Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

A presence of death going north? The blacksmith halted for a moment, lifting his eyebrows. Then he realized what she was talking about.

“It\'s great to see you, I was just on my way to you. I think I can calm your worries. Let\'s go to the meeting room to talk,” the bard finally said with a smile. Evee looked a little confused, but she obediently followed him to the Lord\'s meeting room to talk. Then Seth explained what he had been up to over the past day.

“...So that presence I felt-?” “Was the newest edition to our golem corps I made from the prototype you rejected, yeah. On that note, can you give me your Necronite Armor for the time being?” Seth affirmed her conclusion and changed the topic to his business. The chosen of Persephone stared at him surprised.

“Why do you suddenly want my armor, too? No, wait, don\'t just change the topic! That thing felt really dangerous, are you sure it\'s okay to let that golem wander around?” the immortal witch tried to get back to the topic.

“Sure, sure. I told it not to hurt people. Its strength is a given since it\'s an armor of <Enriched Necron> we are talking about. It has similar power to Luf-” he halted for a moment when he saw Evee looking at him even more incredulous than before.

Luf\'s powers had made the round, especially Evee, as an Underworld Fairy and chosen by the Queen of the Underworld could feel Luf\'s power even without the person in question displaying it. Currently, Rayki\'s bride was working as an assistant and bodyguard for Mary and Leana. He decided to ignore her look and continue.

“Anyway, I want your Necronite Armor to make a lesser version of Haa\'Skon that I can sell to Arget Nore as the prime product. In the meantime, I would start working- I mean, I would finish your armor set made of <Enriched Necron>,” Seth promised. Evee stared at him for a long time, before she accepted that Seth wouldn\'t discuss his new creation too deeply with her.

“Can\'t you just make Cerberus make a new Necronite Armor?” she asked with a sigh. She had just gotten used to the new armor, so she was reluctant to hand it back already.

“...Unfortunately, I ended up giving Luf all the <Necronite> we had to refine it. We don\'t actually have any of it left. However, I\'m sure we can get some from Arget Nore, once they see what kind of golem it can produce,” Seth admitted a little embarrassed. In the end, he got too excited and threw all the <Necronite> at Luf.

“Fine, you can have it but I won\'t leave Minas Mar until you gave me my new one,” Evee finally gave in. She lost her new armor, but at least could look forward to the new one. If the prototype lacking most enchantments was that strong, then what would she be able to accomplish if she had the finished version?

“That\'s the right mindset,” Seth exclaimed, reading her gaze.

Since he would get Evee\'s armor and would be able to make a, hopefully, marketable prototype things were falling into place. Once he got the answer from Arget Nore, and hopefully and a bunch of new enchantments, he could start on the final version of her armor.

….

--- The Unclaimed Mountains---

A weird group was sitting around a fire, cold winds blowing past the barrier that shielded the camp. A fairly normal looking woman, a beastman with cat ears, a fairly ugly looking man with horrible skin issues, a bird automaton with flesh of lightning, and a beast that looked like a reptilian giraffe.

“...I- I simply didn\'t dare to return after I missed the big battle,” Ray revealed with conflicted expression. After he was caught by Ceres outside of Emerald City, he had no other choice but to come out with the truth. He had tried to come up with excuses as he talked about his experiences on the journey. How he had traveled the unclaimed mountains, for places where evil gathered, to absorb it and gain strength. But in the end, he spiraled back to the truth.

“I thought I disappointed you... I was disappointed in myself and embarrassed. Since then I have been trying to be stronger and I have been kind of waiting for the right moment to return...” he kept stammering. A soft had squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Lydia had been his party leader for almost the whole time he had been part of Minas Mar, if someone in this group could understand him, it was her.

“Don\'t worry too much about it, Ray. We didn\'t need you in the first play, that\'s why Seth probably didn\'t call you,” she said and hard to swallow truth. It may have sounded cruel to Ray, but Lydia was talking out of experience. They had also not been needed in that fight.

At the time of their Battle with the Scene, except for Yulecat\'s Fur, the other field teams had been stations across the various tree stations across Minas Mar. And the truth was, that past TS9, nobody saw any great battle. The Scene had concentrated on the closest Tree Stations, where most of the refugees of Y-City had been. That left Lydia, Jonah and the others to twiddle their thumbs in anticipation of a surprise siege in their area...

Ray looked her in the eyes, shocked to think that she would say something so cruel, but he swallowed his words, when he read the deep sympathy in her eyes. With a sigh, Mike explained her words, solving the misunderstanding.

“Ahah, sorry. I guess this would have sounded cruel without context,” Lydia laughed it off, a little embarrassed. After Ray shared his story, they feel in awkward silence, except for Ceres who simply didn\'t care.

“S-Soo, you know my story. What brought you guys to the unclaimed mountains?” Sol\'Fiam\'s saint finally asked. Lydia and Mike spent the next hour to explain the reason for their journey and their chaotic experiences so far.

“Oh yeah, Sol\'Fiam also keeps going on about the old time and what is coming back with the awakening of the slumbering realm,” Ray commented when they ended up talking about the exotic creatures that kept popping up in Beta and the rest of the world.

“Your god knows about it?!” Lydia and Mike exclaimed.

“Of course, after all, he is a remnant of that time...” Ray answered scared by suddenly being shouted at.

~Remnant-schmemnant. Can he help find that woman we are looking for?~ the parrot of doom interrupted annoyed.

“He cant but I probably can,” Ray answered with a wry smile. He had spent a few weeks searching traveling the Unclaimed Mountains, finding some of the darkest and worst places. He knew a thing or two about the secrets kept from the rest of Urth.

“If there is a place we can find out about this, then its Morranto. It\'s a lawless city further southwest from here, in the foothills of the coast.”

“Why do you think we would find the information we wanted there?” Mike asked surprised over a sudden direction.

“It\'s like a pirate bay for bandits. It\'s the place where all the scum gathers. It\'s also the place for the biggest deals, like slave trade,” Ray explained. If they wanted to find someone sold into slavery, their biggest chance was there.

“I think that decides it,” Lydia concluded.

“Yes, let\'s go to Morranto.”