Chapter 45 - Free Will
Rygar started his morning by calming Skoll, who had been restless ever since waking up tense and battle-ready. After some time, the wolf finally settled down and accompanied Rygar to his commitments. He headed toward Godbard's forge, while the dwarves around him were already immersed in their work, as if the previous day's festivities had never happened. It was impressive how they managed to return to their routine without detoxification magic to help them.
As he walked, Rygar's thoughts wandered to the dream he'd had. It felt too real to be just a product of his mind. He didn't trust this 'Human God,' Hitogami, not in the slightest, but investigating the motives behind that vision seemed inevitable. Moreover, he needed to find a way to shield himself from these dreams, perhaps some kind of mental barrier—if such a thing even existed.
When he arrived at Godbard's forge, he found the dwarf working intensely, testing the Erathium that Rygar had negotiated with him. Upon seeing him, Godbard greeted him warmly, stepping away from his tools for a moment.
"Good to see you, lad!" said the dwarf, wiping the sweat from his brow with a cloth. "This Erathium is fascinating. You did a great job with this."
"I'm glad it's useful, Godbard. As we agreed, I hope you'll make a short sword with this first piece of ore. I've been looking for a durable secondary weapon for a while now," Rygar replied with a slight smile.
Godbard laughed. "Sure, sure, but is that the only reason you came here?"
Rygar spoke in a neutral tone. "There's another reason."
The dwarf raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"I still want to embed my sword with a magic stone. And since you said you couldn't help me with that, I thought I'd ask: who do you recommend among everyone?"
Godbard pondered for a moment and began listing several skilled blacksmiths, all dwarves, renowned for their ability to work with rare metals and magic stones. However, none of them was Brightstone—the name Hitogami had mentioned in the dream. Rygar frowned. In truth, it would be better if that were the case; he could ignore that god if this person turned out to be insignificant. He set the topic aside for the time being.
"Alright. And who's the best among them? Who's the best enchanter among the dwarves?"