Unlike our first arrival, my entry to the inner city was smooth. The guards, wearing tabards carrying the sigil of House Yoentia, didn't try to pull any trick against a guild member. Though, I could see that those soldiers were new recruits rather than loyal members of the ducal family, as they were far too proud of their new clothes, looking at everyone else smugly.

The ongoing silent rebellion of their house must have been even worse if the emergency conscription of the local peasants was the best they could afford.

Luckily, it was not my problem. Once Zolast built the dungeon with some control mechanism, even if the young duke lost the right to manage the dungeon, we could always make a deal with the next one.

But that was another problem for the future. It was pointless to focus on that too much when we were yet to solve our immediate problems, like our pathetic battle capability compared to others that came around us.

Our current lineup of farmers and other working classes who had just gone through their second promotion gave us a domineering advantage when we were competing against the bottom rung of the refugees, the kind that had been allowed into the other groups due to their weakness.

Things would be different when competing against a dungeon, and Night Blades was just a start.

I already had a general direction in mind. Improve the quality of the equipment the group wielded, and teach them to coordinate with each other. My training session with Karak already showed that it was possible to break their habits of using skills fully, and teaching them to coordinate was just the next logical step, something I would focus on once the basement was fully built.

The equipment issue was the thing I wanted to talk about with Zolast. I had already recruited a group of blacksmiths and improved their level — and if necessary, I could spend a few more days dedicated to improving them further — but before doing so, I needed to learn what exactly was needed to forge magical weapons.

And, Zolast, with his secrets, was the best one to talk to.

I arrived at the zone assigned to us in the inner city, which was considerably smaller than our outer town, but the permit allowed the building to have six floors, so it would be enough to house a hundred of fifty members that were allowed to live there — barely.

Still, I was glad that it was quite a bit of distance away from the breach. It might be a deliberate snub against our guild, but for me, it was a good deal to avoid going toward the center of the town, a red glow noticeable despite the tall walls that covered it.

I didn't want to test whether the god of destruction, who I had angered very much, could sense my presence if I got any closer. At least, not in my own city, after going through all that trouble to create a semblance of order.

At our zone, there was no sign of construction, just a few tents sprawled into the area, one of them belonging to Zolast. "Is he inside?" I asked the guard.

"He's resting," the guard said, but when I went forward without saying anything, he didn't stop me.

Smart boy.

When I entered the tent, I saw Zolast trying to stay awake as he leaned over his desk, trying to draw some kind of complicated structure, the margins filled with symbols I didn't recognize. But they were complicated enough to annoy me by just looking.

"You need to sleep," I said as I entered.

"And I'm sure you'll help me by dumping even more work on me," Zolast grumbled as he pushed the paper away. "Tell me."

"Don't worry, it's not work this time. I'm just here to give good news and just ask a few questions."

"Good news?" he asked, surprised. "That would be nice."

I showed him the decree about our location in the outer town. "How?" Zolast looked, shocked. "I had to talk to that stubborn knight for hours, and the best he gave was that little spot. Why the sudden change?"

"You heard the debacle during the entrance?"

"Barely," Zolast said. "Someone insulting the duke or something… But I was trying to bargain with him about the rights to establish the outpost, so I wasn't there to observe. Don't tell me you were involved."

"In a way," I said as I gave a brief breakdown of the situation, minus my Charisma tricks, and rather than saying I had seen Artmiss from that distance, I framed it as a suspicion.

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"They are determined to make our life hard," Zolast murmured. "Do you have any idea why?"

I shook my head. "From the outside, it looks like plain greed. Just like us, they see a weak duke suddenly holding a treasure that threatens to devour him, and realize that by helping him, they can get a lot of benefits. They could be just targeting us to make sure they have an even bigger share…"

"But you don't believe it," Zolast answered.

"Let's just say I don't believe it either. That's a plausible explanation, but I didn't get old in my line of business by taking plausible explanations at face value."

"Good," he said, then smiled, catching an opportunity to tease. "By the way, what's this line of business?"

I matched his smile. "Being a quartermaster, of course. The mercantile world could be quite cutthroat," I teased him. "Speaking of my role, I have already set up a tent for gambling, and we're already making money. Barring any accident, I'll start the construction of the guild hall either tomorrow or the day after that."

"Already. That's really good news," he said. "And your questions?"

"They are about the forge I want to establish. I want to leverage our new land by building an even bigger forge … one that's capable of handling magical weapons."

Zolast looked at me seriously. "You don't do anything by half measures, do you?"

"Why bother. With the dungeon rights, we'll have constant access to mana stones, and it'll be a waste to sell them directly. Especially since their prices will soon experience a great drop as more and more dungeons open."

"You underestimate the constant need for more mana stones," Zolast said.

"It doesn't matter," I cut him. "Even if the prices in the capital and other high locations didn't drop, with that many dungeons, the suppliers will play dungeons against each other and overcharge for equipment while buying the mana stones on the cheap," I said.

"You think so?" Zolast said, looking surprised.

"Just trust me, the faster we can establish our own production facilities, the better," I said. "You don't have to bother with the details. Just tell me what you know about forging magical weapons."

"And you think I know anything?" he asked, trying to act secretive.

"Do you want to play this game when you're already exhausted," I said. "Just tell me."

He sighed in exhaustion. "Fine, ruin my fun." He took another deep breath to collect himself. "Actually, there's not a great secret to it. Any blacksmith can forge a magical weapon, but they need mana stones to fuel it and a forge strong enough to handle the process."

"And, what about stats or skills?" I asked, surprised that he didn't mention them.

"Of course, those as well," he added casually, acting like I had asked whether they needed to breathe.

"Be more specific," I said. "Which skills, and which stats?"

"I don't exactly know what are the magical variants of the forging skills there are, but I know there are many depending on the mana type. The skill to handle pure mana is probably the most common one. For stats…" he said, pausing a bit to think. "I think Attunement is the main stat for them to use."

If it was someone else, I would have avoided asking follow-up questions about the nature of that stat, but I chose to ask instead. "What exactly is Attunement?"

Zolast looked surprised. "You don't know?"

"Not many magical people around the border are willing to spill their secrets easily, and I didn't bother digging it."

Zolast frowned. "That's a dangerous oversight. Magical variants of the skills could be really dangerous."

"Then, give me a quick lesson," I said.

He didn't seem to be believe me when I said that I didn't know about Attunement, but he still started to explain, playing along. "There's not much to say. In simple terms, Attunement is the magical equivalent of Vitality, useful in storing mana, and has a very limited ability to manipulate it. Mostly, it functions as a pool for the magical skills to draw energy."

"I see," I answered, then decided it was a good time to ask a good question. "I thought skills stored the mana they used."

Zolast chuckled. "That's nonsense. It's impossible for anyone that you met to actually have that kind of skill."

"Really? There's no chance for it?" I said.

"Technically, there are some, but they are very rare," Zolast answered. "Even the weakest one is enough to create a dangerous competition between different houses."

"Really?" I asked. "They are that useful?"

"They are, but not because of their utility, but the way they function. Properly used, they could be used to commune with the gods themselves. Not that it would help them…"

Zolast's tone as he mentioned gods was interesting, carrying hints of resentment. Considering my own meeting with them, I didn't find it surprising. But I knew what he mentioned was true. Which meant, I should be careful about absorbing those red mana stones.

I still remembered the feeling of losing control of my own body, and I didn't want to repeat it.

"Speaking of blacksmiths, I realized something else," I said. "There are many female blacksmiths, but all of them at low levels, and none of them even forges proper weapons," I said, acting like I didn't notice the subterfuge of my team. "Why is that?"

Zolast sighed. "It's about a conflict between their divine patrons. Hephaestus is one of the strongest gods of the metalworking, and his reach on our world is unparalleled. The blacksmith alliance is ruled by his priests."

"And how does it affect the female blacksmiths?" I asked.

"You must have noticed that it's already rare for gods to grant their mark to people of the opposite gender," Zolast said. I did not, but mentioning that would hardly help. "Gods of metal and forging are usually worse on that. When it comes to Hephaestus, it's even more intense. Not only he had never granted his mark to a woman, but his priests are very strict preaching they couldn't be trusted."

"What an incredible god," I murmured, wondering if the stories from my world about his life were accurate. If they were, his warped relationship with Aphrodite explained a lot. "And, I'm guessing, with their power over the blacksmith alliance, they are not allowed to enter into any guild."

"Not only that, even having a female apprentice is enough to be kicked out," Zolast answered. "Even the demigods don't' dare to grant them their mark in this world. There's only one goddess that dares to do so … but not like it matters."

"Why?"

"I doubt if there's even one that even managed to reach their third Promotion without being assassinated."

"The blacksmith guilds don't play around," I commented.

"No," Zolast answered. "They do not."