"Yo, is Steve here already?" I asked the receptionist.
"Yes, he is in the back in his office, Young Miss Draig." The receptionist said, nodding at me.
"Wait a minute, I was here first." Another dwarf said, catching my attention.
"Do you have a brother?" I asked thoughtfully. Looking at him reminded me of the dwarf I saw yesterday.
"Yes, I have. He was arrested yesterday for some crime the Draig family made up. That's right, she said your surname is Draig. What have you done to my brother."? The dwarf snarled, glaring at me.
"Hmm, he never said he had a brother. Whatever, I am not usually the one that handles it. Go talk to the black ops if you want information on what your brother actually did." I said, waving him off.
"They said he was working for the federation." The dwarf roared, seeing me walking away from him.
"He was," I said, closing the door behind me, not wanting to discuss about it.
"Like hell, he was. He was working for me!" The dwarf shouted behind the door.
"I am not allowed to talk about it," I said, repeating Kayda's words to myself.
"You going crazy or something? Talking to yourself like that." Someone said to my left. Looking down at the dwarf, I stared at him for a second before just continuing walking towards Steves's workshop.
"Not even saying anything." The dwarf grunted, going on his own way.
'Dwarfs are weird.' I thought, thinking at how they look so much alike. But I presumed it was like how white people were to Asian or black people, where every one of them looked similar until you actually lived around them to notice the significant differences between each other.
"Ah, here it is."
Knock Knock
"Come in," Steve said from the other side of the door.
"Huh, Kitsuna, you knock on doors?" Steve said, looking at me surprised.
"..."
"..."
"Why wouldn't I knock on doors," I asked, confused at his surprise.
"I don't know. It's just how I thought you were." Steve said, shrugging.
"And that is?"
"Rude."
"Can't blame you," I said, shrugging at his simple answer.
"So, what can I do for you today?" Steve asked, looking at me smiling.
"Well, I win the bet," I said, puffing my chest out.
"... It's been like 4 days, Kitsuna."
"5 days. It was quite easy to figure out how to strengthen the mana. The hard part was to find out what I need to work with." I said, smiling happily at him.
"Your internal mental mana, you mean."
"Yes, that is the hard part. Internal mental mana, IMM. I like it." I said, snapping my fingers.
"Hmm, show me."
"Okay." I said, taking a block of Adamite out to cut in front of his eyes.
"Wait, use this one. I want to make sure you don't use some trick or anything," Steve said, not believing me at all.
"I can respect that," I said, taking the Adamite from him with an invisible string.
"What!?" Steve exclaimed, seeing the Adamite fall in my hand in 6 different pieces.
"There is that good enough."
"Invisible mana strings? You trying to be the best assassin or something?" Steve said sarcastically but joyfully at the same time.
"Not a bad thought, but I am not that good at stealth," I said jokingly, shrugging at him.
"Yes, I heard you found some backstabbing blacksmith working with the federation."
"Yes, I did catch him yesterday. That reminds me, look at this for me." I said, talking out a piece of armor, one that hasn't been cut into details just yet.
"What is this crap you are showing me," Steve said, not even getting up from his chair to look at the armor piece.
"Haha, as expected from a trained eye, you don't even need a proper look to know this is shit. Well, this is a piece of armor made by the traitor." I said, throwing it on his table.
"By grumpy pants," Steve muttered, raising an eyebrow at the piece of metal.
"By the way, his so-called brother was at the front just now," I explained, pointing at the door behind me.
"The hell does he want?" Steve said, sighing in annoyance.
"Don't know your problem, not mine."
"Ugh, okay, let's get you started then," Steve said, standing up from his table.
"Where are we going?" I asked, smiling.
"Where do you think we were going? To a bar?" Steve said, looking up at me like I was dumb.
"With dwarfs, you never know." I snapped back with a raised eyebrow.
"Touché, we're going to the furnaces," Steve said, chuckling.
"Oh, so you going to start teaching me?" I said, hitting my fists together in excitement.
"I am not going to teach you the basics of forging. I have someone who will teach you the basics. After that, you will be making some weapons that will be held in the shop." Steve explained, making me lose all my excitement.
"You want me to do what now?" I said, deflated in disappointment.
"You're going to start making weapons, of course," Steve said, smiling at my demise.
"Why?" I muttered, looking down at him.
"Huh, why? Can you be useful if we make the demigod weapon right now?" Steve said, looking at me again like I was dumb.
"Uh, no, but I can at least learn better from you?" I said, remembering how confusing the Smith books got after the first few volumes.
"I only have that much time to spend on you, fox," Steve said, pointing at all the paperwork on his table.
"That's true, I guess," I said, shrugging and looking at the pile of paper.
"No shit, you dumb fox," Steve said, making my eyes narrow at him.
"You don't call me that," I said, just staring at him.
"Whatever, let's go. Let me introduce you to the second in command. He will teach you from the start." Steve said, looking away from me nervously.
"Ugh, alright."
"Here we go, stan!" Steve shouted, calling someone to him.
"Yes, what is it now?" A dwarf said, coming up to us annoyed.
"Hmm, is he your son?" I asked, looking at Stan, and Steve remembered I met the dwarf when I arrived a while back today.
"Pfft hahaha, do I look that young, or does he look that old?"
"Both, I guess?" I said, not understanding him at all.
"Hahaha," Stan hit Steve's shoulders, laughing like a maniac.
"He is my brother, little Kitsuna," Steve said, sounding depressed.
"Ah, is that so? My bad. Good to meet you, teach." I said, holding out my hand to greet Stan.
"Teach? Brother, what does she mean by that?" Stan said, looking at his brother weirdly.
"Ugh, she is my disciple, not yours, but you need to teach her the basics, please?"
"You took on a disciple that doesn't even know the basics."
"She can use IMM."
"IMM?" Stan asked, looking at us weirdly.
"Internal mental mana."
"Quite the shitty name, but it fits, I guess," Stan said, shrugging.
"Well, it's better than true mana," I said, nodding.
"So, we're going to start or what?" Stan said, looking at me seriously.
"We can get started anytime," I said, nodding.
"Hmm, but this is going to be a problem," Stan said, looking at my clothes.
"What is? My clothes? I can use others if needed." I said, looking down at my coat with a sports bra and cargo pants.
"That might be for the best, but the problem will be your height," Stan said, looking up at me.
"Hmm, oh, is all the furnaces low," I said, nodding in understanding. They were, after all, half my height.
"Yes."
"Hmm, we can start working. I will think of something while I work," I said, shrugging.
"Alright then, let us go and work," Stan said, walking to one of the open furnaces at the back.
"So, how much do you know about the basics," Stan asked after a few minutes.
"I have read some books about it, but it was only basic. I can't understand the intermediate ones without any experience."
"Hmm, at least you are not arrogant."
"I can be if you want?" I said, tilting my head at him.
"Please, no, we have enough of that in the other furnace room," Stan said dejectedly.
"Okay, I will stay humble then," I said, chuckling.
"Now, to start at what you will be making. Steve probably already told you will be making some weapons we will sell in the front, right."
"Yes, he did mention that, but I actually thought he was joking."
"Every metal we use in here will go to the front, so we don't waste anything," Stan warned, looking at me sternly.
"But my weapons will be quite shit, you know," I said, tilting my head.
"It doesn't matter. You will work on the same weapon until it's up to standard."
"Like I can work on one weapon for days?" I asked worriedly.
"Yes."
"Shit."