27 Chapter 27 - Making Rounds!

"Haisss... Seems like this old man are having the time of his life indulging in his own delusions of having a comeback.."

Theo sigh and shook his head helplessly as he look towards the senile Village Head. This old man's pupils are dilated, muddle and hazy. If people from the modern world were to see this kind of expression, they would not help but to think that this old man is under the influence of a crack.

"I reckoned he didn't even listen to what I just said.. urgh. Nevermind!" thought Theo as he rolled his eyes. He turned back towards the road and started walking again. The Village Head suddenly woke up from his daze as he followed Theo closely from behind. His face being all smiles.

"I can revert you back to your peak status, but this will take some time. Do not worry though, my words are gold in weight, every promise I made is but preordained by destiny to naturally be accomplished."

Hearing this, the Village Head nodded his head repeatedly in excitement as he replied:

"Yes yes! Thank you my Lord! From now on, I vowed with my true name, Samo Elsador, to pledge allegiance to serve under you!"

...

They soon reached the village center where once again the bustling atmosphere made Theo felt warm. He couldn't help but to start thinking that he is starting to adjust to his new home and family now.

"My Lord, forgive me for disappearing without notice, something urgent came up, thus I had to leave a bit just now."

The butler bend his back and bowed towards Theo. His sudden appearance from a corner out of nowhere, startled Theo that he almost jumped back.

"I understand, everyone has got to release it when the time comes." replied Theo as he waved his hands casually.

He was under the impression that the sudden disappearance of his butler was because the man had to take an emergency dump, thus he didn't think too much of it.

The butler seems confused with what that last sentence by his Lord meant. But in the end he didn't put much thought into it and just followed behind his Lord accompanied by the Village Head on his side. He threw a side glance to the Village Head and nodded slightly of which the latter also nodded in reply. It meant that the order had been passed onto successfully.

...

Theo stopped at the wet market region of the village where he could see some varieties of fish that he hadn't seen before, a clear evidence that he is currently not in his old world. He looked around some more as his mind started to lit with creative ideas as to how he could boost the productivity in this sector later on.

He then visitted the grocery store, analyzing the various items on sold by the wooden racks. He used the opportunity to ask the seller which items are commonly bought by the village folks and put on a mental note of each items. This is because he needed to create a continuous chain of supply and demand in the future to boost the village's economy.

In his line of thought, this village needs to be self-sufficient first. When it reached a certain threshold, then he could introduce a varieties of stuff to increase the standard of living of the village folks. Eventually, they would be wealthy enough to spend their money on other goods and may also started to develop trends into investment. Soon, other businesses will pop out naturally to accomodate the demand. This is how the chain of money are recycled. At least on layman's terms.

To earn their initial money, they first had to rely on their traditional source of income, which is the trading of iron ores in its normal volumes. For its low price though, Theo would somehow scheme a bit to at least jack up the price back to the standard value. Then, he would slowly increase the volumes by establishing new trade routes, earning more income.

Looking at the vast mountain and valleys that surrounds this village, it should be able to supply quite a vast amount of iron ores to last for a few generation at least.

At the same time, he should probably train more able bodies to secure the village and its interest. He would then establish a quality brand of iron ores through the means of refinement. His system should be able to provide the technology for it. Then, he could jack up the price above standard value and voila! More people would start to buy their iron ores!

Theo then visitted the blacksmith. At first he pictured the place to be filled with fiery temperature with big stoves and sounds of iron being battered to make armors and weapons. But when he arrived, all he saw was lines of farm tools such as racks and sickles on the display. They even looked quite shabby and brittle!

Theo sighed helplessly. He would one day turn this blacksmith into that of the most renowned blacksmith in the empire that will be tasked to smith weapons and armors of the greatest quality only!

"Excuse me, do you sell and weapons and armors here?" Inquiried Theo towards the person by the counter.

"N-no.. w-we don't have anything like that h-here Lord Theo.." replied the man nervously, he seems to be quite timid.

"Is that so? Hmm.. why is that? Shouldn't you guys be producing at least some weapons and armors to equip the patrols in this village to better help protect it?" asked Theo again as he remembered the time when the 10 men of the rabbit hunt party only equipped themselves with wooden swords initially before he gave them real swords.

As Theo finished his sentence, a 'creeakk!' sounds of door being opened from behind the counter could be heard as a tall and burly old man in his 50s came out from it. His height seems to be towering about 190 cm and his facial features were that of fierce, like a tiger. His brows thick and bushy, and has long black hair. His chest and abs seemed to be like concretes and rocks lined up together forming ripples of strength, as his shoulders looked like a pair of boulders with biceps and forearm that seems to be strong enough to rip a bear into two with his bare hands. His legs and thighs were like that of a war horse that could sprint for a few miles without even getting tired at all.

Theo gulped as he saw this brutal man, a sense of danger radiated out from him. He couldn't help but to think in his mind:

"What the hell is wrong with this place? Isn't it just some kind of a backward village? Why is it crawling with people who had many mysterious backgrounds?! Is it actually a front and is actually the den of some secret underground societies?!"

He then recalled the man called Jerald who had the blood of behemoth laid dormant in him. This tall and brutal old man in front of him seemed to be a bit similar in appearance.

"That is because we just didn't have enough iron ores lad! Coupled with its low quality, I could only produce some simple farm tools to help this village survive by farming!"

When this brutal man began to speak, his voice was like that of solemn, archaic and hoarse combined together, creating a bizarre voice that would let your hair stood on its end everytime. He then continued:

"Let the enemies come! I wouldn't even need a sword to behead each of them with a chop of my hands! HAHA!"

His laugh caused Theo to shrink a bit in his heart and shuddered. But of course, his outer appearance remained as calm as ever.

"Now that I look closely at you lad, it seems that my son, Jerald's description of you is quite accurate! Such upright and calm demeanor! Even looking straight in my eyes! Very good!" said the brutal man with wide smiles. Before that wide smiles disappeared completely and turned into that of a sharp gleam and piercing eyes.

"Had you done otherwise, I would have killed you on the spot for being audacious to be called a Lord by the villagers! But now, it seems that you do possess that quality! I can see it in your eyes! HAHA!" laughed the brutal man once more.

"My name is Forgesteel! Named after the great forge my late grandfather used before! Pleased to meet you lad. I won't call you Lord because I had vowed to only acknowledge one Lord in this whole lifetime! Until such a person appeared anyway. The you now are still not qualified!" said the brutal man strictly.

Theo had quite a profound impression of this brutal man with the name Forgesteel! What a domineering and manly name! Although his spine seemed to crack a bit under the pressure when he heard the brutal man had the thought to kill him, he couldn't help but to like this brutal old man!

After all, Theo had always been someone drawn towards those with relentless, fearsome and domineering attitude than himself. His impression of this brutal old man keeps on increasing by the second.

"In that case, I will call you 'uncle' then! Pleased to meet you Uncle Forgesteel!" replied Theo with a smile in return as he bend his back and bowed a bit.

The brutal man's expression suddenly froze.

When the man by the counter heard Theo daring to call his master 'uncle' , he was immediately scared sh*tless and fainted as he lamented the fact that why he couldn't grow another pair of legs to run away from this location! Its going to be a bloodbath!

Even the Village Head and the butler were aleady on guard initially when they reached this place. This brutal old man was someone whom they do not know where he came from. But one thing for sure, from both of their experiences on the battlefield for countless moons before, this brutal man in front of them radiated an intense mountain-toppling aura, he is strong! Not just strong, but Damned strong! Perhaps similar to the Village Head when he was at his peak, or perhaps even stronger than that!

Thus, when they heard Theo calling this brutal man 'uncle' and the latter expression freezes, the Village Head immediately gave signal to the butler beside him to protect Theo at all cost should the man turned hostile.

However after awhile, sounds of laughter so loud reverberated the whole area near the blacksmith shop.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Uncle Forgesteel? Okay!! I like it! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The brutal man continued to laugh out loud as the two old fellas behind Theo were dumbfounded. The nameless man by the counter was still unconscious with white foams on his mouth.