Inside Bentley's smithy.
An old old metal light shade hung from the top of the ceiling which glowed with a soft faint light.
Timbers of oak and other firewood were neatly placed at one of the corners and the burnt smell of charcoal and wood assaulted them accompanied by the rustic smell of metal as Lucas entered, followed by Roan.
Bentley walked towards the lightly lit furnace that was burning faintly.
He walked towards the furnace while carrying pieces of timber in his hand and started to press the tube which blew air into the furnace and made splinters of fireflies around in the air.
"This baby takes a while to fire up now," Bentley murmured while putting the timbers into the furnace.
Embers flew up from the flames which moved upward due to heat and extinguished quickly like shooting stars.
Bentley finally lit up his precious baby and wiped off the sweat from his forehead.
He went towards the storage place and pulled out a piece of metal and put it on the anvil and asked Neil to show his blacksmithing skill while he sat down at the side while waving a small hand fan.
Neil nodded and took out the metal and first grinded it to scrape off the impurities on it and then threw it into the flames.
Before throwing it, he carefully noted the colour of the flames to know when the metal should be put in it as there was no temperature regulator.
Using a pair of tongs, he pulled it out and started hammering it.
TANG!TANG!TANG!TANG!
Lucas looked at the scene which required quite hard work and full attention.
Working on things in a closed heated space made one feel stuffy and sweat a lot. It was not something that one can do without sheer determination and willpower.
Bentley observed the things carefully and after noting Neil's work for half an hour, he stood up and asked him to stop.
He pinched his brows thinking about where to start.
"Neil listened to my words carefully."
"When you walk on the streets, you can find many people working hard with all their might."
"A small cleaner who cleans the road also works hard but that doesn't mean that he would be able to compare to a person who works hard in high society."
"You have worked hard and have a good grasp of concepts of blacksmithing. There are no qualms about it but one needs to work hard in the right direction."
"Your posture is messed up a little which wastes too much of your strength. Your way of holding the hammer is also wrong."
"You need to work on the finer movements and refine them to get a maximum yield."
"Instead of doing hard work, you should do smart work."
"Do you understand," Bentley asked with a softer expression.
"Lucas, I am not only saying this to Neil but also to you and that nerd."
"Sometimes, working hard is meaningless if you do it the wrong way and you hit a wall and waste too much time."
"At that time blaming others and saying the hard work didn't pay off is only an excuse."
"Hard work will never betray you. Even though you fail in the end at the very least you will become better than the previous day."
"So, remember my words," Bentley explained.
Lucas's eyes shined brightly and he nodded his head with sincere gratitude on hearing Bentley's inspiring words.
"So, are you taking him in?" Lucas asked curiously.
Bentley rolled his eyes and pondered for a moment before finally nodding his head.
"You can come here every time you are free. I will try to teach you and impart everything I know."
"Thank You!" Neil spoke while bowing his head.
....
Lucas got out of the shop leaving behind Roan and Neil and asked them to go back while he had some other things to do.
Taking a sharp twist at the right lane, Lucas walked out of the place with a mask on his face and a cloak over his body.
Lucas came here today for two reasons.
One was to finish Neil's work and another was to enter the underground black market where a big auction would be held.
Today's auction was not a normal one and carried quite a significance.
After the Tournament in Horizon was over, Black Market generally conducts an annual auction where things from all over the world were sold on a grand scale.
Since The Tournament was recently over and there are many people present in the capital.
Naturally, many of them would slip here to take a look if an auction of such scale was held.
That's why there was no better time than now to hold an auction when a huge group of wealthy people were present.
And most of the people attending the auction would be nobles and wealthy merchants who were here to look for interesting things.
And yeah, the so-called protagonist who seemed to have been fired from his post due to transmigration and Lucas's involvement was also going to be present.
He would be here too for The Whisper Earrings which was a high-grade artifact which can call upon war if exposed to the world.
It is an artefact that stores mana and increases one's mana recovery and also stores additional mana which supplements the user over time.
At first, Lucas thought of buying it and for that, he had to go against Frederick.
But after pondering about it carefully he concluded that even if he was able to buy it with a hook or crook, it would just be a waste as it was a set item with his spear and could only be used with Frederick's spear.
Without the spear, it was just a beautiful piece of the earring which can be used for decoration and that's the reason why Fredrick was able to buy it quite easily as the appraiser wasn't able to identify with its skill still they thought that it had a hidden function and placed it in the auction.
Moreover, since it was a set item with the spear, Frederick's spear could detect its place.
That's how Fredrick came to know that it was present in the Black Market and, using the people from the Frost household, he came to know that it was being auctioned here.
But there was also someone else who was eyeing this. The person was an egotistical noble who wanted to have this beautiful set of earrings and gift it to his lover.
When Fredrick exited the auction he was attacked by a group who wanted to steal his thing.
Unlike other times, Fredrick had brought the guards of Frost's household with him as protection and they would be able to fend off the attackers.
Still, Fredrick would be weakened after activating the artifact as it sucked a huge amount of mana and he would sneak into hiding while his guards fought.
And this was where he met Grandpa Bentley as he entered the dilapidated shop thinking that no one might enter here.
Seeing Bentley's skills and his craftsmanship, Fredrick was attracted to his weapons and then he became a regular customer of Bentley.
But since it had nothing to do with Lucas, this time he would just stand at the side and do his things.
He was here for another thing.
The Locket Of Noxx
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