Following Murphy's initial plan, the trial field’s affair should have been resolved the day before. But nobody anticipated finding a holy sword hundreds of meters underground—a near-impossibility that led Murphy to reschedule his craftsmen inspection for a day later.
Having delved into the psyche of both demons and humans, Murphy had to concede that humans surpassed demons significantly in creativity, at least when compared to middle and lower-tier demons.
High-tier demons, like vampires and succubi, could innovate, but only in their areas of expertise—vampires with elixirs, succubi with magical artifacts. As for goblins and the undead, mastering a skill was challenging, never mind considering innovation.
This exact reason, though several lower-tier demons had learned blacksmithing, they could only work in assembly lines, incapable of developing new products, not even under Murphy's direct command.
Forcing less intellectually inclined minions into innovation was a task not even a demon king's orders could accomplish. Frustration had no power over creativity—it just wasn't there.
Grasping the limitations of his fellows, Murphy gleaned a lesson: fostering innovation means turning to humans. At least for the time being, humans remained the wise, populous species that came to mind.
Another reason for this human preference? They're so easy to buy off. Most humans only desire three things: gold coins, gold coins, and by the gods, more gold coins!
And the Demon Lord Your Majesty happened to have coffers to spare.
With a strange sense of anticipation, Murphy approached the newly erected Craftsmen's Street on the outskirts of City of Gath. To streamline management and future production, Murphy had suggested, and Guild Master Alaric funded, the construction of Gath's first Street of Smiths. The guild also handled all aspects of relocation for any smith or carpenter willing to join.
Moving the blacksmiths out of the city was something most wouldn't dare attempt. In the undeveloped expanses of the kingdom, bandits living off raids lurked, lying in wait for those beyond the protection of city walls. Discovering that the area had become a hub for rare civilians like blacksmiths, the bandits would very soon extend their 'hospitality,' inviting them to be enslaved on the mountain, whether for defense or offense.
For Murphy, however, this was no issue.
Having secured the entire Reed viscounty, thousands of bio-mimetic skeletons had scoured every patch of forest in the land, unearthing around two hundred bandits accustomed to a life of pillage.
Murphy didn’t intend to crowd the prisoner camp with these 'hardened' men; the camp inhabitants, although despicable, consisted mostly of obedient regular troops and bullies, far easier to manage. Mixing in desperate fugitives might yield unpredictable, bothersome reactions.
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Proposals to confine them to prison didn’t appeal to Murphy—not for any particular reason, he simply couldn’t stand the thought of idle people getting three square meals a day.
After much contemplation, Murphy reached an unexpected decision:
"You're free. As long as you vow never to set foot in the Reed viscounty again, we'll overlook any past offenses."
Just like that, Murphy effectively exiled a hundred human pests to a place not too distant from the viscounty—
The Southern Territories.
It would be their new world.
Murphy believed in making full use of everything. This principle guided his decisions, concluding that if pests will wreak havoc somewhere, better they start early—and elsewhere.
Watching the bandits pack up and head towards the Southern Territories, Murphy felt like a genius. From then on, the viscounty’s walls lost their role as a defense mechanism. Unless war broke out, the safety factor inside and outside the city became virtually equal.
Approaching the Craftsmen's Street, Murphy could hear the clangs of hammers from afar—the promise of generous rewards had called forth many a brave soul. With both rewards for innovation and standard work incentives in place, worker engagement soared as their income skyrocketed. And if they couldn’t secure either reward type? Well, Murphy might suggest a career change.
Observing blacksmiths and carpenters on both sides of the modest street, Murphy hadn’t walked half the distance before he encountered the ever-smiling Alaric.
The Demon Lord and the Guild Master were well acquainted by now. A brief exchange of pleasantries promptly led Murphy to the creators of the latest marvel—a friendly carpenter and blacksmith duo. Despite using an assembly line to protect the secrecy of firearms previously, Murphy knew keeping humans from spilling secrets would require an overnight disappearance of mouths kingdom-wide. So, it was only a matter of time before the crafting methods became common knowledge.
But Murphy was unfazed. Firearms could eventually be figured out by any capable blacksmith; he just needed to keep the gunpowder formula close to his chest.
Having reviewed the two craftsmen's profiles, who had previously received rewards for their ingenuity, Murphy knew they'd restored a matchlock gun post-task in private. With continuous innovation bonuses on offer, the pair set about refining their reimagined piece.
As commoners of the domain, the craftsmen had an inkling that they were facing eminent figures in the viscount's service. They greeted Murphy's smile with their prototype.
Before the craftsmen could utter a word, Murphy's eyes brightened at the familiar structure. They'd managed to cobble together a flintlock gun! Despite the basic design, the unmistakable flint beside the barrel was hard to miss.
Firearm technology was progressing rapidly since Murphy’s arrival. He'd skipped matchlocks altogether in his blueprints, aiming straight for flintlocks, and now, barely two months later, their early form was taking shape.
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As of this chapter, the character's partial settings:
Name: Bacon
Level: 22 (Undead Lord) (recently deceased)
Age: 73
Race: Native Corpse (Undead)
Occupation: King of Corpses
Overview: Tall and gaunt figure clad in rags from unknown origins, body a rotten grey-white with sporadic injuries that appear and vanish.
Abilities Overview: Favors use of hands for physical attacks (with added poison), skilled in erratic attacks (street-fighting).
Special Abilities: [Virulent Claws], [Corpse King's Command], [Miasmic Toxin].
A Little Secret: Takes peculiar delight in watching the mutations of his own hands, especially when alone.