Blacksmith vs. the System 305

“So, what do we think?” I asked Rosie after I poured myself a drink.

“Nasty,” she growled. “We knew that Horizon was in trouble, but…”

“We assumed that they were merely local collaborators. Maybe a magical variant of a cargo cult that had overestimated themselves,” I completed. “Not that.”

Rosie nodded. “The idea that they have tricked multiple independent forces, only to be able to intimidate them once they arrived, does not bode well. How did they know magic? Do they have a strong supporter, or were they truly local?”

“I’m more worried about what they were looking for all across Europe,” I admitted. “It means that there is, or was, something valuable on Earth. Something that was worth them staying for three years, only to run away completely the moment they had attained it.”

Rosie paused. “We are not sure if they ran away. Maybe what they found was so valuable that they had to protect it with all their might once they left Earth.”

“Either that, or they were afraid the ones they left behind would spill the beans,” I completed.

She sighed. “That’s a possibility as well. We simply don’t know enough.”

“We still learned far more than we expected. Including the fact that those bastards escaped!”

That earned a chuckle from her, followed by a confusing smile. “It’s rare to see you bloodthirsty. It fits you surprisingly well. Maybe your Emperor taught you well.”

I found myself blushing. “Hey, I needed to be creative.”

“I’m not blaming you,” she responded. “It’s actually a good cover story. Not many details, relies on one undeniable fact to build a solid story, plays to their prejudices and biases perfectly, and gives a perfectly reasonable excuse for secrecy; all while convincing the prisoner that you will eventually let him go. Perfect interrogation.”

I shrugged. “Having two-thousand Charisma seems to be convincing enough.”

“It would,” she said. “It’s clearly the most important stat, at least in terms of social class.”

“It’s tricky to deal with, that’s for sure,” I admitted. “Two unrelated spies both used it against me, and the second, I barely caught it before it turned into a disaster.”

“Speaking of him, we are still following him. He picked a camp to stay for an hour, deployed a decoy, and used three different invisibility spells to ditch his tails.”

“Sounds professional,” I commented. “Where’s he now?”

“In a safe house seventy miles away,” she said. “Our best guess is that he’s waiting for extraction, but we didn’t want to risk detection.”

“A smart call,” I said. “Since we released him, it would be a waste to capture him before he leads us back to his organization.”

“Then what?” Rosie asked.

It felt like a test. I played along. “Depends,” I said. “We might let it go, take them down, or give them jobs. Especially if they are interplanetary, like we suspect. We would be willing to pay good money for a book or two on Ichor, for example.”

“Speaking of it, any experimentation planned with Ichor?” she questioned. “I can do much more if I can finally Ascend.”

“Not yet,” I replied. “As much as your trust in me is heartwarming, there’s no guarantee I can find an immediate solution. Not without some information about what Ichor is. I have watched people trying to ascend, and it doesn’t look as flexible as mana.” I paused. “Try interrogating our prisoner. My story prevents me from asking it, but nothing prevents you from asking. Act like I’m keeping ascension away from you.”

“Might work,” she admitted. “Meanwhile, you can question our young guest.”

“Maybe. Not without observing him for a day or two. Maybe arrange for him to encounter Terry accidentally. They are close enough in age, and the kid is surprisingly docile without someone poking him with Charisma.”

“Should I warn Terry about him? A brief might help.”

I paused. “No. Terry is many things, but a master manipulator, he is not. It’s for the best if it’s accidental on both sides. That way, they’ll get along better. More importantly, I know exactly how curious Terry can be. He’ll be able to get far more information out of the kid than either of us could.”

Rosie nodded. “What would you be doing?”

“A little trip,” I said. “We have delayed our seaside adventure long enough. I want to have the first fortress there before dawn.”

She frowned. “Isn’t it a bit too hasty, even for you —” she started, then paused, her eyes widening. “You’re afraid that not everyone bought your story about the spell.”

I nodded. “Exactly what I fear. While they looked like they believed it , it’s not impossible to hide that, especially since both of us had been distracted at the moment.”

“Even if they did, they probably already sent their reports back to their base. Just because they believed it doesn’t mean an analyst wouldn’t catch their trick.”

“If they do, my possession of Charisma will alarm them.”

Her eyebrows crossed. “Will it? It would have if they had known the full extent of it, but what you have done hasn’t been that spectacular.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I haven’t told you yet. Apparently, this king class was a bigger deal than we had first assumed.”

“A bigger deal than having two thousand Charisma, collected in one person?” she asked, her sarcasm showing that she treated it as a rhetorical question. Hence, she looked startled when I nodded seriously in response. She paused for a second. “Explain.”

I smiled sheepishly before I gave her a full breakdown of Jaiella’s explanation as well as the theories I had developed around it. Just to make it more complicated, I also shared my perspective on the unique nature of my dungeon connection.

She buried her face in her palms for a moment, and took a deep breath. Then, she raised her head, exhausted. “Of course,” she muttered. “It’s my fault. Why did I expect you to do anything remotely normal fashion?”

I opened my mouth to argue, only to close back. Considering my history, I did find it difficult to actually argue. “Fine, you have a point. My plans do have a tendency to outgrow their borders a touch—”

“A touch,” she snorted.

“Hey, sarcasm against the System-appointed king counts as treason,” I said, then paused. “Maybe blasphemy, actually. Do they actually treat the System as some kind of god? Is that why they are calling others heretics?”

“Devon, focus,” Rosie responded. I smirked sheepishly. “To answer your question, no. It’s clear that the System is not treated as a god. They have some kind of religion, I’m sure.”

I nodded. “So, any opinions about the port?” I asked. “I think its urgency is clear. What do you think?”

She nodded. “There’s no argument. I can mobilize the troops —”

“Wait until dawn. I don’t want any support until I build the first keep and establish a gate. Ideally, two.”

“You can’t be seriously planning to go alone,” she argued.

“I have to. Not just because any other force of ours is being watched. If it’s known that I’m at the shore, building the port, there will be fewer uncomfortable questions from Tristelion.”

She growled. “I hate how easily you can find excuses for throwing yourself into danger alone.”

“Valid excuses,” I corrected, though her angry glare warned me that it might not have been a correction at the best time. “I have to,” I added, more seriously this time. “If one of them tries to prevent our expansion, everything we have done trying to expand to the ocean will be a waste.”

“I know…” she sighed, her earlier anger fading. “I just don’t like it.”

“Promise I’ll bring you more once we solve your ascension issue,” I responded, letting the silence stretch for a moment. Outside the window, the hill glowed with the bright amber of the forges, running constantly to produce more and more metal.

Then, I stood up and opened another gate. She tapped her finger on my armored shoulder. “Be careful,” she whispered. “The ocean … we tried to scout, but we still have no idea what will come from its depth once we start building at its edge.”

“The ocean is always good at keeping secrets. Even before it was filled with wild mana and actual monsters.”

“Just promise you’ll be careful,” she said.

“I’ll do my best,” I answered.

She sighed, sounding exhausted. “That means absolutely nothing. Not when it comes to your personal security.”

I wanted to argue, but she had a point. Unfortunately, I was not exaggerating when I shared my fears about a possible response if our enemies realized I had acquired Charisma through Kingship. If they did, the mana we could harvest from the sea would make all the difference.

I stepped through the gate.

On the positive side, it had been a while since I had seen the ocean.