Grenmir (Elite Dwarf, Advanced Master Blacksmith), level 30

HP: 39,000

Jack's Inspect confirmed the race of the man in front of him. The level and grade of this dwarf were low, but his blacksmith grade was high. An advanced master, that alone deserved respect. Jack wondered how long it would take for him to reach this stage.

If he didn't remember wrong, the one they were coming to meet, Haestus, prince Alonzo mentioned as also a Master Blacksmith. Jack wondered if there were a lot of Master Blacksmiths in this place.

"Greetings, good dwarf. We are here to meet Haestus," Jack said with a polite tone.

The dwarf spat, "well, good human. What business do you have with him?"

'You shouldn't have addressed him as a dwarf. It was rather impolite,' Peniel said to Jack telepathically.

'It was?' Jack was perplexed, he had no idea about the custom of this world.

'You can address their race in general as a dwarf, but you shouldn't address them in person as one. You should just say their names, or simply sir or mister in case you don't know their names,' Peniel explained further.

When Jack was thinking about how to properly answer the dwarf's question, Samuel spoke out. "Greetings, Sir Grenmir. I'm sorry if our Viscount here failed to show proper etiquette. He is an outworlder, as you see. We are sent here by the third prince of Themisphere, Prince Alonzo, on an official matter regarding our alliance with the Blacksmith Circle."

"The prince should have chosen a better representative," Grenmir grumbled.

'Ugh, this is great. We have just arrived and I've f*cked things up. I am never the negotiator type, I wonder why the prince gives this task to me,' Jack complained in his mind.

Grenmir continued, "Unfortunately, Haestus is indisposed today. He will meet with you tomorrow morning."

'Luckily, only one day of waiting, so I don't have to waste too much time,' Jack thought. He waited for Grenmir to invite them inside to spend the night, he was eager to look inside Blacksmith Circle while waiting to meet Haestus tomorrow. Yet, the dwarf was mum. Samuel also kept quiet, he was only an escort, after all.

'Don't tell me he wants us to camp outside, right? We are royal representatives, for God's sake,' Jack thought.

"Um, if I am so bold to ask. Does Sir Grenmir mind if we stay inside waiting for Sir Haestus?" Jack finally enquired.

"Normally, I will have invited you in, but I don't like you. So there is my conundrum," Grenmir replied.

#%@*

'Dwarf race is known for their directness,' Peniel said in Jack's mind.

'Well, then, I will be direct as well,' Jack said in his mind. He then said to Grenmir with a bow, "Sir Grenmir, if I have offended you, I sincerely apologized. As Sir Samuel here had said, I'm an outworlder and I am not so clear on the etiquette. I humbly asked your forgiveness."

Jack maintained his bow. Grenmir finally said, "I guess you are not so bad. All right, come in."

Jack and Samuel followed the dwarf into a very long stone hallway. The lighting was rather dim. As they were walking, Grenmir said, "Oh, right! Almost forgot. Please walk right behind me. At the same path where I walked through."

"Why is that?" Jack asked.

"Because this hallway is full of traps. It is our defense against trespassers and monsters who wandered in here. We are in the wilderness, after all. If you are not careful, you won't make it to the other side alive."

"What the hell! Why didn't you turn the traps off?!" Jack exclaimed as he hurriedly shifted his position to be directly behind Grenmir. Samuel did the same.

"Hehe, it's a hassle to turn the traps off. Just pay attention to follow my path," Grenmir said with a grin.

As they were walking, Jack's monocle started pointing out the traps. The dwarf was not joking.

After a rather long walk, they finally came out to a hall, there were several sentries there. Jack scanned them to be average level 50 elite humans. They saluted Grenmir and checked Jack and Samuel's identity, before letting them further in.

They came out into a very huge cavern hall. It seemed like the place was built inside the mountain itself. Far below, Jack saw what appeared to be factories with many people working. There were many forges. There was even a river of lava. The forges seemed to draw the fire from the lava itself.

Grenmir brought the two walking down a long set of stairs leading to the factory floor below. Jack was amazed by the view as he climbed down the stairs.

When they arrived down there, it looked more hectic. It was what Jack expect to see in real-life factories. Everyone was busy with their tasks. Many raw materials were piled at one side while completed weapons were piled at another. There were also people transporting these materials and weapons around the factory floor.

The two continued to follow Grenmir as they marveled at the production process. Grenmir then took them up the stairs again into a room at the mid-height of the cavern hall. Jack looked back and saw another path from where they came from up there. They could have taken that shortcut, but Grenmir had taken them down to have a sightseeing tour. Not that he complained about it, he would have asked to go down to have a look if Grenmir had taken the shorter path.

Inside the room, there were hollow openings on the wall which act as a window that looked out to the production floor. This seemed to be a waiting room as well as a monitoring room. Grenmir invited them to sit on a stone sofa before asking a human maid to prepare some beverages for their guests.

"If you want to just wait until tomorrow. I can have people take you to our available guestroom. You can rest there until tomorrow," Grenmir offered.

Jack thought for a bit before asking, "do you mind me watching the blacksmiths at work? As a matter of fact, do you mind if I do some blacksmithing work as well?"

"You are a blacksmith as well?" Grenmir asked.

"Basic Expert," Jack proclaimed rather proudly.

"So low?" Grenmir said with a ridiculing tone.

"Esteemed sir Grenmir," Jack said, afraid to use the wrong addressing words again, "in my defense, I just started blacksmithing four months ago." 'If include tutorial period,' Jack added in his mind.

"Really?" Grenmir lifted one of his eyebrows. "Well, I do hear you outworlders are a fast learner."

"We are," Jack nodded.

"Evidently, low profile is not one of your kind's quality though," Grenmir satirized. "Well, I am curious about your outworlders' works. However, I can't let you roam around by yourself and use our equipment as you please. You can, however, join me in the training class I oversee."

"You are a trainer?" Jack asked.

"I am a trainer specifically sent by our base in the Republic of Palgrost. That is where our faction originated from," Grenmir declared.

'The Republic of Palgrost is the country ruled by dwarven race,' Peniel explained.

'I remember,' Jack replied.

"What about you?" Grenmir turned to Samuel.

"I'll pass. Blacksmithing is not my thing," Samuel answered.

Grenmir nodded. He had the maid show Samuel to the guestroom. He then asked Jack to follow him. The two walked along the cliff overlooking the factory floor again, with stairs going up and down occasionally. Finally, Grenmir turned into one of the many cave openings on the cliff.

They went into a room with neatly rowed forges at one side of the room. Three humans were seen working on the forges. When they saw Grenmir enter, they stopped what they were doing and saluted him. They all addressed him as a teacher.

Jack scanned the three. Two were level 28 basic humans, intermediate expert blacksmith. One was a level 35 elite human, advanced expert blacksmith.

"Everyone, this is Storm Wind. He is an outworlder, and he will be joining our training today," Grenmir declared to the others. He then said to Jack, "go to one of those empty forges."

There were six forges in that room, three were unoccupied. He took the one beside the level 35 elite human, which was a woman with curly blonde hair by the name of Kirsi. Her attires and face were covered with soot, but Jack noticed she was rather pretty and young.

Jack arrived at the forge and found out that the equipment there was of the rare grade. He inspected the other unoccupied forges, they were also rare grades. 'They are indeed a top-notched faction,' Jack thought.

"All right, we will begin with today's theory lesson first before diving into practical ones," Grenmir said.

'A lecture? I am interested in doing some blacksmithing work, not attending a school,' Jack complained in his mind, but he didn't dare disrupt the lecture.