Walking back didn’t yield any surprises until they came upon the last fork and found Rosen waiting for them.

“Rosen, what are you doing here?” Fenris asked, startled.

“I didn’t know where to go next, so I waited here,” Rosen explained.

Fenris rolled his eyes before he repeated his question, “I mean why are you here?”

Rosen looked lost for a second before answering, “Two guys were looking for you, Captain. One of them left and the other made himself at home in your office.”

“He did what!?” Fenris asked angrily.

“They are Mayor’s men. I have seen them before,” Rosen asked.

Fenris let the information sink in for a second before replying, “What do they want?”

“They asked me where you are and if I saw Rathan,” Rosen replied.

Fenris nodded, “I expected them to come just not so quickly. What did you tell them?”

“I told them you and some others were inspecting the wall and that I will go look for you. As for Rathan, I told them I haven’t seen him around,” Rosen explained.

“Good. Alright. Duncan, we will part at the entrance of the mine. There is no sense to make your presence known at this time to them,” Fenris said as they started walking briskly toward the exit.

Duncan nodded before asking, “Who are they?”

“Did you catch their names?” Fenris asked Rosen.

“I think one is named Felcher or something like that. The other did not introduce himself,” Rosen replied and continued walking.

“Probably Felshire and Drotan. Two goons in the Mayor’s employ. Felshire is a talkative type and Drotan is the opposite of him. They stick together mostly,” Fenris said and took a big breath.

“Problems?” Duncan asked.

“Not yet. But they are unusually fast. Do you know what Rathan was working on?” Fenris asked.

Duncan shook his head before replying, “I have no idea. I only know he went to order two new dresses for the Mayor from Marykah.”

“He was usually the main go-between in the trade between kobolds, goblins, and us. Maybe there is another trade scheduled soon,” Fenris stated as they waited for Tenris and Petris to climb the rope in the diagonal shaft.

“I really messed up their operation then,” Duncan said as he took the rope and started climbing.

“That you did,” Fenris said and followed it with a laugh.

The rest of the way was just running up the mine shafts until they reached the entrance.

“Come by in the evening, so we can coordinate our next moves,” Fenris said and shook Duncan’s hand before they parted.

“Will do. Thank you,” Duncan said while nodding.

As they left Duncan considered which way to go and decided to go to Bolgar’s since it was on the way with the copper ore to unload. Walking there took no time at all. First, he saw the smoke plume coming from the chimney, and then he heard the clanking of a hammer, even before he reached it. He was sure the dwarf was working on something as he opened the door.

The heat assaulted him the moment he opened the door. The noise was noticeably stronger inside and it finally stopped when Bolgar turned around.

“Oh, it’s ya,” Bolgar said as he wiped his sweaty hand on his behind.

“Good day to you too. What are you working on,” Duncan replied, surprised at the rude welcome.

“I am forced to do another batch of those damn iron swords. Some guy named Drotan came in a few hours ago and ordered them for the Mayor,” Bolgar replied as he spat on the ground.

“I see. I brought copper ore for you to smelt,” Duncan replied.

Bolgar made a sour face, “That’ll have to wait. I’m on a very tight schedule made by a very tight-lipped man. They want me to make 40 swords in three days. I refused ‘em but then he threatened me with additional openings for beer in my body.”

Duncan touched his eyebrows and asked, “Want my help?”

“Sure. If ya are willing to help me make blades, I can just do the damn hilts, guards, and pommels again,” Bolgar said and looked at Duncan with undeniable expectation.

“Alright. Let me just get ready,” Duncan said and frantically thought about what he could use to protect his ears. Pouring the low-quality potion into his ears was a substandard solution at best.

Duncan considered using the leather strips like last time but they were uncomfortable and provided minimum noise dampening.

“I might just go outside and look for some grass to stuff into my ears,” he thought and left the smithy.

He looked around the smithy and saw that Bolgar was as concerned with maintenance around the smithy as he was with his personal hygiene. Tall grass and thick bushes were growing between his and his neighbor's house who clearly did trim his part of the estate. The border between their estates was like night and day. The height of the grass reached suddenly from a few centimeters to half a meter.

“The grass is greener on Bolgar’s side,” Duncan thought as he shook his head.

Walking through the thicket of grass and bushes, Duncan soon found a perfect candidate, with his Herbology skill playing a big part in it.

[ Razor thorn reed ]

[ Type of reed. Handle with care exceptionally sharp thorns. The soft material inside the stalk can be used as a bandage. Slight anti-bleeding properties. ]

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It was around two centimeters thick reed covered with sharp thorns, which grew near where Bolgar discharged his sewage. Duncan quickly cut off a stalk with his dagger and trimmed off the thorns. Inside the hard stalk was a soft sponge-like material that was perfect to shove into his ears.

After making a couple of earplugs quickly, he returned to the inside the smithy. He used two and shoved them inside his ears and was proud of the result. The noise from Bolgar using his tools disappeared completely.

“Look what I made!” he told Bolgar as he removed them.

Bolgar looked at him before asking, “What? Stop wasting time.”

“Try sticking these inside your ears,” Duncan said as he gave him the spare ones.

Bolgar looked at him with a sour look before moving his hair off his ears, “I don’t need them.”

What Duncan saw growing from Bolgar’s ears could be described as a mixture of long hair and earwax sticking out in a small cone from his ear canal.

“How can you even hear me?” Duncan asked.

“A bit muffled but just fine. Now get to work,” Bolgar replied as he finished another pommel.

Duncan shook his head and gave up trying to change the dwarf’s habits, before asking, “How many do you still need?”

“37. I’ve made three blades since that guy left,” Bolgar replied without looking at him.

Duncan stuck his earplugs in his ears and got an Iron ingot that he dumped into the forge and checked the time, before activating [Make].

With a finished product in his hands, he checked the time again. 21 minutes had passed for the first sword blade. His ears were not ringing and his hands were not blistering, so Duncan continued working after drinking some water.

After three more sword blades, he used the low-quality potion on his hands but his ears were still good and he continued. The extra stats in strength, dexterity, and endurance made a big difference. Perception, intelligence, and wisdom were also helpful in determining the right amount of force, heat, and hitting position to use. He was getting faster and better at making the sword blades fast.

After another round of three sword blades, he was churning them out in 14 minutes. After another one, he took a break to fix his hands and drink.

He checked his flashing [ LOG ] and his Blacksmithing skill actually leveled up.

[ You have Learned Blacksmithing Level 8. ]

Strength +0.8

Dexterity +0.8

Perception +0.8

Duncan removed his earplugs before walking over to Bolgar’s station and asking, “Didn’t you say that I won’t be able to level up doing Iron sword blades?”

Bolgar looked at him and shook his head before replying, ”That was before ya started churning out excellent quality ones like they were a dime a dozen. Ya are not normal. Ya can probably reach level 15 just doing these shitty sword blades churning out perfect ones.”

“Excellent quality ones?” Duncan asked.

“Ya didn’t even bother to Identify what you made?” Bolgar asked. Seeing Duncan not responding he shook his head and continued, “All except the first two were of excellent quality, and even the first two were superior.”

Duncan smiled before replying, “Alright. I will make four more but then I need to get going.”

Bolgar nodded and both went back to work.

He managed to lower the time to 13 minutes and make four more in less than an hour. Duncan checked them after he was done and they were all excellent in quality. He could almost feel his skill rising as the fast-forward pounding became normal speed and the new tactile information spread into his brain.

Before leaving, Duncan remembered he had another question for Bolgar.

“Did you make the iron door for the mine?” Duncan asked him.

“Ya. I made that one by the Mayor’s orders,” the dwarf replied.

“Did you make more than one?” Duncan asked next.

Bolgar looked surprised at the question for a second before he answered, “How did you figure that one out? The Mayor ordered two. There must be an entrance to the mine I don’t know about somewhere.”

Duncan nodded.

“I need to ask Petris if the door at the entrance and the one he found is the same,” Duncan thought before saying goodbye.

Walking out of the smithy he checked the time. He spent almost four and a half hours with the dwarf. Duncan was considering going to Elland’s but the new information from what was going on at the barracks was too tempting.

As he was getting closer to the barracks Petris appeared out of nowhere startling Duncan.

“I have been waiting for you,” Petris said.

“You have? What’s going on?” Duncan asked as he calmed down.

“The goon left. You can find Fenris at the office, probably still cleaning it,” Petris said with a laugh.

“I have a question for you. Was the overhead door you found at the right tunnel the same as the one at the mine entrance?” Duncan asked.

“Now that you ask me, they do look very similar,” Petris replied with concern at the new information.

“Come with me to the Captain’s office,” Duncan said as he considered the implications of this information.

They soon knocked on the office door and got a very annoyed man to answer for them to come in.

“That bloody asshole. That guy came in with his boots all muddy and put them on my table. Behaving like he owns the place just because he’s higher leveled,” Fenris said as soon as they came in.

“What did he want?” Duncan asked as he nodded in confirmation.

Shaking his head Fenris replied, “They are looking for Rathan’s whereabouts. Apparently, he should have been back to report by now on the next trade with the kobolds.”

“They must be desperate. You really messed up their operation,” Petris said and smiled.

Duncan sighed, before saying, “I have not been to Elland’s yet to check the gear but I got some surprising information from Bolgar.”

Fenris looked at him from under his eyebrows and asked, “What information did the grumpy dwarf give you?”

“He made two doors for the mine on Mayor’s orders,” Duncan happily stated.

Fenris didn’t comprehend the meaning and made a puzzled expression, “So?”

“Petris said the door at the entrance to the mine looks like the one from the last corridor we explored. That means the Mayor must have installed it,” Duncan replied.

“Are you sure?” Fenris asked Petris.

“Well, I would have to check on them again to be sure. They do look very similar in my memory though. I mean who memorizes door designs?” Petris replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“If that’s true… I don’t know what that means,” Fenris replied with a sigh.

“I heard a long time ago there was an outbreak of Shades. Marykah’s sister and her husband were attacked at that time. That was before the two doors were made by Bolgar and one of them was installed at the mine. The door blocking the corridor could probably lead to the Mayor’s estate. They could be doing some dark magic experiments or something else sinister behind it. We should go and try your key on it as soon as possible,” Duncan replied.

Fenris raised his hand, “Hold your horses. First, we need to get a lot stronger. If we run into any of the Mayor’s goons we are dead meat. But yes, this is all highly suspicious. After that breakout, all trade with normal traders was suddenly suspended. We only got kobolds and gnome traders to trade with us, if I remember correctly after that.”

Duncan and Petris nodded as they saw vigor in Fenris’ eyes as a new goal was set upon him.

“We need to raise the levels of all the guards. Make a stand against the Mayor and her goons, so that we can get to the bottom of this once and for all,” Fenris said and slammed his fist on the table.