Gradually opening his eyes as he felt the temperature in the room raise by a few degrees, Valyr eventually got out of bed, absentmindedly staring off into the distance for a couple minutes as he allowed his consciousness to return to its usual state.
Gazing out the window beside the bed for a bit, Valyr then went through his usual morning routine, recalling the mental notes he had taken down before he went to sleep.
After that, he changed into a set of clothes befitting that of a blacksmith before making his way to the front part of the building, taking notes of what items and equipment were missing from the display racks. Double checking to make sure he had not forgotten anything, he then headed to the part of the building he designated as the smithy's storage room, grabbing a portion of the stuff he had forged beforehand before returning to the storefront and preparing for another day of sales.
Opening up the smithy for new customers to enter, he was swiftly greeted by the few remaining customers that lingered near the smithy's closing time yesterday, who reminded him of the promise he had made them that he would give them a discount on any purchase they made today.
Of course, Valyr had no intentions of reneging on his promise, even going so far as to help them in choosing the items they wanted to buy from the smithy in order to make sure that they got the most out of their purchases.
With these customers leaving the smithy with grins on their faces, as well as new equipment in tow, the atmosphere for how the smithy would operate for today was set, with the customers that came after the first ones being in a pleasant mood, bringing well-needed liveliness to the insides of the smithy.
Unfortunately, just like yesterday, an entity eventually arrived at some point to drag the atmosphere in the smithy into an entirely different direction.
With a slight frown on his face, Valyr watched as the well-dressed man from yesterday appeared at the entrance of the smithy once more, taking in a deep breath before announcing that he had two days left to respond to the Hekaetos Forging Emporium's request of a forging duel.
Unsurprisingly, murmurs and remarks filled with displeasure faintly echoed throughout the smithy while Valyr remained all the while, giving a bitter smile to any customer that came near him. On the other hand, the man acted just like he did yesterday, remaining silent.
It was as if he hadn't heard the words being spoken by the Crimson Forge's customers at all.
Thankfully, the man eventually left the smithy after some point, reminding Valyr once more regarding the forging duel request before truly leaving. Nevertheless, with the man Valyr assumed came from the Hekaetos Forging Emporium now gone, the atmosphere in the smithy eventually returned to how it was earlier, with Valyr even getting a few of the custom orders done as he helped out the few customers that came into his smithy every once in a while.
…
"I wonder if the players heard about the Crimson Forge's opening already." With the sun at its peak, Valyr briefly closed up the smithy for the meantime, heading to a nearby restaurant to eat lunch. Lightly scratching his head as he continued to dig into the food he ordered, he wondered if word regarding the Crimson Forge had already reached the players.
"Should I ask Arcenne if there's a way for me to advertise the forge's opening near the city center?" As he thought about what actions he could take to entice the players into heading to his forge, he commanded the system to access the World Net and open up the players' livestreams, a look of understanding appearing on his face before a wry smile replaced it not long after.
From what he could see through their livestreams, the players that spawned in Clossbay City were currently at the outskirts, fighting against monsters in order to complete what seemed to be a material collection quest that all of them had accepted at the same time.
Taking a look at the progress they've made during the past week or so, Valyr nodded in satisfaction once he noticed that all of them had already reached the level limit of Rank 0 class holders, which was Level 10. However, watching them for a bit longer, he noticed that two of the players making up the group had already ascended to their respective Rank 1 classes, though they were only at Level 11.
"I guess it makes sense. After all, Void_Guardian and Nephilim are the only players among the group that could be considered to come from significantly large guilds." With his curiosity now satiated, Valyr closed up the livestream and swiftly finished the remaining portion of his food within minutes. After that, he left the restaurant and made his way back to the smithy, sending a message to Arcenne if there was a way for him to advertise the smithy's opening at the city center while walking.
By the time he was finished talking to Arcenne, he had arrived at the closed entrance of the smithy, noticing that a couple customers were waiting for him to return to lunch. Thanking them for waiting for him, he then went ahead and opened the smithy once more, allowing the waiting customers and enter and buy what they needed.
Though, just as he and the customers were entering the smithy, he noticed a familiar face among them, the man looking at him with a wide grin on his face.
"Wells!" Valyr exclaimed in slight glee, approaching the man before giving him a brief hug.
"It's nice to see you again, Valyr." In response, Wells reciprocated the action, with the two of them releasing their grasp of each other as they made their way to a more private section of the smithy.
"Did you just arrive at the city?" Heading to the living quarters for a brief while, Valyr returned to the storefront with a glass of water, giving it to Wells as he posed the question to the latter.
Drinking all of its contents within a few gulps, Wells nodded. "Yeah. Damian told me the contents of the messages you sent him a week ago in response to my questions. It was only around half a week ago did I make the decision to head to Clossbay."
"Of course, you already know the reason why I've come here. It's to tell you something important. Something that would be better said in person." Hearing these words, Valyr could only nod in response.
"But before that, I have something else to say."
"I'm all ears."
"Valyr…"
"Thank you."
