Chapter 94 94 – The Blacksmith

"Are you feeling better already?" I asked Ayre as we walked the city streets the next day.

The shapeshifter general massaged her nape. "Well, I feel better already..."

However, I could see that her hands were shaking again.

"Soon, we will reach the economic center of this city." The shapeshifter who guides us explains. "And soon we'll get to madam Zoe, that famous blacksmith."

The further we walked, the more people passed by. Ayre looks more uneasy, even though her face is still without expression. She looked around and held her chest many times.

"What exactly happened to you?" Emily asked while observing the shapeshifter general.

I added. "Do we need to rest until you feel better?"

Ayre shook her head. "Let's keep going, my lord. Don't let my condition get in the way of this mission."

"If you can't go on, tell me, please." I found that drops of cold sweat had covered her skin.

We entered an area with lower buildings, but the architecture was the same as before.

"Even this city market is boring." Emily yawned.

Yes, those buildings are shops that sell various kinds of foodstuffs, and their shape is very similar to each other.

"That's our destination." The guiding shapeshifter pointed to the most different building there. Instead of having the front wide open like a shop, the place uses a regular door.

When I stopped in front of that place, I found a sign that said 'blacksmith' at the top.

"Why is it only this building that's different?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"Because since the beginning, this place has always been different." The guide explained again. "Every time a blacksmith in this place dies, it won't be long before someone replaces them..."

"Alright, alright." Emily cut off his words and shrugged. "Maybe that's enough explanation, and we'd better get in now."

I was even more worried when I found Ayre's eyes widening, and her whole body was shaking instead of just her hands.

"Are you really okay, Ayre?"

With an unbelievably stiff motion, she turned her head to me. "I just feel like I have to enter this place immediately."

"Are you sure?" I really don't understand her.

As soon as she nodded, I opened the door to that place, although I still had doubts about Ayre's condition.

"Hello." I greeted, but no one answered.

Emily looked at the metal objects on the shop walls. "So, these are the works of a blacksmith who chooses her own buyers. Well, I feel that her works are extraordinary, indeed."

Each weapon and armor on display was engraved with a special pattern that differed from one another. And some of the patterns emit dim light of various colors.

Those are weapons or armor that are enchanted with magic attributes.

"Excuse me." I walked over to the wooden counter. "Is there anyone here?"

"Ah, I've been waiting for you." A woman's hoarse voice emerged from the inside. And not long after, a chubby, grizzled woman came out through the curtained door behind the counter. "Welcome, Lord Vorn. I am the blacksmith of this place."

My heart rate jumped up when I heard her. "Why did you say that name?"

"Because today is the day. I've been waiting for this day for years." She widened a smile.

"You…." Ayre approached the woman with a gasp and stumbling steps. "You are the source of this discomfort…. Who exactly are you?"

The wrinkles on the female blacksmith's face disappeared. Her body also became taller and slimmer. Her hair, which had been short and gray, was extended, wavy, and turned brown.

Not only that, but the contours of her face have also become smoother, making her one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

I frowned. "You are a shapeshifter?"

"What the fuck?" Now Emily approached that woman. "Why are you imitating lady Zhoal's appearance? What is the meaning of this?"

I still remember. Zhoal was Emily's master five hundred years ago and her mentor in the study of necromancy.

"Oh, I'm not copying anyone, darling." The woman behind the counter smiled. "I really am Zhoal, and I've been waiting for this moment."

She raised one hand, and suddenly a large circle of yellow light surrounded my feet and Ayre's.

It was a magic circle, judging by the runes on its edges.

Emily and the shapeshifter guide ran to help us, but Zhoal shot a flash of lightning from her hands, sending them flying and hitting the wall.

Clatters echoed as the metal objects there fell. Those two subordinates suddenly fell unconscious.

"What are you doing!?" I tried to move my body but to no avail. Ayre also seems to have the same problem.

"This is powder from the giganpoppy plant." Zhoal shows a bottle filled with white powder. "This thing can distort the reality of anyone who uses it, and it's not just an illusion."

"Hey, you haven't answered my question!" My emotions are overflowing. The more I tried to free myself, the more I struggled to move. "What is…."

Suddenly my mouth closed, making it impossible for me to speak anymore.

She sprinkled the powder around Ayre and me, then pulled out two pairs of sharp teeth from her dress pocket.

"Next are the fangs of vampire monarchs, who are also categorized as high-demons." She threw the two pairs of teeth into the magic circle. "Things like this are very precious to their owners, and they can draw a lot of dark energy from the ground."

I was still trying to move while thinking about how to get out of this situation.

"And lastly, two things made of Mythril, the rarest metal in the world. Well, that was before I invented ragmonuk metal." She took out two knives from the back of her shirt. She twirled those things with her hands, then stuck them to the wooden floor near us. "These things are a conduit of energy for those giganpoppy powders. What we're going to do is much more than distorting reality, after all."

The light from the magic circle grew brighter. Zhoal waved at me and Ayre, then I couldn't see anything anymore because the light covered my entire vision.