"He's gone?" Elion frowned. "Since when? And where?"
The blacksmith shrugged.
"I don't know. The lad just up and vanished about two weeks ago. Might've been even earlier than that, honestly. We could go days without seeing him, after all."
The lanky man struck the piece of metal he was working on several times.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"He only ever came out of that workshop when he needed materials or when he needed something."
He shrugged.
"The only reason I found out was because someone came looking for him. I gave them directions, and they came back saying the place looked abandoned."
The man paused.
"Truth be told, when I went to check myself, it did look abandoned." He scratched his ragged chin. "Well... more abandoned than usual."
Elion's frown deepened.
That was troubling.
Now that he thought about it, Oliver's workshop had looked a little emptier and tidier than he remembered, almost as if someone had intentionally cleaned up before leaving.
