The weapon workshop was named "Garfiel's Legends" which was written over a large wooden board just above the counter. The exterior designs of this workshop gave beautiful vintage aesthetics. When Axel approached the workshop, he found that it was empty. The charcoal furnace was left there, supposedly still heated. There was a woodburning fireplace, which was the only source of light in the dark workshop unlike the other shops which were lit by the sun's rays. These features intrigued Axel.
"Wow! This workshop looks so cool, not to think of it but it kind of matches the aesthetics of the Grand Duke's palace" Axel thought in fascination. "But where is the craftsman and why wasn't this workshop mentioned in the novel?"
He turned to a man who was feeding the pigeons on the stone paved road around the fountain. The man was tall and fair, and he was dressed in noble attire. "First time seeing a noble this kind to actually waste his time on feeding birds." Axel thought, as it piqued his curiosity but first, he needed to find the craftsman who would let him borrow a good sword for practicing. He reached the man and unintentionally, all the pigeons flew away hurriedly on his arrival. The man looked upset but didn't bother much and instead looked directly towards Axel with bright brown eyes.
"Oh I um, sorry for interrupting you sir, but uh do you know where the weapon workshop's owner is? I actually wanted to buy a sword from him." Axel asked in a polite manner.
"Sorry mister, but I am unaware of this workshop owner" The noble dressed in red answered, whilst maintain eye contact and without wasting any more of his semi-precious words, just left. Axel stared at him from a distance. "Rude!"
Without dawdling around anymore, Axel decided to investigate the workshop on his own and check if the owner was inside. "That guy is probably in deep slumber. Must I be the one to investigate the workshop? Ugh, I wish I didn't have the urgency!" With that thought, Axel entered the workshop. Now that he thought of it, this place was giving him the creeps for some reason.
"How can this place be so cold from the inside, while its practically SUMMER?! NOT TO MENTION THE FIREPLACE AND"- before he could even finish the thought, he found himself falling into a dark basement beneath the workshop.
#
He landed on the rough ground with a loud thud. Gladly, he injured only his left leg slightly. One of his earrings fell and was left unnoticed by the young man.
"OUCH! WHY DO THESE CREEPY ABNORMAL THINGS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME? FIRST WITCH, AND NOW AN UNDERGROUND BASE?" He screamed internally making him even more frustrated than before. In the action, unable to control his cryo powers, ice crystals became scattered across the secret base. "I hate my life! What did I do to deserve such pathetic situations?!" He was on the verge of tears. But he was a master of controlling his emotions and quickly changed his despair to curiosity. He now quietly observed his surroundings. It resembled a secret path which could allow for the passage of only one person at a time. There were torches on the dusty old walls still lit with fire, making it evident that there had been recent passage in this place.
"I mean, it could be a nice adventure. I wonder what might be on the other side of the passage. Since I've dealt with a witch, how worse could it be?"
So, Axel started to follow the path which was eerily quiet. He wanted to return immediately after five minutes of inspection, but kept walking for fifteen minutes in silence, till he finally found a series of small steps leading to light. He hopped up the steps with confidence, ready to face whatever was waiting for him at the end.
#
As he emerged from the trap door, he found a dim room filled with all kinds of weapons, big windows covering the walls. He was captivated by all the different weapons but curious why the workshop's secret underground path led to just a room filled with weapons.
"The spooky road was totally worth it! So many weapons! Wait, they aren't for sale so are they just for display or something? Would it be bad if I borrowed a sword from here? I should look for something which would hold no interest of the owner."
Axel started looking around for a suitable sword and came across a dull steel sword lying on the ground. He picked it up for further inspection and noticed that it looked very ordinary and plain. It just had an 'A' initial carved on it.
"This is suitable enough. Ok, this is not stealing, I'm just borrowing it for practice and trial. I mean pfft, who would want such a plain boring sword? No one! It doesn't hurt if this poor thing has a new owner. He picked up a scabbard attached to a belt from the ground and put it around his waist. He carefully sheathed his new sword. "I should think of a name for it soon." He thought. Suddenly the system window popped up.
<+5 𝘈 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺> and again as usual without anymore chit-chat, just left.
Just then he heard footsteps coming from a nearby door. To prevent any further troubles, Axel quickly hid behind one of the large crimson velvet curtains covering the big windows.
"U STUPID SYSTEM! YOU NEVER HELP ME IN MY TIMES OF NEED! GO TO HELL!" Axel thought in panic.