I like tea cookies and such.

Thanks to the Sister's guidance (guidance fee: one hotcake + honey), we made our way to a blacksmith.

I was also thinking maybe I could pick up the Blacksmithing skill while I'm at it.

When you think of a blacksmith, you imagine the clanging of hammers against metal to make weapons and armor, but I wonder how it actually works.

"What's it like, Aishia? Wouldn't a dwarf know the details?"

"Broadly speaking, there are two types. Forging is pretty much as you say, Master. You put the material in a furnace to heat it, and once it's soft, you hammer and knead it, then temper it into shape. Well, it's kind of like making bread."

Huh, she just compared blacksmithing to bread.

"I mean, you knead the dough to make it uniform for both, and you use a furnace, right?"

"True! That's a good comparison, Aishia."

"Ehehe, because it's bread. I'm on a roll!"

There's a difference between heating to melt and heating to harden though.

At that, Dea-kun tilted his head with a "hmm."

"Would we actually be able to see them working at a smithy?"

"Watching them forge weapons might be difficult, but for the other type, casting, I think they'd show us if we asked. You bought alcohol from Sati, right? If the blacksmith is a dwarf, offering some should get us in."

"I see. So dwarves can be baited with alcohol."

"And in a town like this, there's always one or two smithies with a dwarf master."

"I see, that's very dwarf-like!"

What sound reasoning. Our Aishia is quite capable.

"By the way, what would casting be compared to?"

"Hmm. Cookies, maybe? There's a difference between pouring into a mold versus cutting out with a mold, but you can make lots of similar ones."

"I see. I like tea cookies and such."

With that settled, we decided to visit a random weapon shop. The plan was to look at the shop, buy something, and get information about dwarf smithies while we were at it.

While I'm at it, I'll get Aishia a weapon. I had her carry a mithril knife during our dungeon run the other day, but she didn't end up using it.

"I should've asked before we went to the dungeon, but what kind of weapon do you use, Aishia?"

"Me? Umm, musical instruments."

What? Does she bash people with a guitar or something? How rock.

"I create barriers with sounds that monsters hate, things like that. Since I'm a bard, I don't really fight much to begin with."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"Weapon shops don't carry instruments, and I can only really use a knife-level weapon anyway. If you could buy me a small shield and a dismantling knife, that would be fine."

In that case, maybe I should make instruments with woodworking skills rather than buying them at a weapon shop. Hmm.

"Um, Aishia-san. As a bard, wouldn't it be bad to block attacks with a shield? Your hands are important tools of the trade, and Karina onee-san went through the trouble of healing them."

"Come on, Dea-sama. That's exactly why it's not a problem. Master can heal them as many times as needed. Right?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll heal them."

Something seems off about Aishia's nuance around "heal"… no, let's stop there.

"I'd like a subweapon too. You bought the mithril knife as trade goods, right? If I had a weapon I could use when I run out of magic…"

"I see, I see. Well, let's buy anything that looks good. I'll use the living expenses fund, so the budget is about 4 gold coins."

I think 4 gold coins is quite a budget for just getting equipped with basics.

Though apparently it still might not be enough for a full suit of armor.

"Oh, that's right you two! … Definitely protect your feet! Your feet!"

"Then let's buy sturdy boots too. Yes, let's."

Yeah, that works. If they're sturdy boots with poor ventilation, they'll get even steamier, which would please the Goddess even more. Keeping just the feet in permanent star mode might work too. Yeah.

And so, we bought things at the weapon shop and obtained information about dwarf smithies. Next time: ambush interview at the dwarf smithy! Woo-hoo!