Faerburg was over seven hundred miles from the royal capital, Lyon City, and was considered a large city with a population of two hundred thousand. Its strategic position was quite important, serving as a secondary military stronghold on the western border of the Lyon Alliance, while also acting as a barrier preventing creatures from the Demon Domain Forest from rushing into the fertile Puse Plains.
The area around Faerburg was flat, with the Puse River flowing around the city. About a hundred miles to the south lay the Demon Domain Forest, making Faerburg the most crucial supply point for many adventurers and monster hunters. The Demon Domain Forest was nearly as vast as the entire Lyon Alliance, stretching to the Pyrenees Mountains in the west, meeting the sea in the south, and covering the entire Red Rock Peninsula in the east, with a total area close to one million square kilometers. As large magical beasts were rare at the forest's edge and several trade routes passed through, it had also become a paradise for thieves and bandits.
The "Hammer of the War God" weapon workshop had been open for a month. The name, rich in dwarf character, was initially chosen to bask in the innate craftsmanship reputation of dwarves, but now they genuinely had a dwarf craftsman named Jin working there with his four apprentices. The workshop occupied a three-story building in the busiest district of Faerburg. The ground floor housed the weapon shopfront, the second floor was an adventurers' lounge, and the third floor, which Fess had originally wanted for a laboratory, was vetoed by everyone. Instead, it became a VIP room for receiving major clients and displaying some of Fess's finest works.
Not far from the "Hammer of the War God" was a small building where Rogue usually stayed, which also housed Fess's workshop and laboratory. The most spacious laboratory covered over two hundred square meters. Currently, a vast and complex Magic Array was drawn on the floor, with a colorful halo shimmering within it. Bluish-white magical flames erupted from the center of the array, heating several expertly crafted steel knight armor pieces made by Jin until they were red-hot.
Fess carefully used iron tongs to extract one armor piece and placed a magic symbol cast from magical silver in a specific position. A flash of fire later, the symbol was firmly welded on. Rogue hurriedly handed over a small bottle of blue liquid – the blood of an adult wyvern. Wyverns were fierce, swift, and possessed decent magic resistance, ranking among the more troublesome intermediate magical beasts. Many parts of their bodies served as magical ingredients; their blood could slightly enhance magical protection. Magical silver, due to its excellent malleability and superb mana absorption, was an indispensable material for crafting magical artifacts. However, being relatively scarce, it was quite expensive, typically costing about ten times its weight in gold.
The blue wyvern blood dripped onto the finished armor piece and was rapidly absorbed by the entire piece, like a sponge soaking up water. The armor piece consequently began to shimmer with a pale blue fluorescence. Rogue took the piece and tossed it back into the magical flames. After all pieces were treated, Fess chanted an incantation towards the magical flames. A pair of light blue wind wings gradually formed and flew towards the flames. The wings circled the magical fire, spinning faster and faster. With a "boom," the flames surged like a tide. A white light flashed on the ceiling as an Energy Barrier contained the outburst. The flame storm vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind several blue armor pieces. After integrating this wind spell, and due to the constant support of wind magic energy, the overall weight of the armor was reduced by 60%.
At Rogue's request, a bit more magical silver was added to each piece, and Fess cast a simple Light spell on them. This time, the entire armor piece became a translucent light blue, with the magic symbols formed by the magical silver emitting a deep blue glow.
"Hehe, that looks much prettier now. Jin! Perfect timing, I was just about to look for you. Make these pieces into a half-body knight armor, yes, this year's most popular paladin style. The chainmail for the connecting parts must use gold! And add more gold decorative patterns on the armor edges. Go call Franco, that guy has a sense for artwork!!" Rogue exclaimed excitedly.
The dwarf Jin, however, was dismissive: "This won't do! Chainmail should be made from high-quality steel wire! The most important thing about armor is protection! Protection!! I don't want to ruin my reputation!"
"Then wrap a layer of gold wire around the steel wire! That should be acceptable. In short, all the chainmail must be covered in gold! The most important thing about this armor is money! With this layer of gold, you'll have mead for ten years! Tell Lance to pick a cloak worthy of this armor, the best one! Jin! You must finish this armor by the day after tomorrow!! If I don't see the armor, you get no alcohol!! Oh, and this armor will be called the 'Blue Crystal Battle Armor'. Of course, don't engrave the name yet. Whatever name the customer thinks of, you engrave it! Ten gold coins per character."
Jin grumbled as he carried the armor pieces downstairs, ultimately choosing the latter between his conscience and mead. Under his breath, he cursed: "Vampire!! Man-eating pig!! Miser!! Human-shaped ancient dragon!!"
Rogue insisted on selling only high-quality, high-priced products, for a very clear reason: "Those who can afford this gear don't care about money! As long as the product is good, they don't care about a little more or less. Who are our best customers?? Not those wealthy and knowledgeable adventurers, but those noble Dandies with money to burn, yes, just like Lance. Don't hit me! If we don't make money from them, who else? So we don't sell what is right, we only sell what is expensive."
Furthermore, all of Rogue's armors heavily emphasized exterior ornamentation and some impractical gimmicks. For instance, this Blue Crystal Battle Armor was extremely light, equivalent only to the weight of a heavy leather armor, and had good physical and magical defense, making it a fine piece of magical armor. But that Light spell, after integration, only served to give the magical armor a translucent crystal effect, with a softer and more enticing glow, without any practical use. As for the decorations designed by Franco, they added weight and provided no help in combat. But Rogue said: "This armor, at a glance, is what paladins should wear. Is it for real paladins? Of course not. What paladin would wear this? We are selling to the sons of great nobles who want to become paladins. Do you expect them to actually adventure in some dangerous cave? They'll only wear it for hunting! So style and taste are more important, to make them look like heroes in front of ignorant young girls. The Hammer of the War God doesn't aim to become a major arms dealer, but to become a noble brand like Purple Angel Jewelry or Shangri-La Hot Springs."
Everyone was speechless upon hearing this. From then on, the nickname "Vampire Rogue" spread far and wide.
Business at the "Hammer of the War God" boomed rapidly. In one month, although they only sold one knight's longsword, one knight's war Lance, and one set of knight's heavy armor (this was Fess's full production capacity), they not only recovered the initial investment of ten thousand gold coins but also made a profit of three thousand.
The afternoon sun shone lazily on the quietly flowing Puse River, the broad surface coated in a layer of shimmering gold. A squad of gleaming halberd-bearing knights patrolled leisurely along the riverbank. The leading knight wore a dark green breastplate, while the others sported the earth-yellow standard cavalry breastplates of the Faerburg knight regiment.
The knight in the dark green armor was Lance. That armor was the Dark Elf Breastplate he had been so proud of for a long time. Soaked in dark elf blood and then enchanted with a shield spell, it offered excellent defenses all around, particularly effective against dark magic spells. After Lance arrived in Faerburg, the knight regiment commander, Lord Vennington, took good care of him, putting him in charge of a ranger cavalry squad. A Faerburg ranger cavalry squad comprised fifty to sixty cavalrymen, whereas originally, with Lance's rank as a Squad Leader, he could lead only twenty at most. Ranger cavalry were a hybrid between heavy and light cavalry, typically wearing half breastplates and often choosing halberds suitable for both thrusting and slashing, hence they were also called halberd cavalry. They generally patrolled within about three hundred miles of Faerburg, each sortie requiring them to survive independently in the wild for about a week. If they encountered small groups of bandits or magical beasts, they would eliminate them; if they met large enemy forces, they would return to report. However, Faerburg hadn't seen war in decades, and the ranger cavalry had become more of a training exercise for the cavalry.
This was Lance's third time leading the ranger squad since arriving in Faerburg two months ago. The sun was bright, a few fishing boats drifted on the river, their songs occasionally carried by the wind. The riverbanks were lush green fields, and the distant Demon Domain Forest appeared peaceful and serene. Lance felt refreshed and exhilarated; it was practically a pleasure trip. The only downside was that not a shadow of any bandit group was to be seen; everywhere was a scene of peace and prosperity. Lance calculated they had been out for five days already. He waved his hand and shouted, "Brothers, time to head back!" The squad of halberd knights turned around and began meandering back towards Faerburg.
The Faerburg knight regiment totaled 7,000 men: 2,000 cavalry, 4,000 infantry, and 1,000 support troops. After all, it was a second-line regiment, and having lived in peace for too long, Lord Vennington's knight regiment's combat effectiveness was merely average.
Rogue and the others had long adapted to life in Faerburg, meaning they had familiarized themselves with the local pleasure houses and taverns. This inevitably involved a few fights with adventurers, mercenaries, and the like. Except for Lord Trist, with Vennington as their backer, they weren't afraid of offending anyone. In business, after selling a few excellent magical items, especially after the Blue Crystal Battle Armor was bought by some duke's youngest son for ten thousand gold coins, the reputation of the "Hammer of the War God" quickly soared. Seeing the dwarves were too idle, Rogue coerced and cajoled them into forging some non-magical equipment for sale. The dwarves' craftsmanship was naturally exquisite, and every batch of goods sold out immediately.
At this moment, on the third floor of the "Hammer of the War God," Rogue was arguing fiercely, his face red, with a small party of adventurers. This party had nine members, a standard adventuring party configuration: warrior, ranger, archer, Mage, priest, thief—you name it, though just one or two of each. They had just returned from an adventure in the Demon Domain Forest and were here to trade their spoils for some equipment.
What made Rogue's eyes gleam was a bag holding a full two pounds of magical silver, along with some even rarer metals and gems. For instance, there was a piece of ore, deep black with sparkling golden specks, which Rogue recognized immediately as high-grade raw star gold. This gold differed from ordinary gold; it had a mysterious correspondence with the power of the stars in the sky, was extremely rare, and was an essential material for creating artifacts related to space magic. As for the magical beast Cores and Pelts, although valuable, they paled in comparison to these metals. A fiery red bird feather worn by the female Mage in the party caught Rogue's attention. Through his Psychic power, Rogue sensed that this feather held a very obscure yet lively fire magic fluctuation.
The adventurers had their eyes on an exquisitely crafted magical bow (a common feature of all Hammer of the War God products), decorated with rose branches twisted from platinum and purple gold wires. Matching the bow were three light green magic-piercing arrows, with two white wyverns made entirely of magical silver coiled around them, their four wings spread out to form the fletching. The young female archer's eyes shone as she clutched the bow and arrows tightly, refusing to let go.
The female Mage, meanwhile, was captivated by a Mana amplification ring. Through the combined efforts of the dwarf's and Fess's superb skills, Franco's artistic taste, and Lance and Rogue's deep understanding of human avarice, this ring masterfully integrated sky-iron and magical silver. The entire ring was a transparent deep blue, with twinkling starlight appearing and disappearing under the influence of mana. Wearing this ring was like wearing the night sky. The female Mage's eyes became as deep as the night. Of course, simple inlay techniques could have achieved the same mana amplification effect.
Women caught in the throes of shopping desire were beyond reason. Fortunately, although these adventurers were quite capable, they weren't very savvy. Rogue, sweating profusely, his fat trembling (since when could all his fat shake at will?), put on an expression of extreme agony and haggled the price down bit by bit. After adding two half-plates, four longswords, and thirty armor-piercing arrows, the deal was finally struck, and that red feather became Rogue's trophy.
In all fairness, what Rogue sold were fine products worth their price. The main profit came from buying the adventurers' spoils at low prices. For instance, this time, that piece of star gold ore alone was a priceless treasure, far beyond what even a hundred thousand gold coins could measure. That bag of magical silver was worth about ten thousand gold coins, and the magical beasts were worth more than ten thousand as well. Not to mention the other unknown metals and that inexplicable red feather. intuition told Rogue that the more incomprehensible something was, the more valuable it tended to be.
Rogue finally understood the meaning of the phrase, "Ill-gotten gains thrive best."
Having finally seen off these big spenders, a few more people strolled into the VIP room, with Lance bowing and scraping as he followed them in.
Rogue had just mustered a professional smile and was about to greet them when the leader took off his hooded robe. A head of golden hair sprang forth, illuminating the entire room. His smile was as brilliant as the sun after rain, its radiance even stinging Rogue's eyes.
He extended a hand and said:
"Very pleased to meet you again. I am Ophirock von William."