Blacksmith vs. the System-Chapter 200

“So, what do we do?” Rosie asked while we watched the Asterian party disappear on the horizon, leaving us in a bind. “I would have suggested evacuation, but…”

“I can’t leave, not with my bond with the dungeon,” I said. I sighed. “Ironically, not much has changed. Our entire plan is based on defending the town against another attack. We are just going to reinforce our area to the best of our abilities, and hope that Asterion’s involvement provides some kind of passive threat that prevents them from committing their heavy hitters.”

“You know they won’t help, right? Even without that mysterious mention of the troubles his family is going through, all we have is a politically ill-advised move from a family member that was out of favor. It’s not the kind of chip that could intimidate another city.”

“I know. But I have to hope that it’ll give us some time. Every day, we get stronger.” A desperate sigh escaped my mouth. “I want to offer a way for the others to retreat, but I know it will end badly.”

“Now that the cities pay attention to us, there’s no way to succeed,” Rosie said, agreeing with my conclusion. “Things would have been different for a few people, but thousands … We have neither the connection nor the logistic capabilities to achieve that unnoticed.”

“Then, we need to bunker down even more aggressively,” I said. “At least I have solved the dungeon breach problem.”

“You did? That’s a relief,” she responded. “The dungeon is our only strategic advantage, and we couldn’t afford to lose it.”

I couldn’t argue with that. We had several advantages, like my abilities as a smith and a mage, the growing effectiveness of the forge, with weapons getting stronger and stronger, and even my students discovering new ways of using mana; but ultimately, each ability depended on the dungeon to truly shine, reliant on both mana and the materials.

Without those benefits, we would have been long dead.

“Any idea about what drove Drakka to act in such aggression?” I asked.

Rosie sighed as she looked at the horizon, looking more lost than I had ever seen her. “My best guess?” she asked, and once I nodded. “We were likely a victim of someone targeting the Asterian family.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised by her conclusion for a moment before it clicked. “Because Drakka knew about the troubles of the Asterian family even though his own soldiers were unaware.”

“Yes,” she said. “They were probably hoping that Leona would bungle the overreach and attack us, and they could swoop in and take over.”

“And, when I acted like I would accept their offer…”

“They contacted Drakkan and Vessalian parties, and convinced them that approaching in a heavy-handed way was the better idea. The only thing I don’t know is whether they expected the combined efforts of two groups would be enough to defeat us, or…”

“Or they knew that we would be able to take them down, and hoped to isolate us,” I completed. “Do you think heretics are responsible for it?”

She shook her head. “Not necessarily. It can easily be Tristelian guilds, one of the stronger towns stirring the situation, knowing that we’re capable of repelling an enemy of such a degree. It’s a good way to suddenly turn it into our only option.”

“If that’s the aim, they succeeded,” I said. Yes, the confrontation might be their fault, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that cities would care much for that particular fact. It was more likely that we made two enemies who were determined to erase us from the map to show their strength.

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I would love to be wrong about it, but I didn’t think I was.

“I’ll order an increase of patrols,” she said. “Anything else?”

“No. I’ll move the carriage to the dungeon and check if I can get anything from it,” I said.

“Any realistic expectations?” she asked.

“No. Four of them moved together in one vehicle, so I expect everything to be locked in privacy wards, and those require another mage to slowly decipher. Breaking it would destroy the contents.”

It made her chuckle. “Nothing is easy around you, is it?”

“It’s part of my charm,” I responded in kind, forcing a levity I didn’t feel into my tone, but that was just a part of the leadership burden.

I was about to drag it further when she paused. “Are you sure you want to bring it into the dungeon? What if they have a method of sabotaging or reaching it,” she said.

“Good point,” I said. “I can’t take that risk. Just let me check, then arrange it to be dragged to a cave away from the town, and collapse it on top of the carriage. We can check again once Maria finally returns.”

“It’s safer,” she agreed.

I went through the carriage, but it seemed that my estimation was mostly correct. Other than five skill stones neither I nor Rosie could activate, the only thing that wasn’t behind the privacy spells was the focus they had used to activate the mana shield around the carriage, which I took with me.

“That’s all?” she asked, looking at the five glowing stones and a plate of metal with its surface covered with arcane symbols.

“Unfortunately,” I said. “They might have something else on their bodies, but it wasn’t worth risking Leona’s anger.”

“Yeah,” Rosie said, then smirked. “She’s a good kid, but those honor types are difficult to decipher.”

“She?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Leona is a girl,” she said. “Very good at acting as a man, I’ll give you that. She had practice, so it’s not something she had just decided to do on a whim.”

“A disguise?” I asked. “But, I didn’t feel any kind of magic from her.”

“So,” she shrugged. “It’s not a given that you can sense every single type of magic. Also, it might be some kind of vitality-based ability, which means there’s no mana to sense. Or, it was just really good makeup.”

“And you still noticed it. How?”

“A combination of Perception and my professional training,” she said. “No matter how good a disguise is, there’s always tells. But, hers were concealed enough that I was only able to catch them with Perception.”

“And, you didn’t mention it before, because…?”

“I didn’t want you to act differently and alert her. We don’t know why she’s hiding her gender, and immediately telling you might reveal it. I planned to tell you once things had calmed down.”

“But they did not,” I said. “You have a point, there was no need to tell me that at the time, and things would have been a lot different if I spooked her and she hadn’t given me that skill.”

“Yeah, that was useful, but you’re lucky that she hadn’t seen it, or she might have asked some very dangerous questions. We just have to hope that she doesn’t interrogate them about the exact method of our victory.”

It was my turn to surprise her. “That won’t be a problem.”

She frowned. “Don’t tell me that you revealed to her your ability to rapidly increase your skills. That’s too dangerous!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I smirked. Rosie was always in control, so surprising her was always a pleasure. “No. The skill she gave me was not normal. It started at seventy-eight proficiency, and it was absorbed far more smoothly.”

“And, you know it’s about the skill and not you.”

“Yes. It’s not the first external skill I absorbed. I’m as certain as I could be,” I said. “Which makes sense because she had mentioned that it was to be a gift to a family member. What better gift than a Legendary skill that they can immediately use in battle.”

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“You have a point,” she said. “Then, we have only one question: What are we going to do about the other approaching parties?”

“We’re at war with two cities at once. Any group that steps closer than twenty miles, inform them from a distance that we’re currently at war, and approaching unauthorized is not allowed, and we’ll treat them as hostile parties unless they accept to be disarmed and immobilized.”

“Harsh. It’ll be hard to have any kind of trade with those conditions.”

“I doubt it,” I said. “Anyone that needs us enough to risk the displeasure of two cities would accept those conditions. And, they can always make the exchange at the border.”

“I’ll organize the guard,” she said. “Do you want to talk with the soldiers, to calm them down?” she asked.

“No, let Harold do it, and tell him to act like it is not a bigger threat than the monster horde. The farmers come from the towns, and they don’t have the proper context. Let’s not create panic until we see the forces they commit against us.”

“And, what will you do?” she asked.

I felt my lips tug into an angry grin. “I’ll try and see if I could bestow my new nifty ability to break through shields into javelins. If I can…”

“The Drakkan legions will have a very nasty surprise,” Rosie completed, her smile matching mine in viciousness.

It was good to see I wasn’t the only one feeling vindictive.