Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: The Forge City's Ledger
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“Marcelo, hold on a second. You’re saying we have to track down over a thousand artisans one by one?”
“If it were under normal circumstances, we’d post a notice and spread the word. But when it comes to acquiring so many rare materials—and especially precious ones—people are bound to get curious. The fewer who know about the Dragon Heart, the better.”
“But if we go around showing them the list, they’ll find out anyway, right?”
“We won’t show them the list. We’ll procure them one at a time.”
“... How long is that going to take?”
“If we’re lucky, two or three months.”
“I can’t wait that long!”
Jae-in had a mountain of backlog waiting back on Earth.
“No way! In a massive forge city like this, there has to be some kind of inventory management!”
“I can gather the communally managed items. But the materials needed to process an Ice Dragon Heart include many rarities. Artisans in the Sleeping Volcano Range often hoard those like treasures.”
“What about outside this range? There must be places on the Western Continent that handle this stuff.”
“These are materials you might encounter once or twice in a lifetime—if at all. We’ll put out requests externally too, but don’t hold your breath. With the war going on, it’ll take forever. This place, with artisans gathered from all over the Western Continent, offers the best odds.”
Jae-in fell silent, deep in thought. She’d tried not to interfere with the mountain’s ways, but they were worlds apart from how things worked on Earth.
Respecting cultures and customs was fine, but she couldn’t afford to waste months in her current situation.
“Marcelo, let’s create an inventory ledger.”
When there’s no well for the thirsty, dig one. If it doesn’t exist, make it.
“We can list all their items, and then they can just check it when they need something.”
“They won’t tell us. Rarity means value, and they’re terrified of thieves, so they hide everything.”
“Hmm... Still, wouldn’t some register if they could sell?”
“We’ll give it a shot, but don’t get your hopes up.”
Marcelo posted a notice on the bulletin board in the valley’s busiest gathering spot.
He also spread word about the inventory ledger in crowded taverns.
“Hah! Are they insane? Tell them what we’ve got?!”
A human artisan shouted after hearing Marcelo out.
“You all have items or materials you want to sell, right? And things you want to buy. They’re offering to connect you as middlemen.”
Marcelo calmly explained to the agitated artisans.
“We’ve got to talk it over and deal with trustworthy folks! Spreading it everywhere will just attract thieves! The guys in these mountains lose their minds over good materials!”
Even though it was self-deprecating, it rang true, and every listening artisan nodded.
“We’ll manage the ledger. No one else sees it. Sellers and buyers don’t even need to meet.”
“No way! Why trust you? You might steal it yourself!”
Artisans were stubborn folk, and regardless of race, they all had fiery tempers.
Marcelo spread the word in several other taverns, but the artisans reacted with the same scripted outrage everywhere. It meant they all thought alike.
Na-young approached one artisan raging at Marcelo. He was one who’d knelt before her before.
“Please.”
“G-Goddess... Don’t do this!”
As Na-young bowed her head, the man who’d been fuming grew flustered.
“We’ll keep everything you share completely confidential.”
“Ahem... If the Goddess says so.”
Convinced by his beloved goddess’s plea, he registered his materials, steeling himself for the loss. Starting with him, others followed suit with their personal stockpiles. But it was still just a tiny fraction of all the artisans.
Na-young set up a private space to speak one-on-one with her followers. Devotees of the Violet Goddess Faith came one by one to see her, offering gifts—or rather, tributes. Along the way, they shared any materials or items they wanted to buy or sell, which got added to the ledger.
This way, no one but Na-young knew who had registered what.
“The material we’ve been waiting for just came in!”
Na-young rushed over, shouting.
“Who from?!”
Marcelo shot to his feet.
“You can’t look.”
Na-young hid the ledger behind her back.
“Huh?”
“We agreed not to show it.”
“Wait, not even me?”
“No one but me.”
“Then if the Goddess returns to Earth, that list becomes useless?”
“Hmm, later I’ll let oath-bound people use it.”
“An oath?”
“I’ll impose restrictions. They absolutely can’t tell anyone.”
It was brainwashing, version two.
“I’ll do it.”
Marcelo stepped up without hesitation.
“It interferes with the mind. You sure?”
“I trust the Goddess.”
Thanks to the ledger, materials started trickling in one by one. Sellers knew their items went to someone else but not who.
“Hahaha! Drinks on me tonight!”
“Where’d that punk get the cash?”
“The Goddess found a buyer for his materials.”
“Registered it that long ago and already sold?”
Some sellers stayed quiet, but others blew their windfalls wildly, and word spread fast.
There were sellers, but even more buyers. Anything beyond Dragon Heart processing needs got matched with purchasers.
As trades picked up, everyone started using the ledger, and materials for the Dragon Heart processing were checked off one by one.
“At this rate, we might get them all.”
In just days, many lines on the required materials list were crossed out.
“We can start the intermediate processing now.”
“Jereks’s job, right?”
“...Sorry. I don’t want to go.”
“It’s fine. I’ll take it to Jereks.”
Jae-in delivered the first batch of gathered materials to Jereks.
“Put it down.”
Countless materials had to be pre-processed and synthesized first, then used as new base materials. The process was absurdly complex.
“Need any help?”
“Hmph. No mere human could manage this.”
“I’ll do odd jobs.”
“Do what you want.”
Jereks went to the wall lined with tools, tried several hammers, and picked one.
He grabbed a White Wyvern scale—one of the materials—and placed it on the anvil.
Focusing, Jereks struck the scale with his hammer.
“Huh?!”
Jae-in jumped up in surprise. It was tough, but beyond a certain impact, it shattered rather than bent. Hitting it with a hammer like that?
“Huh?!”
She was shocked once that the scale didn’t break, and again that its shape changed.
It wasn’t dented hammer-shaped. It had subtly lengthened. Without an appraisal skill, the tiny change would’ve been imperceptible, but it clearly altered form while preserving its properties, unharmed by the impact.
“H-How...?”
“Quiet! Out if you’re going to yap!”
Jae-in clamped her mouth shut. Jereks’s gruff words meant nothing to her. She burned with curiosity about how he’d done it. Her researcher’s blood boiled, so she quietly cleaned the workshop while watching his hammering.
She observed as he struck materials repeatedly. Energy flowed from Jereks’s body, linking anvil, Jereks, hammer, and material into a circuit the instant the hammer fell.
It looked like impact, but wasn’t. Jereks infused his energy, reshaping the form while maintaining properties. Even minor scratches vanished.
Jae-in watched his hammering, mesmerized, while sorting the brought materials onto shelves.
“Done? Get out!”
Unable to bear Jereks’s outbursts, she left the workshop—but her mind replayed his hammering.
“Marcelo!”
“Yes?”
Marcelo, glued to the monitor screen Jae-in had given him, turned.
“How did Jereks do that?!”
“Ah, you saw?”
Marcelo sighed, removing his glasses.
“That’s why Jereks could defect.”
“No one else can do it?”
“Only dwarves, beloved by earth and fire.”
“No other races?”
“Humans can’t fly the skies or breathe underwater, right? Same thing.”
“But it worked.”
“Huh?”
“Our chairman could do it all. Hmm... ‘Beloved by earth and fire.’”
Jae-in’s eyes sparkled. Imagine what she could accomplish learning that.
“Will I need to visit Jereks again?”
“...You want to go back? Was he kind to you?”
“No! His mouth was filthy.”
“Then why...?”
Marcelo wondered if Earth humans had different customs.
“I need to learn it.”
“You can’t learn that.”
“We’ll see.”
Jae-in caught Geum Seokho’s refusal-to-quit spirit.
After that, Jae-in handled not just material deliveries but Jereks’s meals and cleaning too.
She also oversaw incoming material supplies and air conditioner design and production elsewhere.
“You okay?”
“Hm?”
Marcelo worried at Jae-in’s dark circles reaching her chin.
“I’m fine.”
“You haven’t slept much, have you?”
“When I work, I barely sleep.”
Potions littered Jae-in’s side.
“And I’m close to figuring it out.”
“R-Really? Then finally, I can kill that damned dwarf... Ahem...”
Marcelo’s true feelings slipped.
“He’s not that bad. Just a foul mouth.”
“...Are you an angel, Jae-in?”
“Angel? Don’t say such horrible things...”
“Huh?”
Unaware of Earth’s angel image, Marcelo tilted his head.
Work continued, and despite Jereks’s twisted personality, he gradually warmed to the silent, diligent Jae-in.
“What do you want?”
“To watch your techniques and learn.”
Jae-in hid nothing.
“Hmph! Dwarven craft isn’t for human scum! Waste of time!”
Jereks didn’t hide his techniques from her for a reason. He knew she couldn’t steal them.
“It’s my time. I’ll use it my way. Need anything else?”
Jae-in polished Jereks’s tool chest until it gleamed. The workshop sparkled.
“Hmph. Do what you want.”
Even while cleaning, Jae-in’s eyes never left Jereks’s hammer and anvil.
“Can all dwarves do what Jereks does?”
“Hmph! As if! Are all humans the same? Same intelligence?”
“So Jereks is exceptional among dwarves?”
“Yeah. Back in the Empire, I was a Flame Master.”
“Sounds impressive, whatever it is.”
“Hah! It’s the title for the dwarf who wields fire better than any. Only the fire’s most beloved earns it.”
“Then why come here?”
She kept the thought—Eastern Continent racists would love him—to herself.
“...None of your business.”
Conversation died, leaving only hammer strikes and broom sweeps in the workshop.