coldpyr0

A little bit more content for today's chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

I left my office early in the morning following my late-night drinking session with the old Duke and made my way to our, fairly recently established, rune-smithing facilities. I had called on the power of my dungeon to summon and modify objects and creatures while having a more detail inclined section of dwarf smiths observe and study the runes involved in the process, this had led to a few of them opening up a new Rune-Smith job and learning the ways in which equipment could be modified after it's initial creation. Rune-smithing allowed its smiths to engrave equipment and gems with carvings that reacted in expected ways according to the runes used when it was injected with Ether. It was unlike normal smithing methods that imbued an object with powers based on the grade of the material and smith in unison with the desire and will of the smith.

Just this morning I had received news that the rune-smiths had made a monumental break-through, but the details had been left out on what it was regarding. Likely the smiths wanted to share the news personally as it would be as important as they claimed, I could already see their bright eyes waiting for a reward after they explained how 'important' this finding could be. The men enjoyed their booze as much as any dwarf and found even the most mundane improvement to their craft to be mind-blowing with regards to its impact on the future of dwarven technology. They had a running feud with the magma-smiths, were enthusiastic about developing their techniques to be more useful to the Kingdom as a form of 'sportsmanship'.

I didn't see them to be in conflict with each other, personally. Our magma-smiths were excellent at producing amazing quality equipment, but the range varied from smith-to-smith and even day-to-day for the same smith, if they were having a rough time of it. Most magma-smiths would start the day on a simple project with common materials to determine their expected output quality that day before deciding if the result was of sufficient quality to work on an item made of our most precious materials. We had even had several examples of a smith moving back to more normal equipment work if their quality began to drop during the day. We needed just as much, if not more, common equipment as we did powerful equipment. Our rune-smiths did not have this issue, their output did not change much since the methods of improving a piece of equipment was the same every time it was performed for a specific rune. Meaning that their overall output quality tended to be lower but much more stable than their kin.

I walked into the runic laboratory and was greeted by Brodrich Crimsonfist, one of the original 8 dwarves and the first to unlock the rune-smith job. His face was as usual, slightly gaunt, likely due to his habit of spending countless days awake during each of his jaunts into new research. However, his usual complexion was overshadowed by the blindingly bright grin that shone across his face this morning.

"Your Majesty! I have done it! As I expected, we are able to use Deep Gems to increase an individual's affinity with natural elemental Ether!" He waved his hand towards a large tower shield with a rune engraved Deep Emerald embedded in the very center. "The normal engraving methods lead to even a Deep Gem requiring null elemental Ether of similar amounts as the spells output when casting magic that is not of our specialty. HOWEVER! With my new method, that I have finally perfected, the rune allows the Deep Gem to call upon naturally occurring Ether of its element to improve the output of magic channeled through it. This means that, according to my calculations, we can achieve magical outputs equal to a B tier Ether Manipulation skill without owning the said skill of that level. Naturally, this won't help much with Earth and Fire magic for us dwarves, other than helping the mage to reduce the Ether costs slightly more. However, it will easily allow our mages, or even infantry in the case of war,  to efficiently cast spells outside of our basic natural affinities with an output that would be above the average of humans or even equal to some of our fellow fey!"

I slapped the man on the back and joined him in marveling at his new technique in satisfied silence, he had a few of the complex guards demonstrate the tools he had created to show that the output vs cost efficiency of other elemental magic was only slightly less for them when compared to Fire and Earth. "Unfortunately, I have not been able to make multiple Deep Gems work in tandem, so only one such engraved gem will work at a time for an individual. They continue to cause interference in their local area, but it is reduced to only about 3 feet from the center of even our largest gem. Likely the area is reduced by the improved flow of Ether that my rune provides for the gem, but I do not think I can improve this much more than I have even with several generations, there appears to be a natural limit to the flow of Ether that a Deep Gem can handle before it disintegrates."

"So, each of my men should pick a gem for an element that they can most easily work into their existing repertoire. How many such gems could your smiths enchant if supply was not a problem?" The man turned to his assistant a retrieved a paper from the stack he had built while developing this technique. "I expect to able to train even a rookie rune-smith to be proficient in this method within 6 months. Given our current numbers and other project needs, we could enchant at most 5 pieces of equipment a month as we stand now and at most 15 a month 6 months from now unless our numbers increase further." I nodded proudly and gestured to Oswallt. "Make sure to increase our efforts to train normal smiths to evolve their job and increase the pay of any rune-smith who becomes certified in this method to a satisfying level." I turned back to Brodrich and pulled the thin dwarf into a tight bear hug. "You do us proud this day Brother, you shall be granted a choice of 5 barrels from my private reserve and hereby bestow on you the title of Rune Grandmaster with permission to establish a guildhall in the inner city. You may take a position there or remain here and appoint an aide to handle trade with our kin. I also grant this technique the name "The Brodrich Method", and declare it a state secret. All documents regarding the processes are to be safely secured in my office and all official monthly project documents are to refer to this method by name and only with all details such as output to be placed into written record only in my presence." I eyed the nearby smiths and guards who all snapped to attention. Oswallt sighed quietly behind me, likely not looking forward to the increase in workload the record restrictions will cause for him.

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I walked into the meeting room, this time dressed in a more casual outfit but still not fully in regular clothes. My outfit this time was as decorated as my normal king's attire but was made of leather and metal. If my ceremonial armor were likened to a medieval knight than this outfit made me appear to be a human noble at a wartime conference, if you could imagine that. I was wearing orichalcum plated leather vambraces and greaves with a hard multilayer leather cuirass that contained a core of orichalcum between its layers. The clothes underneath were a design copy of my woolen linens but made of dyed bug-bear leather that had enchantments against physical attacks engraved into the underside. I glanced at the Imperial Duke who had been waiting for my arrival, he looked composed currently but I had watched an invisible version of myself be given another verbal dressing down in his quarters not even an hour before he was brought to this room. It was amusing to see that the man did not consider me a king, but instead more of a chief of a small mountain village. It clearly irritated him that his nation needed our improved arms and armor enough that he had to tolerate this 'country bumpkin' lifestyle that we lived.

I took my seat at the elevated miniature throne at the head of the discussion table, a different reception to when I welcomed King Reynard since he came in person and was extremely polite and humble during our whole initial interaction. This wasn't even the same room, as the one we had met Reynard in could be considered more of a tea room instead of an official meeting room. I cleared my throat and gestured for my scribe to begin reading their desired terms for this trade agreement. They asked for a supply of our highest quality massed produced arms and armor each month equally one full regiment of their Imperial Army, which was 100 men, along with a smaller number of 10 per month of our highest custom quality arms and armor. In return, they could provide their 'luxury' goods such as fine silks woven from domesticated Spirit Moth cocoons, mead distilled using magical methods to reach a high purity and stored in wooden barrels made from Ent wood, and finally products from their most famous ports that would be shipped alive with water mages to keep them fresh.

These offers were not bad, although the wooden barrels used for their mead were not made from Ent wood since Ents never took root outside the Feylands behind our mountain. The Ents humans would encounter were just trees they had converted to use as a vessel for checking on the health of the forests outside of ours. Humans were granted permission to harvest these trees when they neared death, as they died not long after an Ent took possession of them since they could not handle the amount of energy that Ent's employed to heal or improve the forest plants and soil. Humans falsely believed that the Ent inhabiting the tree left behind traces of Spirit energy that could improve the quality of drinks and food stored or served with the wood, a sort of placebo effect if you will. I shook my head lightly and looked at the Duke.

"We can already obtain silk from the cocoons of Moon Moths that inhabit the cave of our mountain, and the silk they produce is of far better quality than the silk their distant cousins produce. Also, our precise weaving methods increase the durability and softness of Moon Silk to much greater heights. We have easy access to the sea on either side of our mountain and have already begun construction of port towns to harvest the resources of the area, along with methods to quickly get those products to our people while they are still fresh. Finally, we can readily brew mead or spirits of a similar quality to the ones offered, given that the recipe is not even secret to your human neighbors. And we have already have sources in the Feylands that allow us to use actual Spirit Wood when crafting barrels. I am afraid that after looking into your Empires export market, the only resources you have that will be even close to approaching the worth of dwarven crafted gear in the number you desire, would be the transfer of full rights to the 4 Deep Gem mines in your territory."

I smiled lightly as I saw the man's face begin to contort as it rapidly developed a red tint. "Y-you DARE ask that much in exchange for inferior products of such low amounts?!" I saw Gowyr's face to my left change as the man had just handed me the final nail I needed for the coffin that I had built for his nation's trading prospects. After my discussion with Duke Lucan last night I had determined that I had zero need for anything the Empire could offer, and they would have to offer up the only market edge they had over their fellow humans if they wanted my help with even a single suit of normal armor. The Guild Master stood up abruptly as the Duke was about to continue berating our dwarven pride, his beard had grown even longer than mine in recent months. "Your Majesty, the Smithing Guild of Brimstone refuses to do any trade with this pathetic man and the destitute nation that supports him." The Duke was stunned into a moment of silence that anyone would dare tell a King what the Guild would or would not do as the rest of my cabinet stood and voiced their support for Gowyr's statement and including their Guilds in the trade refusal.

I made sure to let the deep smugness I felt inside reach every surface on my face as I turned back from my men to the Duke's party. "There you have it, Duke Claudius Cromwell Gecuria. The Brimstone Kingdom and its Guilds declines the Gecuria Empire's request for trade agreements. And I hereby revoke your right to appear among my people as a foreign dignitary as you have once again insulted them, despite my previous warning to the contrary. Guards, please escort the delegation to their chambers to gather their belongings. They have one hour from now to be gone from the city or they shall be removed with ample force, in my name!" The dwarves in attendance snapped a salute and began, in a rather rough manner, dragging the Duke's men from the room while the poor men starred at us wide-eyed with their mouths flapping like beached fish.