"Eh? Did we really agree on something like that?" In response to Valyr's question, a look of confusion covered the entirety of Magis' face as he tried his hardest to recall the conversation he and Valyr had yesterday.
Surprisingly, most of what he could recall talking with Valyr about was the art of blacksmithing, becoming intrigued by Valyr's perspective on forging that he could still vividly remember each topic they talked about.
However, as he continued recalling their conversation, he eventually remembered that there were some parts of their conversation that did not focus on the art of blacksmithing, but instead on something else related to it.
And that's when it hit him.
With Valyr still fighting against the urge to fall asleep, a look of realization replaced the confusion on Magis' face as he exclaimed, "Ah! You did say something like that!"
"To be honest, I thought that was a joke or something," he added soon after, his gaze focused on Valyr as he asked, "You are joking, right?"
"…right?"
Though he could have replied to the question, Valyr remained silent even as Magis repeated it, letting his silence tell what the latter wanted to know. With that, it did not take long for Magis to get the hint, letting out a sigh as a wry smile crept up on his face. "Not a joke, then."
"Why me, though?" Finally accepting the fact that Valyr was offering the Crimson Forge to him, Magis decided to ask Valyr a few more questions, wanting to make sure that the offer was serious. "Compared to you, I'm not really anything that special. Even if it was just a normal spar, I don't even think I could bridge a level gap that wide."
"What's that got to do with taking over the Crimson Forge?" Of course, Valyr had an idea of why Magis brought it up. However, he quickly dismissed it since it had nothing to do with what Magis was going to do, as well as the fact that he felt a headache creeping up whenever he talked about. "All you gotta do is just forge some items and equipment, and that's it."
"Really now?" Magis still remained a bit skeptical. "Don't they have to reach a certain level of rarity or something since the Crimson Forge is famous and all that?"
"Well, as long as you can consistently forge stuff at Common+ grade and above, you'll basically be forging the same grade of equipment I usually do." In response, Valyr could only shrug his shoulders before letting out a brief yawn. "Unless… you can't?"
"You think I'm not up to par?" Replying to Valyr's last statement, Magis had a frown on his face as he radiated a bit of murderous intent towards the man in front of him. However, rather than shrink back from the murderous intent, Valyr instead smirked at it, even though his eyes drooped from time to time due to extreme drowsiness.
Noticing how Valyr had no reaction to his murderous intent, even going so far as to show how sleepy it made him, instead of becoming furious at Valyr, Magis instead let out a bit of laughter before nodding. "Alright, alright. I'll do what you want me to do, oh, owner of the Crimson Forge."
"From now on, that title belongs to you." Hearing Magis' words, Valyr could only grin. "Speaking of which, if you're wondering how we're going to do this, there's no sharing of profit. You wholly own the Crimson Forge now. Whatever you sell from this point onward, you get to keep all of it for yourself."
"I was just about to ask that, to be honest," replied Magis, causing Valyr to let out a chuckle before yawning once more. "But since you answered that question, what do you typically sell?"
"I mostly sell armor and weapons, with a few trinkets here and there." Pondering over the question for a bit, Valyr recalled through his somewhat foggy mind that there existed types of blacksmiths where each type specialized in a certain area of forging.
In fact, even player blacksmiths weren't exempt from this, their specialties falling into these various types. "I guess you could say I'm a weapon smith and armorer based on what I sell."
"Would it be fine if I sold more trinkets, then?" asked Magis as he nodded at Valyr's words. "Unlike you, I'm a general blacksmith, so I'm not really limited on what I could forge in that regard. Of course, if you want me to stick with selling mainly weapons and armor with a few trinkets on the side, I could do that as well."
"You own the Crimson Forge from now on, so it's really up to you." Unsurprisingly, Valyr couldn't care less what Magis did with it. "In fact, I think business for you would be more bustling since you could do more things."
"Got your potion." Coincidentally, just as Magis was going to ask Valyr once more if the latter was serious about giving the smithy to him, Wells had appeared with the Rousing Slumber Potion Valyr asked him to get, giving it to the latter the very instant he could.
"Thanks." In response, Valyr removed the stopper from the flask before downing all of the flask's contents, feeling the sleepiness he was trying his hardest not to succumb to disappearing within seconds. "I feel so much better."
"What potion was that?" As he watched Valyr's demeanor drastically change within seconds, Magis posed a question to the newcomer.
"A Rousing Slumber Potion," said Wells in response before letting out a soft sigh. "Valyr didn't get a wink of sleep last night since he was up forging, so he asked me to get him one."
"But doesn't the Rousing Slumber Potion have a drastic side effect?" Though Magis understood the reasoning behind getting a potion such as the Rousing Slumber Potion, he instead wondered why Valyr asked Wells to get him that specific potion instead of other potions that also removed drowsiness.
"Of course. That's the reason why I had him buy it." In response, Valyr told him that he already knew of the potion's effects, his current demeanor a stark contrast to how it was before. "I fully expect the side effect to kick in sometime later."
"I see…" Hearing what Valyr said to him, Magis could only nod. However, just as he was about to redirect the topic he and Valyr were talking about back to the Crimson Forge, a trio wearing dull gray armor appeared before Valyr and the two, causing a wide grin to appear on Valyr's face not long after.
"Just the people I wanted to see."
…
"I hope he doesn't find it a bother…" Walking alone through the streets of Clossbay City, Nephilim recalled the experience he had just gone through the past couple of days, being a stark contrast to the experience he had with the other players. In many more ways than one, Nephilim found the experience exciting, as well as enlightening.
Though, unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end as the quest he obtained from Valyr had come to a close. Having faint hopes of obtaining a quest that continued where his previous experience left off, Nephilim arrived at the Crimson Forge, only to find out that a different face was manning the smithy.
Noticing this, Nephilim felt a bit anxious, thinking that he should just come back to the Crimson Forge some other time, a time where Valyr was available.
But just as he turned around to leave, a feeling of regret lingered within him, telling him that he might come to regret heading to the smithy some other time. With the feeling taking over his mind, he gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve, making his way to the blacksmith that seemed to have taken over Valyr's position.
"Good afternoon. I was just wondering if I could talk to Valyr?" As this question left Nephilim's mouth, he fully expected that the blacksmith in front of him would give him the answer he wanted. However, he soon came to find out that it was anything but.
"Valyr, huh? Sadly, you're all out of luck, bud."
"He just left the city a few hours ago."
