Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Hubert McCarthy, the dimensional merchant. Seth had forgotten his name right after they introduced themself at the start of their journey. He only remembered it when the hero called him that.

"I know, everyone here has their secrets and skills they don't wish to reveal. However, we were plunged into this situation together and should share information. Does any of you have any skills that could be of value in our current situation?" the dimensional merchant began.

"I will start off by explaining what I can do and my plan. As a dimensional merchant, I have access to a multidimensional trade and auction system. Unfortunately, it had its own internal currency, and the system coins are unable to be converted.

Right now, I can only sell things to gain the currency or barter them. The reason I asked for several ships, is because I am fairly certain that I could exchange them for a magical vessel. Then we would not need a crew to man the ship." Hubert explained.

Everyone nodded. If the merchant could really purchase something like that, it would solve their problems. The question was how to make the Lord think it's worth it. Ben Harker would never agree to just steal the ships.

They had to help anyway since they had to wait for the next blood sun to pass before setting off. Getting surprised by the cursed celestial body in the middle of the ocean was not preferable. Even if they were no heroes like Ben, if the city fell before the blood sun was over, they would be in deep shit.

"I could offer to buy rations for the city from the system, but I'm not sure whether that would be enough since it will have a price after all." the merchant continued.

Ellie suddenly leaned over to him and whispered in his ear.

"I could release my slimes to clean up the moat and the corpses. Should I?"

Seth thought for a moment. It was true, as a slime rancher, Ellie was able to bring all her slimes with her in her pet space. Actually, her elemental punches and kicks in melee combat were all skills based on the strength and element of the slime that enveloped her fist or legs.

But this melee prowess was just her hiding her real power, to summon armies of slimes into battle. Similar to some necromancers, her class was all about growing and strengthening her troops. She just needed to put in a little more work, than just killing and resurrecting things.

"it's a good idea, but don't use them all at once. Try using a fraction and cycle them."

"You mean, so nobody sees the full number at once? That's genius!"

"Stop joking. Let's go with that."

While they were whispering, others had proposed their way of helping. The hero and Rich would be most useful in the battle of the blood sun. If the slavemancer managed to contract all defenders, he could simultaneously improve their power.

Similarly, the Saintess, Elza, Brock, and Marcel could only offer their fighting prowess. Cade suggested putting an illusion on the city lord to simply hand the ships over, which led to a severe scolding by the incensed hero.

"I could summon my slimes to clean the moat and the city." Ellie interrupted the hero's tirade about justice and the abuse of power. It did not find gather much attention from the others and the merchant simply noted it down.

Seth did not speak up. He could use to strengthen the wall, but it was not something he wanted to reveal, yet. He thought about doing it secretly without revealing it.

After they had gathered everything and compiled it into a proposal, they went to meet the lord.

"You can summon slimes?" Lord Haz asked excitedly.

Against their expectations, it was the small and dismissed footnote of trash and corpse removal, that garnered the lord's strong interest.

"Yes?" Ellie answered unsettled at the Lord's sudden change.

"That's phenomenal. Forget two ships, I will give you four if you can clean up that disgusting moat and leave some slimes behind!"

Haz later explained after calming down. The moat had been a blessing and a curse. They had dug it to further strengthen their defense and it worked wonderfully at first. But as the moat filled and got defiled by the corpses of waves after waves of abominations, it became an unexpected hurdle.

It wasn't just the stench pressing on the mood of the whole population, causing stress and aggression. The water became so toxic, that workers that entered to repair the walls and foundation, would become sick. Even small cuts would become inflamed and soon lead to severe sepsis.

The moat was not the only problem, without any precipitation, the canalization of the city did not work, and they were literally drowning in their own shit. So much so, that the citizens started doing their business into the sea or over the wall, into the moat. It was disgusting.

As such, Ellie was like the Angel of Salvation to the city lord, who had to deal with more and worse than just hordes of monsters sieging them and food shortages plaguing the populace.

Ellie puffed up her humble chest in pride, seeing how her powers were the most sought after. Especially, after she felt that the others had looked down on the power of slimes.

Of course, the Lord was also glad to purchase supplies from the dimensional merchant, although it was not the most pressing issue. They had already seen that they had managed to develop measures to deal with their food shortage.

As for the slavemancer's offer, the Lord accepted it, after taking a look at the contract. Rich could even put in the clause, that the lord's or the army captain's orders were above his. The slavemancer was really happy to finally get a chance to shine, as none of his own team members were willing to become his slaves.

Once the negotiations concluded the group split up. It was only a matter of days before the blood sun would rise. Misto ran off to meet the cloud demon, whom he suspected to be of his own tribe. Rich went to the army barracks to get slaves. The merchant stayed with the lord, as they looked for stuff to exchange for supplies.

The people only useful for battle were free to do whatever, while Seth followed Ellie to the moat. They were accompanied by a messenger who would inform the people of the slime rancher's task.

It was quite the sight when Ellie got serious. She waved her hand and an army of slimes of many different colors appeared on the field with the still smoking piles of burned corpses. Hundreds of slimes filled the area in front of the city gate.

"Didn't we talk about using only a fraction?" Seth asked surprised.

"But this is just a fraction. About one-fifth of all I have. And they are just the ones with lower aptitude I don't use for breeding anymore." she answered nonchalantly.

The colorful jelly balls got to work. They started to dissolve the cadaver piles and flooded over the edge into the moat. Even the earth they traversed was left clean, without any plants, blood, goo, or corpse wax left.

"It won't be a big loss if I leave some of them to keep the moat and canalization clean," she added.

Even if she downplayed the slimes performance. As Seth watched he was sure, they all were leagues above ordinary wild slimes. They dissolved the rotten flesh and bones in the moat at a visible speed. It was so captivating, that Seth almost forgot about using his giant's rod on the wall.

He made the recorders look away as he pulled out his legendary rod.

"What are you doing? Is that a spear?" Ellie asked curiously.

"Yes, and a staff. I'm using earth magic to reinforce the walls a little bit. But shh." he indicated to keep it a secret.

His had reached Adept lv.2 and his had become lv.6 during his training. The wall was already reinforced by professional mages, but he could still add a little bit thanks to his legendary rod.

Under the attack of the slime army, the water of the moat soon started to turn clear, and the putrid stench weakened to the relief of everyone.

After walking along the full length of the wall Ellie entered the city, to take care of the canalization. Seth on the other hand leisurely went around inside the wall and sneakily reinforce it every time the recorder looked away.

There were surprisingly few people close to the wall, it seemed that many houses were deserted. Had that many died during the last blood sun? They were just idle thoughts, as he walked around and finished his work.

When he finished, it was evening. Tomorrow, just a few hours later, the blood sun would rise.