“What did you do?” Sapphire cried out.
“I just made a friendly little competition.”
“Against Gabbro, the world’s greatest blacksmith?” Sapphire’s voice sounded a bit panicked.
“Has your memory already started returning?” I asked in surprise.
“No, but it doesn’t need to return to have heard about Gabbro! He’s so famous that his works on the surface are still talked about among blacksmiths to this day.”
“He’s that amazing?”
Lapis nodded. “Daughter is correct. My brother is synonymous with blacksmithing. He’s the reason people say dwarves are good blacksmiths. Those who have trained under him have all become famous. Before the fall of the deep dwarves, we’d get a few surface-dwellers every year that would come down to apprentice under him. Of course, most were turned away, and he reserved his most incredible techniques to deep dwarves only. Even before the fall, he had stopped working and gone into retirement.”
“I see… you know, that would have been good information to know an hour ago!” I growled.
Lapis’s cheeks turned red. “You asked me who the best blacksmith among the survivors was. I simply said my brother was their leader and they’d likely all follow his lead. I’m honestly impressed you even got him to pick up a hammer. I haven’t seen him hold a hammer in years. It’ll be so nostalgic…”
“Master… I trained for a while in that dungeon, but I barely have and level in Magic Blacksmith and almost no training with magical metals. I barely worked for a few weeks outfitting your army before the demon lord attacked.”
“We agreed to a simple item. Just a silvthril dagger. Um… actually, I have no clue how we’re going to tell who is better.” I frowned. “I suppose we need an impartial judge.”
“Master! I’m done for! There is no way I can win against him.”
“We might have a chance. Don’t forget, you have me! With my Slave Master ability, I can amplify your powers. He said you’re free to pick an assistant you want, so if we work together, we might have a chance.”
Sapphire lifted her head, looking slightly optimistic for a second, but then she shook her head. “No! It’s useless. Even with your state boosts, skill is skill!”
“My brother may be stubborn, but he’s not malicious. Even if you don’t win, it’ll probably be fine.”
“Uhh… actually, we need to win.” I coughed.
“What? Why?” Sapphire asked.
“Well, I mean, you see… to get him to take the bet, I had to offer up something of sufficient value to entice him to compete.”
“What did Master promise him?” Sapphire asked, immediately crossing her arms.
“Ahh… well… it sort of appeared after I started digesting the lore King Diorite left me. I didn’t even realize it could be stored in such a way. In retrospect, I don’t think he was trying to give me a cheat to fighting Twilight. I’m pretty sure this was the main reason he had handed me that piece of lore in the first place.”
“What are you talking about?” She frowned.
I sighed, and then pulled both girls into my Soul World.
“This is…the place we resurrected in…” Lapis frowned.
“This is my Soul World. It’s like an oversized inventory with an environment. Every dungeon has a treasure room at the end. Some dungeons hold onto their treasures, while others consume them in a desperate attempt to survive longer. Technically, every piece of treasure can be broken into miasma to keep the dungeon going a bit longer, but it’s not always worth the cost, and depending on the dungeon master, you can be left with a small treasure after defeating a dungeon.”
“Yes, we’re well aware of how dungeons work.” Sapphire frowned.
“Yeah… well, you dad also kept his own… treasury.”
I had hidden it just in case, but now I caused some trees to part, revealing a massive pile of resources. It was a variety of rare metals.
“That’s…” Sapphire’s mouth fell open.
“That’s the deep dwarf treasury!” Lapis finished. “When he fled the capital, he must have taken the treasury of precious metals with him! This is a kingdom’s worth of resources!”
“Wait! Why are you showing us this?” Sapphire spun to me.
I coughed. “Well, I might have bet it… on us winning the blacksmith competition.”
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