Celestial Steelworks was the name of the shop. Asher nailed it into place as their first customer wandered through the door. They seemed to be grumbling something under their breath, so Asher questioned them, "May I help you?"
"You don't have any inventory whatsoever? What kind of shop is this? It's a sad excuse, I'd say."
Asher took a deep breath and stated, "We just opened for business today. If you come back in a day or two, we'll have some inventory for you to pick from. Until then, all you'll be able to do is custom order whatever you may want."
"Since you seem to think I'll be impressed with whatever you have going on in here, I want a longsword with a dragon rising up the length of the blade. I want it done by tomorrow."
Asher nodded and scribbled down the order on a form. "That'll be two gold coins on delivery of the product. Is that alright?"
The customer immediately blustered, "Two gold for a steel sword? It isn't that expensive for the material!"
Asher replied calmly, "It is not, but the man smithing the weapon for you is going to have to take more time to make such a weapon, thus lowering profits on any inventory he may be working on in the meantime. If you want to go more simple, I'd be happy to drop the price."
The customer just continued to grumble as he left the shop. Asher smirked as he pulled the order form off the paper and walked to the back to hand it to Orion who was covered in black soot and sweat from working over the forge, attempting to create armor for the inventory out front. As soon as he read the order, he nearly laughed at the description of the order. "They're testing me to see if I can do custom work or if I just mass produce the same thing. It's almost laughable how pathetic they actually are with this order."
"So can you do it?" Asher asked.
"Absolutely," Orion answered immediately. "It actually shouldn't take that long. It'll just take a small amount of innovation on my part and it should turn out just fine. I'm actually glad for the challenge because I've just been working on plain pieces all this time. It's good to have a break from the mundane for a few moments."
Asher nodded and asked him, "Do you have anything for me to stick up front yet, or are you still working on it?"
Orion replied, "I've got a few pieces done. It's not much, plus I intended to put them together with full sets of armor, but that can wait until later. Right now, we have an expensive order to fill. That trumps all of this other equipment, which comes out to two hundred silver for a full set. I'd rather make the gold and buy more material to work with."
Asher nodded and took everything Orion had finished so far. It was just miscellaneous items so far, helmets, gloves, greaves and daggers. There was no true rhyme or reason to it yet, so Asher just stuck the armor and weapons anywhere he could. Eventually, a couple of guild members wandered in looking for new equipment. They left with a couple of pieces that were out on the floor and Asher was very pleased with the outcome. They had seen the same quality that Asher had. In Asher's case though, he had been having to check extra carefully due to the fact that all that Orion had the capability for before was nails and the like.
Asher made his way to the back to check on how Orion was making out with the blade, only to find the sword exactly matched the description the disgruntled man had given. Asher was amazed at how quickly Orion had produced it with no issues. He guessed Orion living on the streets had gained some level of skill, even with his limited selection before.
Asher took the sword up front and set it aside in a collection for custom work. It seemed as though word was getting around on the street about the shop, as more people were coming in. Asher spent the next hour filling out custom orders and taking them to Orion who happily complied with forging everything people wanted.
No matter how backed up the orders got, Orion never worried about it. He was just happy to swing his hammer in his own shop. He was more free to live his life than ever before. It was exhilarating to Orion.
Eventually Leah had to jump in to help out the shop for their first day. They had also called for their newest employee while Asher attempted to help Orion in the forge. He would grab ingots for Orion as he needed them. Hours ticked by as it got closer and closer to leaving for the day.
Orion had already decided he was going to continue working for hours after the shop closed, but the rest of them could leave if they wanted. Asher had decided against that course of action, as he wanted to assist Orion in the forge to help get the production of armor caught up after everyone left for the day.
As the sun went down, the customers began to dwindle down until there was practically nobody inside the shop. After that point, they flipped the sign on the front of the shop to point out that they were closed for the day. Asher continued to assist Orion until he heard the front door bell ringing. A chill went down Asher's spine as he thought about what it could be at this time of night. There would normally be nothing going on that late at night. That was why Asher crept towards the front with his sword drawn and ready for anything that stood before him.
When he emerged from the forge, there was a man browsing the front. Asher could only see him from the back at first. Asher cleared his throat and stated, "We're closed, please come back tomorrow." Asher was stunned when the man turned around. With mocha skin and stark white hair with brilliant blue eyes, a complete contrast to the pale he had before, Asher recognized the man in front of him. He knew there was only one man who he had ever seen that looked like that. It was Arcanis.