Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Joannia revealed their worries and future prospects with a monotone, slightly depressed voice.

“What about the people of New Hope?” Jane asked a question, that also interested Seth.

“We brought whoever wished to leave with us. The rest will have to rely on the giants for protection,” Joanna answered with a clear conscience. She wasn’t able to do anything about the people that refused to leave.

“I see. Before you make the final decision, do you know how the system of Minas Mar works?” Seth finally asked, satisfied with her answers. Her slightly clueless look was answer enough. She may have heard rumors from people on the streets, but those people didn’t know what emigrating to Minas Mar as such a big group really entailed.

Feeling prompted, Jane began to explain.

“You have to think of Minas Mar more as a gated community than a district. What we do is offer a safe living environment to the people, in exchange we require rent. Minas Amr has no centralized governance; each Tree Station is self-governing in nature.

Apart from requiring and supporting the enforcement of Common District Civil Laws, Minas Mar does not intervene in, or take over duties of governance.”

“Though we maintain the right to kick out anyone we don’t like,” Seth interrupted the legal text with a quick commentary.

“In addition, there are various duties to be upheld by the governing body of a tree station, to ensure the maintenance of a healthy community…” Jane got back in the monologue when Joannia wildly waved her hand a requested a break.

“Why are you tellingall of this?” she asked slightly exasperated.

“Because you fit the criteria of governing your own Tree station, of course,” Seth answered her with a pixyish smile.

There were 12 Tree Stations, not counting Agra and Thres. Of these twelve, there were only a few that could be called fully functioning cities like Little Sigma, or Little Gamma. The reason was necessity.

It took an ungodly amount of energy to grow these tree cities and little Sigma was still the biggest, created by Karina as a massive proof of concept in the beginning. The refugees from Sigma and Gamma flooding into Minas Mar from Delta made it necessary for the stations closest to the central district to take on a lot of people.

Similarly, TS3 which was left to Yvette, the Saintes of Samhach, TS7 where the White Snake Deity resided and the Tree Stations 10-12, which housed the remaining populous of Ypselon were on the bigger side.

Those in between were much smaller in scale, only holding populations in the hundred-thousands. This meant there was enough space for a Little Epsilon, governed and guardian-ed by their own fleet. Although, it would not be bad to have this fleet facing Y-City., everyone thought a Little Epsilon was the best course of action, except Joannia.

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“W-Wait, you are offering us a whole city for ourselves?” she asked flustered. The expression on her face was not one of happiness or excitement. Although she had proven herself a competent leader, she was still young. Seth had the inkling, that she had hoped to escape this role, rather than suddenly having to fulfill it in an official setting.

“I wouldn’t say it like that, after all, you would still have to integrate with the people already living there. But all the governments are democratic, so you would have no trouble dominating the elections,” Jane gave a very realistic view of what would happen.

She did her best to hide it, but her disappointment was visible on her face. Was she already envisioning a future where she was forced to do governor duties and take part in political discussions? Seth pondered for a moment and decided to throw out a bait.

“Although I’m sure you are already looking forward to leading your people into a bright future in their new home. There is a better use for someone of your talents,” Seth spoke to her. Her ear pricked up.

“Genius engineers like you and your team could make a so much bigger difference in helping Minas Mar as a whole, instead of restricting yourselves to a single city. I would be elated if you considered joining Minas Mar and helping us improve our defenses,“ Seth said genuinely.

He would have been an idiot if he didn’t try to recruit them. The gods knew they needed more firepower as the world kept growing more dangerous around them.

They had the money and the resources, but they lacked the know-how and the technicians. Baker and his few remaining men already had trouble building a subway cart. Now here he had a genius, with a team of people that built a fleet of flying ships from scrap. He could see it in her eyes. She was wavering.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to separate you from your people. We have a role we call guardians, which are usually individuals or groups of …people with overwhelming strength we trust. Their duty in a station is to step up in case a similar danger encroaches on their district. You could work and research with our full support and use your gains as the guardian of your people.”

“I-I will have to think about that and consult with my advisors, before making a decision,” she answered hesitatingly, but Seth was sure she was convinced. When she talked about the technology and the problems with the fleet, the bard recognized her as the skind of person as Alison.

A researcher enamored with her work. It was just that the pesky apocalypse had cbetween her and the pursuit of knowledge, simply because there was no one else to step up and lead the remains of Epsilon. A competent leader, but an even more competent scientist, this was the impression he got from the young woman.

Of course, nothing was written in stone. Joannia had many options, that didn’t encompass joining Minas Mar. Another option was for her people to disperse among the various tree stations, settling wherever they liked it the most.

“You are right. We should talk about this in more detail after the games,” Seth agreed with her. Farewells were shared and Joannia left, followed by her five guards. When the commander and her guards left, Leana turned to Seth.

“Letguess, you will leave the further negotiations to us?” she asked, seeing more work sailing toward her on the horizon.

“Who else? Me? I fully trust you two with this. If she still hesitates, keep sweetening the deal until she agrees that she and her team beca subsidiary guild of Minas Mar.”

There was no debate about whether, or how to recruit them, Leana was just complaining about the work contribution. Though he didn’t advocate to change it, it was good to have an important task. If Seth had not spoken up, she would have definitely tried to invite them. An advanced air force with high-powered weapons was incredibly valuable for various reasons.

“If you would excuse me, I will go back to spending the remaining two days with Mina,” Seth said with a smile and left, too.

...

---Gamma, Arget Nore---

The twas finally here, the Pythian gwould happen soon. His withered, cold hand strokes the grimoire in his arms. The first attempt was a failure, but he still had their support. With the materials they gave him, he would be able to finally do it.

The 77th spell, carved into the black stone pages of the book. It needed a lot of preparations and rare, sanctified materials, but he had finally done it. In front of him stood a stone door, formed from gray, dim rock and covered in pictograms. Golden tablets framed the door, and there was an ident, that fit the stone page of his grimoire. He stepped closer to it and started chanting from the book, as he slowly and deliberately walked around the door in well-measured steps.

Had his heart not stopped a long tago, it would be beating in excitement right now. With this ritual he would unleash a force Arget Nore would not be able to cope with, no matter how many golems they bought. This the would rise and crush those vermin that dared to grasp for hope.

He would show them the darkness of the world.

The darkness….