"Good morning, patrick!"
"Oh, good morning, chief!"
"Good morning."
"If it isn't our new neighbor. Good morning! I take it that you have finished building your place!"

The first family we visited are the farmers. They are the nearest neighbors after all. They are also the ones who regularly leave since they have to tend to the field. If we don't greet them now then it won't be until late in the afternoon when we see them again.

I doubt they would spend that much time just tending to the fields. I'm sure they just use all morning to take care of their crops and the other time to visit the store in town.

"So, what can I help you with?"
"Ah, we were just visiting here because our new resident here just finished building his house and workshop. He wanted to greet everyone properly, as well as promote his craft."
"I will be living in this village from now on. I am Brill Smith, graduate of the Mithril academy smith course. I heard from the village chief that your family does farm work, so I made a little gift for you all. I have set up my own smithy above the volcano there, so if you have any needs that fall into my field, feel free to come and visit."

Of course I prepared some farm tools for the farmer family, and as a bonus I even included some wagon wheels. I first thought of giving them something to help their son in getting into an academy but even if it makes the parents happy, I can tell that it would pressure the son to no end. It might even cause some unnecessary friction for the family, so I opted for the obvious and safe gift of farm tools.

"Oh, These look amazing. We were actually saving up to get some new tools, since our youngest is finally old enough to help with the farm work. Thanks for this. It is also convenient to have a blacksmith again. We will be sure to visit your workshop!"

It seems that my prospects are good as expected. This is the power of a monopoly. I have a secure hold of the smithing business here as the sole blacksmith in town. Also, now that I started this business first, any other future blacksmiths that might wander in here would then be inferior to me by default.

"Well then, we won't be wasting your time. I know you still need to visit the fields, and we need to catch up with the carpenter's family before they make any plans to leave again."
"Hahaha, I won't keep you occupied then. Welcome to the molten titanium village. Thanks for these gifts."

One down and a whole village more to go. I doubt I have anything to worry about because I am basically filling in a hole in their community but I hope things go smoothly like this.

 

 

"Thank you for coming with me and greeting the villagers all over again."
"Ah, don't mention it. The day went by like any other day for me. I always patrol the village like this to see how everyone is doing."

I don't know if that is good that he cares for the village or bad that he doesn't have anything else to do but that. However, this is definitely bad if he is going to show up at my doorstep every day. Not only do I want to have my privacy, there are days when I would have to spend a couple of days straight making orders.

I guess I should start making a sign for occasions like those. A simple 'I'm working on a big order, so please don't disturb me. The workshop is closed for the moment' sign like that should suffice.

"I didn't know what to prepare for you but I hope you like this little gift."
"Oh that is very kind of you. Would you look at that, a new cane and a set of wagon wheels."

Yes, the only thing that popped into my head to give the village chief is a new cane. I decorated the handle with a smoothened titanium ore that I picked up. The wagon wheels are something I gave to everyone in the village since it was easy to make and a necessity in this remote corner of the continent.

"Thank you for this. Once again, welcome to Molten Titanium village."
"Thank you, village chief. I think I will enjoy living here from now on."
"That is always good to hear. Well, it has gotten dark. I need to head back home before grandma starts worrying. I also need to show off this gift you gave me."
"Take care. Oh! I also have some kitchen utensils here for your family. Please take it along with my thanks for welcoming me."
"You don't really need to worry about it but grandma would certainly like these gifts. Very well, we will gratefully take it. If there are any problems that you might have, feel free to visit me or my family. We have been taking care of this village for generations. We will help to the best of our abilities."

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack*

He is putting that cane to good use right away. I imagine his old cane to be precious too but it seems to be worn out over the years. It's close to breaking, so I thought about giving him the new cane. I doubt he would dispose of it, so maybe he will store it away as an heirloom?

Anyway, I heard here and there that his wife likes to cook. Especially the traditional foods here in the village. I don't know the specific tools to make those, so I just gave them the 'full kitchen tools set' that I often do at the academy.

And with that, I am done delivering my gifts to the villagers.

Except for the set of wagon wheels that I gave to each family, I gave them gifts that would be suitable to them.

Farm tools for the farming family. Building tools for the carpenter family. Ornaments for the family that handles traditional festivities.

Those are some of the easier groups to give gifts to. The hard ones are the families that don't really have any specialty, or those in a line of work where they don't need any kind of tools.

The village chief is a good example since he only patrols around the village helping those who need it.

We also have a teacher here in the village that teaches general knowledge. I didn't know what to get him, so I went with the safe choice of the kitchen set.

That was a fallback gift for those that I don't know what to give. They should have already expected it since I am a blacksmith.

The most common kind of works we produce are things related to battles or kitchen utensils. I doubt they would want a full set of armour as a gift, so I opted for the kitchen set.

There were some that I had to give weapons to though. They were the village defence force. They mostly protect the village from stray lava hippo.

This village is so remote that they didn't have to worry about bandits. However, I learned that except for stray monsters, they also have a watch on active volcanoes. They inspect the nearby volcanoes and see if they are close to an eruption.

I guess I found out why they can sleep so comfortably during the night even amongst this minefield of volcanoes.

I gave them new weapons and some shields. No armour though since that would take too much of my time and money to make. This is an introduction gift not a bribe.

Speaking of which, I finally got my first order since moving in here. I figured that I would test out the different kinds of metal and equipment that I bought from the central island but that can wait.

The work is from the defence force. They wanted me to make practice weapons. They need it to teach the children on how to protect themselves in case of emergency and hope to interest some of them to join the defence force.

It's a simple request but what they want is a bit tricky to make.

It needs to be light enough that even their smallest student can carry, even with a bit of trouble since it adds to the training. It also needs to be sturdy enough to withstand the kind of abuse it would suffer during training.

Additionally, they wanted me to somehow make something that has a weight adjustment. They wanted me to make a practice weapon that you can adjust the weight of.

That sounds easy enough, since I can make it like those adjustable dumbbells on modern earth.

The typical weapon being blunt weapons, I need to make it in the shape of a club, hammer, or mace. This means that I need to put the weight at the end, away from the handle.

If I put an adjustable weight there then it needs to be able to withstand repeated bashing without the weights flying off to who knows where.

There is an easy way of using a stronger material for the clip, so if anything happens then the body of the weapon would break first before the clip but the budget they gave me is too little to make that happen.

It's only for teaching the next generation and it would likely break a lot because of the inexperienced handling, so I can understand why they want to use as little as possible but the amount they gave me doesn't give me a lot of options.

Even Though I have a lot of money, I still need to properly run the business. If I just rely on the best materials outside the budget then that would be me taking the easy way out of the challenge.

I just have to think of a way to do this within their budget. Thankfully, they don't need them right away, so I have some time to mull over some things.

*Grumble* *Grumble*

I will mull over this issue with dinner and a drink. It's time to fully relish my home now.

*Creak*

Home sweet home!! I already had dinner ready before I left this morning. It's a fully roasted volcano chicken. I found some on my way back from constructing the lava output pipe.

This was actually for lunch since I thought that I would return here for lunch as a break from greeting everyone in the village. The village chief derailed that plan when he introduced me to the family that has a small eatery here in the village.

I am thankful for him for that since the food was very amazing. As expected from a family that specialized in cooking. I knew about them but I had freshly caught poultry that I didn't want to waste, so I cooked it for lunch.

They were thankful for the pots and pans and let me have a free meal, so I guess that worked out well.

Anyway, this lunch will be my dinner now, I just need to reheat it a bit.

[Fire] *Munch* [Fire] *Munch*

Magic really is convenient, I can reheat it using my hands while eating.

Mmmmm~, that isn't as delicious as I thought. I mean it is still good but compared to the lunch I had, this is just a dry lunch leftover.

*Sigh*

I guess it doesn't matter that much, since I only cooked for myself.

Hmm?......Drumstick?......I Got it!!

If I can't make the clip with a stronger material, I can just make the clip huge! I can double the clip as a weight!!

I'll make it like this drumstick. The clip will be hollow, so if they need weights, they can just load it up inside it. I have to make some kind of railing inside it, so they can just slide their weight in without it bouncing about inside though.

Actually, rather than have the clip separate, why not just make the whole body of the weapon somewhat hollow. More specifically, I will have the front end hollow. This way the clip can't just come loose. The weights will still be the slide in type but I need to make a cover.

Yeah, scratch that drumstick idea. I'll still keep the hallowed weapon and the railings for the weights but I can make it so that the cover has to be fastened with a bolt. It's important that the weight themselves aren't the one taking the hit head on, since it could bend or chip in a way that makes it hard to secure them into the weapon themselves.

Now that that is planned out, I can make it tomorrow morning. I have a week to make them after all, and I don't need to do much to make them.

My first job here and it's already halfway done. This will be a very relaxing second life for me.