As Schörl got up, he tried to forget what had happened last night. He went to brush his teeth, ate some bread, and went downstairs.
There, he saw Chird and Mia talking. "Oh, who's that woman?" Schörl asked with curiosity. Mia smiled and said, "Nice to finally meet you, Schörl. My name is Mia, and I'm the daughter of this old guy."
"Well, that was an oddly formal way of introducing yourself to your adopted brother," Chird said while laughing. "R-right, nice to meet you, Mia, but can I ask why you are here?"
"Chird really didn't tell you? Well, I'm going to be your mentor and teacher as I take you to travel the world and make you a great adventurer!" Mia exclaimed with a loud noise. "Well, first we will have to go to the blacksmith and turn that fiend claw of yours into a nice weapon," Chird said.
As the group walked to the smith, Schörl wanted to look for some armor for his 6-year adventure. They ended up going to a shop full of shiny, full-plated armor and different coats from various monsters and animals.
Schörl decided on a brown and light bear leather coat with silver shoulder plates, a small silver chest plate under the leather, and some arm protection.
For his trousers, he chose ones made out of deer leather, which also had knee protection made out of silver.
Then he started to think about whether he wanted a helmet or not, but after some thought, he decided to just use the hood on his coat.
***
After his armor set was ready, they finally arrived at the blacksmith.
"Hello, everyone! My name is Älmiö, and I'm the blacksmith of this village. What can I do for you all?" the blacksmith Älmiö said with a smile across his face.
"Oh, we're here for you to turn this fiend claw into a shortsword for me to use," Schörl said.
"Hm, let me see that. Oh, wow, this is some real stuff. I could make this into a weapon that even a hero would be proud to wield," Älmiö claimed.
"Wait, really?" Schörl said with excitement.
Älmiö answered with, "Hell yeah I can, now let's get smithing!"
Älmiö took the claw and started warming up the furnace. Surprisingly, fiend bones and claws are made out of a strange material that acts similarly to minerals like silver or bronze, that means they can be smithed into very strong weapons by humans and other races.
Älmiö started hitting the claw with his hammer, which he had infused with earth and water magic runes to enhance its ability to smith even better. As a blacksmith with a high mana pool, he could create weapons that no normal blacksmith could even imagine.
***
While Ärmiö was working, Schörl and Mia decided to train in his backyard.
Mia told Schörl, "Okay, Schörl, attack me with your full strength now." As Schörl prepared for a thrust, Mia started to attack, and Schörl had to parry her strike, only to quickly slash, which Mia easily blocked.
"Wow, you're a natural!"
"Oh, thanks." Mia attacked from above, and Schörl created a fire dagger to parry her strike so he could follow up with another slash, but he missed.
'Damn!' Mia launched a thrust, and it hit Schörl directly in the chest, making him fall to the ground. "Ouch, why did you have to attack so hard?"
"Oh, that was on me. I didn't mean to hurt you," Mia apologized.
After a few hours of training, Älmiö yelled for them to come to him because the shortsword was ready.
"That looks so cool! I can't wait to use it!" Schörl said, excited.
He picked up the sword and felt as if it had its own flame inside of it. "Why does it have this weird, warm magic feeling?"
Älmiö answered with, "Well, that's because it's from a fiend. Sometimes fiend bones have rune magic stored in them, and it seems that one has fire and water magic within it."
"So it can be infused with fire or water magic?" Schörl asked.
"Exactly, boy," Älmiö answered.
***
As Schörl, Mia, and Chird started their way back home, Schörl asked, "So, will we start the adventure tomorrow?" Chird answered with, "Yes, and I will help you pack your things before you go to sleep tonight."
Finally, when they returned home, Schörl saw a man waiting for them inside. Quickly, Chird attacked with an earth axe he made instantly. The man, wearing assassin armor and a hood that made him difficult to recognize, parried the attack, and Mia threw a punch from behind him, sending him crashing into a wall. Then, three more assassins came and stabbed Mia badly in the back.
"RUN!" Mia yelled at Schörl, but he didn't listen. Instead, he used his new shortsword to attack one of the assassins and perfectly cut his head clean off.
After Schörl realized what he had just done, he jumped back, sat on the ground, terrified by the fact that he had instinctively killed another human, with that man's blood flowing on his blade, he started to cry in fear.
Mia quickly killed two assassins who were fighting her, but the last one, who was smashed into the wall, quickly made an air dagger and stabbed Chird. After that, he ripped his head off and used a ring to teleport himself back to the place he came from.
"Fuck!" Mia yelled and came to check on Schörl, who hadn't even realized Chird's death.
Schörl raised his head a little when Mia said, "It's safe now, calm down."
As Schörl raised his head and saw Chird... His father's head rolling to his feet, he puked. He was terrified of what had happened. He started to feel the same sensation he had when someone grabbed his shoulders in that nightmare last night. Only now, the grip was rougher.
This was the first time he had experienced not only killing a person but also seeing someone die in front of him. Unlike in the nightmare, this time it really happened.
Then, Schörl fainted from the stress, and once again, he was drowning...
This time, there was no light—just darkness.