CHAPTER 171(The Plan)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

"No, you can't take that one too," Yang says as he sees Freya trying on his blue Zinogre coat in front of the mirror.

"But it feels so--- why does it feel perfect?" she asks.

"Because the material and way he made it keeps whoever is in it at a cool temperature. It's even fire and ice resistant to a pretty nice amount," he says.

"So that's why you wear it so much, I thought it was just because you like wearing blue."

"Well, it matches my flames, as does most of the clothes you packed for our trip," he says.

"You said you didn't like subtlety, so I threw all my subtlety out the window."

"Well y---" his words are suddenly interrupted by Thalie's voice coming from his metal hand.

"Yang, I'm heading to the forge now," she says.

"Gotcha, I'll be there in a second," he responds, hopping off the bed and making his way out of the room. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he offhandedly tells Freya, leaving the woman trying on clothes with his coat on.

Walking across the hallway Yang quietly enters the forge to see Welf and Thalie looking down at a table of weapons. He makes his way to the opposite side of the table, noticing Thalie carefully double-checking the quality of the first-class Adamantite weapons.

"How much do those go for?" Yang asks.

"Sixty, maybe seventy million, somewhere around there," Welf says, "but names carry weight, especially when it comes to equipment brands. My name has a lot of value since people know we venture into the deep floors with only my equipment."

"So how much does that raise it?" Yang asks.

"Maybe I can get a hundred per sword, but even if I had enough material for enough swords. We don't have enough buyers."

"What about foreign armies? They buy from Hephaestus right."

"Yes and no," Thalie says, resting the simple-looking sword back on the table. "They buy from us because we have the most smiths. We can fill massive orders with quality gear. They can't spend a hundred million on every weapon for every soldier."

"Which leaves us at the current problem," Welf says. "I can't sell enough equipment to make fifty billion Valis. My enchanting is good but takes too much time and by the time I sell enough of the things meant only for us---"

"You've basically sold enough firepower to destroy a small county," Yang says for him.

"Exactly, for my non-magical weapon sales," he takes a deep breath and thinks it over for a bit," we're looking at maybe 5 billion a month. Most high smiths don't even make a billion in six months so that's not bad, but we don't have ten months."

"No, we don't," Yang says. "And what about any good contracts?"

"Ugh, I've been offered fortunes, castles, wives, crowns. All for an armory of magic swords. The biggest offer was over a hundred billion for a copy of the design for Mosoka with instructions on indestructible magic weapons, but even I'm not fully sure how to explain that so nothing feasible for us," Welf says.

"Alright so plan A is done, Thalie?" Yang asks.

"I've got literally nothing. Everything I have is a dirty job and they all need me to leave the city. The best I've got is killing a king on another continent but that'll definitely bring the war here," she says.

"Yeah that's a no-go, the point is to avoid bringing any more problems to Hephaestus," Yang says. "Honestly I'd just tell Royman to fuck off and enter the dungeon to get this done but I'm trying not to push it with Hephaestus already mad at us," he admits.

"Mhm, I don't like her being mad at us," Welf adds.

"Nobody likes their goddess being mad at them," Thalie says. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, selling equipment was the main plan but that's coming up very very short. How long until you can have new armor ready for an expedition?" Yang asks Welf.

"Uh, five weeks maybe. I wanna use some of the ideas in your book, I've decided to change things up."

"Alright, sell off whatever stock you already made and start focusing on our gear. We can't get anywhere just waiting around so as soon as we're ready we start the next dungeon dive," Yang says.

"But the guild hasn't cleared us, you think they'll let us off that early?" Thalie asks.

"I'll talk to them when our equipment is ready. They just need time to cool down so they don't look weak. Five more weeks should be enough. Do you need any more items?"

"Nope, everything I need is here or in the familia vault, I just need your book," Welf says hopefully.

"Uh-huh, the book that isn't supposed to be used to change the world?"

"I'm not doing anything like that, I think I just have some ideas and I'd like to see how they were handled in your book. Only armor and weapons I swear," Welf says.

"Hmm, alright," Yang summons the large book with all his memories and ideas from his world written down and hands it over to Welf. As the smiths eager fingers are about to touch the leather cover he pulls the book away. "After you talk to Hephaestus."

"What?"

"If you two had your way you'd never leave your forges. You'll probably try to make something for her to stop being mad at you and she's no better. You need to talk to her," Yang says.

"He's right," Thalie adds.

"But, we're smiths. We communicate with our work," Welf argues.

"Yeah, and your people. Every smith in the city is trying to talk to her through works but you can actually talk to her because she likes you. If you don't build a relationship now when you make whatever it is that wins her over you won't last long because you won't even be able to talk about important stuff. Treat her like a woman first and a goddess second," Yang says.

"You sure?"

"Between the two of us, which one has a goddess in his bed?"

"Oh, right. I'll go talk to her later," Welf says.

"Nope, do it quickly," Yang hands the book over to Thalie," after you talk to her you'll get the book."

"Mm, alright. Any advice?" Welf relents.

"Don't cave," Yang says.

"Look out for the brick, I heard she's been wanting to throw one at you," Thalie says.

"Right, thanks. Anything else from me?" Welf asks.

"Nope," Yang turns toward Thalie," what about you?"

"Anything I need to do?"

"You're the Champion of War, what's your plan?"

"Well, I'm stuck here so, maybe practice talking with my new face and read a book or two?"

"Why don't you find someone to teach?" Yang suggests.

"I'm not really the teacher type, do you not remember how I taught you two?"

"I remember, but right now you don't really have a purpose until we get cleared to go into the dungeon, maybe find someone to train just to pass the time, I do recall you were curious about training a certain girl who we brought back from The Far East," Yang points out.

"Oh yeah, Mikoto," Welf snaps his fingers as the memory comes back to him. "You said she wasn't complete garbage like us so it should be easier to train her at least."

"Better than you two at the start isn't saying much, but I guess it could be fun."

"Mhm, and maybe you'll learn a thing or two from her," Yang says.

Thalie raises a brow at this statement but decides not to question it.

"So Welf is in the forge, after he talks to his angry girlfriend---"

"We aren't together yet," the smith argues.

"Only you two think that," Yang says.

"And I'm gonna be training Mikoto to be a warrior," Thalie says. "What'll you be doing?"

"Oh, Freya and I are gonna head into the mountains north of here for a wedding. They asked her to bless it, then we'll probably head to the beach. You guys can meet us there in Melene for a bit if you want," Yang says.

"Really? A wedding? That doesn't seem like something you'd be into," Thalie points out, Welf nods in agreement.

"Well it seems fun, but it's mostly for the village. They've got something I'm curious about. It should tell me how far I am from the strongest adventurer of all time, it's hard to resist the chance to see the difference between us," he says.

"Hmm, just don't do anything stupid alright," Thalie says.

"I won't, never do actually. I'll see you guys back here in maybe a week or two. Depends on how long I want this trip to be honestly," he says.

---Apollo Familia Mansion...

"Wake up, Wake up!" Cassandra jolts awake to Daphne yelling these words at her.

The Oracle lazily sits up and stares at her best friend and roommate, "is something wrong?"

"The opposite actually, look," Daphne holds out an envelope toward Cassandra. "It was on the floor when I woke up, nobody knows who delivered it," she says.

"That's weird..."

"Read the name," Daphne says.

Rubbing her eyes awake Cassandra looks down at the small envelope to see a name she certainly couldn't miss, 'Yang Shen' boldly written on the paper.

"What is this?" the Oracle asks.

"How am I supposed to know. Shouldn't you have seen this coming?"

"Maybe it's a death threat for telling him he'd get hurt, or it's..." Cassandra devolved into paranoid rambling until Daphne shook some sense into her.

"Focus, just open it and we'll deal with whatever it is together," she reassures her friend.

"Uh, right," with shaky hands she slowly opened the paper to see a small not withing.

'To Cassandra, I owe you a favor for warning me--Yang Shen'

"Huh?" Cassandra stares at the note in confusion before handing it off to Daphne.

"Holy shit!" Daphne yells out, "you got a favor from one of the strongest people in the world. What're you gonna ask for, a billion Valis? Maybe an awesome new staff? Well, what are you gonna get?"

"I-I don't know, I think I'll save it for now..."

END CHAPTER---