Mr. Li began the conversation with his serious look, and his words seemed to be spoken with a bit of gravity to them.
"Mark, have you considered leaving this village as your brothers have done?"
The opening line was a hard one that Mark had not anticipated. While he normally would easily dismiss the words of a merchant such as Mr. Li, the problem is that this old merchant seemed to have good intentions for Mark lately.
"Mr. Li, my brothers were not really fit for the village. They never really got along with the village folk, and they didn't really contribute to the village in any meaningful way."
Mr. Li considered his response before replying to Mark's statement, understanding the underlying implications in his short reply.
"You seem to be similar in that regard. You contribute greatly to the village, sure, but you don't act like these villagers, and you don't get along with anyone other than that girl, as far as I can tell. . ."
Mr. Li let his statement hang in the air before he continued.
". . .The truth of the matter is that you have a curiosity that will not be satiated in this village. You could leave this place with me and learn more about blacksmithing from masters that have been at the pinnacle of the trade for over a hundred years. . ."
Before the merchant could continue, the cawing of the strange bird could be heard. This drew Mark's attention, while it prevented him from seeing Mr. Li freeze in fear for a split second.
Mr. Li cleared his throat as he regained his bearings, and Mark returned his attention to the old man.
"What I mean is that you can learn more about blacksmithing from those with a long history and lineage in the craft. You seem to like creating new types of metals, and there are more than just iron and those stones to experiment with out there past the mountains. . ."
He paused, as if waiting for something, and exhaled with relief after a moment.
With the old man taking his pause, Mark decided to respond.
"Mr. Li, I see that you are invested in the idea of getting me to leave the village. I suppose you have a point that outside of this village I would be exposed to a more diverse craft and I would be able to meet many masters I could learn from. . ."
Mr. Li exhaled as it seemed he had gotten through to Mark, but the young man continued after a moment of thinking.
". . .but the village is my home, and it is where I belong. The people here are more like my family, even though I don't interact with them often. They have my respect, and I have theirs. We each contribute in a way that is intrinsic to the survival of the village. If I leave the village without a blacksmith, it wouldn't be long before it was overrun with monsters from the mountains."
Seeing that he could not convince Mark without angering the bird in the elder tree, Mr. Li had to concede.
"Well, Mark, I still strongly recommend that you consider adventuring into the wider world. If not today, still consider it for the future. There is much to see out there, many beautiful things to behold and wonder beyond imagination. . ."
Mr. Li was once again interrupted by the cawing of the weird bird, but this time the bird sounded even more aggressive than before. This caused a cold shiver to run down the old man's spine, but he managed to compose himself before Mark noticed.
"Ahem, as I was saying, consider leaving the village in the future. If you do, come find me or leave the village with my caravan, and I will make sure you are well taken care of."
Mr. Li then nodded his head, finally done trying to convince Mark and started walking toward the area in the village where his caravan was set up.
Mark walked with him a bit, pondering his words a bit.
As he was saying goodbye, Mark gave Mr. Li a non-committal answer.
"Mr. Li, if I do ever end up outside the village, I will take you up on your offer."
Mr. Li was excited to hear the young man's words, visibly perking up at his words.
"Young man, that is all I ask!"
Mr. Li then reached out with both of his hands and grabbed one of Marks hands, and started shaking it as he looked up into the large man's eyes.
"And bring that pretty lady with you, won't you?"
Mark had a stunned look on his face with the sudden movement of the old man and his shocking words, and before Mark could reply, the old man turned away and walked off at a brisk pace.
Mark just watched the old man go for a while before he slowly turned toward his hovel and began walking, thinking about the weird encounter he had with the old caravan merchant.
'What the hell was up with that crazy old man?'
Mark began to think over the interaction with the old man, trying to figure out why he had such a sudden interest in bringing Mark along with the caravan.
'Were the weapons that good?'
He considered how the old man and his guard seemed quite interested in the weapons Mark could create, and how it might just be a good reason to want to bring Mark along as a money maker.
'That could be it, but he made it sound like there are actually better blacksmiths out there with much more experience than I have. . .'
The Mark remembered some of the weapons he had seen the caravan guards hiding in the past, before they came into the village, thinking no villager had seen what they were doing.
'I know they have much stronger weapons than what we have, I have seen a glimpse at the few they have brought from down the mountain, but I could tell the quality was better than what we can produce here. . .'
Then Mark thought back to when he witnessed the first time the caravan guard with Mr. Li had seen his weapons that were made of metal alloy bonded to monster bone.
'That must be it! That look was like he had never seen anything like it . . . and if they have stronger monsters down the mountain, then I could make even better weapons than the caravan guards have ever seen . . .'
When Mark made it back to the smithy, Anabel was waiting for him.
When he looked up from his thoughts, he noticed her beautiful face looking his way. His breath caught when they made eye contact, and he realized for the first time that she was a woman, not just the girl he had grown up with.
'For some reason, I am suddenly nervous. . .'
Mark looked down at his hands, which had a slight tremor to them.
'Is this because of what the old man said?'
Before Mark could continue spiraling, Anabel broke the silence.
"What did Mr. Li want from you, Mark?"
Mark just shrugged and looked away from her, his face flushed like an embarrassed little kid. He played it off by moving to his work area and began moving things around, getting them ready for work as he responded.
"He didn't really have much to say, just asking me questions about smithing for the caravan and stuff. . ."
He lit the forge and arranged some metals, placing them in the flames, in order to begin his work for the day.
While Mark got to work, Mr. Li was in a private area of his shop's caravan, talking to his personal guard, Matt.