Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Are you ready?" he asked Mary as they met up in Minas Mar's business building on the surface.

Fortunately, the drunk dwarfs were easily appeased after offering them such an opportunity and Seth was able to get to bed with a relieved conscience. He was able to get a good night of sleep to get ready for today's appointment.

He spent the whole morning as Mina's dress-up doll to find the right outfit to make him look like a stylish, modern businessman. It was a little hard for her since he insisted on wearing at least the new gorget under the outfit.

"Yes, but are you really sure about your plan?" the secretary asked unsurely.

It was not like Seth couldn't understand her doubts. The initial plan of having the adventurer guild set up branches beside the higher-level dungeons to further their business on the currently finished part of the trade route. There were no doubts about the success of this plan.

However, as a reaction to the changes in Delta the blacksmith had made some adjustments to the original plan.

Somebody had put a lot of work into worsening the already dire situation of the refugees from Sigma and tried to put the blame on them. It was quite clear that they had plans for this helpless and despairing mass of people.

All the more reason to show them that they messed with the wrong morally questionable businessman. They had given him a crowd of impressionable citizens, and he would make damn sure to not even leave crumbs for the puppet masters hiding in the dark.

Like in Ivice, it was not weird for small settlements to develop around profitable dungeons and the adventurer guild's branches. The bard was hellbent on quickening the process...by a lot. However, he didn't want to take the full brunt of possible backlashes- Correction, he wanted to share the glory with others.

Sprinkle some publicity onto the Adventurer Guild and some important figures of Delta, dangle the possible profits in their face to make them join. A new gold rush. A great solution to the current societal problems. A way out of despair for the poor refugees of Sigma. Who wouldn't fork out some money and support to make a name with this?

The guild had already bought into their development project. Today they would meet with the guild and some other figures Mary and the guild and pulled to their side. Although it was Seth's idea, he couldn't claim to be a man versed in all walks of life.

He had little idea about actual politics and how this kind of stuff should be handled. He was the visionary, and that was why he needed people like Mary and the teams she built to take care of the formalities.

Having the Adventurer Guild as a partner in this was already a great reassurance. The guild was trustworthy because they were not some run-of-the-mill profit-oriented corporation. One could call the Adventurer Guild the church of the dungeon god.

The biggest service to their god was making sure that dungeons stayed busy. What exactly the dungeon god gained from this was nebulous (probably entertainment), but it was one of the main goals of the guild. This meant that by offering to build cities in the regions with dungeons, they would become a strong ally in the implementation of the plan.

What was Seth's role in the end? He was the one with the idea and the one in charge of persuading others. The face of the operation to pull in the money. He also had some of the greatest power when it came to bribing people. An epic item here or a relic-rated armor piece there could grease quite some gears.

This was the kind of event they were visiting today. It was called negotiations, but in the end, it was a small banquet with important people that had great interest and potential as allies.

Now, Seth couldn't be called a social butterfly. It was correct to say that his social skills were barely average, and it had taken him a good while to develop this far from the quasi-hermit he had turned into before the apocalypse.

It was here, that his items, skills, and attribute values really came in handy. Especially channeling Ronwe at times, as he did during his speech to the vampires, really helped get past the awkward moments when he didn't know what to say.

Seth really was not born for rhetoric battles of wits, which made having a demonic cheat sheet even more important. Otherwise, he might really fall back on telling them the truth. Of course, telling the truth and having an eye for people were great if one wanted to find good allies. But when facing greedy business sharks, it was important to stay atop the game.

The blacksmith was actually glad to barely retain anything about the party afterward. He had talked and talked and talked too much hogwash to remember it all. At least Mary seemed very satisfied with the outcome of this event.

"Just to make it clear. This won't become a regular thing,"

The bard was exhausted, more so mentally than physically. He would much rather get back in his workshop and make items, than experience something like this again. How did the social butterfly kind of people endure this torture?

"Sure, sure. This is my job after all. You just have to hold the speech during the press conference next week to announce the project. After that, you can leave everything to me."

"Alright then."

They returned to Minas Mar in the late evening. Returning to his quarter, he found Mina drinking alone. It seemed like stuff happened again. Seth spent the rest of his day talking with her and "distracting" his girlfriend from the dire situation in Delta.

…

"You guys ready?" he greeted the two giddy dwarfs when he came down to the workshops the next morning. The two were stoked to take part in the refinement process.

Although Seth had the parts for the pauldrons ready, he didn't want to let Hoen and Wedan wait too long. That was why he decided to refine the material for the cuisses, the armor for the thigh, in the morning and finish the pauldrons later.

"Let's go!" the two cheered in sync.

Although the two were still aspiring journeymen and a tier lower than Seth's skills, it did not matter for this kind of work, since they would only augment him with mana and strength. The skill level of a blacksmith wouldn't have any great impact.

Like before with Cerberus, Seth led with Charon's Obol while the two dwarfs took turns swinging a pair of heavy hammers. This allowed Seth to completely concentrate on injecting his power and melding the two materials together.

The trio actually managed more than just refining the material. Although the dwarfs were panting heavily and their sweat was running as if they were drenched in rain, they finished roughing out the parts for the cuisses in the morning.

"Great work. You should go and get some rest." he praised the two exhausted but happy dwarfs.

The blacksmith was really satisfied with their progress. Approaching the end, they had become really good at assisting him. Looking at the parts they had finished, he would probably only have to put in an hour or two to refine them to a state where he could enchant them.

"Can't we watch you work, while resting?" Wedan asked still motivated.

"Erm..well...sure, why not." the bard answered after some slight hesitation.

He could treat it as a concert for them.