Chapter 961

A day later, a portal opened in front of my mansion and Garnet walked through beside Salicia.

“It’s been a long time.” I greeted the dwarf girl with a smile.

“Ah, but we’ve been together all this… ah nevermind!” Garnet blushed.

“Salicia?”

“They have no clue I’m on your side, Master. I will continue to infiltrate them.”

“Good. Is there any chance you can win anyone else over?”

“Miki, possibly.” She frowned.

“Well, just keep doing your best.”

“Yes, Master.” She bowed, and then went back into the portal and let it close behind her.

“Now, Rub- ah… it’s Garnet now, right?”

“Mm… although I’ve been considering changing it.”

“Changing it?”

“Yes, it’s customary for dwarves to change their names upon each major chapter of our lives. The name I was born with was Jasper. When I came to the surface, it became Rubee. When I became a Slave, I called myself Garnet.”

“Really? What’s the occasion for changing it now?”

She blushed, “I’m not saying.”

“Okay, so what will your new name be?”

“If and when I decide to change it, I’ll let you know.”

“I see…”

“Don’t worry about such things. You invited me to work with you promising Orichalcum.”

“Yes, Bernice claims you’re a magic blacksmith. You must have leveled quickly in the dungeon?”

“Please… becoming a decent blacksmith involves more than just leveling. Although leveling can certainly speed things along, it becomes practice. The time within that dungeon moved differently than time out here. I had been within that dungeon for over five years.”

“F-five years!”

“Mm…”

“Bernice mentioned something like that in her rambling, but I didn’t realize it had been so long. Is it the same for Carmine and the fake?”

“Deek? No, they were tossed in there much later than me. They had only been in there for about two months.”

“Two… no wonder my levels suddenly jumped.”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.  Let’s just focus on your tasks, shall we?”

I escorted her to a nearby blacksmithy. It was set up using the recommendations of the current blacksmiths in town. We had numerous, but none of them were at a particularly impressive level. Attracting opportunists was a lot different than attracting skilled laborers. It should also be pointed out that most people skilled to a certain level didn’t usually end up as slaves on a slave block. The recruitment process that Faeyna started a month or so ago worked splendidly for the infrastructure of the city, but when it came to my own personal strength, we were still lacking.

I had hoped to recruit that powerful blue mage Siti and her Master, but one was dead and the other was under the control of a psychopath. In the end, Aberis was just too small of a country to recruit too many experts. That I ultimately needed to depend on Garnet showed how few magic blacksmiths there were in this country. Even she’d just be considered a fledgling when it came to how strong they could become. God-tier equipment was still a long way away from us.

“Wow… is this place all mine?” Garnet ran around the shop excitedly.

“Mm!” I nodded. “And you can take your pick of assistants too.”

“I want you!”

“Eh? I don’t know anything about blacksmithing!” I said that before realizing that Apprentice Blacksmith did appear under my job list.

“Right… that was him…” She frowned.

Not wanting her to dwell on what she lost by joining my team, I ushered her out of the shop and across the street. The other reason the blacksmith was set up here was that it was just across the street from Terra’s workshop.

“I’d like you to meet someone I think you’ll get along with.” I escorted her into Terra’s shop.

Terra stood up when we entered, and Garnet gasped and took a step back.

“You don’t need to be alarmed. She might be an Earth Golem, but she is also a person.”

I assumed she had been surprised to see a golem in the shop. I hadn’t told her much about Terra and I didn’t know if the other Deek had said anything. As a dwarf, she probably had some kind of sensitivity to such things.

“Th-that’s not it… it’s just… true… this is the flat-chested Master!”

“What?”

“N-nothing!”