The dragon's harem - C.912: Dwarvish Blacksmithing

Hati waved her hand at the dwarf with an annoyed look, "You say that, but if it was true, you would've already turned it into a boiling hell."

"Humph..." The dwarf snorted, turning his gaze toward Mira, "It's the last who matters, not this workshop." He smiled, combing his beard, "Say lass, what do you want to make?"

"He'll help you make a weapon for Arad. Even with how annoying he could be, you won't find a better craftsman than him." Hati smiled, tapping Mira on the back.

"I was trying to make a weapon for Arad, but he never focuses on one weapon. The weapons I make also break easily, they'll be too weak for him to use." Mira said as she looked at the lit forge behind him. "And I'm a carpenter, not a blacksmith. Even if I dabbled in it a bit, I'm still nowhere near good enough."

"I see common problems. Seen many with those hurdles among my children." He said with a gentle smile. "Do you have a vision for what that weapon would be? What would it look like?"

"I won't call it a vision, but I want a weapon that Arad can use every time needs a weapon. I want it to slash, pierce, and smash, I want it to be able to channel magic and block it. If I could make it replace all weapons I would, but I know that's impossible. That's why I'm looking for one that does as much as possible." Mira said, looking at the old swords and shields lined on the walls, none of them seemed to match what she wanted, there was always something missing.

"How greedy of you, goddess of greed." The dwarf giggled, "Call me Mora; I'll show you there is nothing that we craftsmen couldn't make. The weapon you seek exists, and if it doesn't it's your job to make it exist." He turned toward the forge and blew on it, causing it to burst into golden flames.

"But..." He looked back at Mira, "With your current skill and divine magic, I'd say it's nearly impossible. I can make it for you, but that would defeat the purpose of you making it for Arad, right?"

Mira nodded and Mora smiled, his large white teeth shining between his massive moustache and large bushy beard.

"For now, start with something you're good at." He waved his hand and a large log emerged out of nowhere and fell to the ground. Mira jumped back as her toes almost got crushed, "Careful!" She exclaimed.

"You're a carpenter, right? Make him a staff, this wood is from the world tree Yggdrasil." He lifted his hammer and smacked it on the log as hard as he could. The log dug into the ground, and he slowly lifted his hammer and showed it to Mira. "Look, the wood left dents in my hammer. Forget steel and adamantine. The world tree has been cultivating power across the whole universe since the start of time. Untold eons of layered power. Amazing, right?"

"I can't work with it if it's this hard." Mira looked closer at the hammer. The wood had left its marks as if the hammer was made of dough.

"Yggdrasil has its own will. She won't mind you working with her wood, but when used in battle, it shall become harder than any metal. I assure you; he won't be able to break it even if he tried." He slapped the log with his hand, "Make him a staff, it shall be the strongest stick in the world."

Mira approached the counter and picked a wood chisel. She then went to the log and tested it. Indeed, it acted like normal wood when being worked. Mira looked back at Hati with a smile on her face, "With this, I can make something usable."

"Don't forget to learn how to work metals as well. You want to make Arad a weapon to replace all weapons, right?" Hati smiled.

"You're right." Mira started working on the wood as Hati stood there and watched. Mora on the other hand picked a chunk of steel and shoved it into the forge, he sat beside it and started humming.

"Don't start..." Hati sighed, and Mora flicked his fingers. A large barrel of beer even bigger than him appeared out of nowhere. He caught it with one hand, put it down, and took a crowbar from the stack of tools.

Mira looked back at him, "You can't drink all of that." She was already used to Arad pulling stuff out of nowhere so she didn't get surprised, only found it strange.

"Worry not, lass. If nothing else, I'm a dwarf." He started humming again, his deep voice rumbling from the depth of his stomach, shaking the ground. As the flames before him danced, he lifted the barrel with one hand and started chugging it. One massive gulp after another, his stomach inflated like a balloon.

As Mora drank half the barrel he stopped and put it down, laughing his guts off as he smacked his enlarged belly with a cheerful smile. "Nothing beats bear while waiting." He dried his beer-wet beard with his hairy forearm and looked at Mira, "Lass, want a drink?"

"No...getting half-drunk at work is a shortcut to losing a finger." She replied with a disappointed face while sawing the wood.

"What's wrong with that? Nail black with iron, skin grows tougher with damage, you know?" Unlike her or any blacksmith in the world, his thick and hard hands were stunning, almost as if chiseled out of stone. With them bare, he reached into the fire and flipped the red-hot metal.

When Mora pulled his arm out of the forge, his forearm hair had caught on flame since its hair, and also was drenched in beer. "Huh?" He gasped with a sharp yet childish tone, confused and amused at the same time.

With his arm still on fire, he used the other arm to lift the beer bottle and take a gulp out of it. After filling his mouth and puffing his beard-engulfed cheeks, he spat the beer on the flame trying to put it out, only to cause an even bigger fireball to emerge.

"A-huh!" He cried with widened eyes as the fire before him took the shape of a dwarf. The fire dwarf's stomach inflated until he exploded and the fire disappeared. As Mira was looking at the fire, his expression suddenly changed as he sniffed the air. "Steel ready!" He reached with his hand into the forge, picked the burning red brick of steel, and walked back, he looked left and right. "Where's ma' anvil?" He gasped, seeing the anvil running away like a horse. The steel legs it had to support it and stand from the ground have sprung into life. "Come back ya bastard!" He ran after it, but couldn't catch up, his legs were too short. He stopped, took his leather boot off, and threw it at the running anvil, knocking it down. Exhausted, Mora approached the anvil and grabbed it from the nose, dragging it back to the workshop while mumbling curses at it. As he walked inside, he put the anvil back into its place. "Good, time to forge." He smiled.

Mira looked toward the steel; it was already cold. "No, you have to heat the steel again. It's already cold." She said with a giggle, unable to comprehend the weird magic buzzing around

the dwarf.

"Cold?" Mora gasped, "Nah, it was hot a minute. I'm certain..." He looked at the steel brick with Mira, and it was red again. "See? Told ya, lass." He picked up the brick and put it on the

anvil.

The anvil screamed like a pig getting marked with a hot iron. Mora immediately smacked him with the hammer to shut him up and then hammered the steel. Only for the anvil to scream again, and he smacked it once more. Alternating between striking the anvil and the steel, Mora forged the steel with crimson sparks of fire sparkling from each hit.

"That some weird magic." Mira looked at Hati, "Who is he?"

"An avatar of the dwarven God. You won't find a better smith anywhere else." Hati looked at Mira with a smile, "Unlike you or any kingdom in this world, I've lived for over five thousand years. I've got connections to multiple world powers, lords and demons, even gods that I could call for help."

"I craft a lot of things, weapons, artifacts, medicines, and even dwarfs." He looked at the surprised Mira, "Yeah, I make dwarves out of clay, the best clay in my mountain." He put the hammer down and looked at the brick of steel for a second then shoved it back into the forge. "She's keeping several of my failed creations and weapons safe for mortal eyes. I can't refuse if she asked me to help." He giggled. Out of all the gods, he gave the most items for safekeeping, a total of 200 weapons and artifacts that Hati was hiding for all eternity. What no one knows is that he had made the urn that is storing Vlad's ashes and that Vlad's ashes are now deep beneath Hati's house, sealed for all eternity.