BXBX NOVEL 725 Chapter 725
Over the next couple of days Marcus used his time to go to the Blazegram forge and work on the adamantine items he needed to create.
He had sent off a letter requesting the use of the forge within the castle, but he only needed that to work with amethros, so did everything else at his usual place of business.
However, during this time his work was a bit more than he expected it to be as one of the former beginners he had taught caught him when he entered the building and had him give out more lessons.
‘Whew. It has been a while since I last taught anyone, but that certainly was a bit more than I was expecting.’ Marcus thought.
Practically all of the members of the forge other than those who already had a forge skill of five or higher attended the lesson and asked Marcus a multitude of questions over several hours.
Still, it had been enjoyable enough to help them out and Marcus promised to give another lesson when he had the time.
After that he got back to work and managed to complete a new staff for Alaric, and Lyra’s kukris before a letter from the castle arrived for him.
‘They are as fast as always. But I guess that is to be expected considering all I have done for them and my position.’ Marcus thought as he read through the letter.
Once he had finished up, he said farewell to Thabon and immediately headed to the castle to begin work on the numerous amethros accessories he had promised to make.
When he arrived in the forge though, there were three people there he was surprised to see.
Before him was the king, Gwyneira, and Boreas.
Sensing that this was not just a pleasure visit, Marcus straightened himself up and looked sharp while waiting for them to speak.
The first to go was the king, and to Marcus’ surprise he bowed his head to him.
“Marcus you have my eternal gratitude for all you have done for my kingdom, as your recent actions have saved us from a possible war.”
Dumbfounded, Marcus was not sure what war the king was speaking about, until he remembered the soldiers he had captured from the empire that lie on the continent to the east.
“I see, things were really that serious. Would you mind explaining exactly what happened after I brought in those prisoners?”
Nodding his head, the king obliged Marcus and told him of the ensuing problems and boons that came in the wake of the captured soldiers.
“While they were immune to normal interrogation techniques, one of our archmages wore specializes in psychic magic was able to hypnotize the enemy general you captured and have him give up the details of his empire’s plan.”
The king then relayed to Marcus everything they had learned which was quite grave.
The empire, which was only a single kingdom away from conquering the entire continent it was currently on, was beginning to look elsewhere for their next campaign.
Unfortunately, they had set their sights on Borealia. and by extension Tralenstein.
Both kingdoms that were poised to become one soon enough, would have made quite the prize and a great foothold on this continent.
It also made strategic sense, as when combining the two kingdoms, Borealia and Tralenstein could be counted as the current strongest or at least second strongest nation on the continent.
By conquering them early it would show the other nations that empire could not be opposed and that they might roll over without even a fight.
To that end, they had sent over their advance agents to weaken Borealia slowly, while also sending anyone they captured over to be used as slaves on the front lines of their final war on their home continent.
“Thanks to you though, their efforts were caught and halted. And in our interrogation, we also discovered other soldiers and spies that working to slowly buildup to the downfall of the kingdom. Thankfully, Boreas intervened and has brought an end to all of this.” The king said with a look of admiration and relief.
“Yeah, well, I could not just let them do as they please in the kingdom I made while I am here. It was mostly just a bit of light exercise for me. I rounded them all up before they even realized what happened.” Boreas said with a smirk on his face.
He then told Marcus about how they used all the people they had captured as bargaining chips, and along with a strong arm from the adventurers guild came to favorable terms with the empire to the east.
“They were certainly not happy about it, and their current empress actually tried coming here along with some elite forces to cause some trouble. But luckily the guild’s leader and I were expecting something and sent her packing. Before forcing her into negotiations.”
Hearing this Marcus was certainly taken aback. He had never expected the leader of this militaristic empire he had heard about to personally lead a force over to Borealia in retaliation.
Another thing also caught his attention, since Boreas mentioned the leader of the entire adventurers guild. but Marcus decided to leave inquiries about them for later and stay on topic.
“So how did these negotiations go? I imagine that it was favorable since you have such a big grin on your face.” Marcus said to boreas.
“Of course, they did. We routed their strongest force and sent that headstrong empress packing. Sure, she is strong at level ninety-five, but against me and that monster leading the guild she never stood a chance. And with our victory these are the terms we got sealed with the strongest magical binding contract that is backed by the adventurers guild.”
Boreas quickly listed off everything that he and the guild had forced on the empire, and Marcus’s jaw practically hit the ground with how one sided it was.
“So, they can never attack any nation that is not attached to the continent that they currently have conquered and had to pay reparations to Borealia and the adventurers guild in the way of ten unique skill orbs, one hundred cores and materials from monsters or beasts level eighty or higher, one thousand adamantine ingots, and ten amethros ingots. Do they even have all of that?” Marcus asked, astounded by how high that price was.
When they had gotten access to the vault in Tralenstein he knew that they had only around a third of what was being pretty much extorted from the empire to the east.
“Yeah, they have even more than that much, but it is a small price to pay. If the adventurers guild was not so virtuous when it came to conquering, they could have completely taken over. In return they also got back everyone that we captured so it was not all that bad for them. Oh, and here is your reward for helping us out.”
Boreas casually tossed a magic bag towards Marcus and beckoned him to open it up.
When he did, he saw the shining contents within and went wide eyed with utter disbelief.
‘Twenty magic cores, and one, two, three, four, five. Five amethros ingots!’