Zayn was pretty sure that Merlin had a dual personality. If not for that, it would make literally no sense how Merlin's attitude could change so quickly.

At first, Merlin had been overly vigilant and wary of every single move Zayn made. It was almost as if he was obsessed with finding Assassins that didn't exist, in the first place. He seemed to relax quite a bit when Merlin found out that Silas sent the letter of recommendation from the Adventurer Hall and that Zayn was acquainted with Silas.

After they figured that Zayn was not even in possession of a proper weapon, they made their way to a renowned weaponsmith. Merlin Kivan decided to accompany Zayn because he was the only one who actually knew what kind of weapon Zayn required to extract the highest potency out of the One-Armed Saber technique.

He had yet to reach maturity, which was another factor Merlin had to take into consideration when it came to finding out the best properties of a suitable weapon.

"What types of weapons did you use before?" Merlin asked in interest as they walked through the bustling streets of the central marketplace. The two made quite a few heads turn but it was not as if that was something new for the two of them.

"It would be better to know your budget to buy a new weapon and a few other miscellaneous items. You don't have to tell me how much money you have on you, just the budget is enough," Merlin added before Zayn could say anything.

Zayn nodded his head, thought about it for a moment, and shrugged in disinterest.

"I don't really have much experience with any weapon. I fought some Undead Skeletons with an iron pipe and encountered the Undead Skeleton of an Adventurer, which I defeated. Then, I picked up the dead Adventurer's silver iron shortsword and ended up earning my fortune plundering the skeletons after defeating a bunch of Undead. I bought the saber you shattered with the money I picked up as well," He revealed, tilting his head before actually answering Merlin's question, "Basically, I would say that I mostly used the silver iron shortsword and the saber, but it's not like I have any real combat foundation with any of those weapons. As for money, I should have around 30 gold thalers, probably a little more."

As the words reached Merlin's ears, they pricked up and the one-armed Adventurer halted in his tracks. He looked at the young boy in disbelief, his lips twitching, "Just…never tell anyone how much money you actually have, or that you earned your fortune from plundering the Skeletons of Adventurers, whether they were Undead Skeleton, or not…"

Merlin's words made sense. Zayn understood his mistake as well, and he was not exactly sure why he told Merlin everything, to begin with. Lying would have been a lot easier and less suspicious.

Now that Merlin knew more about Zayn, he felt a little bit better, though he was still quite a bit shocked. He began to walk again after he released a deep sigh.

After they passed by the fountain spring that was right in the middle of the central marketplace, less than ten minutes passed before they ended up in front of an inconspicuous building.

The walls were made of ordinary brick and two large panorama windows unveiled a few mannequins, holding exquisite-looking weapons and wearing extravagant pieces of armor.

"Isn't all of that a little bit…tooo flashy for a bunch of tools whose mere use is to kill?" Zayn blurted out at the sight of the uselessly decorated weapons. Gemstones adorned the weapons, which gave him even more reason to frown. He couldn't help but think that the shop was merely made for the rich to show off their wealth by purchasing the most exquisite-looking weapons and armor even if they may not actually be that grande in terms of utility.

"Everyone wants to generate some wealth in their life, and it would be stupid not to cater to the demand of the wealthy. If he wouldn't do it, others would," Merlin lectured calmly while grasping Zayn's arm to pull him through the door. Without any means to resist, Zayn entered the shop.

The polished wooden floor was the first thing he saw. Rows upon rows of mannequins wearing various pieces of armor, and shelves with all kinds of weapons entered his view.

However, what caught his eye was the central feature of the shop; the forge. Zayn had seen a forge once or twice in his life, but the forge in front of him was definitely large and more advanced than the ones he had seen in the past. Various hammers of different sizes hung down from the wall that was the closest to the forge, and a huge anvil was placed nearby as well. The anvil was white in color, which was a little out of the ordinary, but that was already it.

Everything was well maintained and of very high quality. That was something even Zayn, someone without any knowledge of blacksmithing, could see pretty clearly.

There was little to no decoration in the shop itself. The ample lighting, originating from the rays of sunlight that shone through the large windows revealed this pretty clearly.

All in all, the shop was clean, and everything was well-maintained and polished. The weapons and armor on display were arranged in a manner to show off the blacksmith's craftsmanship, which certainly worked.

"Scratch what I said earlier," Zayn mumbled and Merlin simply nodded his head. He understood the boy's thoughts very well. After all, he was surprised about the cleanliness within the shop every single time, let alone the expert work that denoted the pride of the blacksmith every time he paid it a visit.

Every single of his work could be considered pure perfection, exactly what Zayn needed!

**

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