Blacksmith vs. the System 300

As I stood in front of the shockingly mysterious heckler without saying anything, he watched me in amusement, his confidence surprisingly robust.

It contrasted with the room, which had been filled with a relaxed atmosphere of a dinner that was about to reach its completion, the weight of food mixing with alcohol just moments ago, turning into something tense, something brittle.

No one spoke. My people stayed silent, reliable enough not to interrupt me recklessly when I looked like I had a plan in play. Our guests were silent as well, which didn’t surprise me. Every single one of them had been selected as diplomats, which required at least a modicum of common sense.

Well, at least, what passed for common sense in the confusing post-Cataclysm world we lived in.

Unfortunately, I had no plan, at least not one better than direct violence; and his mysterious risk dissuaded me from it. That meant I needed to test him; but in a way that didn’t damage my well-earned authority.

Luckily, multitasking from Intelligence partnered well with Perception in such a tense moment, allowing me to register and process his outward appearance. The first thing that caught my attention was the slight posture.

Posture was a tricky subject, something that I still had trouble deciphering directly even with Rosie teaching me, as despite what some experts tried to convince people on the web when the internet was still a thing, body language was not easy to decipher when it came to detecting emotions.

When it came to identifying people’s identities, it was far more efficient. A simple hand gesture might help identify one’s childhood home, a shake of their head revealing their education, their gait betraying their social status.

For my mysterious heckler, the first thing I could point out was … unfamiliarity. Not fully, but enough that I could only point out to a few people. Like Junior Archmage Selene, Lord Marshall, Tristelion ambassador, and Lady Asterion. Or, now that I knew what to look for, Ryan and Soren; though that was much less pronounced in the last two, owing to their attempts to stay hidden.

A group of people with one common denominator, their origins laying outside the bounds of our little blue planet.

Knowing what to look for, it didn’t take long to identify some of the other details, from the subtle accent to the way his eyes focused on anything related to modern technology.

I was already reluctant to use violence due to his ring, and his origins confirmed it further. Not only did I need to deal with the magical surprises of his artifact, but also a potential revenge due to his complicated background.

There had to be one that I could balance. In the end, I decided to target his most obvious weakness. His youth. He was tall, and the armor went a long way to make him look older, but I had too many advantages to miss it. That way, I could appear merciful without seeming weak.

Assuming I handled things well, of course.

“Aren’t you a little too lippy for a kid?” I drawled as I looked at him, channeling every single bully I had to deal with back when I was studying in college as an advanced student as a teen. “Where are your parents?”

The young man froze at the declaration, and the crowd was not too different. Though, unlike him, the crowd didn’t stay in disbelief for long. A few nervous giggles filled the room.

Just like that, the young man’s eyes widened. “I … I’m not a kid, I’m a man,” he said.

“Sure you are,” I responded as I reached to pat his shoulder. He slapped my hand away, the metal over metal clanking loudly, but I used the opportunity to swipe his glass, and sniffed. “Which idiotic servant gave rum to a little kid?” I questioned, looking at the servants in exaggerated anger.

A soft ripple of relief from the tables, making him blush worse. Far worse than I expected. It was not the reaction of a seasoned warrior facing a dangerous situation, but of someone sheltered acting out. I was glad that I had chosen to handle the situation in a less violent way.

“I … you … bastard,” he growled. His first word came in shock, the second, in anger. Third one, he spat out as he stood up, already drawing his dagger. The shift in his emotions was intense, too intense for it to be natural.

At that moment, I had another unexpected benefit. A whisper of a pressure, coming from a nondescript figure four tables away, mixed with the crowd.

Charisma.

Suddenly, the situation had changed. It was no longer just a young man acting out due to his upbringing and arrogance. No, it was a premeditated scene, one that used him as a tool to target me.

Or, my thoughts paused as I considered the nature of the ring. Maybe someone was using me as a tool to target him.

I didn’t act immediately even as he drew his blade, covered with mana, the layers mingling together showing the true nature of the skill. Something else I would have missed if it weren’t for our proximity. It was not Mythic.

It was something higher.

Yet, it was also clear that he was not ascended. Even if he were, right at the center of my domain, near the dungeon gate, and surrounded by hundreds of runes hidden in the metal, ready to be cast, I wouldn’t have been afraid even if he had been.

That confidence allowed me to operate in ease. When he acted, I raised my hand, mana slowly gathering, layers upon layer turning into something terrifying around my finger. One that I released with a flick of a finger, a dismissive gesture that released a fast-moving spell, zapping through right over his shoulder.

“You missed,” he said, arrogance spilling out of him. In a way, I respected his restraint. Here he was, thinking that I targeted him with a spell while dealing with the unnatural anger fueled by Charisma, yet he didn’t lash out.

I noticed his ring flaring the moment I released the spell, giving me the impression of a sudden pressure drop right before a storm, threatening to swallow me. It was a faint impression, one that I barely caught thanks to Wisdom before it disappeared, but it was enough for me to enhance the mental danger rating I had assigned.

“I don’t miss, kiddo,” I responded as I flicked my finger, and the offending party started to float toward me, shocked at the sudden turn. He tried to float, but my mana had already turned into a cocoon, and I dragged the offending party forward. It was an expensive spell, requiring me to waste a lot of mana.

But, at this moment, it was an advantage.

“Hey, why are you targeting my friend, you coward!” the young man growled, the mana around his blade intensifying.

“A friend,” I said, and suddenly, things started to align. “Could it be that, by any chance, he helped you in a complicated situation some time ago, and invited you here as a bodyguard or something?”

He tensed. “What does it have to do with anything?” he asked, while the rest of the crowd watched in silence. “Leave my friend alone!”

“Interesting,” I chuckled. “Do me a favor, and tell me when you first met him,” I followed up.

The young man tensed even more, but he didn’t flinch. “What does it have to do with anything?”

“Answer me, and I can arrange a duel for you to let loose. Wouldn’t you want that?”

An obvious bait, but he was confident enough to swallow it knowingly. “Fine, we met a month ago. Happy?”

“Just a few days after you arrived … here, I presume,” I said, connecting the dots. It supported the case that I wasn’t the target; while the long pause indicated that I understood the nature of his origins to some degree.

“You’re stalling. You promised me a duel.”

“Come on, kiddo. I already spelled it out for you. Hadn’t you noticed your anger spiked quite unnaturally at the moment? Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed him using a mind-control effect on you.”

“That’s nonsense —” he started, only to pause as the realization hit. I guessed it wasn’t the first time he got emotionally nudged during their ‘friendship’. “No!” he gasped as he turned toward his friend, who was struggling against his bindings.

“Nasty mind-control spell, right?” I declared, deliberately misconstruing the source of his emotional conflict. There was no harm in acting like I hadn’t realized Charisma wasn’t the true source of the issue, so as not to alert others, including the ambassador.

The young man’s eyes widened as the realization hit. Emotional manipulation was like trying to find a camouflaged target. Difficult to catch, but once one pointed out, it became very easy to spot.

The spy’s eyes widened, then his expression turned serious. His gaze shifted in determination, and activated something.

A spell activated inside him. A deadly spell, targeting his brain and heart at the same time from inside his body. A suicide trick. Too bad his whole body was suffocated with my mana, more than enough to kill a boss monster. That allowed me to break the spell before it could reach its target and keep him immobile.

Then, I turned to my guesses, and nodded slightly. “Sorry for the excitement, my dear guests. Please enjoy your drinks,” I said, and started walking away, dragging the floating spy with me. Then, when I reached the door, I turned to the young man. “What are you waiting for, kiddo? Come here. I’m sure you have questions as well.”

The young man looked surprised, but he followed me without saying a word.