“Let's go back now. I still have someone to introduce to you.”

The trio said their farewells to Gallwell and left the scene of the incident. Returning to the branch building, Seth pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrated on spending time with Mina and Fin.

“So, you said you had something to show us?” Fin asked expectantly once they reached the suite where Yulecat's Fur was staying at.

“Someone to introduce to you,” he corrected her. “This is Bazalith. I hope you two can take him along as a trump card,” Seth announced as he brought out the flaming knight from his inventory.. The knight with the soul of a demon beast bowed respectfully before the two ladies.

“Woah, we are getting our own Wolfram?!” Fin exclaimed excitedly climbing around on the golem knight. Mina on the other hand observed the knight thoroughly, walking around it.

“Hmm, okay. I like Its style. It looks agile and quick, despite being a plate armor,” the shadow assassin acknowledged Seth's work with a nod. Seth's fear that they might be offended because his gesture showed a lack of confidence in their strength was unfounded. Neither of them argued against taking a trump card along, they were happy about the blacksmith's present.

“Does that mean you are leaving again?” Mina asked perceptively. What use was a guardian, if the strongest guy was right by their side?

“Originally, I wanted to stay with you a while longer, but my plans have slightly changed,” Seth admitted. Seeing how the mass-produced golems without a soul couldn't keep up with the cultivators had led him to make a decision.

The problem wasn't their physical stats. It was the fact that golems without a soul not only lacked growth, but they also had little potential to learn skills. Skills were a big part of the power in the system. This was also why the golems only rivaled lv.75, despite having much more powerful attributes.

The golem knights he made originally, were able to inherit, remaster, and improve skills contained in their souls from when they were alive and could even learn new skills, given time. The things Seth needed for them were souls and some fitting bodies in the best case. The blacksmith had a good idea of where to get both. He had business there anyway.

“Don't worry, I will stay for today,” Seth assured them when he saw Fin looking down and Mina's tail swinging listlessly. Staying a day or two, what was the damage?

…

---2 days later, Holy Land---

“What are you doing!? We had a deal!”

A darkness befell the toxic wasteland as a somber tune had the world shaking along with the sound of the hurdy-gurdy. Rock was breaking and the landscape ripping apart, exposing the vast network of tunnels and vents, that all led to the Maestro’s subterranean laboratories.

Black goop crawled from the cracks, taking the shape of an anthropomorphic Ibex, pitifully complaining to the Infernal Skald who was solemnly playing his tune, demolishing the landscape in the process. The tune fell silent as Seth stopped turning the crank.

“We did have a deal, but do you think I don’t know that it was you who gave Dragos the information that we went to the Abyss? Before he perished, he talked about it. He desperately told us anything, just to end his life,” the bard said with a cold smile. The dark little toad shivered as if these words wormed themselves deep in its body.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Ah, err, listen that- That doesn’t matter. It happened before the deal,” he asserted weakly.

“That’s right. That’s also why I’m not here for you especially. I happen to need a soul and I was thinking of offering you to source it for me. It would be best if it was multitalented, like you, and specialized in alchemy, like you… You get the drift, right? Get me another Maestro like yourself, and you are off the hook,” the skald made a sensible offer to spare the demon's life.

The Ibex froze for a moment, just staring at him with its goat eyes.

“I know someone just like that! He’s a rival of mine and just as- no! Worse, worse than me. Much worse, yes. He’s very -also talented in alchemy, almost as- I mean, better than me even!” the demon assured him in a hurry, once he thought of a fitting victim.

“I can contact him and lure him here within a few days!”

Seth squinted at the demon. Although he would have preferred to get it immediately, however, it was also convenient. He planned to stay in the holy land for a while. The demon was actually the afterthought, compared to his actual goal: Collecting souls.

“I will return in a 5 days.” the bard gave him a deadline and returned to the Adventurer Guild's Labyrinth City. Seth didn't have Tatzel or Puffles with him, so he was riding Drejtim, the golem griffin back.

The Labyrinth City had already started changing. Buildings like the adventurer guild and merchant guilds were already finished, while many inns and shops had already taken shape. Things had started changing quicker and quicker after the guild finally established its own teleportation formation.

Although foreign adventurers would have a hard time on Urth, unless they had special blessing, foreign Merchants started flocking to the labyrinth city. It was still the beginning, but it greatly increased the speed of the city's growth.

“Tano, are you ready to set out?” he asked the demon when he entered their room. Since the demon had been looking for some change, Seth had decided to take him along. He was much more useful to him than in a dungeon raid, anyway.

“Ah, yeah. I prepared all the materials, but are you sure you want to do this on your own?” he asked because Seth had brought neither his pets nor friends along.

“We aren't as alone as you may think,” he said mysteriously. “Let's go.”

After picking up the demon, they walked to the branch of the adventurers guild. It was bigger than usual, but it had everything one would expect. A billboard with quests, a counter with a group of receptionists, a bar...

Seth leisurely walked to the billboard. There were many quests corresponding to monster territories that had spread on the surface and dungeons that had to be culled. The most prominent quests were about the various territories and dungeons the spreading Kozdam Kingdom of Orcs owned.

He knew from Bryce, that these quests were actively avoided by adventurers, allowing Kozdam to grow into a looming danger for the future of the labyrinth city. The blacksmith visited the guild master and offered his help with the problem when Bryce mentioned it.

When the bard shared his plan, the guild master also provided him with something he needed to do what he did next. Decisively, Seth grabbed more than half of these quests concerning Kozdam and brought them to the front desk, to acknowledge them.

The receptionist already had a hard time keeping her business smile, when she saw the new adventurer approach with a whole stack of quests in his hand.

“Sir, I fear you can't acknowledge that many quests at once. Please understand, that this is about your safety, as well for the sake of other adventurers. If you take that many quests, how will others make a living?” she tried to explain friendly.

Wordlessly, Seth placed his new adventurer license on the desk between them.

“S- S- SS-Rank Adventurer?!” she exclaimed in shock. That was right, the guild master himself had gone through the process to make him a SS-Rank adventurer's license. With this, there was no doubt about his strength.

“As you can see, you don't have to worry about me. And all of these are Kozdam Quests. Nobody wants to do these.”

“Hmm, yes, I see. It's different if you are a SS-Rank. Okay, I will process these quests for you,” she agreed quickly and started registering the quests. She didn't even ask about his party, this was the power of rank. She let go of any worry or standard procedure the moment he showed his card.

…

“Okay, that's everything. I registered them under your name, do you need the papers back?”

“No, it's okay. I can see them in my quest log.”

“Alright, then good luck,” she sent him off with a smile.