Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

--- Delta, Minas Mar, 2 days later---

“... and so, to take responsibility for the recent incidents, I will step down as temporary chancellor,” he ended his speech.

It had actually happened. After the hideous terrorist attacks on Delta's Granaries and the many more failed attempts that would have completely broken their infrastructure, the incompetency of Delta's Leadership had become jarringly obvious.

Finally, it peaked in this speech. Ichabot Longpottom and his staff under him were forced to take responsibility for the terrible mismanagement in recent months and step back from their post. But the driving force behind this was not the public outcry, but Chrona's influence.

Leana had a bitter expression as they were watching the live broadcast. The reason was that Chrona actually wasn't supposed to get involved in local governance. The only exception was to stop other outside forces from taking control and the princess was the one that had worked hard to give them the justification.

She had done her best to prove that Spatia had gotten involved with Urth and they needed more support. Exchanging the bribed representative from Chrona was a good step, but now they were using it as an excuse to get involved in Delta's politics. This was not her Brother Hardwig's style, so it was most likely one of her less nice brothers behind this or several of them. It didn't spell anything good.

“Leana, you look worried?” Luf asked her, friendly.

“A little, it's because I can't predict where this will go, but I just feel like it won't be something positive.” She was convinced that the people behind the pressure from Chrona would use this chance to fill the government of Delta with their own people. At that point, the princess had no idea what they would do with this influence. Maybe it even had something to do with Seth?

At this point, she even started questioning whether those were really terrorist attacks or something her own people did to create this situation. During the incident with Y-City, she tried to prove that Spatia was involved, to get support from Chrona.

That was the first time she faced how ruthless and brash the central politics of Chrona were able to be. She had been ridiculed and denounced for “unfounded claims” and favoritism. She had lost some of her faith in her home country. The princess realized that not everyone followed their founding principles as closely as she did. That they were using her evidence to get involved now just made it worse and showed how shameless they were.

She suddenly felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She half expected it to be Seth or Fin, but it was Luf who suddenly squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She gazed into Leana's eyes as if she was able to read and understand all her worries.

“Don't worry too much. This place is strong, terrifyingly so. And I don't mean just the military might. This is not just a chance for them, is it?” the deadly Faer asked mysteriously. The question was all Leana needed to realize what she meant. She was right, Minas Mar had long since stopped being a simple guild, why would they stay out of this?

…

“Evee, how is it?” Seth asked the immortal witch, once she wore the full set of death. The armor was pitch black, even darker than the nightly shadows. So dark that it was hard to make out any details of the armor. Except for the frosty circle in the center of her chest, Evee looked like someone cut the silhouette of a person out of the fabric of reality.

“It fits really well,” she said, moving around and stretching. With a quick turn, she lashed around holding her hand like a revolver, and shot a bullet of pure darkness at close-by shrubbery that immediately started wilting away into a black sludge.

They had moved a little further away from Minas Mar to a place where Evee could test her new armor. What she had just done was one of the two applications for the <Aura of Decay> Seth had built into the circuit. One could either emit it from the whole armor, creating a dome of death around them, or channel the power to the gloves and eject it in a directional attack. The pistol fingers were Evee's touch and had nothing to do with the functionality.

“This is actually quite fun!” she exclaimed all giddy, like a child with a new toy. Seth couldn't help but smile, seeing that she was still able to feel this kind of childish glee despite the things she had gone through. It made the scene of her distributing death to the landscape almost heartwarming.

“I'm glad you like it. Say, Evee, what do you think about a little journey?” the blacksmith tried to bring up the addition to the description of Garment of Styx.

“A journey? What do you mean?” she asked a little confused, why Seth suddenly brought up traveling. As an answer, he handed her the paper where Neeco had written down all the options of the gambeson, before explaining.

“If you bring the gambeson to a temple of Hades or Persephone, there is a good chance it will further improve. I would also bet that Persephone may be inclined to bless the whole armor for you if you ask her nicely. However, there is no such temple on Urth, if you get what I mean.”

“You want me to leave Urth? Did you forget our current situation? You will need me when Spatia comes, or those mongrels from the Voracious Cloud Continent invade. You can't just send me away!” she argued desperately. Seth looked at her confused.

“Who said anything about sending you away? You are going because the situation looks grim, not despite. If any of those things really happen, I want you to be at your peak. And you won't be alone if I manage to persuade the others. I think it would be good for Monique, Jonah, and the others to gain some experience abroad.”

They were all above lv.100 now, stepping on the path to legends. And this was also one of the reasons he wanted to send them out there. What legends needed to grow were challenges, Urth had more than enough of those, but what they also needed was recognition.

People needed to know their greatness. Rumors of mighty conquests and battles had to spread to alleviate their status. Unlike Seth, who could accomplish this through his crafting, his battle-oriented friends needed fights and dungeons that would make them stand out. This was why many of the mighty adventurers they saw on media in Chrona did their best to advertise themselves.

The problem on Urth was that it was hard to stand out in the chaos and among the members of Minas Mar. Their individual contributions were often swallowed by the shadow of Minas Mar. It may seem a little cheatsy, but it would be easier for them to stand out in a foreign world, where they would be absolute powerhouses, just by being ori humas.

By challenging dangers, dungeons, and monsters the locals may shy away from, they would be able to gather great acclaim, for themselves and Seth as the maker of their equipment. They would be able to step away from the shroud of Minas Mar and grow on the path of legends. Seth booked on their strength being increased tremendously by the time they returned.

And maybe, as a small side effect, the relics they had might also become legends, giving poor little Seth at home some more growth, too.

“I'm currently stagnating, there is only so much I can do to improve everyone's equipment. It's you guys who have to grow now, and I believe you have to leave to do so most effectively. Try to see it as a training camp to prepare for what is to come. Or a vacation of sorts,” he joked a little to raise her mood.

“...I guess I could use some free time to catch up with my brother...” she said slowly after hearing the blacksmith's explanation. His words struck a chord and had her realize something. She had already noticed that she didn't know how to continue.

Her path was the Immortal Necromancer, to raise it she had to do something big, massive even, to raise her legend and gain Power of Existence. No matter what she did on Urth, it barely made it on the news. Seth was right when he said, that most of the things they did were done aside with “Oh, yeah. It's Minas Mar again.”

It was probably the same for the others. She didn't want to leave, but she accepted that the bard was right. The best way to grow now, was for them to go to places where nobody knew them and gain a name for themselves. Whether they collected fame or notoriety, they had to spread their legends in new lands. Urth was too small, for them all to rise quickly at the same time.

“Great, then you can help me when I start persuading the others,” he concluded with a bright smile.

He wasn't looking forward to the conversation with Leana, Mary, and the others, since he doubted that they would agree to let them go at the current time. But the blacksmith had some aces up his sleeve.