My first impression of my new employees was … that they were a sorry bunch.
There were eleven of them in total. Eight of them were young men, some not even into their twenties, while the rest of them were old, around my age. No, I corrected myself a second later as I paid attention to their physical qualities and not just their response, all eight of them were young women, but they were disguised as men.
Their competency in disguising them suggested that it was not a last-minute choice, but something they had prepared for a long time.
I couldn't help but wonder about the reason, but after a momentary consideration, I ignored it. I might have reacted differently if they acted like they knew each other, but it was clear that they were as uncomfortable with each other as they were uncomfortable with me, each expecting the other to notice their disguise.
Which suggested there was likely a societal reason for their disguise. I paused for a moment, trying to remember a female blacksmith. Soon, I realized that I had met several, but without exception, they were working for other blacksmiths, and exclusively dealing with menial roles.
Probably cultural gender discrimination, preventing their progress. Eight of them answered my call, likely only because they saw the opportunity to get a quick promotion before they get noticed … which would mean they profited even if they were kicked out.
Of course, I had no intention of kicking them out. If they were willing to work, I couldn't care less about the traditions of this world. I needed enthusiastic workers more than anything, and who better than a bunch of young women with something to prove.
I brought my gaze away, and instead focused on the other, smaller group. Three old men, who were looking especially frail as they stood in front of me.
"I'm guessing none of you has experienced your second promotion," I said, and they nodded, the young girls with undisguised hunger, and the old man with shame. "Good, because that's the first benefit I'm going to offer you all."
They nodded, this time their enthusiasm matching. "I won't sugarcoat my words. I need a group of hard workers who are loyal to me, and you'll be working a lot. Also, once you accept my employment, you won't be leaving for at least a year, no matter what!"
My words were harsh enough, but subtly enhanced by the weight of my Charisma, each hit like hammers, making them tremble. They looked at me, their faces blanched in shock, but none of them retreated.
That surprised me. I expected at least a few of them to back out, folding under the pressure. But as I looked at their faces, I saw the reason for it. Pure, naked ambition for the young women; and desperation for the old men that was aware it was one last chance for them to make a mark, even a small one.
"Good," I murmured, and let the subtle pressure disperse. "In exchange, I promise you levels, power, money…" I delivered, each word making them smile bigger, "… and most importantly, respect."
The last promise, enhanced by Charisma, hit them particularly hard. Their gazes widened as if they had just won the lottery. It didn't surprise me, nor did I think it was solely about Charisma. The magical effect only made them believe my promise.
"Yes, sir. We accept!" they shouted simultaneously, passionate and determined.
Their desire for respect was not hard to imagine. It was something everyone craved, yet for the elvfen people in front of me, it was denied for all their life. I didn't care whether that denial was fair or unfair. I only cared about how much they desired it … and how hard they were willing to work for it.
It was not something unfamiliar to me. I had always made sure to hire people with something to prove … though that was not something unique to me. The only difference, I tried to recruit them only when I was convinced they could temper their desire with control, making them reliable members of my inner circle…
While the other groups often hired people once they had lost any hope of controlling their own life, making them very useful cannon fodder, often reaching an unfortunate end before they could become a problem.
I would have loved to observe them more to see which group they belonged to, but time was not a luxury I could afford. Not even a couple of days. The sudden founding of a rival guild hastened my plans considerably, especially since they had their own mysterious supporters, rich enough to support them with a significant amount of wealth and goods — which included skill stones and magical weapons.
"Good, now, let's start with giving you guys your promotion. Let's make sure every single one of you gains your promotion before we arrive at the breach so we can start working immediately."
"S-sir," one of the old men stammered in shock. "We … we will be at the breach in less than half a day."
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I smirked as I twirled my halberd. "I know. Now, follow me," I ordered as I moved forward in the line, making sure monsters focused on us even more intensely. My newest employees stayed at the back, frozen in fear, clearly afraid of walking forward without proper escort.
Karak, who was still with us, was willing to go forward, but I made him stay with a subtle nod. I didn't want him to ruin my first test. Or, I could have easily enhanced my order with Charisma to make them follow me.
In the end, it was one of the young women that dared to follow me first, dashing forward despite the increased number of monsters. Seeing her, the others moved forward, but they did so slowly, and she was the first one to arrive. "Good, we have our first volunteer to get his promotion," I said, acting like I hadn't noticed her subterfuge.
"R-really," she stammered as she looked at me. "But … I'm just level fourteen."
"Doesn't matter, follow me and kill the wounded large beasts, ignore the small ones," I said as I passed my magical dagger to her, and she looked at it in fascination, more than I expected. Then, it clicked with me, as a blacksmith, it was not just a weapon for her, but the height of her aspiration.
Of course, I had bigger plans for them than just producing garbage-level magical weapons, but I kept my mouth shut. No need to overwhelm them with the true extent of my ambition.
With that, I started a slaughter, dancing between small and large beasts, destroying them a breeze even without pushing myself to the limit. My newest employee dashed behind me, barely able to catch my speed of killing them.
The others followed us, looking jealous, but there was nothing to be done. After I killed several beasts, I turned to Karak. "Organize them to harvest the large beasts, and store the parts that we can use for crafting. We'll need them for the forge," I said.
I didn't know much about blacksmithing, but the fact they used the vitality from the beasts to imbue the weapons with some supernatural quality over what their metal could provide was well-known.
"We are going to work with … these parts," the old man looked, shocked. "But … we don't deserve it. We always worked with … less potent materials."
"Not while working for me," I answered. "We don't have time to waste with garbage."
Karak organized the extraction efforts while I helped my first employee to gather the necessary experience. Alone, it was probably a process that would take her years to complete, slowly chipping smaller beasts while the larger variants represented a threat she could never face…
With my help, it took less than twenty minutes to collect the necessary experience. The closer we got to the breach, the more intense the monsters' presence started to get — not to mention, I cheated a bit, using Charisma to taunt the monsters to attack me even more. And, with every large beast giving them an average of five thousand experience, it was an efficient process.
"I … I have enough experience for promotion," she soon murmured, looking punch-drunk. The excitement was too intense.
"Good," I said, then turned to Karak. "Escort him to Zolast and make sure he levels up immediately," I said. "Then, escort him back here, and don't allow anyone intercept you."
A bit paranoid, maybe, but better safe than sorry.
She passed the dagger to me, and moved away. This time, I chose one of the old men to level up, and passed the dagger to him. "T-thank you, sir," he gasped, enthusiastic.
While the others stayed back, he joined me. "Now, while killing beasts, I need you to tell me everything about blacksmithing," I ordered him.
He looked surprised at the request, but immediately started explaining. "There are two aspects for the holy art of forging, sir…" he started, and started a very lengthy explanation about the art of blacksmithing. I listened, not interrupting him, even when his explanation turned nonsensical and contradictory.
I just relied on my Memory stat and committed the explanation to my mind. And, when he collected enough Experience to level up, I repeated the same thing with the others.
Two of the old men turned out to be woodworkers while all eight young women were blacksmiths, which was an interesting split, but enough to be workable. It already gave me an idea about how to split the work between them.
With that decision, I focused on what I had learned from them.
Apparently, all crafters received two skills during their first promotion, which was enough to be treated as common. One allowed them to handle their main production tool — hammer for blacksmiths, and carving knife for woodworkers — and the other skill allowed them to infuse vitality into the material they worked.
In the same line, crafting worked in two stages, one was the ordinary shaping of the material — whether forging or carving — and the other was the infusion of vitality to the material.
Unfortunately, their jobs didn't come with information about alloys or advanced techniques, making them as one-dimensional as their fighter equivalents.
Such information was held secret, which also explained the existence of crafting guilds — which were different than adventuring guilds — that managed them. Of course, none of them ever come across a crafting guild, as those lofty existences were too important to bother coming to a desolate border community.
Apparently, there were some plans and blueprints that could be acquired from the dungeons, allowing a crafter to create the item in question with unparalleled expertise, but if what they were saying was accurate, their rarity surpassed even stat stones.
Which meant, crafting guilds held a very critical place in commerce. And, while I hoped that they would continue to stay away, I had a feeling that would soon change with the sudden proliferation of the dungeons, bringing their own set of annoying problems.
I just hoped that they would stay away for a week or two and give me time to settle down.
Interestingly, their tendency to hoard information turned out to be the reason everyone used silver as currency. Apparently, in this world, silver was extremely easy to imbue with vitality, and could be paired with almost any type of metal successfully to create supernaturally strong weapons.
The ultimate quality of the product still differed greatly based on the amount and the quality of the other metals, but it was nice to have such a shortcut. Worst came to worst, I could allow them to use more silver to bypass the lack of knowledge.
Any problem that could be bypassed by money was not a real problem… Especially since I had bigger plans for my little smithing operation, especially at the beginning, than just make money.
No, I had more interesting plans for them…