Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Foolish Hineni-men will wander around the home instead of working in the fire place

“Wow, these are super cute,” says an excited adventurer, looking at the little wooden owl figurine that Sockel had given her after checking in for a few days. She pulls on the string dangling form the small figurine and it lifts its wings, as if flapping them. “Thanks!” she beams, walking off to sit at a table in the restaurant.

 

Sockel makes a point of rolling her eyes for Hineni to see. “Am I running a gift shop now too?” she asks.

 

“No,” replies Hineni. “They’re free. So it’s hardly a shop,” he says, picking up one of the things from a crate down by Sockel’s chair. These are the owl toys he had ordered from the carpenter a few weeks ago, while he was on a walk with Obscura. “The carpenter did good work.”

 

“Glad we have our financial priorities straight,” says the elf, her ears twitching.

 

“Selling an image is important,” replies Hineni. “We’re mysterious and shady, but also, we don’t eat babies,” says the man, pulling on the string attached to the owl. It flaps its wings. “I really want to emphasize that last point. It’s good marketing.”

 

“Hey, don’t look at me,” says Sockel. “I never intentionally fed a human baby to an owl-god.”

 

Hineni raises an eyebrow. “That’s suspiciously specific.”

 

“- So, what’s the deal?” asks Sockel. “You aren’t built like an elf. Or even a half.”

 

“Thanks,” says Hineni, flexing an arm.

 

She rolls her eyes. This time for real.

 

“No. I mean, what the hell?” she asks. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but -”

 

Hineni shakes his head, lifting a hand to stop her. “I know, Sockel.”

 

“Do you though?” she asks.

 

“I do,” replies Hineni, nodding.

 

After all, if the vision that Obscura had shown him was true, then his mother, an elf, can’t have been his birth mother. If she was, then he wouldn’t be the striking pinnacle of humanity that he himself has become. He’d have pointy ears and a slender build and he’d like to work with wood.

 

He shudders.

 

Hineni’s eyes wander around the room.

 

But that also means that his father wasn’t his father. Both of his parents were his step-parents.

 

It’s all very confusing.

 

“Hey!” says Sockel, snapping her fingers.

 

Hineni blinks, looking back her way. “No brooding at the front-desk,” she warns.

 

“I wasn’t brooding, Sockel. I was thinking.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” replies the elf, pointing with her thumb towards the forge. “Shouldn’t you get to work? Rhine’s already down there.”

 

Hineni looks at her as she leans back, looking at her fingernails in boredom to make a point out of him being in the way. “Sometimes I wonder if you remember that you work for me, Sockel.”

 

“Oh, please,” replies the elf. “I think we’re past that at this point. Try it with Kleidet.”

 

“Where is she anyway?” asks Hineni, looking around the restaurant. She isn’t here yet, so Obscura has taken over her role in the meantime. Thankfully, business is slow right now and the guests seem to be more than thrilled about the owl-god seeing to them personally.

 

Although maybe they really are diluting their mysterious and edgy imagery somewhat. The frilly waitress’ apron that she’s wearing really isn’t helping in that regard.

 

“Dunno, I saw her just last night. Guess she's late?” suggests Sockel. “Isn’t the school-year about to end? Maybe she had to go do something with her brother?”

 

Hineni narrows his eyes, looking around the room. ‘Late’…? They’ve never had a late employee before. It’s simply never occurred. It’s a little troublesome, but survivable. Being late is something a frog would do.

 

But being mad about someone being late because of personal life circumstances is also something that a frog would do.

 

Hineni stands there, conflicted because of this. But also because he needs a third thing to attribute being frog-like behavior to.

 

“Hey!” A pair of fingers snaps down next to him.

 

Hineni sighs, rolling his eyes. “I’m not brooding.”

 

“You are. I saw it,” replies Sockel. “We need to get the order of pikes ready for the military,” she says. “Time’s running short.”

 

Making a point of it, Hineni walks to the library door instead of heading to the forge. He’s not going to be told what to do, even if she is right.

 

---

 

“Seltsam,” says Hineni, looking around the library. “You all set up?” A hammer lays down at his feet, resting against a shelf.

You are reading story Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG] at novel35.com

 

“H- hello!” says a voice. She’s above him this time. “I was just, you know, working! Haha!” He stares up towards the floor of the inner balcony above his head, not really sure why that was worth laughing about. “Everything’s fine!” she reassures. “Don’t come upstairs, o- okay? Not that you need to!” she adds on. “Because everything is a-okay!”

 

He stares blankly for a moment.

 

“Seltsam, you realize how suspicious that sounds, right?” he asks. “I didn’t care before you said anything. But now I want to look.”

 

“N- no! Really!” reassures the voice from above. “It’s all good in the book-nook!”

 

“The… what?” asks Hineni. “Never mind. I just wanted to tell you that I don’t need the list of five-lettered things anymore,” he explains. “Turns out the magic word was ‘demon’.”

 

“Oh! …Really?” she asks. “Huh… that’s neat. I found a lot of other strange stuff, so it was a whole rabbit-hole!” she explains. “Did you know that there are even animals that stopped existing at some point?” she asks. “I thought it could be some obscure god like that.”

 

“Nope,” replies Hineni. “Just plain old demons.”

 

“Oh,” replies Seltsam.

 

“Yup.”

 

The library is awkwardly silent for a while.

 

“Did you know that there’s a kind of demon that only lives under beds?” she asks. “It likes to eat people’s feet! Haha!” explains the librarian. “Can you imagine?”

 

Hineni stares at the ceiling.

 

“- Totally weird, right?” she asks.

 

Hineni stares at the ceiling.

 

“— Anyway, gonna go. Keep up the good work,” says Hineni, heading to the side door.

 

Something rustles behind himself and he looks, watching just in time as the hammer, that was laying there, vanishes behind a shelf.

 

“Y- yeah!” replies Seltsam. Her voice is still coming from above. “You too!”

 

Hineni decides it best to just not question it, honestly. He’s gotten used to being around people like this. He’s one of them, after all. The man leaves the library, pulling on the string of the little wooden owl in his hands.

 

---

 

“Eilig,” says Hineni. “You down here?” he asks, poking his head down through the trap door to the ice-cellar.

 

No response.

 

It’s cold down here, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the fairy. Maybe she’s upstairs in the library with Seltsam? The two of them seem to be friends.

 

He shrugs.

 

---

 

“You ready to get to work, Rhine?” asks Hineni, perhaps somewhat sarcastically, as Rhine is already at work.

 

He supposes that he himself has been lazing around for most of the morning.

 

“Already got the molds poured for the pike-heads,” says Rhine, wiping a strand of hair off of his forehead.

 

Hineni whistles. “Save some work for me,” he jokes. “I need this job.”

 

Rhine rubs his lip with the back of his thumb. “I’ll consider it, depending on how you do today, old man.”

 

Hineni sizes Rhine up and down. He’s definitely gotten bolder. Although that is difficult to ascertain, given that he was always very boisterous. “Let’s see you try and keep up then, young-blood,” says Hineni. “We’re in for a long day today.”

 

“That’s because you’re late,” says Rhine.

 

Hineni looks over his shoulder.

 

Damn.

 

It’s all come full circle on him now. It’s a good thing he didn’t make a condemning decision earlier about Kleidet.

 

“You’re right,” says Hineni as he throws some new charcoal into the fire. “Sterling silver.”

 

“You got it!” says Rhine, grabbing the materials for the blend.

 

---

 

You can find story with these keywords: Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG], Read Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG], Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG] novel, Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG] book, Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG] story, Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG] full, Weaponsmith : [A crafting litRPG] Latest Chapter