Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In the end, Seth found no other items that were better than the spear and the gauntlet.

Although the king might have given his advice with some other intention, similar to what the wizard had talked about, but Seth had little interest in retracing Forgebrand's steps and finding some kind of inheritance.

Especially since he came to dislike the dwarf's style after seeing some of his items. Seth had constantly kept using the to try and improve his items and make them more functional.

His predecessor on the other hand seemed to have used it as a kind of punishment on many occasions, making the items often unusable because of a wicked ego or a cumbersome option being added to them.

The two broken items actually suffered that fate, because they were too malicious to keep them intact. They fell in the same category as the mask Seth had made from the angel.

Instead of using all of his skills to improve his products, Forgebrand had on the contrary made many of them unusable. Another example was a stone club Seth had come across.

The dwarven blacksmith had used the club to strike down an evil ogre and proceeded to put the ogre's soul into the club, turning it into an item that would permanently decrease the wearer's intelligence and would randomly make them enter a berserk state.

With his own understanding of a craftsman, he couldn't support the way the dwarf acted. But maybe this was the difference between someone who grew up with a preconceived notion of how crafting should work and someone who grew up in a fantasy world where everything was real from the start.

Anyway, Seth had no intention to chase the dwarf's shadow, just his skills.

The blacksmith and the keeper returned to the Spear of bitter Mercy. After suddenly being left in the vitrine without a word, the spears had some time to think, and it was more open to negotiations.

~You came back. What about the others? ~ the spear asked.

~I'm still deliberating and wanted to give you a chance. In the end, I want the one that can help me with the information I need. So, can you tell me about Forgebrand's skills in the smithy? ~ Seth more or less repeated his question.

~...I believe so, but can you elaborate on what you meant by giving me a better body?~

Seth mused for a moment before he went ahead and explained about and his independent improvements in the field. He didn't say anything about Python, but he described how he was able to grant the Faer, dead souls, a new living body, and even resurrected a Dryad.

~You are already close to the stage Forgebrand was aiming for... I don't know if my information would be helpful to you in that case. ~ the elemental consciousness said honestly.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked puzzled.

Ceres explained that he had not accompanied Forgebrand along his whole journey. In the beginning, the dwarf was like Seth perceived it. He went around making a name for himself as a hero. Maybe it was in part to entertain Hades, who had chosen him.

However, at a later point, something happened, and his plans changed. The elemental did not know what cause the change, but the dwarf started to actively research golems and souls for a way to fuse them.

Even after he created a powerful Golem Forge, he was still not satisfied with his prowess. He spent almost all his fortune on furthering his craft, to the point that he even sold the spear with Ceres in it. The elemental had no further information past that point.

It was only a quick summation, but it already gave Seth one specific clue. A Golem Forge! He would have just kept interrogating the spear right then and there, but they didn't have the time. It was enough to convince Seth that the spear had the information he needed.

~I will choose to take you and if you keep helping me in the future, I will work on creating a fitting body for you. ~

This was another point besides the information. Ceres seemed a lot more approachable than the ego of the sword. Even if he later replanted the elemental's soul, he would only gain another powerful ally, instead of a potential danger factor.

As a businessman and worrywart, he was always interested in finding reliable subordinates or even friends.

After everyone chose their items, the Keepers brought them to a big conference room where they went over each one's wishes and handed out the chosen items one by one. They did this so there were enough witnesses for the correct procedure.

They started with the top contributors and Seth was the third who was given his items.

Nobody else had declared an interest in the Wraithguard or the Spear of bitter Mercy, so Seth was uncontested to take possession of the two. It didn't mean everyone was as lucky and everything went so smoothly.

Ellie had chosen two items, the Primordial Slime Crystal that could help her slimes grow when placed on the ranch and the Crown of the Queen Bee. The latter was a legendary item that once belonged to a famous tamer legend.

It could increase the control attribute and breeding speed of familiars by a huge margin.

"Why would someone who only works with slimes need that!" a tamer from one of the teams that had not taken part in the Natina Raid scoffed.

He said the word slime in a way that made it clear how much he looked down on the little blobs.

"I could use it a lot better to recover the damages of this adventure." he had also shown interest in the headgear and contested her claim for the item.

"Don't make me laugh. You are just someone running around and catching whatever they find, how would you be able to effectively use this item?" Ellie scoffed aggressively.

Those who looked down on her babies could not expect any goodwill from her. Sparks were flying across the table.

"I'm sure we can find a solution if everyone calms down." one of the keepers tried to calm the situation.

"The solution is quite easy. Ellie has the higher contributions, and it was already stated that those with higher contributions have priority, unless they can be convinced otherwise." Seth simply stated, backing his slime rancher.

The keeper glanced to one of the guards and continued.

"Miss Ellie, would you be willing to concede your claim on the item?" he asked shamelessly.

"No." Her ill-will slightly shifted to the keeper who now felt the wrathful gaze burning into his retinas.

"Are you sure?" he said, slightly sweating.

"She already said no, why are you so insistent on this?" Seth asked a little grumpily, too.

"Erm, that is-" the keeper stuttered.

"You shouldn't corner him like this," Ben Harker said amicably.

"Look who dares to flap his mouth just because he got a new weapon. You have already proven your utter incompetence in these matters so stay out of this, hero." Seth scoffed. Especially the last word, he pronounced like the vilest insult, oozing with sarcasm.

Harker's ego had slightly grown after he was given a victorious image in the public eye. Although Seth didn't care as he didn't ask for publicity, it went to Harker's head. To the point, he even believed the propaganda himself.

"Why are you even interfering, bard?" the tamer suddenly spoke to Seth, trying to imitate his tone when saying "bard".

When Seth's glanced at the man, he reacted as if the eyes of Sauron had suddenly focused on him.

"I don't remember the extras having any text in this dialogue." he scoffed.

Listening to the the tamer quickly fell silent as if he was threatened with immediate death. He lacked any kind of resistance against the divine skill.

"Aren't you going a little too-"

"Stay out of this." the blacksmith interrupted Harker, but wasn't talking to him, but to the guard, the keeper had glanced at. The blacksmith had not overlooked this but tried to solve it without confrontation at first.

They were locked in a staring contest for just a moment before the guard looked away with a "tsk". With the guard backing off and the tamer being silent, the keeper could only hand the crown to Ellie in the end.

The guard probably belonged to one of the princes, presumably the backer of the tamer. Seth had been a little incensed on behalf of Ellie, but also as the leader of Minas Mar. He wouldn't accept such disrespect towards his people because of some corruption going on behind the scenes.

He had spent more than enough time with Leana to know, that these royal descendants didn't have any real power he had to fear. If they had, they would be in line for the throne and not scrambling for some title in a remote kingdom.