Supreme Monarch

Chapter 52: The Eccentric Blacksmith

Azar listlessly left Albert’s side and went deeper down the hall to find someone. For some reason when they were making their choice of rooms, he chose the one at the extreme end, furthest away from the others and hadn’t been out since.

Azar wasn’t equip to handle people like him and always did his best to avoid any form of lengthy conversation with him, mostly he would send someone in his place but he had no such luck this time.

He soon approached the last door at the end of the hall and could faintly hear the sounds of metal striking metal coming from behind the door which made him frown. They had only been here a day and he was already so settled in that he was now using his room as a workstation. Azar didn’t like it when people toke advantage of others and he wouldn’t be kind to anyone that did, even if Bungo was a bit strange, he should at least have some common sense.

Then agian perhaps right now he wasn’t the best person to be taking the moral high ground. Still, Azar couldn’t just ignore it when someone took it too far, if he didn’t stop him now, he might soon start ripping stuff out of the walls to finish his work.

Azar furiously pounded on the door instead of knocking and his strength almost ripped the door from it’s hinges. Feeling a bit embarrassed by the loud bang he had created, disturbing the peace of the quiet hallway, he calmed down a little and waited for the door to be opened. It was a loud knock so he was confident Bungo would have heard it no matter what he was doing.

Soon he heard some slight noise coming from within as someone approached the door. The door swung open and a short burly man with a thick beard appeared before him, he had a single dark horn on the top of his forehead that went with his bald head. His pale red skin was darker than usual and he had a gloomy atmosphere around him.

Berlin Bungo stared at the unusual visitor for a while before his grey eyes settled on Azar completely. The dull look on his face instantly disappeared and an ecstatic smile appeared across his face. He immediately spoke without restraints. “Chief, you came at the right time. This place is amazing, you have to see this, it’s incredible. I’ve been working for so long now yet no one has complained about the noise, do you know what that means.”

“That, they’re tired of you.”

“Haha Chief you jest, No… This entire castle is not only laced with valuable metals but somehow they had managed to carve magic runes all around the entire castle. At first I had no idea how they were able to stabilize the various properties of high level metals and what the runes were for but now, I think I’m starting to get it. I’m also sure some of the runes are for soundproofing and reinforcing and also some form of preservation.”

“Oh… Since when are you a Runesmith?”

“I wish I was Chief, this place is a treasure trove for Runesmiths. Come look at this, I think I can incorporate some of this runes into my work giving enough time. I wasn’t really too keen on leaving the settlement but i really owe a lot to Lord Ty for bringing us here. If just the servants quarters has wealth like this then I can’t wait to see what’s in the other parts of this castle.”

When Berlin spoke of Tyler it finally dragged Azar out of the flow of the situation and he remembered why he came here. Berlin was a type of eccentric that was weird and stayed away from people when he wasn’t interested in them but could go off for hours if he found something interesting to talk about or if he was speaking to someone with similar interests.

“Speaking of Lord Ty, we need your help to perform a task for him.”

“Really, do you think if I do well he’ll let me study the rest of the castle.”

“Mmm… Maybe.”

“Brilliant! what’s the task.”

“Oh it’s just fixing the main door of the castle as well as the main gate, if you can. We no longer have a Carpenter or Carftsman to handle some of the job so you’ll have to work alone.”

“Well, that’s fine… Mmm, I’m still working here but I guess i can stop for now, so let’s go, I’ll grab my tools.”

Azar was speechless by Bungo’s immediate acceptance, normally he would want to finish his work no matter how urgent the situation was, he also didn’t cared who called him but now he was in such a good mood and had so much appreciation for Lord Ty that he was willing to leave his work incomplete.

Berlin quickly graped a small tool box from amongst a pile of different sized ones and headed for the door in a set of coarsely-designed coveralls, that were surprisingly well maintained. Although it had a couple of stitches on them, they were made of very comfortable and easy to move in fabric. They both left his room and headed to the main entrance of the castle.

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Albert watched Azar leave disgruntled and sighed inwardly, he then proceeded to leave the castle and headed for the outer wall, to check up on the guards he had posted tower at the front of the castle, in order for them to observe the surrounding situation last night. He hadn’t expected the snow last night so he had been a little paranoid when he couldn’t find Tyler.

He had been quite worried about the scouts in the area spotting them the entire journey here so he made sure they took extra precautions and erase their tracks as best they could. He was also quite worried about the scouts finding out about Lord Ty before his plans were completed.

He didn’t imagine the settlement being part of his plans at first, not to mention the additions of the trolls and Kobolds, although with his nonchalant attitude towards the entire situation he might have set up several contingencies.

Still, he would do what he could to help while not getting in his master’s way. He walked towards the main gate of the castle, the towers were located at the at the four edges of the four walls that surrounded the castle but one needed to go through the guard houses located by the main and side gates to access the towers.

The wall was several times taller than the one in their previous settlement and was wider as well. After entering the guard house he found some stairs and headed up slowly. Soon he arrive at the entrance to the tower and found the two men he had sent fast asleep as they embraced each other for warmth.

Albert’s eyes twitched a little and he spoke sternly in a relatively normal voice but the aura that radiated out of him made the two jump in fright as they ended up headbutting each other. They cried in pain and Albert paid it no heed as he spoke again.

“What are the two of you doing when you’re supposed to be keeping watch?”

The pair looked at each other as they felt a bit awkward after realizing what Albert had seen. “It, suddenly got really cold and we weren’t really prepared for it.”

Albert shook his head as he chose to ignore the pair and focus on what brought him here. “Did anything happen last night?”

“No sir… There were no movements in the forest last night, and with the sudden snow i doubt there would be any such movements anytime soon.”

“I see… well, don’t let your guard down just because it’s quiet out there.”

Remembering what happened last time Raz and Jin had a twisted expression on their faces. They still hadn’t forgotten the sensation they felt as they watch their home being destroyed without them being able to help much. It had only been few days since then so it hadn’t sunk in yet and they still felt like what had happened wasn’t real.

They both stood at attention and nodded their head in affirmation to Albert’s words. Albert saw the look in their eyes and nodded. “Alright, it’s about time you change shifts. Go rest and I’ll wait for your replacements.”

They both thanked Albert and quickly left, Albert then turned his head to stare at the distance as he watched the snow pile up on the tall trees in the forest, he used his skill °Keen Eyes of a Demon° and searched around the tower for a while untill Raz and Jin’s replacements arrived.

They were a pair of female ogress and beastman/beastkin a doggirl. It seems most of the sentries the settlement used were a combination of ogres and beastmen as a way of complimenting their skill sets.

The ogress had a pair of dark horns, her hair was dirt blonde and ruffled in a way that seem she gave up on it a while back. She looked young and had a pretty face that was complimented by her tanned skin that should have originally been a pale red.

She carried a single short sword on her waist and a purple crossbow on her back wearing purple light armor underneath a thick brown fur cloak that had her usual hood. She walked somewhat listlessly with a bored expression on her face.

Her partner was a petite young girl that had an adorable looking face and a pair of golden gold ears on her well maintained golden hair that was a stack contrast to the messy dirt blonde hair of her partner. She wore thick magic robe that proved she was a magic caster and carried no weapons. Walking first into the tower her green eyes brightened as she saw Albert and she ran to him.

“Captain!” She arrive in front of Albert quickly as he deactivated his skill and turned to face her. “Oh Lora, you’re already here.”

“Of course, you said to always be on time.”

“Mmm… I’m glad someone listens.”

The girl seemed pleased with herself as her ears were twitching in delight, “Oi.. why you sucking up to the captain again… Hey captain, why are we still working even though this place is surrounded by a barrier, and besides it’s really cold out today. Gail said rubbing her arms together as a way to negate the cold. She walked next to Lora and continued.

“Besides with the thick layer of snow out here I’m sure there’s no one that would attempt to breach the barrier and leave themselves defenseless.”

Albert turned to look at her with his usual expression, he knew where she was coming from as even with cold Resistance there was still a limit one could take. But with Lord Ty busy, if another demon Lord comes personally, no amount of snow would stop them. There were even a few elders of the Great Five that could use Mass Teleportation magic and bring with them a small army.

The snow would help with the scouts around the area and as long as they didn’t have too much information on Lord Ty the Great Five wouldn’t move untill spring because of a lot of unknown aspect. They would tend to send someone strong to investigate for a while before making a move, they just had to be watchful of that.

Albert sighed and said. “The lack of preparation would always lead to failure.” He then stretched out and

arm and flicked her in the forehead. “Stop being lazy and get to work, besides, the scouts are not our immediate concern.”

Gail’s expression didn’t change as she rubbed her forehead. She was trying to understand what he meant by immediate concern but was soon distracted by the over hyped Lora who was waving at Albert as he left the tower.