Blacksmith vs. the System-Chapter 195 -

I expected the duel to be the last time I had to talk about anything from the diplomatic party for a while, but Rosie chose to interfere. "My lord regent, maybe you can give Lord Asterion a tour of the dungeon while I escort the rest of their party to their residence."

"What an excellent idea," Leona declared happily before I could say anything.

"It would be my honor, my Lord," I said, wishing that I had the luxury of looking at Rosie angrily at the suggestion. I understood where she was coming from. Spending time with him would give us a much better insight into their status, and I was the only one that he would actually talk to.

Understanding the logic didn’t solve my frustration. I still had three envoys to meet.

"Roland, Evan, you two go with the guards and make sure everything is in place," he declared. "I will visit this place and see what’s so important."

"Of course, my lord," Roland said, his rapid acceptance suggesting that, unlike the rest, he had been accompanying Leona for a while. His rapid acceptance was too similar to the attitude of Thomas’ bodyguard to be anything else.

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The rest of the group disappeared, leaving me alone with Leona. I gestured for him to walk, which he accepted. Luckily, he wasn’t insisting on some kind of elaborate ceremony, probably assuming that I wouldn’t know it.

He would be right.

"That’s a lot of metal," he commented as we approached the town.

"With the dungeon producing Forge in sufficient numbers, we have an abundance of metals compared to the other dungeons," I explained, then gestured at the burnt landscape. "Especially after our enemies were kind enough to send us plenty of supplementary material."

"Yes, a beast wave. It’s impressive that you were able to hold even a minor one," he commented.

"It didn’t feel minor to us, but it might be more about our limited capabilities," I commented. His careless comment was enough to tell me that they had no true idea about the scale of the attack, which meant the so-called heretic involvement was not known as well.

"Be proud, it’s still impressive," he declared. "It must be difficult after those traitorous guards had abandoned you to your fate."

However, his not knowing our circumstances gave me an option on how to play. I could lead him away from the details of the battle … or I could do the opposite.

"They were merely employees that didn’t want to risk their lives, not bound to their oaths. We can’t expect knightly courage from every vagabond with a blade," I commented in apparent generosity. I might have not known him for long, but treating him as a spoiled legacy student I shouldn’t feel anger because of his father’s generous donation seemed to work well.

Maybe revealing the true nature of the threat we had faced could tip the details, especially since it was inevitable that they would do so. Even if the Asterion party was too arrogant to gather proper information, the battle had been too important for the farmers to not mention the details.

And, the involvement of hundreds of giant boss monsters was not an easy secret to keep even if we were inclined to do so.

"Would you like to see the weapons which allowed us to resist them," I offered.

"Weapons?" he asked, once again surprised.

"I assumed they were at least a part of your generous offer of annexation, my lord. Or was it just about the dungeon skills?" Another question that any diplomat or merchant with the slightest experience would have realized to be a trap.

"No. It’s the metal we value. The guards spread the word around that there are blacksmiths capable of producing great amounts of mana alloys, but…" he said, gesturing at the construction efforts. "It’s even more than I had expected."

"Once the threat of the beast wave and the other enemies are dealt with, we have been able to expand our production," I replied. Since there was no hiding our giant furnaces from even an incompetent spy, I decided to display them.

That way, we wouldn’t have received the greatest price from them, but considering the production cost was near zero, it was not a grand issue.

"Really," he said. "Maybe we can send the city some while we wait for Lady Maria to return. My uncle would probably like that."

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"That’s certainly doable, and I would be more than happy to extend a favorable price," I commented.

"Really, how much?

I shrugged. "I don’t know. Trade is not something I’m capable of. But, I’ll give Steward Rosie express orders to ensure the lowest possible price. One that doesn’t violate my oath as a regent, of course," I added, once again shamelessly using his perception of honor as a shield.

I might not like the artificial medieval culture that seemed to be on the rise, but I wasn’t above using it to my benefit.

"As it is proper," he commented.

"Too bad we are still facing a lot of limitations to truly ramp up the production," I added. I was treating him as a donor back when I was still working as a researcher, and like any potential donor, he needed to see a good mixture of our capabilities, but also our needs.

"Really?" he said as he gestured toward the town. "That’s not your limit."

"Not even close," I admitted. "There’s some value in mixing modern technologies with some of the System benefits."

He paused for a long moment. "Modern, as in … technology?" he asked. "I thought it to be useless."

"Not even close," I responded, although I found his pause weird. "There is value in exploring it. Previously, we were being held back by material restrictions, but now that our production capabilities are once again measured in tons rather than pounds, we can explore."

I let him look around as I brought him to the rails. He seemed like a good target for measuring how this new nobility would react to the reappearance of the technology. Especially through a source that they could control.

Well, one that they would think they could control.

"And, this is a … train?" he asked once we arrived at the railroad.

"Yes, we managed to recreate the steam engine without the risk of explosion, though we still need to test it in mana-rich locations. We don’t know how steam would react to long-term mana exposure under high pressure."

The train started to move, only for him to radiate surprise. Frankly, he was far more surprised than I had expected, as he had never seen a train before. The system’s effect should have been even more intense in terms of alienating people to the past, as he was the only one who had reacted to the recreation of trains like this.

Curious, I thought. We continued to climb up. On the way, I pointed at the cannon battery that was being installed on the surface, with a rail system so that they could be pulled back to the mountain as needed.

"And, that’s one way we were able to resist the beast wave. They have been instrumental when dealing with the weaker monsters, allowing us to focus on the stronger ones."

"That is?" he asked.

"Steam cannons," I commented. "They are not as good as traditional gunpowder ones, but less risk of catastrophic explosions," I explained. I was surprised when he wasn’t able to recognize it, as even steam-based, the shape was apparent, but his confusion was too intense.

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I was ready to write off his surprise when it came to the train, but its repeating with the cannon stood out too much, almost like he didn’t recognize cannons in the first place.

Which was absurd enough to send me down a rabbit hole of theories, including more complicated theories, but I kept them contained for the moment.

"Oh, right. Cannons," he commented, once again trying to play it off.

Once we reached our destination, the giant furnace, filled with a hundred tons of molten iron too big to miss, which was one of the reasons I had been open about its existence. Why bother keeping it a secret when an aerial scout could see it all.

"What’s that?" he asked.

"This is our main furnace, where we produce all the metal," I explained, hoping that it would be taken as a goodwill gesture. "While it still requires the involvement of the junior blacksmiths, it allows for faster production.

"No, not that," he said as he pointed deeper. I traced the direction, and saw the boss monsters. Ten of them, currently being butchered systematically to maximize their benefits. While the other parts combined weren’t as valuable as the claws, they still had a lot of functions.

"The part of the wave. We had a few hundred of those boss monsters from the dungeon break," I said, realizing the source of his shock. I had been planning to reveal it after the furnace since the metal was their goal, but there was no harm in changing the schedule a bit. And, previously, I had shown our value. Now, it was time to show capabilities.

The trick is to show those capabilities without turning myself into an actual threat.

"And, how did you deal with them," he asked, shocked.

"My martial talent is not the only one I have," I said as I pulled my sword, closed my eyes while I gathered the mana around it for half a second, and slashed.

[-300 Mana]

It was neither the strongest nor the fastest attack, but it was enough to take the boss monster down in one blow. Yet, the attack was already predictable in terms of path. Adding in the slight delay meant it was even less of a threat against a strong opponent.

Or a properly armored one, like his guards.

A reasonable mixture.

"You’re filled with surprises for a blacksmith," he admitted. "Too bad that skill seems to be very low grade."

I nodded, happy that that was his comment, rather than asking why I didn’t use it against his guard. His focus on martial arts didn’t directly discount the existence of magic either, which was also a blessing.

"It’s not as high as I would have liked from an external skill," I commented without revealing the exact level. Epic shouldn’t be treated as a low-grade one, but then, the mana attack part didn’t directly come from it, and that part, I wanted to keep secret. The difference between having a skill and independently mastering the secrets of mana attacks were two very different things. "We do our best with what God gives us," I said, hoping that acting religious would give me another point.

"Gods," he corrected me with a sharp voice, almost automatic.

"Naturally, gods," I accepted, even though I added it as another oddity to be examined. Was every city resident this weird, or was he the exception? A question to be explored later, which was already piling up once again.

Too bad I lacked the time to dig into them properly.

I did my best to look bashful rather than calculating. "I hope it has been an enlightening trip, but we have another envoy approaching, and with my position, it would be a disrespect if I was not there to greet them."

"We can return for now. But, I want a trip to the dungeon another day," he asked.

"It would be my pleasure."