no, just save in the city hall, then go to forge. pt in weapon you want to be refined, set the refine lvl to 10, and when it is an failure, reload, and try again, this saves much more time. also just a trick if you move in a straight line to a village you will encounter more rogues, so go to villages in a zigzag to avoid being attacked
hard badge isn't that difficult: take
-Khan of the black horde,
-in Caresarea buy 2 one-handed dragonswords.
and skill out to balance of force
invest in spirit next,
the rest will be easy