Blacksmith vs. the System

"Don't you think that was a bit too fast?" Rosie asked, appearing from nothingness. "Maybe we should have interrogated him."

I shrugged. "If you thought that, you would have already stopped me," I said.

"True," she declared, then pushed Thomas' ruined armor to the side, showing scales. "He had already started his transformation. All he needed was some time to complete it, and he would have had a chance to respond."

I paused, examining his scales, which were different from the others I had dealt with. The other mutations had always looked wild and chaotic, while Thomas' scales, spreading from the heart, looked far more smooth and orderly.

"There are different ways of heretic transformation, some more controllable than the others," she added, realizing my unasked question.

I nodded. It was not good to hear, especially since their revenge was inevitable. I would have expected it even without Rosie's warning. They didn't act like calm and collected people who would accept a strategic retreat in good humor. "How much time do we have?" I asked.

That earned a shrug from her. "I don't know. Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks. I don't know much about heretics. It depends on who was supporting Thomas."

"Then, I leave him to you. Do your research. I have a dungeon breach to address," I said.

"Already?" she said. I nodded. "What's the scale?"

"It's large enough to allow boss monsters to pass through, but the conflict between the two dungeons is making it impossible for the moment. As for the rest, I have no idea. Do you?"

"No. Ordinarily, the stronger dungeon would shatter the weaker one in quick order, but this is the first time the weaker one has an owner. You probably have a better idea of what's going on."

"That's not much," I said. "I'm doing my best to assist mine, but the disparity is strong. For the moment, I can make up for the difference thanks to all the tainted energy that's sticking around, but …"

"You'll eventually consume all of it," she completed.

"Exactly. It means, I need to find a solution."

She paused, examining me. "You don't look as worried as I expected," she said.

"I have certain ideas. Some of them are bound to work," I said.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Keep an eye on things, and establish a perimeter like we discussed. Also, maybe help the settlement of a few mining bases. I much rather not rely on the dungeon for mining, especially when we have such a wide expanse to exploit."

"That's a good idea," she said. "Actually, it's a better idea to expand the defensive perimeter at the outskirts of the mountain, away from the main gate, and turn the mountain into a bunker of last resort."

"Why?" I asked.

"It gives too big of a target while limiting our mobility," she replied. "We will have more strategic flexibility if we have many bases that we could reinforce or retreat depending on the enemy we face. There are simply too many possibilities," she said.

"Discuss it with Harold. He has a much better idea of how to deal with it, especially since our armaments are slowly having more modern pieces," I said. "Just make sure to prioritize the safety of people. I don't want people to turn into sacrificial pawns." It was a redundant warning, as the last three years might be filled with subterfuge, but nothing she had shown indicated that she treated the people as disposable tools.

She nodded seriously. "I'll do that," she said. "However, I can't guarantee their safety if we send a team to weaken the fire dungeon."

"Let's keep that as a backup plan for the moment," I said. "We can look into that if my initial plans don't bear fruit."

"There's one more question," she said. "We need to decide on our trade policy going forward."

"The weapons, or the skill stones?" I said.

"Both represent rare products," she said.

"Why is that, by the way? Why are there so few skill stones for production classes available?"

"I don't know," she said. "My best guess is that any stones that provide them were destroyed in their infancy by Horizon, but since I was trying to keep my head down, I didn't try to confirm it."

"Regardless of the reason, spreading them will raise eyebrows," I commented.

"You should have thought of that before letting the information spread. It's too late to hide," she said. I nodded, accepting the admonishment. I was the first to admit that I didn't handle my sudden leadership position the best, particularly relating to the rebelling guards.

"What's done is done," I replied. "Still, the Meditation skill should be a safer thing to trade."

That earned a nod. "That, and some of the simpler mana alloys could be moved without raising too much suspicion. I have some channels that could be used in that direction. All that remains is what you need in return."

"I need five things in return. First, information on the System, particularly linked to the dungeons and soul, is the priority."

"I can't guarantee the validity of such information. People are secretive, and I can't really distinguish them, especially if my contact believes them to be true."

"We'll be careful, then," I said. "The second thing we need is external skill stones. The more varied, the better. Though, it'll be good if we can source some Rare or higher combat skills that are fit for our current soldiers."

"That's more doable."

"Good," I said. "The same applies for dungeon products, but we need to be more distinctive on that."

"For mana recovery? I don't think that'll work," she replied. "Mana alloys go for a high price, but only due to rarity. Once we start selling them in higher volume, the price will come down significantly."

"No. Mana recovery is not the first objective. Logistics of it is not viable, at least, not unless we can find a source that's cheap enough to make it viable. I need more variants to experiment with different varieties of products."

"That's easier to achieve," said. "That makes three."

"I need more metals, particularly platinum, and gold, though I won't say no to a sustainable source of silver. Higher-order metals will become very useful," I said.

"That's harder. Silver is one thing, but it's difficult to source gold and platinum, especially if you want it to be measured in tons, and not pounds. I'll do my best, but…" she said, then sighed. "What's the last one?"

"Pre-Cataclysm books. Any topic is fine. As long as we don't have it in the library, we can pay a lot of money for it."

She sighed. "Well, that's not a surprise. Still, I'm surprised that you didn't ask me to collect any information on how society is developing. Did you finally give up on your research?"

I smiled viciously. "Certainly not," I said.

"Then, why didn't you ask for it?"

"Simple, I can't trust it. Even if we can trust that the source is doing their best, there are a hundred ways to ruin the data. If I want to truly understand how the world is shaping, I need reliable data, meaning we'll have to collect it ourselves." I paused, looking in the direction where the fire dungeon lay. "We just need to survive these so-called heretics first. By the way, why exactly are they called such?"

She shook her head. "I don't really know. Not something I invented. The others referred to them that way, and you have to admit, it fits."

"Yeah, weird cults that transform people until they turn into mad beasts. Hard to argue against," I replied, then looked at the mountain. "I think that's enough of a strategy meeting. I still need to go and make sure everyone is calm before I disappear for a long time."

"Are you going to give a speech?" she said.

"Unfortunately," I said with a chuckle. "Luckily, with a Wisdom-Enhanced memory, I have far too many sources to plagiarize."

Rosie smiled before she faded from the view once more, and I climbed the mountain. "Welcome back, sir!" Harold greeted, and the rest of the soldiers raised their spears at once.

"We are victorious yet again!" I shouted loudly, and followed it with a long, if a touch cliche speech that I gave perfunctorily. A magnetic leader, I was not, but luckily, they had just watched me absolutely demolish hundreds of giant monsters without taking a break, which had gone a long way to assuage their worries.

The fact that we managed to handle the disaster without a single death was even more fascinating, the combination of high-quality armor and organized defense making a great difference, though I doubted we would be that lucky forever.

A thought for another time.

Once they had dispersed to celebrate, Harold approached me. Under another metal dome, he looked at me. "This is not the end, is it, sir?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, no. We don't know when, but their revenge will come. However, we'll be ready," I said, followed by the summary of my discussion with Rosie, and our next set of priorities. "Until then, coordinate with Rosie, but don't forget that you have the command."

"I won't, sir," he said. "I will continue to protect them."

"Good," I said, and let the metal dome fall. He went to deal with his tasks, and I started to walk toward the dungeon.
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I still had a crisis to manage, one that was going to double as a good teaching opportunity.