Snippet #2407802

He looked startled when she asked him if he thought of himself as a hero. "Me, a hero? No, I'm just a blacksmith. I might go on the occasional odd job or two, but by no means does that make me a hero." He put the piece of ironwood back in his bag, deciding to wait until this job was over before trying to make anything of it. "No, the real heroes are up there." He pointed up the path to Ark and Zander respectively. "Ark has been doing this kind of thing his whole life, fighting trolls and death maws almost as long as I've been alive. He even saved Ed!" His entire demeanor changed when he said that, from his jovial and carefree self to almost fragile and melancholy. But just as quickly he was back to himself. "And Zander can use magic! He's not very strong yet but one day he'll be a great hero."

He fell silent after that, thinking about Ed. He wondered why he'd agreed to raise him, and if he'd be okay while he was gone. He wasn't getting any younger, and the orders for weapons and armors just kept coming into the shop. He frowned and stared out at the snow. Maybe he shouldn't have come? He wasn't a hero like Ark or Zander, and even the Merchant was full of more surprises than he was. And Lauren would be fine against anything that the mountain threw at her.