Akira stood inside of the completed blacksmith shop inspecting the small building that had several anvils and two large forges.


    “This building should suit our needs for now,” said Delgar who stood next to Akira.


    “With this place, we can now repair our armor and weapons as well as starting to produce the tools and other items needed to keep the village running. Delgar, since both the mine and the quarry are finished I''ll leave the forge to you and the other dwarves,” said Akira.


    “Right! It doesn''t look like much compared to some of the grand forges the king had but it will do. I''ll need to create the tools that we are lacking right away. We won''t be able to make anything until we have all the proper tools, but I''m sure the others are just as ready as me to make something out of the minerals that we mined over the past few days,” said Delgar as he started to stretch to get ready for a long session of working at the forge and anvil.


    “I''ll leave it to you since I have to oversee the other buildings that are being built right now,” said Akira as he waved and exited the forge.


    The forge was currently located right at the base of the hill near to the warehouse and close to the castle keep right in the center of the village.


    Akira spent the rest of the day supervising the various building projects. Before he returned to the castle keep he stopped by the forge to see how Delgar and the Dwarves were doing.


    “Zzzzz...” loud snoring could be heard along with clangs and bangs from a hammer.


    As he stepped into the forge he looked around for the source of the snoring and found it was coming from a large ball of fur coats in one corner of the forge.


    “Zzzzz...”


    Delgar and the other dwarves were not paying him nor the ball of fur any attention as they were furiously hammering on whatever it was they were working on.


    Akira walked over the ball of fur and after removing a layer found that it was in fact Chack.


    “Hey Chack, wake up.”


    “I''m awake!... I lie! I was taking a nap in my new favorite place,” said Chack as he quickly stood up and stretched.


    “What are you doing sleeping in the corner? It would be troublesome if you were to get in Delgar''s way since you could cause an accident,” said Akira.


    “This is my new favorite place to stay since it is so warm,” said Chack as he yawned showing the large sharp teething in his mouth.


    “He''s not bothering me as long as he stays in the corner,” said Delgar as he put down his hammer and took off his leather apron.


    “Were you able to make all of the tools you needed?” asked Akira.


    “All of the basic tools that we needed to start have been finished. We should be able to start working on whatever you need tomorrow,” said Delgar.


    “Want to come over and have a meal with me?” asked Akira.


    “Not tonight...Glola wants me back home before it gets too late. She told me if I stayed out too late...” Delgar shook his head as he remembered her words.


    “Chack, how about you?”


    “Yes, I would love to...I lie! I just want to go back to sleep!”


    “Haaa...I''m almost out of wine...” mumbled Delgar as he looked at his nearly deflated wineskin.


    “This heat is drying out my scales,” complained Chack.


    Akira bade the two farewells and walked to the castle where he ate dinner with Azura, Mileena, and Maya.


    ***


    Another day had passed and it was now nearing dinner time.


    “Awhoooooo~!” a howl echoed out over the lake warming of two unknown ships had been spotted on the river heading to the lake.


    Everyone stopped their work, grabbed their weapons, and ran to the top of the snow walls to defend against a possible attack.


    Akira watched from the top of the wall as two of the large ships intercepted the smaller boats, but after only a few minutes of talking the smaller ships were allowed to enter the lake.


    As the ships came closer Akira could see that the two small ships held several dwarfs and were filled with several bags and boxes of items.


    Akira descended the snow wall followed by his guards and walked to the docks in order to greet the Dwarves.


    “Akira I have returned! Look at this place! So much has changed” said Burkin as he hopped out of one of the ships and landed onto the wooden dock.


    “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?” asked Akira.


    “Don''t be so formal! Aren''t we friends!?” asked Burkin as he slapped Akira on the back and let out a loud hearty laugh.


    The guards behind Akira bristled at the rough greeting Akira had received but were calmed down when Akira raised his hand signaled them to let it be.


    “Look! I brought some housewarming gifts!” said Burkin as he pointed at two large casks being unloaded from one of the ships by several stout dwarfs.


    “It''s Shroom ale. A specialty of my clan and quite expensive. You might start seeing crazy things if you drink it with an empty stomach so it is best if you eat some food with it.”


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    “Would you like to come and have dinner with me so we can discuss business over some food?” asked Akira.


    “Sure, sure,” said Burkin as he followed behind Akira after giving his fellow dwarves a few instructions.


    The two casks of Shroom ale were picked up by two of Akira''s guards and brought it along with them.


    Akira stopped by the small forge where Delgar and the other Dwarves had been working on the different saws for the sawmill all day.


    The Dwarves who were all bent over inspecting the newly finished blades felt that the room had become quite crowded and looked to the door to find Akira, Burkin, and several guards crammed inside the entrance.


    “You even have a forge? You guys really work fast!” said Burkin.


    “Delgar you should bring Glola with you tonight since we have some rare ale. You guys are welcome to come as well,” said Akira tempting Delgar and the other Dwarves with the rare ale.


    “Hmmm...I''m sure Glola won''t mind if I only stay for a few hours,” said Delgar with thoughts of how tasty the rare ale would be.


    “I''ll join you as well!” said Chack as he sat up from his nap in the corner of the forge.


    ***


    “...so in short I convinced the old-timers to let me form trade alliances down here and see if I can contact the wandering tribes and trade with them as well,” said Burkin before he took a large gulp of his shroom ale.


    “So you want to use Kodria as a base of operations while you search for other wandering tribes to trade with?” asked Akira.


    “Yep, I can also sell you anything you need from other places at a good price as well,” said Burkin.


    “Well, money is tight right now, so we can''t buy much of anything right now,” said Akira.


    “Not to worry, I can buy anything that you have for sale right now. Plus we won''t just be staying here for free. Well pay for room and board and the food we eat,” said Burkin.


    “We have a few items that are currently just sitting in the warehouse. We were going to take them to Jerora and sell them but if I can sell it all to you for a decent price then that would be a real big help.”


    “Can I ask for a big favor from you?” said Burkin after another swig of his ale.


    “What is it?”


    “I want to pay you to build a general store for me in your village so I can sell and buy things from there. I can pay a monthly rental fee and pay you a tax on anything that is sold in the store. If you allow me to set up a shop here then I truly will have set up base here and it will not be just a temporary stay,” said Burkin.


    “I don''t see a problem with that if you are paying. But as I said before we don''t have that much money right now so there won''t be many people who will buy anything for the shop. I''m sure everyone would want to sell you things. You might be better off setting up shop in Jerora or investing more in your wife Kurzlin''s shop.”


    “...this is supposed to be a wedding gift to Kurzlin. Jerora is a great place to have a shop as many people go there for trading but the cost of renting land and a building is also extremely high.


    Some months it''s hard to break even. All she does whenever I go back to her shop, is complain about me being away for a long time or the high rent. If you can do this for me...then maybe she will stop nagging me...” said Burkin as he stared deep into his cup.


    “I see...Although I still think you should reconsider since you might lose more money than you make. But if you insist then I''ll find a place to build the store for you as long as you pay the cost for the workers and material,” said Akira.


    “We have a lot of Savings and can weather some rough months. This is an investment for the future. How much gold will you need?” asked Burkin as he began to reach for his leather coin pouch.


    “We''ll have to figure that out later,” said Akira.


    “Wait if he is allowed to pay you to build a shop then I want to pay you to build a tavern!” said Delgar. “...and then I can have some peace and quiet while she busies herself with running the tavern.”


    “Ah, such a great idea! I was so shocked to see that your village had so many things already but not one of the most important buildings, a tavern!” said Burkin.


    “I agree. It is truly a sad thing,” said Delgar.


    The other Dwarves that were sitting on wooden chairs near the burning fireplace all nodded their heads in agreement.


    “We have no extra ale or wine to sell so I felt building a tavern was not worth the cost right now,” said Akira.


    “Judging by Burkin''s fine tastes in ale I''m sure I can buy decent wine and ale from him,” said Delgar confidently.


    “Of course! If you have the gold I can get you any type of wine or ale! Just let me know what you want and on my next trip north I can bring it with me!” said Burkin thumping his chest proudly.


    “Plus Klyn said he would start working on cultivating the berries for winterberry wine,” said Varbu.


    “It will be a long time before we can start making any large quantity of winterberry wine. We have already gathered a large number of seeds to plant when the weather starts warming,” said Klyn.


    “Don''t drink it all when it is made! I want to buy some as well to trade with other cities and towns,” said Burkin.


    “Alright both of you will need to come to my office tomorrow and we can hammer out the details,” said Akira.


    ***


    The grand elders, Akira, Samuel, and the two dwarfs all sat in Akira''s office going over the final details of trade and building the tavern and general store.


    “So I have estimated the current cost of labor and materials for the general store will be 40 Wuf coins and the tavern will cost 60 Wuf coins,” said Samuel as he handed Burkin and Delgar a price of paper with the cost of everything written down on it.


    “A good price, I have no complaint so where do I sign?” asked Burkin.


    “I think I have enough to cover it all and still pay for the large order of ale and wine,” said Delgar as he counted his gold.


    “These are the deeds of the shops. Sign here and here,” said Samuel as he pointed to lines on the pieces of paper on Akira''s desk.


    Burkin dipped the feather pen into the inkwell and signed his name on two documents.


    Delgar did so as well for the tavern.


    “This one is for you and this is for our records,” said Samuel as he handed them one of the copies of the deed and put the others into a folder.


    “With your payment, we can begin building immediately,” said Akira.


    “Where will the buildings be built?” asked Burkin.


    “I was planning to have them built next to the central plaza. So that they will be at the heart of the village where everyone can reach them,” said Akira, happy with the large sum that he had just received.


    “Now let''s talk trade,” said Burkin. “For the furs, gems, diamonds, and other miscellaneous stuff, I will pay these prices.”


    Burkin wrote down the prices for each item and passed the paper over to Akira who looked at the paper and studied the prices he was offering.


    “You could probably get a slightly higher price for the gems and diamonds at Jerora but you would need to spend some time travailing there to sell them,” said Burkin.


    “The price is fine, I am aware that time is money and it would be foolish to waste my time for only a slight rise. With the inflow of gold we should be good for a little longer,” said Akira as he handed Samuel the gold he had received from the two dwarves.


    “How long will you be staying?”


    “Since there is so much to do I won''t be staying here long. If you can sell me some provisions then I can head out with my kin and search for the wandering clans and see if I can trade with them. I have brought a lot of gold and miscellaneous items with me on this trip and I am sure that the wandering tribes that live this far south would need some of the items. Just make sure to have the items I bought ready when I return so I can gather the items when I head back up north,” said Burkin.


    “With luck when you return both the shop and tavern will be built,” said Akira.