Chapter 26: Of Arms and Dumplings

Near the busy port of Novigrad, there was a dumpling shop, run by an elf. It was a humble place, only one table upfront, and a normal kitchen inside.

The door was opened from outside, and Mikael could easily enter the place. He looked around, the table was quite messy, dough and meat everywhere, dried herbs were hanging on the wall, and the smell of dumplings was definitely tempting.

He entered the place, no need to knock, as the owner of the place was already in the kitchen, cutting some vegetables as water was boiling on the stove.

"You sell dumplings?" questioned Mikael casually.

"Right you are." said the elf, not turning to Mikael. "Redanian dumplings, speciality of the house! Heartily recommended!"

The elf then turned to Mikael, knife still in hand as he smiled at Mikael.

"Then I'll have a couple." hummed Mikael as he sat on the stairs beside him, waiting for the elf to cook.

"Coming right up!" the elf said. But, as he turned, he noticed something from Mikael's waist.

"Is that an Ofieri blade?" questioned the elf in surprise. "That looks like the standard grade of the army! You came from Ofir?"

"No, I stole it off a corpse." said Mikael, shrugging.

"Oh…" the elf chuckled nervously. "A rare one to see here, how long is that? 40 inches?"

"Never checked to be honest…" Mikael murmured. "Maybe?"

"Hmm… maybe longer…"

"Are you a sword expert?" questioned Mikael casually.

"Ah, indeed I am." he said proudly. "Eibhear Hattori, at your service."

"Mikael." the one-armed man introduced himself. "If you're a sword expert, why make dumplings?"

Hattori laughed a bit as he heard that. "Believe it or not, friend, making dumplings is more profitable than blacksmithing here, and besides, food vendors rarely disappear or end up as cripples… er… no offense."

"Well that's unfortunate." sighed Mikael. "Someone's controlling the smithing market?"

"Not officially, no… although, all supplies go through Ernst Van Hoorn, and they say he plays cards with Cleaver… frequently."

"Don't know 'em." shrugged Mikael. "Why don't you just move then? Go to Oxenfurt… or everywhere else for that matter."

"The coin's tight on my end." chuckled hattori. "Haven't got a coin to move. If I could, I would."

"Okay… then maybe negotiating?" Mikael said. Hattori then came with his dumplings, he placed it on the table near Mikael, and Mikael took one, eating it. "Damn, this is good…" murmured Mikael as he quickly finished that one dumpling.

"Van Hoorn is a heartless bastard." scoffed Hattori. "I either will play by his rules, which is often full of trickery, or not get it at all."

"How about for someone else?" Mikael continued. "Not a local… so don't really know if there's any crime boss in this area." he lied.

"Those rats control all of the sources. Unless…" he then turned to Mikael, hope in his eyes. "Would you be able to help me?"

"Me?" Mikael raised his eyebrow. "What makes you think I could help you?"

"Ofieri soldiers are no joke," he said. "If you could kill them, surely you could beat a couple of thugs. Just come to a meeting, as my bodyguard, It'll bolster my confidence. Truth be told, not so long ago, I tried negotiating some iron deliveries with one of the king of beggars' men."

"Again, don't know them." shrugged Mikael.

"He's another crime boss in this area… it's just, he demanded a stupid large share of the profits. I thought you might help me negotiate… not for free of course, I'm certain we can agree on a fee."

"A fee?" hummed Mikael as he ate another dumpling. He looked at his leather prosthetic arm, and asked. "Could you make prosthetic arms?"

"Prosthetic?" Hattori questioned. "Sure I could do something, perhaps I'll add a little bit more to it too."

Mikael sighed as he stood up. "Alright, I'll help you, I don't know why you would trust a stranger like me… but, a job's a job, the pay's good anyway."

Hattori smiled. "Splendid. Meet me after dusk, near the crane at the dock."

—

As the sky turned dark and the night had come, Mikael was now walking through the now empty Novigrad dock. It was raining heavily, thunder lit up the night sky occasionally as Mikael walked through the now empty dock of Novigrad. He was wearing a black cloak, preventing his body from the rain that was pouring, and as he neared the crane, he saw the elf, waiting for him nervously below it.

As Hattori saw Mikael approaching, he sighed in relief, he probably had thought Mikael had abandoned him.

"Greetings Mikael. It's nearby, ready?" he questioned.

Mikael nodded. "Lead the way."

The two then walked together through the dock, and then turned around to an alley beside a warehouse. The whole way, Hattori looked nervous, his hands shaking a bit.

"Calm down." Mikael said. "It'll be fine, what do you know about the guy?"

Hattori peaked at Mikael, before looking straight again. "Not much, his name is Tinboy, he's quick to anger, so be careful. We need him more than he needs us."

Hattori then opened a door at the very end of the alley, towards an empty and small street, where a group of men were waiting.

They walked up to them, Hattori still nervous.

"I thought you were to come alone, elf?" Tinboy questioned Hattori. He then turned to Mikael. "Who're you?"

"A friend." said Mikael vaguely.

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"Eh, fine. Here's how we see things. The boss're not friendly with Cleaver, so there's gotta be a pay-off. We've got an offer, and it's not negotiable."

"Just say the offer."

Tinboy frowned as Mikael said that. "A steady supply of iron in exchange for fifty percent of your profits."

"You mental?" scoffed Mikael. "twenty percent."

"Who are you to dictate anythin' to the king of beggars? Thirty-five's as low as we'll go."

Mikael sighed. He then smiled, Tinboy's eyes seemed dull for a second, before coughing weirdly in front of Mikael.

"Not gonna happen." Mikael said. "Twenty. Plus bodyguards. This guy's a genius if you haven't noticed."

Tinboy gulped weirdly. "Twenty plus bodyguards? I-"

"Yes or no?" Mikael cut him off.

"W-We don't have a lot of men…" he murmured.

"Then find a merc or something for Hattori." Mikael rolled his eyes. "He'll pay for them."

"I– oh alright… if you say so…" murmured Tinboy, earning confused looks from his comrades.

"Tinboy, wha' are you doin'?" said a man.

"It's fine, he's right, the guy's a genius." Tinboy answered. "We could make a lot of money from his product alone."

Mikael then offered his left hand to Tinboy. "Deal?"

"D-Deal…" Tinboy murmured weirdly.

"Then we're done here." nodded Mikael as he turned towards Hattori, who was surprised by the outcome of the negotiation. "What?" he questioned.

"I do not want to know how you did that…"

"Didn't do anything." shrugged Mikael.

But then, the door behind them suddenly opened. And a group of dwarfs wearing red clothing entered the street.

"Oh, Tinboy, too much drink. It's softened your bloody mind. This 'ere's Cleaver's territory ye prick-whitler!"

The dwarfs then ready their axes, and so Tinboy and his men. Hattori cowered in fear as he saw that a battle was about to ensue.

The dwarfs then screamed on the top of their lungs, before lunging themselves at the men in front of them.

Mikael grabbed one of their axes as one of them ran towards him, stopping the dwarf in place, before kicking the wide and short dwarf to the wall, making cracks on it.

As the axe was still in his hand, Mikael threw the axe to another dwarf. The axe then was buried deep to a dwarf's skull, killing him instantly.

He then ran towards the now dead dwarf, retrieving the axe quickly, before rushing towards another dwarf.

The dwarf screamed like a berserker, bracing himself on what was about to happen. As Mikael raised his axe to the sky, he then slammed the axe to the dwarf, the dwarf tried to block it, but his weapon quickly broke as it got in contact with the full force of the axe, and once again, his head was split open by the sheer force of Mikael's axe.

Mikael then pulled the axe from the dead dwarf's skill roughly, the dwarf's brain coming out like liquid, and he stared at the rest of the dwarfs, seemingly terrified with him.

"M-Monster!" the dwarf shouted. Some of them ran towards Mikael, for one last fight, while others ran away from him, trying to stay alive.

Mikael sighed. He dropped the axe, and unsheated his sword. He jumped towards the dwarf, his body seemingly floating for a good second, he launched at the dwarfs, swinging and dancing away, avoiding the axes, and hitting the dwarfs in the vital spots.

He danced majestically with his sword as the rain was pouring, the dwarfs quickly fell one by one, their bodies minced to pieces, blood was flowing on the street, the smell of death permeating around the place.

Hattori was seeing all of this. He had never seen such a thing in his entire life. It was like a dance of death, the wails and screams of the dwarfs echoed inside Hattori's mind. To him, Mikael was like the grim reaper, and as he watched his movements, he made a note about what weapons that could be suitable for him.

As Mikael finished, the rain was pouring heavily from above. His red hair was dripping water mixed with the blood of the dwarfs, around him were corpses, cut to pieces, the road was soaked with blood, and the sword in his hand broken.

He then turned to Tinboy, who was also afraid about what he had just seen, and said. "Don't forget about the deal."

"I-I'll not forget it." stuttered Tinboy. "T-The bodyguards will be sent soon."

Mikael just smiled. "Good." he turned to Hattori, and gestured at him to follow him. "Let's go Hattori."

The elf nodded and followed him. He walked beside him, looking at Mikael with curiosity.

"If you want to say something then just say." Mikael stated.

"N-No.. I just– thank you." Hattori said. "I definitely wouldn't have done this without you."

"You probably could." shrugged Mikael.

Hattori just chuckled, and said. "Come to my place next week,  your prosthetic arm and sword will be finished."

"But I didn't ask for a sword?"

"But I wanted to make one," he said. "For you. It'll be an honor to make a sword worthy of your skill."

Mikael just smiled at him. "Then I shan't refuse."

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