Chronicles Of The Crafting Hero

Tyler stood before the Guildhall, its imposing structure dwarfing him. To his left, a road led to a smaller building, though still substantial. *That must be the church,* he thought.

He took the road, heading toward the church. Several women and children, dressed in white, approached from the opposite direction. The three women chatted happily, while four children, in ordinary clothes, walked ahead. Tyler observed them casually as they passed, noting the lack of attention paid to him beyond a fleeting glance. *They must be coming from the church…* he mused.

Reaching the church, Tyler found the building strangely familiar, reminiscent of churches in his old world. It was a small hall, with benches lining either side and a red carpet running down the center. The double wooden doors stood open wide. Inside, he saw a woman kneeling before another, her palms pressed together in prayer. The woman facing her had long golden hair and wore a white robe. Centered on the robe were five concentric golden circles—a circle within a circle within a circle—with a single golden dot in the very center of the innermost circle. *Those circles again… What are they? Their religious symbol?* Tyler wondered.

The kneeling woman lifted her head, catching sight of Tyler standing outside. He quickly looked away and continued walking. *She saw me standing there, just staring… great first impression,* he thought wryly.

Tyler then saw a group of people gathered in the middle of the street, clustered around a well. A wagon with several barrels sat nearby; people were using a bucket and rope to draw water from the well, then pouring it into the barrels. He noticed others waiting patiently in line—one with a small barrel, another with a small bucket, the latter tapping their foot impatiently.

Tyler sighed. *Oh, looks like I'm going to have to wait in line,* he thought. *But why are these people waiting in line like this? Aren't there any mages or people with skills that could make this easier?* He quickly dismissed the thought and approached the group.

Addressing the person with the bucket, Tyler asked, "Oh, hello, are you here to fetch some water?"

"Yeah," the person replied.

"Am I the last in line?" Tyler inquired.

"Yeah, you're the last," the person confirmed.

Tyler sighed and prepared to wait. *Wait a minute,* he thought. *Is it possible to just say 'extract,' and have the water appear in a barrel in my inventory?* He saw there was no such option. *Normally, there would be an 'extract' option floating above the well if that were possible.* He sighed again, muttering under his breath, "I'll wait"

Meanwhile, at the Crossroads base, Rebecca sat in a wooden chair in the restaurant, a wooden cup of liquor before her. She held her new wooden bow, running her soft hands along its rough surface. The wood was cheap; a far cry from her previous bow. *I lost my bow in the forest and had no choice but to buy this thing,* she thought, sighing. *Where the hell did he go off to? He didn't even tell me where we'd meet up or when. It's all my fault for passing out, wasn't it? That was embarrassing. I can't believe he actually had to carry me to the inn.* She pictured Tyler carrying her unconscious form. *He's not a bad person, is he?*

She stood, the bow bumping against her back. Finishing the last of her drink, she walked to the counter and pushed the cup toward the owner.

"You're all done?" the restaurant owner asked. "Want another one?"

"Oh, no, it's fine," Rebecca replied. "I'm heading out."

"All right, good luck," the owner said.

Rebecca stepped outside, her thoughts returning to her bow. *The string on this thing doesn't even look tough. It's not even that tight. As soon as I finish doing a quest, I'm going to have to get a better bow.* She headed toward the tent.

Rebecca approached the tent and ducked inside. Hunters filled the space, sorting materials on counters, receiving rewards, and engaging in conversations. Among them were Ian and Alec. Ian was at a counter, speaking with Serena.

"Are you sure you haven't seen this guy?" Ian asked Serena. "You don't even know his name?"

"No, I don't know his name," Serena replied.

Ian withdrew a small crystal from his pocket, placing it on the counter. "You're hiding something," he stated, slamming Tyler's picture down beside the crystal. "If you're telling the truth, grab this crystal and tell me you don't know who this is."

Serena flinched slightly at the sudden action.

Rebecca, approaching the counter, froze. Her heart pounded, her eyes widening as she noticed the black cloud insignia on Ian's armor. *A member of the Black Cloud Guild? What is he doing here?* she thought.

Ian was about to continue when Alec approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Aleck said, "I've already asked everyone in this tent. They know the guy's face but not his name. They said something about him being an assassin type, and there are rumors he might be a mage as well."

"Ian then said, 'a mage? He was wearing an assassin-type necklace, wasn't he?'"

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"Yeah, he was. I don't know why people are confusing it so much," Alec answered.

Ian looked at Serena's nervous face. Alec, noticing this as well, saw that Ian had pocketed the crystal. "What about you?" Alec asked Ian. "What are you doing here? Did you finish asking her?"

"No, I was just about to use the crystal to see if she was telling the truth or not," Ian replied. "It looks like she's hiding something."

Serena thought, *These are Black Cloud Guild members. They obviously want information on Tyler because he killed Gary, but if I tell them, they're going to kill Tyler. He's going to die because they're both C-Ranks and they're in a guild. And if I don't tell them, and they find out I'm lying, I may be dragged into it as well.*

"I don't know," Serena said aloud.

"Just leave her be," Alec said. "If she starts shouting, the hunters here are going to say we're bothering her. You know how these people are—kind of favored here. They know if she gets hurt, no one's going to take the materials."

"All right," Ian said, pocketing the crystal and standing up.

They turned to leave and saw Rebecca standing there. Alec passed by her, her expression unreadable. Ian stopped in front of her. "Excuse me," he said.

"What do you want?" Rebecca asked.

Ian showed her Tyler's picture. "Do you know who this is?"

Rebecca's eyes widened in surprise. *Isn't that Tyler? They have a drawing of him? How do they even know about him?* she thought.

"No, never seen him before," Rebecca said aloud.

"Alright," Ian said. "Can you hold this crystal for me?"

Rebecca looked at the crystal. *A crystal? Why does he want me to hold a crystal?* she thought. "Why do you need me to hold a crystal?" she asked.

"Oh, there's no need to worry about it," Ian said. "No harm will come to you when you hold this crystal."

Serena, watching from the counter, felt her heart jump. *Wait, that hunter… does she know about Tyler? Because if so, if she holds that crystal, they're going to know if she's lying or not.*

Rebecca saw Ian holding out the small, translucent crystal. "If it won't bring any harm to me, what exactly does it do?" she asked.

"Well, it's going to let me know if you're telling the truth or not," Ian explained. "And if you don't agree to hold it, that just means there's something you're hiding. And you're going to be the top suspect."

"Top suspect?" Rebecca said. "Wait, so this is the crystal of truth that the mages use?"

"Oh, so you know about it," Ian said.

Yeah, I've heard about it," Rebecca said. "It's actually a pretty rare crystal used by the rarest of mages—crystal mages. And no, I'm not going to touch that crystal. You're already wasting my time. I was set to take on a quest." She bumped Ian's shoulder lightly as she passed.

Ian gritted his teeth, anger flaring. "Hey, hold on a minute! I told you that if you didn't take the crystal you'd be a top suspect, and you're just going to walk away? What do you think this is, a joke?"

Alec, having seen Ian remain in the tent and engage in an argument, approached. Ian's other hand moved to his sword hilt. Some hunters in the tent looked at Ian.

"Hey, what are you doing? You can't fight in here!" Serena called out.

Alec arrived, placing a hand on Ian's shoulder. "Hey, don't cause any trouble in here. We don't want to cause a ruckus. Remember the captain told us not to be reckless, alright?"

Ian released his grip on his sword. Rebecca watched him with an unreadable expression.

"She knows something about the guy in the drawing," Ian said, indicating Serena and Rebecca, "both of them do."

"I know," Alec replied, "but I already have a better way of finding information instead of forcing these two."

"What?" Ian asked impatiently.

"Come on, let's go," Alec said.

"Tch…" Ian scoffed, turning and following Alec.

Rebecca sighed and went to the counter.

"Excuse me," Serena said, "did you happen to know those people?"

"No, I just met them," Rebecca replied.

"Did they ask you about the person in the drawing?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, they asked me about the person in the drawing," Rebecca said.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything. I told them I don't know a thing about him." Rebecca felt a bit of suspicion as she saw Serena's relieved expression. "Do you know him?" Rebecca asked, changing the subject. "Oh no, I don't know anything about him. So why are you here? Do you want to take on a quest?"

Just then, a hunter in black leather armor approached the counter with a hex horn and hide. "I came back with the materials," the hunter announced.

"Ah, right," Serena said, taking the items and placing them behind the counter. She then discreetly took a pouch of money from under the counter, gave the hunter some gold coins, and returned the pouch to its hiding place. The hunter smiled and left.

Rebecca sighed and went to sit on a bench. Serena remained standing, continuing her work, saying nothing.

"That hunter, I know her," Serena mused. "She comes in to take quests often. What does she know about Tyler? I'll have to tell him when he comes by. And I'll have to tell him about the Black Cloud Guild members. Tyler's in so much trouble."

Finally, Tyler was given a bucket to fetch water from the well and pour it into a barrel. He noticed more people had gathered—another person with a horse-drawn wagon carrying two barrels, and a man with two buckets.

"Hey, what are you doing? Where are you going to pour that water?" the man with two buckets asked.

"Don't worry about it," Tyler replied.

Suddenly, a large barrel shimmered faintly blue and materialized in front of the men. They were surprised. Tyler tossed his bucket into the well, used the rope to draw up water, and poured it into the barrel.

"Whoa, that thing just appeared out of nowhere! This is one of your skills, I take it?" the man with the wagon said.

"Yeah," Tyler replied.

"That's a pretty neat skill," the man with two buckets commented, "but how are you going to carry this thing back? It looks so huge, and it's going to take a lot of time to fill this thing."

"Don't worry," Tyler said. "I can amp up the pace."

He began working much faster, repeating the process with increased speed.

Tyler finished pouring the water and handed the bucket to the man with the wagon. "This water is safe to drink, right?" he asked.

"Of course it is," the man with the two buckets replied. "The saint uses purification magic on the water every week."

"Oh, well alright then," Tyler said.

The full water barrel shimmered and disappeared into Tyler's inventory, surprising both men.

"Alright, goodbye," Tyler said, starting to leave.

"What a very useful ability," the man with the bucket commented.

"Yes, I wish I had it," Ilya, the man with the wagon, said. "So I wouldn't have to come with this wagon all the time."

"By the way," the man with the two buckets said, "these barrels look like they're going to take some time to fill. Do you mind if I fill mine first?"

"All right," Ilya replied, handing the small bucket to the man with two buckets. The man set down his buckets and received the wooden bucket.

As Tyler walked away, he thought, *Man, I literally have no coins now. I'm broke, and somehow I feel so happy and relieved.* He smiled. *I repaid Gorn and Lisa for all they've done for me. All of it wasn't in vain. I was actually able to repay some people. I wasn't just a burden for once.* He chuckled softly, his heart filled with happiness.

He stopped, realizing he was right back by the church. The heavy doors, usually imposing, stood slightly ajar, still open. A sliver of sunlight cut through the gloom of the entryway, illuminating motes of dust dancing in the air. *Right, I also have to get some holy water,* he thought, the need pressing in his mind. *Seems like some ingredients are going to need holy water. Maybe even more in the future.* He decided to go inside.

Tyler entered the church, the scent of incense and aged wood filling his nostrils. The worn, richly colored carpet beneath his feet muffled his footsteps as he walked down the long hallway. At the far end, on a raised dais bathed in a soft, ethereal light, stood the woman he'd seen earlier. Her presence radiated an unnerving stillness that prickled at the edges of his awareness. It wasn't just her posture, stiff and formal, but something in the very air around her, a subtle shift in the temperature, a faint pressure against his chest.

He reached the dais. "Oh, hello there," Tyler said, his voice a little too loud in the hushed atmosphere.

The woman's gaze was unnervingly direct, her eyes—a startling, almost luminous gold—holding his. "Hello, young man," she said, her voice calm but resonant, carrying an undercurrent of something ancient and powerful. "How may I help you? What brings you here? Have you come to confess your sins?"

Tyler chuckled nervously, the sound thin and reedy in the vast space. "Uh, no." He felt a distinct chill despite the warmth of the church, a prickling sensation on his skin that had nothing to do with the temperature.

"So what brings you here?" she pressed, her voice unwavering.

"I was wondering if there was a way to get some holy water," Tyler replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

The woman tilted her head, a slight frown creasing her brow. "Holy water? Why do you need that? There is a far more precise way to wash away your sins. You can just confess them to me and let me pray for you."

"As I said earlier, no," Tyler insisted, his unease growing.

The woman's eyes narrowed, the golden light within them intensifying. A slow, almost imperceptible smile curved her lips. "You have killed someone recently, haven't you?" she said, her voice a low, silken whisper that sent a shiver down his spine.