Mark arose to the sun rising directly in his face as he normally did. He cleaned up and grabbed some jerky to eat as he made his way to the forge at a leisurely pace. The air was cool and damp this morning and there was dew on the sporadic patches of grass. The air was filled with the violed petals of the wild plum trees on the distant mountaintop which caused a nice fragrance to suffuse the air.
Mark chewed the jerky during his short journey as he enjoyed the nice smell of the air and the way the cool damp air entered his lungs as he took in long relaxing breaths that filled his lungs completely before he let the air go. He really enjoyed mornings like this which were dimly lit by the sun that had just begun peaking over the mountain tops in the distance.
The cool damp air mixed with the dim lighting always reminded him of his birthday which were always spent in the forge with his father in the past. The memories of his first miserable creations he had made as a child always filled his heart with amusement.
When he made it to the smithy, he fired up the forge and prepared his tools for the day's work. The igniting of the forge was always a welcome endeavor as the process was quick and signified the beginning of the work day for Mark. He also got the furnace running as he needed to refine some iron for the items he would be crafting today.
After getting the furnace ready, he added some of his stock of refined iron to his crucible and placed it in the forge to melt into a malleable form. With everything ready, he finally noticed that Anabel had come by the smithy to watch him once again. He walked over to talk to her but noticed another pair of the caravan guards approaching the smithy.
The guards looked bulky and nearly as tall as Mark, but what really caught the eye was how they were walking in an orderly line with one behind the other. Once they approached close, Mark and Anabel could see that they were carrying a gurney with iron ores piled in the makeshift stretcher with some colorful ores sprinkled in with the iron.
Mark was expecting the iron ores today since he had worked out the deal with Mr. Li since he wanted so much armor and weapons to be made, Mark pointed out that he would be unable to gather the iron himself. Mr. Li had no qualms with sending his extra guys out to get the ores as they would likely be out there anyway to gather monster pelts and colorful ores anyway.
When the two men approached, Mark signaled them to dump the ores next to the furnace and gave them a nod in appreciation. The two guys nodded back but stopped Mark before he got to work.
The guy that was walking in the front of the duo spoke up for both of the men as they both pulled out a couple of small purple ores, "Mr. Blacksmith, my brother and I heard that you would be willing to take care of our weapons quickly if we brought you some of this ore. Are you still willing to put a rush on our swords?"
Mark excitedly replied as his eyes took in the ores, "Yes, hand those swords over right now and ill have them fixed up and reinforced in no time!"
The two men also grew excited at the idea of having reinforced weapons so soon and grew big smiles as they handed over their weapons which Mark promptly placed in his forge. He then told them what they could do in the meantime.
"There is a park over there where the mountain spring snakes through, and the earth is soft with plenty of grass to sit on, or you can hang out here while I get these weapons fixed up. Or you can come back later, whatever fits your schedule and preferences."
The two men thanked Mark and headed over to the spring to watch the fish that were somehow up in the top of the mountain as they took a break. The iron ore was not light, after all.
Mark quickly got to work when the two men left as he loaded the furnace up with the iron ores to be processed while he worked on their swords. When he was done tending to the furnace, the swords were ready to be worked on so he grabbed his etching tool and got to work.
In no time at all, the swords were in tip-top shape and reinforced with a compressed edge which would last the men several years. Mark put the finishing touches on the swords by grinding down the edges with his whetstone and carried the swords over to the two men.
They thanked him once again and departed back to the caravan as Mark walked back to his furnace to check the iron. In the pan was plenty of molten refined Iron that he poured into the bar molds and placed the pan back. He then loaded more iron ore into the furnace to be processed before getting back to his forge.
He started working on the quota of armor and weapons that he had for the day and kept an eye out for the other materials that should be delivered sometime soon. While taking care of the quota he kept refining the iron, using some of the molten metal in his creations while creating bars out of the excess.
After getting through most of the quota for the day, another guard from the caravan came by with a horse-drawn wagon. Mark stepped out of the smithy to greet the man and accept the new materials he would utilize tomorrow which is the last day he had a quota of weapons and armor.
The man with the wagon helped Mark out with the transfer of materials, but he did not have any additional requests for his weapons or armor to quickly get reinforced. The top of the wagon was covered in beast pelts which revealed a big pile of different types of bones and skulls when removed. Under the bones and skulls were different types of colored ores in the proportions Mark had specified to the merchant, with a couple of extra purple ores in there.
Once the wagon was emptied Mark addressed the guard, "Thank you for bringing these materials out and helping me unload them."
The man replied in kind, "You're welcome, just make sure to make us some awesome equipment haha".
The man then steered the horse in the direction they came and waved to Mark as he left.
Mark was quite satisfied with the supply of materials and was excited to utilize them later in creating many of the bone-melded weapons and armor. With his main project weapon in shambles, he planned to start on the alloy and bone weapons and armor after lunch, but for now, he would be finishing the refined iron creations that only received reinforcement.
After finishing up the quota for the day, he made sure the equipment was in the correct place for someone to come pick it up before organizing the smithy for later. He then walked over to Anabel to see if she wanted to get something to eat for lunch.
He was surprised to see her fiddling with the new supplies he had received earlier, seemingly organizing the materials in a more orderly fashion than the piles that Mark had left them in. He noticed that the bones were actually grouped into the different sizes for him to easily grab when he was wanting a particular piece and the skulls had their own group.
"Thanks for the help with the organization Anabel."
She jumped a bit when Mark addressed her. 'I guess she was a bit spaced out. . .'
"Oh, you're welcome Mark, I thought this scheme would be easier for later. I know you like to spend as much time working as possible."
Mark smiled as he replied, "Yes, this will be great. I guess I should have been doing this all along. Anyway, I am finished for the morning shift, do you want to go get something to eat?"
Anabel stood up straight and instantly smiled as she replied, "Yes! I am so hungry today, let's go get some chicken fried rice!"
Mark replied, "Mmm, that does sound good. Let's go."
He then held out his arm, which Anabel grabbed with both hands and leaned on as Mark was used to at this point. He figured she was tired after watching him next to the heat of the forge all morning and she just needed some help for the walk to the caravan.
Anabel, on the other hand, wash blushing with a serene smile on her face as she leaned her head on Mark's shoulder as they walked down the path from the smithy.