Blacksmith vs. the System

"Do you think anyone would recognize you?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I said. "To their knowledge, the blacksmith you brought along is already dead. And, I didn't interact with many people. As long as my beard grows a bit more, no one should."

"Good," she said. "Then, we're going to register you as a guild representative of that wretched woman."

"Rosie?" I asked.

"Yes. Her guild is already registered here?"

My eyes widened. While Broken Tankard had always been a very good business, Rosie had never shown an interest in establishing a guild. The sudden change was interesting, but not entirely in a good way. Eleanor and Maria were dangerous on a battlefield, but the same wasn't true for anything else.

Rosie was much sharper. Keeping things secret from her would be far more difficult even without being in her employ.

Guilds were weird entities. Their exact legal standing differed from town to town, especially since every town operated independently, at least when practical matters were concerned. It meant that the legal system was long gone, and disputes were handled in an informal manner.

Our town, for example, had something similar to an elder's council, where respectable — meaning strong or rich — citizens took collective decisions. I hadn't interacted with them much, but I had observed the decisions they took.

More often than not, those decisions showed that they were more than happy to treat the guilds as independent entities, accepting the way they disciplined their members as long as it wasn't too excessive; and their definition of excessive didn't exactly match with mine.

No, I didn't want to suddenly put myself under the authority of Rosie.

Technically, I did that with Maria — and indirectly, Eleanor — but it was a mere business relationship. I had no doubt that, if I taught their blacksmiths about how to repair fast before disappearing, they would just wish me luck.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "If I work for her, she could easily find out everything I bring out." She looked at me suspiciously, probably about the fact that Rosie had introduced me.

"Really? Didn't you work for her?" Eleanor asked, surprised. "Don't you trust her?"

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"No, I worked with her," I said, quick to highlight the difference. I realized that Eleanor assumed the relationship between me and Rosie was more similar to hers with Maria. Knowing Rosie, it was something she implied, but never openly said.

"She isn't my employer, but a business partner. I had purchased her services many times before I … fell to hard times. I trust her as a business partner, but it doesn't mean I want to declare my loyalty to her," I said. "Oaths of fealty are serious things."

They were not, but Eleanor was clearly more inclined to that feudal mode of thinking. I wondered if it was the impact of hanging around people with Charisma, or just the natural inclination of seeing a new order in chaos.

Either way, one good thing about living in a small town, people with Charisma didn't deign to live in such a small place.

"Of course, loyalty is a serious thing," she said. "But, that means we don't have an easy solution."

"Don't we?" I said. "With the guards gone, I'm sure you're interacting with a lot of new guilds. Register me under a new one," I said.

"Really, you have a Guild Mark?" she said.

It didn't feel like a random question. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's an item that drops from the dungeon, like skill stones. It allows guild members to connect," she said.

"Really? I never heard of them," I said. "And, I'm pretty sure the ones in our town don't have any."

"It has a lot of benefits while operating in a dungeon," she said, then paused.

From the way she paused, I could see that she didn't know about those benefits either. So, I didn't bother asking more. "I'm guessing it's not exactly cheap?"

She chuckled. "Of course not. You need to destroy a dungeon to acquire one. I didn't even hear of one being sold." She paused again. "Actually, I'm not even sure they can be sold."

"Then, I'm sure that, as the commander of the camp, you can arrange an unofficial guild for me, and I'll be the leader."

She paused, thinking. "Alright, but only temporarily. I won't let you get everything you want just because you can repair weapons."

"How about this: I'll do my best to train the blacksmiths for you like I promised, and in the meanwhile, do my best to handle the overflow. You just need to arrange the delivery for the guild hall secretly until the training is complete, so I won't get assassinated. And in exchange, you'll arrange a guild hall that I can use both as a forge and a small team. You won't have to fund my experiments going forward, and, after three months, I'll start paying rent just like any other guild."

She looked surprised. "Are you sure? Even without a Guild Mark, establishing a guild is a serious thing. It feels sudden."

It was, but only because I didn't actually expect her to allow it. Letting a guild to be established in town, even a budding, troubled one like their camp was a serious affair. She must have been even more impressed by my fighting ability than I assumed.

Every other time I asked anything, she had been acting like I was begging for free food. But now, she was actually treating me as a peer.

"Alright. I'll even give your guild one person access for a month, but you have to pay tax like everyone. Take it as a gift from me. But, if you want to expand your guild, you have to join the weekly bidding like any other guild."

"Sounds fair," I said.

"And, I'll take the forge away the moment the other blacksmiths arrive. We don't have a spare. You have to source your own equipment."

"Tough, but manageable," I said. "But, I still need to use it occasionally to experiment."

"Only if you're willing to pay rent and mix in with the other blacksmiths," she said.

"What about the supply risk?" I asked.

"I thought about it, and I don't think it's an acceptable risk," she said. A sudden change. She must have realized that I had exaggerated the risk to get more material.

Admittedly, she would be right. I didn't think they would have tried to assassinate me if they could cut supply.

It would have scared me before visiting the dungeon. But, now that I had a better understanding of what was going on inside of the dungeon, I was confident that utilizing forged corrosion-resistant equipment was more profitable than importing mana alloys.

If I played my hand right, I would make enough money to fund my experiments. And, the best part, I was doing something that would benefit them.

I just needed to make some serious progress beforehand.

"Fair," I said.

"You must be really confident that you can find a way to invent a new material," she said.

It was a reasonable suspicion. "Fifty-fifty," I said. "Of course, I'll be willing to sell it to you for a reasonable price. Maybe for permanent access spots?" I asked.

"Sure. We'll discuss it based on the material's performance," she said. "As long as it doesn't cost more than double, I'm willing to pay for it."

As I followed her, we started talking about other formalities, which I could handle easily. I had managed too many projects as a professor to be slowed down by little details.

However, the more I discussed, the more I realized her opinion about the new alloy I promised to develop. She was certain that I could actually develop it — which was true — but she also had very strict assumptions about its limits.

Since it was not provided by the System, it had to be strictly inferior.

That approach irked me, but I wasn't in a hurry to change her mind about it, and ruin her mood in the process. Since she believed that I was certain to succeed, she could have insisted that developing an alloy for them was a part of the contract, and I couldn't sell.

Her goodwill was valuable. It was also the reason I was pushing things at an uncomfortable pace. I didn't want to miss this opportunity like I had done before. All it would take was another dungeon drop with some stupid new enchantment to ruin my budding business, and I needed to make some money beforehand.

Of course, while I wanted to make money, it wasn't the only reason. After everything I had discovered, having a space that truly belonged to me was vital.

Important enough to push some limits and look suspicious. Luckily, I had excuses in place to distract others from my real secrets. Maria had helped me level up, and Eleanor provided me with multiple valuable skills. Together, they went a long way to explain any casual questions people might have, especially since no one had any reason to interrogate them about the details.

There were still some risks, but those were acceptable.

So, I said very little once I stood behind Eleanor while handling the registration details. Though, my eyes widened when I learned when they were purchasing the undamaged shells for only two silver.

I expected a hefty cut, but that still surprised me.

"You can always not sell and bring them to the System Store yourself," she countered mockingly. She had a point. They had to be transferred by a caravan, and the nearest System Store was almost two weeks away. "Just one silver," she said, then added. "Even if they are broken."

It worked for me as well. After all, I wasn't planning to bring most of them out in the first place.

Still, it was a successful trip. Not just in terms of gains, but it actually made Eleanor warm up to me. And, that meant I could actually do a lot more than I was initially planning.

I couldn't help but appreciate the irony. I had so much to offer, but the two greatest opportunities I had gotten in this Post-Cataclysm world had nothing to with it. Maria helped me far more than necessary because I was good enough to entertain her playing chess, and Eleanor was impressed by the rapid improvement of my sword skills.

I didn't expect to end up like one of those useless rich kids that only got the job because they played golf with the CEO.

Life was unpredictable.