Is it wrong to fleece adventurers at the item shop?

Turns out the Elzbieta knows how to bake fresh and fluffy flat bread. Either from experience or because someone gave her a quick make up lesson together with the pre portioned dough she is using.

Her little boy watches on with rapt attention, and in a way, so do I. This is about as new for me as it's for him after all.

She uses the big cauldron, hanging it as low as possible. It's barely not standing in the rekindled fire. There will be plenty of soot on it that will have to be cleaned, if not scraped, off afterwards. But never mind. Not right now anyway. She emptied out most of the water too, but not all of it. And she uses a lid for the cauldron too.

To keep the steam from escaping, as I realize, as she slaps the first portion of dough against the inside of the cauldrons hot metal! It's probably part of the reason why the bread turns out extra fluffy.

She repeats the process several times, until she has a nice basket of small, freshly baked breads ready. Add the cut up cucumbers and the bowl with the cream cheese and we have a nice meal. Thanks to the fresh bread it even smells heavenly despite being a rather simple meal when compared what usually is available down at the inn.

Once everything is done we sit down by the workbench to eat. Except, not all of us get to just eat, as Ulryk decides that if we eat he should have a meal too. In the end this means that I get to feed Elzbieta slices of cucumber and pieces of fresh bread with cream cheese. Well, I don't mind and neither does she. Overall our meal takes a little longer like this, but that's not an issue either. We can take as much time as we want to after all. While we eat I decide to tell her about my newest idea.

"Say, what would you think about having a bell, I mean a small hand bell, at the counter? So customers can just ring it to kind of summon us?"

She raises an eyebrow.

"Summon us? You almost make it sound like I'm some genie."

I grin mischievously and give her a little kiss.

"Oh? Aren't you?"

She lets out a cheerful laugh.

"Well, alright, I guess it would beat standing at the counter all day if you could do other things instead."

This earns a nod of agreement from me.

"Exactly! I could do some brewing or enchanting in the back. Even gardening in the yard, or a little nap in the sun would be an option. And people probably would feel more comfortable ringing a bell than calling out loud. I mean, most people really don't like raising their voice for no good reason, right?"

She nods and buttons her clothes back up, as Ulryk finishes his own meal.

"Sure. Ringing a bell is downright fun by comparison. Even more so if it looks nice. Maybe, hmm … you could put a fun enchantment on it too? Something like a dancing lights or phantom breeze spell? You know, something flashy but essentially harmless. That would make using it an actual experience. Who knows, people might come and shop here just for the bell alone."

I can't help but blink in surprise, my jaw hanging open for a moment, my hand with the last of my bread raised halfway to my mouth frozen in mid motion, as I think about it. At long last I nod.

"Simple, short lived dancing lights, a phantom smell or breeze or maybe an effect that distorts the sound of the bell in funny ways. If it's just one of these it shouldn't be too hard. Yes, I should be able to come up with something."

I let out a chortling laugh.

"Here I wanted to just commission a most basic hand bell form Olgierd and Nawoja. And now … now I'm wondering if I should ask them to decorate the exterior with a little relief of one of Ksawery's silly adventures."

Now that prompts a laugh from Elzbieta too in addition to my own and after a moment little Ulryk joins in too. Laughs, especially ones in good humor, can be quiet contagious, as this seems to proof.

I give the little boy a peck on the one cheek and a moment later his mother provides one for the other as well, which only makes him giggle more. His own hardships seem all but forgotten already.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

By now I have made up my mind. I'll really ask for Ksawery themed bell. If the price scares me I can still back off, but I really like the idea. I guess we'll see. We'll see pretty soon. In fact I just wait until Elzbieta is done with her meal too, now that she can eat on her own again without any need for me to feed her. Once she is done she returns to the shop, while I grab the jar that once contained the pickled cucumbers to return it to Maryla and Patryk before I head over to the smithy.

I take my time walking though. I'm not yet back to running around without a care. That probably will take another day or two. I'm not one for running when I can just walk instead anyway. Thus I take my sweet time. I drop off the jar at the inn first, using the backdoor of the kitchen once again. Then I head over to smithy to talk with Olgierd or Nawoja.

Their door is open. No big surprise given that it's summer and the interior of the smithy is even hotter than the afternoon sun outside. The place can do with every little bit of fresh air it can get. I knock anyway, as I enter, although it's quite possible that no one will hear as the place is rather busy.

Nawoja and Olgierd themselves are busy forge welding a good steel edge to a soft iron axe head it seems. It's not even a weapon by the looks of it but a tool for making firewood and kindling as far as I can tell. It takes considerable effort and all of their focused attention anyway, thus I don't interrupt.

The satyr boy, their new apprentice, is occupied too. He isn't just doing busy work either. The couple really goes all in on teaching him by the looks. He is busy shaping a new axe handle, using an old one that shows considerable wear and tear and especially a crack down the middle, as a reference.

What really catches my attention though is a little thing lying there, all innocent, on the workbench they boy is working at. It's a cast iron ring. Half of it already engraved to look like the sand of a beach with the waves of the ocean lapping at it. I can already see where the cut and polished quartz turtle that right now is lying next to it will fit too.

It's not quite done yet, but it certainly already puts a smile on my face. The fine engravings certainly bode well for the other new project I want to bother the couple with. If they can bring one of Ksawery's adventures to live like that for the bell too, it will turn out magnificent!

Instead of disturbing any of the three, who are aware of my presence anyway, I wait by the doorway, where I have some shadow and a little breeze to keep me from getting too hot. That is still something I need to avoid so the Scarlet Rash doesn't get worse. In a way, this experience of watching the three at work is quite relaxing. Enough so to put a smile on my lips as I think about it.

After a while the couple is done with the axe and Olgierd comes over, wiping his sweaty hands with a rag.

"Welcome Valeria! It's nice to see you around, but I'm afraid, I'm not quite done with your last commission yet."

He nods in the direction of the workbench where the half finished piece sits.

I simply nod.

"I noticed. It's already looking quite nice though. I'm looking forward to enchanting it. It's not what I'm here for though. I was wondering if you could make something else for me. A little hand bell. Something customers could ring to summon me to the counter should I be busy in the back or in the garden."

Now it's his turn to nod. And Nawoja comes over too, obviously intrigued, to listen in as well. She is the one to speak up too.

"Oh? Do you have something special in mind? Or would any design do, as long as it rings with a pleasant sound?"

I scratch the back of my neck, as I take a moment to put my thoughts in order.

"Well, I'm not an expert on bells, would brass work? And could you put a relief or engravings on the outside? A fun little episode from one of Ksawery's silly adventures?"

Now both laugh out loud. Olgierd answers first.

"Brass should work just fine. It's what is used for bells on ships all the time."

Then Nawoja chimes in.

"Let me guess you'll enchant that too, or won't you?"

I grin.

"I will, I'm not quite sure how yet though. Maybe dancing lights. Or possibly a phantom breeze or smell."

The two look at each other grinning. It's almost like there is an unspoken conversation going on in between the two. Finally Olgierd speaks up again.

"Well, the bell itself should be easy enough. We don't make too many around here, but we know how to do it. The decoration will be the tricky part. Especially if it's a relief that is supposed to run around the bell's exterior without a visible seam. Give us some time and we'll draw up a design for you, just like we did with that sea turtle lamp, alright? Then we might be able to give you an estimate for the price too."

I like the sound of that. Thus I nod and extend a hand.

"Drop by my place when you have something drawn up?"

The couple nods and I shake hands with both of them before I leave them to their work and return home, humming a happy little tune.