Moving on with the Unlimited story, it's Cattleya time!?
Enjoy!
Weapon Merchant Cattleya (1)
The road that led to the jungle had a sign on it before it disappeared into the dense forest. It marked a popular destination of that highway that went throughout the Continent: a village of windmills, known for its hot springs, mines, and for housing the workshop of Cattleya, renowned as the Weapon Merchant.
Her having established a workshop in that village had been mostly due to the glowing recommendation from her husband, Owen. One of the main reasons? Thanks to the heat the hot springs gave off, she could get enough heating power even during the rainy season.
There was the jungle too, from which she easily obtained lumber to use as fuel--indispensable for smithing--, as well as various kinds of timber for decoration.
However--maybe surprisingly considering her fame as a leading blacksmith in the Continent--, there weren’t many people who came directly to her for weapons. Thanks to that, she could manage to serve most of the customers that showed up while still dedicating herself to her blacksmith work.
“M-Moom, is this okay?”
Cattleya’s son, Rana, brought the requested item from the shelf.
“Hm~, that’s not quite right, is it?”
“Eh~~~”
“A throwing knife is a little thinner, and lighter. You brought me a hunting knife, Rana.”
“Oh, ok. I’ll search for one then.”
Rana turned his heel back to the shelf, in his hand the box with the item.
“Err~, a throwing knife, a throwing knife.”
“I’m sorry.”
Watching Rana heartily searching for the product in question, Cattleya apologized to the customer over the counter in a voice low enough for the boy not to hear.
“No, pay it no mind.”
The customer waited for Rana to bring the goods, sporting a faint smile.
She was Irma, a regular customer who usually bought throwing knives.
Not that she just tossed them away willy-nilly; these were Cattleya’s sharp blades after all, and most of the time she came to reforge the ones she had instead of buying new ones.
It was similar this time as well, she had asked for free reforging and tuning of her knives at hand in exchange for buying new ones.
“Mom, this is it!”
This time around, Rana brought the correct item.
“Well done.”
The mother checked the goods and gently patted his head.
“Dear customer, if you please.”
She prompted Irma to check them as well. She had confidence in the quality of her products, and it showed.
Irma pulled out one of several, giving it a light check: the weight, the thinness of the blade, the position of its center of gravity… no issues that she could see, ready to be used.
When it came to Cattleya’s excellent blades, one could forego the checking altogether, but double-checking never hurt.
“It’s as good as always.”
She left the money on the counter, and pocketed the knife.
“Would you like them delivered to the same place as usual?”
Cattleya asked, making an entry on her register.
“Yes, I’d like it to be before my next visit here.”
“When will that be?”
“It might be after one week, will you have enough time?”
“Just barely. The bulk of the job is done, and the reforging and tuning won’t take much. Well within the reserve time of the new knives.”
Items whose reserve time had expired would be put up for general sale. Even though that was technically how her shop worked, it was actually rare for Cattleya to end up selling reserved goods to somebody else than their original requester.
“And while we’re at it, how about some oil to stop the rust?”
“You are good at business.”
Irma smiled at Cattleya’s recommendation.
“However, I can’t carry any more items. I’ll buy some next time.”
Saying so, Irma grabbed the luggage she had left on the floor, and walked out into the pouring rain.
“Thank you very much.”
Rana, who saw Irma off while hiding behind his mother, suddenly noticed something. A strip of paper, which looked like a talisman, had fallen to the floor.
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