Chapter 23: New Beginnings
Van went too see Ms. Etta when she wasn't busy two days after he sold to the Scholars guild, he wanted to speak to her earlier, but she was busy with work that she had put off dealing with his stuff. After a long conversation she gave him the address of the workshop. It was in a horrible location if you wanted to have a storefront, but that wasn't what he wanted. So, he took it in a heart beat.
The shop was a 40-foot by 80-foot building. The ceiling was about 15 high which he though was nice. He didn't share any walls with anyone, so he didn't have to worry about that. The building only had one side that had the entrances. It had a large bay door and a smaller man door inside the bay door. The road leading up to the shop was rutted up and not very well maintained.
~looks like I am going to have to hire an earth mage to come and fix the road and my floor. But first let's go get a desk delivered.
Van's shopping spree didn't turn out too well because none of the shop owners believed that a child would be a shop owner. So, he had to change his tactics a bit. Since he is a carpenter himself, he just went and bought tools and the required lumber, saying his master sent him to secure those items for delivery to his new shop. That strategy work like a charm. Granted he ended up paying a premium because his "master" wasn't known in the city yet. Van ended up buying quite the list of items, hammers, chisels, log dogs, saws, draw knives, wedges, plum bobs, measuring sticks, and finally he placed a custom order with the only blacksmith that would work with him, for the cutting tools he would need for a lathe. All together Van spent around 5 gold, and another 3 gold in delivery fees.
The blacksmith that would work with him was a new smith in town also so she would take any jobs that would come her way. Blacksmiths never ran out of work in the city since the military and the different guilds pay them to constantly produce items. Nails were a big thing every blacksmith dedicated at least two hours a day producing nails for the different business around town and export. It was cheaper to buy a nail imported from Drosa than it was to buy a nail made in the capitol or any of the cities on Red Lake.
The Blacksmiths name was Erynne Silvermint. She was a young elf about 50 years old. She had been smithing since she was 9 years old. She decided to strike out on her own after her previous master took on a new apprentice that was constantly sabotaging her work. She had been in the city for a little over two weeks and Van was the first person the ask her to make a custom order. She thought the drawings were weird and awfully specific, but an order is an order, so she set herself on completing it as fast as she could without sacrificing quality.
The next day Van had walked to the Mages Guild to put in a job request for his workshop floor and the road leading up to it. He got some weird looks being a kid putting in a job request like his. No-one took his request for a same day job seriously because a job like that would pay only a few coppers. He finally got a taker from a young earth mage who just graduated from the College after he bumped up the price to 5 silvers, and a tip for a job well done.
With his floor flat and solid for at least a meter deep, and the road the same, he scheduled the delivery of his equipment. The next day Erynne showed up at his workshop to deliver the tools when she saw the same child that placed the order with her directing people on where to place things. She looked around but couldn't see his master so she decided to ask.
"Excuse me… I am here to deliver the tools for your master."
"Oh, you can just put them over there on the desk thank you."
"Well, with custom orders I like to deliver them personally hand to hand, so the goods can be inspected in front of me, and get a signed receipt before I go, plus I have a few questions about the nature of the tools before I go."
"Okay, do you mind waiting for a little bit? I am terribly busy now."
"No, I do not mind."
After an hour of receiving deliveries, Van finally got the chance to go meet the elf and inspect the tools. When he was walking up to her, he noticed how strikingly beautiful she was. Her Silver hair tied in a ponytail, her long ears with piercings, her deep green eyes, and her slender but toned build. He had to hide his face pretending to cough because he felt himself get flushed in the cheeks.
"Okay you may hand to tools to me so I can inspect them."
"I am sorry, but could you go get your master?"
"You are looking at him. I own this shop, and I designed and ordered the tools. May I inspect them"
"Uhhh…" She stammered as she slowly handed over the tools.
Van grabbed them and began inspecting them. Looking at the edges, checking to see if there were any cracks, and running his finger along the edge to check the sharpness.
"These look perfect, I won't be able to tell right away if they hold-up but if they do I will be ordering some more of these. Here is a tip for the quality." He said as he handed 5 silvers to her.
Erynne walked out of the shop in a daze, she couldn't quite believe that a human child owed a workshop. And to her absolute amazement he tipped her with 5 silver coins. The entire order only cost 10 silvers to complete and that was with a large markup.
After he got his tools, he drew up very specific designs for them, along with a detailed design for his Treadle Lathe. He went and registered all his designs at the Merchants Guild and at the Magistrates office. He then went to the mage's guild one more time to hire a mage to place security arrays and glyphs around his workshop. This time with the amount of work he had and the fact that it was security he asked for the best available. He ended up paying over 17 gold for the work, but he was happy to invest in his business.
As the weeks went by Van built two lathes, one for charcoal and one for the wood. He would spend an entire day turning out the wood blanks, then the next day turning down the charcoal, on the third day he would assemble as many as he could. When he was assembling his pencils, he would bring the tools back to Erynne the blacksmith to get them sharpened. His tools didn't need to be sharpened but he just wanted to find an excuse to see her some more and strike up a conversation. He would stay while she sharpened the tools so there was plenty of time to get to know each other.
One day Erynne came to visit Van because she needed a bunch of wood handles made, and he was the carpenter that she knew best. Also, the one that gave her, her first custom order. She was going to support his business like he supports hers. When she walked into the shop, she saw Van standing in front of a wooden task pressing down on a pedal with his foot at regular intervals. His back was turned to her, but she saw a large pile of what looked like wood shavings. She was curious so she walked up and announced herself.
"Hello Van. I have an order for you if you are willing. What is that thing you are using, and what are you making?"
"Hello Erynne, I am making this." he said as he turned around and handed her a freshly mad pencil blank.
"Is this what I think it is?" She asked as she pulled her pencil out of her pocket.
"Yes, it is, please don't tell anyone what you see or hear today, it is all a trade secret."
"Okay I will not say a word, so, what is that?" she asked pointing to the lathe.
Van described the lathe and showed her how it worked, he also told her how he wished it had a metal flywheel so he wouldn't have to step on the pedal as much. After a demonstration on how he made pencils, He also made a fancy looking stemmed cup for her. He then went and dipped the cup in his vat of melted beeswax. After he wiped off the excess wax, he handed it to her.
"What do you think? I am thinking about making these and selling them on the market."
"This is amazing, and I think I cam the right person for my order."
"What is your order?"
"I need 50 hammer handles. How much would you charge for them?"
Van and Erynne hashed out the details of the order. When she was about to leave, she set the cup down. Van quickly rushed over and informed her that the cup was hers to keep. It was a prototype anyways she wasn't going to charge her for it. He lied of course he had a trunk full of them ready for the market.
The next day Van delivered the handles. Once he turned down the wood, he just used his draw knife to flatten out two sides to make the handles easier to grip and control. When he walked into the forge he saw a sand mold on the ground, he didn't think to much about it. He got paid and, on his way, out he left a handful of pencils on her workbench. Erynne would never have to pay for pencils again if she continued to work with him.
The next week Erynne once again showed up to the shop, this time pulling a cart.
"Van, I have a present for you." She announced.
He stopped what he was doing and followed her outside, when she uncovered the cart, he saw a large metal flywheel starting back at him. When he saw it, he jumped up and down and immediately gave Erynne a hug he was so happy he didn't think about what he was doing. She returned his hug, and they brought the wagon in and Van set to immediately refurbishing his third lathe. Seeing this Erynne was confused.
"I thought you wanted the flywheel for your other lathe."
"I did, but then I started to make larger items, so I needed a larger lathe, and this flywheel will work perfectly for it." he explained.
~~ {You know, the materials that went into making that alone would've have cost over 50 silver. I hope you understand that}
~~ Yes, I do, thank you Alice. I am going to have to make her something extremely special.
"Thank you for the pencils you left the other day. I really appreciate it."
"Would you let me repay you ever so slightly by letting me pay for dinner tonight?"
"You are still a child, when you reach adulthood ask me again if we are still around."
"Deal"
-2 months later –
~~ {Happy birthday Van.}
~~ Thank you, Alice. You never forget.
~~ {I can't forget.}
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