A/N: I received a review with a character suggestion, I've decided to use them in the later disks as the synthesis shop owner, however due to war preparations, he is overworked mass producing steel and Mythril weapons along with all the other blacksmiths, and as such, the synthesis shop is currently closed, now we have a reason for it in the game. Otherwise the OC of myself would just save up for half a year and buy all the best equipment for strong abilities, skills, and stats ahead of his level and the timeline. He is employed directly by the castle and has the backing of the royalty, which allowed him to open a shop within the city.

Still this means we don't see the blacksmith for quite some time, though he will appear briefly in some chapters prior to that, so I decided to write a short bonus chapter revolving around this character and Steiner, ref review below. Anyway! Enjoy this bonus chapter, I'll do chapter 11 as soon as time allows.

Sent by: LinkKokiriFan94

Hi, just wanted to say this is a great story so far and that I like it. As for an OC, my idea is an old blacksmith named Darius. He is a massive man, standing over a head taller than even Steiner and is covered in both many battle scars and massive muscles. When he was younger, Darius used to be an impressive Warrior and Mercenary of great skill and power before suffering an injury that forced him to retire. However instead of hanging up his hammer, he instead took it up again, but this time as a blacksmith, learning from some of the best blacksmiths in the world before becoming the Head Blacksmith of Alexandria. My idea is Darius could be Steiner's old mentor and/or friend that actually got him his job as a Pluto Knight in the first place.

Start of Chapter:

Character class: Wizard Knight / Pluto Knight X

Level: 14, 4199xp until next level up.

HP: 844 / 844

MP: 998 / 998

Strength: 40 (52)

Speed: 31 (26)

Spirit: 48 (49)

Magic Defence/Defence: 30 (50)

Magic: 75

Magic Evasion/Evasion: 16 (36)

Weapon: Iron short sword

Headwear: Iron helm

Armour: Iron armour

Accessory: Mythril gloves

Skills: Minus Strike

Abilities: Bright Eyes, Level Up, Man Eater, Bug Killer

Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure

Trance: Balmung strike

Items: 20 potions, 1 phoenix down, Antidote, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.

Gil: 2458

A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?

CHAPTER 10.5 bonus

The blacksmith and the captain

The blacksmiths of Alexandria typically owned their own smithies or stores, however, as of a year ago, her majesty had gathered up all the best of them to work in the castle, mass-producing swords, armour, and other tools of war alongside the castle's usual smithies, typically this was a prelude to war, the stocking up of weapons in excess of their needs.

Clang!

However the Queen had provided no information for the sudden weapon demand, but surely that must be the case, even though the rebellion of the city-states some twenty years ago was old history, those involved, along with the mercantile and noble backers had been eliminated. So why make these preparations now?

Clang!

Alexandria had no real threats within its borders and had either neutrality or allied with other nations on the mist continent, the number of mist monsters had also stayed at a manageable level. But still each day, he made swords, instilling them with magic with each strike on his anvil, but steel and Mythril could only provide basic boosts or skills, but every little helped.

Clang!

Others worked noisily around him, he ignored them, remaining focused on his work, adding 'Man Eater' to all the swords required focus, a skill that increased ones killing potential against fellow humans, it also applied to the various demi-humans that lived across the world. The skill had no effect on mist monsters however. These weapons were to be used to kill only humans.

Clang!

The blacksmith knew that war was coming with their neighbouring countries, but who would be invading, her majesty, or another ruler? It was likely to be them, it concerned him, however he was only a blacksmith, even without his injuries, he would not need to fight, as since the King's death, men had been mostly phased out of the army, keeping only a token force called the Pluto Knights for her protection and that of her daughter. But with so many soldiers in the castle, they weren't really needed.

Clang!

Once the Pluto knights had been legendary, on par with the likes of the Dragoons, but that was no longer the case, and after he could no longer fight, and after Beatrix was promoted to general, the only competent knight left there was a young man he had serving under him at the time, the now captain, Steiner.

Clang!

The ranks had been filled by ordinary men, those utterly lacking in talent with the blade, and some not even trying at their roles, only whipped into a frenzy when Steiner put his impressive shouting to good use. But the Pluto Knights were now just a token force, it bothered him, but with each change of ruler, the kingdom could change drastically. Brahne and the King had ruled together, but she had been the more ruthless of the two, and he the more gentle.

Clang!

Now since his death due to an unknown disease, that no white magic or medicine could fix, the Queen had only grown fatter, colder, and more ruthless. Removing all the men made no sense, most races employed both genders, not discriminating as death comes to all during war. Yes, there had been problems but executing rapists within the army would have stopped things so much more easily, and left the Queen with a much larger army.

Clang!

"Well, it doesn't matter, anymore…" Darius the blacksmith sighed with a final strike with his armour, dunking the sword into the water vat to cool with a loud hiss.

"Introspection isn't good for you," noted a familiar deep voice.

Darius looked up startled to see Steiner standing in front of his forge.

"Oh, Steiner what brings you here?" he asked, eyes flickering automatically to the dents in Steiner's full suit of armour. It had been done with a small weapon, but with a huge amount of force.

"Good to see you Darius, I need some minor repairs to my armour," Steiner said. "And also, this…" he drew his sword, it had been broken.

"Jeez, are the Pluto Knights actually seeing combat again?" Darius grinned.

"Sadly no, this is the result of a spar," Steiner answered.

"You throw down with Beatrix again?" Darius enquired, despite Steiner's skill, Beatrix was still three of four times stronger than Steiner, and twice as strong as he had been in his prime, she was a rare talent. "You'll never catch up to her while not fighting on the front lines."

"No, a new recruit did this," Steiner admitted.

Darius paused in removing the cooling sword from the water to set aside with the others. "R-Really?" he stuttered in complete surprise. Someone new was actually competent?

"Indeed."

"Details," Darius pressed.

"Can you fix my sword today?"

"Nah, its buggered, grab one of my new steel broadswords over there," Darius said, gesturing vaguely to the far wall. Steiner headed over and pulled out a few, finding one whose balance and weight suited his preference.

"So who's the new guy then?" Darius asked as Steiner returned to his forge.

"His name is Mark Green, from Treno, a bit older than what we usually accept, but he's been doing well so far, if he keeps it up, I'm thinking of promoting him," Steiner said. "It's been years since someone above the mental and physical capacity of a Private has joined the Pluto Knights."

"Mark…" the name sounded familiar, Darius recalled some of the soldiers collecting replacement weapons after a goblin horde had destroyed an outpost. A traveller with that name had apparently killed a lot of Goblins and was being praised by women who often looked down on men. "That the one from the Goblin attack?"

"Correct, he did well from what I hear, even Beatrix was impressed, however begrudgingly," Steiner chuckled.

"Ha! She's always been a bit man-hating, someone other than us being good at our jobs must annoy the Hell out of her."

"Most likely."

"Well maybe I should check this fellow out myself when time allows," he got up, limping over to the wall to put away his finished sword with the stacks of others he had made. Around them other blacksmiths worked in the unified banging of their hammers and forges. "See what he's got."

Steiner almost offered to take the sword for him, but knew it would be considered an insult. His eyes flickered sadly to the Mythril peg leg that Darius now used to walk, a dragon had torn off his original left leg back when Steiner was still just a new recruit. Despite the mobility issues, Darius was still two or three times stronger than most veteran soldiers in Alexandria, and still in the top five of their finest warriors. Sadly, he could no longer be used for war, the marching, and mobility were essential parts of war, if only in placement of forces.

Steiner used Scan by habit to see Darius's stats, his former captain often overworked himself despite being a cripple by most people's standards.

Name: Darius Bolg

Age: 62

Character class: Pluto Knight (retired) / Master Blacksmith

Level: 48

HP: 3000 / 3953

MP: 86 / 322

Strength: 99 (92)

Speed: 99 (33)

Spirit: 42 (37)

Magic Defence/Defence: 50

Magic: 45

Magic Evasion/Evasion: 20

His level and several stats had gone down again, Darius was getting old now, and missing a leg it affected him heavily. Sadly cure could not replace lost limbs, Steiner deactivated the skill as Darius turned around.

"Well?"

"Hmm? Of course, by all means."

Ultimately however, due to the amount of work expected of him, it would be many months before they would meet.

CHAPTER END

Next chapter: Saved by luck

Thanks for reading this everyone.

(author news)

For those of you in the south of England, I will be selling signed copies of my Grey Faction novels and comics, and others at the Brighton Beach comic con at the Grand Hotel, 7th April 2018 between 10am and 5pm. I'm sadly in the secondary selling area at the back as I only just got a table at the last minute. Any of you who come, mention this fanfiction story's full name and I'll give you 10% off on any purchases of £10 or more.

If you're out of the country or can't come, my Grey Faction comic: Jinhai's Justice is currently has 15% discount on the lulu booksellers website, alternately search Jinhai's Justice 2018 on any search engine.