The Amber Sword volume 3 - Chapter 109

Chapter 109 – Trentheim and the young lord (9)
“No, you guessed wrong, Grandmaster Bosley,” Brendel said.
Mordenkainen closed the door behind him, while the mysterious guest tugged off its robe to revealed a feather dress covering over its wrinkled skin.
Tagiv bowed deeply to Brendel.
“A Subterrane Dweller?” Bosley was stunned for a moment before he spoke with a shocked voice: “Wait, my lord, do you mean—”
His mind spun quickly. Humans would not be able to use the armor at all, but it was a perfect fit for these underground creatures.
“When did you enter into an alliance with the Subterrane Dwellers?”
“Didn’t we fight alongside with them against Lord Macsen a while ago?”
“But…… Just, how exactly did……” The old blacksmith was utterly confused.
Brendel locked down information concerning Lord Macsen, and the latter’s men were either captured or killed in that battle. The information of the Subterrane Dwellers participation in that battle was not revealed.
Since Bosley did not care about Brendel’s military affairs and put all his efforts into his workshop, he did not know that there was a large army of Subterrane Dwellers under Brendel.
“My lord…… powerful.” Tagiv maintained its respectful attitude and answered in weak Kirrlutz.
“In other words, they have submitted to you?” Bosley turned to Brendel and asked.
Brendel nodded.
“Marsha above. How many of them submitted to you?” Bosley exclaimed. He stared at Brendel with a shaken expression as the thought of a possibility surfaced. A palm with five fingers was raised: “…… Five hundred?”
That was the number of armors that Brendel wanted.
Brendel shook his head with a smile.
“My, my. Your thoughts are too simple like the others, Grandmaster Bosley. How would it be possible for every member of the Subterrane Dwellers to use this armor? Surely they have the old and young with them. The figure is much higher—”
[Even though Tagive is respectful to me, he would never place his whole tribe in my hands.]
He eyed Tagiv: “At least three thousand.”
Bosley stumbled, and hurriedly leaned against the table’s corner: “…… I see. It seems that these old bones of mine cannot keep up with you youths any longer.”
Three thousand. How exactly did the young man in front of him defeat the Subterrane Dwellers? Not to mention getting them to submit.
It was no wonder the younger mercenaries idolized him. Bosley originally sneered at them a little, but now it looked like they were not doing it blindly.
“I got it. It appears that Lord Palas will be in big trouble.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Count Randner is going to be the one behind the next attack. That cunning bastard will be more careful with us because of Lord Macsen’s failure.”
“You mean that Lord Palas will have reinforcements?”
“Isn’t that a guaranteed thing……?”
Bosley rubbed his chin: “So this is why you want to arm the Subterrane Dwellers.”
“Indeed,” Brendel patted the armor and turned towards the Subterrane Dweller, “Tagiv, come over and test this out.”
“My lord, what is…… this? ” Tagiv could not see the armor, but it could hear that the thing Brendel was holding was something metallic.
“Wear this and you will know.”
“But, I’m a…… witch doctor, my lord!” Tagiv’s hands went over the armor and exclaimed.
“It’s fine, I’m just letting you test it out. This is the gift that I’m giving to you. Are you going to refuse it?”
“Gift?” Tagiv answered with a pause.
“Your tribe isn’t particularly strong in the Underworld right?”
Tagiv became silent. If they were strong enough, they would not be chased up to the surface. Compared to living on the surface, they would very much prefer to go back where they come from. The numbers of their tribe were considerably big, but they were still unable to find an Underworld Lord to protect them. Rather, they were considered cannon fodder for others. Its ancestors had left the old and weak to its command, and the genuine fighters that it had that were considered strong in the Underworld were few.
It nodded.
“There’s no problem at all. I always tell my subordinates this, if you can’t improve your personal skills and techniques, then you can raise the equipment’s level that you wear.”
“Raising the level……. on equipment?” Tagiv repeated this sentence with some doubt.
“I intend to send five hundred suits of heavy armor to the Subterrane Dwellers. They are specially designed for your race to wear.”
Tagiv was evidently surprised by the number as both its hands trembled and rattled the armor. Five hundred suits of armor were also considered an enormous amount of wealth. An Underworld Lord would not spend metal to equip a group of Subterrane Dwellers which were considered as cannon fodder.
“But…… the Subterrane Dwellers….. don’t wear armor!”
[What the hell? What do you mean you don’t wear armor! Didn’t your future lord and city-invader expert Aila lead all of you wearing these suits of armor as the vanguard? The armor in your hands was designed by your own darn race!]
It was indeed the original prototype that Aila designed. It was also ahead of its time by five years. Brendel, unfortunately, did not get the recipes of the future variations. In the end, the youth said a little irritably:
“Do you want to be treated as cannon fodder all the time? These suits of armor are specially designed for you and once you wear them, history will be made—”
“Hold on!” Bosley suddenly interrupted: “My lord, what exactly did you say? Do you mean that this armor has never existed before?”
“Yes?”
Bosley looked at the youth in disbelief and appeared to be a little angry: “A new suit of armor that has never been tested or even worn by these damned creatures, and you got me to make two hundred of them!?”
It was almost at a bellow at the end of his words. He felt like Brendel was playing a joke on him.
Who had done this before in history? A new set of armor that had not even been tested and instead of went into production? Did this idiot lord think that it was a toy?
If Brendel was rich enough to rival the entire kingdom’s revenue, he could still understand his action as a wasteful noble’s behavior, but it was clear that he was just a new lord who had trouble maintaining his own territory.
“The amount of metal spent to make these armor is almost all the available metal ores that Firburh has. I even refused to let my workers go out and assist in the city repairs because of this project. Even that little girl Amandina came to grumble about this issue more to me a few times !”
The more Bosley thought about it, the angrier he became. When he thought back at that moment when Brendel said he was supporting the princess…… he wanted to smash the armor on his head. If everyone around the princess was the same as this youth, then he suddenly doubted the future of this damned kingdom.
[Marsha above. A royal blacksmith getting fooled by an idiot! No, this will not do. If he doesn’t give me an explanation, I’ll show him my temper. And my temper is very bad!]
The old man glared at Brendel.
The youth did not change his expression, not even a little, though he was a little surprised at Bosley’s anger. However, he could not help but snicker at his last sentence.
“Really, Grandmaster Bosley, is there a need to be so angry?” He shook his head.
“You can even laugh at this point?! You better give me an explanation, damn it! Otherwise, I’ll definitely threaten you!”
“What sort of threat?” Brendel’s smile was befitting of his age. Innocent and sweet.
“I, I’ll go a strike!” Bosley stomped his foot.
“Okay, yes, please calm down a little. Grandmaster Bosley, you’re the head of the royal blacksmiths, can’t you tell if this suit of armor works on Tagiv?”
“It’s exactly because I’m the head blacksmith that I’m telling you this is an irresponsible act!” Bosley roared, but his eyes went to the armor on Tagiv’s body. He was quite familiar with the suits of armor because he made them with his own hands. Even with the first glance, he knew that Brendel’s design did not have any problems.
It only looked like the size was a little too big on the Subterrane Dweller.
But Tagiv did mention he was a Witch Doctor, which meant that the warriors of the Subterrane Dwellers would be bigger and stronger in size. The suits of armor should be a good fit for them. If there were Subterrane Dwellers with burlier sizes, he could simply craft a few sets suited for them.
Bosley’s fury was quickly replaced with surprise. Based on the designs that Brendel gave, it appeared like it had gone through at least several rounds of tests to make sure that the armor fit the Subterrane Dwellers’ physiology. Even he would not able to make a suit of armor perfectly for them the first time.
Was this youth a genius blacksmith?
But he could not believe this notion, and instead asked with a huff: “You’re not the one who came up with this thing, right?”
Brendel nodded. He was not shameless enough to steal someone else’s work: “It’s a friend of mine. He had studied the Subterrane Dwellers quite well.”
Aila somehow became his friend at that moment and it sneezed in the Underworld.
“At least that makes more sense. You better stop giving me this kind of surprises in the future. Leave your stunts to people of your age instead. My old heart can’t take this sort of torture.” Bosley stopped pursuing this issue when Brendel satisfied his suspicions.
“Really, you’re exaggerating, why would I do this on purpose? You’re my greatest asset in this territory.” Brendel said with a grin.
“I’m just working for you temporarily.” The old blacksmith reminded him with a mutter, but Brendel’s pandering made him feel pleased.
Brendel merely rubbed his forehead at his response: “Well, how about it Tagiv, are you willing to accept this gift?”
Tagiv hesitated. Its hands were going through every nook and cranny of the armor as Brendel and Bosley spoke to each other. It had practically confirmed that the armor was indeed made for them.
It was quite tempting, but there were no free meals in this world after all. Tagiv finally asked: “What are….. the conditions?”
Brendel nodded as he was greatly satisfied with Tagiv’s answer. It was obvious that he could not just give away five hundred suits of armor. While they were considered to be allies, this ‘gift’ was not really a gift.
“The conditions are simple,” Brendel said, then went beside Tagiv and whispered into its ears.
Tagiv paused momentarily and went into another bout of hesitation, but it finally nodded.
“It’s a…… deal.”