Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Is this an enchanted staff?"

“Oh, no.” Roach pried open the top of the wooden tube, revealing a metal tube, then aimed it at the target, pulled the trigger, and a long flame shot out. “This contains special alchemical oil and catalyst. It can help you when your spells run out or there’s no usable fire around.”

This was also prepared by Roach for the little witch. Most of her quick spellcasting directly borrowed physical objects in the environment, such as existing flames, and then used arcane arts to amplify and expand them, turning a spark into a raging fire. This staff would allow her to use fire magic directly even without a fire source.

There are several similar ones, some that discharge electricity, some that spray acid, etc. They are all emergency equipment and are not expensive. The most powerful one is this Flame Staff. Rather than an alchemical or magical equipment, it is more like a magical equipment, which prevents Lai, who has not mastered any arcane spells, from being completely powerless in combat.

"This is too valuable!"

"Not particularly valuable, but remember to write down your impressions. I might need it if we meet again by chance." Roach didn't let them leave a message in the Living Forest. These four were probably too weak to even get past the Deadwood Swamp before they were all wiped out, just like the Imperial squad Roach encountered first.

Meanwhile, in a valley about 120 kilometers from Tallinn, an imperial caravan was resting, escorted by dozens of fully armed members of the Thunderbird Knights, one of the three knightly orders directly under the Emperor's command, their emblem being a thunderbird perched on a laurel tree, a symbol of wisdom.

This is a Guardian Knight Order protected by high-ranking officials. They are responsible for escorting, carrying, and so on. Of course, their greatest duty is to protect the Imperial Royal Library, and they are nicknamed the "Guardians of Knowledge." Similarly, they are also responsible for the security of the various alchemical research institutes, official societies, and the Royal Academy of the Empire.

One of their biggest businesses is escorting these alchemists or scholars to explore various ruins and collect artifacts. Each knight has received mandatory occult education and various academic educations, making them second only to the members of the Mystic Knights in this respect, making them the most versatile knight order. However, their combat strength is mainly focused on dealing with monsters and the environment of ruins and labyrinths, while their combat ability against humans is mediocre.

In summary, they are technical units with poor combat capabilities but strong functionality. During wartime, they are also responsible for protecting their own large magical weapons, such as magic cannons.

In this world, it's roughly equivalent to a technical corps composed of artillery, engineers, and technical sergeants. Sending them to the front lines to grind meat isn't impossible, but it would be a huge waste.

The main reason the Thunderbird Knights were here, besides the dwarf inside the tent, was the several vehicles following the caravan, covered in thick woolen cloth. These were the Empire's latest equipment and weapons, and the very items the Emperor had to hear when he inspected the Black Iron Palace that day.

“My lord, we have received the swift hawks of the investigation team. They have been attacked by the Sin Demons several times, but thanks to the help of a traveling witch, they still occupy the old post station camp. However, the camp at the vanguard has been completely destroyed.” A mystical knight walked into the tent holding a palm-sized metal cylinder.

Sitting in front of the desk was a dwarf who was no more than 1.4 meters tall. By dwarf standards, he could be considered tall and robust, but he was still not tall enough to reach the chest of the arcane knight. Four golden rings were tied to his metallic beard. These golden rings represented the dwarf's status and were usually worn only by guild leaders, blacksmiths, and the like.

The four golden rings represent that he is 200 years old. Dwarves add a ring to their beards every fifty years. The first ring represents adulthood, which they reach adulthood at 50. Usually, a dwarf with one ring is an adult, two rings means he is a married man in his prime, three rings means his grandchildren are already adults, and four rings means he is considered an "elder" among dwarves and has a special status in the dwarven city-state.

In human terms, this would be around 60 or 70 years old. For a dwarf, adding one more ring would allow him to leave his statue at the entrance of the city-state. As a member of the elders' advisory council, he would be given special treatment even by the city lord.

“I understand,” the dwarf said in a hoarse voice, unlike the loud voices of other dwarves, his gaze fixed on the map and documents on the desk in front of him. “Have the team prepare. We’ll do a quick shopping trip in Tallinn and then head straight to the camp.” He then looked up, puzzled. “Wait, you just said there was a wandering witch. What did she look like?”

Ryan, who set off with new weapons and caught up with the scholar convoy that had set off earlier, had a special order: to search for and find as much information and items as possible related to the Witch of Youth.

"Uh, it wasn't mentioned in the intelligence."

"Send a message, get a definite answer from them." Ryan looked down at the intelligence again. Dwarves' personalities were not well-suited to being intelligence agents, but he was an exception.

Besides his talent for money, he was also a good weapons craftsman, which meant that he could effectively distinguish between useful ideas and purely fraudulent schemes when presented with strange and unusual ideas and designs from various institutions.

For this reason, he managed the intelligence department's finances very well, and everyone from top to bottom trusted him. After all, the dwarves' nature dictates that they don't lie, and Ryan was aware of this. So, another reason he was able to survive in the intelligence department was another dwarven motto: "Silence as solid as a rock."

No matter what problems exist in the accounts, no matter how sensitive the project is, he can keep his mouth shut. This is why everyone in the intelligence department trusts this alien dwarf.

“Princess Freya…” Even with his advanced age of 200, his experience, and his accumulated wisdom, he still didn’t know what this princess was thinking. No, perhaps she really wasn’t thinking anything at all.

At first, when he saw her building an arena in the capital and having her "Royal White Rose Merchant Guild" managers, apprentices, workers, and commoners with no connection to the guild form an institution similar to a noble council with completely equal seats, Ryan wanted to say, "Nonsense! Don't show me this kind of insult to my intelligence!"

(A rudimentary form of parliament, primarily handling noble crimes and the stripping of titles, equivalent to the Eight Deliberations in China. It was also responsible for paying annuities to honorary nobles without land, and the registration of noble identities and information was also handled by this institution.)

Dwarves are a race with very strict and rigid class or occupational distinctions. Before a craftsman's apprentice has completed his apprenticeship, he will never have the right to question his mentor, or even be qualified to participate in discussions within the craftsman class, let alone outsiders from outside the guild.

Freya, however, brought together everyone regardless of whether they were from the same guild. What's even more frightening is that this group of people didn't even come from the same guild. Although they were all in management, their interests weren't necessarily aligned.

For example, the smokehouse that makes cured meat needs more and cheaper salt mines, but the salt mine manager only wants to resell the high-quality salt instead of supplying it to his colleagues. Meanwhile, the smokehouse manager needs to replace the good salt with cheap salt in order to reduce the cost of the cured meat purchased at the official price and put the money in his own pocket.

So the former bribed miners to expose the mine manager's scandal at the council meeting, while the latter bribed the miners' apprentices to accuse them of selling good meat to the common people, while choosing inferior meat for the military-supplied smoked meat (a secret support from the emperor to his daughter) that the empire was paying for.

Just as both sides were arguing and sticking to their own version of events, and Ryan had already resigned himself to watching a farce that would ultimately fizzle out, the arena was repaired.

A scene unfolded where miners brutally beat the foreman of the smokehouse, and the smokehouse laborers who chopped wood, carried fuel, and salted the meat every day held down the mine's accountant and beat him. In the end, both sides won and successfully replaced the other, but both sides lost because they were replaced by the other.

It is said that this move caused the two families, who had previously cooperated well, to turn into enemies. In the council meetings, they would oppose each other if the other supported them, and even two of their heirs died in the dueling arena.

“Damn it…” Ryan lit his pipe and slowly uttered a word, “Idiot!” He didn’t know who he was referring to as an idiot, whether it was the two family heads, himself, or the princess.

[PS]

Explanation of how this bug works:

Originally, the mine foremen would resell the good salt and sell the inferior salt to the smoked meat shops at the price of good salt. The smoked meat shops would then buy the inferior salt at the price of good salt, make a profit, and then sell the inferior meat as good meat to make another profit.

However, Freya found it troublesome to calculate and reconcile accounts multiple times, so she didn't approve any purchasing funds for the smoked meat shop and instead sent them directly to the mine to get salt.

This led to a conflict between the two parties. Since the selling price was fixed, there had to be room for profit to be greedy. Moreover, since there was no purchase fee and only a delivery note, they could only use inferior goods to pass off as superior ones.

For example, substituting inferior meat for good meat, substituting inferior salt for good salt, or cutting corners to reduce product quality.

However, the upstream supplier now says that they have already resold the good products, and the inferior products are still insufficient. This means that the downstream manager's profits have been greatly squeezed - simply put, they are taking my money!

In the original system, both sides could collude and make their own money, and everyone was happy. Now that they are both trying to make money in the same pool, conflicts are bound to arise.

Following the typical thinking of national politicians and bureaucrats, to ensure supply, the upstream issues should be thoroughly investigated, and the quality and compliance of raw materials should be guaranteed. Alternatively, a reform plan could be implemented, adopting the budget proposal mentioned earlier.

An even better approach would be to find a compromise, such as allowing excessive requisition of raw materials, approving more materials, or allowing a slight reduction in quality as a compromise. (Those who experienced the planned economy era and worked within the system understand this.)

Freya didn't care about this, nor did she want to. She neither reprimanded the upstream party nor came up with any solutions. Instead, she let the two sides in the stalemate resolve the issue in the octagon.

Since it's not a two-way game but a four-way game, the miners have long been unhappy with the mine manager, and the apprentices are also unhappy with the supervisors. Whenever there's a sign of negotiation, they will do their best to sabotage the deal. Their demand is to replace their own management team, and this demand happens to meet the needs of the other party in the two-way game.

This eventually led to a bizarre situation where lower-level employees of the opposing side were bribed to report management, and then the octagon was used to beat up the guy who "didn't understand how to make money together" and replace him.

As for the common people's observers, as long as they can buy cheap, good salt and good smoked meat, their view is—Quick! I want to see blood flowing like a river!

Chapter 110 Your infamy begins...

Ogros quickly sent back information about Livia. After receiving the message from Swifthawk, Ryan shook his head in disappointment. The other party looked too young, and her race was not an elf, half-elf, or dwarf—a long-lived species—but just an ordinary human, at least on the surface.

This also means that she is unlikely to have any substantial relationship with Niel Riley. However, after hearing that Miss Livia is also a potions master, she did have some other thoughts.

For example, does she know or have studied the techniques or formulas for the potion of youth? Even fragments or incomplete pages would be useful. Or, does she have any relevant information or notes left by the witch of youth?

Among all the countries in the Southwest Continent, the Empire is one of only two powers that have established a national library. The other is the Knowledge Hermitage located on the Shadow Dragon Islands. In other words, apart from this hermitage, which is dedicated to collecting and preserving knowledge and worships the God of Knowledge, only the Empire has a truly large-scale library in the Southwest Continent.

This is the foundation of their well-organized team of arcane mages, the Royal Arcane Academy, and even a royal academy specifically for cultivating extraordinary individuals. After all, for ordinary mages whose skill levels vary and who have not inherited much of their mentors' wealth, the National Royal Library is the only place they can find where they can read and study at a low price.

In exchange, they also had to leave behind their own academic works or even notes of their experiences. If all else failed, they would have to attend classes at the Royal Academy. Therefore, Ryan had prepared a very high price for the manuscripts that Miss Livia might have. Even if she did not have the relevant manuscripts, recruiting an excellent potion master and arcane mage was still a very important task.

“Little Jasmine, come help your Grandpa Ryan take a look at this. How are the conditions? Is there anything else we need to add?” Ryan blew the ink off the paper and came to the door of a separate tent in a corner of the camp. “Wait, Grandpa, wait for my medicine…”

"Bang!" Thick green smoke billowed out of the tent. Ryan nimbly dodged it. After a while, a small dwarf girl escaped from the tent, fanning herself. "Damn it, too many gastric stones! I should have added quartz sand and bone meal first."

This is a girl with bright yellow hair similar to Ryan's. Although the dwarves in this world don't have beards like women in other fantasy worlds, they have a figure almost the same as men. To put it simply, they are like small whiskey barrels lying flat.

With broad chests, waists as wide as their shoulders, and short, thick legs and arms, dwarves are one of the few races that do not have mixed-race offspring with humans. Not only in appearance, but also because their size can cause fetuses to be too large to be delivered, and since there is no cesarean section in the area, the possibility of intermarriage is already pitifully small. Add to that the inevitable debuff of difficult childbirth, and the result is self-evident.

Jasmine scratched her arm, which was covered in coarse, short hair similar to Ryan's. A thin rash had appeared on it due to the smoke from the failed potion. Even after washing it with medicine, it would probably take seven or eight hours to fully heal.

"What conditions?"

"The requirements for recruiting a young witch, well, perhaps her actual age is older than she appears."

"Potion Master?" Jasmine took the parchment scroll, which included conditions such as providing free non-rare potion ingredients and a large potion workshop. Such conditions would hardly be attractive to non-potion enthusiasts or alchemists or occultists who specialize in potions.

"In addition to that, there's free library access, an annual allowance of 2000 gold coins, and an extra 50 gold coins per week per class hour if you're willing to teach. What do you think of these conditions? Is there anything else that needs to be added?"

"If it's a regular potion master, these conditions should be enough to recruit them. What I mean is, if the other party is really interested, these conditions are sufficient, but if they are not interested, it's not enough to make them violate their principles."

Jasmine's assessment of this was mediocre. Although if you spend money, you can recruit either a mystic or a potion master. For example, if you take out all the rare materials from the royal treasury, there's no one you can't recruit.

However, it also depends on whether it's suitable or not. When the price exceeds the value by too much, forcing the other party to recruit is a waste of resources and may not even have a good effect, because it proves that you don't really understand this industry and are easily fooled.

Well, there might still be some idiots like this two hundred years ago, but after the repeated torture and education by the Witch of Youth and the group of imitators behind her, such idiotic nobles are now very rare.

"However, considering that Miss Livia is a witch-level arcane mage, this price might be a bit low. At the very least, we would need to upgrade the library's free borrowing rights to unlimited borrowing, or take out those things from the forbidden library, to have a higher chance of success."

Conversely, this also explains why it's difficult for various countries to recruit these high-level experts. The prices are too high, and some countries may not be able to afford them. Some may be able to afford them but are unwilling to do so, since one or two such experts can only play a limited role, especially since the other party is not really willing to risk their lives for money. It's better to recruit a few ordinary high-level professionals.

Although their strength and academic level differ greatly, the former, if he slacks off and tries to get by, is not as productive or effective as the latter, who will do his best—unless, this top professional has a long-term relationship and a relatively stable friendship with the royal family or empire, in which case he can use such a huge cost to bind the other party to his chariot.

“This kind of recruitment won’t succeed on the first try. We need to observe and evaluate repeatedly, and the other party needs to do the same.” Ryan didn’t seem to care. If just offering a few good conditions could attract such rare talents to join us, the empire would have unified the continent long ago.

"However, the specifics depend on Miss Livia's abilities." Recruiting at a price exceeding professional standards would be seen as spending a fortune to buy a promising talent, a sign of valuing ability.

Recruiting at prices far exceeding professional standards demonstrates a complete lack of talent assessment ability; such individuals are utterly uninformed and have no idea what constitutes talent. In fact, it might make top talents feel insulted.

"Yes, I can do that, Jasmine. How's your potion-making practice going?"

"..." Dwarves are not good at alchemy, not because they are not interested, but because their dull perception is a natural flaw in alchemy. They have to rely on a lot of precision measuring equipment to barely complete some alchemical experiments and research. Therefore, dwarves' views on alchemy are mostly superficial, just enough to be used in conjunction with forging and engineering.

Potions, however, are a discipline in alchemy that is particularly unsuitable for dwarves. They can often accurately control the heat and the proportion of materials, and even handle some of the medicinal herbs and materials well in the process. However, when it comes to actual production, they often find it difficult to successfully prepare the potions.

Even if the preparation is successful, the dosage needs to be adjusted before using it on oneself; otherwise, it will either be ineffective or have too good an effect.

"It's not going well." The hair growth ointment turned into an itchy oil, which only caused rashes and even exploded. She even considered whether to continue down this path and make it into a non-lethal weapon. However, when she tried to make this itchy oil, she couldn't.

"Which specific step?" Ryan asked affectionately. This was his brother's granddaughter, but they were very close, with no difference in their relationship, since the dwarves' low birth rate meant that this was the only child in the third generation.

“Every step of the process,” Jasmine said, giving her uncle a resentful look.

“Little Jasmine…” Ryan tried his best to maintain a kind expression, “How about we compromise and you switch to Construct Alchemy?” Construct Alchemy is a relatively common area of ​​expertise for dwarves in the field of alchemy, but that is only relative.

"No, no, I think there must be alchemy that dwarves can learn in the Lost Capital. Otherwise, where did those runestones in the city-state come from?" Of course, they were made by the Mystic Rune Sorcerers. This branch of Mystic Rune Sorcerers evolved from the dwarven rune blacksmiths. It was originally a profession for dwarves who were good at carving and had extremely good patience.

For example, when Roach is carving a complete hexagonal prism-shaped composite pattern rune crystal, the higher the skill and patience required for carving, the more difficult it becomes, as one careless move can ruin the entire piece. It requires a lot of patience and enough high-grade gemstones to practice with.

This is practically a perfect fit for dwarves who are skilled at spending their days carving stones with just a glass of wine, a cigarette, and a stone. Unfortunately, this profession has been lost among the dwarves, which is why Roach is now curious about why rune masters pursue the biggest explosions.

For dwarven rune masters, an important part of their job is to help expand their tribe's city-states. This includes not only ancient defensive runes, such as blasting tunnels to turn entire passageways into a sea of ​​fire through directional explosions, but also various functional runes, such as chiseling rocks, mining hard mineral veins, and even the expansion of dungeons, which requires a large number of explosives or pyrotechnics.

Compared to black powder, which has relatively low power due to some unknown contamination in this world, the "rune powder" created by the rune masters has much greater destructive and explosive power. Of course, rune powder is an ancient formula that dwarves still use today, while the runestone Roach uses is a new product created by combining rune powder, alchemical bombs, and other technologies.

It was lost due to its excessive danger and lack of use in the daily lives of dwarves. Although it flourished for a time due to the expansion of the human sorcerers, it is now almost completely lost with the interruption of the sorcerer's lineage.

Roach's recently invented "Arcane Trio" shoulder-mounted explosive launcher was considered somewhat unorthodox, even among the dwarven rune masters of his time, and even a bit too extreme.

In the enclosed dwarven dungeon, brimming with the magical energy naturally emanating from the magical ore veins, this attack, while not necessarily blowing the entire dungeon up, would at least send the throne room at the very top and the dwarven king's golden throne into the stratosphere. [Reference: Nuclear-powered manhole cover]

"Speaking of runestones, Ogros mentioned that besides Miss Livia, there's also Master Roch, who's very skilled in runic literature. If you're studying constructology and runic literature, you might be able to consult him."

Information about Roach is even more difficult to gather than that about Livia. While Livia can still deduce some things, Roach, based on reports from his agents, has no source at all, and has never seen such a race or ethnicity on the mainland.

He was tall, slightly taller than the average male in the Empire (humans in other worlds are generally not very tall, except for nobles and knights, ordinary people are not tall due to nutrition), which is somewhat similar to the Highlanders, but his physique was not strong, even by the standards of scholars, he was somewhat weak, which is also a clear characteristic of the Lowlanders.

Intelligence analysts suspected he had elven blood, because the average height of elves is 2 to 2.2 meters, with a slender build but very developed muscles. If he inherited the disadvantages of both humans and elves, it is possible for him to have this physique—tall but weak-muscled.

However, Roch does not have the leaf-shaped ears characteristic of half-elfs, unless his elven bloodline is less than 1/8. But if his non-elf bloodline is less than 1/8, there will basically be no obvious signs. Apart from some differences in special training methods, there should be no difference in daily physical fitness.

His black hair and dark brown eyes resembled those of the traditional locals of the southwestern plains of the Empire, which can be said to be the ancestral land of the Empire. This is why Roach has never been racially discriminated against when he was active in the Empire, because these two features indicate that he has at least 50% of the blood of the old imperial bannermen. Perhaps even the imperial emperor's family, the Storell family, does not have as pure a bloodline as him.

As for the slightly dark skin, that cannot be used as a characteristic for judgment. After all, the other party is an alchemist who deals with various toxic or corrosive gases and liquids all day long. It is normal for his skin to change color and deteriorate due to the influence of certain elements or toxins. There are alchemists who have turned themselves into green-skinned alchemists.

"Roach? Is he the alchemist mentioned in the intelligence reports who played a significant role in Lywood County and Hearthglen? I heard he's very skilled with weapons, especially explosives. If he were a dwarf, quite a few girls would probably like him."

After all, among the dwarves, a craftsman skilled in "fireworks" and an alchemist is considered one of the best of the best. Basically, if someone is 150 years old, becoming the chief craftsman of a guild is a matter of course.

However, he was a human, and by the standards of the dwarf girls' aesthetics, he appeared far too thin and weak, especially since his muscles were even weaker than those of a normal human male. Jasmine had no doubt that she could shatter his kneecap with a single punch.

"I quite like the weapons he designed. They seem like they could be very suitable for us dwarves with a little modification. It's a pity..." Those guild masters weren't so enlightened. They trusted traditions that had stood the test of time and clung to gunpowder, which was simply not powerful enough.

Perhaps on Earth, gunpowder-made firearms could at least sweep away shock knights, if not cavalrymen, into the dustbin of history. But in this world, with the power of gunpowder not only not increased but actually weakened by about 10% to 15%, the lead bullets fired at those humanoid steel fortresses would be completely useless, or at the very least, have severely inadequate braking performance.

Unless they use cannons and solid iron bullets, but then, traditional gunpowder cannons don't really have much of an advantage against various magical cannon bombardments. Rune gunpowder technology is on the verge of being lost and the cost is too high. Only a few guild masters have the formula, and it is still in the stage of manual production. It is already the limit for the Dwarven City-State Alliance to maintain a certain degree of independence and not be swallowed up by other forces.

“That could at least be used to arm the Empire’s army. I think with your prestige, Grandpa Ryan, you can definitely promote such weapons within the Empire. At that time, those old fogies will surely realize their mistakes.”

“But that would make the dwarven city-states vulnerable. I really want to slap those old guys, but I won’t do it at the expense of all the dwarves,” Ryan shook his head.

Roach's knowledge and inventions have greatly improved humanity. If they could be mass-produced, the dwarves' runic gunpowder defense system would be utterly vulnerable to heavy barrages. And given the pace of human development, by the time those old fogies realize what's happening, the dwarves will probably already be subservient to humanity.

“In comparison, I would much rather acquire his knowledge and make it our own,” Ryan sighed. However, the difficulty lay not with Roach, but with how to persuade those dwarven masters to abandon their proud traditions.

Unless we block their faces with new artillery, but by then, the Dwarven City-State Alliance probably won't have much time or opportunity for reform.

“I am still a dwarf after all,” Ryan sighed. “Molly, go check on the Thunderbird Knights. If they have repaired the vehicle, we should probably set off soon. It’s springtime, and there are monsters and ferocious beasts everywhere. The longer we stay in the wild, the greater the danger.”

[PS] A compilation of imperial jokes (I only bought these dumplings because of the vinegar)

One day, a group of new prisoners were brought into the prison.

One of the prisoners asked: Dude, how did you get in here?

The newcomer said: I was imprisoned for running a gambling den in the arena.

The prisoner asked: But there's no law in the empire that forbids gambling!

The newcomer: They said my crime was "illegally manipulating the election".

Chapter 111 Roach's Armory

In order to store that pile of dangerous pyrotechnics, Roach had to build a new storage room far enough away from the witch's hut. Logically speaking, it would be a very foolish thing to store these alchemical or even magical equipment in a wooden shed without any magical seals or guards.

However, if you consider that these things were all made by Master Roach, especially the "magic broadswords" and "magic mines" that Roach named "Broadsword" and "Betty" respectively.