- Chapter Nine -

The twins were towards the back of the shop looking at shields when we entered. Ronin, being the only single one of us, made a B-line towards them.

"This should be good." I muttered.

While Ronin was off trying to score, I approached the blacksmith. He was a gruff looking old man with arms the size of tree trunks and a beard that stretched down to his pant line.

"What can I do for you young man?" He asked with a deep baritone voice.

"I'm looking for a ranged weapon." I replied. I could technically afford a bow with 1450 col, but Carey is our archer now so I'm going to focus on two handed. But I definitely need some kind of ranged weapon. "Do you have anything other than a bow or throwing knives?" I asked.

He smiled. "I have something in mind." He then reached under the counter and retrieved a hatchet. It was black with a single red gem on each side of the blade. Then, he walked over to a weapon rack, grabbed a stubby double sided axe and set in on the table. "And just incase you changed you're mind..." he said then he put a double edged throwing knife down next to the others.

The hatchet was really the only one that caught my attention. I pressed it and looked at the details. It dealt OK damage, but the best part was the price. 450 col. It had the shortest throw distance but it was tied with the axe for damage and to my delight, costs less. The throwing knife had twice the distance and was the same price as the hatchet, but did half the damage.

I tapped on the hatchet again and pressed buy. "Pleasure doing business." The blacksmith said, and I nodded in agreement. Now, with my newly acquired throwing hatchet, I turned to see Ronin and Parks (that's what we call Carey) standing with the twins. All four were just staring at me like I was taking my sweet time.

I walked up to them after equipping the hatchet and it appeared sheathed on my belt. I can only imagine how weird I looked. Giant sword, tiny hatchet, sleeping gryphon on my shoulders…fuck it.

"You must be Fat Jesus." One of the twins said with a smile. They all busted out laughing. Parks was on the ground almost in tears laughing when she said, "You owe me 20 col." After a minute of laughing, he got up and said, "Best 20 bucks I ever spent." And hit send.

"Fucking...hilarious." I scowled. The other twin came over and hugged me. "Don't mind her. She's an asshole. I'm Al…Firefly. And this.." pointing to her sister, "is Cherry Potter." Cherry finally stopped laughing and waved to me.

"Well now that we've gotten through introductions..." I glared at Parks, "What's up?"

Cherry spoke up, "I was just joking, ya know..."

I smiled and waved her off, "I'm used to it by now. Parks is my big brother and I've been knowing Ronin my whole life."

Parks spoke up this time, "Older brother. You got 3 inches and 150 lbs on me." Pointing out that I'm not only taller, but much bigger than him.

"Those 3 inches aren't from height either." I joked, and now everyone was laughing at him. He did his regular mocking laugh and finally shut up.

"We were wondering if you guys wanted to join us." Firefly said. "Parks and Ronin are cool with it if you are..."

"I'm not the leader of this merry gang of misfits." I joked. "But yeah, I'm down."

Cherry jumped up with joy and grabbed Ronin's arm, hugging it. He winked at me with a smile. I wonder if you can score in this game?