Assimilate All Talents

The man wasn’t spooked by the sudden voice speaking to him, as it was not the first time it had happened nor would it be the last. He gave a subtle nod and reached for a small metal box attached to the underside of the food stand, sending a small amount of mana into it. Seeing the man’s actions, Fabio continued past him, where a stairway appeared.

The stairs led him to a complicated maze of tunnels meant to confuse those who accidentally stumbled into them. But for Fabio, he simply followed the hidden signs that soon led him to a large open area underground.

Buildings of different sizes lined the street with lamp posts illuminating the underground area. The buildings served all sorts of purposes, from shops and warehouses to homes, gang hideouts, and certain entertainment businesses.

This was the black market of Crestal City. Located in the capital of the kingdom, the royal family and their forces were well aware of its existence but allowed it to operate with a few regulations. For one, it was the only black market that didn’t deal in slaves and had the least civilian-related deaths.

Fabio ignored everything around him and continued to his destination. On the way there, he recognized someone passing by him.

‘Isn’t that the girl that follows Sol? Amber, was it?’

Though she was wearing a cloak to prevent others from identifying her, Fabio could easily see past it. Amber walked past him, unable to see through his hat’s effect. Though Fabio was curious as to why she was here, he wasn’t going to spy on his friend’s companions.

Soon he reached his destination, a stone brick building that emitted heat just by being near it. He walked inside past the guards and saw a forge with over ten blacksmiths hitting their metals with hammers or in another part of the forging process.

Fabio removed his hat, revealing himself to the smiths, and asked, “Where’s Taliya?”

The blacksmiths all paused in fright as a man suddenly appeared in their workshop. In the black market, anything could happen, and most of them were worried Fabio came with violent intentions. Seeing that Fabio was waiting for their response, one of the more experienced smiths was the first to recover and asked back, “Master Taliya is currently working on a commission and doesn’t like to be disturbed. We can inform her later if that's alright with you.”

“Tell her now, just say Fabio’s here.” He knew how she could be when working on a project, but if she was truly remorseful over her actions in the past, she would stop working and come to see him.

The experienced smith hesitated, not wanting to be the one to interrupt her. He turned to look at the other smiths and saw none of them move to inform their master. A few shook their heads, and others made a small praying gesture, wishing him the best.

The experienced smith had no intention of going against the stranger who was much stronger than him, from how he magically appeared and how he casually invoked his master’s name.

With resignation, the smith spoke, “I’ll go inform her now…”

When the smith left, Fabio thought to himself a bit further about how he wanted to go about this. He wasn’t able to think beyond a few preliminary thoughts before a woman came running out from the back. She was a tall, muscular woman wearing a tank top and worker slacks. Though her face was a little on the rougher side, no one could deny that she was a beauty nonetheless.

“Fabio!” she yelled in elation but also some surprise.

She opened her arms to hug him but froze when she saw his conflicted expression. She quickly realized that he did not come to visit her because he forgave her.

The two stood in silence, not knowing what to say. Taliya remorsefully waited for him to speak first, as it all depended on him whether their relationship would ever go back to what it was.

After what felt like an eternity of silence and after seeing her expression, he felt that maybe it was time to forgive, or at least try. With a slight smile, he said, “It’s been a while, Little Miss Forge.”

Hearing a nickname she hadn’t heard in years, a smile grew on her face as she nodded, “It has, hasn’t it?”

The smiths who were overhearing their small exchange exchanged confused looks, as they had never seen this man before nor heard anyone call their master by such a silly nickname. One of the smiths found the name really funny and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Heh. Little Miss Forge…”

FWOOM! BOOM!

Out of nowhere, a blue hammer and a fire blast flew past the head of the smith and created two dents in the wall behind him. He was barely able to process what just happened when two voices yelled out at him.

“Only I/he can call her/me that!” they both said simultaneously while menacingly glaring at the poor smith. Taliya had her open hand outstretched while Fabio had a hollow rod-like object attached to his forearm with a fire elemental cartridge inserted.

The smith’s legs became weak, causing him to fall on his rear. He was about to beg for forgiveness but realized the two had already turned their attention away from him.

“Should we continue this in my forge?” Taliya suggested.

Fabio nodded, “That would be preferable.”

The two left to the back, leaving many confused smiths wondering who that man was, but they knew they would likely never find out. The one who was almost killed breathed a sigh of relief, thinking how lucky he was that the two he offended didn’t kill lightly. Those types of people were rare in this area. It wasn’t uncommon to die in the black market after accidentally offending a powerful person, so for them to only threaten his life, he would take that as a win.