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Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

Blacksmith vs. the System by Dirk Grey

Chapter 22

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I was glad that I chose to fake repairing a sword, as it meant that I could cede control to the skill while I observed the approaching mana cloud … one with a roughly humanoid shape. Considering they had to open the door to enter, it was less likely to be a spell.

What was more likely was that they were someone under an invisibility spell. Someone that was most likely holding a weapon, considering the mana cloud on the right was a foot longer than the one on the left. From a purely technical perspective, I didn't know if the intruder was an enemy.

After all, there might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for someone sneaking into my forge while I was busy, holding what was most likely a dagger.

I spent a second glancing toward him, and was barely able to catch some kind of outline. The mana fog didn't cover it despite overlapping, because despite the way my mind interpreted it, it wasn't exactly a visual object.

Once I caught that outline, the figure of a bearded man became visible, like it was one of those pictures with a visual illusion. Some kind of camouflage spell that I would have never caught without Essence helping me.

And, even with Essence, I would have missed it if the camp hadn't been in a mana-dead location. The fog of mana that clung to him was weak enough to mix with the background, had the background not been clean.

I barely held back a gulp as I started going through my options. There were only two. I could raise an alarm and hope that the reinforcements would arrive faster than he could kill me, or wait for five seconds, and deliver the first blow.

The first option, I might have chosen if it wasn't for one fact: Hammer of Might was a style that was designed for overwhelming offense. Good at fighting against monsters, but not as good at fighting against another man who might be stronger than me.

No, I had no choice but to go with the second option. That was where my advantage lay. He was walking directly toward me, with no attempt to stick close to the walls or otherwise avoid me. Clearly, he had no fear of being detected. Not a bad assumption, considering only a chain of flukes allowed me to detect him in the first place.

He was walking slowly, whether it was the limitation of the spell he used or his arrogance, I didn't know, but either way, it meant I would have the chance to deliver one free blow. One that was too valuable to pass.

Even as my mind churned those options, my body was moving under the control of my skill, maintaining the illusion that everything was going well. The only exception was my heartbeat, getting faster and faster as I realized that I had to kill.

Again.

One of the worst things about the post-Cataclysm world was that murder had turned far more acceptable. I had to kill twice, both against muggers thinking to make a quick buck over my corpse … before the discovery of the repair spell ruined my business and I was one of the richer people of the town. Both times, I hated the feeling.

But, I didn't hate it enough to let someone assassinate me.

My hammer repeatedly landed on the surface of the sword as he closed in the distance. He was one step away from me when I flicked my wrist and threw the sword toward him. It was a very effective distraction, as the sword was hot enough to glow red.

Even with the System, it was nearly impossible to avoid a point-blank attack, particularly if the target didn't expect it. He still made a valiant effort to lean to the side sharply, his movement ruining the spell protecting him.

I didn't even wait until I used my work hammer to attack him. Unbalanced, he wasn't able to dodge, and the attack landed on his head.

And, killed him before he could even make a sound, unlike his head, which shattered loudly. I shivered even as he collapsed to the floor.

Health cured a lot of things, but a destroyed head was not one of them. I started shivering even as I looked at the door, waiting for the guards to arrive, but they did not. I breathed hard, trying to process the fact that I had just killed someone else.

I hated the feeling.

A minute passed, and the trembling of my hands subsided. Still, there were no guards. For a moment, my mind went in a conspiratorial direction, wondering if the guards had been a part of the issue. Then, a simpler possibility occurred.

They probably ignored the sound. The forge already had good noise isolation, and the constant sound of crashing was easy to ignore.

I was about to shout when I finally paid attention to the bearded man's outfit. It had the sigil of a griffin, like the ones the guards had been wearing before Thomas took all of them away. Worse, it was more complicated than what the guards had, and similar to what Eleanor had been wearing. Not exactly the same, but both included enough silver.

That couldn't be good news, I realized even as I changed my clothes before walking to the door. One that I couldn't handle alone.

When I opened the door, I found the assigned guards squatted in a corner, playing dice.

As much as I wanted to curse them for their lack of vigilance, I did not. If someone wanted to enter the forge while invisible, they would, and their lack of vigilance only made them more confident. "Yes, sir," the guard said, looking panicked.

"There's a small issue with the forge. Please go and get Eleanor. Tell her that it's very urgent."

"Are you sure?" the guard said. I nodded. "Your funeral," he said, then looked at me. "It's not about … this, right?" he asked, looking at the dice game they were playing. His partner looked equally scared.

"I don't know what you are talking about," I said with a wink. They looked relaxed.

I returned, the ordinary discussion calming me down somewhat. I didn't touch the crime scene but tried to come up with a story to tell. The general events had no problem. Ultimately, I didn't need to explain why I killed someone who had snuck up on me invisibly.

But, I couldn't tell her that I had noticed the mana.

"The steam," I muttered. It was a good excuse, one that could explain the timing. Quenching a sword created a thick cloud, and claiming that it was a lucky shot came from panic was enough. It just changed the facts slightly, turning into an accident rather than an intentional choice. I actually let some of the steam appear, in case she would be careful enough to check that.

I doubted it, as Eleanor wasn't that attentive, but it was better safe than sorry. After it saved my life, I was even less reluctant to reveal my ability to use mana.

I waited in the corridor, ready to block anyone but Eleanor. Luckily, at this point, she trusted me enough to arrive herself. She looked harried and exhausted. "I don't know how you heard it already, but yes, there won't be any new ingots for a while. You have to stop experimenting for a while."

At any other time, that statement would have earned a bigger reaction. "It's not that, and we'll talk about it later. Follow me," I said as I walked to the main forge. She saw the body and tensed. The sharp aura was back.

"Explain," she ordered.

"It was an accident," I started.

"An accident?" she asked. "How? And, why was the steward here talking with you when he was supposed to be gone already?"

"I don't know," I said. "He was invisible when he entered."

Her eyes widened, showing that she understood the implication. "Traitor," she growled. It was a scary word, even when her gaze was firmly on the corpse as she said that. It was scarier when she started looking at me. "Invisible, or camouflaged."

I shrugged. "I have no idea. I just noticed some kind of weird movement in the steam when I quenched the sword and slammed down my hammer. The aim was … an accident."

She looked at me for a moment, before she walked to the corpse, and started to examine the body. "A nice blow," she said, which was not exactly what I was expecting for killing a member of their house, but I was glad to take it. A tasteless compliment was much better than being turned into a scapegoat.

Her compliment showed that she had accepted my version of the story. I was glad that I didn't touch the body, which made my version much more credible.

"Don't tell anyone what has happened!" she warned as she crouched down, and started to go through his belongings.

"Of course," I replied. At this point, it was clear that the success of the dungeon operation was linked to some kind of internal political battle, the kind that made assassination and bribery the first tools to be used.

I wasn't necessarily happy that I was a part of it, but the moment I killed him, I had become too involved. Now, even if I managed to convince Eleanor to terminate my contract — which was not a given — I couldn't get away. Not after killing one of their members.

For better or worse, I was a part of the conflict.

Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

Blacksmith vs. the System by Dirk Grey

Chapter 23

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Finding myself mixed in a conflict I had no idea about was not a pleasant feeling, but it was far from the worst case. I certainly didn't expect to end up as a primary assassination target as the sole blacksmith.

However, the flip side of the problem was equally interesting. Since their conflict was bigger than I had expected, it meant that they would be willing to accept some demands that might otherwise be assumed to be excessive. The more problems I solved, the more I could ask for.

Assuming, of course, I didn't reveal my upgraded skills. That particular secret was still too volatile to reveal.

Since I had decided to show off, I decided to focus on the biggest problem while she continued to examine his pockets. "Would I be wrong assuming that he's somehow behind our most recent supply problem?" I asked.

"Supply problem?" she asked, surprised.

"The bronze ingots. You mentioned it when you arrived before I showed you the body," I said.

"Ah, right," she said, then paused. "Yes, that's correct. He was here to refuse our latest request. Apparently, there had been some problems with the System Shop."

"What kind of problems?"

"We have purchased the swords and the bronze from the same System Store. It's in the middle of nowhere, and it's currently defended by four families. Our Griffin family is one of the five families that have shares in that System Store, which meant we could purchase some of the limited stocks every week. But, the traitor here informed us that there was a dispute about the shares, so the next delivery will be delayed."

"Supposedly," I said.

"Right," she said. "Since he proved to be a traitor, that might have been a lie," she said, looking relaxed. "Maybe there's no problem. I just need to fly and check. It'll barely take a few days."

"Maybe," I said, then passed. "Or, there's actually a problem, and he's deliberately underselling the importance of it to prevent you from seeking an alternative solution until it's too late."

I wasn't entirely honest in saying that. If the problem was as serious, he wouldn't have tried to assassinate me. From their perspective, I was just a blacksmith that could work a little faster. I would have been useless without bronze.

Not a nice thing to do, but it wasn't the first time I fibbed some of the details to get a bigger grant.

Still, thanks to a lack of remote communication, it would take a few days to check the situation, and meanwhile, I could use that as an opportunity to push for some new experiments. It wouldn't be with that particular bronze alloy, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

"You're right," she said, looking tense. "We have enough stock to keep us going for a few weeks, but if we are delayed, we will have to stop just as the dungeon starts operating. I need to fly there myself."

"Maybe that's not a good idea," I said, happy to delay things a bit more. "You're the strongest person in the camp. What if something happens in your absence." She looked thoughtful. "And, wouldn't it be better if you kept the fact that you're suspicious of him a secret? I don't know exactly what you are dealing with, but I'm sure it'll be helpful."

"What do you mean?" she said. "He died in our camp while trying to assassinate someone."

"Did he?" I asked. "Or, did he leave the camp and disappear?"

"What do you mean?" she repeated.

"You mentioned that he had already left. Did you watch him leave, or did you just assume?"

"I watched him leave on a griffin an hour ago," she replied, then paused. "I see. Since he had already left, and he returned under invisibility, we don't have to explain anything. We have dozens of guards who would swear that he had left safely. Wilderness can be dangerous, even for someone at level sixty-seven."

I couldn't help but tremble when she mentioned that number. "That high?"

"Yes. He bragged about it a lot during our meeting. You were really lucky."

I gulped. I was lucky indeed. If I didn't follow Maria to that leveling trip, I would have been dead. A good reason to get even stronger. "It makes sense. I'm sure Rosie will be happy to confirm the situation at that shop for a price. She's good at finding out stuff like that," I said.

There was no harm in sending some work for a nominal ally, especially since I needed her goodwill. I had a lot of questions to ask her during our next meeting.

"A good point," she said. "Still, it doesn't solve the main problem. If there's a problem with the supply, we'll be in trouble."

"What if we can find an alternative to bronze swords," I asked.

"No. We tried everything. That's the cheapest alternative we can purchase that doesn't just melt completely. Anything weaker, and the weapons get destroyed completely. And, anything that's too strong to resist the effect completely is not enough to make it economically feasible. We calculated them ourselves."

"That's probably true, but that's not what I was talking about," I replied. "What if we forge something ourselves?" I said. "I'm sure there's a mine nearby, and even if there's not, there's too many ways to buy ordinary metal. And, we have a dungeon next to us, providing us with a lot of excess material. As long as we use them to forge weapons, we don't have to deal with a long and dangerous supply chain."

"We already thought of that. The dungeon has no material that can be used to make any alloys, let alone one that could resist the corrosion of those damned monsters," she countered.

"No, that's not correct," I said. She looked confused. "There's no material with a recipe that's already included in the skill," I corrected. "We can experiment and see if there's an alternative," I said.

"Would that work?"

"Maybe," I replied.

"What do you mean, maybe?" she said.

"It's an experiment. I can't guarantee you results, certainly not in such a short time," I said. Admittedly, I was more interested in the opportunity to experiment endlessly in the next five days than the possibility of success. "But, either way, it's not a big investment. Some ordinary metal, and a lot of material that you get from the dungeon. And, it's not like I'm too busy," I said.

"Makes sense," she said.

I paused for a moment as inspiration hit. The opportunity was actually greater than I had first realized. "Actually, there's something else we can do," I said, hoping that she would buy the idea.

"What?"

"Well, it's clear that your opponent wants to prevent Maria from succeeding in her mission. It's inevitable that they'll have some spies, and they might do something more excessive if we make any progress. And, we still need a better story for the death of our traitor."

"He died in the wilderness. It's good enough."

"As an official one. But, the one that sent him here knows better … unless, of course, there's a better explanation."

"Spill."

"We frame it like I have died, and during the process, the forge somehow exploded, burning the building. You can say that there was a second unidentified corpse. Meanwhile, we bring the forge to a basement that people can't access, where I work alone, hidden from anyone but you," I said. "That way, you won't have to dedicate a team trying to save me from assassins."

"And, you would be alright living in a basement without getting to go outside?"

"It wouldn't be the first time I locked myself in a dark room trying to solve a problem," I said. "And, there's a lot of people that walk around wearing helmets. I can always disguise myself as another newly hired guard. A beard and some hair dye should solve everything."

She looked at me with a frown. "You come up with that plan quickly," she said.

I couldn't help but smirk, my mood was admittedly too good for someone who had been just assassinated. But, the idea of a private lab where I can actually experiment to my heart's content was a good tradeoff. Still, I wasn't above using guilt to push the limits of science. "There's something about being assassinated by invisible people that really inspires me," I snarked.

"Good point," she admitted guiltily. After all, the defense of the camp was her responsibility. If I was found dead with no assassin around, it would be a big black mark against her. Not to mention, without my teaching, there was no guarantee the other blacksmiths could discover the repair trick in a reasonable timeline.

In both ways, I had saved her ass.

She pulled a ring from the dead man's finger and threw it to me. "Put this on, and don't make any sudden movements," she said. A little morbid, but I still put that on. A weird, fuzzy sensation covered me even as my skin started to show what was behind me.

An interesting effect.

I walked a little, careful not to make any sudden move. "Good, now follow me," she said. I did so, staying behind her to not run into anything or anyone. We stayed near the walls, and soon, we were at the center building, which functioned both as a headquarters and a residence for the two.

Interesting choice, but considering it was the most defended building, it made sense.

I pulled the ring from my finger and put it in my pocket. It was a beautiful survival tool for emergencies. Eleanor said nothing, too distracted by the next steps to care about an item with limited effectiveness under most circumstances.

For me, it might be the difference between life and death.

"You're familiar enough with the building," she said, clearly unhappy about the fact. "Go to the basement and pick a room that we can fit a forge into. I'll return in an hour."

As I walked toward the basement, I couldn't help but think that she was right. I was too chipper for a man who had just survived an assassination attempt.

But, the payoff made it worth it.