blacksmithoftheapocalypse
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978. Worsening Reputation
🕑 Added 2023-12-21 22:20:43 +0000 UTCThe next day, the situation in Chrona had changed to an unexpected degree. Right after the terrorist attack on the granaries and the other attempts, a church building burning to the ground like this was expected to be a public outcry.
Usually, people would turn to blame their government. However, there was no government. And for the first time since Chrona got involved with Urth three years ago, public sentiment turned against them. The happenings of the past months were too much, so much so people easily forgot Chrona had just helped make a peace treaty with Arget Nor and helped release the last slaves.
What really turned the situation upside down was when the girls Seth rescued finally got the chance to tell their story. It was the tragedy of it all that whipped up the hearts of the people. Even the blacksmith heard most of this for the first time, leaving him baffled when he watched the interviews in the morning.
Things were a lot worse than he imagined, from when all of it started to the present. Back then, many of the girls were orphans from other districts that vanished from their accommodations. About half were deliberately kidnapped from simple families that could do little more than go to the police. A small number of them were actually children of Zealots that were offered for the first ritual.
Although all of this seemed to have ended with the destruction of the first church, most of it was actually swept under the rug. The offering and orphans fell through the gaps, the voices of children who managed to return home were actually bought or suppressed through their parents. Only a small number tried to do something, but nothing came of it.
It became worse when the girls talked about the recent weeks. The people of Gatris had started appearing in their lives again. At first stalking, following them at school, at the academy, to their homes. Soon, they started approaching them, too, trying to convince them with promises and threats.
Reports from the parents, girls, or foster parents were actually suppressed and played down by police and officials. Finally, they used force to kidnap the girls. One of the girls actually told how she managed to flee home, only to face an acolyte who had brutally killed her foster parents.
Despite people dying, nobody moved. Some stations reported that it was the influence of Chrona. Officers had been pressured or bribed to not pursue the cases. They actually had a whistleblower on record, saying Chrona Officials had worked with the church or suppressed the information to prevent the public from lashing out against all foreigners.
After Seth listened to all of this, he took a deep breath and tried to shake off the negative emotions. He had already punished them; however, he couldn’t get rid of the bitter taste in his mouth. Even with one of Delta’s representatives being bought by Spatia, he had still believed Chrona to be quite competent and benevolent.
Something had changed between the Chrona that initially came to Delta and the current situation. The biggest change was obviously the leadership. With Leana being pushed from her position, things had turned for the worse. To think Chrona would not only help keep the evil deeds of outsiders under wraps but even had such great influence on the local police.
The Chrona Empire that had helped Delta persist through the greatest difficulty had become a tumor. It was a little crass to phrase it like this, but in essence, it was true. At least in his opinion. Seth’s opinion was definitely not influenced by the fact that Chrona had denied any kind of help with the food situation in Minas Mar. Not that they needed it, but it would have been nice if the average price of food had not doubled.
With a click of his tongue, he turned off the TV and turned to more uplifting things. Tored and Nädel had finally come. They had gotten some rest last night, so it was finally time to show them his preparations and boast a little, too.
“Tored, are you up yet?” Seth called out as he knocked against the door of the dwarf’s room. He had deliberately woken up early, to pass up the time the dwarf usually woke up during the time he worked as his apprentice.
“Seth? You are already up?” the old dwarf asked with a warm smile when he opened the door.
“With how late you returned, I doubted you would be up in the morning,” he said with a laugh.
“I just couldn’t sleep for long, looking forward to today. Shall we go get Nädel, so I can show the both of you what I prepared?” “Sure, I can’t wait to see how far my apprentice has gotten.”
Happily, the two walked a little further down the hallway and collected Nädel. The tall, thin man was also already away and quickly opened his door.
“Good morning you two. Did you come to guide us around Minas Mar, Seth? Can we get breakfast first?” “Great idea!” Tored agreed with the tailor.
“Naturally. Our first stop is the cafeteria. Afterward, I wanted to show you the workshops I especially prepared for you,” the blacksmith agreed and the three appeared in the cafeteria, thanks to Tower Ego’s teleport.
“Convenient,” Tored commented on the sudden spatial jump, while Nädel opted to stay silent.
The two only had compliments for Link’s food, as they three scarfed down an opulent breakfast- When their cravings were finally satisfied, it was time for Seth to show them their new workshops.
“Is- Is that fabric made of <Celestial bronze>?” Nädel asked in shock when they started in his workshop. Apart from the vast shopfloor, looms, and a variety of tailoring tools, there was a shelf filled with bolts of metallic fabrics filling a whole wall. These were the fabrics Neeco’s assistance had prepared for him and Seth.
“Yes, and <Ancient bronze>. I was also planning on improving my <Sewing> skill soon and I hoped you would help me. With that, too. Also, that isn’t all,” he said and walked to an inconspicuous door. When he opened the door, the eyes of Nädel widened, even those of Tored.
It was a storage room full of shelves. Half of the shelves were filled with big reels of <Ancient Bronze> and <Celectial Bronze> ready to be woven into fabrics or used to sew them together. The other half were various threads Neeco Boos had created as practice. They were magic threads made from spells.
While the dwarf’s eyes were stuck on the mass of metal threads, Nädel was able to identify even Neeco’s magic threads and epic materials. With these, the tailor craftsman’s biggest problem, the lack of good materials, was finally solved! Seth was convinced the amassed materials would be enough to help both of them rise to the master tier.
Especially if one took the several storage rooms of leather into account, they could also work with. They were the next thing he showed the dwarven blacksmith and Nädel since they both would have ample use for them.
All the leathers here were the result of Minas Mar's leveling and hunting efforts. When the Oathguards went to the holy land, they never sold their materials to the traders or the Adventurer Guild. All of it flooded back here to be used by the craftsmen of Minas Mar.
Sometimes, Puffles and the others would also bring back stuff from their little trips into the mountains. Since the number of craftsmen was far surpassed by the number of Minas Mar’s troops, even epic materials piled up, clogging their storage rooms like they were common stuff. Seeing that, even Tored bit on his lower lip in anticipation.
After they passed the storage room, between the tailor and the blacksmith parts, they finally reached the blacksmith workshops. The workshop Seth prepared for his former master was almost as big as his own and was furnished with the best crafting stations he could get from the Auction house. These expenses he had taken from the guild’s coffers since Tored was an incredibly valuable member.
“Wow, this furnace is even better than the one I brought from home,” the dwarf marveled in surprise. It was the same for the anvil and other tools in the workshop.
“Lastly, these are your Sigil Rings. They will allow you to teleport to the System Church from wherever you are inside the tower and return to the lobby from the church,” Seth finally said and pulled out two special sigil rings.
They were relics, despite not being anything special. They were rings made from <Ithildin> and fashioned with featureless big souls. Apart from the recognition function and soul bound, each had a master tier enchantment of Dexterity. Tored looked at the ring with wide-open eyes.
“This is a master-tier enchantment, but I can't see the engraving. Did you use your <Soul infusion> to manage this feat?” he asked, perplexed. His senses as a craftsman kicked in and he immediately tried to analyze the item he was given.
“Yes.” “Wait a minute, what is sou- soul whatever?” Nädel interjected. He had been happily looking at the ring but pricked his ears at the foreign term. This was when Seth remembered that he had explained his secret to Tored, but not to Nädel.
“I will explain on the way.” On their way to the Tower Master’s Workshop, Seth explained one of the secrets of how he managed to make powerful items, even when he still lacked skill level and experience.
It was a surprise to Nädel, but he was not terribly appalled by Seth using the souls of the dead to improve items. The blacksmith had explained all the details and the tailor had seen his fair share of gruesome things. He thought that the way Seth handled this ability could be considered quite responsible.
“Good morning, Seth”, Sivri greeted the three as they entered, giving the two another surprise.
“I wanted to introduce you to Sivri Silverview. She is a golem. It’s a little weird, but I recently unlocked her with my skill.”
“Nice to meet you, master Tored, Craftsman Nädel,” she greeted them with a bow.
“What a fascinating piece of work...” Tored mumbled, appraising the delicate craftsmanship of Sivri, which allowed her to express a vast range of emotions, despite having a skin of metal.
“Didn’t you want to show us?” Tored asked when he finally managed to detach his eyes from the golden dwarven woman.
“of course, feast your eyes on this!” he exclaimed and changed to his Scorpio Armor.
