When the evening finally arrived, I had no plans other than eating before collapsing onto my bed. My day had been incredibly productive, but also exhausting. I just needed to sleep, wake up early, and co up with a new proposal that would convince Eleanor to provide with more ingots to improve my Forge skill further.
I could probably excuse the disappearance of a few bronze ingots by failures and experints, but I couldn't use all of them easily.
But, those plans died when the workshop door opened and Eleanor walked in. "Lady Maria asks you to join us for dinner," she said, her voice kind, but I didn't miss the subtle threat in her tone like it was my fault. I had a sense of what was about to follow, so I decided to distract her.
"Does she want to listen to my report directly? Good, I have news," I said, quick to distract her with a lengthy explanation of my improvents until her gaze beca glassy. "In summary, I managed to reduce the repair ti for a further three minutes toward the end."
"Impressive, very impressive," she said as she looked at . "I didn't know Blacksmiths could do that."
"We don't, because everyone is happy using their skills without changing anything," I replied, unable to suppress a genuine flicker of anger. "I understand why the quick improvent of the skills was more tempting. I use them to great effect as well. But embracing them to the point of abandoning everything we had learned while establishing civilization is absurd."
I didn't expect her expression to tighten. "Don't tell you're one of them. I should have known," she said, her attitude once again radiating the sa sharpness she had revealed when she had faced Thomas. It was not good news.
I raised my hand in surrender. "I feel like there's a misunderstanding," I said calmly. "Who are … them?"
My surprise must have looked genuine because she cald down. "You know, the Purists," she said.
"I have no idea who they are," I replied. "From the context, I'm guessing it's so kind of political movent or a cult. But, I have been living in a godforsaken small town since the Cataclysm, and apparently, we're not important enough for them."
She looked at carefully, trying to see if I was lying. Soon, the sense of sharpness disappeared, suggesting that she believed . "They are not a political movent," she replied. "They are a bunch of terrorists and murderers that believe that the System is so kind of curse that drains us completely. They are trying to kill everyone with the System, believing that by killing enough people, the System will disappear, and we can go back to civilization."
"What a bunch of morons," I spat out. "Even if they were right, what do they think will happen when the whole infrastructure disappears once again. Just more deaths. Unfortunately, Einstein was right when he declared that human stupidity is limitless."
"Good. I would have hated to kill you," Eleanor replied. I gave her a shaky smile. Being threatened by summary execution was not a fun ti. I understood where she was coming from, but that didn't an I enjoyed it.
"Now that we resolved that minor misunderstanding," I started, proud that I kept my voice from trembling. "You ntioned dinner."
"Yes, follow ," she said.
"So, I have a question about the supplies," I said. "I believe I can improve the repair ti even more, but I need to experint so more."
"What do you need?" she asked.
"I still need books about material science if possible. More information is always helpful," I said. If it wasn't for the tricky subject matter, I would have questioned her about why asking for old books didn't trigger her suspicions, but praising the civilization did … but then, a viable answer popped up. Considering those Purists assud mass murder was a good way to bring back civilization, I was sure that they didn't bother working on the other part.
Another unreasonable cult, this ti idolizing the past rather than a religion or a cult leader.
"I'll try to prioritize it," she answered. "What else?"
"I need to use the ingots during those experints, and so of them will be wasted. I need your permission to use them. Also, having more materials and different types of weapons will be helpful as well. Maybe even so with different types of enchantnts. Dungeon products will be useful as well."
"Dungeon products are easy. We already have an excess of them. Ingots are a bit more problematic. We have so in excess, thanks in big part to your new repair thod, and you can use one ingot for every ten weapons you repair," she offered. "But, that ans you'll receive your salary and bonuses based on the original contract."
"That works," I said. While I wouldn't say no to more money, I was more enthusiastic about experintation. "And, one last thing," I asked.
"That list is getting a bit long," she said.
"All of them are mutually beneficial," I said. "The better I get, the faster I can repair."
"Fair point," she said reluctantly.
I was lucky that she wasn't exactly a good negotiator. "I need a private forge," I said. "Not now, but once the other workers join . I can't try new techniques in the middle of the others. It'll distract them from their work," I explained.
"I'll try, but no promises. Even a small forge is not cheap," she replied. "But, once the others arrive, you can still have two hours alone every day. The rest, I'll try to get as soon as possible, but don't expect much for at least ten days."
"The next caravan?" I asked.
She nodded, and that was all we were able to talk about before we arrived at the dining room. It was once again unnecessarily opulent, with a long table at the center, but Maria was alone in the room. "Finally," she said, raising a glass. Her tone was slightly slurry. Not exactly drunk, but definitely cheerful.
"Lady Maria," Eleanor said coldly, though I had a feeling that I was the target.
"Co on, girl. You know I hate that stuff when we're in private," she said. Eleanor's gaze sharpened. I flinched. I didn't realize that I had already been promoted to the good friends category. Apparently, my attempt to keep her entertained worked better than I had expected.
"Yes, Maria," Eleanor said with a sigh, and sat down. I sat down as well.
"Enjoy, Devon," Maria said with a generous gesture.
Befriending her was a dangerous thing. But, as I poured myself a glass of wine — a luxury that I had been craving for a long, long ti — I found it difficult to take long-term risks into consideration. "Delicious, but very complex," I muttered. "Almost like a cocktail rather than wine. I'm guessing it's not an old wine?"
"No, it's from our newest winery. Alchemists can brew so fascinating wines," Maria explained.
"True," I admitted. While I still preferred a properly aged wine, the new one was certainly incredible as well. I took another sip.
"So, how was the first proper day of work?" she asked. "Also, D3," Maria said, taking another sip.
"It was more productive than I had first expected," I said, giving a detailed breakdown of the day, except my forging experints and my unexpected perk, and explained my success. Playing a chess ga at the sa ti was rather difficult. Maria was half-drunk, which made it slightly easier, but not enough to prevent from losing miserably.
Losing repeatedly was far more annoying when it wasn't there as a tool to distract from the lack of solid ground under my feet. So, when her moves slowed down as she listened to my report, I was glad.
"You already reduced the repair ti to twelve minutes. That's good," she said, her smile wide. "Can you reduce it further? That will allow us to get away with hiring even less Blacksmiths, right?" she said.
"We better hire the original amount we planned. We don't know how far it'll be reduced. And, having so extra capability won't be too bad," Eleanor replied.
"I'm confident that it could be reduced to eight minutes as long as I continue to work on it," I said, careful not to over promise. Another trick, this ti from publishing papers. It was always better to split any scientific discovery into multiple pieces and publish separately. That way, I could collect more rewards.
"That deserves a reward. I'll bring you to another leveling tour the mont I have ti," Maria promised readily. It was an excellent offer.
"Only if I'm not preventing anything important. Otherwise, I can just join the dungeon parties to level up slowly," I offered. It was easy to make sacrifices when I knew it wouldn't be accepted. The ssage they had left in the workshop this morning already raised the possibility of an assassination. And, even without that, dungeons weren't exactly the safest location for a blacksmith.
"Nonsense. Since Maria wants to help you, you should allow her," Eleanor replied.
It further confird my assumption. They wouldn't risk . Even if they didn't care about anything else I could potentially do for them, my life was critical until I could teach the other Blacksmiths how to repeat my thods.
I didn't care too much about whether they would continue to treat the sa way once that part was done. I still had a week, which should be enough to get another perk from Forge and improve my Repair skill significantly.
From there, I could use that offer to make a deal with Rosie, ideally targeting the sa dungeon.
And, most importantly, another leveling trip would bring to level twenty-five, the first threshold, which would actually increase my class bonuses.
"A fruitful discussion," Maria said. "It's ti for another ga. C3."
I managed to hold back my sigh as I responded, trying to prepare myself for a few more spectacular defeats…
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