Such a show of force really made life easy. This was fortunate because Micc was doing double shifts today. It should be his brother Haurus’s turn this time.
A while ago, the staff members received a notification that the [Delivery Hall has awaiting deliveries]. The hall could only be accessed by staff (they saw some curious customers try to get in and fail), and they looked and saw they were a small mountain of iron ores!
As such, Haurus was busy and was now locked in the blacksmith workshop. Who knew when they’d get out of there?
Haurus received the skills for [Basic Blacksmithing], which was not the best, but he found out the output was better than the blacksmith he worked for in the Town!
That old guy had a 50% success rate in making E-Class weapons. Haurus wondered, what about him?
Just thinking about it made his blood boil with excitement.
Even if blacksmithing wasn’t his main job here, while Durgan was out with the Innkeeper, he wanted to try. He spent so many years of his life in this, after all, and he wanted to make something.
He worked for that damned blacksmith for years, and he had been taught nothing. He was just an errand boy, asked to buy cores here, clean the floor there, carry this and that. And he paid for the apprenticeship, too!
At the time, he thought it was just right. It was training grit, training the basics. He thought he was just learning about the market, how it was at the bottom, and knowing the craft from ’underneath’, as the blacksmith called it.
And he, a dreamer and a fool, believed it for years.
While his brother risked his life in the danger zone, he was being fooled!
Now, no more!
Also, the boss was amazing . How’d he get so many ores? And make them appear out of nowhere, too?
He stretched his arms, and started with the process. He already knew the basics from watching Durgan and his former employer work. Soon, he started doing things completely on his own. The inheritance was amazing .
Knowing by watching and actually doing things were completely different.
It was like gaining a skill scroll, except it obtained all the foundations needed. Even some instinctual and by-feel movements were included! It was like he gained the experience of a relatively experienced blacksmith, all while controlling their own body!
The Innkeeper mentioned that the inheritances wouldn’t work outside of the inn, but he could feel his own muscles and movements. If he paid attention—and if he practiced enough and built a decent amount of muscle memory— then he could really learn this on his own, without the cheat of the Inn!
He stretched his arms, preparing to heat the metal to start his first projects.
First, small knives!
He chose this to practice on because they were short and had less risk of warping. Creating swords and daggers on the first try was actually not very smart because they were long and thin and were therefore prone to warping.
Another because the boss could find a use for them! He wanted his best and milestone works to go to the boss!
Anyway, while the blacksmith workshop’s chimney was spewing smoke continuously, the rest of the inn moved as it was.
All rooms, except for the two reserved for the boss and Lady Syl, were filled up, and all of Ranran’s tents and mats were occupied.
She had also sold some camping beds made of Gorethrak fur in the [Inn Shop], among many other useful camping stuff, and they were all taken off the shelves, as well.
The canteen would almost always have people in there, and there were also activity kilometers away. This was especially true for those who had just arrived and those who had just come from a fight.
Some complained about how empty the pharmacy and the blacksmith workshop was though.
That said, people saw the smoke in one and felt curious. Would the empty shelves of the shops finally be filled?
...
Night arrived and by this time, most of the guests had returned to their camp sites or their room. If not, they were probably camping near the borders. This meant that almost everyone gathered in the inn, making it relatively crowded.
The camping area was dense, with tents right next to each other. The beds were clustered according to parties, and the bonfire was raging, with barbecues set up.
Finn had taught the staff how to set up a barbecue for the guests. The utilities, as well as the sauces, were purchased by servings. They didn’t have enough extra stock to sell them per bottle, but they could at least sell them per saucer or per small bowl.
For the most part, people—regardless of whether they were mercenaries or adventurers—seemed to enjoy barbecuing after long days of work. Good food made a person kind, after all.
In a sense, the usual tension between mercenaries and adventurers had also softened up a bit. How it happened was actually quite interesting.
The staff often threatened blacklisting for misbehaving people, so somehow—no one knew who started it—tried to purposely egg the other side on.
The mercenaries would mock the adventurers, while the adventurers would goad the mercenaries. The former would call the latter poor brutes, while the latter would call the other balloonbug.
The Balloonbug was an insectoid monster found near the other dungeon, and they were very noisy and very annoying birds that faked ’power’ by puffing up their bodies.
It was a derogatory term to refer to people who only looked strong but were actually quite weak.
For a few hours, it was horrible. And the only reason it hadn’t become a bloodbath was because of a certain panda that could kick people flying outside the barrier if he wanted.
After a few people got kicked out, people just decided to go zen, ignore, and mind their own business.
Eventually, people started sharing campfires (because there were more people fighting for spots). Sometimes they would not recognize each other because they came from different territories. When one side found the other was an ’enemy’ they had already interacted well so they just let it be.
Pang also inadvertently contributed because many people wanted to pet him, but sometimes two ’enemies’ would do so, and he’d just tell them to massage him together.
While food brings people together, cute animals do as well.
Eventually, the peace moved to those who did know each other and fought a lot, until now it has entered a rather peaceful status quo.