Official Crackdown

Fele lounged in a wooden chair, lazily fanning himself. Though summer had yet to arrive, the sun had already begun to flaunt its power. There were no trees around, and with the sunlight beating directly down upon the city gate, it was still rather hot.

"My lord, Aoduo is here!" A city guard came over to Fele and quietly roused him.

Fele lifted his eyelids, spotted Aoduo standing in the distance, and beckoned with a hand.

Aoduo hurried over, lowered his head, and said, "Lord Fele, I brought the portrait." He raised his hand, holding a scroll. He had specially hired someone to make it—he described the man, and the artist drew him. It bore a ninety-percent resemblance to Dole.

Fele shook open the scroll, gave it a glance, then handed it to the city guard beside him to pass along. They naturally understood what it meant.

Fele pondered for a moment and said, "I can help you look for him, but there's no guarantee we'll find him. After all, not everyone comes out every day. If we find him, I'll notify you."

Aoduo nodded and said with utmost deference, "Then I'll trouble you, my lord. This is just a small token of my appreciation." He felt around inside his robes, took out a money pouch, and handed it to Fele.

Fele chuckled. "You know the score. Your father and I are acquainted—we're old friends, you could say. Consider this money compensation for the brothers' hard work."

With a flick of his hand, he tossed the money pouch to the vice-captain beside him, and everyone immediately beamed with delight.

Once they had taken the money, they had to do the job. That was the custom.

Of course, not all that money was for the city guards. Half of it had to be given to the company captain as well, or Fele would have a hard time keeping his position as squad captain.

Aoduo soon departed. In his mind, that lackey could only have gone to the mines, so looking for Fele at the gate could not possibly be wrong.

Having lost two capable subordinates in one stroke and paid out a hefty sum besides, Aoduo hated Dole to the marrow. If he caught that bastard, he would have to beat him to death before the hatred in his heart could be appeased. He had not seen him for dozens of days already, and Aoduo could no longer hold himself back.

As the weather gradually warmed, Old Ke Smithy also gradually grew busier. Everyday farming tools, weapons, all manner of knives and ironware—the demand for them increased greatly, and Dole remained busy at the forge the entire time.

Not long after becoming a level-one blacksmith, he had obtained a forge of his own. But apprentices were scarce, so unless he wanted to smelt something himself or work was especially pressing, he generally served as Verek's assistant and only occasionally worked the forge himself. By then, he had his own dedicated weapon: a short, narrow sword, light and easy to carry. When he went home at night, he no longer needed to carry a hammer.

As the weather warmed, weapon losses at the military camp outside the city, the city guards, the constabulary, and the military administration increased greatly. Old Ke Smithy received orders nearly every day, and soldiers from all sorts of departments could be seen coming by daily.

But Dole soon noticed that after a group of city guards came by once, someone began inexplicably watching him and asking the other blacksmiths about him. He immediately sensed that something was wrong.

He did not seem to have offended the city guards, did he?

That group of city guards soon left. Before long, Harley called him to the back and asked, "Dole, you haven't offended some important person, have you?"

Dole was rather baffled. "Ha, I haven't left the city for quite a while."

Harley looked doubtful. "Someone just told me that a squad captain was looking for you. He's found you now."

Dole thought about it. He did not have any enemies. If he did, then it could only be Aoduo—but what did Aoduo have to do with the city guards?

After thinking it over, he recounted what had happened to him.

Harley considered it, then understood part of the situation. He patted Dole on the shoulder and said, "I understand. Don't worry. You're a contracted blacksmith of Old Ke Smithy. Nothing will happen."

Old Ke Smithy was backed by the military administration and belonged to the city lord's faction; it had official backing. The city guards were also under the military administration's jurisdiction. If a mere squad captain wanted to stir up trouble, he would have to consider Harley's expression first. Even a company captain could not do as he pleased.

After sending Dole away, Harley prepared to check the inventory. There had been a lot to do recently, and their stock of raw ore was running low. They needed to prepare a new shipment.

As temperatures rose, the military administration was preparing to drill its troops, mobilize all its forces, and clear the road leading to the prefectural city. The consumption of weapons, armor, and bows would surely be enormous. They had to prepare for that, or they would easily be caught flat-footed when the time came.

Only Old Ke Smithy, with the city lord at its back, had such channels. Other ordinary smithies had no inkling of it whatsoever.

Duomeng City was rich in mineral resources and one of the Empire's most important cities. A large army was stationed outside the city, directly subordinate to the Empire, yet under the military administration's control. Only businesses belonging to the Link Family—the city lord's family, which had ties to the military administration—enjoyed such convenient preferential access to resources.

Harley was going to meet the Link Family's Third Young Master, Sainton Link. Old Ke Smithy fell under this Third Young Master's jurisdiction. Besides Old Ke Smithy, another three medium-sized or larger smithies belonged to the Link Family, as well as one large smithy with three level-three blacksmiths in residence. Rumor even had it that there was a level-four blacksmith there, a master craftsman capable of forging level-four weapons.

Having sounded out Manager Harley's attitude, Dole relaxed somewhat, but he also felt a powerful sense of crisis. That damned Aoduo actually had connections among the city guards. This was no small matter.

Even in the slums, Dole knew about Duomeng City's two major public-security departments: the constabulary and the military administration. The military administration handled the army and the guards at the city gates, while the constabulary handled public order and patrols. They might only be gate guards, but their authority was no trifling thing. If he wanted to leave the city, he would have to pass through the city guards. This was trouble.

Duomeng City lay against the mountains and had only two city gates. The side facing the mountains was completely sealed off. Of those two gates, one remained closed year-round, while only one was open. Dole knew that he was in deep trouble; leaving the city would be difficult from now on.

Thus, despite receiving Manager Harley's assurance, he could not feel happy in the slightest. Damn it—damn that Aoduo.

For the first time, Dole felt anger toward someone.

The afternoon was busy, but Dole could not bring himself to feel happy. He was deeply depressed. Once he finished his work, he left the smithy directly and quietly returned to his little room.

All afternoon, Aoduo's shadow hung over his heart. Faced with suppression by official power, Dole did not know what to do.

Restless.

He stood in his room, practiced his fist techniques for a while, then trained his basic swordsmanship for a while. Afterward, he forced himself to calm down before finally beginning his meditation training.

He had practiced the meditation technique for three days already. He had fully visualized a copper coin, down to the finest detail. According to the book, that was the end of it. After all, what he was visualizing was the simplest thing. But Dole knew this could not reflect the strength of his spiritual power. He could not even feel any increase in it. According to the book, this was indeed the end: visualizing an object meant completing the first step of meditation.

Was this really as far as it went? Dole was certain it was not. After turning it over and over in his mind, he decided to visualize a second copper coin. This idea had also been inspired by Naluye's book, though it had only been a concept there. Dole intended to put it into practice.

Visualizing one object, two objects, and three objects were not remotely alike in difficulty. The difficulty increased in geometric multiples. After considering it carefully, Dole felt that if he could finish visualizing the second copper coin, his spiritual power would surely improve enormously.

Though he was restless inside, he quickly found a way to settle his mind and began visualizing the second coin.

A copper coin was small and easy to outline with spiritual power. With Dole's current spiritual power, fully visualizing one was easy. But the second copper coin lacked the residual foundation of spiritual power left behind by the first, so he could only trace it out bit by bit. He could not do as he had with the first coin—first visualize a rough outline, then slowly fill in the details. That was not realistic. The difficulty had increased greatly.