Chapter 229: Parm (3)
At the moment Shinto had sent out a whisper to the player [ Hideo ]—Shinto averted his gaze away from the message window and soon turned towards his player profile. Unlike before where he only glanced at his level, this time, he began scrutinizing the rest of the window in front of him.
[ Player Profile ]
Player Name: Hideo
Level: 134
Guild Affiliation: Vainblood
Rank: 1st (Blacksmith Rankings)
Class: Blacksmith
Titles: [ Maker of Weapons ]
-Comments-
Commissions are unavailable - Busy.
...
"...hmm, he still has his profile comments set as unavailable, huh?" Shinto thought to himself whilst waiting for his reply. "So it seems he's still caught up with guild matters and some commissions I reckon..."
For a player's profile, one could customize it in a way to show off their titles or put in comments as a status update. For Hideo's case, he would typically set it as a way to indicate whether he would be available or not.
"Well, with the involvement of Vainblood with Bareth's raid, I guess he wouldn't be as free as he wants to," he shook his head helplessly. "Yeah... I should probably tell Frey that he's unavailable and shouldn't press on further—"
Just as he was about to close Hideo's profile and turn towards Frey, he was abruptly taken aback upon sight of a sudden response from the very person himself who had said he was busy.
"Shinto? Yo! What's up?" That very person—was Hideo. The first ranked blacksmith in the blacksmith rankings. "Is there anything you need?"
"Ah...?" Shinto blinked in a dumbfounded manner at Hideo's casual response. "..." Though seemingly reluctant, he took a deep breath as he replied back. "...hey Hideo, are you free right now?"
"Hmm... Right now? Perhaps! Whatchu need? New gear?" Hideo asked. "If so, just come on by to the castle and I'll make whatever you need. I just need the blueprints."
"Err... That might be a problem," Shinto sighed. "But on another note, it's not 'new gear' that I need... It's something for a quest. So, it might be time-consuming. With your busy schedule and all plus the fact that you have to make sure the gears of our guild members are top-notch—you have your hands full, right?"
"No problem! Anything for you," he replied casually. "Just name it and I'll see to it. Though... What do you mean by a problem? Is it because of raid stuff that you don't want me to help out in personal matters? Meh... It's fine. Just come on over here and I'll craft whatever you need."
"N-No... It's not that. The problem is... You might need to head over to Parm which might cause an inconvenience for you," Shinto said helplessly. "I can't exactly head back to Erendak with the current situation I'm in..."
"Hmm? Parm? Whatchu doing there?" Hideo questioned. "But ahh... Nevermind! Parm's not so far from Erendak, so I can ask one of our members to escort me and then—"
"...please come alone," he firmly stated.
"...come alone? Going to Parm from Erendak without any escorts... That might be a problem. It might take longer if I don't pass through Gaveln... And my level's too low for that! You know I'm just some lowly blacksmith!"
For Hideo who had the blacksmith class, a production type class in which had little to no innate combative abilities meant that he would need an escort to aid him in traversing through higher levelled areas. As an individual, it was a struggle to progress.
"Aha... Well, there is a possibility for an escort. Though, for now... I just need your confirmation. Are you really sure you're willing to head over here despite your busy schedule? It's fine if you don't want to..."
"Meh... It's fine, It's fine!" Hideo continued to casually reply. "I'm free for about a few days since I'm done with mainly all my work. So it's no problem, really."
"Sigh... I see," Shinto nodded his head. "Well then... Prepare to leave the area and I'll have an escort take you here. If possible though... Try not to make a scene when arriving here."
"...huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well to put it short—" Shinto sighed. "—Just don't make yourself stand out. I'll whisper to you the location details and we can meet there. Sorry for putting you up with this... My circumstances prevent other means."
"I see, I see. Well, send me a whisper when you can. I'll get my stuff ready," he said. "Anything else, in particular, you might need? It's been a while since you've had maintenance on your gear, right? You need me to get them up to shape?"
"Well... There's something else, I guess. But... For that matter, it requires quite a lot of gear," Shinto thought to himself. "For now... Could you bring along with you these few gears? Possibly ones within the level forties or fifties zone."
...
Soon after Shinto had finished up the conversation with Hideo, the young man turned towards the anxiously waiting Frey. In the next moment, he began speaking out.
"...well, good news and bad news," Shinto said. "Which do you want to hear first?"
"A-Ah? There's good news and bad news?" Frey muttered out in an anxious tone. "E-Err that's not good... Um... Let's start with the bad news first! After all, since hearing the bad news first and then good news will lessen the worry!"
"Right..." Shinto nodded his head as he took a deep breath. "...the bad news is that it might take a few days for the blacksmith's arrival."
"Ah...?! That means he agreed!" Frey cheered. "Then if he agreed... Then that must be the good news, right?"
"...Frey, let me finish," moving his hand up to interrupt Frey, he continued. "—on another note beside the bad news, I'll be busy before the blacksmith's arrival. So there's that."
"Hmm... Busy?" Raina tilted her head.
"...I'll be needing to prepare for his arrival," he sighed. "So... First of all, since we're all taking a break here—just do whatever in the meantime. As for me... I'll be needing to see someone for some matters."