Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“Some advertisement for our business can\'t hurt, right?” she answered sheepishly. While Mary was the administrative head, Jane was in charge of most of Minas Mar\'s regular businesses, like the shops. But she also took care of the golem rental services, as well as managing their sales agreement with Arget Nore.

They had originally decided that nobody from Minas Mar would participate in these events, as they didn\'t want to risk revealing their power to their opponents too early. On the other hand, the blacksmith couldn\'t deny that this was a good advertisement.

“Do you have plans on expanding the golem rental business?” he asked after a moment of deliberation. Jane\'s eyes started shining when she heard the question as if she only waited for a chance to introduce her business ideas.

“Actually, yes. We have already been approached by some of the visitors from the system words after they saw them in action during disputes in the city. Some also seemed to have heard about the deal from Arget Nore.”

She wasn\'t just talking about expanding their renting out golems to parties on Urth but expanding their sales to Chrona and other system worlds. Seth felt conflicted about this direction. It was one thing to sell their golems to a local “ally”, with every possibility to regain control over them, but selling them off to faraway places?

“We would have to thoroughly restrict their possible actions like with those in Arget Nore if we really want to do that,” he said slowly. The blacksmith was okay with selling weapons and armors. In the end, they only were a boost to regular adventurers. Could his weapons cause tremendous damage in the wrong hand? Yeah, but this was the case for all weapons.

The golems were different, as he technically sold a competent soldier, who was not afraid of death and could be boosted with items on top of that. The other difference was that he could give them presettings that would prevent their use for evil deeds. For example, the golems in Arget Nore had the official directive that they wouldn\'t harm ori humas on command, so they couldn\'t be used against Urthans.

“We would have to sell them for specific tasks like pure Bodyguard duty, or City Defense against monsters,” Seth mumbled out loud.

“That would limit the business quite a lot, “ Jane said a little bummed, but she didn\'t argue against it. She also had no interest in causing unnecessary tragedies on foreign worlds.

“Well, it isn\'t like we are hurting for money,” Seth said with a shrug. Despite letting a lot of people live for free and taking low rents from the rest, Minas Mar as a guild was raking in great amounts of money. Most of it was reinvested in growing their new craftsmen and recruiting more people into auxiliary guilds and local branches of the Oathguard.

The original Oathguard of about 2000 people that had proven to be trustworthy was simply not enough to take care of such a large Territory, which was why early on, used Golems and accepted auxiliary guilds, as protectors at the Tree Stations.

Local branches were actually the idea of Luf, who had been the driving force in growing their number over the past three months. Local Oathguards were not much different from auxiliary guilds. Unlike the core of the original Oathguard, they were not allowed into Minas Mar itself

However, they were still selected to the same standard and equipped with older sets of Oath armor, that were cycled out by the core members who were now mostly equipped with the relic-rated versions or personal equipment purchased from the guild storage.

Although these branches had their specific tasks to earn their keep, their main purpose was to act as a standing army in case it was needed. Seth\'s newly created Golem Force and the branches of Oathguard were similar in a way, as there were two answers to the same question:

What if something got past the barrier and the Tree of a Tree Station?

The past had shown, that there were ways to destroy, or incapacitate the guardian trees. If the enemy knew of their power beforehand they would come prepared. A wise proverb once said “As long as the greatest detective had enough time to prepare, he could beat anyone.”

More troops were Minas Mar\'s preparation for their preparations, so to speak. And of course, troops were not restricted to defense like the trees. They could come in handy for a more... active approach.

...

---Xiguang Province, Hehieh---

Hehieh was a sprawling city, prospering thanks to its proximity to Yijing City, where the Immortal Summit had happened not too long ago. The Immortal Tower could still be seen floating above the capital on the horizon.

With the center of the capital this close, the people here also did not need to fear the uproarious changes that had befallen many of the more rural places. With the sect representatives and imperial army in the vicinity, there were many martial heroes who would take care of the exotic beasts that randomly appeared from nowhere.

Dependent on the travelers to the capital close by, it was a city filled with restaurants and inns, to act as a buffer for the flood of people that would not stay here before and after going to Yijing City. Sitting at one of the many small street stalls, slurping a bowl of noodles was a young man.

The well-made robes and hat that hid his face could hardly hide his foreign mannerisms. It was clear that he was a traveler probably from far away, but nobody cared here. There were many travelers, especially since the Immortal Summit. This way he didn\'t even really stand out.

After eating his bowl of noodles, he put down the dish and eating utensils and left after paying the tap. His feet agilely guided him through the crowded street, easily evading the skillful pickpockets among them. Not that they would find anything on his body, but still.

With his hunger satisfied the young man\'s feet led him to the vast slums of Hehieh. The place of gamblers, prostitutes, junkies, and anyone who failed their business in the capital and was stranded on the way home in general.

Without detours, he arrived at a run-down honky-tonk. It was the middle of a hot, dry day, and the place was almost empty, except for the bunch of drinkers by profession, who seemed to live at the tables they occupied. Judging by the smell, they barely even bothered to stand up for the call of the wild.

The business was shit, literally. It was a good thing this toilet of a bar was just a front for an organization called the Dark Well. This was one of the infamous information-gathering guilds that could be found on the voracious cloud continent.

The youth in white robes placed a small coin on the counter. It was just a worthless copper plate with a sign scratched into it. At least on the surface, for the barkeeper, it was a token that he was here to receive commissioned information.

He was led into a dark room with a simple table in the center. On the opposite side sat robed figures hiding their face in the shadows of their hood.

“Did you get what I asked for?” the youth asked the dark figure.

“We did, we did. Here is everything you asked you. A list of all sects that initially allied to venture into the new world, as well as a profile about all of them, “ the figure said in a slippery, joyful voice. The long-fingered pale handed swiped over the table and several bamboo slips appeared.

The youth flipped through the scroll-like bindings. Although he looked and acted like a foreigner, he seemed familiar with the characters of the Xiguang Province, showing no difficulty reading the slips.

“As for the payment,” the figure reminded the youth. Wordlessly, the customer nodded and handed him the other half of the commission. Satisfied, the youth left the pub and the slums. Despite expecting some hiccups along the way, nothing disturbed his path back to the inn.

However, when he got closer to the inn, he found the crowd was loud and upset. Many people were hurriedly running in the opposite direction. Worried, he quickened his steps. Only when Marco came to the vicinity of their inn, did he find why they were running.

Lizard-like monsters were rampaging in the streets and where the inn had stood previously was a massive gate, that had swallowed the inn and several neighboring buildings. Shocked, he almost reacted too late, when one of the beasts attacked him, but an absent-minded swipe of his rapier ended the foe easily.

Marco\'s mind was currently occupied with a more important question:

What happened to Paolo?