Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Tree Station 7---

After a trip over Minas Palan, Mike arrived at Tree Station 7. Looking at the sky, he couldn't help his heart being moved. The tree and city here were a little special, thanks to the power of Lady White permeating the place.

The tree and tree buildings here bore white and rose-colored blossoms, creating a mesmerizing scene together with the vast mountain lake right at the foot of the tree and the many flowers sprouting everywhere. Compared to the snow-covered mountains, the valley had the warm atmospherics of late spring or early summer.

Mike didn't know a lot about this snake deity from another world expect that Seth had somehow befriended her and she obviously had the power to control the weather in a certain area because this was not the effect of barriers like in other tree stations.

It was no wonder that many people flocked to this place to join Lady White's cult. Although they would have to give her offerings and prayers, it was really a beautiful place to live safely. But taking in the scenery was not the reason he came.

~What a beautiful place. Can't we stay here for a little longer?~ White Hilt asked from his waist, surprising Mike. The catman didn't feel too different wearing a relic-rated Oatharmor, together with the repaired Schooling Gloves and the Helmet of Krios, but he still had to get used to the talking sword.

“Although I understand what you mean, I had enough vacation. I wanted to set off right away.”

TS 7 was the last station before reaching Agra, and the station with the shortest way to reach Thres, the city the Muir empire was currently refurbishing in former Beta. Although Mike's divine quest was to travel to the perpetual storm and acquire <Storm ore>, Mary had asked him to go by Thres, before entering the unclaimed mountains.

They called it the unclaimed mountains since nobody there claimed territory. The mountain range to the north and west of Beta was dotted with small settlements of companies or adventurers meant to mine ores, or farm dungeons for resources.

These places didn't even have the power to claim territory if they wanted to, usually, they were built and manned just strong enough to resist the environment and monsters. This also meant that it was quite a dangerous place to travel, far from civilization and society.

But before he reached there, Mike was going to take a look at the efforts in Thres, to report about back to Minas Mar.

“You must be Lord Mike?” a beautiful, unnaturally pale lady with three scale marks under each of her eyes approached him.

“L-Lady White?” the catman asked, but the woman shook her head gently.

“I'm a representative of Lady White, High priestess Jade,” she replied with a bow, introducing herself.

“Oh! I see. Did you expect me?” he asked, this time she nodded.

“We have been informed that Lord Mike is on a divine quest and would come through here. I would not have bothered you, but there has been news from Thres and we wanted to ask you for a favor since you are already traveling in that direction,” she explained.

“News from Thres? What happened?” Mike asked curiously, after all, he was going there anyway, whether he granted the favor or not.

“ Governor Adam asked for the support of Spring City. They are currently struggling with the occurrences of new and unknown beasts and lack the healers to further develop Beta district,” she readily explained the contents of Beta's request.

Mike had already heard about that. Seth told them that this was most likely because of the “slumbering realm” slowly waking up, prompting originally native beasts to reappear on Urth. What he never heard of was-

“Spring City? Did you finally decide to name your Tree Station like this?” he asked, a little surprised to suddenly hear her say a name he didn't know. She blushed a little and smiled.

“Yes, Lady White finally decided on the name, since she got tired of calling it Tree Station 7 all the time.”

“Well, it's a fitting name, I guess?” “ At least that, it is;” the priestess agreed.

“You wanted to ask me for a favor?” Mike came back to the earlier topic.

“Yes, Lady White intends to send a group of priestesses to their support, but we don't have enough high-level warriors to assure their safety. The mountains have become very chaotic lately. She hoped you could accompany them on their way to Thres, as an insurance. Of course, we don't mean for you to do it for free. We offer transport, food, and a proper reward. ”

“I don't mind, but I wanted to set off right away, “ Mike said a little unsure whether he would have to stay at Spring City longer if he promised to help. Although White Hilt would have liked that.

“You don't have to worry about that. Everyone has already prepared and waiting outside the city, in case you wanted to start your journey right away,” Jade said with a smile.

When she led him outside the barrier, his eyes fell on a massive white snake. It was still far away from the size of Python, but comparable to the two adult Titanoboa's Evan had nurtured. Despite its size, when Mike checked the snake was only lv.46.

There was a whole structure on the back of the snake, resembling a train, or a segmented bus. Many adventurers were currently occupied with loading the last pieces of luggage, while a group of ladies, resembling Jade, were waiting beside the snake.

“This is the Snow Snake, Lord Evan was friendly enough to offer two of the juveniles he bred to Lady White. After being granted her blessing, its growth sped up. Although their strength is still lacking to be a reliable protector in these mountains, they are good mounts and very fast,” Jade explained the scene.

Mike suddenly felt much better about doing Spring City this favor. Not only was he given a warm and comfortable ride, but he could also spend the whole journey with a group of beautiful and amicable-looking ladies. Even as a taken man, he couldn't deny that he preferred the company of pretty ladies, over rough guys or being alone.

“Wipe that smile off your face, we have a private compartment,” a warm voice like honey dripped in his ears, as a pair of warm and soft arms hugged his neck from behind. Or rather, took him into a gentle choke hold.

“Lydia?!” he exclaimed as his heart jumped.

“Yeah! Did you think I would let you run off alone, because of some divine quest?” she whispered in his ear with a sneer. Mike swallowed heart. He knew that tone, that was the voice of a predator. Too often, had he heard his sister talk like this to men. If she talked like this to Seth, the two would often be gone for several days...

“D-Does Seth know about this?”

“Sure, when I asked him, he readily told me to enjoy our vacation. Mary even helped me time everything to catch a nice ride here.”

He had been tricked! But somehow he didn't feel bad about it. His friends had gone as far as to prepare a honeymoon for them, when they had not even married or eloped, yet.

“And if you behave... who knows what I might be ready to do,” she said with an ambiguous glance at the group of priestesses. Mike gulped hard again, had Lydia spent too much time with his sister? A sneaky glint lit up in his eyes, as his tail sneaked up to tickle Lydia.

Surprised by the underhanded move, Lydia loosened her hold, finding herself in Mike's tight embrace just a moment later.

“Then let's enjoy our little vacation;” Mike said in a deep voice and stole a kiss.

“...Can I really leave the protection of my people to you two?” Jade's disillusioned voice broke their lovey-dovey atmosphere. She grew unsure about this. Had Minas Mar sent two strong guards, or had she invited two foxes into her chicken coup?

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