Derflinger and Faeries
by Blinded

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If one could hear Jacobo's honest opinion about the Night of Plot and Fire, as folks of Tristania started calling it, the weapons seller was not sure he could keep his head in place. As a follower of path of pragmatism he wasn't a particularly patriotic man, nor he cared for business of the Crown or the Nobility beyond names of the bigger, more troublesome of Nobility, royal tax collectors and how to best make deals with, avoid or appease them.

So what if High Treason had happened and assassins made an attempt on the Fair Princess, her homeless royal cousin and Lords of Fae, and the conspirators tried to burn Commoner quarters? He felt sad, for the stressed royalties, the troubled firstborn Lords, AND his fellow commoners who did not have the sense or the money to pay a petty mage for warding their homes and workshops as Jacobo himself did, but in the end all he had to offer was a sad shake of head, an outraged growl, and not appear too cheerful at what came next.

Following their strange ways and instead of staying away until dust of events of Gala and all the accusations directed toward them settled, the Faeries came to help the homeless right away.

Their Earth Mages, mostly a group of burly dark-skinned giants build shelters, their fair Water Mages chanted their magical songs to heal and cleanse and their cheerful singers played tunes that was literally magical, banishing exhaustion and invigorating bodies just as their gentle melodies livened the spirit. Few trusted their Firstborn magic at first and many like Jacobo himself either tried to politely distant themselves or glare looks of suspicion at them... it lasted until the first faery bard started her song.

Then came their craftsmen and craftswomen... little things far too handsome and pretty, lithe and young to have any business with hammer and forge, these Leprechauns. They asked to use smithies and workshops until they could bring their own tools or build new ones. It took a day of intense arguing for Jacobo to make Bernd, the Germanian oaf of an Earth Mage who was his main sword-smith, to see the benefits of observing Firstborns' crafting skills first hand.

Not much came out of it but it was the first of his potential businesses with the Faeries, and right now he was in the middle of making the second one.

"Twenty straight double edged swords made of Lightweight Steel as promised, Jacobo-san" declared a grinning Manda of Leprechauns as he offered one of the faery swords to Jacobo.

Jacobo suppressed a smile as he took the sword. While not a swordsman himself by any stretch of imagination he had handled enough swords of all kinds to know exactly what to look for in a sword. In fact the only time he was ever deceived, as far as he was willing to admit to himself, was when that bastard traveler had sold him the Founder cursed talking sword Derflnger... it should have been the Win of longtime, buying such an excellently crafted magical sword and such a low price but alas the country bumpkin act was a clever ruse and he was saddled with the foul-mouthed, rude and impossible to clean or destroy talking sword.

The thrice curse sword was now in the basement of safely outside of hearing range, possibly shouting its metal arse... handle... whatever off trying to woo some of the blessedly less-talking swords. It was a pity that the blasted thing couldn't always be kept in the basement... strange things tended to happen when the Sword got too bored and Jacobo didn't care to repeat the experience of having all of his basement's preservation enchantments fail again.

"No faery enchantments you say?" Jacobo asked as he swung the sword. The balance was excellent and the blade was sharp enough to cut a piece of paper clean in half but it was somewhat lighter than a sword of its size should have been.

"As I said it's made of Lightweight Steel" Manda answered "According to Lizbeth-san this makes them weigh somewhat less than normal steel swords while keeping their durability. Not even mid-level gear mind you but still plenty good!"

Jacobo scuffed at the bravado, no sense telling the Faery his own expert opinion on the matter. These swords didn't cost him as much as Germanian army's standard steel sabers and if his years of experience was anything to go by, thanks to the faery metal they were made from, the Fae-made swords were even better too. After all swords were weapons of Commoner men-at-arm and any enchantment on their weapons was more than appreciated.

"What is this Lightweight Steel anyway" He asked offhandedly.

"Sorry, Jacobo-san, Lord Rute says its trade secret for now."

"But didn't you say Lightweight Steel is lowest grade of those speedy type metals?"

"Speed type, and yeah. But after events of the Gala the Lords decided to not give away or secrets or sell anything above mid-tier gears, security and all."

"Sensible..." Jacobo dutifully grumbled some choice curses about the traitors as he sheathed the sword. And then a thought struck him. Maybe they wouldn't sell their secrets now, but what about getting their favor in the future by selling his secrets? Namely a loud, annoying and troublesome secret?

"Say... Manda-san?" the weapons-salesman looked at the Faery to make sure he had pronounced the suffix correctly "as you can see I'm not a swordsman or a weapons-smith myself but in all these years had the pleasure of working with many of the type, your fair kin included, and had developed an academic interest for swords. Some years ago I found this old relic-sword and kept it to figure out how its enchantments work, but couldn't figure ou-"

"You mean like a Quest?" The Leprechaun cut in excitedly "Like you give me the sword to take it to our smiths and discover how it work?!"

"You... did that before?" Jacobo raised an eyebrow at the sudden declaration... he didn't know exactly how to work his way through to the Faery without appearing too overeager and suspicious but conveniently enough he didn't have to it seemed.

"Yes! That's basically how most of our radiant quests went!" the Faery exclaimed before narrowing his eyes "But what do you want in exchange? I still can't break the laws you know..."

"Not much, I assure you," Jacobo answered not so hastily and tried to not sound too disappointed at the last declaration... normally he would have brushed off such declarations of lawfulness. Bribing, the usual key to this sort of deadlock, while an an important tool in a successful tradesman's arsenal, had to be used with care, and this soon after the whole Treason and Plot making such an offer didn't sound all that smart. Especially when other options were available "Just the result of your experiments and for you to remember how helpful I was when your Lords removed their ban."

"And are you sure you don't mind if your relic-sword gets destroyed?"

'Mind? The only thing I mind about it would be to not being there and hear the annoying piece of scrape's last screams!' outwardly Jacobo schooled his features to a sad but resolute expression. "Not if it helps our fair kingdom in these trying times."