Chapter 42: The New Carpenter

Sharlock soothed the furious blacksmith Goldmane, then waved away the players who'd crowded around.

Even as they scattered, the departing players kept right on gabbing:

"Turns out the blacksmith is a hidden master. That hammer swing was straight-up badass."

"We couldn't even chip Kramo's scales. If we'd known the blacksmith was that badass, maybe we should've tried dragging him along to fight the boss."

"We could always try that next time."

"Wonder if the blacksmith even has an HP bar... That hammer of his looks nastier than Kramo's..."

"That's a dangerous line of thinking, bro."

The players wandered off laughing and chatting. One swing of the hammer had gotten the rage out of blacksmith Goldmane's system. As for everything the players were saying — Goldmane couldn't understand it, and couldn't be bothered to. He'd been at the Eternal Kingdom dungeon almost a month now, and he'd long since gotten used to these players having a few crossed wires upstairs. These days, no matter what the players said, Goldmane could keep his cool and stay perfectly unflappa...

"Man, look how much the blacksmith hates Kramo. Bet there's a hidden questline behind all this. Every time I so much as mention the name Kramo, his eyes go red and he glares daggers at me. Sure sign something's there. I'm gonna go ask him once a day from now on — maybe it'll pop me a hidden quest."

"Buddy, buddy — easy, easy. Don't sink to their level. I'll deal with them later..."

With the blacksmith Goldmane settled down, Sharlock returned to the dungeon core hall and immediately set to work, with Bru's help, drafting the announcement covering BOSS loot distribution and the upgrade notes for the special gear.

He was mid-draft when Bru spoke up:

"Lord Sharlock, someone is requesting to teleport a shipment of goods into the Eternal Kingdom dungeon. Do you permit it?"

Sharlock figured it was the hundred beds he'd ordered, plus the ten the contract had thrown in free. Last time, the stonefolk had already hauled over all manner of construction materials and tools, and a hundred beds would need time to build to order — so the arrangement had been that the beds would be delivered by the time the carpenter came to report for duty. And delivered they were.

Figuring the goods and the carpenter had both arrived, Sharlock nodded his permission.

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Soon enough, a giant portal unfurled by the dungeon core hall, and bed after bed came through, carried in one at a time by little stonefolk. Before long, a hundred and ten beds had packed the open ground in front of the core hall completely full.

The players had come to gawk bright and early. A few wanted to wander up and mess with things, but Sharlock's dominating aura pinned them right where they stood — which, from the players' perspective, basically meant a cutscene was playing: get too close and you simply couldn't move. They stood around chatting up a storm, no clue what was going on.

Once every last bed was through, out stepped a bearded dark iron dwarf. He scanned the ring of goblins standing around as if searching for somebody, then settled his gaze on Sharlock, who was walking out of the core hall.

"Respected Lord Sharlock — I heard tell of your illustrious name all the way back in Frostlake City! I am Ironmane, your new carpenter. Here is our contract: three months."

The dark iron dwarf calling himself Ironmane handed Sharlock the contract. Sharlock took it — the contents were nearly identical to blacksmith Goldmane's, the only differences being that the name was now Ironmane and the job title was now carpenter.

"Damn? A new NPC? How come I get the feeling this NPC's name is low-key flexing on the blacksmith's?"

"Did we trigger this plotline by killing Kramo?"

"Could be, could be."

The players on the sidelines kept up their chatter, and the dark iron dwarf named Ironmane — staring at a mob of goblins crowded around him, all jabbering like lunatics — clearly wasn't quite used to this yet.

Sharlock was in no rush to sign. He led Ironmane toward the smithy, talking as they walked:

"Welcome, welcome! But the Eternal Kingdom's a little different from other places — there are some ground rules you'll want to know. Let me introduce you to an old hand around here; he can teach you the ropes in his spare time."

Ironmane was a dark iron dwarf too, but apparently the shy and introverted sort. They were still mid-conversation when they reached the smithy — and before Sharlock could get a word out, blacksmith Goldmane had already set his hammer down and come striding over beaming, arms spread wide toward Ironmane:

"Brother! Ironmane, my brother! What brings you here!"

"Brother! Goldmane, my brother!"

Ironmane charged right into the embrace. Behind them, the players kicked off another frenzy of chatter:

"Wait, what? Ironmane and Goldmane are BROTHERS?"

"Is that a copyright issue?"

"Probably not — they're not lions, they're dark iron dwarves."

"What a score. The guy naming NPCs on this writing team is an absolute genius."

Sharlock couldn't care less about the name business — what he cared about was the brother angle between Goldmane and Ironmane. After all, Goldmane had once mentioned having a brother who worked as a blacksmith too, and had even wanted to recommend him for a job at the Eternal Kingdom. Surely this Ironmane wasn't that blacksmith? Because the career hop from blacksmith to carpenter would be just a wee bit extreme.

"Lord Sharlock, this is the brother I told you about — master craftsmanship! Right, what's your trade again?" Goldmane turned to ask Ironmane.

"Carpenter!" Ironmane answered, full of pep.

"That's right — my brother, a master carpenter!" Goldmane declared, bursting with pride.

Apparently to prove his skills were the genuine article, Ironmane promptly produced a certificate reading 【Royal Chefs' Guild Certification】. Sharlock took it and gave it a look. Okay, the man had chops — but it didn't cancel out the fact that he'd only just leapt from blacksmithing to carpentry.

"Ironmane, you are more than welcome at the Eternal Kingdom — but I hope you'll understand where I'm coming from. It's not that I doubt your carpentry; that certificate already proves you're a qualified carpenter. But we have no lumber resources at present, and won't for a while. So you may need a probation period — one month. If your work holds up through the month, I'll raise you to the standard salary. During probation, you need only do a carpenter's proper duties, nothing more. Oh, and Goldmane will show you the food storeroom — goblins will come daily to help haul your ingredients."

With that, Sharlock quickly amended the contract, adding the probation terms: thirty magic stones a month during probation, one hundred a month once official.

"Of course, no problem at all, Lord Sharlock!" Ironmane signed his name on the contract without a moment's hesitation — remarkably easygoing about it.

Sharlock signed as well. The two shook hands, and the contract was sealed.

Blacksmith Goldmane took Ironmane around for a tour of the Eternal Kingdom dungeon, filling him in on the rest of the house rules along the way.

As for the players — some drifted off still gossiping, while others kept tailing Goldmane and Ironmane from the shadows, presumably hoping to catch more story beats.

With Goldmane looking after Ironmane, Sharlock felt easy. He had plenty to keep him busy: the update content waiting to go out, and the arrangement of the freshly delivered beds.