“Here is a new draft of the report on the iron shortage, Forge-master Rummy.” Nairi helpfully handed me the finalized draft of the report cobbled together from a series of disorganized notes and illegible calculations from yours truly. “Shall we go over the report together now so I could finalize it?” She asked in her typical angel-sweet voice.
“Correction: I will go over and finalize the draft. You still need your rest.” I pointedly replied. Apparently, my overworked apprentice had a fainting episode while I was out in the Elven territory. She was teaching some of the newbies how to press the ammo cartridges at the forge-smithy around noon-time when she fainted for a moment. It was probably heat exhaustion or heat stroke from the ever-burning forge fires, but this is unacceptable. Considering his stance on work-life balance, Ronnie Lee would be rolling in his grave if he saw this.
Nairi’s sunny enthusiasm for forge-smithy sometimes distracted from the fact that she was still a maturing girl, and that I cannot allow her to be overworked. As her boss, I’ve gotta manage her workload and get more of the newbies to shoulder the ever-growing duties of my forge-smithy.
“There is no need, Forge-master! I’m perfectly fine!” Nairi’s inexhaustible enthusiasm shone once again. But while her enthusiasm is inexhaustible, her body is not. I gotta draw the line in the sand.
“This isn’t a slave farm, Nairi. Nor are we in immediate danger. Take the rest of the day off. If I catch you in the forge-smithy before the day is over, I will throw you on your bed myself!”
A girlish blush showed on her face as she nodded and walked out of the forge-smithy. Teenagers these days…
While I was still concerned about the 626th potentially finding Pridwen, I figured that the stunt I pulled should buy us all the time we needed to stockpile enough heavy weaponry to adequately fend off a full legion if they ever did find us. Hell, even if all of those asshats at the Pantheon summoned more of their goons, any mass troop movement or mobilization would inevitably catch the attention of a certain tavern-keep who’d alert me.
As long as I had enough time to prepare multiple mortar strike teams to conduct hit-and-run tactics in the Wilds, even an army that consists of multiple legions would be exhausted by the time they get to Pridwen.
Well, enough musings about those fuckers… I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and it starts with this report. Gotta stop the procrastination!
The report itself consisted of a few good news and bad news. Good news was that the assembly lines of the Garand and MG-42 parts and ammo were up and running. Considering that the town militia was planned to be 150, with 50 in reserve, we should be able to properly arm everyone within the month with sufficient spare parts for repair and maintenance. Ammo production was especially crucial to this whole war machine, especially with the MG-42s’ gargantuan hunger for .30-06 Springfields. If everything goes according to plan and everyone (Elves included) left us the fuck alone, we should have 40000 rounds stockpiled in a month or two. That should be good enough to fend off the 626th at the very least...
On the flipside, mortar production continued to be slow since I was the only person who could make it. On top of that, I still hadn’t narrowed down what to do with the sighting and other potential upgrades. I had started to automate mortar shell production (in a separate forge-smithy and away from the residents) and the assembly line for that should be operational before winter, assuming we had enough raw materials to make them.
Sigh… at this point, Flak guns were a pipedream considering the current shortage for mana crystals and iron. After making all that weaponry, I doubted we’d have enough to even attempt a prototype. So at the moment, I should focus on perfecting the theoretical design until more raw material could be gathered. Who knows when that’d be. After all, mana crystals didn’t grow on trees… or could they?
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
We knew mana crystals grew inside of mana-beasts, and that the stronger they are, the bigger the crystal harvested. But could I copy that natural process? If my theory that mana-beasts take in ambient mana as it matures and the mana crystallizes at the core of the beast is correct, could I grow my own crystals by inventing some way to harvest ambient mana?
Focus, Rummy! Let’s not get sidetracked and stay on task. There were still 5 mortar-related errands I needed to run before I could call it a day. After a sigh, I signed my name on the draft report, finalizing it. As I tossed the report onto my desk, I heard a few gentle knocks on my door.
Tali opened the door before I could say anything and closed it just as quickly. She was wearing her usual goldenrod dress that went oh-so-well with her naturally curly blonde locks. There was a determined glint in her perpetually-beautiful purple eyes that all but told me that I wasn’t gonna get any more work done for the day.
I nervously cleared my throat and smiled. “Hi you.”
She replied in a standoffish way. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Rummy! I may be new to romance, but when a woman confesses her feelings for a man, shouldn’t the man take responsibility and respond properly instead of hiding in the forge-smithy?”
Ah… that was when I realized that ever since I got back from my visit to the Elven territory that I’ve been working non-stop, only taking breaks for sleeping and eating. Hell, I didn’t even get to play with my kids or fuck my wives silly.
I gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Tali. Nairi is on bedrest after fainting in the forge-smithy, so I kinda have to pick up the slack if I want to keep everything on schedule. The report -”
Tali cut me off. “No, don’t give me that. I’m not talking to my Forge-master right now. I’m talking to my beloved.”
After an awkward pause, I scratched my temple and weakly replied. “OK, yeah… that was a bit of a cop-out. Tali, I honestly thought you were just feeling guilty about running me ragged out there. I kinda just assumed things… would just go back to the way they were between us after things blow over, you know?”
Tali had an unladylike chuckle. “It is quite too late for that, I’m afraid.” The way she looked into my eyes was absolutely mesmerizing. “Rummy, this is not out of guilt, or some maiden’s summer infatuation. I simply love you. I've been struggling against that awful truth for years. I kept convincing myself with the pretty little lie that I was content watching you grow your family with Emma and Sapphy on the sidelines.”
She looked away from me. “But the truth is that I want to be a part of your family. I want to be loved by a real man, and not some rich manchild who has never worked a day in his life. I want you.” She turned back her gaze on me.
My face felt like it had been in the summer sun for too long (even though I’ve been indoors this entire time). “I want you too, Tali. You know that.” I got up from my chair and gave my future 3rd wife a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to my family.”
As Tali buried herself on my chest in contentment, she mischievously asked. “Have you ever dreamed of this moment?”
I gave her a boyish smirk. “Yeah, I’ve had this dream where you confessed your love to me in my office before ben-”
Tali suddenly pushed away from my chest and bent over my desk, presenting her firm and shapely ass to me. She turned around and gave me a sultry look that instantly made me hard.
“Yeah, like that! Then you’d pull up your dress and reveal that-”
She slowly hiked up her skirt, teasing my poor heart as she revealed that she wasn’t wearing any underwear, exactly how I dreamed of it.
I sighed as I dropped my trousers. “Emma sold me out, didn’t she?”
“Indeed.” She smirked.
***
Procrastination is bad, kids. It’s real bad, mkay?