Blacksmith vs. the System

Eleanor didn't say anything material until we were once again riding the griffin.

"I didn't miss the sensation of flying," I said, grabbing the saddle tightly.

"We can walk if you want," she offered.

"No. I like being assassinated even less," I replied.

"Sorry about that," she said. "It was our mistake. It won't happen again."

I nodded. That promise was worth nothing, but I appreciated the intent behind it. "So, how was the recruitment?"

"Good," she said. A one-word reply was not out of the ordinary for her, but I was able to catch a chipped tone, which meant it wasn't particularly good.

That would have put a smile on my face if we weren't currently mid-flight. Unfortunately, it took something far more incredible than the prospect of great riches to put a smile on my face while I was being tortured by the fact that there was no solid ground under my feet.

I kept my mouth shut as we covered the short distance between the town and the dungeon. I wanted to close my eyes as well, but the ability to catch a glimpse of the caravan that approached was too important to neglect.

It was a significant crowd, more than I had expected. Even a rough head count suggested at least ten thousand people, maybe even more. However, their subpar equipment — along with Eleanor's dissatisfaction — suggested that there weren't many elites among them.

Once we landed, we immediately walked toward the headquarters. Some distance away from us, I could see many blacksmiths going on a building that was no doubt the new forge, but this time, there were many more guards.

My failed assassination — the first one — had taught them the importance of security.

Maria was in her office, with a dark expression on her face. It immediately turned into a shocked expression, which was followed by a giggle. "D-Devon?" she asked, shocked by how I looked. I didn't blame her. The thick beard and long hair looked ridiculous, but it was a good disguise. "You look … distinguished."

"The word you're looking for is old," I replied as I sat across from her. Technically, my action was a little presumptuous for the medieval culture people were insistently pushing. A week ago, it would have earned a very disapproving glare from Eleanor. Two weeks ago, Maria would have punished me with second-degree burns.

Neither of them even blinked, showing how much progress I made in turning myself into a critical part of the town management. It was good, as that was the only reason I was willing to stick around a location where I was facing the risk of assassination.

"As much as I want to mock Devon for his horrible beard, we have more important things to talk about," Eleanor said as she sat next to us. She didn't wait for an invitation either, though it was more about the relationship between Eleanor and me. She was a stickler when it came to propriety around the other people, and the fact that she was willing to relax near me meant a lot.

Their trust might have made me feel bad for tricking them, but luckily, I was able to come up with a method that would actually help them.

"True," Maria said, with sadness back on her face. "All but six of the guilds have pulled back from the agreement, and of that six, five of them had reduced their investment."

"Only that annoying woman is willing to stay. She even promised to increase her investment," Eleanor said, talking about Rosie.

"What about all those people?" I asked.

"Support staff," Maria replied. "Almost eight thousand of them are Farmers, and most of the rest are the various classes here to build the second wall, secure the farms, and do other support work. We barely had three hundred people to join the dungeon, meaning it was only a hundred and fifty teams. Slightly more than what we had before Thomas proved what a monster he is. And, almost half of those teams work for Rosie."

"Is it a problem?"

"Somewhat. They are low-leveled, so it'll take a while for them to get into the rhythm."

"We can't support the town with that much operation. We couldn't before, and we certainly cannot now."

"Really, that many Farmers?" I asked. "That's surprising."

"Not really," Eleanor replied. "The current batch of food we have came from the city, and they are dense enough to make logistics not a problem. But, we can't keep importing food. Maintaining such a long trade route through wilderness is next to impossible."

"That, and it's really difficult to grow food on a mana dead zone," Maria completed. "Even in the mana-rich areas, the best farms rely on mana-gathering wards to feed the plants."

"I didn't know farmers could use mana," I commented, acting unaware of the secrets, which would allow me to ask follow-up questions.

"They can't, but the plants absorb it. The poorer the environment, the more Health they need to grow the plants. At one point, they spent more Health than they could get from the food, making it a problem."

"I see," I replied. "Can't we use some of them to plant trees in the dungeon, then? I'm sure it'll be helpful."

"We tried, but alchemical fertilizers are required to do anything in the dungeon, and they are too expensive to be used in scale, especially in a hostile dungeon environment like a desert."

I wondered if it was Eleanor and Maria's inexperience that was making them miss the obvious solution of mixing them by hand and experimenting, or was it the dependence on the System that made people ignore the common sense solutions?

Admittedly, both were possible.

As much as I wanted to let them talk a bit more to despair so that they could appreciate my solution more, I decided to give them an alternative. "Actually, I might have a solution for you?"

"Really?" Maria had gasped.

Meanwhile, Eleanor smiled. "Yes, I forgot about that," she said as she turned to Maria. "Our sword genius here can actually kill a thousand monsters in a day. While it's not enough to keep us going, it should be enough to bridge the gap. As long as we delay the promised payment for the Farmers, and delay a few payments, we should be able to work until we hire a second batch."

"But, what about the Blacksmiths," Maria replied. "We need Devon to train them, so that they can learn how to repair the swords the same way."

"We need to cancel that plan," Eleanor said. "It's a waste for a sword genius to waste his time in the forge. He needs to spend his time developing his Rare skill," she said.

"Rare skill?" I interrupted.

Eleanor passed me a small box. "Surprise," she said, her smile wide. "Finish learning it, and I'll do my best to find you an Epic one."

Maria seemed to be unhappy about that. But, why, I didn't know. My best guess was that she didn't like Eleanor changing her plan without consulting, but even that was sketchy. Maria trusted Eleanor more than that.

"Actually, I have a better plan. One that not only solves both our problems but can actually increase the dungeon production significantly. However, I need you to trust me on how to handle it," I said. Both turned toward me. "I have discovered a way to make corrosion-resistant material."

Their shocked gasps were a thing of wonder. "That changes everything. If we can arm everyone with swords made of them —"

"No, that doesn't work. The material shatters quickly," I said, quickly cutting that path. "But, it's good enough to make arrowheads."

"So, are you going to teach it to the other blacksmiths," Maria asked.

"No, we can't do that," I said. "Whatever family dispute you have leading Thomas to sabotage you, it's clear that he's determined to pull something even harder. If we reveal that we can forge arrowheads that could be used in the dungeon, he might escalate."

"What's your plan?" Eleanor asked, but from her gaze, I could see that she was already convinced. And, I was sure that it had nothing to do with the plan, and everything to do with my melee performance.

"What would Thomas do if I occasionally received a box from the outside, filled with arrowheads," I asked.

"He'll do his best to find the delivery and rob them," Eleanor said.

"That, or he'll find which System Store you're purchasing the arrowheads from, and bribe them to stop doing business with you," Maria added.

"And, it means, he won't have that much time sabotaging the camp," I said. "However, I need both of you to swear that you'll never reveal I'm the one forging them. Not even to the rest of your family. Let's just maintain the fiction that I'm an old warrior friend. I don't want to die to an assassin's blade."

"That's a good idea," Eleanor accepted. Technically, I didn't know just how sensitive that ploy was, but I wasn't willing to take the risk. "But, how are you going to forge them?"

"Easy," I said. "I'm going to set up a forge in the depths of the second floor, and forge them there. The boxes will only have the raw materials. As long as you order the guards not to search me, it'll be enough."

"That sounds good. What about the blacksmiths?" Maria said. "We still need them to repair swords."

"Easy," I said. "I will write them some notes, as well as forge you a set of weapons from bronze ingots without enchantment. They can use it to quickly level up their repair. Just don't forget to have them sign better contracts this time."

"Sounds good —" Maria started, but Eleanor interrupted.

"We can't afford it," she said. "We're already deep in red, and mana alloys are expensive."

There, I smiled, ready to deliver the big stuff. "What if I sell the intact shells to you for two silvers each," I said. It would have been a terrible sacrifice on my part if I hadn't been earning far more from the dungeon itself.

"Really?" she asked. "And, will it be profitable at that level? We don't have many sharpshooters."

"The recipe I discovered requires some silver, so no. I still need you to purchase it for me secretly. I won't be able to break even, but I should be able to keep going as long as I spend half a day hunting," I said, which was another lie. Using an iron alloy would be more than enough for the arrowheads, and I certainly didn't lack that.

But, I needed an excuse to bring piles of silver inside the dungeon, so a little lying was inevitable. Especially since, the more profitable I made it for them, the less incentive they would have to try to get the recipe and teach it to other blacksmiths.

"And, everyone will think that we're paying you four silver, so we can earn more money than people expect. It will give us an edge during the auction."

"You can even tell that we have a deal, and you're purchasing the shells from me for five or six silvers," I said. "That way, it'll be more believable that I'm a level hundred."

"Good idea, professor," Maria said. "Too bad you're still garbage at chess."

"I'll defeat you one day," I responded, more than happy to play into her enthusiasm and entertain her.

"That still doesn't solve the problem of recruitment," Eleanor interjected. "We need to have a lot of archers."

"No, we don't," I said. "I just need permission to recruit among the farmers while one of you went to the nearest town and purchased a lot of crossbows for me."

"But, they still need the strength to pull back."

"Not if I hire a couple workers with Strength only tasked to rearm the crossbows," I replied. I was confident that I could figure out a small device that could figure it out, but no need to overwhelm them with too many ideas at the same time.

Maria looked at Eleanor, and they shared a pointed glance showing agreement.

Just like that, my first step to monopolize the dungeon was complete.