It was well past midnight when the dinner meeting came to an end, leaving me finally alone with Rosie and my students. "Finally, " Logan growled, collapsing on a couch the moment the last guest departed. "Is it wrong that I want to fight in the dungeon rather than deal with such a mess?"
"It's perfectly normal," I responded. "At least you didn't get blindsided by a stupid epithet."
"My apologies, oh great lord," Rosie responded as she bowed, her tone carrying not even a hint of regret. It earned a big laugh from my students.
"I see what it is. Betrayal," I said, letting my voice climb high. "Guards, off with their heads! How dare they mock their liege!"
The laughter boomed even louder. It was easy to entertain people after they were bored out of their minds with a political event.
"Can't we just stab them?" Jessica asked. "Some of the nonsense they are spewing should be a crime."
I shrugged. "That's the way the game is played, unfortunately. It's why I didn't argue about my new name."
"Come on, professor. You have to admit, it fits you," Terry said, feeling comfortable enough to be more informal behind closed doors. "Steel King. It reflects your strength and authority, yet it plays to your blacksmith identity as well."
"I have to agree with him. Terry makes a good point," Rebecca joined in, using the opportunity to slide just an inch closer, which made Jessica's gaze tighten.
"Still, a King. Isn't it a bit … pretentious?"
Rosie's expression turned sharp. "We have to. The war is escalating faster than we expected, which makes people restless. So, calling you a king is a declaration of intent, both to the refugees and the cities."
Terry looked confused. "Wouldn't that make them target us more?" Terry asked.
"No," Rosie responded. "They are already targeting us more than we expected before the declaration. The last attack surprised me deeply. If they are already committing multiple ascends after losing two, a declaration of intent would help us better than keeping a low profile."
"Especially since we finally have our own ascended. A combination of increased firepower and production means anything less than a considerable army of ascended could threaten us," I completed. "At least twenty, probably led by their elites."
"Really, that many?" Logan asked. "Is Lady Maria that strong?"
"Not exactly," I responded. "Thanks to our weapons, we have the advantage over normal troops. But, when it comes to ascended, it's the lack of high-end firepower that keeps us back. Maria and Eleanor solve that problem. I doubt there are many ascended that would dare to challenge me on top of a metal wall, and even before that, I could use the metal delivered by the cannons as a tool to impede, with Eleanor delivering the killing blow. Any surprise, Maria could deal with from range."
"Assuming, of course, they attack our heavily fortified positions, and not sabotage us from a distance," Rosie responded. "I have heard some grumbling from my contacts in Asterion. I don't know why, but they seem to be very alarmed about the latest attack. Something about forbidden weapons?"
Guessing the source was an easy task. "The crystals," I commented, which made everyone but Terry and Rebecca look at me in confusion. "They have used a bunch of crystals, which increased the density of the energy that turns ordinary beasts into monsters," I said.
"So, it makes the beast wave more dangerous?" Rosie said, who was not here for the attack, so it made sense for her not to have all the details.
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"Not exactly," I responded. "It was just a small part of the problem. The real danger comes from the dungeon. That energy is pretty unique. The dungeons process it somewhat to turn it into mana."
"That sounds like a good thing," Rosie said, but her voice was grim. She was sharp enough not to miss the implication.
"It would, but the problem is that the dungeon monsters are a fundamental part of the process, balancing mana and that mysterious energy. When unbalanced, the monsters come out…"
"Enhanced?" Jessica guessed.
"Corrupted," Terry responded, his voice grim. "I assumed it was just a cosmetic effect, but if it's actually banned by the cities, it has to be more. Is this why you hurried that much to open that new gate in the swamp, sir?"
"What new gate?" Rosie questioned.
"One we opened to get some mana infusion as an insurance," I said. "Though, it went better than I expected, and I actually found a leyline."
"That's good news indeed!" Rosie responded. "Even without the risk from this new weapon, we could use some extra mana."
"Without a doubt," I said. "The number of mages we employ is growing by the day, and once we spread it to our new partners, the consumption will get more."
"Not to mention we finally have our mage back," Rosie added. "The devastation she brings doesn't come cheap."
"No, it does not," I responded. Even before the ascension, the devastation she could deliver came with a hefty bill in terms of mana. After that, it could only go up. "But, it's more than worth it, especially in a mana dead zone, where she has the strategic advantage against any mage they try to deploy against us."
Rosie nodded. "We might actually survive this war," she delivered nonchalantly. A dark statement, yet none of us blinked. One advantage of climbing from the bottom of a society, no odds were enough to damage our morale. Maybe it would change as the situation slowly evolved into the new normal, but until then…
"So, what's next, professor?" Terry asked.
"I don't know," I replied, which seemed to surprise everyone but Rosie. "We managed to get some advantages to our side, but ultimately, we're much weaker compared to the cities. It limits our hands and forces us into a passive situation. We still have to respond to their moves."
"Won't we do anything if they don't intervene?" he followed. "Maybe we can expand further?"
"No," I replied. "Under the circumstances, expanding is the last thing we want. Even with the new arrivals, it's more about saving them from war than the strategic benefits they bring."
"Why not?" Logan said. "Wouldn't having a bigger army make the situation safer."
"On the contrary, it makes it more dangerous," I said. "The bigger our numbers, the more ambitious we would look, and we would turn into a priority target." I paused a moment, but to my satisfaction, none of them mentioned turning them away to keep us safe.
It would have been a safe choice. But then, the same was true for when Thomas attacked us back then we were living in a tiny outpost. I could have just slipped away safely…
"Meanwhile, we will focus on our development projects," I said. "We have many immediate topics to target. Care to guess some of them?"
"We have the army," Logan started. "And most just expanding the numbers by recruiting more from the new arrivals. Now that the dungeon helps people to level up to high fifties with ease, we would have a significant force, with stats enough to support Epic skills, far more than our reserves allow. Especially since the fire dungeon stopped dropping combat skills as well. Any progress on the reason?"
"Nothing more than guesses," I replied. I suspected the skills were coming from, for lack of a better term, a central database, and my connection with the dungeon overrode that. Unfortunately, it was nothing more than a guess, and considering how carefully dungeon lore was hidden, I doubted I could solve that anytime soon. "Any other topic?"
"Farming yield," Rebecca added. "We need to expand the number of fire and decay plants in their respective dungeons to create an overall improvement. And, having denser farming products would help both the army and the rest of the logistic chain." Read ahead and get updates at M*V*L*E*M*P*Y*R.
"The whole logistic chain for metal production," Terry added. "The new arrival includes a substantial number of blacksmiths among their numbers. Even if a portion of them could gain Mana Forge, we could completely redesign our industrial chain around the creation of metal alloys."
"That would be very welcome," I said. "The less time I spent on creating metal in bulk, the more I could focus on research."
"We need to establish a more efficient trade line," Jessica added. "We need some more esoteric skills to expand, and some contacts that could provide us silver and gold in bulk wouldn't be amiss. We're running low on reserves."
"All true," I admitted. "Naturally, you would be taking the lead on all those topics as my trusted students."
"Really, professor. You're going to dump all of it on us?" Terry asked. "What will you be doing?"
I smirked. "Naturally, I will split my time walking around and being visible, while secretly calculating my new research project. It's one new perk I have as the newly anointed lord of this god-forsaken place."
"Not the lord, the king," Rosie corrected, which was enough to turn that smirk into a petulant frown.
I looked at them angrily while she sported the smirk she stole from me, while my students laughed at me.