Fire medicine.

Once again, I found myself in front of the wooden cabin, with the guy wearing a red mask standing in front of the open door.

This time, there was no headache, and my eyes didn't burn.
But I couldn't move.
I heard something; the masked guy was speaking. His voice sounded very distorted.

Guy wearing a red mask: Save... static noise ... she static noise he static noise trying static noise

I then woke up. I was in the guest room of the bookshop. Astra and Faylinn were still sleeping.
So... this was a dream.
But the first time I saw the masked guy... was that a dream too?
I had questions, but I did not have any answers.

I had to get ready to go out. No need to waste time on cryptic dreams.

Just outside the guest room, I saw the three backpacks that Aku had prepared for us.
I put on the arm-guard and grabbed my backpack while the girls were just waking up.

We then headed outside, going directly toward the town's main gate.

First, we went to talk to the gate guards.

Leonel: Astra, you talk to them.

Astra: That sounds like a good idea. We can't have Faylinn making a mistake and angering the guards.

Faylinn: Hey! What are you implying!?

Astra once again crossed her arms right under her chest, then puffed out her chest, switched to a charming voice, and got really close to them.
This girl is dangerous...

Astra: Excuse me, handsome guards, would you mind helping me by answering a few questions?

Gate guard: Umm, yeah, what do you need to know?

Astra: Have you seen, or heard of, a bunch of fire draconers and mountain draconers roaming the lands, perhaps trying to find a new home?

Gate guard: No, sorry... the last time we saw a mountain draconer around here must have been over a decade ago. And we haven't seen any fire draconers.

Leonel: How about a teenager, around my age, wearing black and blue clothes? Have you seen anyone like that? We heard he was travelling east.

Gate guard: Hmm... no, sorry. But... if you think someone like that has been here, and they did not go into town, then they might have been in the caravan that headed east.

Leonel: I guess we need to travel to the next town.

Astra: That seems to be the case. But last night you mentioned something about an alchemist shop.

Leonel: We need to go there before we leave this town.

Faylinn: What are you buying there?

Leonel: Something you might enjoy.

An evil grin was probably visible on my face again.

We went to the alchemist shop. Just like all the other buildings in town, it was carved into a giant boulder, but this one had tons of windows and metal pipes coming out of it, which were probably used to get rid of any dangerous gases produced during typical alchemy experiments.

There was a copper sculpture in the form of a tree without leaves just outside the door.

We went inside and were almost knocked down by an intense smell that resembled the smell of rotten eggs.

An old lady with long gray hair, wearing a green robe, was staring at a vial that contained a blue liquid.
The whole place was packed with shelves filled with flasks and jars of different colors.
And of course, everything had a tiny label in a language that I could not read.

Leonel: Excuse me, I'm looking to buy some saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur.

Alchemist lady: That's an interesting selection. What kind of medicine are you preparing?

Leonel: Oh, I'm not making medicine. Those ingredients are for a completely different purpose. Let's say I'm cooking something.

I ended up buying a decent amount for just 6 gold coins.
Faylinn was very excited.

We went outside, and Faylinn could no longer contain her excitement.

Faylinn: Are you going to use those ingredients for tonight's dinner?

Leonel: No, they will be used for something even better than dinner. But you were right about one thing: we will be using those ingredients at night. The lack of light will make it so that it leaves a much stronger impact once you see it.

Faylinn didn't really understand what was going on.

Leonel: Next destination, the blacksmith.

Astra: Didn't you get some stuff from the little blue girl? Or are you looking for a different kind of weapon?

Leonel: I will be getting a custom-made item. Let's go.

The girls were puzzled. They didn't know what I was planning.

Finding the local blacksmith was easy. There was a three-meter-tall sword stuck in the ground next to the front door. Quite possibly the best way to advertise a blacksmith shop.

Once we went inside, we found the biggest and most muscular guy we had ever seen. I bet his muscles were capable of absorbing the impact of a warhammer... This guy must have a lot of experience crafting weapons. He was surrounded by stands that had all kinds of weapons on them. But no armor was in sight.

Leonel: Hello, I'm looking for someone who can craft a custom-made item for me. It's not a conventional item, but this is the only blacksmith shop in town, so I'm wondering if you could do it.

Big muscular guy: Sure, let me call the blacksmith; I'm just the accountant.

The big muscular guy shouted: "Hey, Roku! We have a customer here!"

An even bigger and more muscular guy came down from the upper floor. He must have been 2.5 meters tall... Even Astra, who is over a head taller than me, looks like a tiny short girl compared to that guy.

Blacksmith: Welcome to my tiny shop. Tiny by my standards, of course.

Leonel: Hello, sir. I would like you to craft a very unique custom-made item. I can provide a sample so you can copy the design.

Blacksmith: That sounds interesting; let me see what you've got.

I opened my wallet and showed him the "lucky bullet" that's so popular in my country.

Blacksmith: Hmm, interesting object. What is it?

Leonel: That's a secret for now. But you will probably figure it out if you make some of them for yourself. By the way, it's not supposed to have those two holes on its sides, and it's supposed to be hollow and filled with a mixture of charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter.

Blacksmith: Seems like this might require some precise manufacturing skills. You might need to ask an alchemist with metallurgy skills. My hands are not suited for crafting such small and delicate objects.

Leonel: Are there any of those alchemists around here? The alchemist in town didn't seem to have any metalworking tools around.

Blacksmith: Try going to the capital city of the kingdom. You will probably find quite a few of them.

Leonel: Hmm, I guess we have to go with plan B.

I ended up asking the blacksmith for something slightly different. I explained everything in detail, and he admitted that this time the request was actually within the reach of his skills.

Blacksmith: That's a bit more realistic. I should be able to get it done in two to three days.

Leonel: Sounds good. We will be travelling east for a while. We will come back and pick it up after we are done with everything. I will pay in advance.

Blacksmith: I'll do my best to have everything ready by the time you come back.

We didn't have anything left to do in town, so it was time to start travelling east. But... there was a problem.
I no longer had a land dragon to ride.
We had to walk.
The next town wasn't far. In fact, we could see it from where we were standing.
But it was still going to take one or two days to get there.
Perhaps I could take this chance to learn some fighting skills from Faylinn during the trip.
How hard could it be to learn some basic skills from a tiny dragongirl?