Andrei: Alright, so how does this crystal work?
Samu: spek! spek!
Andrei: I just speak? There is no other complicated shit I need to know about this weird-ass crystal that somewhat is carved into an object of a microphone! I am not a singer nor will I ever want to be like one of those children movies characters that always sing!
Samu: Sin!?
Andrei: Damn it! No there will be no singing!
Samu and other Grublins: SIN! SIN! SIN!
Andrei facepalmed and shook his head: Alright! But no one else other than you guys can hear me sing!
Samu and the Grubs: Yaaaaaahhhhh!
I can tell many beginning blacksmiths about forging in three explanations. One, don't go forging something beyond your experience. Two, be sure to know your tools for forging. And three, don't be a dumbass and try touching the blade after ducking it in the water! Yeah, I know those Man at Arms had a man picked a forged piece from the water with his bare hands, but he left that metal in there to cool down a few seconds before picking it up! There is a reason why my right hand is bandaged was because of my stupidity on trying to catch a half cooled down blade when the tongs lost grip of it. Yeah, I know it was dumb of me to do that and I admit that too, but I was still practicing on forging blades and armor since being in a world with danger almost in every corner you are gonna need protection and a weapon to survive. However, I am still able to use a forge and hold something in my right-hand thanks to a Grublin Shaman, we just called those grubs that know medicine and healing techniques. I don't know why these guys would have grublins like these, but my brother and I only made guesses on why.
Though despite my right hand still healing from touching hot metal, I was back at the forge, holding a pair of tongs as three grubs hammer away on a brick piece of hot metal. You cannot say that creatures made out of earth and grass would be dumb as hell, these little guys are smart enough to follow orders as well think a bit for themselves whenever my brother and I are not around. Like the human saying goes for every living thing and nonliving objects, "Do not judge a book by its cover", or you may be wrong from your judgment by looks.
Now my forge was located in a cave that was the original place my brother and I stayed at before we built that watermill house. The reason, why I have the forge up here, was that I didn't trust myself with fire! I actually accidentally lit one of these grubs on fire when I was pulling an iron hammer from the forge itself, one of the burning coal flew out after I pulled the hammer out, that one piece landed in one of my helpers head catching their grass part on fire! Now you would expect a Grublin made mostly out of earth would not panicked and simple do a drop and roll to put it out. Wrong! That little bastard panicked and flailed its arms everywhere when he ran through the forge! I had to use my waterskin to pour water on him, but I had to chase him first throughout the cave before he ran out of the cave! Luckily he was sensible to just stop and try rolling around to put himself out, that gave me the chance to pour water on him! That grub now had a scorched head that leads down to his tail, we named him Scorched. Fucked up to name a thing that had happened to them, but hey we couldn't think up of a better name than that!
When Scorched and the two grubs finished hammering the hot iron to be flat, I pull the iron back and stuck it back in the forge. This forge is made out of fire bricks, we made these bricks from the best mud we could find and made the shape of bricks from one that could fit in your hand to one that is the length of your forearms and width of both of them together. After setting the piece of flat iron in, Scorched began to pump air through the furnace causing the coals to get night and hot for us to use in heating up metal.
While he was in charge of the heat, I looked around in my forge to see the other two waiting passionately by the flat stone. We didn't have an anvil to create those curves in various blades and weapons, but we managed to go past the use of an anvil with tools and certain shapes and sizes of various iron bars we forged, though it takes twice as long than using an anvil. I looked up at my forge area and remembered how this place looked vacant without my smithing table, tool rack, hanging weapons, grindstone, a barrel of water, a metal barrel of oil, and my boxes full of metal and coal. The space in this cave was a bit small much like a bear den when you enter in, but I managed to work around in this small place and kept everything organized. Boxes in the far end opposite of the entrance, smithing table against the right wall with the tool rack beside it, dull weapons were hanging on the ceiling, the forge up against the left wall, grindstone next to my forge, and a bit round flat stone in the middle with both barrels by it.
"Alrighty, Ledge, Hammer, be ready to start hammering carefully on the edges when I pull the flat metal out, don't want to fatten the edges too much." Yes, that is their name, Ledge is the one on the left with a single cracked gem in his left eye socket, and Hammer is the one on the right with an actual stone hammer on his back. Again don't judge the names I guess!
Both of them nodded their heads and readied themselves for the next step of forging another blade. In all honesty, neither of these three knew how to forge, I had to teach them the basics of smithing and using the forge. It was a long week I had with these three, but the results I have from it was worth it.
"Het! Het!" Scorched shouted out as he stopped pumping air in the forge and rand back to his position. I ran to the forge and used the tongs to pull the heated metal out and set it flat on the edge as the three carefully hammered the exposed edge. After they hammered the edge to what satisfied us, I flipped it and let them repeat what they did last time.
We spent half an hour reheating the metal and shaping the piece into a short iron sword. Forging a blade, hammer, axe, and tool are difficult as hell, but each time we finish on that work we are proud of seeing our result of the time we had spent forging. This wouldn't be any different than any other weapon we had crafted before.
This would be another short day of forging a weapon for the grubs to use. Though I can't really complain about making the weapons for the grublins to give us better protection and a fighting chance to do decent damage than flailing a roughly shaped stone sword around. I can't have any of these guys just being useless for my brother and my own protection, it is better for us to have more helping hands than useless ones that can't do shit!
Time later
After forging for about most of the day, the short sword we made looked like Roman's sword without the hilt and handle. We didn't have the necessary material to go past the medieval since we lacked materials and a proper smithing place, but we were able to forge weapons before medieval weapons and armor. If we did have an anvil in our disposal and more tools to use on forging then I could be crafting some iron or steel armor and weapons for the grubs. Sadly we don't have one.
I wandered through the forest to the grublins home, their place is underground and easy to find when you know where the entrance is at. The reason, why I'm going to the grublin's home, was that I had to check in with the shaman, a Grublin that is able to use magic and is capable of learning brewing potions as well knowing the medical treatment. I had to get my right-hand check to make sure the bandages and Nectora leaves are changed; a nectora plant is a big flower with crimson red petals that are the size and width of a human infant.
This shaman that I mention has an unusual look, her, yes this grublin is her because of her voice and how she can actually speak despite not showing any appearance of the gender, she was much taller than any of the grubs; her height was somewhere between my shoulders or below my chest. She had a few flowers growing on her head, green gems that glow and acted for her eyes, four arms with two gem rings on each arm, a row of sharp teeth, and a necklace with a dark purple gem tied on it. She was actually the first Grublin that my brother and I had spoken with in clear English and arrange an agreement. That is just a small history we have with the grublins and their shaman.
When I arrived at the front entrance of grublin's home village, I stomped my foot twice and waited. A trap door in the grassy area was lifted up and opened, revealing a small grub with a stone spear in its right hand. It looked up at me then grunted down the hole before lifting the trap door further up.
I wasted no time and walked down the stairs going underground and arriving at the grublins village. The guard shut the trap door behind me and hopped down the set of stairs, hopping past me as I descend lower from the surface. The first half of the time walking down the stairs was just me leaning my body down to a near crouch before the rest is just standing up without crouching down. If I was an elderly man this would be a pain for my back, but I'm not around that age, yet!
"Matter!" I felt someone tackle my left side, almost causing me to fall off the set of stairs. Looking down at my side at the side, I spotted Samu hugging me and looking up at me, his single gem eye glimmering an orange hue from the burning torches. He may not have the facial expressions to show his expression on how he is feeling, but his body language and tone of his voice tells me that he was excited, happy, and overfilled with joy.
"Hey Samu, how is the little grub doing?" I patted the top of his head, causing the little grub to grunt happily and bounce more. Mentally seeing him of a creature he is, I can see Samu as an excited little puppy. Actually, there has been one time that Samu barked like a dog, though it sounded like a puppy trying to back talk you after you yell it no.
"Godt, wen on walk and got mor metl for yo!" Samu said as he wrapped his arms around my leg and chuckle. Again no one will see this cute other than me, but I don't care! This was an adorable sight to see!
I softly chuckled and patted his head again. Walking with a grub latched onto your leg felt like walking with two fists sized rocks tight to your foot and on your thighs. It may be a good exercise if I was taking a jog around the forest and strengthening my legs with this type of weight, but I do not want to push my luck and physical abilities that I am limited to. Pushing my luck anymore would cause lady luck herself to sent some horrible fortune to me, and I would rather not have that being in a world that is still unknown to my brother and me.
With each step on the way to the shaman, I felt a slight shiver down my back, now this shiver is something I would like to call a warning shiver. I know it sounded weird, but it is much better to have this than a shiver telling you that someone is fucking around the corner or knowing that someone next to you has cash. My brother has the later one, not the first one I mentioned! Definitely not, unless we want to find and see if civilization is near use, but that is not what we want at the moment! Anyway back to the what is causing that shiver, no one think of sex!
I scooted to the side and looked at the spot I was to have seen that a small purple glowing spider was dangling down on a thin soft glowing web string. Now I am no zoologist, but I am pretty sure that a spider in another world would still be a venomous spider! Hey if I knew that it wasn't and just a harmless spider then it is better to be safe than sorry about the unknown!
Raising both my hands up, I swiftly slammed my hands together and squashed the bug between them, a sudden burst of purple goop squirted out from between my hands. This goop stained my bandaged hand and stuck to my other hand like glue. I tried pulling my hands apart, but when I tried to both of them barely budged apart as this purple goop kept them stuck together. Squishing the spider wasn't the brightest though I had, but hey at least I know that its blood and web is some type of clue! So I count this as a win-win in my books.
I pull my hands back and looked at them, this goop of light purple liquid was similar to glue and a very strong type of glue, to be honest. Thankfully my right hand was bandaged so I only had to worry about my left hand. With a few attempts on trying to pry my hands apart and free them from this goop, I had managed to tear the goop apart and free my hands, but both still have the remains of the goop on them. The spider's corpse was in the goop too, but it now looked like a flat spider cutout.
Note to self when finding these spiders, if I were to capture one and put it in a secure cage then there could be a chance I might be able to harvest this goop. However, that will be another time that I would catch another purple spider. Now I have to try to wash the goop off.
I continued to limp my way over to the Shaman's place, Samu still chuckling as he rides my leg and enjoying the ride. He paid no mind of me of squishing a spider between my palms, so it was safe to say that I wasn't in any real type of danger when I killed the thing. Although it was stupid of me to just do that without thinking. However, I am still alive and made a new discovery of another species! So it's a win on my part, even if no one agrees with me.
After a few minutes of walking and cleaning my hands with a wet hot cloth, I stood at the front doors of the grub shaman's house. If anyone would have seen the skulls of various creatures and bones as well jars full of glowing gray goop with tadpole-like fish inside them, they would never want to get close to this place. Unless you are fearless or one who doesn't give a shit about what would happen to you! Then that would be a different story.
I rapped on the door and waited. While I wait for the shaman to open the door, looking down at my left Samu looked up at me and waved before getting off and running away. The reason, why Samu ran, is that how this shaman is basically the leader of them and every leader would want their own privacy from their own kind or subjects. However, my brother and I don't mind their company as they can lend a helping hand or help pass the time, so we enjoy their company.
The door creaked open, my head shot up at the door to see the shaman. She held a staff in her right and, upper right hand to be exact, and two glowing bottles of unknown liquid inside in her left hands. I may not know much about shamans other than them being a medicine witch and grinding herbs together to make medicines.
"Andrei, it is good to see you again, but what brings you here to my domain?" I forgot to mention that Sheele speaks in rhyming words.
"I am here to visit my favorite shaman as well let her treat my hand again," I said and held out my right hand to her. Sheele nodded and stepped aside from the door. I ducked down and entered the house. Luckily this place didn't have a low ceiling or else I would be crouching down the whole time, so I was standing up again.
Inside is what you would expect a shaman would have, a cauldron, herbs tied to strings attached to the ceiling, potted flower, gems, and a couple of animal parts. I could go into a full description of what this place looks like but putting it in words would make it hard for someone to visualize it. This place could be a dream for a novice apprentice of alchemy to be in here, or it could be like their favorite candy shop.
"How is your brother, what has he discovered?" I heard the door closed as well soft pitter patter of Sheele's footsteps beside me. I don't have the faintest idea of what to call her two toe claw-like feet, so I just stuck with calling them feet.
"Samuel is doing well, though he has not discovered anything yet." Taking a seat on a nearby stone bench, I extend my right arm out and let Sheele take a look at it. She didn't waste time on checking my hand as she poked it with her finger and gently rub the palm.
"Your palm is healing well, but there will be red marks that will show and tell. Though you best be careful when you are forging metal." Sheele looked behind herself and pluck a single white leaf from a small potted tree. She closed her hand and started crushing it. As soon as she finished crushing the leaf into multiple small pieces, she gently wipes the remains of the leaf on my palm and wrapped another bandage.
Now I may not know how she managed to get a bandage despite her hands being occupied by holding objects, but she must have put one of the glass bottles away as she crushed the leaf in her hand. And speaking of the leaf, I looked at my hand to see that Sheele finished bandaging it, tucking the end of the bandage under the rest. How she was experienced in being a healer was because she was the first being to ever helped us. Sheele found Samuel and I all cut up by glass and claws, she didn't shun us away or even tried to kill us instead she had her subjects carry us back their home and treated our wounds. If it weren't for her then my brother and I would be dead.
"Your skin will return to its color, so don't you worry about it discolor." Sheele walked away, leaving me to myself as I stared at my bandaged hand. To be honest, knowing that I'm in a different world had thrown me through many different loops, most of them were survival and the rest was trying to start a new life.
With a sigh I lean back and looking at the fire inside the fireplace, watching the twigs and logs burn from the flames. My mind almost drifted off to memory lane if it were for a certain knock on the door that caught my attention. Sheele at the far side of the room ran and opened the door, speaking again in her rhythmic speech.
"Ah, Samuel what brings you here?" Hearing my brother's name made me get up and check on the door to see him standing there with a war hammer in his hand. Something wasn't right, the hammer that my brother is holding was the one he used in a fight, meaning that something happened.
"Sheele it is good to see you again too, but forgive me of being rude on my part. I am here to see my brother he has to know what I have seen!" Alright, that is something I have to be worried about, hearing my brother speaking in a distressed tone has my attention! Well, the hammer did but that's not the point!
"What do I need to see brother?"
Alrighty, let me see here. Ah! I see people have read my story, that is very surprising, but I should be glad about it! Seeing some favorite this story, as well as a low number following, is good!
Though I think most of these grublins would enjoy having more followers and people favoriting this story. Who knows. Maybe they would try something special if they see 10 followers! Thought that is a long way goal for them to have as this story doesn't draw much attention. But! Hopefully, it will in the later days!
Samu: Follu we wan mor atten!
Andrei: Samu, you can't just boss the readers to follow! This story needs to get more of their interest and start wanting more! So calm your little ass and be patient!
Samu: fuk yo!
Andrei: Who the fuck taught you to say that!?
Samu:...Bye!