n

n

nFoster soon found himself outside of the alleyways again. He looked around to make sure that nobody could see him, and then took off his mask before throwing the cloak over his body again, hiding his suit.

n

"Hm... maybe Zhaine is still up.

" He muttered to himself, as he decided to walk a bit down the street. The smithy wasn't too far away, after all. And to his surprise, there really was some light coming out of the shop. Just when Foster placed his hand on the handle, the door was already pulled open from the other side, and a man suddenly stood in front of him, towering about a head over him.

nHe was wearing a full plate armor, covering his body from head to toe. The only bit of skin that Foster could see was through the eye-slit placed into the helmet. The metal had some patches of black all over it, as if the paint that had coated it rubbed off over time, although there didn't seem to be the slightest scratch or dent anywhere on the armor. On thing that stuck out was that there was a clearly useless amount of spikes all over it. However, that wasn't all. In some parts of the armor, other, clearly foreign pieces, had been forced into it. The already existing metal bracers had another set of thin bracers hammered onto them, and what seemed to be two completely different brooches were forced into the chestplate, one of them right above the solar plexus.

nClearly, that whole set of armor was incredibly impressive, but for some reason it felt a bit perverse. The way that those other pieces had been placed into it just make them seem nearly parasitic. A few moments later, Foster realized that he had just been staring at this man, and awkwardly stepped aside to make way for him,

"Eh, sorry, go ahead.

" He said, and the man stepped out of the shop, simply letting out a groan and a quick nod.

nFoster wanted to enter the shop before the door closed, when he noticed a small figure rushing after the man. At first, he thought it was some animal, but before he knew it, the figure clutched onto one of the armored man's hands. It was a child that was happily walking alongside this man that even Foster was admittedly a little scared of.

n'Well, it's not the weirdest thing I've seen, to be fair...' Foster thought to himself, before entering the shop, this time a bit more attentive, to make sure that he didn't walk into anyone. Once inside, Foster looked at the other side of the room, seeing Zhaine sitting there with a bottle in his hand, his face obscured because of the shadows created by the lamp standing behind his back.

n

"...Zhaine? You good?

" He asked, seeing the old dwarf slightly flinch,

"Huh? Ah... it's you.

" Zhaine replied,

"It's pretty late, what're you doin' here at this time?

"

n

"I was in the area... Erm, did something just happen? You seem kinda out of it.

"

n

"Heh, just had somethin' to drink, don't worry about it.

" Zhaine replied with a scoff, but Foster wasn't sure that was the truth. Zhaine very easily started slurring his speech when drinking, and although his voice was certainly shaky, it was still very clear,

"Who was that guy with the kid just now?

" Foster asked, and Zhaine shook his head instantly.

n

"Don't concern yerself with those people. For yer own good.

" The dwarf warned. But Foster was still concerned,

"Did that guy do something to you?

" He inquired with a deep frown, followed by the sound of the bottom of Zhaine's bottle slamming flat onto the table in front of him,

"Drop it, Foster. Please.

"

nFoster wanted to fight Zhaine about it, considering that he wanted to help him out with this sort of thing, but it seemed like this situation was beyond that. At some point, forcing someone to talk about something like this didn't help either,

"Alright, I will.

"

n

"...How was the dungeon?

" Zhaine asked, trying to change the topic, and Foster couldn't help himself but grin a little bit,

"It was surprisingly fun, honestly.

"

n

"Fun? Ya don't hear that often.

" Zhaine scoffed, pouring the content of the bottle he was holding down his throat. Confused what he meant, Foster looked back at the dwarf,

"What do you mean? I figured that other people enjoy dungeon diving as well.

"

nZhaine thought about it for a moment, and then simply shrugged,

"There are some like that, sure. The lassie, Kyla, she likes it because she likes dungeons. Others like the fame that come with exploring its depths, but most just do it for the money. It's a big town, but work's hard to come by, ya know?

" The dwarf explained, and Foster looked back at him in silence for a few moments. He really couldn't deny that. It was like that most of the time, anyway, especially in big cities like this.

nFoster hadn't really thought about this sort of thing, since work and money was one thing he didn't struggle with in this world thus far. He took a lot of the money left behind at Thiodrus' place, and then he got lucky enough to get a job that allowed him to so easily come to Arcadum. And here, he was able to work while doing something he was really, really good at. And it seemed like he was going to do well in this job in the future as well. But what if he wasn't able to fight as well as he did? Would he usually be able to find a job?

n

"Foster, why did you enjoy being in the dungeon?

" This question broke through the silence in the room, putting a sort of pressure onto him that felt awkward to cope with,

"Just... the fighting, I guess? But not in a weird way, I don't enjoy killing things, just... the act of fighting itself.

"

nZhaine pressed the bottle onto the table, and slowly jumped off the stool that he sat on,

"Ya usually use some gauntlets, right?

"

n

"Huh? Yeah, I guess I do… why?

"

nZhaine let out a deep sigh,

"Gauntlets are armor. Some fools use them as weapons, but that's not what they're for, in the end. While they do strengthen a hit quite well, there are much better things to use.

" He explained, before opening a box in the corner of the room, taking out something wrapped in cloth before bringing everything back to the table. Clumps of dust fell off the cloth while it was being carried,

"Now, these are similar to gauntlets, but they've been made to be used as a weapon.

" He said, unwrapping the objects he carried.

nAt first glance, they looked just like gauntlets, but the differences quickly became clear. First of all, while Foster's current gauntlets were made completely of metal, these were mostly made of leather strips that would wrap around the arm, with metal plates placed in the main areas of impact during a fight,

"These are cesti. Battle-gloves, you could say. Come, put em on.

"

nFoster slowly pulled off the gloves he was wearing right now, the ones made to help him use necromancy more easily, and then pushed his hands into the cesti. The leather seemed pretty stiff, and a bit uncomfortable, but overall they actually fit surprisingly well. When he put them on, Foster noticed that there was another bar of metal on the inside of the glove, making it easier for his fist to stay solid in a fight since he had something to wrap his fingers around. Covering his knuckles was another thick metal plate that seemed like it could do some good damage during a fight.

n

"These definitely seem pretty useful.

" Foster pointed out, before Zhaine scoffed,

"That's not all. Look here.

" He said, before grabbing Foster's hand. He slid his fingers underneath the metal plate on the knuckles and tilted the plate forward, letting him pull the plate off. It was like some sort of mechanism released. Then, Zhaine grabbed some more plates that were still hidden underneath the cloth. Two more pairs. Instead of just a blunt metal plate, one pair had spikes placed on them, while another had a blade that would run along his knuckles. Zhaine picked up the spiked plate, and placed it onto the cestus that he removed the blunt one from just now.

n

"I made these so ya can switch the blade out. It should hold for quite a while at a time, but yer gonna have to take care of them more than normal.

" Zhaine explained,

"I'll show you how, and what ya need to pay attention to the most. If you come back and they're done for, yer banned from the shop.

"

nFoster smiled at the old man standing in front of him,

"Don't worry, I'll treat them well.

" He said, reaching to the pouch hanging by his hip to get his money, but Zhaine pushed his hand away again,

"Don't pay me. Treat it as yer reward for helping me get back my things the other day.

"

n

"You sure about that?

"

n

"Tsk, what, don't like free stuff? Just take them before I change my mind.

" Zhaine clicked his tongue, before looking back at the cesti,

"The good thing about these is that they're pretty easy to make, and with these exchangable plates, it's going to be easy to upgrade these when ya get new materials.

"

n

"Right. Thanks, Zhaine..

" Foster said somewhat quietly, while Zhaine kept looking at the plates,

"Don't mention it, lad.

"

n