Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth was thinking of what the emperor had told him. When he advised him to take a look at the items of his predecessor, did he mean that Seth should try to find out more about the origins of his first-class?

Surely, there was merit in that, though Seth lacked the motivation to give it much thought. He had more than enough stuff he had to delve further into already. He had just started to find interest in the musical side of his second class.

He had just started exploring the possibility of linking the music itself with the soul arts and the blacksmithing. Subliminally, Seth was bothered by the fact, that his items were not comparable to the work of a true master like Tored.

His works still lacked in execution and Seth wanted to further explore the basics. After hurrying to reach a height he now had time to put in actual practice.

As he walked down the hallway, he made a quick visit to his room, where he found an unexpected visitor at his door. Feanys the bandit woman was standing in the hallways, wearing loose everyday clothes instead of her bandit-like leather armor.

"Are you looking for me?" Seth asked the rough tomboy. "Is this about my offer to join me and Mina?" he asked, thinking of their little exchange back in Keväti Kuinen. Although Faenys was on the more muscular side, Seth didn't mind a toned woman for some blanket wrestling.

Despite not looking like one of the innocent kinds, the mountain brigand blushed furiously. But maybe it was just because she was more used to being on the aggressive side.

"N-No, I didn't come here because of that. I... erm. I wanted to ask about those weapons you lent us." she opened up.

Seth had given her the twin daggers he made from parts of the angel's head for the final fight. Now, the daggers she originally used to use felt cheap in her hands. As epic items originating from dungeons, they were in no way cheap, but they couldn't compare to the angel gear.

"Could I maybe purchase those daggers from you?" she asked with big doe eyes. Having a muscular girl acting cutesy didn't fit but was an intriguing combination.

However,

"They are not for sale. However, we could talk about commissioning a pair of new daggers for you. I'm returning to our guest mansion; do you want to come along a talk a little more?"

Unlike what it might have looked like, Seth did not intend to pick her up. Of course, he wouldn't mind but it was not the objective. The blacksmith followed the example of the royals he saw at the brunch.

Didn't Leana say that people were scouting? It meant as long as you could convince someone, they were up for grabs. Feanys could become a good addition to Minas Mar if she fit in with the rotten bunch that was currently loafing around at the mansion.

Delta was a city located in a high mountain range, Faenys could shine as part of their expeditions to establish the trade routes to Y-City.

Coming back to the mansion, Faenys was quickly assimilated into the lazy glob that had formed in the living room and started a drinking contest with the others. The bandit woman was a powerful drinker and emptied their alcohol storage almost on her own.

They didn't get much of a chance to talk about a commission, but the "scouting" was going well.

...

When Seth woke up with a heavy head during noon the next day, Faenys was already gone.

"She escaped." chuckled Mina beside him. Seth couldn't help but laugh along. When the party slowly ended during the night, the bandit had scraped together some sense and quickly ran off. It seemed that Mina's advances had scared off the shy animal.

Still, they had gotten along quite well. Faenys didn't seem to have any great attachment to her home. Chances were good that he could scout her for Minas Mar if he dangled better equipment and salary in front of her eyes.

"Oh yeah, before I forget it. Princess Leana wanted to meet with us and Fin to wander around Chrona. Wanna go?" Seth asked the beast woman.

"Princess Leana? Of course." she agreed happily. There was no reason to decline. There was a glint of excitement in her eyes, at the thought of using the imperial credit card to go shopping.

Seth saw himself carrying a bunch of bags in the future and that was what happened. Things moved quickly and later that day he was following the three girls with a bunch of bags in his arms. They were not fit to put in the inventory, so they had to carry them the traditional way.

Or rather, Seth had to. Although he was in the rather passive role of a porter, he found that it was actually quite fun to spend time with Leana. He had originally gotten to know her as the serious and capable Princess and an acquaintance to Mina and the others.

It was his first time spending some private time with her and he found her quite sympathetic when they didn't have to deal with business.

"Shall we get to the main event?" the Princess suddenly asked. She had led the group to a vicinity slightly outside of the bustling city. There were a lot of stately buildings around, that had more of a business flair.

"What's the main event?" Fin asked excitedly. She had a lot of fun shopping and eating all day long.

"it's actually something for Seth," Leana revealed prompting the bard to find a gap in the bags to look at her surprised.

"For me?" he asked. He had already surrendered to being their pack mule and didn't expect that there would be something for him in it.

"Yes, didn't you ask about the shares in the broadcasting? I arranged a meeting for you with the president of the broadcasting station," she explained and pointed at the building they had stopped at.

It wasn't the biggest or newest building on the street, but it was still a little impressive. The Princess swaggered it and told the receptionist their business. Hearing what they wanted; the lady hurried to inform her boss while another employee brought them to a meeting room.

They didn't wait long for a nervous, sweating man to appear in the room.

"I-I'm Shawn McLeery and-and I'm the channel director. It's nice to meet you!" he introduced himself with a deep bow.

"Ah, I'm Seth Smith." the bard said a little baffled, as he wasn't really prepared for something like a business meeting during their free time.

"The Tower Master of Minas Mar, the princess has already informed me that you also represent Ellie, the slime rancher. Can I say what a great honor it is to meet someone of your standing?" although he was sweaty and nervous, he still knew how to fawn over a client.

Seth didn't really get the chance as the man scrambled to bring out a few papers and put them on the table in front of the blacksmith.

"This is our offer for the way to split the profits of the broadcasting rights of your recordings."

The bard took the papers and started reading through them and couldn't believe the offer. The channel was ready to hand over 85% of the proceeds from the various broadcasts and transformative products based on their recordings to Minas Mar.

This was their price without any negotiations from Seth. He couldn't even find any hidden clauses. Despite not finding any himself, he would have wanted to hand it to Mary before signing something like this.

Shawn saw his surprise and doubts about the contract and quickly added an explanation.

"Actually, the princess's people already negotiated the contract details with us the last few days." he looked at Leana a little nervous, who simply kept smiling a calm smile. It somehow unsettled him even more.

Seth glances at the princess. Since when was she so proactive in doing him favors? They already had a good relationship; it couldn't be only to get in his good book. Or was this a test?

"Please accept our humble offer," he begged and interrupted the blacksmith's thoughts.

He glanced again at the princess who nodded assuring this time.

"Okay, let's go with this then." he shrugged his shoulders and signed the contract.

This was his way to show that he trusted the princess. They exchanged bank accounts and with this, the earnings of the broadcasting station would flow directly into Minas Mar's account at the System bank.

When they left, Seth took a deep breath. He felt a weird relief or accomplishment from finding another money source for Minas Mar. It would take some time for people to grow bored of the fight scenes from Keväti Kuinen and thanks to Seth, they had a monopoly on it.

The group spent the rest of the day visiting a theatre and eating dinner at an expensive restaurant. It was simply a nice day. Seth wouldn't mind if every day could be like this. It was a good goal to make the future full of such days.