As we arrived at the courtyard, I felt the wards settle over me, giving me a sense of suppression. Not because they were particularly strong, but because I didn’t appreciate the sensation of being under the wards that weren’t under my control.
The fact that they assumed I was magically insensitive made it worse. They didn’t even bother adjusting the intensity, giving me a sense of suppression, tempting me to break them.
I ignored the weight along with the servant that led me inside and instead focused on my surroundings … particularly the guards, making sure that there was no one that could threaten me like an undercover Eternal soldier.
Luckily, it seemed that their entanglement with the royal family wasn’t at the level of filling the residence of every prince. Maybe they had a few spies, but no one that they bothered to empower.
Good, I thought as walked through the official entrance, the inner wards parting as well, allowing me to effortlessly bypass the strongest part of the defenses. As I passed them, an upbeat melody reached to my ears, marking a celebration.
The servant continued to escort me, and I noticed the nobles filling the place. I looked rather absurd among them, my blacksmith outfit contrasting greatly with the rich nobles that filled the place. I looked like a barbarian among them.
Naturally, I noticed more than one mocking whisper about my clothing … though they made sure to keep that whisper down. After all, I also represented an important source of high-quality weapons, hence my invitation. They didn’t want to lose such a great opportunity just in case.
Soon, they led me to a garden, one that was filled with a lot of noble guests, and even more servants keeping them well-fed while dancers and musicians kept them entertained.
At the center, there was the prince that invited me. To my surprise, rather than waiting for his servant to lead me to him like it was appropriate, he jumped up to his feet and walked toward me with quick steps. “And, the guest of honor of today’s party is finally here,” he declared loudly. “The courageous blacksmith that dared to strike against the suffocating dominance of the blacksmith guild!” he greeted.
I couldn’t help but smile as the prince greeted me in such an explosive manner. It was a great honor, to the point of being absurd … meaning he needed something important from me, important enough to greet me with such aggression.
Interesting.
“My Prince,” I said, giving a slight bow … one that was far too weak to be respectful to a royal, especially coming from a peasant, even a high-leveled one.
Immediately, I noticed several frowns around, but the prince managed to hide his distaste quickly as he led me toward a table that was occupied by about a dozen noblemen and noblewomen who were resting, enjoying wine and food.
Most of them were unfamiliar, and some I recognized from my research. None of them were particularly important, meaning the prince didn’t call any of his important supporters, not wanting to insult them with my presence.
It would have been quite a hidden insult if I cared the slightest. Instead, I listened as the prince rattled over my ear for almost an hour, while I listened to his nonsense. Luckily, the food was enjoyable — even though once again, they went for the flash rather than quality, assuming I was easy to trick.
My job got even easier.
Finally, he gestured to a servant, and they led the other guests away, leaving me alone with the prince. “I need your help for a topic that’s vital for the fate of our country, Grandmaster,” he said, once again exaggerating his compliments.
“What exactly do you need, my prince,” I said, but even as I did so, I reached his soul space and subtly suppressed his stats.
Not that it was difficult. He was merely level twelve. His stats were unnaturally high, but that was to be expected with the potential knowledge of the royal family. However, I didn’t push my Charisma yet. “I need your help repairing a weapon,” he said.
“There’s no weapon I can’t repair,” I declared.
“Good to see you’re confident,” he declared, relaxing visibly as I accepted the task.
“I can just take it with me. I promise you that it’ll be repaired in a week at most,” I added, feeling free to promise. It was easy to promise things when I didn’t expect to actually fulfill them.
The prince had a sheepish expression, one that he did his best to look casual, but I could sense a sudden tenseness. “Unfortunately, that would not do. The weapon we have to repair is a secret treasure, and you have to visit it.”
“That’s acceptable, but that means I have to first stay in my new business and make sure everything is in order, my prince,” I said, finally pushing the magical weight of my stats against him, and he immediately looked dazed.
Privacy wards around us had some defensive features to block me from using my Charisma aggressively, but interfering with those defensive features was even easier than temporarily suppressing his stats.
“It’s … problematic,” the prince admitted, dazed. “It’s really important for that weapon to be repaired. It might be the key to putting me on the throne.”
“What kind of weapon are we talking about, my prince?” I asked, even though I already guessed the answer.
“A spear,” he replied, and immediately, the memory of a broken spear popped into my mind. It seemed that the fourth prince had some substantial benefits from the attack against my girls.
“Very good, my prince. I can repair it, but before I can justify my lengthy disappearance, I need to set up my operation. How about if you put me a hefty order. Maybe something like ten thousand weapons.”
“What would I do with that many weapons?” he asked. “I can’t even afford such a huge order.”
“It will be only good for your eventual bid to the throne if it’s known that one of the royal princes cares about the ordinary citizens of the public,” I said, as I did so, I started to increase the pressure on the Charisma, but with it, started to add several spells to further muddle his thinking.
The spells were hard to cast, pushing my capabilities to their limits, but I needed them to convince him of my words. “I sincerely believe that you care about us peasants, my prince. It’s why I, a peasant blacksmith that had risen from nothing, is supporting you with all my Strength, enough to forge ten thousand weapons for free so that you can build up your reputation against your brothers, and gain the throne.”
The spell and my words were calculated. Even with the spells, I couldn’t just brainwash him to actually care about the peasants. However, it was possible to quickly convince him that he managed to successfully tricked me into that fact.
Therefore, he wouldn’t suddenly find it suspicious that I started to support him with a lot of free weapons.
“Of course. You’re one of my greatest supporters because you believe in my true cause,” he quickly answered, even his dazed state unable to prevent him from lying to increase my support. “And, you’re right, visible support to peasants would help my cause,” he said.
In that moment, I enhanced the pressure even more, and put him in a trance. “However, you have to do something striking for your sudden support against the peasants to be convincing. Why not sponsor a sudden influx of new magical students from all corners of the Empire? That way, everyone will be excited for a new Emperor that actually cared about his citizens.”
“Hmm,” he hummed, too dazed to say something as I did my best to push that idea into his subconsciousness, repeating it again and again. This part of the trick, I was using for the first time, so I wasn’t particularly sure how effective it would be.
But it couldn’t hurt.
Hopefully, it would work and he would start pushing for more peasant intake for Silver Spires quickly, which would give Helga a much better source for Knowledge Spark.
I slowly lessened the pressure once more. “Now, my prince. Let’s focus on exactly how can I support you by providing you with all those weapons,” I said. “I can deliver at least five hundred weapons a day, maybe even a thousand if you can help me resolve my problem of acquiring high-quality metal ores…”
With that, our private meeting turned normal. Soon, we came to an agreement that I would stay and supply him with endless weapons that he would distribute toward the locations that were struggling most with the monster attacks, and in a few weeks, I would move to that secret base to repair that mysterious spear.
Naturally, he didn’t mention anything about Silver Spires, but when I mentioned it, he just smiled smugly like he had a genius idea.
With that, the first step of my plan was complete. Now, I just needed to return to the capital and start working.
—
{Strength: 45 Charisma: 45
Precision: 45 Perception: 45
Agility: 45 Manipulation: 45
Speed: 45 Intelligence: 49
Endurance: 60 Wisdom: 45}
{Purified Divine Spark: 33280}
{Pseudo-HP: 15000 Mana: 20000}
{ADDITIONAL SPARKS
Light - Chosen 7.4
Nature - Chosen 10}
{MINIONS
GODDESSES
Elven Goddess
Goddess of Knowledge}
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