Wolves of Hader

A meeting was in full swing in the castle's living room.

It was a meeting I'd convened because there wasn't much I knew.

The villagers also attended.

"How harsh does it get during the coldest days?"

"For about twenty days, we're stuck inside with no way out."

"Each house is insulated, but we're short on firewood, which is a big concern. I doubt our food supplies will last until the cold snap ends."

"How long exactly does the cold snap last?"

"At the shortest, fifteen days; it can go as long as a month."

"So the ramparts only block the wind, nothing else?"

"That's right, young master."

"What about just staying indoors?"

"As long as there's enough firewood, we'll be alright. But if a giant breaks through the rampart, it'll be hell—there won't even be time to evacuate."

I turned to Rozie, sitting beside me.

"Each house needs a month's worth of firewood. As for food, we should stock up and distribute it as needed when requests come in."

"Okay, I'll take care of it."

Rozie meticulously wrote everything down on parchment.

Next, I spoke to Donnie.

"Donnie, hand out the purchase list I wrote up to the servants. For those who can't read, explain it to them yourself."

"All right."

Looking around at everyone gathered, I said,

"The thirty-year cold snap has about fifteen days left. We barely have enough time to buy supplies and finish our preparations. We'll reinforce the rampart gate first. If everyone works together, we might just finish before the cold begins. Understood?"

"Yes, young master!"

One by one, the people in the living room went outside.

Ross, who had been watching, asked,

"What should I do?"

"Elder Brother, teach Donnie some swordsmanship."

"Donnie?"

"We probably won't have to fight a giant, but it'll be good for Donnie to learn now—could help later."

"Ah, alright."

A faint look of displeasure crossed Ross's face.

Letting a commoner take up the sword was bad enough, but having to teach directly was clearly not to his liking.

Having to obey his younger brother's orders didn't help either.

Then I spoke to Russell.

"Russell, please recruit about ten miners. Five skilled miners and five assistants should suffice."

"It might not be easy to find people because of the thirty-year cold snap."

"Tell them they'll get a share of the mining, not a wage. We'll take seventy percent, miners get thirty. That should motivate them."

"Wouldn't paying wages be better?"

"I think it's best to treat them as Hader family technicians from the start. We'll be mining a lot in the future."

Russell nodded, then asked.

"When do you plan to start mining?"

"We'll head back to that cave we visited before once work on the rampart starts. We'll begin with the fire-element ore."

"We're not prepared to deal with giants yet."

"There's no need to be."

Russell looked at me, puzzled—he had no idea what I was planning.

"Just you, Russell, will come along with the miners. Not that it matters to most, but there's an advantage to having you know what's going on. We'll set out in five days at the latest, so please also hire sled drivers."

"You mean everyone, including the miners, will travel by sled?"

"Yes. Russell and I will go ahead."

Russell looked genuinely bewildered.

I couldn't keep my cold-attribute magic power hidden forever. At the very least, Russell and Donnie needed to know, or future tasks would become needlessly complicated.

With that, the meeting ended. Back in my room, I planned to spend about a week on research, as there'd be nothing else to do.

I would be working on converting the marquis's swordsmanship into an advanced skill.

///

I spent two full days just reading swordsmanship manuals.

First, I looked at the basic swordsmanship manual, which was literally about fundamental movements—a beginner's text.

The imperial swordsmanship training book focused heavily on battle formations, describing the most efficient and least energy-consuming sword techniques for chaotic fights, all based on the basics.

Then came the Hader family's "Sword of the Star" cultivation manual.

This book was utterly cryptic. There wasn't a word about sword forms or poses—only abstract mana flow patterns.

It described how to cultivate mana to perform the Sword of Ascent, and what mindset and willpower were needed. The style of expression was hard to grasp.

For example:
'To form a star, four blue streams must flow from the primordial cradle, each gathering force before merging into a river and finally bursting out in an explosion. This can only be realized when one's will is wholeheartedly devoted to the star.'

To achieve the first "star" in the Sword of the Star, one must circulate mana this way.

But I had no idea what the "primordial cradle" even meant or what paths the "blue streams" referred to.

If Roger had learned advanced swordsmanship, he might have understood.

But with so much jargon, most passages were a struggle to read, let alone understand.

When one imbues strong will into mana and repeats a practice unceasingly, training occurs.

Once this repetition sets in, it solidifies into a "skill".

A skill is something crafted by infusing the power of creation into mana through will.

This is the principle behind mana's power and skills.

In other words, the knights of Rac are honing sword techniques as if they are skill researchers. It's truly a brute-force method.

But in the 'game' Rac, you could actually buy skills.

Our guild created skills and then supplied them to guild members for a reasonable price.

High-level skills sold for a lot.

How was this possible?

First, users had a [Level System]. Thanks to this, you could learn skills from structured skillbooks.

Skillbooks were made from magical materials, and the [will] that the knights of Rac had painstakingly imbued over time was simply encoded into these books.

It's like registering a casting in magic.

I knew this thanks to my position as manufacturing department manager, but most users didn't even realize how skills worked.

They just took advantage of a system someone else had built.

Of course, the way things worked here in Rac made sense.

Across the sea, the Beltern Continent was hostile to the Arshaire Continent, while Taiki Island was just the home of fairies and spirits.

With such little exchange, how could one know what existed beyond the continent or island? Even without skillbooks, you could turn magical material into a skill if you imbued "will" and registered it with the level system.

In any case, I felt I was gradually coming to understand how to control mana.

Once I found these paths, I could create a unique Hader sword skill—even one that never existed in game Rac.

///

Another five days passed.

We barely managed to recruit six miners and were preparing for the second expedition.

Besides the miners, the only companion was Russell.

The sled drivers, with their trained wolves, came to take Russell and me first, and the miners were to follow the next day.

I wanted to go ahead to take care of some matters and retrieve things discovered on the first expedition.

Bundled in a thick fur coat, I left the room. Servants and villagers bustled about as Russell spoke with the miners.

Just as Russell had said, recruiting miners was really tough.

Their main reason for declining was simple: no one wanted to die just to earn a bit of money.

They said they'd freeze to death or get killed by a giant.

When Russell saw me, he walked over with the miners.

The miners politely bowed their heads at me.

Russell spoke to them.

"The young master and I will go ahead to prepare for the mining. When the sled comes tomorrow, take it here."

"They said we'll be mining for five days—what if the cold snap hits before we're done? I don't want to die out there and not even get paid."

"At most, five days. Maybe even just one."

The miners looked deeply anxious.

No wonder—they'd never set foot beyond the ramparts in their lives. I'm sure they'd also heard grim rumors about this rampart fortress.

"You'll only be out there for about three days. So get a good night's rest. Young master, let's go. The sled's waiting outside the rampart."

"You packed enough food, right?"

"It'll be the first time you're full on an expedition."

"Hahaha."

Even Russell was joking.

When I laughed, Russell broke into a broad smile as well. He'd worked as hard as the marquis. And I seldom laughed, which made it all the more rare.

Previous Hader family technicians had given up.

It had been over a month since we'd sent a letter of appointment; if no reply came by now, it meant they weren't coming.

As Russell and I walked toward the rampart—

"Young master~"

From afar, Donnie came pounding over, "thud thud thud."

He was carrying a child on his back and a large bundle in his arms; you could tell even at a distance that his face was bright, as if he'd just found a long-lost sibling.

"Wait, young master!"

"What's the matter?"

"I received word of their arrival, so I went all the way to the lower village to escort them. I was afraid you'd leave before they made it here."

"Who did you bring?"

At that, Donnie set the child down from his back.

For a moment, I couldn't believe my eyes.

"It's been a long time, youngest master."

A very short old man was waving at me.

Crimson hair. Long beard. Short arms and legs.

And a hammer strapped to his waist.

He'd shown up unannounced!

The Hader family blacksmith!

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Hahaha, calling a dwarf a child...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】