The three knives took me the rest of the day to shape. I opted to finish and test them in the morning. It was now time to wake Samya up from her medically prescribed nap.
“Hey, it’s time for dinner,” I said. “Get up!”
She moaned and turned over in bed, rustling the sheets. Her voice sounded somewhat erotic.
“Sleep is important, but so is food! You won’t heal if you don’t eat. Come on, wake up.”
I tore the covers off her and was treated to the sight of a completely naked Samya. So she was the type to sleep without clothing... Whoops. I’d be more careful next time.
She sat up groggily. “When did it get so late? And why do I still feel so tired? I’ve literally been asleep all day.”
“That’s only natural after a serious injury. It’s your body’s survival mechanism to conserve energy and prevent excess movement while the body heals and replenishes the lost blood,” I responded.
“Whoa, you’re a walking encyclopedia.”
“Nothing like that.” It was just the combined knowledge I had from two separate worlds.
The room had grown dark, so I picked up a lantern. It was my first time using it because yesterday I’d fallen asleep too early to need it. Luckily, it was a magical item too, so I could light it with my bottom-of-the-barrel abilities—all I had to do was focus my energy. After a moment, the magic sparked out of me and into the lantern. Fire magic, along with wind magic, made up the extent of my primary magical abilities.
“You can do magic too?!” Samya exclaimed.
“Only simple things,” I said.
“The old families are something else...” she said with awe. Even having the bare minimum in magical ability was rare. I wasn’t sure how prolific magic was, but I knew that the large majority of people couldn’t use it.
We moved to the living room to eat dinner. I added some root vegetables to the leftover soup from breakfast and heated it up. Feeding an extra mouth cut into the food supply, but there was still quite a lot left. Of course, it wouldn’t last more than a month or two. I’d have to figure out how to make money before the food ran out, either by selling my wares in the nearest city or offering repair services. Though, I didn’t want to travel before Samya was healed. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if something happened to her while I was gone, especially since I’d already saved her life once.
We made small talk as we ate. Both of us instinctively avoided discussing our pasts. She told me about her day-to-day life, and I reminisced about the scenery back on Earth. I used to be so moved when I saw the towering mountains with their everlasting snowy peaks. That kind of info wasn’t going to give anything important away.
After dinner, we parted ways for bed. I ended up sleeping at the desk in the study, but I was used to that from my programming job anyway. Samya had insisted that she should be the one to sleep in the study, but I put my foot down. She was still healing. End of discussion.
She’d reluctantly retired to the bedroom, and thus my second day came to an end.
⌗⌗⌗
The next morning passed in much the same way. I woke up, made breakfast, and roused Samya to eat. I heated a batch of water for Samya to wipe herself down with, then I headed out to the lake for more.
When I got to the shore, I figured that I should take a dip. I jumped into the lake, water splashing up around me.
“Eyahhh!” I shouted in shock after resurfacing. The water was so much colder than I’d expected—it was practically freezing! But in a way, it was refreshing, especially after a whole day of sweating in the workshop. Once I felt sufficiently clean, I went back to the cabin with the filled water jugs.
The first order of business was to finish up my three-knife experiment. I continued where I’d left off and heated the knives to the right temperature. I quickly quenched them to set their shape, sharpened their edges minimally, and wrapped their handles with leather cord. I made sure to vary my effort for each knife, the same as when I’d shaped them the day before.
By the time I was finished, it was already noon. Perfect timing. I’d ask Samya to help me with the rest of the experiment over lunch.
“Samya, can you give me some help after we eat?” I asked.
“Sure,” she agreed easily, “but I don’t know anything about blacksmithing.”
“That’s fine. I just need another set of hands,” I said.
“All right. I spent the entire day in bed yesterday, so I’ve got plenty of energy.”
“I appreciate it.”
After we’d finished eating, we went into the workshop together, and I explained the setup. “I’ve prepared three knives. Can you cut these straw bundles with them, starting with the one on the right? I’m trying to test how sharp they are.”
I wanted to isolate the variables to the cutting ability of the knives, and I didn’t want any sword skills I’d been gifted with to interfere. If the blade I’d worked the hardest on sliced through the wood with Samya wielding it, then I could be sure that it was due to the quality of the knife.
“Okay. Easy,” she said.
Samya sat down on the work stool (read: tree stump) and placed the first straw bundle onto the log counter. She picked up the right-most knife—the one I’d put the least effort into—and swung it down with gusto. The bundle fell apart, accompanied by the soft crinkling sound of the straw falling down. However, that knife barely scratched the log and had only cut through the straw.