After having gotten a good look at this majestic building, Isaiah made his way towards the huge gate that was guarded by Peak Rank 1 soldiers. Royal Army and Royal Guards were two different arms of the Empire, and it was his first time seeing the presence of the army.
As he made his way, soldiers dressed in dark silver army suits with black accents turned to look towards him. One of them stepped forth, talking in a surprisingly calm tone, seemingly having gotten training regarding it, ”Mr. Isaiah, Mrs. Fireheart is waiting for you in the 6th tower.”, with that he went back to stand his guard, leaving Isaiah to his own.
“Guess there isn’t much need to secure this place.” Isaiah knew that these soldiers were only here for show. The true protection came from the eight Master Blacksmiths that resided in their respective towers. Each Master Blacksmith was at least a Rank 2 Existence.
As he entered the premises inside the palace, he was greeted by a paradise. There was greenery all around, three tall rocks stood tall in the middle with waterfalls raining down to the lake beneath them. It wasn’t just nature that made it a paradise, the colors blended in harmony, adding to the serene environment coupled with its humid temperature.
“Impressive, they managed to capture the essence of a paradise very brilliantly.” Isaiah, while impressed, wasn't surprised, blacksmithing and other systemic magic like formations were considered artistic within this planet.
He made his way towards the paradise-like lobby, finally managing to find the corridor that leads to the 6th tower, the corridors’ designs were fully red carpets on all 4 walls with various imagery of mythical creatures adorning them.
“While I have given my regards for the design, I have to take some back due to its low functionality”, he mused, having spent minutes trying to find a single corridor amongst the myriad of art pieces around him.
He ascended the spiraling stairs, once he reached the top he saw a man sitting on a desk next to a door. “You must be Mr. Isaiah, please go inside Mrs. Fireheart is waiting for your arrival inside.”
Isaiah nodded the knocked on the door, “It's Isaiah Dominus.” A beautiful voice came in from behind the door in response, “Please come inside, Mr. Isaiah”
Isaiah opened the door, his gaze fell upon Mrs. Fireheart. She has spotless pale skin with amber eyes which popped thanks to the contrasts between her skin and eyes, her gray hair was tied back into a messy bun, “Welcome to my office, Mr. Isaiah. I was expecting your arrival. Its a both a pleasure and an honor to have you as my guest”, her lips were curled into a small smile.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Isaiah gently shook her hand first “The pleasure belongs to me” he then proceeded to take his seat. His eyes focused on hers as he continued, “I won’t take much of your time”, he put his hand inside his vest’s pocket and pulled out two large pieces of metal. One, fully black with tints of purple shimmering on its surface. The other was simply a larger monochrome chunk of metal that was black like the previous one.
He put them on her table for her to inspect them and give her expert opinion. “Hmm, let me see.”, before started inspect them, she yelled slightly so her receptionist could hear it, “Get me and Mr. Isaiah, two cups of tea please.”
She put on her glasses while taking the first smaller piece that shimmered with purple light. Her Rank 2 Initial Aura was released as it focused upon the metal, she coated the entirety of it in her potent mana.
15 minutes passed, Isaiah was sipping his tea that had arrived long ago, “I can only figure out that she is inspecting it but not how. Might be due to our innate elements being different.”, just as he was in his thought, the voice of Mrs. Fireheart rang in his ears, “So, I have some good news and some bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?”
Isaiah didn’t mind either way, the arrangement wouldn’t change the results, “Just tell them all at once”, Mrs. Fireheart chuckled in response, “You sure don’t like having fun. Hmm, let's see.” She had taken a few notes and looked at them, then back up at Isaiah.
“First of all, these two pieces of metal are truly high grade”, he pointed towards the one shimmering in purple light, “Especially this one, its a metal of the darkness element and has great mana conductivity.”, she let out a sigh, “Now for the bad news, I can’t really work on a metal of darkness element nor can you find anyone within the entire Empire capable of doing so.”
Isaiah was surprised, he hadn’t expected for metal to turn out to be a darkness element but most importantly he hadn’t expected her second words. He thought they would be negotiating a ridiculous price, not the fact that it wasn’t possible.
“Could you open it a bit more about why it’s impossible exactly?”, he inquired, receiving a low chuckle from her, “Well I never said it was impossible, just no that due to the rarity of material of darkness descent there aren’t any reputable Blacksmith Masters who practice forging them. It's a waste of both time and money. However, darkness element metals are notorious for their incredible mana conductivity just like yours.”
“Is there truly no one you could reference me, In or outside of the empire?”, he shook her head first but then her expression changed, “Well, there is one but its classified information so I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted”, she sighed in an exaggerated manner.
Isaiah could read from her body language and tone what she was getting at, “Spoken like a true Royal Master Blacksmith”, his hand reached into his vest’s pocket to pull out a check, he took one of their pens and wrote 1M GC on it. His hand slides the check towards her on the desk.
She promptly took the check and her smile turned even gentler, “Of course, you are a great friend so breaking a few rules shouldn't be a big issue.”