Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"C-Contracts?" Azul stuttered. The Chimera had a hard time keeping up with the flood of information and new things she encountered since coming to the magic tower. However, the people treated her nicely, and there were none of those poisonous stares she had feared prior to coming here.

She acted tough and confident, but for someone with almost no recollection of their past, the glances of people could hurt quite a lot, even if they did not say anything.

"Yes, so you can become official members of Minas Mar and get all the benefits that come along with it. Don't worry, it's just to make official what we already talked about."

Seth had explained everything about Minas Mar to his new comrades on their journey. Now he just needed to explain it to Mary and the others so they could take up their role. Some of them were rather special.

Wedan would join him in producing items for the shop. The blacksmith had insisted on recruiting the young dwarf.

He was specialized in armors which was Seth's least favorite activity. If Wedan could take over to make the armors for commercial use, and Cerberus would do the weapons, then Seth could take his time working on Al'Zalsar's Vessel and other projects.

After a lot of talking, Duhu had agreed to become an honorary member of Minas Mar. It was the best Seth could make thee tiger man convince to do. It meant that Duhu was not a fixed member with rights or privileges, but more of a freelancer or a guest that would help if asked.

The mysterious Archer, whose name was Archibald, but preferred to be just called Archer, agreed to join the field service and raid high-level dungeons. On that matter, Azul would also be joining the field service for now.

Later, when the chimeras currently traveling with the rescue force arrived, they would get their own division among the Oathguard

Evan agreed to directly join the Oathguard. Seth offered him a special position to expand his work with mounts and pets. Since the young tamer wanted to try and breed the Titanoboas, Seth would support him wholeheartedly.

He still pictured the whole Oathguard riding into battle on giant snakes...

Everyone was happy with their position until they came to Lynri.

Seth had promised Lynri a carefree life in Delta. Like he promised he offered her to be a guest and a monthly income to do whatever she wanted, but she denied it.

"But why?" Seth asked surprised.

"I do not want to be just some freeloader."

She had accompanied Seth along the whole journey from the stronghold to Delta. It had explicitly shown her that she was baggage the whole time. She had not shown her discontent, after all, it wasn't anybody's fault that she had no combat power.

However, it didn't mean she would want to stay baggage now! She wouldn't rely on that flimsy promise she had forced onto someone in the spur of the moment. She had only spent a short time in Minas Mar, but she really liked this place.

"I would like to get baptized in the System Church, gain a class and get a position fitting my abilities." she said confidently.

Seth could only smile. He had been ready to indulge her for the help he had received but she wanted to work. How did he pick up someone so reliable?

"If that is what you want, then I won't stop you."

With that, Lynri's contract was put on hold until she chose her class and entered the system.

After certifying their relationship with Minas Mar, there was no one who wanted to leave because they might hear something they were not supposed to. There were some who would have liked to leave because it was boring, but they stayed out of courtesy.

Monique roughly explained their action during the chaos in Delta, their rise in fame, and the establishment of the Oathguard. At this time the situation in Delta had finally started calming down.

Since the city did not need their protection anymore, Monique had already kicked off one of their plans for the Oathguard. They had never wanted for the Oathguard to be simply a private army to farm dungeons for materials.

One of Seth's original thoughts was to set aside part of the Oathguard as mercenaries that could be hired to accompany traders a caravans for protection. Technically, like how adventurers could be hired as guards through the guild, but without the guild as an intermediary.

This way they would also be able to get business in places like Y-City where the adventurer guild lacked the standing for businesspeople to approach them. Minas Mar offered elite teams of well trained and equipped troops for hire.

It was not only a good way to get money but also a way for the members of the Oathguard to get some variation in their job. Not everyone wanted to stay guard and dive into dungeons for their whole life. This way the people interested would get a chance to travel around.

The Turquoise Anvil was also doing very well, but the items Seth had left were almost sold out at this point and they really needed fresh supply.

Lastly, their conversation came to Jonah, who was currently not present in their meeting. Monique shot a wary glance at the Tigerman, before she brought up the letter, they had received from the Tijaahk girl.

Seth frowned when he read the letter. He could feel <Calm Reaction> soothe his mind and lower his heart rate before he gave it to Duhu to read it. The usually calm tigerman got bloodshot eyes and almost crumpled the letter when his hands balled to fists.

"And there has been no news from Jonah, yet?"

"No, he wanted to contact us when they reached Beta. It had been a little over two weeks since they left. So, either he should call soon, or something happened. But what could happen to Jonah and two teams of oathguard in epic armor?"

"Hmm, true. What about you, Duhu? I would understand if you wanted to leave for Beta right away..."

"...No. I will stay and wait for a few days. You seem to trust this Jonah. I will set off, if there are no news in the next few days."

"Monique, do you think he can afford another team of the Oathguard to send with Duhu when he leaves?" Seth wanted to come along to save Drosi, but he was afraid Al'Zalsar would lynch him if he kept delaying the built of her vessel.

He soothes his bad conscience with the fact that once he finished her body, he could ask her to help search for Drosi. At that point, she would have power close to the level she had as a lich. She would be a much bigger help than him.

They talked for a while longer before the meeting ended with Seth finally handing out the new items to the rest of the lords. Tekar finally got a new set of epic and relic-rated but Seth promised him something even better once he had some time to work with all the stuff he brought back home.

Items

Items plaplapla

When everyone left, Seth remembered Lydia and ran out of the room to get her back. In the hallway he saw the cybergoth happily talking with Azul and Archer. She had easily befriended these new additions of Minas Mar. This gave him another idea.

"Lydia! Wait a moment. Could you come back, i would like to talk about something with you." he called out.

Surprised the young woman turned back. She parted with her two friends and came back to the meeting room.

"Lydia, how are you doing?" he asked when they both sat down.

"Eh? E-erm, okay? I guess... Where did that suddenly come from?" she asked surprised.

"It's just that I feel that I neglected your issue before, and I wanted to apologize." he said seriously.

"What are you saying? You were busy and I am not some helpless little girl. Letting me use the resources of Minas Mar to look for a solution is more than enough."

He felt a little better when he heard that Lydia did not resent him.

"Well...anyway. Th reason, or now I actually have two. The initial reason I called you is because I might have a way to cure your wounds-"

He had not finished speaing when Lydia was already sitting on his lap, grabbing his collar. Her face was really close, and she stared him in the eyes.

"Really? You man it!?" she asked excitedly.

"L-Like I said maybe! I am not sure, we need to try it, to see."

He explained to her a little about the Golden Fleece and she agreed that magic with that kind of background had a chance to work.

"Okay, let's try it." she said, turned around and started getting undressed with her back turned towards him.

"wha?! Why are you getting naked?"

"Tehe, are you saying you are getting turned on by my scarred body?" she teased.

"Don't worry, i won't turn around, it's just so we see if it really works."

She turned around a chair and sat on it in reverse, offering her bare back to him.

Roughly half of her slender, toned back was covered in dark, badly healed scars. They were still emitting a kind of miasma.

"Let's start with Superior Heal." he said and cast the spell on the young womans back. The scars started recovering at a visible rate and Lydia let out a relieved moan.

Everything looked good until the spell ended. The healed skin immediately started deteriorating as the wounds returned and the miasma resurfaced.

"I-I'm sorry. I thought it might be enough." he said, watching Lydia whimper in pain.

"It's okay. I can take it." she said.

She had been through this a few times already.

"Next, I will use Superior Purification. I sure it can expel the miasma." Seth said determinedly.

The miasma was obviously the bigger problem. His confidence wavered when he used the skill but there were no visible changes after using it. It became a little depressed. Seth was so sure that thes skills would work!

"What's the problem?" Lydia suddenly asked.

"Ah, I'm sorry. It doesn't seem to work."

"What are you talking? It became a lot better just now. Keep going!"

Surprised, Seth continued using Purification. After the third time, there was finally a visible change in the dark miasma. With every casting, Lydia kept moaning ambiguously.

"Oh god, I think it's really completely gone..." Lydia said with tears in her eyes.

Seth finished it off with a Superior Heal, which made the scars vanish once and for all. Seeing the scars and pain gone for good, the half-naked Lydia couldn't stop herself from bawling in relief.

Her face was covered in snot and tears, and she threw herself at him, refusing to release her tight hug. He could only awkwardly stroke her back.

"Errm, there, there, it's all okay now? "

He waited for her to calm down before bringing up the other matter he had thought about.

"Lydia, the other reason I asked you to stay back was to ask you a question. What do you think of becoming the leader of Team 3?"