Chapter 26: Wiz
Fifteen minutes later, the duo found themselves in front of a small whitewashed farmhouse, with chickens in the yard, pigs out back and one big shaggy dog on the porch. It was the perfect picture of farm life, and to Dominic, who was used to a culture that was a mix of technomagic or sorcery infused everything, it was like someone had made a rustic postcard real.
As they approached, the door swung open with a bang and a massive man in a simple tartan kilt, with his muscular chest bare, came running out with his arms spread.
"Bella, it is so good to see you again. I was just telling mother that we should come looking for you tomorrow, I was sure that it was your caravan that we saw charge through the battle this afternoon. Was anyone hurt? How is your gear holding up?" He asked in a rapid fire barrage that even Bella's guns would struggle to keep up with.
His youthful eagerness was at complete odds with his massive body. It was rather cute how happy he was to see her home safely.
"Wiz, we're fine. Better than fine, since Dominic here spent the whole trip fixing our gear instead of pretending that he was too busy. He's agreed to come along with us to hunt Goblins, and he's a caster as well as a blacksmith." Bella explained.
An older man's head stuck out of the window at the word blacksmith.
"Did I hear that right? Little Bella brought us a smith? An actual proper smith, not some hack from the farrier that doesn't even have the skill?" The older man asked.
Dominic smiled at who he assumed was Wiz's father. "Yes, I'm a proper smith, though I'm still a newer apprentice. This is my first trip out of the forge, and that's only because Bella's team was short of a smith to fix the vehicles if they were attacked."
His face lit up with joy at the news. "Good, perhaps you can fix this for me."