Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth knocked on the door of the guestroom, where the girls slept tonight. He could hear scrambling and rummaging in the room. He knocked on the door and all movements in the room stopped.

"Hey, get up and ready. We are leaving soon. I got us a ride." the inside stayed silent. He was worried. He really didn't side to open the door to maybe get a view of girls in underwear.

"I'm coming in~"

Well, he could say that this was 100% the scene he had expected. The girls were only dressed in their underwear, but they were currently wrestling some guy in dark attire.

"You know, if you want male company, you should have gotten your own room. If you had asked nicely, I would even have taken the role of your partner. But inviting some stranger into my room is re~ally rude, you know?"

"C-Can you stop joking and help us!?" Jane called in distress.

Seth used <Observation> and the guy and accidentally also on the girls.

<Bob James lv.14>

Class: Thief

<Jane Maise lv.15>

Class: Apprentice Sorceress

<Mary Maise lv13>

Class: Apprentice Priest

This showed the difference in attribute distribution between caster classes and physical classes. It took two casters to physically overcome a single thief. Something like a knight could probably throw these girls around like ragdolls. In comparison, the girls probably had higher intelligence and willpower than even Seth (without his armor).

He stepped beside them and grabbed the thief's neck with one hand and lifted him up. He proceeded to press him against the wall with his feet off the ground.

"ok, Bob. What are you doing in my suite? "

"Urgh, let me down! Who do you think you are? Do you feel strong just because you can -"

Seth held the thief with his right hand and clad his left in pale fire.

"Listen here. I just woke up and found someone having fun with my property...I mean employees. Talk or die, those are your option."

Seth was not really serious, but threats cost nothing. The thief's pupils shrunk when he saw the bright flame that was emitting a terrible heat, even at this distance.

"No, no, no, I talk. They owe the boss money! I only came to collect a debt after I heard they were back in town. I didn't know this was your room, or that they were your property!"

Seth's hand got tighter around his neck.

"Don't call them property, you scum. Humans are no objects. They are my employees."

"Yes, employees, employees! I misspoke. But I only came because my boss told me to collect the debt. I didn't mean to offend anyone!"

Seth turned to the girls, without letting go.

"Do you guys owe someone money?"

"No! It was Tom's dept. He got a loan to buy that armor. It has nothing to with us."

Mary's face got dark when Tom was mentioned.

"You heard her."

"His loan is the party's lone!" the thief argued.

"The dude is dead and your money is gone. Accept it and stop bothering grieving people. Tell your boss that the information was wrong. Make up some story about how you got info on their death because Tom actually is. Deal?"

"Why should I-"

"Deal or death. Do you really want to die here?"

"D-Deal."

"Good boy. "

Seth kept the thief hanging in the air until he threw him out of his suite.

"Do you really think he will keep his end of the deal?" Jane asked unconvinced.

"Doesn't matter. We are out of this city in a few hours."

The two girls had followed him into the living room. Seth appreciated the view of the girls in rather revealing underwear standing in the room until they followed his gaze and noticed it themself,

"Perv!" Jane covered herself and furiously blushed. Mary blushed even harder and followed in as they ran back to their room to get dressed.

Seth was not really bothered by this. He went down to eat in the hotel's restaurant. Sometime later the girls also came to eat and went back to the room again afterward. Several hours later Mark joined him at his table. The official had a satisfied smile on his face. He ignored the mountains of emptied dishes that filled the table and squeezed an envelope on the little free space on the table.

"Your papers."

He squeezed in another thicker envelope.

"Your money. A car is waiting outside for you and your...entourage."

Seth paused eating as he watched the official.

"You work really fast."

"Executive Management."

"Well, I'm about done with my meal anyway. I will go call the girls."

A few minutes later he arrived with his employees at the entrance and checked out from the hotel. Mark stood beside a bulky-looking ATV and waited for them. He reached out his hand waiting for something.

"Hmm, you want it now? I originally wanted to wait until we reached Y City but... How could the world work without some trust? Ok, here."

With that, he put the small silver one-time-use auction interface into the manager's hand.

"Don't forget to prepare lots of cash before using it."

"I will, thanks."

They entered the car and left Koku City.

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"Yes, I acquired the item. What? Yes, I will bring it to Y City. Yes, I will bring Koku City's reserve." he ended the call with a sigh. Had he known that he would also have to go to Y City he would have just joined Seth. It would have been a chance to become closer with a strong potential ally.

Mark just hoped they would not meet some of the more ambitious officials in the capital. He wasn't worried about Seth as much as he was about the consequences of offending him. It was one of the reasons that Y-City had...complicated relationships with otherworldly factions like the Chrona empire.

The officials' approach, in the beginning, was...unrefined and forceful to say it in a nice way. It is a weird thing, people become really offended and hostile if you try to rob and swindle their, or their subordinates', items. The approach worked well if you were in a position of power, the lesson they learned was that they were not exactly in a position of power.

Even with increased stats and proficiency gain, they still severely lacked the knowledge to contest with these people. Some, like Mark, learned that it was better to simply deal respectfully with all of them. Trust was one of the few solid currencies one could garner in this chaotic world. It was a shame that he knew, that he was only one of few who understood this.

------------

"Say, how did you manage to make a car like this?" Seth asked the stoic driver. He asked because this was no just a normal car like the ones before the apocalypse. He could feel magic power coursing through the whole thing, it was obviously powered with magic.

Apparently, most modern technologies had lost their function in the central continent, like after an EMP or something. This was a peculiar difference to Seth's memory. After all, his phone still worked fine and he used a bike to escape back then. He didn't know about the bike, but phones definitely didn't survive in areas like Y City.

Also, the girls had told him that people had just begun researching how to adapt modern technology to the system era. This car seemed a little too advanced for that to be true. On the other hand, this was the military. The military always had the best and newest toys.

"Hrmph. I will only tell you this because it is not classified information and you are a guest of Mr. Baker. There are classes like Technomancers and Mechanics who can create MagiTech based on technology. From our interactions with the empire, we know that these are a unique trait of technologically advanced worlds."

"Unique to... Does that mean there are also Gunners and stuff like that?" Seth asked intrigued.

But the driver only smirked and stayed silent.