A girl in her early teens in a pastel-colored dress stands next to Vana, with worry on her face while I thoroughly inspect the damage on the doll. It’s not as bad as she thinks. Yes, the arm socket is busted and will require a full replacement. And yes, it’s not just the socket that will require work.

  "Okay." I say turning to the girls. "I think I know what needs to be done."

  "Is it serious?" asks Vana, stroking the girl’s back.

  "Oh, no. Nothing like that. The joint for the elbow rusted out, that’s why it wasn’t moving before it broke, I’ll just make a new one. The problem is here." I say motioning to the arm. "The upper arm hook, holding the joint, snapped."

  Vana nods, seeing the ripped-out hook still attached to the joint.

  "The whole upper arm will need to be replaced."

  Tears start appearing on the girl's face.

  "NO! NO! NO! It’s okay! I can do that. Making it isn’t a problem." I quickly added.

  The girl gives me a confused look.

  "Don’t worry. Everything is fine. It’ll just take time. I need to take some measurements and recreate them. It’ll work again just fine!... Though, the color may be an issue. We can find the original color in the alchemist market, but the tone will be slightly off because of the wear-out on the other limbs. But that generally shouldn’t be an issue as it’ll all be hidden under the dress, and someone would need to look closely to even notice it."

  "Can you fix it?" the girl asks shyly.

  "Yes. For sure." I try to smile, "Just some tinkering and polishing is required. A day or two of work and it’ll be just like new."

  "I told you that he’ll fix it." joins Vana, hugging the girl from the side.

  I just nod.

  "So we can come back the day after tomorrow?" asks Vana, turning to me.

  "Yep. I only need the upper arm and the joint. I’ll take them off and you can take the doll with you."

  "It’s okay. We’ll leave it here. You’ll need to test that everything works after you finish."

  No! No!

  "Uh... Um... I wouldn’t want its dress to get dirty. Right! It’s a smithy so there’s soot and dirt all around-"

  "That’s okay. Don’t worry. We know you’ll be careful, and it’s an old dress anyway, so that’s fine!" Vana says with a smile.

  I’m barely able to keep my facial expression from changing.

  "How much would it cost?" the girl asks, taking out a small purse covered with a flower pattern and opening it.

  I tenderly close the girl’s purse and smile "Nothing. It's free. You’re a friend of a friend so..."

  What could a child pay anyway? I've got so much money in my bank account that I don’t even know how to spend it. Well... except of course that big smithy near the dungeon nothing else so far seemed interesting. Hm. Maybe I should fix that. I’ve got a literal pile of gold lying in the bank...

  I’m broken out of my thoughts when Vana hugs me.

  "Thank you." she whispers.

  I awkwardly nod and pat her back.

  The girl once again asks if she needs to pay, but after another polite refusal and encouragement from Vana, she thanked me. Less than a minute later they left promising to return after lunch the day after tomorrow. I stand waving goodbye attempting my best to hold the smile for as long as I can.

  But all things come to an end, and I’m left alone in the smithy.

  Alone with IT.

  My head slowly turns in the direction of the ‘doll’ that sits on a chair and I freeze.

  I don’t know what I expected, but definitely not THIS. I mean I have little sisters and they had tons of dolls! All kinds of them in fact! The cloth ones full of wool, the wooden ones artistically painted, even the fragile, porcelain ones...

  But never have I ever heard of meter-tall iron dolls! This one is masterfully crafted with controls on its back to turn the doll's head and eyes. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s creepy as HELL!!! And especially how its face and lifeless eyes are painted. The colors are too bright. And it feels like any moment it’ll start moving and leap at me to devour my soul...

  I should’ve listened to Joe’s words.

  If this isn’t creepy then what is?

  Doesn’t matter. I still need to fix it because I promised, but this doesn’t make it easier.

  Who could even enjoy collecting something like this?!

  If there’s something to take away from all of this, it's that Vana’s just as weird as Olev, that's for sure. Maybe even more than him.

  I also need to find a cloth to cover it just in case.

  There’s no need to chain it to a wall, right?

  It won’t come alive, right?

  ...

  Everyone needs a change of pace. Everyone. I’m no exception.

  Especially because starting a few days ago I’ve been taking two sleeping pills in place of one. For some reason, a single one is no longer enough to get me a full night's rest. Am I building some kind of tolerance to it?

  Handing over the four silver coins to the street cook, I get in return the Meat Tornado. An extremely large wrap of bread, filled with an assortment of roasted meat, crunchy potatoes, melted cheese, fried onions, fresh vegetables and enough spicy sauce to drown a man.

  There isn’t a queue behind me, unlike all other stalls, simply because the price is just outrageous for most people. Yet that doesn’t bother me as I walk away with a lunch weighing more than a kilogram.

  For a long time, I’ve been passing this stall, for one reason or another, and it always seemed just excessive to spend so much for a large sandwich, while everyone else offered much more for a fraction of the price. But relatively speaking, it’s not that much of a difference.

  Everything is relative I guess.

  For Harv who just arrived in this city it was outrageous, and yet it isn’t for the current me.

  Money huh...

  The clerks at the bank were always polite, but when they saw the check with some local noble house insignia on it... yeah... I’m not used to having several people fussing around me, asking if I want coffee or tea, and then having it prepared in front of me with shiny pots using brands that I’ve never heard about. Yet the smell and taste of it made clear that those aren’t some no-name products.

  The whole thing was quite unpleasant!

  I’m just putting money in my bank account god damn it!

  I don’t need all this fluff!

  It felt disgusting somehow...

  I mean at the end of the day, even if it's a whopping thousand gold, it’s just a piece of paper. They aren’t physically moving gold from one bank to another, right?

  Anyway, after significantly increasing my account balance, I left the building and started a slow walk as I pondered on a few things.

  I have absolutely no fucking clue what to spend my money on. Well, not really true. The large smithy is still waiting, but I’m only halfway there, and I’m quite far from reaching the goal. And taking a mortgage without consulting Mom and Dad, seems wrong.

  Therefore, for now, at least, I need to spend the money on something else. I mean that’s what the money's for, right?

  And yet I need nothing, so the situation became a bit more complicated.

  And so, I walk down the central avenue, studying the items on display while the masses of people pass by.

  Nothing really catches my eye. Why would I need decorated porcelain plates or vases, silver cutlery, or a colorful painting of nature in a beautiful frame? Where would I even use or put them? Do I need any decorations in the first place?

  An image of my sisters’ rooms instantly comes to mind.

  Kae’s obsession with bright orange trinkets, the daisies in a pot on a window sill, and fluffy orange pillows with smiling suns on them.

  Lea’s pink room wasn’t much better, with dozens of dolls in pink dresses sitting neatly on a shelf.

  A frown forms on my face.

  Those are just memories. They were only ten back then so it was logical that they were a bit childish. Five years have already passed and many things could’ve changed.

  In the video call, they still were dressed in their favorite colors, so maybe some things didn’t change...

  They wouldn’t still keep those dolls, right? They shouldn’t have turned into someone like Vana...

  Hm.

  Not like their moron of an older brother would know. He’s been gone nearly half of their lives. Someone they knew only from memories and the rare letters he wrote. A stranger essentially...

  And there’s only one person to blame.

  I don’t know for how long I stood in the middle of the street, but at some point, I resumed walking, burying those thoughts and emotions very deeply. They’ll come back. But not now, not today.

  I still have half a day left, and I need to use the available time effectively. I don’t get much of that recently.

  My eyes hovered over the wares. Critically judging them for the benefits they could bring.

  Colorful clothes, which would lie in my wardrobe or wardrobe never to be worn.

  Hats with an assortment of enchantments, starting from temperature control, and ending with a simple flashlight attached to a leather helmet.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Pretty sure the last one was something miners usually use. Maybe even dungeon divers, but the practicality is questionable. With the [Lumen] spell, you have fine-grain control over the intensity and origin while requiring a bare minimum of skills and mana, a truly multi-purpose spell.

  No.

  That’s just my perspective.

  Not everyone was fortunate enough to have time and afford teachers to reach that level of skill, where casting and keeping a spell active is trivial.

  It’s the same with smithing.

  Moving on I stop at one of the expensive adventure equipment shops. Maybe I’ll find something here?

  I enter and find dozens of burly men in all kinds of equipment standing in a queue in front of the reception. I don’t join them and just pass by, studying the overpriced items on display covered with beautiful engravings.

  A waste of good steel in my book.

  I stop in front of an imposing-looking plate armor set with large shoulder pads and artistic insignia on the chest piece while an arrangement of shining engravings covers the whole thing. A plate in front of it describes the features of the item, materials used, and enchantments engraved into the set together with the price below it. Five hundred gold.

  It’s expensive... and yet I can afford it... And I kind of want it, but not for the same reason everyone else would.

  The enchantments.

  It’s a whole industry of its own.

  I always wanted to learn it, but getting books on it is impossible. The Enchanter Guild made sure of that. Only those who’re already part of the Enchanter Guild or are direct apprentices of members are allowed access to such materials and knowledge.

  See a flaw already?

  If you don’t have a patron, you’re not getting in. And the patrons know that, so they bind everyone to a short leash with those infamous enchantment apprentice contracts. They’re not infamous for some harsh clause or the length of it. No. They’re infamous because no one knows what’s in them.

  Awesome, right?

  A monopoly plus possibly slavery and yet no one knows or can do anything about it...

  The thing is, unlike those leather and cloth thermally-enchanted hats, iron and steel are materials I’m very closely acquainted with. I know their properties and how exactly they behave and using my skills and mana control I could analyze what exactly was done to this plate armor.

  Maybe even replicate it... Theoretically at least.

  And no, a monster core infusion isn’t an enchantment. And if there IS some correlation between them, I’m not aware of it. Mentor himself didn’t know much about the subject, so he couldn’t answer most of my questions.

  Long seconds pass until finally my doubts and reason win and I sigh deeply.

  Even if I spent a fortune on it and carefully studied every millimeter of armor, there’s no guarantee that I’ll learn something from it. It’s all just conjecture. Many have likely tried that. And the fact that there’s still a monopoly on enchantments means that they’ve likely failed.

  But maybe I should try something like that later, with something cheaper.

  To the right of the armor set is a similar one. It has fewer engravings and is missing the enchantment, which explains the price of fifty gold. That’s right. The enchantments increased the price of the item ten times. And yet even fifty gold is too much for this armor because of multiple reasons.

  First, is the quality of the iron used, which is unlikely to be the best. This is the area most smiths try to cheat on. This one shouldn't have been created using pig-iron, but one can’t be sure until he tests it extensively, or created the whole thing himself. You can’t trust anyone with this except yourself.

  Am I paranoid?

  Maybe.

  But the quality of the stuff I produce is top-notch and I’m ready to die on this hill.

  The second reason why the armor is shit, is the absurd weight distribution. Yes, it looks imposing, but imposing doesn’t mean practical. Only a moron would wear it into battle.

  Well, there is an exception: If someone doesn’t plan to fight in it in the first place and likes the looks of the armor. But those with even the barest knowledge one will know that an idiot in a tin can stands before them.

  Using it would also be one hell of a nightmare, not like anyone would in the first place. Which is connected to the third reason. Because of how deep the aesthetic engravings are, the structural integrity is compromised. E.g. One hit in the correct place and the whole thing falls apart.

  So, to end it, there’s nothing to learn from it, there’s nothing to use it for, and there’s nothing to gain from buying anything on display.

  With these thoughts, I exit the building.

  Even if the cheaper set had none of those faults, it’s unlikely that I would buy it. Simply because I’m not planning to use it. I’m no longer an adventurer. And hunting orcs and killing bugs in dungeons is a thing of the past. I’m a smith now.

  So I resume walking, passing by tons of useless stuff being advertised in shop windows. Fancy and pretty but useless. And yet people still buy them, and look so happy about it...

  Could it be that it’s the event of a purchase that they’re after rather than the thing they’re buying?

  Maybe I should also buy something. Just to verify that...

  Hm...

  This sounds and feels wrong. To buy something to verify if purchasing it brings joy...

  I’m brain-damaged, aren’t I?

  Whatever.

  In the end, I bought warm shoes. Autumn is right around the corner and when the snow falls, the prices of these things will rise considerably. And for just seven silver it seemed like a very rational purchase. That did bring me some joy, but more of the fact that I saved money in the long run, rather than getting something new or useful.

  And so, I continue walking further with a bag in my hand until I reach the main intersection and pause.

  The Smith Guild isn’t far away from here and I haven’t visited since I got the temporary permit. The smith badge should be ready. It wasn't a pressing issue, so I didn’t bother. But if I’m already here, why not? It shouldn’t take much time.

  A few moments later my legs start moving again.

  I’m once again proved wrong.

  There’s a large crowd of people in front of the Guild’s entrance with dozens of guards standing between them. The fact that guards are armed and ready for action with their hands on their pommels doesn’t seem to bother the crowd as the anger just seems to be overflowing with quite a few of them shouting profanities.

  What’s going on?

  My eyes pan over the area trying to understand what’s happening. Yet the situation doesn’t seem to be getting better. The people around them study the whole situation from a distance, essentially forming a circle around. Suddenly my eyes stop on a familiar face standing alone to the side of everything and carefully I walk up to him, curving around the angry crowd.

  "Hey." I say raising my palm.

  "Harv! My man! How’s life?" smiles the man with the dark circles under his eyes.

  The Smith Guild’s bald receptionist seems to have gotten somewhat better. The dark circles are somewhat smaller and brighter in color, and yet he still radiates the same tiredness he has had ever since I first saw him.

  "Same as always. Work. A lot of it." I say smiling back.

  "That's life." he nods.

  "Everything okay on your side?"

  "HA! When has it ever been the other way? Everything’s perfect! Same shit, just in different jars..." he says somewhat deflatingly.

  "Is it connected to that?" I nod to the angry crowd which seems to have grown bigger.

  "Yep. You’re here for the badge too, right?"

  "Uh. Yes?"

  "Well, then you can join them, not like it would make any difference though. Everyone’s furious because they’re wasting money while waiting for their badges." he says with a sad smile.

  A frown grew on my face.

  "Something happened?"

  "Same as always. Idiots in the Capital fucked up and now we pay the price. Some kind of logistics issue, which caused delays for the badge manufacturers, which caused a delivery delay, which caused this." he motions to the crowd.

  "Is it that bad?" I say glancing at the angry crowd.

  "Harv." he says after a short pause, turning to me "We’re at the bottom of the barrel. Our responsibility is to smile, follow orders from the capital and take the blame. We don’t know shit. We’re not supposed to know. Ha. In our profession, if you treasure your career you don’t ask questions and just smile."

  He deflates even further.

  For several seconds we stood in awkward silence.

  "You know... I’m not that good of a smith." comes barely a whisper. "But I hoped that by joining the Guild I could find a good teacher or get access to books and improve my skills. And yet... look at me now. A glorified receptionist with a useless badge."

  I’m not sure how to respond to that, but I don’t get the opportunity to think it over and form a cohesive response as another Guild member appears out of nowhere and whispers something in his ear. The Smith Guild receptionists’ face changes and more tiredness returns to him.

  After saying goodbye to the quickly retreating receptionist I stand and add another thing to the list of things to ponder about...

  I’ve been blaming these guys for the delay the whole time, but they’re likely just prisoners of the situation.

  What can be done about it? Who’s to blame? Everyone? Or the weakest link in the chain, which caused all of this? Would that link even be aware of how much depends on him?

  And yet another thing bothers me even more. He called me Harv. He knew my name, while I still have no idea what his name is. I always thought of him as just the Smith Guild ‘receptionist’. Even after the realization of how important our interactions were to him, I didn’t bother to ask for his name.

  Why? Is it because he’s a temporary person in my life? I mean I didn’t expect to see him again. That wouldn’t matter in the general scope of my life, right? What about other people I’ve done this thing to?

  It was the same with Oldie, Num, and James...

  There are so many people with whom I’ve not interacted in a while for one reason or another...

  Should I do something about it?

  And yet a cold voice in my head whispers ‘For what? Why? What would you gain from it? Just wasting your precious life on others...’

  I don’t know how to answer that.

  But what I did learn is that it'll be quite some time before I see my Smith badge. And by the looks of it, we’re not talking about days.

  Weeks.

  Maybe months...

  I should call Mom and Dad. It’s expensive, but somehow that’s the only thing that’s worth it.

  We have to discuss a few things.

  ...

  The black circular mirror starts shining, slowly switching from one color to another, buzzing resounds around the small room until the image forms on it. Less than a minute later I smile at the image of my family all gathered together.

  "Harv!" Lea and Kae shout, waving at me happily.

  My smile grows larger as I wave back while an old memory resurfaces for some reason.

  "Potato munchers!" I shouted.

  Dad bursts into laughter a second later and a smile breaks on Mom’s face, while the duo just freeze in shock with their mouths open as their face reddening.

  "Stop! It’s not funny!" Kae angrily grunts at dad.

  A few moments later Dad finally can speak again and pats her head. "Sorry, sweety. It’s such a precious memory. I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten about it."

  "We didn’t know..." mumbles Lea.

  "Oh sweety, of course, you couldn’t." Mom says, hugging her from the side. "You and Kaella were just four and couldn’t have known that those barns don’t have handles from the inside."

  "Then don’t remind us about it! God!" grumbles Kae.

  "We were so scared, searching for you the whole day with no clue, and the entire village gathered." Says Mom turning to the furious duo.

  "And where do we find you?!" Dad injects slapping his knee. "In the barn, munching on raw potatoes!"

  Kae shoves Dad in his side and I pause studying the duo of little sisters.

  Kaella is still the same explosive pebble, enamored with orange, which is apparent by her bright orange dress with sun and daisies on it. Fast to start and so easy to tease. Yet just moments later she hugs Dad lovingly in forgiveness.

  Milea on the other hand still prefers pink, yet she doesn’t spurn other pastel colors. And by her subdued reaction and calm eyes, her tendency to hold grudges didn’t change.

  Oof.

  I’m in for a nasty surprise, aren’t I?

  "And you’re so big now, my sweet little ladies." Mom says tenderly while fixing their hair.

  "No playing with dolls then?" I ask.

  The girls give me a shocked look.

  "Of course not, sweety, they’re older now." Mom chuckles and an internal sigh escapes me. "How are you, my boy?" she continues with a soft smile.

  Even though I reserved half an hour, it was still a very short period. Not enough to talk about everything. Though, we were able to discuss most of the important topics.

  Mom is still adamant about me returning to the Capital. She doesn’t have an exact plan but just keeps repeating the same thing: "As long as we’re together, everything else can be solved.".

  Dad on the other hand, while also agreeing with her, has been preparing a few things. He said that he found two good smithies looking for skilled workers, one in the capital, another a day away from it. He explained that they’re independent smithies, and aren’t associated with any clans, but rather take custom orders from the army directly. Dad also said that he found a nice building which used to be a smithy if I want to work alone.

  In response, I told them about the local smithy that caught my eye and how I was thinking of buying it.

  The reaction was bad.

  Girls were aghast.

  Mom got emotional.

  One single sentence brought them to a near tear-state.

  Dad was more structural, calmly pointing out that he’s not aware of the law in the ‘Silence Plateau", but there can be details that I’m not aware of and should be wary of performing any purchases without consulting local lawyers first. He was insistent that while the prices of real estate may be lower compared to the Capital, the salaries are also much lower.

  Dad also pointed out that it’s very far away from them, and that would mean there could be many years before the reunion occurred. He stated that while I’m an adult and the final decision is mine, I need to weigh every one of the pros and cons carefully and understand the ramifications.

  That hurt more than the pained expression of Mom, Kae, and Lea. Because while he was explaining everything logically and analytically, it was apparent by his eyes that he was struggling not to join the emotional pressure. I promised to consider everything again.

  They weren’t happy when I explained the situation with badges. Mom kept insisting that I should come to the capital and that the Smithy Guild should just send the badge to them.

  Then she quickly changed tune and told me that I should just come directly and we’ll solve everything in the Capital’s Smith Guild. Once again I promised to look into it, while Dad simply added that he’ll ask around about what can be done.

  Finally, the topic moved to the most pressing subject. The girls are turning fifteen soon. And while their birthday is a happy occasion, the direct implication is that the Class Awakening ritual will follow shortly after.

  Dad is ‘Red’, a pure warrior, who has been honing his skills for decades. Mom is ‘Blue’, a person with a generally large mana pool, but no other unique predispositions. Those are the two most common class archetypes.

  The twins will likely either get ‘Blue’, the same as Mom, or ‘Purple’, the color of the offensive mages. The reason is simple, they’ve been focusing on mana manipulation and Dad proudly claims that they’re able to cast Tier 3 offensive spells.

  This means that success is nearly guaranteed.

  Yet there are doubts. Doubts because of me. A Colorless. And at this point, I’m too deep in the lies I’ve created and too afraid to tell them the truth, that I’m not a Colorless. I simply can’t. And so one lie causes another...

  The real issue they’re concerned about is that if the girls can cast Tier 3 spells, this means that they’re at least Tier 3 themselves. And we all know what happens to the Tier 3 Colorless like me.

  When a red dot in the right top corner started flashing we knew that the call was coming to an end.

  A few moments after saying goodbyes the circular mirror lost its light and the room turned dark again.

  I slumped against the chair.

  Many thoughts and emotions are raging in me.

  And yet I feel more powerless than ever in my life.

  What can I even do right now?

  How do I break out of this chain of lies?