Chapter 89: The Young Fox Laying Foundations

After listening to Marlin’s plan, Venigo nodded repeatedly.

“I’ll leave it to you,” Venigo said with a chuckle.

With everything settled, Venigo briskly led Marlin to the warehouse, tossed him the key, and indicated he would be fully responsible.

Trust? Not entirely. Venigo had more than one warehouse. The truly important items were stored in a secret chamber, known only to Venigo—neither Honey nor Little Wolf Princess had any idea about it.

After seeing Marlin off, Venigo returned to the manor’s hall, where Sophie, Honey, and Arcana were waiting for dinner. As for the Big Cat, it had its own pet food bowl.

“Venigo?” Seeing him enter, Sophie put down her utensils and asked.

“Nothing much, from now on those trivial matters are Marlin’s responsibility,” Venigo said cheerfully. “Let’s make improving our own abilities our top priority. Soon, we’ll be active across the kingdom, and everyone will remember our names.”

“It’s not as easy as it sounds, Venigo,” Honey reminded him with a playful smile.

“No worries. We all have a solid foundation. What we lack is the process of fully harnessing our abilities and gaining combat experience,” Venigo replied. “Have Lady Frith or Sir Temp given any instructions recently?”

Sophie shook her head, but Honey raised her hand, waving it energetically before Venigo.

“Grandpa Stone sent a letter. Sir Skamon is interested in your synchronized longbow and wants to order some. Do you have time?” Little Honey asked.

Venigo nodded in agreement. The eight giants of the High Council—he would have to contact them all eventually, for the sake of his ultimate goal.

Without establishing good relations with the eight giants, what came next would be impossible.

“Also, Sir Skamon is complaining about the unusual weather on the Icewind Plateau—it’s already so cold and it’s not even autumn yet. He said if you happen to encounter it, see if you can help him find a solution,” Honey added.

“Understood,” Venigo replied. “We need to find an opportunity to visit Kriegs. And perhaps bring some goods to sell?”

“What about the longbow crafting?” Honey asked.

“I’ll make them on the road. I have no patience to sit at home and slowly work on them,” Venigo answered.

On the road? For most people, that would be impossible, but with Venigo using the Forge Lich template, all he needed was a portable furnace. As long as it could burn mana potions and release magic to break down materials into basic elements, the furnace itself wasn’t the key—the Forge Lich was.

He chose the forging technique: Iron-Cutting Bow. These steel bows were tremendously powerful, suitable only for tall, long-armed master archers. Since he was making synchronized longbows, the process of adding magical ore could be skipped.

This meant Venigo didn’t have much to do. He could easily finish the work in the carriage or during breaks.

==The Young Man Travels==

The journey was peaceful, even when entering the notoriously dangerous region of Kriegs, Venigo’s party encountered no real adversaries.

Besides Venigo’s original companions, there were two small mercenary groups newly recruited by Marlin, totaling about fifty men. Their abilities were average, but Venigo had his eye on a few promising candidates.

Venigo possessed the Eye of Insight. Though he refrained from probing too deeply to avoid discomfort, extended observation still revealed much.

The party also included two swordmasters borrowed from Sir Temp, acting as instructors to teach the basics of swordsmanship to the younger members. They wouldn’t teach advanced techniques, but they could help these youths build a solid foundation and a brighter future.

Moreover, Sophie was strong enough herself to instruct the ordinary members.

The Prism Manor’s carriages numbered only five, carrying some previously made wine and fire oil, not much, most of them nearly empty. Venigo’s main goal was to purchase unique materials from Kriegs and then head straight for the Icewind Plateau to meet Sir Skamon.

“All right, as taught before, spread out for vigilance,” Venigo called out as the town drew near, jumping from the carriage. “You, come with me into town. The rest set up camp and wait for my return.”

“Sir, why not all go together?” someone asked.

“Fool! If we all march into town, you want the guards to keep an eye on us? And don’t forget the damned entry fee,” Venigo grumbled. “All right, concentrate the goods onto these two carriages; the rest save for supplies and materials, await my orders.”

The Little Wolf Princess leapt from the roof, itching for action. Every time they camped, it was her playtime—hunting, challenging the mercenary groups to one-against-ten bouts—her favorite activities.

Honey wasn’t much interested; her routine involved meditation, prayers, playing with the Big Cat, and practicing Light Magic. She stretched lazily, looking half-awake, drawing many curious glances.

The Big Cat glared back fiercely at those onlookers—it disliked anyone staring at little Honey, Venigo included.

“Sophie, keep an eye on them and make sure they practice basic swordsmanship well,” Venigo said with a chuckle. “I plan to build a core team of pure swordsmen and supplement with other professions as needed. What do you think?”

Sophie nodded. “The sword suits most environments. With us, it’s enough.”

“I’ll leave it to you, then,” Venigo smiled. “Among us, you’re the best suited to teach.”

Sophie nodded, casting Venigo a concerned glance.

“It’s fine. Kriegs is dangerous, but near the town it’s relatively safe.”

Venigo smiled, tugging Little Wolf Princess and Honey along toward the town. Naturally, the Big Cat followed close behind, alert and watchful.

Inside the town, burly Minotaur warriors patrolled everywhere—they were the town’s guards.

The Minotaur race had various subspecies; some were more intelligent and maintained decent relations with humans. Though still bloodthirsty and warlike, they possessed enough reason and wisdom for communication. In Kriegs, Minotaurs formed the main fighting force, with humans and other subhumans supplementing—a peculiar system.

“You… don’t cause trouble,” one Minotaur guard warned, seeing Venigo’s armed group mostly comprised of women and children, then paid them no further mind.

“Here’s the entry fee,” Venigo said cheerfully, tossing two silver coins to the Minotaur guard. “Big guy, let me ask you something. Do you want to buy weapons?”

The Minotaur’s broad face brightened, and he replied happily, “Of course. But what we need are battle axes and large chainmail.”

“We also need to buy some local specialty materials—like Kram ore and demon blood vials,” Venigo added.

“Since you’re so straightforward, our chieftain happens to have some to sell. How much will you pay?” the Minotaur asked.

“I’ll discuss it directly with your chieftain,” Venigo said with a wave and a smile.

Minotaurs weren’t great at business negotiations. The decapitating axes forged by Venigo were too big and heavy for most people, but for Minotaurs, they were just right—perfect in weight and feel.

Minotaurs disliked magic; Venigo hadn’t bothered adding magical materials anyway. The powerful Minotaur chieftains possessed supernatural powers capable of cleaving both flesh and soul—magic was unnecessary.

As for chainmail, in the world of Swordsmith’s Tale, smiths were typically only skilled at making weapons.

This batch of decapitating axes brought in a large quantity of ore and magical materials, filling Venigo’s carriages to the brim. The trip cost a thousand gold coins and yielded a two-thousand gold profit. No wonder Lady Frith insisted on monopolizing the river trade routes.

“Next, we head for those mountains,” Venigo said, gazing at the peaks shrouded in clouds.

“Little one, be careful,” one Minotaur guard advised kindly. “The Minotaur tribes outside Kriegs town aren’t as reasonable as us. Some are man-eating beasts.”

“I know,” Venigo replied with a chuckle. “No armor, just crude iron axes made by tribal smiths, yet they can match you elite, fully armed warriors.”

“We look down on such beasts,” the Minotaur snorted. “Still… in terms of fighting power, they’re not inferior to our tribe.”

“But with that lifestyle, though they produce strong warriors, their infants’ survival rate isn’t high, is it?” Venigo said with a smile. “In numbers, your tribe has the advantage.”

The Minotaur nodded, growing fonder of Venigo. After some thought, he fished out a chunk of iron from his pouch and tossed it over.

“I found this while hunting, never had much use for it. Since you’re a smith, see if you can use it.”

“Thanks,” Venigo said, weighing the iron. It looked ordinary, but upon close inspection a faint blue ripple occasionally shimmered across its surface. Clearly, the Minotaur kept it for this reason, rather than discarding it as scrap.

“This is—!” Venigo realized. “Thank you, this will be useful to me.”

==The Young Man Climbs the Mountain==

The mountain was not easy to traverse. Venigo didn’t bring the ordinary members, only Sophie, Little Wolf Princess, and Honey accompanied him to the summit.

Kriegs deserved its reputation as one of the kingdom’s most dangerous regions. The wilderness abounded with stray demons and Minotaur hunting squads.

Indeed, a dangerous place—yet perhaps one also brimming with opportunities!