Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The bright light of the morning sun that fell in through the windows woke him up and hurt in his hung-over eyes. it was a tiny window and the light fell into a tiny room right below the roof of an inn. The place was sparsely decorated with the bed he lay in, a cupboard, and a table with a chair. Clothes were randomly spread on the floor.

Something soft was pressing against his chest and his right hand caressed a smooth back when he tried to move. He had an educated guess but was still surprised. He looked down and saw a cute girl with a pair of fluffy ears poking up from her maroon hair. She was snuggled up against him, using his shoulder as a pillow. His touch had woken her up and now she looked in his face with a big smile.

"You are awake!", she said and came up to give him a deep passionate kiss.

Seth had no memory of this girl, but he made sure to use all morning to make a few new ones with her.

"Phew, you are a real surprise!", she said after getting up. She picked up her things and started to get dressed. Seth stayed in bed and watched the beast girl covering her lithe and well-toned body. She wore a short leather jacket exposing her midriff, knee-high boots, and leather hot pants.

"And you are still not satisfied.", she commented on his gaze not leaving her body. With an embarrassed cough, Seth also got up to get dressed. He really didn't remember how he met such a beauty and seduced her, but he didn´t complain. Or was she a prostitute? Did he have to pay her?

As he was hit by conflicting thoughts, she stepped up to him, got on her toes, and gave him another kiss.

"This is goodbye, big guy.", with her finger tracing his collarbone she added, "If fate is with me, I would love to meet you again."

With that, she left before Seth could even say a word. When Seth came back to his senses, he found a stack of silver coins on the table. The girl wasn´t the prostitute, HE was!

He sat down and looked at the stack of 15 silver coins on the table. He got drunk, get got laid, he got paid all in one night. Waking up with a beauty in his arms was not bad. Maybe he should quit blacksmithing and become a male prostitute? He would not mind if this was his kind of customers.

He shook his head. Although he felt a lot better after a night of debauchery, it was not the life he wanted. He needed to return to his inn, the Ivicer was probably worried. It had also helped clear his mind. Seth was free to do anything he wanted right now, and what he wanted was to grow his skill. He needed to get into the dwarven district for this.

Seth had no idea how he would grow his reputation and get invited. He could open a shop and hope for the best, or rank up as an adventurer. It was a simple decision, really. He would just do both.

It was past noon when he finally returned to the inn. The caterpillar jumped him and flooded him with accusations. It had really worried a lot. Then came the hard conversation, where he had to explain to him, that Fin had to return to her people. Unexpectedly, it had weighed a lot more on Seth´s mind, than on the Ivicers. Even so, it sometimes acted childishly, it was actually quite mature when it came to things like this.

"So, what do we do now?", the small Ivicer asked him.

Seth explained the situation to it and set off for the adventurer guild. On one side he wanted to ask for information on how to open a shop. On the other side, he wanted to know what the requirements were to rank up. And last but not least, he wanted to use the guild for what its primary purpose was: To get a quest and visit dungeons. He was half-way to level 21 and needed another 2 SP to get the next level on .

It was not far to the guild and they soon arrived. Past noon most of the adventurers had long left the guild building after getting a quest. The receptionist and a few people drinking in the bar were the only ones in the guild. Seth could walk straight to the counter.

The receptionist greeted him with a well-trained business smile, although it twitched a little. Seth had not taken a bath after his... nocturnal activities and the receptionist could smell that. Adventurers that came way too late, long after the morning rush, and didn´t even bother to wash up. She was still new, but the training showed its worth. Otherwise, her expression would have been a lot different.

"How can I help you?"

First Seth asked about the requirements to reach B-Rank. She was surprised to see that he was a C-Rank adventurer as a blacksmith that just lv. 20. But the fact that he was an ori huma seemed to explain a lot to her.

"There are two ways to become a B-Rank. The first is to be a reputed adventurer and reach the required level, which is lv.50. Of course, we know that depending on class, race, and other circumstances the power of an adventurer can vary, independent from their level. This is why the second option is to take a rank-up exam. An examiner will judge your abilities and personality during a B-Rank quest. As long as you pass the exam, you can become a B-Rank adventurer.", she rattled the explanation off like reading from a textbook.

"Here is a request formula to take part in the next rank-up exam. It´s in 2 weeks." She gave him a piece of paper via the tray.

"Oh, thanks. Say, if I wanted to open a weapons shop here in the city... where would I have to go?"

She started to list all kinds of licenses and places he would have to go and get if he wanted to open a shop in the city. It was a huge flood of information that totally intimidated the young blacksmith. What was this? Why was there so much bureaucracy in such a medieval-looking society?!

She had a smug smile, seeing his stressed expression. They had these people sometimes. New in town, just trying to gain reputation and enter the dwarven city. Without the knowledge of what it all entailed. After dunking Seth into the despair that was future paperwork, she threw him a lifeline.

"If you only want to gain reputation, so you get access to the dwarven city, you can also simply make a contract with an already existing shop. You become a supplier and other people will take care of the paperwork. And if your products are as amazing as you think they are, you might get invited to enter the city."

Seth´s eyes shined. Profit without taking care of customers was the best profit. He talked with the receptionist about the different shops that came into question for this kind of arrangement. In the end, he also filled out the request paper to take part in the next exam before leaving.