Chapter 44 - Price Of Complacency

As Guy listened to Karmin's heartfelt explanation of the recent misfortune that befell his business, the frown on his face deepened.

"Oh, Jo Way..." He sighed.

That's right! It all boiled down to that one incident when Jo Way publicly pointed out the fault in the sword on display. Although Karmin managed to alleviate the immediate chatter that lingered following the hubbub, there were inevitably eyes and ears belonging to his competitors lurking in the vicinity. These agents managed to grasp the crux of the matter and propagated rumours and blown up lies about The Burning Forge's products. They even managed to root out some old customers with similarly diluted weapons and armours and brought them into the forefront.

Since The Burning Forge was a veritable powerhouse in the market, the attack shouldn't have been so effective. However, taking out the alpha was a tempting offer for the many betas lurking in its shadows. Furthermore, it wasn't as if The Burning Forge was free of any equally strong competitors. The Bori Clan also happened to have a foothold in the smithing and enchanting industry. They knew that Karmin was looking to expand into their territory. Luckily for them, Gaige's father had dispatched his own agent to follow Jo Way, to gain a deeper understanding of his character. Therefore, the whole spectacle was observed by the agent and transmitted to the clan head.

The attack on The Burning Forge's business was highly coordinated and multi-pronged. The minor players chipped away at the business' existing base by unearthing minute faults and errors and creating an intricate web of lies insinuating that Karmin was embezzling and implementing fraudulent business practices. The loyal customer base was quickly shaken with these whispers, slowly diminishing the business' revenues.

The Bori clan went straight for the throat. They attacked the whales affiliated with the business. The clients who usually placed large orders regularly. The Kraven Mercenary Corp, the client that ordered those enchanted swords, was one of those whales.

So it was needless to say that The Burning Forge was in a precarious position. Revenues were down, the business held an abysmal rating amongst the population, and their assets were being lost through physical and financial attacks. Furthermore, unlike the Bori Clan, The Burning Forge did not have any ancestors or hidden experts to rely on in case of crises.

Guy smiled wryly at the sheer destruction that followed Jo Way. The man spoke only a few words, and he completely destroyed a monolith with decades' worth of foundation.

"I can't really blame that man. It was my own complacency that wrought all of this," Karmin lamented.

In many ways, it was true. Jo wasn't the one responsible for all of this. He wasn't obligated to keep his lips sealed after observing mistakes or issues in the products being purchased. Even in Guy's old world, it was a common occurrence for customers to sue companies for false advertising, misrepresentation, personal harm, and so on. It was their right as a consumer to do so.

Sure, some people would file seemingly nonsensical lawsuits to take advantage of certain omissions in the product or service's usage documentation or terms of services. For instance, take-away drink cups to hold hot beverages had to specifically indicate that its contents are hot, just because of a lawsuit filed by an old woman who suffered third-degree burns from spilt coffee from a fast-food franchise. For many, this may seem like a case of a lapse in common sense from the consumer's side, however, multiple facets to it warrant discussion.

First, although that customer "should" know that coffee is hot, the issue was that in that particular case, the temperature of the liquid was well beyond the ideal coffee drinking temperature. It was much higher than the threshold wherein the liquid could burn you within half a second of contact. Therefore, it could be argued that the business was obligated to offer a word of warning to their consumers.

Secondly, the integrity of the takeaway container was not strong enough and could collapse easily under pressure. There was also a lack of additional insulation as added protection. In many ways, it was the company's responsibility to manufacture their packaging to complement their products and the way consumers are meant to use it.

Finally, these lawsuits also acted as flags not just for the sued company, but others in the market to take into consideration. The lawsuit served as a springboard that made cupholders ubiquitous in cars. It was also an impetus that produced updated and safer designs for takeaway packaging for hot beverages.

Back to the issue at hand, Guy confessed that maybe he was being a bit too biased with his point of view. He was close to Karmin and automatically placed the blame on Jo Way, the horseman of destruction, when in fact it was Karmin's lack of oversight that led to it.

Karmin believed that Moris Jace, one of his earliest employees, wouldn't be swayed by greed. He didn't know that Moris was skimming off resources from the company and selling it in on the side. Guy couldn't blame him either. If someone stuck with you from the beginning, through thick and thin, you wouldn't be so cautious and disbelieving of them. He was backstabbed, and there was very little he could have done to anticipate it.

So who was truly to blame? Obviously, Moris Jace! But Guy just couldn't separate Jo Way from all of this. That man was like the agent of misfortune. Wherever he went, tragedy followed.

"Once again, I'm sorry about everything," Karmin said. "All your effort was wasted."

Guy bit his lips in worry. He truly wanted to help Karmin out, but he just couldn't come up with a worthwhile solution. He wasn't influential enough, or rich enough, to be of use.

Although Guy had some knowledge of business management and financial matters from his old world, they were mostly perfunctory. He also couldn't apply a lot of them in this world.

Thus Guy resolved to rely on his strengths. He wanted to see if there was anything he could use from his old world that could be of use here.

Unfortunately, the information pertaining to the high-school level and beyond was out of his reach in the RoK. Even though he could recollect some details, he couldn't access the publications until the barriers were lifted.

As Guy descended into thought, Karmin smiled bitterly and grasped a dagger on his table and played with it in his hands.

Karmin was glad that there was someone to talk to. With his zealous pursuit of fame and fortune, he had sacrificed his social life. It was in trying times like these when he envied the old acquaintances from his youthful days that were now married with children. Even if they didn't have a coffer full of gold and a house with many rooms and floors, they at least had someone to offload their daily worries onto and rely on to share the burdens. Karmin was so lonely that he didn't have any friends.

Karmin twirled the intricate dagger in his hands while reminiscing about his childhood. The mesmerising motion caught Guy's attention as he was struggling to brainstorm ideas.

The blade's craftsmanship looked somewhat familiar. It was a single-edged, curved blade that arced inwards, like a beast's talon. At the base of the weapon was a hoop of sorts that could accommodate one of the wielder's fingers. Karmin locked his index through the hoop and spun the bade in a clockwise and counter-clockwise motion. The design resembled a karambit from Guy's old world.

However, what drew Guy's attention was the blade's body. The metal had patterns resembling Damascus steel. Ever since he accustomed himself to The Burning Forge, Guy had come into contact with many alloys used in weaponsmithing. To date, he was yet to find one with a texture similar to Damascus steel, except for the Dwarven sword Al owned.

"Is that a Dwarven dagger?" Guy asked.

Karmin snapped out of his thoughts and followed Guy's gaze. "Yes. I won it through an auction. Shame that it isn't enchanted though."

Guy tilted his head and extended his arm, "May I?"

Karmin readily agreed and passed the dagger. As Guy held the weapon in his hands, he became mesmerised by its beauty and practicality. After immersing himself with indulgently ornamented enchanted weapons for the past few weeks, his sense of aesthetics was under constant attack. This dagger offered a much deserved moment of respite!

"I've spent a large portion of my youth trying to replicate that weapon, and failed. I just can't get the alloy's composition right," Karmin lamented as he eyed the dagger in Guy's hands.

"Really?" Guy exclaimed and cast |Inspect| on the weapon. As his mana permeated the weapon, he managed to make out a few of the elements present in it.

"Don't bother. I've had many mages perform an inspection on that weapon. They all came to the same conclusion. It's not replicable in this realm. Most Dwarven weapons and armour use a special kind of metal that we haven't been able to find in Gaea; it must be a common metal in the Fel realm. It seems to be a different form of iron as far as I can tell."

"Yes, it's steel," Guy commented as he placed the weapon down carefully.

"You recognise this metal?" Karmin quickly retorted with incredulity.

"Steel. Haven't you worked with steel before?" Guy asked.

Karmin quickly shook his head, "What's steel?"