Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Should we really be here then? We are just sla- employees, right?" Mary whispered to Jane, but Seth heard it.

"I know we didn't interact too much lately, but you are still valuable members. I really think you more than deserve to be part of the founding members."

Seth really appreciated how the girls had been taking care of Tekar's daughter. It definitely was not to make up the numbers.

"Now then, any good suggestions?"

"Battlebeards!" Fin was the first to shout out.

"But... nobody here has a beard?" Link said confused which made Jonah's sadness visibly seep through the mask. He once had a fantabulous beard!

"We could grow some!" the fairy kept rending the sanguine swordman's heart.

"Rejected," Seth said decisively to save Jonah from depression. Although he liked the beard theme, there were not enough dwarves among them, to justify the name.

"How about Bite-sized Synergy?" Monique said teasingly with a mischievous look at the tiny fairy. Having seen Seth and Fin eating like a pair of vacuum cleaners, she thought the name very fitting. This kicked off a brainstorming session where everyone just threw in names they liked.

"Blood of the Shadows" Jonah mentioned after he recovered from Fin's suggestion.

"Mysterious Liquidators!" Link said excitedly.

"Magic Hawks" came from Lyxiss

"Wreckingfield" Bulko mumbled blushing.

"Cunning Might" was surprisingly the innocent Mary's suggestion.

"Shadows of Innocence?" was Janes shy attempt to join the cringefest.

"Doomshields!" Tekar exposed his preferences without any shame.

"Specters of the Jaguar" cat boy Mike stood in theme with their previous party name.

"Nightshifters" Mina suggested a cool name for an assassin's organization.

It kept going for a while and Seth just kept watching. It was like having 10 000 monkeys randomly hitting on typewriters and hoping they managed to write a book essay. He just hoped they found a good name by accident...

In the end, Ruby woke up from the heated brainstorming.

"Is everyone arguing? I thought we were Minas Mar?" the little girl asked innocently while rubbing her eyes. She had mistaken the name of the Tower for the name of the organization. What Seth didn't expect was that everyone just looked at her in surprise and fell silent.

"Yeah, why not?" Tekar was the first to agree with his daughter.

"What did it mean again? Tower of Home? Or Earth?" Link asked pondering.

"Tower of Home?" everyone kept mumbling it back and forth. Seth also liked the name otherwise he would not have chosen it for their base.

"Minas Mar it is then, any objections?" he asked in the room. Nobody had any objection. It was the first name all of them could appreciate. In the end, it was Ruby, the little girl, who got her will. When everyone accepted this name a soft light engulfed them and "Minas Mar" was added to their affiliation.

"We will talk with the princess. I bet we can have the empire recognize our guild in no time."

They didn't talk much about their future plans that night. They used the time to bond and have fun. But it was inevitable that the topic would fall onto what had happened earlier. Fin and the others were shocked when Seth told them what the Willis Family had done.

In this night there was something else that was decided unanimously besides the name. The Willis Family was their enemy. Sooner or later they would have to get rid of those ruthless people. There was no will to coexist with such scum at this point.

But they were strong. Not just level-wise. They had numbers. The family's core members were all mages or other caster classes, but they each had their own parties and troops to grind the dungeons.

On top of that, they had money and political power in Delta. They could not just smash them, as Seth did in the weasel den. They would need more strength to uproot them.

In the end, his meant that the Urth-Team needed to grind levels, while Seth would have to prepare better equipment for Mina and the others. A lot of their equipment was still the items he had made for them In Ora.

Seth was actually happy to think about the future work. It was not just that he felt safe in Minas Mar, but he also felt peaceful. Right now, he was where he wanted to be. He could concentrate on what he wanted to make and had access to the auction house to get the materials he needed.

On top of that, they were in a mountain range and his base was a subterranean tower. What better place to start a mine and go treasure hunting? Tunneling like a termite through the bowels of earth had a very own Charme.

Maybe he had absorbed too much of the dwarven nature...

"How about we all go and have a look at our new home?" Seth suggested when it became late, and everyone had become a little tipsy.

"Aren't you a bit too cocky?! Calling our families heritage your home?" the young master suddenly blocked their way. It was the intelligent-looking youngster from the Willis Family who had picked a fight with him before.

"Oh hey. What was your name again? Gerald?" Seth asked with a smirk.

"It's Harold!"

"Harlot?" the tipsy Link suddenly called out and examined the young master. "What a fitting name!"

"Enough! Get them!" from behind Harold a bunch of adventurers stepped out of the darkness. She was not polite and used <Observe> on the newcomers. They were all somewhere between lv.50 and lv.60.They most likely had a secondary job, and their equipment was a mix of uncommon and rare items.

Fin cast a spell, and everyone was instantly sober and equipped their gear. Seth's party had the lowest level but clad in epic gear they were the best equipped. "Yulecat's Fur" had the highest level on average and their equipment was comparable to that of the attackers.

They had exchanged some of the pieces he had given them for better ones, but many were still those Seth had gifted them. They took Mary, Jane, Ruby, and the casters into their midst and the vanguards hurriedly formed a circle.

Jonah, Monique, Tekar, Seth, Fin, and Mike went forward to meet the attackers head-on may have thought they could overpower them as long as they matched their numbers, but they had tremendously overestimated themself.

"Dragonmight!" before the two parties could clash, the Willis forces suddenly slowed down when the debuff hit them. Beside Dragonmight they were also hit by the effect of the Dark Knight Armor. It was true that people with secondary classes had an advantage, and it was trickier to fight human enemies. But they could not be compared to beasts like ice trolls.

They were showered in negative status effects that easily got rid of the advantage they originally had. While they stopped the vanguard, Mina zipped past them and got rid of casters. None of them were prepared for a high-level assassin that ported through shadows.

Mina offed everyone except the young master. Those of the vanguard still standing hurried to give up. With how easy the fight ended Seth and the other couldn't help but think that it was Harold acting on his own and not the Vampires schemes.

~ Going further, Valen could have sacrificed this guy to collect more information on us. ~

Everyone nodded. Thinking of what they did to Lydia, it was quite possible for that old vampire to sacrifice this failure to get some info on them.

"Let's get back to the church."

"What about him?" Mina asked and pointed at the tied-up Harold.

"Let's ask Simon to imprison him at the church. I don't want that in our base."

After all, he had attacked members of the church. Lay members, but still members.. They walked to the church, left Harold with Simon, and they finally teleported to Minas Mar.