- Chapter Fifteen -

The gryphon household was busier than normal that evening. The previous day, I managed to get my hands on something I didn't think I'd ever see again. A wooden pipe!

I was walking through the market when the pipe caught my eye. I didn't care how much it costed, I absolutely had to have it. I picked it up for 40 col with a bag of…you guessed it…tobacco. The shop keeper informed me that I could apparently find the plant all over Aincrad and dry it myself.

So that evening, I sat outside with Ronin passing it back and forth. Firefly and Cherry were running through the house trying to figure out what to cook and Parks was at the market buying as much ale as he could carry.

Ronin was trying to blow smoke rings, failing miserably. I don't think the game mechanics allowed him to but I let him try. It was entertaining to say the least. He managed to puff out something that looked like a smoke bubble when I saw the silhouette of someone walking up to the house. I figured it was Parks until the smoke blew away and a gorgeous black haired woman walked though it.

"Where the hell did you two manage to get that?" She said, walking up to the porch.

"Well hello Miss Freya, I'm glad you could make it." I said. "Care for a pull?"

"I haven't had a cigarette in 3 years..." she replied, "but I think I will."

Ronin handed her the pipe and I pulled a chair up for her. She sat down and took a GIANT pull. Exhaling the cloud of smoke, she leaned back and I'm pretty sure she let out a small moan.

"It's that good, huh?" I asked. She gave me the same evil smile from earlier and took another pull.

We sat there for another 20 minutes passing the pipe and telling old stories when Parks finally made it back.

"Y'all start partying without me?" He said, opening his menu and dropping the 35 bottles of ale on the table. "I brought party favors."

Thad and Gojira walked up right behind him, "Hey! I didn't know it was that kinda party!" Thad yelled.

Firefly must have heard him because I heard squealing and a door swing open. "You made it!" She yelled and gave him a big hug.

"You have something for me?" I asked.

He smiled from ear to ear and started moving the ale to one side of the table. Then he opened his menu and dropped 10 ingots of Crimson Steel and 2 Onyx Gems on it. The ingots were almost glowing a blood red color, and the gems weren't just regular gems. They were Flawless Onyx's. The rarest gem on floor one. It's literally going to take every ounce of experience I have to make this battle axe, but it's going to be glorious.

I picked everything up off the table. "Follow me, big guy." I said to Thad. "Y'all can start on dinner too, Firefly. We should be done in time."

She winked at Thad and went inside with Ronin and Parks.

Thad, Gojira and Freya followed me to another building behind the house where the anvil was.

"Alright. Details. What kind of battle axe and what do you want to name it?" I asked.

Thad looked at Freya then back to me. "Double edged, two handed."

I grabbed the ingots and a hammer and started beating, leaving 4 off to the side.

It took about 5 minutes to combine the 6 ingots. Then I proceeded to grab the other 4 and beat harder this time for another solid 5 minutes.

The finished product? A 6 foot long red and black battle axe with black leather on the handle and the gems right in the middle of the blade. A gold filigree design protruded around the metal and leather handle and I'm now 100% positive I heard Freya moan this time.

"Holy shit..." He whispered.

Freya was biting her lip like she was sexually aroused by it.

"What do you want to name her?" I asked.

He looked at it for another 10 seconds before answering.

"Filigree." He said, smiling.

Freya smiled and nodded.

I typed it into the name slot and hit enter, finishing my new masterpiece.

"What do I owe you?" He asked.

"Tell you what…" I replied, "If this thing saves my life one day, that'll be all the payment I need."