Chapter 294

Soon after the fun, I managed to complete the urgent tasks in my underground layer. The second layer of the ward was established, Helga’s Divine Domain started to coalesce, and security measures were established.

It was time for me to leave once more.

I didn’t want to do that. I had missed Helga greatly, and another separation, no matter how short, was not a welcome development. Unfortunately, I had two important priorities. One was to empower her, and the other was to find the rest of the girls.

Neither could be done in Silver Spires.

Finding the others was obvious ... searching for them couldn’t be done from Silver Spires. The school was already away from the centers of power even before my arrival, a haven for the noble children to slowly develop. The current situation isolated it even further. Trying to find the girls from there was not only inefficient, but any new spy ring would be caught easily.

Strengthening Helga was trickier. Increasing the production of the Divine Spark was very simple. The more students in Silver Spires, working to improve themselves through a study of magic, the more Divine Spark fragments there would be generated ... and the faster Helga would get stronger.

Unfortunately, while it was simple, it was not easy.

Silver Spires were effectively in a political exile, and were being deliberately suppressed. I could easily take the role of the headmaster in disguise or put a puppet before increasing the student intake ... but that would get the attention of the royal family, which then in turn bring the Eternals down.

However, trying to set up another school from scratch was an even more complicated process, and if a mysterious organization suddenly grew from nothing and surpassed Silver Spires in numbers, it would be even more difficult.

Political problems require political solutions...

So, I decided to travel to the Royal Capital, the biggest city on the material plane. Not only I could make the necessary moves that could be leveraged, but also I could set up the feelers necessary to an extent.

Admittedly, my melancholy about leaving her was a bit exaggerated, as I still have my ability to teleport back and forth, but with the several self-assigned missions that needed to be launched at once, I would be extremely busy.

There were people to be hired, spies to be organized, businesses created ... no, I would be extremely busy, and it couldn’t be simply done by just disguising as a servant.

It was why I was at city gates, driving a large carriage while wearing armor, a huge hammer on my back, and my hand scarred with flames. My outfit shouted blacksmith, and my cart was filled with exquisite weapons ... well, exquisite from a commoner perspective, as forging them took barely an hour with the help of my magic.

It was just there to establish a business, waiting for my turn at line, just to enter the outer city. Finally, it was my turn.

The guards looked disappointed at my arrival. After all, I was a sole traveler, which meant little money they could skim from the top.

“Reason for arrival,” one asked.

“I’m a blacksmith, trying to establish a business,” I answered. At my mention, their gaze widened, and grew even bigger once they looked at the cart.

“That’s a lot of weapons,” one said, their eyes glinting with greed.

The other joined immediately. “Bringing that many weapons into the city is suspicious. We need to check them carefully.”

The weapons I planned to sell would be that reason. I had worked together with Oeyne for a long time, and I knew her style intimately, just like she knew mine. By creating tens of thousands of weapons in that exact style and flooding the market with them cheaply, it would be a message for them.

Hopefully, the cheap prices I would push as I fought with the Guild would allow those weapons to spread all along the Empire, while the story of their creation would lead her right back to Capital.

Which was the most dangerous yet the safest place for her.

Pity I didn’t have a similar way to connect with the rest, or it would have been much easier.

“One step at a time,,” I murmured as I moved toward the commercial district at the outer city, ready to plunge the capital into a smithing crisis.

—

{Strength: 45 Charisma: 45

Precision: 45 Perception: 45

Agility: 45 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 45 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 60 Wisdom: 45}

{Purified Divine Spark: 33280}

{Pseudo-HP: 15000 Mana: 20000}

{ADDITIONAL SPARKS

Light - Chosen 7.4

Nature - Chosen 10}

{MINIONS

GODDESSES

Elven Goddess

Goddess of Knowledge}