I’d mostly calmed down from the events of the day before. When I thought about what happened, I realised how careless I was being in that situation. Still though, I had plenty enough strength to be a Diver on my own. I’d take what I learned from the first Dive, and prepare for another.
I didn’t really know where I was going, I simply followed the road on 6 speed for a day, and by nightfall, I had reached some sort of city. Not like the small town we had just visited, but a real big city.
Around the city was a wall even bigger than that of Halsry, around twice its height, with a gate large enough to fit 7 wagons through side by side. As I pulled up to the gate, many cautious guards surrounded me.
“You in the strange cart! State your business!”
I wasn’t really sure how to answer, so I gave them the only answer I could, “Diving?”
They seemed to accept that, and I sighed thankful that I didn’t need to produce any official documentation or anything. I didn’t realise it before I left Uncle Chris, but I really knew nothing about how the outside world worked.
“What’s this vehicle you’re driving in? It doesn’t seem to be pulled by anything.” One of the guards questioned, it seemed this thing would get much more attention here than it did in the small village of Halesbrook.
“It’s a buggy” I told him, “a Lithil family invention that works as transportation when you give it magic.” I pointed to the salamander crest on the back as I drove the buggy back and forth a few times to show how it moved.
It seemed the bizarre nature of the buggy dispelled any doubt the soldier may have that this is a real Lithil creation, it wasn’t uncommon for people to forge the crest onto cheap swords and equipment to make it sell better, but it was impossible to forge genius.
“Just how did you get your hands on such a revolutionary device from such a distinguished family? How much does one cost?” A guard asked.
“It was actually a gift. I’m not sure it’s even possible to buy one at the moment.” I informed him.
The soldiers all looked at me with slack jaws, before one spoke up. “Just who are you, Mr. Diver?”
“My name is Ray Remory.”
Just when I thought their jaws couldn't drop any farther, they all seem to sink into the earth. Just what was going on? I knew my parents were well known but is the Remory name really that renowned?
“Remory? As in Ren Remory of the Earth-splitting blade and Sarina Remory of the Storm?”
Did my parents really have such cool names like that? That sounded like something embarrassing I’d make up in my own head. Did all Divers get cool names like that?
Bringing myself back to reality, I told the soldiers, “That’s my mom and dad.”
My parents seemed way more important than I thought they were, and as the soldiers gawked at me I dumbly scratched the back of my head while asking, “So, may I pass through the gates?”
The soldiers realised they were holding me up and all moved to let me pass
“A-absolutely, our apologies, cause no trouble, and have a safe stay in Keero.”
The soldiers were all still a little dumbfounded it seemed, but they seemed kind enough, and let me pass without issue after inspecting the Diver loot in the carriage Uncle Chris once rode in.
Entering the city, tall, salt-white towers stretched in the sky lining the black cobblestone roads, with the skeletons of unfinished construction speckled between the buildings.
Each tall white building was layered like the tall cakes my neighbor used to make for my birthdays, they stacked high into the sky, with each layer big enough to be its own building.
I quickly found somewhere to stay and park my buggy trying to get away from it as soon as possible. I didn’t mind the attention it brought much, but it sure made some things harder than they needed to be.
Having had no idea how famous my parents apparently were, I carelessly dropped the Remory name at the gate, but while I likely couldn’t do anything about the rumours of a Remory wandering around the city, I could prevent people from knowing it’s me, so I decided to no longer tell people my last name.
The Lithil insignia was an issue as well, but even if the insignia on the buggy wasn’t visible, the cart itself drew so much attention I didn’t bother covering it up.
I put all the furs and other materials gathered from the gargs I killed on my first dive into the bag my mother gave me before I left, and looked for a Diver shop to sell it to. After asking around, I found the street with all the shops and browsed around before finding an awfully familiar insignia. I walked into the shop and Mr. Lithil stood there and greeted me.
“Welcome to the Lithil’s Keero City smithy, how can I help you son?”
Mr. Lithil’s beard sure had grown, it almost reached below his chest.
“How’d you get here from Halsry so fast Mr. Lithil? And what’s with the beard?”
Mr. Lithil looked at me confused. “Lad it’s been years since I last stepped foot in Halsry. Do you know me or something?”
“Course I know you, I’m Steven’s best friend, Ray.”
When I said Steven’s name something seemed to click in Mr. Lithil’s head.
“Son, Steven Lithil is my Nephew, the son of my younger brother.”
Wait what? So this isn’t Mr. Lithil? No, I guess he’s still Mr. Lithil, just not the Mr. Lithil I know.
“You know my brother, Son?”
“Yeah, I used to live in Halsry. You look exactly like your brother, so I mistook you for him.” I showed him Steven’s compass as proof.
“Hmph, Adam couldn’t ever grow a beard this magnificent.” He told me, stroking his beard proudly. “This is definitely Steven’s work though, only that boy could think of something so crazy.”
I guess Adam is Mr. Lithil in Halsry’s name, I never knew it since I just called him Mr. Lithil.
“So you guys both run a smithy? That’s pretty cool that you both do the same thing.” I told him.
“It’s not just Adam and I, Son, the whole Lithil family has blacksmiths all over the continent”
Was it really that big of a family? Steven never talked about any relatives so I assumed it was just him.
“So just how many Lithil smithys are there?”
“You haven’t done much traveling yet have you, Son, Halsry really is cut off from the rest of the world isn’t it?”
“I guess so.” I answered awkwardly.
“No matter, Son, I’ll tell you, there is a Lithil blacksmith in just about every major city on the continent, my father, the first master blacksmith in our family, taught every one of his 14 children, who also taught all of his 30 grandchildren.”
“Wow, so Steven was learning under his father to take over in such a massive chain of blacksmiths?”
“Adam is the youngest of us 14, so Steven hasn’t quite grown up enough to take over for his father, and I have no children, but most of my nieces and nephews have their own shops, the female smiths who marry into other families even find ways to keep the Lithil name with all the money it brings in.”
So this was a pretty massive family wasn’t it. There was so much I didn’t know about the people right next to me, but I suppose I never asked much.
Keero’s Mr. Lithil didn’t seem too surprised by my ignorance once he heard I was from Halsry either, I guess it’s pretty well known that Halsry is so secluded from the rest of the world.
After chatting with this city’s Mr. Lithil a little more, I tried to sell him the garg materials.
“So how much will you take for all this?” I asked.
As I pulled everything out from the bag, he inspected everything, 7 foxes and a wolf worth of things I had to sell. I didn’t have a chance to skin the other three wolves I killed since I left in such a hurry, still, this should fetch me a good amount of money.
“Since you seem to be a family friend, 5 gold coins for all the fox materials, and 3 for the wolf's remains.”
8 gold coins would be a pretty good haul for such a quick excursion into such a weak corrupted area, if I find a place with stronger corruption, with more gargs, and spend more time there, I could easily bring in 30 gold coins per dive.
Going over the numbers in my head, Mr. Lithil hands me the coins and takes the materials. I thanked him after I bought a couple more arrows, and a more Diver looking pair of boots.
Having been so focused on Mr. Lithil as I came inside, I failed to notice how the selection in this smithy differed from the one back home. In Halsry, there was an abundance of tools of Steven’s design, with few weapons and armor, as it wasn’t much needed in such a secure city.
This smithy had huge sets of shining silver armor, ones that looked like some large monster would equip and take into battle, the designs on them were intricate as well, flowers, vines, and other designs spread across the hilts of many of the blades, and detailed scenes of war and battle painted on every shield.
The focus in this shop was obviously heavily aimed at Divers. In my head, I wondered if that was normal or something special to this shop.
I inspected a few more items before taking my leave. The weapons made in Halsry were of the highest grade, but the equipment here was made with a level of mastery I had never seen before. The Lithil family sure loves to produce geniuses.
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