There were fierce undercurrents currently traveling through the entirety of the Bosque Kingdom. Fierce enough that even some neighboring countries were feeling it.
The war situation had not developed much until recently, but everyone had been anticipating it. Therefore, it came to no one's surprise when Volcan finally made a move. What was surprising was the ease with which the young emperor made this move.
Within a week, Rift City home of the Monte auction house had fallen onto the lap of Mite Volcan. Worst of all was the weird inactivity of the Galeburst dynasty to the news. While Rift city was closer to the Volcan border, the difference was negligible.
But things weren't that simple either. The young regent prince had perished! It was shocking news that meant the kingdom had been left without anyone to lead it.
In reality, there were two other princes capable of managing in theory. The second prince Aaron Bosque was sickly since young and had been bedridden for the past couple of months. Ironic considering his name.
The third prince, Alvin Bosque, had only recently become a teenager and reached the C-class. There were rumors that he wasn't too far off B-class but rumors could not be trusted. Due to his young age, he was unfit to lead a kingdom in war.
For Samuel, this was all a headache in the making. All of his plans to build up the strength to support Duke Lansworth was being tossed out the window. There was no time for them anymore!
"I'll need to rely on this…" Samuel muttered before reaching for a magic lamp. The sun was nearly set and the darkness of the night was starting to envelop the office.
What he meant to rely on was not a lamp though. It was actually a piece of paper on his other hand. It contained all the details about making an educational institution in Bosque.
The matter was not too difficult. As long as one could procure a building and certify they have experience in what they are teaching, they were deemed qualified. Procuring a building in Arbor town was a piece of cake. Samuel was actually in charge of not just the Freedom Union branch but of the entirety of Arbor town.
That was because any town mayor would have to rely heavily on the Freedom Union to do things like getting rid of monsters or just find and maintain any nearby dungeons. They couldn't refuse the branch leader in that situation.
As for qualifications, Samuel was an A-class adventurer who even earned himself a nickname in his heyday. He was not looking to hoodwink anyone and that was almost guaranteed.
Nonetheless, Samuel didn't enact this plan right away. He didn't have the time or resources to form an entire academy. It was thus supposed to be a more long-term goal. With the support of Duke Lansworth making and financing it was easy.
"But I won't get that as things stand…" Samuel initially sought to prove himself and then ask for help. Asking for help right away would show one was not reliable. In the end, Samuel would have to not be reliable.
Schools and academies were the perfect way to procure manpower while also bettering society. In fact, making some sort of school had always been a goal Samuel made for himself even when he first joined the Freedom Union.
Enacting rules beneficial for adventurers, giving those same adventurers that came from poor backgrounds a better alternative to adventuring, namely education. They sounded simple at first glance but clearly required a decent amount of money.
"Hello, is this the office of Samuel Oakley?" The voice of a man asked from behind Samuel's office door. Samuel didn't notice them beforehand which said much about how deep in thought he was.
"Yes it is" Samuel replied calmly.
The door then opened slowly and revealed a man wearing knightly armor. They weren't wearing their helmet so Samuel could tell they were exhausted.
"What brings you here?" Samuel asked while the man entered the room. The knight swept a casual glance at the wine display inside of Samuel's office as well as the orderly stacks of papers on Samuel's desk. The man was worthy of praise.
"Samuel" A feminine voice suddenly said from behind the knight.
"Clarys?" Samuel asked before frowning. Didn't she say she would go on a stroll? Samuel was then struck with a realization. There was a knight and Clarys had entered his office, something happened!
"Wh- Where are they?" Samuel stood up from his chair and asked already fearing the worst. He hadn't trained those kids personally but he would feel immensely guilty if even one of them perished.
"...One is missing, the other won't wake up, and the last is knocked out from exhaustion" Clarys said quickly informing Samuel of their condition.
"Missing…" Samuel repeated. This caused the knight to wince as he knew this was not the truth. Dead! They were dead, not missing! He had not told it any differently either.
After ruminating on that for a bit Samuel sighed and sat back down. He would be getting off work soon, he could figure out a way to cope with that then.
"So, what brings you here?" Samuel asked with a sad smile. It was still work hours.
***
Back in Sanctuary, the smithing competition was going very smoothly. Many of the orcs had already finished their crafts and while they were nothing stellar, Ed still judged them quite highly.
'There is no way assimilation thinks I assimilated whatever this is before' The orc who crafted it called it a multi-purpose bashing device. Ed thought that was just an excuse for the fact that what they created had no actual defined purpose.
Ed couldn't tell if it was a sword, a mace, hell even a bow could somehow be thrown into the array of guesses. Throwing it into the list of maybe to assimilate, Ed moved onto the next thing.
[Ok Orc Iron Sword]
{ A sword of orc iron made by an ok metal smith }
'This is not bad' It might be the first place if the orc's crafting standard did not suddenly drastically improve. As that was impossible Ed was just about ready to call the competition over.
The time each orc spent crafting their equipment was different and when one of them was done, another would replace them. The competition had started to gain traction and more wanted to try their luck at unlocking some sort of hidden smith super talent.
That was obviously not happening.
"I'm done!" An orc shouted causing Ed to look at them and what they brought alongside them.
It was a spear but it also appeared to be an axe. Ed couldn't quite call it halberd though as that would insult the masterpiece this orc had created.
"As if... " Ed muttered before grabbing the weapon that was being passed onto him. It was best described as a spear axe since it wasn't quite anything else.
"You are?" Ed asked the orc who handed him this.
"Uggug" The orc replied somewhat abashed.
"Ah, I do remember hearing your name earlier" Ed said thinking back to a bit earlier.
"So… you don't- You don't remember me from before?" Uggug asked back somewhat afraid.
Ed narrowed his eyes and studied the orc from bottom to top but could not remember they existed at all.
'Weird, but he is probably one of the first few smiths I hired' Ed made this deduction by observing the orcs' craftsmanship. The spear axe was very practical and with little to no mistakes.
"Good! This is the end of this competition! Only those currently forging are allowed to continue!" Ed declared to all present. Those still forging couldn't help but silently thank their luck as they finalized their products.
Unfortunately for them, however, none of them were able to top the spear axe. It was in Ed's eye just an inferior halberd but halberds were not bad weapons from what he could remember.
'Well, all I remember is that they look cool actually…' But that was also a type of strength. Wouldn't orcs with halberd look-alikes seem quite intimidating?
Ed went ahead and grabbed Uggug's hand and lifted it into the air.
"We have a winner!" He declared. The weapon he would make with the ignite metal was now set in stone. It was a halberd.
"I will make your weapon but probably better, watch and learn" Ed didn't believe that Uggug had willfully created what he did. He had to have at least taken inspiration from something else like the humans.
But Ed was not condemning the fact that he had, if everyone had to come up with their own unique and completely original ideas wouldn't the world run out of ideas?
In fact, he wanted to praise it. Uggug had taken somebody else's homework and changed it up a little. How could he not admire that?
"I- I get to watch this!?" Uggug asked again to confirm. Ed nodded feeling that it only made sense.
"But what about the others?" Uggug asked Ed who instantly knew what Uggug was meaning by that question.
The orc wanted to know if the others could be there when he was being taught. Ed believed he wasn't asking this with the kindness of his heart.
"If you want them to stay, let them. Otherwise, you can keep this a private lesson." Ed said to Uggug who felt the decision was crystal clear.
"All of you out!" Uggug said rushing everyone out of the smithy.. He was going to keep this lesson for himself! He could then settle the score with Shel and take over her position. A foolproof plan!
