Chapter 698: Would You Like To Join Blessed Land? [Bonus - ]

Chapter 698: Would You Like To Join Blessed Land? [Bonus Chapter]

Kara and Rika stopped in their tracks.

It was an enormous heavy-industry golem, currently resting in a deactivated kneeling posture upon a reinforced steel cradle.

Unlike the crude rough-hewn stone automatons Silas had seen fielded by various Lords online, this construct was breathtakingly sleek.

Its armor plating was hammered from smooth, seamless plates of blackened iron, curved with aerodynamic precision to deflect heavy impacts.

It stood easily twelve feet tall when upright, possessing a broad heavily armored torso reinforced with exposed hydraulic pistons the thickness of tree trunks.

Most striking of all were its limbs as mounted upon its broad shoulders were four massive multi-jointed arms... two set forward for heavy lifting and excavation, and two secondary arms folded neatly along its spine, fitted with fine interchangeable tool-sockets.

It looked remarkably similar to the golems Thora made, yet it lacked their clumsy brutish bulk.

It was faster, cleaner, and undeniably more sophisticated.

"His designation is Titan-01," Solenne murmured, reaching out with a gentle trembling hand to trace the cold iron plating of the golem’s dormant chest. "I spent fourteen months calculating the weight distribution for the quad-arm chassis... With this configuration, the forward arms can hoist three tons of solid granite while the rear limbs operate precision pneumatic drills to extract delicate mana-crystal veins without fracturing the mother-lode... A single unit could replace an entire mining cohort of thirty men."

Her voice faltered, dropping into a bitter hollow whisper.

"He is deactivated. I cannot show you his operational parameters... I cannot use him in the mines, and I am forbidden from selling the chassis."

Kara tilted her head, her black bangs catching the dim light of the lanterns.

"Why?" Kara asked softly. "A machine of this caliber would fetch at least fifty thousand Spirit Credits on the open market within an hour... Any guild operating in the resource basins would tear their own pockets open to acquire the patent so why does it sit gathering dust in a basement?"

It didn’t take a genius to see the truth.

Solenne was drowning in poverty, yet her workshop held ideas that belonged in the golden pavilions of the Upper Tier.

She had the vision, the genius, and the engineering discipline but the only thing she lacked was capital.

’She is the exact puzzle piece Blessed Land needs,’ Silas realized, his Gold Core humming with quiet excitement. ’Thora commands the forge, shaping metal with heat and brute strength but she lacks modern automation. If I pair Solenne’s engineering mind with Thora’s divine forge... our territory’s manufacturing output will multiply tenfold.’

Solenne’s fists clenched at her sides, her knuckles turning bone-white beneath their layers of grime.

Her nine silver tails pressed flat against her legs, trembling with a mixture of burning rage and deep humiliating helplessness.

"Three months ago..." Solenne began, her voice tight, choking on the words, "an executive scout from the Brassbound Guild visited my shop. He saw Titan-01 resting on this very cradle... He praised the design, called me a visionary, and promised to sponsor my workshop with a five-year development grant. He said they would fund the mass production, provide me with masterwork mithril, and register the patent under my name."

She swallowed hard, a bitter self-mocking laugh scraping past her throat.

"I was so naive... I was so desperate for someone to believe in my work that I handed over my master schematics, my stress-calculation journals, and the dimensional blueprints. Three weeks later... the Brassbound Guild unveiled the ’Centurion Mining Automaton’ at the Central City Trade Expo."

Rika gasped, her small hands flying to her mouth in horrified empathy.

"They stole it," Solenne whispered, tears of burning frustration pooling at the corners of her golden eyes. "They took my notes, simplified the hydraulic valves to cut manufacturing costs, and began mass-producing them in the industrial ring... The Centurion Golem is the hottest commodity in the city right now. Half the Lords are buying them in bulk to clear their territorial mines. The guild has made millions of Spirit Credits... while I couldn’t even afford to buy fresh coal for my stove."

"Did you not bring the matter before the police or something?" Kara inquired, her violet eyes narrowing with a dangerous look.

"With what money?!" Solenne cried out, her voice cracking in despair. "To file a formal grievance with the Intellectual Arbitration Board costs ten thousand Spirit Credits just to secure an audit date! And even if I scraped together the coin, the Brassbound Guild has three senior arbiters on their payroll... They threatened me, Lady Vespera. They sent two enforcers to this cellar last month, telling me that if I ever attempted to activate Titan-01, or if I ever showed the original schematics to an outside buyer, they would sue me for patent infringement, seize my tools, and have me thrown into the debtor’s pits for the rest of my life!"

She buried her face in her hands with her shoulders shaking violently as a muffled sob escaped her chest.

"I am so sorry..." Solenne gasped, hastily wiping her face with her oil-stained sleeve, trying desperately to regain her composure. "Forgive me, Lady Vespera. I am polluting the air with my pathetic, miserable sob story... You came here for an artisan, not a weeping failure."

She took a ragged trembling breath, forcing her gaze back toward Kara with a desperate pleading smile.

"Whatever commissions you require... I will execute them flawlessly. I will give you an eighty percent discount on all repairs and toolcraft! If... if you could merely advance me thirty thousand Spirit Credits against future work... just enough so I can pay the annual lease on this workshop to the landlord tonight... I would be eternally grateful. I would be your devoted mechanic forever."

Kara stood motionless before the kneeling iron giant.

Her violet eyes studied the trembling fox beastkin with an intense piercing stillness that made the subterranean air feel remarkably heavy.

"Tell me something, Solenne," Kara spoke, her voice calm measured and profound. "Your shop is bankrupt... Your masterwork was stolen by a guild... You are threatened with prison, you are starving in the dark, and you are eating stale food off a workbench so why are you still doing this? Why haven’t you abandoned this forge, cut off your pride, and signed on as a common line-worker in the factories?"

Solenne froze.

Her trembling hands slowly dropped from her face.

She looked at the scars across her palms, the burns from molten brass, the callouses worn deep into her skin from years of gripping iron files and tightening hydraulic bolts.

"Because..." Solenne whispered, her golden eyes burning through the tears with a fierce unbreakable light, "because it has been my dream since the very first day my mother placed a brass gear in my hand... I watched the great sky-caravans drift over the horizon when I was a child, and I promised myself that one day, my hands would build machines that carry people beyond the stars... I sacrificed everything for this dream... I sold my inheritance, I endured the mockery of the guilds, I bled over these workbenches for five years... I cannot give up now. If I surrender here, then every drop of blood I spilled was meaningless!"

She clenched her fists with her teeth gritted so hard her jaw ached.

She had never let a single setback break her spirit, and she refused to let this cruel indifferent city extinguish her fire...

Rustle!

Before her defiant thought could even settle, a warm gentle hand came to rest upon the top of her head.

Solenne blinked, her breath catching in her throat.

Kara had stepped forward, closing the distance between them without making a single sound. The black-haired Lord was looking down at her as her violet eyes were overflowing with radiant warmth.

Kara’s slender fingers gently ruffled the messy silver locks of Solenne’s hair with her palm brushing tenderly against the base of her soft twitching fox ears.

’A-Ah...’

A jolt of pure sweet heat rushed straight through Solenne’s skull, turning her cheeks a violent crimson.

The affectionate touch was so soothing that the tension holding her spine together melted away in an instant.

"I can see how fiercely you burn for your craft, Solenne," Kara said softly, her melodious voice carrying a comforting weight. "And I like it... A craft born of pure passion will always outshine the hollow copies of greedy syndicates."

Solenne’s heart skipped a frantic chaotic beat.

"L-Lady Vespera...?"

Kara’s lips curved into a bright, confident smile.

"How would you like to leave this damp cellar behind... and become an official member of Blessed Land?"

Thump!

Solenne’s heart missed another beat entirely.

Her jaw parted, her golden eyes widening until they seemed to swallow her whole face.

She stood paralyzed beneath the warm hand ruffling her hair, her ears giving a disbelieving flutter.

"A... a member of Blessed Land...?" Solenne stammered, her voice barely a squeak.

"Yes," Kara confirmed, her tone ringing with authority. "I need brilliant, untamed minds like yours in my territory. If you join us, you will never have to worry about resources again... Whatever you need to build your dreams, Blessed Land will provide in abundance and as for this golem..."

Kara cast a sharp, dismissive glance at Titan-01 before looking back into Solenne’s eyes.

"Give me two days... The Brassbound Guild will return every single stolen credit, their executives will issue a formal public apology on the steps, and this machine will walk the earth under the name of Kitsuna Solenne, Chief Artificer of Blessed Land..."

Solenne stood completely motionless, her mind spinning into a breathless overwhelming vertigo.

’Join... Blessed Land...?’

It sounded like a fever dream born of starvation. The greatest rising power in the realm... offering to sponsor a penniless alleyway fox?

"Master speaks the truth!" Rika piped up, stepping forward with an enthusiastic beaming smile, pumping her small fist in the air. "Our Keep is warm, the food is endless, and Master never breaks a promise! You’ll love it there, Solenne!"

CHIRP!

The tiny phoenix on Rika’s shoulder let out an approving high-pitched trill, as if ratifying the treaty itself.

"B-But... but I..." Solenne stammered, her hands fluttering in frantic, self-deprecating panic, "I am a nobody! I am an unranked beastkin with a ruined reputation! I have no noble backing, no political lineage... I would only be a burden and a waste of your valuable time, Great Lord—!"

"Silence," Kara chuckled softly, her hand giving the fox ears another firm affectionate ruffle that sent delicious shivers down Solenne’s spine. "No one who builds with their own blood is a waste of time... Your dreams were meant to be realized, not buried under thirty feet of soot. You will craft whatever your heart desires, you will build wonders, and you will be a cherished sister of Blessed Land and you will never have to scrape for bread again."

Kara withdrew her hand from Solenne’s head, extending her slender manicured right palm in an open formal handshake.

"What do you say, Solenne? Will you walk with us?"

Solenne stared at that outstretched hand as the world narrowed to the clean, steady lines of Kara’s palm.

’A place... where my work is truly valued...’

Memories flashed through her mind like distant lightning.

She remembered her mother’s dying breath in that cold drafty garret, pressing a pouch of Spirit Credits into her small hands and telling her to follow the stars.

She remembered the sleepless nights spent memorizing formulas by candlelight, the cruel laughter of the guild elders when she applied for her master’s license, the bitter cold of winter mornings when she couldn’t afford firewood... She had endured it all... She had held onto her pride with broken bleeding nails...

And now... here was salvation, an open gate to the heavens.

Tears spilled freely down Solenne’s face, washing tracks through the charcoal on her cheeks, but her lips parted into the brightest most radiant smile of her entire life.

She stepped forward, reaching out with both of her rough calloused hands, and grasped Kara’s palm with all the strength in her body.

"I accept!" Solenne choked out, her voice ringing with tearful devotion. "I, Kitsuna Solenne, swear my hands, my intellect, and my life to Blessed Land... I will build an empire worthy of your name, my Lord!"

Kara’s smile widened, warm and deeply satisfied.

"Welcome home, Solenne. I will transport you to the Keep when our business in Central City concludes, but for now, I want to hear every single idea you have locked in that head of yours—"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A violent thunderous hammering slammed against the workshop’s reinforced outer door, rattling the hinges and shaking dust loose from the ceiling beams.

"SOLENNE! OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR RIGHT NOW!"