"This should be it." Siderius finished his sign sequence and the mask stabilized into its final form.
It was an iron mask with rough and sharped corners on its surface. Its mouth held a wide smile with an elevated opened lips. The middle of the mouth was empty, capable of sliding a filter into.
Siderius had already made so filters that he could slide in and out of the mouth. They were easily removable and replaceable.
The filters were made from charcoal that were treated with tallic salts. This would ensure that the air that passed through would get purified by the charcoal.
The filters were made in the shape of a smile so it could fit the middle of the mouth.
Siderius picked up the new iron mask. It was more of a helt than a mask. When Siderius wore it, moving parts inside the mask extended and sealed the back of his head, leaving only a tiny hole for his long white hair to be loose.
Siderius slotted in the filter and checked his in the mirror.
"Looks like a smiling iron clown. Very intimidating. Let’s na this the Joker Mask."
Siderius picked up two small lenses on the table and placed them into the eyesockets of the mask. tal parts extended out to hold the lenses in place.
The compound-eye lenses imdiately expanded Siderius’ field of vision, removing a lot of his blindspots.
The lenses were small, covering only the size of a human eyes instead of the wide circular eyes like insect’s eyes.
With this design, Siderius would still have his normal range of vision, instead of the 360 degrees field of view.
To actually create the all-around field of vision, the lenses would need to be much bigger and cover more than half of the mask. That would greatly increase the difficulty to create an air-tight space for the gas-filtering capability to work.
A big lens would also lower the mask’s defensive capability. Siderius chose to have better defense than a wide field of view.
"I’m finished here. It is ti to say goodbye to the Arist."
Siderius kept the mask on and left the forge.
When he walked out, the blacksmiths and workers of the forge were all standing around the entrance. They were wondering who made their lord give their forge away.
When they saw Siderius, all doubts disappeared.
"That intricate design..." A blacksmith’s eyes lit up. As a craftsman, he knew what good quality was. That mask had the best craftsmanship he had ever seen.
Siderius nodded to the blacksmiths. "I’m finished here. You can continue."
Siderius flicked a silver coin to them, which a blacksmith caught clumsily.
"For your trouble."
"Thank you, my lord!" The blacksmiths couldn’t thank him enough.
The hunter returned to the guest room. His uniform was washed and dried. It was now folded nicely on his bed.
He checked for any issue and when he was sure it was the sa, Siderius removed the high-quality clothes that the noble gave him and put on the uniform once more.
The flexibility and comfort of the uniform instantly gave him a mood boost.
"Finally. Return to my usual conditions. Noble clothes are so uncomfortable. These people need to develop their fashion more."
Siderius put on his boots, gloves and finally the ghoul armor. He went to the main building of the estate to say goodbye.
Before he knocked on the door of Ruben, he overheard sothing.
"Argh! That beast is blocking the trade route to the west. If we continue like this, we will suffer a loss."
Ruben ruffled his hair. "Should I ask the Royal Court for help? The Grove Carer will probably agree but that will cost quite a lot of gold."
Siderius knocked on the door.
"Co in!"
"Lord Arist. I co to say my goodbye." Siderius walked in.
His new mask startled Ruben but he quickly recognized that it was Siderius.
"Master Nyx? Why don’t you stay for a few more days? Nina will definitely appreciate it."
Siderius shook his head. "I have business to attend to. I can’t help but overhear that you’re having a problem with a beast?"
Ruben nodded. "A Chaos Beast. It resides in the Foglight Forest and is blocking the only road to the West. All the trading has been stopped for a few months now. I really can’t keep going like this."
"Coincidentally, I will be visiting the Foglight Forest. I can deal with this Chaos Beast for you."
"You do? What do you want in return?"
"Two things. You can decide which one you want.
You can give so coins as a reward. I will ask fewer than the Royal Court, seeing that you’re having problems with coins.
Two, I don’t have any properties on this side of the kingdom. If you can give a place to stay or to rent at a cheap price, it is also sufficient."
Ruben leaned back on his check and tapped his lips. He considered Siderius’ offer.
"Are you sure you can deal with this beast?"
"I will accept my reward after bringing its head to you so you can rest assured."
"I see. How about this... I can pay you two gold coins for this mission."
Siderius smiled under the mask.
"Two gold coins required another property. A good permanent property. Chaos Beast is very dangerous."
Ruben scratched his hair then answered. "Five gold coins. Then I can give you a permanent property. But it can’t be a manor or estate. It will only be a house."
"Deal." Siderius nodded.
"Do you want to say goodbye to Nina?"
"I think it’d be better if I don’t, Lord Arist. I know what you’re trying to do. But I have no intention of settling down at the mont, Lord Arist.
Nina is a good woman. She will find a good man. That man just isn’t . I am on a path to beco more powerful.
That will take years. Your daughter’s youth shouldn’t be wasted like that."
Ruben sat in silence. The room stayed frozen for a while before Ruben let out a heavy breath.
"You are one ambitious High Lord, aren’t you Lord Nyx? Don’t worry. We won’t be forcing any marriage upon you. But as a father, I have to ask.
You are a talented witch, we all know that. You’re also very young. Nina is also very young and she likes you a lot.
If you haven’t found a good wife when the ti cos, Clan Arist is interested in making a permanent connection with you. A pact of blood.
I need soone to look after Nina for the rest of her life. Of course, we are only interested. If you really want to form a connection, we will also need to know your domain, territory, and clan history.
I just want you to keep that in mind, Lord Nyx."
"Thank you for the offer, Ruben."
Siderius turned and walked away. Even as a father, Ruben was still thinking as a lord. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity of turning his clan into a High Clan when eting Siderius.
There were many witches. But not a lot of them had potential. Siderius had etiquette that proved that he was raised in a noble house. That also ant that his clan must also be powerful, influential, or wealthy.
Marrying Nina to random witches was a fool’s idea. But Siderius had a lot of promising traits in Ruben’s eyes.
Siderius collected Red from the stable and aid for the Foglight Forest.
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