Darius Supreme

A good form of transportation was the lifeblood of a budding economy. Safemoon and Andrato were separated by over 10,000 kilometers of distance, which was the equivalent of traveling from New York to London (assuming there was no sea in the way) twice! 

In an era where people used carriages instead of cars to move around, one could just imagine how excruciating it was to move about in such a place. 

This was why Miranda had been so hard at work creating roads, ensuring the travel would be smooth and without bumps to further encourage it. After that, she had further upgraded it into their own custom transportation. 

It had been slightly costly to use elemental energy extracted from various resources of that nature used on Fallon to power them, but that had easily been fixed after Darius had raided those Polito Vaults, especially combined with the knowledge he had swallowed from the entire restricted section of the Great Library of Krona. 

When Darius had passed through Fallon for a split second, it had been enough for Miranda to fully update the cloud, so the subroutine she had left had been able to take full advantage of this and carve the Source Energy runes. 

It wasn\'t just for the transportation system, but also for the buildings. Many, if not all, in the core section had already been renovated, now powered by Source Energy, so those using them did not incur any costs. 

The same went for Darius\' mage tower, which was likely the first and only in the entire Fallon which wouldn\'t run its owner down into the ground financially. 

After the core section, the AI had expanded it to the inner section, starting from the academy to other places. 

Speaking of the academy, after almost half a year since its first admission, many students had already settled fully to life within. 

Especially the two former slaves that the academy had purchased, since they had been the only ones to instantly get designated for the Master Class had undergone the greatest change. 

They had arrived nameless in tatters. Now, they had been given names by Principal Elijah, and were wearing the finest robes the academy had to offer. 

But their matter is for another time. 

Right now, Darla and Kiran had entered a specific smithy in the outer section, and were beholden to a single dwarf working the forge. What was strange about this was that all the other smithies had a crew of workers in order to quicken and streamline the process. 

On top of that, he was dressed differently from most dwarves of his kind. He wore a set of bright red overalls, with two straps over his shoulder that glowed with a strange blue light. On his head was a welding mask that was also more like something one would see from Gravitas rather than Fallon. 

He wore a pair of suave workboots and had a pair of goggles over his eyes that could charge its lenses, focusing, sharpening, and even viewing things at the microscopic level. He was currently using a high-pressure blower to weld a pair of iron boots at the soles. 

When he finished with his work, he wiped his brow tiredly then paused. Realizing he had visitors, he put down his blower and left his impeccable weld to cool before wiping his hands. 

The dwarf came to the counter of his store and smiled at the duo. 

"Hello there, Madam and Sir, my name is Maximo Riverstrike III! What can I do for you today?" The dwarf greeted in a pleasant tone, his voice devoid of the usual gravelly voice and accent the Dwarves had. 

Darla smiled and stepped forth. "It\'s a pleasure to meet you, Maximo. My name is Darla Brown and this is Kiran. We came to your shop to request that you make us a set of equipment." 

Maximo nodded. He bent over and took out two forms, then placed two pens on the counter. He then gestured to it with a smile. 

"Please go ahead and fill out these forms. They are standard procedure here in Safemoon, and no commission can be taken without them." 

Sharing strange looks, Darla and Kiran filled out the forms. Even if they had never learned how to read and write, the free HoloBraces awarded to everyone would automatically download that knowledge into the mind of the willing for free. 

Naturally, it was far more sensible to have everything done through the HoloBraces instead of wasting time writing it down, but Darius had decided to create this atmosphere of bureaucracy to artificially create more jobs. 

Of course, the speed here was not like in other places. Bureaucrats had quotas to meet and the more they worked, the more they were paid. Their jobs were easily replaceable, so any mishaps and they were out. 

Darla and Kiran finished filling the forms and handed them back to Maximo. The dwarf then scanned then with his HoloBrace and nodded. 

"The total of it will come to 15 Supreme Coins for each of ya. I\'ll take a deposit of 10% just as a measure since you\'re first-time customers. Is that good?" 

Darla and Kiran froze. After converting all their valuables - well mostly, Darla\'s valuables since she was loaded thanks to her Luck - they had barely scraped together 100 Supreme Coins. 

Was 1/3rd of that about to go on just equipment?! 

However, Darla recovered and paid the amount for both of them with a straight face. Kiran wanted to stop her, but could only sigh by the side helplessly. 

Maximo watched their antics and shook his head. He had seen this scene play out many times when he had been still at the center of the outer section\'s smithing area. 

Countless adventurers and the like come in for equipment, only to have their faces cramp at the price. 

What they did not know though, was that Maximo had lowered the price by more than 70%. He was barely making a profit above the cost price, which was why he got eventually punished to this derelict forge near the corner, despite being one of the best smiths in the city. 

Heck, the equipment that the Five Apprentices had been made by none other than him! 

If Darius were here, he would never have allowed such a fellow to be relegated like this, but he had left strict rules for the three AI\'s to follow in managing Safemoon, so they had executed his will to the letter. 

Luckily for Darius, Maximo was an easy-going fellow whose only passion was to create and create some more, ever-improving his craft and assisting people in solving their problems with his skills. 

He may live in his forge, but it was still neat, fresh, and had everything he needed. Safemoon had no dirt or trash, as workers cleaned the place every day, so it wasn\'t like he was living in a dump. 

He was just put in an unfavorable location for business, that was all. 

Maximo glanced at the duo who were still hanging around with a curious smile. "Is there anything else?" 

Kiran hesitated, but Darla smiled cryptically. "Do you believe in Luck, Sir Maximo?" 

Maximo grunted and scratched his head. "That depends what you mean. Do I believe in it as a be-all-end-all thing? No. I believe that skill is most important. Do I believe in Luck as a supplementary sort of thing? Yeah. Luck is enough to push a skilled person towards a positive end, but it cannot make a fool a God." 

The dwarf then folded his arms. " What about you, Madam Darla?" 

Being called Madam made Darla blush a little, but she shouldered on. "Well, I am what you would call a \'Lucky\' person. I have always been guided towards things that would benefit me and my loved ones, which is why I and this lout are still alive so far." 

Kiran snorted and looked away, yet not denying this. This made Maximo hum under his breath, as he noticed a certain dynamic here. 

Darla leaned on the counter with a wide grin. "Anyway, I was guided to your forge by this obscure feeling that has led me to success all my life. This feeling is telling me that meeting you today will result in something beneficial to both our parties." 

Maximo smiled strangely. "Alright, that is fine. But what exactly am I supposed to provide you that benefits both of us? It couldn\'t be the equipment you just ordered, could it?" 

Darla shook her head. "Far from it, that was just to get us a chance to speak to you, as well as see the quality of your crafts. My senses lead me to you out of all the opportunities in Safemoon, so you must be a real hidden gem." 

Such talk would make most shake their heads and think of it as empty flattery to try and get a discount or madness-induced confidence, but it made Maximo nod in agreement. 

He knew for a fact that he was the best in Safemoon, and if not for his own nature, everyone would know too. 

This, more than anything, made him believe Darla\'s words. 

With a sigh, Maximo decided to also take a gamble. He had his own reasons for laying low up until now, but he was not foolish to pass up an opportunity that the fates had set up for him. 

"Follow me."