Kanterbury Inn. A cozy, formerly forest-located inn that now represents the wooden heart and center of the flying fortress, Heavenhold. Right now, the inn was packed, a few of the legendary heroes gathering together to eat after a long day of travel.
However, this isn't their story.
The story begins at one table in the corner as we focus on a pair of mercenaries, the self-proclaimed court magician, Dolf, and his business partner, Amy. Having been recruited to join the heroes' quest, the two of them have more or less made the inn their new base of operations - most likely home if they keep getting paid for the trivial work that they carry out every day. However, simply being paid by royalty as mercenaries isn't exactly as profitable for them as one may think. They're barely called upon to help fight, and - as a result - the two have started to suffer sunk costs from living on the flying fortress.
Brushing his purple bangs to the side, Dolf would look up from his bell-pepper salad to look at his blonde companion. "Amy, something's been on my mind, mind listening for a moment?" he asked, waving his silver fork around in a regal manner while he held it between his index and middle finger.
"... what is it... Dolf...?" Amy asked, hand on the handle of her mug as she took a sip of her mead.
Dolf would take a moment to scoop up the pepper with his fork. "Have you ever wondered why people decided to design utensils like these? The inventors of forks, spoons, and knives must have been inspired by an early romantic that was unknown to his time. A genius whose potential was a prevalent invention, their life changed forever from luck and life granting them a fortune. Now, not a single person has gone by without knowing what a fork, a spoon, or a knife is. That person would have made a fortune in today's economy, would you not agree?"
The maid would be actively listening, swallowing. "W... why are you bringing that up...?"
"Well, you see, I have come up with a genius plan. How about we invent something of our own? People of Heavenhold will be lining up to purchase our own 'fork', and we'll be swimming in a pool of gold by the end of it." Dolf took a bite out of his pepper, chewing as he proudly gave a smile at the idea.
Amy quietly stared at Dolf with a look of... confusion. Completely stunned by his words. The maid did not know how to respond to any of that, looking over at the more busy table before sighing. "... what... what exactly would this 'fork' be... Dolf...?"
"That... is the difficult part, Amy. My genius is too complicated to just suggest something simple for us to mass-produce. Other inventors have taken most of our needs, so we need to think beyond their minds."
"... I don't see this heading anywhere for us and I openly recommend we drop the idea..." Amy candidly spoke before taking another sip of her mead.
Dolf shook his head, refusing to give up on this business opportunity. "I will still be thinking about it. We have a chance to earn millions if we just knew what special thing to make... something valuable, yet relatively easy to craft... maybe-"
Before he could finish his thought, one of the inn's windows shattered to pieces, a baseball thrown into the inn. The ball ended up dropping precisely into Amy's mug, splashing mead all over her clothes.
This prompted Dolf to stand up and walk to the broken window, his emerald eyes looking out to notice a blonde child in red, royal clothing. The Princess of Kanterbury would be staring at the magician for a few seconds, a look of terror on her face. "I- I didn't break the window...!" the Princess called out, running off to the side as she planned to hide somewhere.
Dolf would proceed to snap his fingers, smirking widely as his eyes grew wide. An idea clicked in his head. It was an ingenious plan. He turned to look at Amy with a look of sheer pride.
However, the look changed to one of panic as he looked at his servant - Amy, in her soaked outfit that now had the stench of fermented honey - currently in position to hurl the baseball out of the window at Mach 1 Speed. "Dolf... move out of the way...!" Amy called out, her eyes purple as she had her violent glare.
"Hold on, hold on hold on hold on!" Dolf exclaimed, running over and putting his hands on Amy's shoulders. "Deep breaths, Amy, deep breaths! I just came up with what our fork will be!"
Amy angrily glared at Dolf, a few moments passing before the glare went away and her gentle, teal blue eyes returned. "... you had an idea...?"
"Of course I have an idea!" Dolf exclaimed before leaning in to whisper into Amy's ear. "Something revolutionary that will make us famous!"
Amy would look at Dolf, an eyebrow raised before she let out a gasp. "Oh... I see. You're suggesting that we make a machine that efficiently washes clo-"
"We're going to make a window."
"..."
"... what?"
"You... I... how is a window revolutionar-"
"Baby steps, Amy, we need to start small. If we fix the inn's window, we'll get gold and become famous for repairing all the windows on Heavenhold."
"... if you... insist."
Dolf widely smiled at Amy's compliant response, ready to work. The two started to walk through the process of making a window, taking intricate steps.
Step 1 was to draft a blueprint of the window. It was a circular window with clear glass that could reflect the bright blue sky above them. Dolf would be stroking his chin, squinting his eyes to measure the window. However, it was hard to get precise measurements with his top knowledge (and without any measuring devices on hand), so he would be stumped and befuddled.
Then, just as the blonde maid was coming back from the merchant's cart with blueprint paper, Dolf had an idea on how to properly measure the window. He snapped his fingers and turned to the maid.
"Amy, come here for a moment. I need you to hold the paper against the wall."
Amy would nod, walking to the wall to open the blueprint and spread it out against the wall. The maid didn't know, at first, why she was doing this until she suddenly felt Dolf's hands moving onto her hips - holding her tightly. "W-Wha- what are you-?"
"Bear with me, Amy, I need to use you to measure the window," Dolf exclaimed, using the view of Amy's head to try and get a good sense of the window's size. The maid was not responding well, her eyes widened as - while she was facing away from the magician - her face would noticeably turn red.
"D-Dolf- why don't you just... d-draw the outline while the paper's against the window?"
"Because we'd break the paper, Amy-! Trust my eureka moment, neither of us can delicately draw!"
The heroes at a different table would be watching this, intrigue on their faces as it livened up their meal. Really gave fuel for rumors about the two as Dolf took 3 whole minutes to get a good sense of the window. Nevertheless, this method WORKED for Dolf, as - once the three minutes were off - he proceeded to draw on the paper and managed to make a perfect circle that matched up with the window frame.
Step 2 was to gather the materials. Glass was, in simplified terms, made by heating sand at extremely high temperatures, so they needed to get sand from somewhere. Dolf had the idea to consult someone very familiar with deserts, taking charge as he walked towards Heavenhold's housing area.
"... I recognize this address... Dolf, are you sure you want to speak to him alone...? He's intimidating..." Amy began to speak, holding the blueprint in her hands like a two-handed sword.
Dolf shook his head. "We should not judge a person by their looks. I've overheard how much of a softie he can be, so we just need to be polite. Worst case scenario, you turn him into a human pretzel." Dolf proceeded to walk up to the door, knocked on it, and stepped back with his arms at his side as the door soon opened
On the other side was the six-foot-seven powerhouse of a man, Marvin. Dolf felt himself freeze in place, face to face with a man who was an entire foot taller than him. The menacing, red and black fire tattoos that trailed along his body, the rough scars on his grizzled face, and the fact that he hasn't changed into any other outfit that wasn't his prisoner outfit, Marvin was practically a tiger staring into Dolf's delicate soul.
A few moments of awkward silence would pass before Marvin took the first word, saying "What." in his deep, intense voice.
Dolf would... shake for a bit before clearing his throat. "G-Greetings, fellow mercenary! I, Dolf, request your assistance!" he enthusiastically spoke.
"Get on with it."
"Ah, yes, uhm, I- was hoping to ask if you... knew how to get sand," Dolf anxiously asked, legs trembling slightly.
"... sand is in the desert."
Dolf's strong, conman will was torn apart by the man who has stared into the eyes of the biggest desert scam artist. Looks, voice, history... all of these set up for the embodiment of intimidation.
"... y-yes, but- do you... have... any... sand...?"
Marvin would just look down at Dolf with his default, seasoned glare before turning away. "... you want sand from me?"
"A-Ah- uhm- well- I mean-"
It was a pleasant surprise for Dolf when the man just pulled two entire burlap sacks filled with desert sand and gently handed the sacks to him. "Here. Return the sacks when you are done."
Dolf would take a few seconds to calm down, letting out one deep breath. "T-Thank you, fellow mercenary."
"Marvin."
"R-Right, Marvin!" Dolf would give Marvin a gentle bow before turning away and walking back over to Amy with the sacks in his hands.
For the two, the last and final step, Step 3...
... spend 5 hours working on the window.
It was an incredibly monotonous process that had both Dolf and Amy actively using the blacksmithing station that Heavenhold uses to work on its weapons. They needed to actively stick around the furnace to secure the mold and make sure the sand was heated evenly. Both of them had immediate regrets. From being in proximity of a furnace for five hours, Dolf would feel his skin drying up to a dehydrated state, and Amy's maid uniform was further ruined by her sweat.
Eventually, the window was finished, presenting a high-quality window pane that looked perfect for the inn's window frame. Both of their eyes would sparkle as they had the window ready, relieved from having only one last thing to do for work. Dolf and Amy started carrying the pane from the forge to the inn, both of them visibly exhausted.
Once they got to the inn, they gently put down the window pane against an outer wall. Amy proceeded to fall forward and let out a pained sigh, lying down on the grass with all her strength sapped from those five hours of staring into the gates of Hell. Her head would turn to look at her incorrigible master, who was forcing himself to stand while hyperventilating with sore hands on his bent knees. "Dolf... I don't believe... we can benefit from subjecting ourselves through this type of labor...!" Amy groaned with an aggressive sigh, her strength sapped from having to solidify the window glass.
"That's why... we'll be hiring workers to make more windows, Amy... we can make millions off of... windows... millions...!" Dolf would then fall back, slamming hard against the ground with a thud. His hair was unkempt and messy, an exasperated face showing the high levels of pain his body was going through.
The sun was setting, and the air felt cooler. Even though Dolf could use a drink, the gentle wind made him feel relieved. Their hard work would soon pay off. Dolf would be relaxing, waiting for his energy to come back as his eyes looked at the broken window that they were about to be paid to fix-
...
"... AMY!" Dolf screamed, sitting up immediately as he stared at the window, wide-eyed as it was fixed into perfect condition. It made their window useless, rendering five hours of work potentially ruined. "AMY, THE WINDOW- THE WINDOW IS ALREADY FIXED, AMY!"
Amy would widen her eyes as well, lifting herself to stare at Dolf in absolute disbelief for a few moments as she shakily began turning her head. "...!"
"AUGH! "
"Please stop screaming. The window was fixed just recently."
The wizard and maid would look towards the brown-haired, closed eyes innkeeper, Loraine. Dolf would speak up, a look of despair on his face as he seemed absolutely dumbfounded. "H-How was the window fixed?"
"I have spare windows stored in the inn. This isn't the first time the Princess has broken a window."
Dolf's eyes would sparkle, smiling widely. "Well... for a modest fee, we'll sell you our hard-made window! That window is pure quality, made from the genius of a court magician!"
Loraine would take a look at the window, examining it closely as she knocked on the glass. She seemed surprised at how solid and dense it felt, yet you could still look through its delicate insides. "... well, it would be a spare, extra sturdy window. If you two don't mind some extra heavy lifting to get this window inside, I am willing to negotiate a price."
Dolf would smirk, feeling joy. The window and all of the hard work that went into it weren't a waste after all! After this deal, he'll earn more and more money from making high-quality windows! He would stand up with his rich fantasies playing in his head and-
Suddenly, a baseball ended up flying straight into the window Dolf and Amy made. Dolf would visibly flinch at the sound, his smiling face and standing body frozen as he felt a sense of doom shower over him.
The Princess would be staring at the three, wide-eyed with tears in her eyes as this was the second window she broke in a day. She would walk over to Loraine, not running away this time as she spoke in her delicate, apologetic voice: "... I'm sorry..."
Loraine would... pat the head of the Princess gently, her closed eyes just staring at Dolf with her blank expression. "... well, I'll pour you two some drinks to compensate for your window, I suppose," she told the pair, taking the Princess's hand gently as the two walked off into the inn.
Dolf... would eventually drop to his knees, all life stolen from him as his first attempt at profitable, honest work would shatter the same way it started. He slowly turned towards where the sound had come from and saw the five hours of worth of glass shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
"Dolf. Come over and die with me," Amy grimly suggested to him as she was lying on her face with her body straight as a board.
With no question, Dolf crawled over next to Amy, lied down on his back, and folded his hands over his heart to quietly sulk. The two would lie quietly outside for the next few minutes before they got up for the offered drinks.