Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth returned in a great mood, with plans to get an explanation and advice from Leana and return to his cozy workshop to keep working on his skills and items. The reality of his return was very different, as he suddenly sat on his desk in his office with a report on the things that had happened while he was gone.

Most prominently Leana's summary of the situation in Y-City. He read with a grim face. When he finally finished, he took several deep breaths and let out an audible sigh. Massaging his eyes he looked up at Leana and Mary, who were also present. They looked at the blacksmith worried.

Seth had no idea what he was supposed to do about this. This was on a completely different scale than the blacksmith had brain power for. It was one thing to see The Scene as some underground organization that was manipulating people and events from behind the scene.

This, on the other hand, human trafficking, human experimentation, and organized genocide, this was on the scale of the whole district. They were not talking about thousands but about millions... They were technically facing a dystopian state. Was he supposed to go to war with the full district of Ypselon?

It wasn't just the ending it, the blacksmith was already getting shivers all across his body when it came to the whole rat tail that came with the "liberation" of a whole district. At the end of the day, Seth was a normal man, not a politician, not a ruler, not a general.

There were two desires fighting within him. The side Seth associated himself most with was done with this world. He just wanted to care for the people he liked. Carve out his place in the world and protect it with tooth and nail. Ignore the rest of it. Getting involved would come with a lot of problems, work, and sacrifices... was he ready to make those?

The other side was this little voice in his mind, that told him he couldn't look just away. And no matter how many excuses he voiced to himself, the stupid little voice wouldn't shut up. He also couldn't just burn the district down, as much as he wanted to, because the little voice adamantly insisted that it would do more harm than good.

"Do you have any plans?" he finally asked the two.

"I told Cade to collect hard evidence. I have suspicions that the actions in Y-City might be the result of a foreign force interfering. If we can get proof of this connection and their atrocities, I might be able to get support from Chrona.

"What if you don't find evidence for outside intervention from some foreign power? Would Chrona still help? " the blacksmith asked demotivated.

"Chrona won't interfere with local business unless they are under our supervision or our allies," she said depressed. Her crestfallen expression told him, that she had already tried everything.

"In the meantime, thousands of people will die. We should send Cade reinforcement to sabotage these killing factories," Mary asserted. The secretary was for a more violent course of action.

"I would rather speak with everyone if we are provoking an all-out war..."

An awkward silence started to fill the room. It seemed like they had come to a dead end, as nobody came up with a satisfactory answer. In an attempt to distract himself, he took another report. After Leana's and Mary's decision, Little Sigma decided to help rebuild Beta as a colony of the Muir Empire. The envoys in question even asked for a sapling of the Hangingtree within the district and a connection to the tree route.

One thing stuck out to Seth. The reason Beth had mentioned to Leana, why they needed their help. Their goal was to rebuild Beta and allow the people to return to a safe home. Seth was about to facepalm, as his selfish side made a familiar deal with the tiny voice.

"Call Karina, we are expanding the Tree Route," he suddenly stated.

"What are you talking- Is that about the thing in Beta?" Mary asked perplexed.

"No, this is about Ypselon. We are expanding toward Y-City," he said resolutely.

"What happened to talking with the others before provoking a war?" Leana asked as confused as Mary.

"Who said anything about war? We are expanding Minas Mar to siphon away all their victims."

He had been so preoccupied with the weight of the atrocities that he had almost overlooked the obvious answer. To do the same as they always did before. The blacksmith didn't want to stand at the helm of war, he just wanted to carve out his place in the world and protect his people.

Then the answer was easy. Make them his people, give them a way to come over and when Y-City tried to pursue them, he would kill anyone that dared to cross his arbitrarily expanding borders. Being a savior that interfered in a complicated situation came with a long rat tail, but giving people a way out of a tough spot didn't do as much.

Over the board, Y-City was still operating as a normal district. They were only abducting the people nobody would miss. Right now, these people were in the same situation as the refugees of Sigma had been in Delta. Inside might be a horrible place to stay, but just leaving the district for the wilderness had even fewer chances for survival.

However, as long as he created a safe route, Y-City couldn't officially do anything to stop the people of Urth from migrating to a different district, namely Minas Mar. They would, once again, simply steal away the people, The Scene was trying to exploit.

If they wanted to use violence, it would happen on Seth's terms. He felt a lot better with that than sending his people into that hell hole of a city not knowing what they may face. Although it was not a perfect answer, begrudgingly Mary accepted that they couldn't just storm the whole district and save everyone that was captured. Even Minas Mar didn't have that kind of manpower.

"I will also agree to open a path to Beta. Having another ally can't hurt. I guess we will have to strengthen our territory in case the Scene intends to attack again."

"On that note, I have some good news. I managed to secure passage for some valuable personnel and I sent someone to look for the Vampires of Sigma."

The vampire that had stayed back to keep a watchful eye on the fallen district Despite their low numbers, they all possessed monstrous strength. If they were willing to move to Minas Mar, they would be powerful allies.

"I get the vampires, but what valuable personnel are you speaking of?" Seth asked confused.

"Their info is included in the papers." the princess pointed at the stack of documents.

Seth looked through them for a while. His brows jumped up when he read what she was talking about. "Who would have thought she was serious back then?" he mumbled when he saw the first applicant.

"Are you sure this is true? I didn't think she would do so well," he commented on the second person Leana invited.

"I wouldn't have invited her back, if it wasn't true," Leana assured. Shortly after there was a knock on the doors and Karina entered the office.

"Seth, you are finally back. What did you call me for right after arriving?" the Dryad asked friendly.

"One would think the first people you run to should be Mina and Fin, not these two~" she teased a little.

"Those two are already back?" Seth asked surprised. He had been dragged into the office, first thing after returning.

"Yulecat's Fur arrived yesterday. Mike said the nature of the dungeon they chose proved to be difficult for them and since the exit was closed, they had to use home call to return," Mary reported dutifully.

"You should have told me earlier. Did you even tell them I returned?"

Either of the two was too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. They had been waiting on him and the rest of the lords before making a decision. When the Tower Master finally returned, they jumped the gun a little. Seth sighed, it seemed like the past week had been a lot of pressure on them, too. Especially Marry seemed eager to make a move, no matter what move.

"W-What?" Mary suddenly asked, seeing Seth intensely stare at her.

The blacksmith had been surprised at how well Mary had developed from the shy healer he had saved by coincidence. Over the past years, she had turned to be a hard-boiled businesswoman he could trust with a lot of things. Maybe this eagerness was part of her growth.

"I'm just awed by your growth."

Now that she was no longer the little healer that had a hard time just getting by in a cruel world, but someone in power, she had not forgotten how it was to be helpless.

"I have no idea what you are thinking, but I feel like you are reading too much into something..." Mary said hesitatingly.

"Well, maybe..." "Errm, excuse me, why am I here again?" Karina asked.

"Oh, right. We have some plans to discuss. Do you think you are up for another expansion?"

"Kukuku, I have been preparing since you mentioned another expansion the first time."