Blacksmith vs. the System

"Y-you're Lady Maria," Jessica gasped, surprised by the declaration. "The elemental mage?"

"Yes, and you just insulted me to my face," Maria responded, a subtle pressure radiating off her. It was not Charisma, but the sheer natural presence of an Ascended.

Interestingly, the pressure, rather than scaring Jessica, made her expression shift to a steely gaze, like she was preparing for a confrontation. That alone confirmed that letting her follow Rosie was a good idea.

However, she still needs to work on her observation abilities.

"Enough teasing my student, Maria," I cut in, and Maria started to chuckle.

That turned her sharp, stern expression into a cute frown. "But I was having fun. It's like poking a cute porcupine, pure sweetness under all those bristles." That made Jessica frown in protest, and Maria laughed even more. "Also, I thought she was Rosie's apprentice?"

"Both," I replied. "We work on her skills, while Rosie handles the practical aspects."

"Practical aspects?"

"The stabby kind," I responded, then turned to Jessica, and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry about it. Maria can be a bit mean when trying to pull practical jokes."

"Hey," Maria protested.

"Really, you want to argue," I said, but Maria stayed silent, which was good for her. "Good, because there's a reason I said trying to pull practical jokes rather than pulling them."

"Oh, that sounds like a story," Jessica asked, her earlier fear quick to turn into enthusiasm. Then, she turned to Maria. "I would love to have some blackmail opportunity on our new liege lady."

A nice counter, I had to admit —

"Then you would be disappointed. I won't be one. This oaf here will continue to be your liege lord," Maria said.

"Really?" Jessica asked, surprised. Maria nodded with a smirk, which Jessica matched immediately as she turned to me. "Oh, you must really hate it, professor," she teased. "You were looking forward to dumping all that stuff and going back to your experiments."

"Well, we decided it would be for the best," I argued.

"Yeah, we decided," Maria cut in. "Eleanor and I had to practically blackmail him, and even Harold helped."

"I can see that," Jessica said.

I frowned and waved my hand. "That's enough. We have a task to complete. We can't waste too much time."

"Sure, you're not running away," Jessica replied.

I sighed theatrically. "What a disrespectful student I have." Then, I turned to Maria. "Do you want to greet them with me?" I asked.

"Is this an order, great lord," Maria responded, still mocking me. I looked at her angrily. "Fine, but I'll stay. Our work on the spell inspired me about the shields. I should be able to reduce their general consumption significantly."

"That would be useful. What exactly do you —" I started, only to stop when Jessica coughed pointedly.

"If you start, you won't leave for at least an hour," Jessica said. "I know you too well, professor."

"Fine," I said. I did not pout. Which was why I didn't see the point of their giggling. "Let's take the gate."

"I already arranged a steam car and escorts," Jessica said.

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"The gate will be faster," I said.

"The point is to show off," Jessica responded. "Rosie has been very clear on that."

"Fine," I surrendered and followed her. The last thing I wanted to do was to commit another mistake like I did with the guards, which taught me the value of seemingly useless activities. Jessica led me to a steam car, and I saw three other people waiting for us. Terry, Rebecca, and Logan.

A good selection to make a show of force, I had to admit. Of my seven students, they were the ones that were actively taking a role, each active in a different sphere. Rebecca was responsible for the development of the dungeon, Jessica was developing to be a scout, and Logan was shaping up to be an elite warrior and a commander. Terry was more of a generalist, but also their leader.

We all took the same steam car to our destination, which allowed me to see an amusing view. Terry might be a very promising mage and a leader, but it seemed that his excellence didn't extend to every subject.

He was standing between Jessica and Rebecca, who seemed to be in a subtle competition for his affections while they glared daggers at each other. But, no matter how much they flirted, it went right over Terry's head.

The fact that even with Wisdom, he missed all that flirting was all the more amusing. I kept my mouth shut, as the last thing I wanted was to interject myself in their potentially dramatic romantic adventures. I was hardly an expert on the topic. I never had to deal with it.

I caught Logan's gaze, who shared my smirk, seemingly just as amused by the show.

Too bad that once we arrived, things would get a lot more boring. Nothing about them personally, but I had a good idea about the way Rosie operated. What awaited me was nothing more than a bunch of meetings with the influential leaders, where I would go between nodding, smiling, and looking intimidating.

If it was any other way, Rosie would have sent me some instructions, and not just an invitation.

Soon, I reached the edge of the town, where about a hundred vehicles, a curious mixture of metal steam trucks, horse carriages, mana-based flying devices, and tamed beasts greeted me, but my attention soon shifted to the great number of people in front of it. About twenty thousand people, doubling our current numbers.

Which, ultimately, was not a cause for alarm. There were a lot of reasons I disliked the System, but there was no arguing about its nature as a tool for assimilation. In any other situation, getting an infusion of double the current population would have been a disaster, but the class-based personalities meant we would have little trouble containing any trouble initially.

Not that I feared any trouble. Not only there was a great gap in levels and equipment between the current citizens and the new arrivals, but also our layered defensive system meant any disturbance would be limited.

Especially since most of the refugees consisted of production classes — heavily Farmers — and some weaker combat classes. That much, I could predict even without talking with Rosie.

Was the situation ideal? Certainly not. But, when all you had were eggs, lemonade was not on the menu.

When I stepped down, a soldier shouted my approach. "Hand, here comes the Lord of the Iron City, the Steel King himself!"

Our soldiers exploded to a cheer first, followed by the refugees, though the latter were far more hesitant. But, rather than paying attention to them, I caught Rosie's gaze, trying to show my displeasure about my new epithet, which was clearly planned.

Rosie just gave me an unrepentant shrug.

I tried to keep my smile neutral. That kind of epithet was a dangerous reflection of intention, one that … could lead to war with the city-states.

I sighed inwardly as I raised my hand, and greeted the crowd, playing my role. The idea of fading into a gate was tempting, but it was destined to stay a fantasy and nothing more.

The fanfare lasted almost an hour, which included several speeches — including one I delivered based on a scrap of paper Rosie delivered. It was bad, but what was worse was the meeting Rosie arranged, which included a meeting with the leaders of the new towns.

However, it was more of a cocktail party, where I walked around the room, talking with various combinations of representatives. On the surface, they were delivering their thanks, but in practice, they were testing the limits of their reach as they subtly requested everything they could; weapons, dungeon access, training, skills, and many other little points.

Wisdom helped me there somewhat, allowing me to distinguish between the ones burning with a selfish desire of ambition, and the ones determined to do their best for their followers. Not that I let that influence me too much.

I had already learned my lesson on relying on the cold read based on Wisdom. It was just a general point of direction. I mostly relied on Rosie's signals, which was sufficient for the moment. Especially since the range of my responses was limited to lukewarm promises of looking into their proposals, and tepid rejections of their requests.

Ultimately, it was a political event, which meant idle chatter and posturing, not too different than one grant dinner.

Only this time, I was the side with power and money, the target of the exaggerated flattery. However, there were some fun parts as well.

Since I was playing the role of the strong but silent lord, difficult to please, they decided to target the others in their flattery. Rosie took it like a fish in the water, but the same couldn't be said for my students.

It was fun to watch Terry and the rest trying to deal with their first formal event.