After lunch, the group headed to the artisans’ avenue. Lily and Philip were immediately enamored with the variety of interesting shops and technology visible through windows or in covered, outdoor craft areas. The display of magical technology surprised and impressed Anika. Even crafting facilities she would have thought worked just fine without magic, like wood carving and blacksmithing, involved magic on Etalen.

  They crossed into the artisan area through one of the small connecting alleys a few buildings down from the town square. They immediately encountered shops offering a variety of magical services and equipment. Leka informed the group that the buildings closer to the town square often catered to those fighting in dungeons due to the proximity to the Hunter’s Guild and temple, making it convenient for people frequenting those businesses.

  The first building they encountered was a leather and cloth armorer. The building consisted of a small shop area with large, glass windows displaying wares attached to a larger crafting facility that wrapped around the shop area like an L. The front of the crafting facility also had a large window allowing passersby to watch the crafting process. In the shop, Anika could see five or six people, three adults and three who looked more like teenagers. Anika assumed they were apprentices of some kind. She vaguely recalled Leka telling her that the lesser week involved children learning from members of the community.

  ”It would be worth stopping here to talk to their master craftsman about some type of armor for Lily.” Leka motioned the group to join her in walking up to the door of the shop as she turned into the small yard in front of the facility. “Their armorer is more experienced than the one at our temple, as temple crafters mostly focus on basic, entry level armor for acolytes, similar to what you have now, Anika. The Master Armorer here is a highly skilled artisan who integrates advanced enchantments. They’ve also designed armor for companions in the past… though not a capybara.”

  ”Oh yay! I can get armor!” Lily practically skipped over to Leka at high speed, more excited for this than the toys earlier.

  Anika followed quickly behind Leka and Lily. Though thrilled that Leka had taken her seriously when she asked about armor for Lily, she knew most armorers would find the request odd. She hoped they had other creatures more complicated than a capybara to design for - she figured a capybara was just a very, very small horse shaped creature when it came to ‘barding’. Besides, she had definitely seen some guy on YouTube make armor for a mouse before. If a mouse could have armor, a capybara could definitely have armor.

  The inside of the shop smelled strongly of leather and oil, the scents blending into a warm, earthy perfume. It smelled like what she would expect from a candle marketed towards men, but she didn’t mind it. The shop window had a leather armor piece similar to the one she wore on an armor stand and showed off several smaller armor accessories, bags, and pouches. Inside, some other armor pieces rested on stands, but a majority of the items ready made in the shop included smaller accessories. A rack close to the window displayed many color and size options for bags and pouches. The wall next to the window, away from the door they entered and nearer the center of the building, contained vambraces, gloves, belts, and gorgets. Anika realized then that she didn’t have a gorget as part of her armor. She wondered if she needed one, as they seemed pretty important when looking at medieval armor, which always had neck protection.

  Anika wondered if, perhaps, the types of monsters here did not often have as much ability to harm the neck. When dealing with a thin, stabby sword, it seemed important to guard the neck and prevent beheadings. The claws of the giant squirrel weren’t likely to be as much of a threat as they couldn’t slide in on top of the shoulder armor and just take off her head like a sword could. The ‘rocks’ she had been pelted with from lidoks also couldn’t threaten her head’s attachment to her body. Maybe they would break her neck if they pelted her in the back of the neck, but she hoped she could dodge well enough to not have her spine break. When fighting humans, sword defense definitely required a gorget. Right now, her experience told her that dungeons likely did not need one…though she may want to ask Leka about getting one sometime… just in case.

  No one sat at the small sales counter when they entered, but a chime sounded as they walked in the door. Anika didn’t see a bell or any other device, so she assumed a magical enchantment created the doorbell sound. The group had barely all made it inside, with Philip bringing up the rear and Epona waiting in the small yard, when a small Degeta man walked into the shop. He had much darker skin than Philip, a dark latte brown, and his mostly grey hair held a few wisps of the dark brown, almost black hair he must have sported in youth.

  ”Master Tikal, just the person I hoped to see.” Leka greeted the man warmly.

  ”As soon as I saw you, Leka, I shooed away the apprentice on shop duty. I assume this is a business call, by your formal address?” Tikal’s eyes sparkled and his mouth turned up with the hint of a smile.

  “Yes, I am busy today showing around our new trainees. The special ones I told you about.” Leka nodded in the direction of Anika, Lily, and Philip.

  Anika noted the way she described them with interest. Perhaps it was not well known, then, that the temple had summoned people from other worlds. Leka had not introduced them anywhere as the “Heroes of Etalen” as Nilendi had called them on their first day. Was this a more hush-hush situation? Anika supposed they likely did not want to scare locals by indicating some magical problem that required people to come from another world. But considering this town was effectively their new home town, it seemed odd to try to hide it from the villagers. She doubted keeping things quiet would work once Lily started wandering around town more frequently. The shopkeepers who had encountered her so far had been taken aback by a talking capybara. Anika was pretty sure that’s why the toy shop had allowed Lily and Philip to engage in shenanigans as long as he did - pure dumbstruck surprise.

  “I see,” Tikal looked over the group with an assessing gaze. Anika wasn’t sure she liked his examination. Philip, on the other hand, didn’t notice. Lily just didn’t care.

  ”Hi, I’m Lily! I need armor!” Lily jumped out in front of the group and went to stand in front of the Degeta man. Even shorter than Leka, Lily looked like a full grown capybara next to Tikal.

  To his credit, the older man did not show the same level of surprise as other shop owners when the enthusiastic mega-rodent rushed towards him asking for armor. This confirmed to Anika that Leka had told this Tikal a lot more than anyone else in the town knew. Of course, she supposed he could just also be an enigmatic older man who seemed to know all, like Gandalf, and never showed outward surprise.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  ”Well now, I can’t say I’ve ever made armor for a capybara, but I do love a good challenge.” He turned his assessing eyes to focus on Lily, squatting down to her level and pursing his lips. He held up a finger and twirled it, indicating Lily should spin around so he could see all sides of her.

  “I need to have good armor to protect me while we go battle monsters because I don’t want Anika to have to protect me because I am supposed to help her.” Lily chattered while she complied with the unspoken request, starting to turn quickly in circles like a dog performing a trick.

  ”Whoa, slow down little lady,” Tikal’s voice held the same amusement that had earlier twinkled in his eye. “Breath deep, and turn slowly. I must see you from all sides and I am an old man who cannot focus on such fast movement.”

  Lily abruptly halted mid spin, turning her head to look over her shoulder at Tikal. “Oh… that makes sense.”

  At a more subdued pace, Lily turned to model all sides of her body as the Degeta man observed. After a few turns, he had her walk, run, and jump around the shop to observe the mechanics of her body. He patiently explained to Lily the importance of considering both the form and function and how it interacted with the natural physicality of the person or creature.

  ”Good.” Tikal held up a hand for Lily to return to the group. “I have a good idea of the type of armor that would best serve you, as well as some enchantments that may help compensate for some of the flaws in your design.”

  Lily immediately started to protest but he silenced her, “Every creature has flaws! Tasks we are not well suited for. Just as you are not suited to fly, I am not suited to reach the top shelf.”

  Anika tried hard not to laugh. She really did. But she couldn't resist. It wasn’t even a good joke, but her brain immediately imagined a scenario in which Tikal was jumping like a child trying to reach one of the higher items in the shop, eventually receiving help from one of the youthful apprentices of another race who had not yet reached their full height. Most Degeta were short, but Tikal barely reached Anika’s waist.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured through laughter, “I don’t mean to laugh.” She managed to gain control of herself and redirected back to Lily’s armor. “So how long will it take you to make her armor? And what will it cost us?”

  ”Hm,” Tikal’s brow creased, “It would not take too long to make armor. I believe that a hardened leather would be more appropriate than metal, as it will provide more flexibility of movement. That will also be less expensive, as you could reduce the cost by providing the materials.”

  ”What do we need to make it? I want it now!” Lily quivered with excitement and her voice raised higher in pitch than normal.

  ”The best leather armor made in these parts comes from lidok hide. I can give you a good deal if you would like to farm some of those materials for us.”

  Anika immediately lost enthusiasm for the project. Lidoks. Great. Another day spent dodging poop rocks. She sighed, knowing that she had to support Lily and get her the best armor, even if she would prefer to never fight the lidoks again. Being pelted with excrement the size of softballs and hard as rocks in a fast paced dodgeball game did not thrill her.

  ”Oh, those lidoks are super easy to kill! We can get lidoks easily. We killed a lot before” Philip, who had managed to avoid the welts and bruises Anika acquired thanks to his shield, seemed excited to return to the sloth-monkeys. Which was just not cool.

  “Ah, is that where the most recent stack of lidok pelts you brought came from, Leka?” Tikal’s comment reminded Anika of something she hadn’t thought of earlier. Leka had harvested all the materials of their kills in the dungeon during the last few days, and she said that materials were traded for marks. Had Leka profited from their work? Anika deserved payment for all the bruises she acquired in Leka’s hands-off ‘throw them into the deep end and hope they figure out how to swim’ approach to training.

  ”Have you been making money off us?” Anika turned on Leka. “That’s unfair! We did the work! That should count towards Lily’s armor!”

  Leka interrupted Anika before she could start another sentence, something Anika had definitely planned to do. “Of course not. The marks for those will be available for use on your identification cards when we pick them up tomorrow. I also used some of that money to buy Philip’s treats and our lunch earlier.”

  Anika deflated, not actually wanting to get into an argument over money. “Okay, then we should be able to use some of that for Lily’s armor, right?”

  ”You’ll likely need a bit more money than we got for some scurry tails and lidok hides, though it depends on what types of enchantments Tikal is planning.” Leka looked at Tikal, an indication for him to continue with his plans.

  ”I do have a number of enchantments in mind. However, I think the most important thing to consider is Lily’s size.”

  ”What’s wrong with my size?” Lily cried in dismay.

  ”You are, as far as I can tell, still a very young child. You are likely to grow exponentially within the next two seasons. If I made leather armor for you now, you would likely grow out of it within a few weeks, at best. I believe that we should wait to make you leather armor until you have grown more, and your rate of growth slows. If you are close to your adult size, we should be able to modify the armor to fit as you finish growing. But right now? There would be no way for the armor to fit you for the duration of your growth, and you would likely need three or maybe even four sets of armor over the next year. That would certainly get expensive.”

  Lily bowed her head, looking more pitiful than Anika believed any creature could look. Afraid she would start crying, Anika swooped her into her arms and hugged her. “Don’t worry Lily, maybe there is something else we can do to give you protection for now. There must be something, right?” Anika looked hopefully at Tikal.

  ”Hm, I do believe we could create an accessory that could be enchanted to provide some protection. As small as Lily is, she is unlikely to be the main target of many attacks. I believe I could design something, and if I start with some materials we already have on hand, I could do something simple quite quickly. Come back tomorrow and I will have something for you.”

  Lily immediately returned to her enthusiastic self with these words, her exuberance clear in the cheering vocalization that transcended words. It was adorable.

  —-

  “He called my favorite creation FLAWED.” Water raged, throwing a rare fit.

  ”He said all creatures are flawed, not just yours.” Air’s voice dripped with barely concealed joy and amusement at the state the scene below had left Water in.

  ”Your creatures may be flawed, but mine is PERFECT.” Water stalked back to her favorite lounge chair, done with the monitoring screens on the main console.

  “Calm down, Water, no one is perfect.” Earth followed Water to her chair in an attempt to sooth the irate goddess.

  “Says the guy who thinks creativity is making people short!” Water retorted, and Earth shrank away.

  ”Don’t worry, your capybara is just as perfect as its creator.” Air laughed as Water sputtered with incoherent rage.