"Clink clank clink!"
The sound of hammering echoed from the dimly-lit cave as chunks of rock debris fell to the ground.
A hulking three-meter tall monster crouched down to pick up the fallen ore chunks, swallowing his non-existent saliva as he pondered for a few seconds before placing them into a crude mining cart beside him.
He had no choice, even though he desperately wanted to taste this unfamiliar ore, his boss said eating it would make his body weak and fragile.
The simple mining cart was soon filled with repeated labor. A golem pushed the fully-loaded cart out near a woodshed outside the mine.
"Swish swoosh!"
The expressionless golem dumped the ore onto the ground, forming a small not-so-tall mountain of rocks. There were many similar piles around it, a large part of which were no longer intact.
After some time, a more evenly proportioned humanoid monster with pale dark skin and tattered clothes came to the rock piles. This did not affect his work though, as he rummaged through and picked out rocks he deemed very high grade, filling the basket on his back.
The screened ore was dumped into a large mortar, where the pale-skinned creature picked up a stone pestle beside him and smashed the rocks into a fine powder that blew away with a puff.
The mineral powder was collected and sent to a small workshop nearby. Inside the shed, dozens of frantic fair-skinned monsters were busily mixing precise ratios of three different powders - some light yellow, some black. After everything was blended into an ashy dark grey, they grabbed handfuls and stuffed them into a long metallic cylinder.
With a loud explosive bang, the quality check on this batch officially ended.
The approved gunpowder was packaged into exquisitely crafted wooden barrels.
The barrel lids were sealed tightly, then labeled with prepared sheets of parchment - a simple flaming icon with a big "X" across.
After simple seal tests, the gunpowder barrels were transported to a trading post on the edge of the barren foothills.
A few days later, a troupe of confident human merchants arrived in this demon territory. After casually completing their trading, the barrels of gunpowder were loaded onto carts headed towards the City of Gath.
\---
In late August inside the City of Gath Commerce Guild, Murphy gazed sternly at Alaric. "So why did you store the gunpowder right below your office?"
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Alaric shrugged. "It's too precious. I was afraid spies from other territories might come to steal it."
"Did you ever think about what would happen if someone tossed a little spark into that room..." Murphy made an exploding gesture with his hands. "BOOM!"
"I guess I'd have to grab a broom then to sweep up the shards of you all over the place..."
Alaric shivered at that thought. How could he have forgotten something so critical?
"So where do you think would be a safer place to store the gunpowder?"
Murphy stroked his chin. "Why not just take it straight to Reed Castle?"
Alaric looked troubled. "Wouldn't Lord Seth have objections to that?"
"He shouldn't..." Murphy said lightly. "After all, Seth is our most excellent Lord."
Ever since the East City Gate incident, Seth now understood his circumstances.
So outwardly, the whole affair looked as if the cunning new Lord had designed everything to root out his greedy staff in one fell swoop even while away from his territory.
In truth, Seth had just returned home to find his partners in profit all exiled to pioneer new lands. He could either join them or acquiesce to the control of Murphy, Byron and Alaric to remain a figurehead Lord.
Seth: "I was doubtful at first, but I tried delegating power and whoa! It felt amazing!" They were also governing extremely well...
Seth was already quite old. Now forced to hand over power, he had entered retirement mode - cursing his cousin and uncle daily, reading books left by the former Earl, and making rounds disguised among commoners every few days to maintain his sky-high support rate. In summary, he was now living a moisturized leisure life.
As for Murphy's promises about the future, Seth said he was still observing.
After Western spies reported that Reed subsidiary had reached initial trade agreements with the West, Alaric had already secretly transported promised grain into the Western capital of Rofca. Warehouses filled with funds for activities also grew fuller by the day.
Seeing the gunpowder transport arranged, Murphy yawned and asked: "I'm passing through anyway, anything else?"
Alaric thought for a moment and took out a parchment - latest intel on Western territory affairs.
Since establishing covert cooperation with the Duke, Western territory had turned a blind eye to Alaric's amateur spies. After all, informing allies about one's strength bred trust. The spies were allowed free rein as long as they avoided military secrets.
Just what counted as core intel depended on who the eventual enemy in war would be.
Murphy scanned the parchment - Western and Northern great armies were facing off near the borders of all three territories, at the no-man's-land Stucar Plains. Fighting would likely break out soon.
Murphy scoffed. "No-man's land eh? So they can just attack anyone? If those two suddenly joined forces and marched on the Royal territory, that's not impossible either."
Alaric considered and said: "Intel shows the Western and Northern Dukes have had tensions over a small piece of land for nearly ten years now. If this feud was all staged, they would have to be making incredibly long-term plans..."
"Indeed, we still lack truly reliable sources of intelligence. Allow me to think on this more before reporting to Lord Toras."
Dressed like an average middle-class man, Murphy strolled solo from the Commerce Guild back to 2 Clyster Street.
Ever since Seth returned, Reed Castle had been reassigned as his dwelling. Byron had also moved back.
Byron didn't mind this. As he said, after Seth passed, he as the elder could rightfully inherit his family home as successor. Though it sounded quite inappropriate, there was no hurry on his part.