[@Aristocles]

Clelk managed to get a few swings into his work when the same warrior from before ran up to him, calling out to Clelk. Clelk immediately stopped, not wanting to risk a distraction and breaking the bar, which would result in another hour or so of work reforging. It took a solid 5 seconds before Clelk managed to recognize this warrior - they had talked at length about making an Iron sword and Clelk spitballed some costs in order to get the goblin to leave him alone. He didn't expect Cyrus to actually collect all of the pelts since that took a level of self-discipline that most goblins lacked.

"Clelk! I have the pelts! I can give you half now if you start on the sword!" 

Clelk set down his hammer and quickly jogged towards the approaching warrior, gently rubbing his meaty hands on the soft fur of the pelts. Even with half of them, Clelk would make up most of what his pot cost him, and the other half would put him well on his way to purchasing some other human knick-knack.

"My, if it isn't Cyrus! Glad to see that you are eager to begin our little agreement... By the way, did you know a sword is one of the most metal-intensive things I can forge?"

Even if the pelts were enough to cover his expenses for a while, Clelk knew that his services were valuable. Why settle for less when he could maximize his profits on what is, admittedly, a bigger project?

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to replenish my stores easily, especially considering how far the human village is, and how heavy Iron can be... I mean, I'm no powerful warrior after all!"

Clelk didn't expect Cyrus to trade for metal with the humans, and the thought that Cyrus could find the ore himself was laughable. Clelk had no idea where to find Iron since the village had no real supply or mine to draw from. No, instead this was an attempt at something that would only benefit Clelk, rather than the tribe as a whole.

"It might ease my consciousness using so much Iron if you could do something for me - would probably motivate me to work a lot faster too... If you ever find anything that looks human-made or some shiny rocks, I'd really appreciate you showing me before anyone else. And bringing some dry wood to me every now and then would be nice."

Clelk honestly thought he could have gone for more, but considering too high of a price might cause the warrior to ask his old master for the sword, Clelk chose to settle for less. The goblin was getting much older, and while he still worked the forge, his new apprentices were the ones doing the heavy lifting of the metals. Adding onto the old man's workload, even if unintentionally, would really be something that Clelk would regret.

Besides, even if he only managed to convince the warrior to gather wood for him, that was a major chore taken care of - leaving plenty of time to laze about, or even work on something if he felt like it.