of water.

"Ekkk!!! Why are you getting naked in front of a lady?? Don’t you have any shame!! Your ancestors will punish you after your death to get naked in front of someone who’s not your wife!!!"

"As long as you don’t see my didis, it’s all good. And it’s you who is staring at my back. Mind if you go outside or turn over? I’m so tired after a long night’s mission. The sun will be coming up soon."

The dwarf lady rushed out of the shop blushing and didn’t go inside until the sun came up. She then opened the door to check what he was doing and saw he was making breakfast.

"Ah, good morning Sakami. Did you have a nice walk outside?"

"Why are you using my frying pan casually? And where did you even find eggs? What’s with that green-looking fruit?"

He smiled and said, "I made breakfast for the both of us. Come on, let’s eat and then we can work together."

Her mind went black so she just simply took a seat in front of him and munched on the suspicious-looking fruit.

"Wait!! What’s with this taste!! Why am I getting numerous tastes in just one fruit?? Apples? Oranges? Peaches?? No!! Grapes!! What kind of fruit is this!!!! Where did you find such fruit!! Wait!! Why is my mana increasing!!!"

"Will you shut up and eat your breakfast quietly? I am so hungry."

She quickly ate her breakfast and said, "You are so mysterious. You just grew out of nowhere, got your hands on legendary-level materials, gained Jes’s interest and now you just broke into my shop and casually used my kitchen. Not only that, you made this unknown dish and gave me a mysterious fruit that increased my mana and strength. Just who are you?"

"Call me Grimm."

"Grimm?"

"Yes."

"It’s hard to believe a person who doesn’t have a surname. I doubt that it’s your real name."

Viktor simply smiled at her and said, "I will use your shop now. You can join me if you want to. But I doubt that you will understand my manufacturing process."

"I’m a dwarf who has eyes of the truth. Nothing can escape my eyes."

He chucked and thought, ’And yet you can’t see my true self. Your skill is actually called appraisal. I guess it’s a luxury here.’

Viktor took out a huge piece of ore from his inventory and put it on the table.

Sakami was stunned to see a person using an inventory which was supposed to be a myth. So she said, "Why didn’t I see it with my eyes of truth?"

"You trust your eyes too much. Do you know what is the most dangerous thing for a living person? Their eyes. They trust what they see and fear what they can’t see. They expect one to be perfect as their eye tells them. That’s the biggest mistake a mortal makes and brings destruction upon themselves."

"You talk as if you’re not a mortal being."

Viktor smiled slightly and said, "Maybe? Kids like you are too naive. That’s why gods watch over them even after they ascend to heaven. Believe your soul. If your eyes deceive you, close them and see your surroundings through your soul. Trust your instinct and never expect one to become as you want."

"What nonsense are you speaking off? Moreover, why are you touching that ore with your eyes closed? You need to put it into the forge to melt it.

At that moment, the ore Viktor was touching broke into small perfect cubes. They became smaller and smaller to the point of being dust.

He then used his wing magic to control the pile of dust and sent them into the forge to melt them. They quickly turned into a ball of magma.

Sakami was so stunned that she couldn’t speak. Her eyes failed to understand what was going on.

Viktor used his wind magic to control the liquid and then he made it into a long staff. The staff was still in liquid form so he used some magic that doesn’t require any mana and engraved countless magix circles that only use outside mana to cast a spell.

Of course, they need chants to activate.

Suddenly, Viktor threw the staff into the well and said, "Can you please close your mouth? A fly might get inside."

"W..what did you just do?"

"I made my staff for flying. It’s a bother to walk long distances."

"I didn’t ask anything about that. I asked how you made that?"

"Hum? I told you so, you will never keep up with my process. It needs a tremendous amount of experience, patience, concentration and technique."

"I’ve never seen any human making a staff that quickly. I’ve never seen any human control the wind that beautifully. I’ve underestimated your wind magic. My eyes clearly deceived me today. Now I understand why you were calling me a kid. You are far more experienced and older than I am. Please take me as your disciple."

"Yea, no."

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

"I have acknowledged your skills as a high dwarf. So take me as your disciple."

"Your acknowledgement has nothing to do with me. And I have no obligation to take you as my disciple. I only take knights who pledge their lives to me. And that post was taken by a strong man so many years ago. I don’t have time to teach anyone. We already have negotiated this before, right? I paid you for using your shop. I allowed you to see what I did. I never said that I am interested in taking any kids."

"When a high dwarf bows in front of anyone, they sacrifice their pride. So you must take me as your disciple. Or else, I must take my life."

Viktor suddenly changed his mode and stared deep into her eyes. Her eyes couldn’t measure or see his skills anymore so they started to tremble and bleed. Her visions went red and Viktor’s presence was so heavy that she had to bow to the ground.

"Must take your life because your pride was wounded? What a nice thing to say. Now tell me, do you want to live?"

She looked to her left and saw a dark staff. She couldn’t even sense when the staff came out of the well and reached Viktor’s hand.

"If you want to die so much, then let me give you a taste of hell. You will remember the pain throughout your reincarnation circle."

She then spoke with her trembling voice, "I.. don’t want to die. Spare me..please..."

"Now I understand why gods can’t pass this trail. Without their powers, they are weakling in front of mortals but their mind is still of a god’. If a mortal reacts this way, we actually can’t hold our urge to kill them. And this is how we die."

He again said, "Sakami, isn’t it? If I see you in the sky realm in the future, I will make sure to sent you back to your reincarnation circle."

Viktor vanished from the shop using his staff and went straight to the next village to join the monster hunt.

His main objective was to level up as soon as he could.