Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

With an audible click, a finger kept hitting the tabletop. They were sitting in the meeting room and had just listened to Lydia’s report and McCarthy’s testimony about the happenings in Emerald City. Seth’s index finger couldn’t stay still as he mulled over the information in a bad mood.

The Unclaimed Mountains were like a tumor. People being people, exploring the depths of their desires, bringing suffering to almost everyone around them. It already sounded bad when Lydia, Mike, and Ray reported about Morranto and the general situation, but to thing that even the places that did well, were hiding such a deep darkness.

Hubert’s witness report as a victim himself, made Seth lose appetite. According to the dimensional merchant, he still had it better. After his initial escape, he was tortured and crippled so he could not flee, but they had still kept him in a clean apartment, with enough food and drinks. Even the fate of the slaves from Morranto sounded more humane.

The man also knew to report of the other places, where the unlucky ones ended up. Prison basements called factories, filled with people held in batteries like chickens, chained down, and harvested for materials.

The merchant described classes that could extract Mana, Lifeforce, and even experience from the captured people to turn them into medicines and potions. It had an eerie similarity to the first time when Master Mountain told them about the berserk pellet. It also reminded him of some of the ballads he had learned himself. Who would have thought that the system also had classes, that would resemble the method of a demonic Maestro so closely?

If he was honest, Seth would have preferred not to hear about it. They already had so much to worry about and now they faced the question of whether Minas Mar should do something about it or not. And if they were to do something, what were they supposed to do about it?

Seth was irked, but it wasn’t like he could run around the continent and play police everywhere. He couldn’t just swoop in and beat up the bad guys and shatter their organization, even if he wanted to.

“The problem is that we can’t move. The magic contract binds us,” Seth said frustrated.

Was he fine with letting stuff like this happen? No. it was a brewing catastrophe and he had just recently stopped ignoring problems until they knocked at his door. The problem was the agreement.

They had signed the magic contract that people affiliated with Minas Mar would not interfere with the businesses that ventured into the No Man’s Land to find their own fortune. Of course, there was a loophole, as it only counted for the companies that also signed this contract, the problem was that Emerald City was the seat for two of those.

Seeing Seth grinding his teeth Mary smacked her lips.

“Then we should leave it to the Tree Stations to decide and act against it,” she suggested.

“The Tree Stations?” Seth asked as he couldn’t quite follow her thought.

“His is a problem that concerns all of us. All the humans that are left and free enough to care, at least. We signed the contract as Minas Mar, the guild, not Minas Mar the district. Since all Tree Stations have their own government, nobody can fault us or them, if they decide to make a move against such happenings,” the chosen of Hestia explained.

That was right, it wasn’t only Seth, or his friends that would get mad when they heard something like this was happening. The situation was also quite different from that around the Scene. The Scene had been in control of a full district, and rallying the people back then would have only mounted to smashing an egg against a rock.

Now, however, the Tree Stations were much more organized. They had become their own cities, and the people finally got the chance to further raise their skills and levels. When people were allowed to spend some time in peace, without the constant desperation to survive, they also found the freedom to care for others.

With Chrona’s recent attitude, there was technically no chance they would give a crap. And Minas Mar couldn’t move. The stations taking action once they published Hubert’s fate, seemed like the best chance they had. Although Hubert felt conflicted about broadcasting his terrible fate to the masses, he was ready to do so. Whether it was the fire of revenge or righteousness burning in his eyes was unclear.

“There is someone else you might be happy about some good publicity,” Lydia suddenly added. Seth stared at the massive crystal ball sitting in the center of the table, to get a better look at her face.

“Maybe we should ask Governor Adam from the Mur Empire to join our meeting? I’m sure he will jump at the chance to publish the Mur Empire's new stance.”

Right, the Mur Empire was also a big player that had come to Urth, one could even call them the first great villain of the Apocalypse. At least for the people of Beta and Y-City. With the new Emperor and their efforts to make Thres a habitable foothold to reclaim Beta for the people of Urth, what they needed most now was an image change.

Soon after it was suggested, Adam joined the meeting between the top brass of Minas Amr. It was the first time Seth actually saw the man himself. The man who ran from trees and the hero you became a monster met for the first time and talked about an alliance.

And after their talk, they called the leaders of the individual Tree Stations and talked about their plans with them. It was a day of conversations that didn’t seem to end but they finally ended eventually. They decided to publish the news soon. Minas Mar would even postpone the publicity for the Pythian Games.

The leaders agreed that they would at first put political pressure on Emerald City, while Adam volunteered to send troops and infiltrate these factories to gather more evidence and free the people.

With more evidence, the cities also agreed to organize volunteers to put military pressure on Emerald City, if need be. Of course, everyone hoped this would blow over without causing the first war among Urthans in the past three centuries.

...

After the meeting, Seth was not in the mood to return to grinding his alchemy. Something weighed on his mind, a point they had not cut at during the meeting, since they were too focused on and shocked by Emerald City's Deeds.

The cultivators. The fact there had been a cultivator that was able to keep up with Lydia, although she won in the end. It had been over a month since Yu warned them. According to him the big wave should only be arriving now, but there were already powerful cultivators with alliances among the locals. Subconsciously, his steps brought him to the training hall. Like almost every day, there were two people training with each other.

On one side was the towering figure of Tekar, the bastion, the keep, hard-pressed to endure and counter the attack of his sparring partner. Although Seth had not expected this outcome exactly, the blacksmith was quite satisfied with the current scene.

Pushing Tekar back was an almost four-meter tall hunk, with a muscular, dark-golden body and the of a ferocious flacon. The two Khopesh in his hands exuded a toxic aura, but the creature actually pushed back the tank with pure physical prowess.

That was actually Ortega, who had proven worthy to wield the Jaws of Apep. The unexpected part was his current appearance, as the god who had chosen him was a complete wild card:

Montu, an aspect of Ra symbolizing the destructiveness of the sun.

Seth actually had to read up on this god. Although the blacksmith would gave wished for a more beastly transformation, he had to admit that Montu was by far the best fit for Ortega and the set of swords.

As a high-ranking God of War, his blessing came with a multitude of skills concerning various weapons, especially curved swords like the Khopesh, but also quite a few mystical and magical powers that helped Ortega match the other members of the Field Teams. The fact that he was able to push Tekar in sparring was proof enough.

The blacksmith also had to admit that Ortega's transformation was quite powerful. Although it didn't match the initial aesthetics Seth aimed for, it was in no way less imposing than what Seth originally hoped for.

As for the other two legendary items, Seth still possessed the Storm of Death. In the end, he had really offered the Harbinger of Winter to Marco. The swordsman had shown great talent in wielding a rapier, greater than anyone else in Minas Mar. That was what Jack Felton assured him of.

There was also another reason. Seth felt the subconscious urge to give the ice rapier to a girl like Elza, but he blamed this on the tropes of novels, games, and shows he had watched when he was younger. To go against this trend, he had given it to a slightly short young man, with ruddy brown hair and a sunny disposition.

The reason he kept the Storm of Death was very simple. The best possible candidate, Morgana, was a nutjob and couldn't be trusted with so much power. She was a good person overall, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten into the Oathguard, but she lacked self-control.

He couldn't give a nuke to someone prone to throwing temper tantrums. So he kept it until he found a better candidate. His worries calmed down and unwound while watching the impressive fight between two giants and simply letting his thoughts flow.