His gaze swept over the vast ballroom filled with nobles in sprawling, pompous dresses and gaudy suits. They were dancing to old-timey music that sounded as familiar as it was unfamiliar.
"Ugh, they seriously made us take part in a ball... How did you guys know?" Monique complained, wearing a golden evening dress that was prepared for her. Mina, Fin, and Seth, on the other hand, wore their own formal attire. It was as if they came prepared.
"The better question is how you didn't see at least the chance for this to happen," the blacksmith said with an amused grin. Although Seth didn't like this either, his fiancée's as well as Monique's suffering made it bearable.
"I don't know what you two have, just enjoy it," Fin advised, basking in the attention they were getting as elites of Minas Mar. It seemed that Monique's one-sided thrashing of not just a demon, but a Titan had left a lasting impact on the high society of the Perican Empire.
As seen, Monique was not enjoying these gatherings, so these nobles were starved for some contact with the fascinatingly strong people of Minas Mar. Fin loved it, even if he just treated them like circus monkeys, only eager to watch them instead of getting to know them.
"We can't all be like you, Fin," Mina said, despite also being unbothered by the ongoing event. She just didn't enjoy it as much, maybe because of the looks some of the nobles threw at her. As a beastman, Urth had been the only place where she did not experience discrimination or weird looks during public events. T
There were also some that looked because of their unusual evening wear, but they were distinctly different from the gazes thrown at Fin, who had taken her human size. The gazes the beautiful blonde garnered were those of interest, while some thrown at Mina were of disapproval.
"Lady Monique, would you give me this dance?" a young man in a white suit with lots of decorations and feathers asked for the spear demon's hand in a dance. Looking past the makeup, the hat, and his suit, he actually seemed like a handsome lad.
"Err, no. Thanks for asking?" But Monique had no interest in moving around wearing the flowing cage of underwire and corset that pressed the air out of her lungs.
But she was not the only one being approached by people among the guests. A man who seemed to wear a military uniform approached the Tower Master. "Sir, what is your role in Minas Mar? I heard Lady Monique is a knight of the royal guard. To be traveling with her, you must also be-"
"I'm the court blacksmith, Sir-?" Seth undersold his standing. As expected, some people listening in on the conversation scowled. Warriors and nobles were well respected in this world. The next would be magicians and titan mechanics.
However, blacksmiths didn't share the same reputation as the titan mechanics, despite technically doing the same thing. Contrary to his expectation, the man who spoke to him was not immediately turned away by his profession.
"Oh, then you must be the person in charge of creating the marvelous armament befitting champions like Lady Monique and the warriors of Minas Mar. I'm Marquis Orlof," the man said, visibly excited. He was a rare person who could look past the surface and see the true worth of a profession.
"I still vividly remember Lady Monique's display of power. Someone of such strength would need a weapon of incredible quality to withstand her might, no?" the military man asked perceptively. Seth gave him a silent nod as he kept talking.
"From the perspective of such a craftsman, what do you think of our titans?" the man suddenly asked a loaded question. Maybe he had misjudged him. The titan technology could be called the pride of this world. If Seth trashed their titans, he would generate a negative opinion of Minas Mar. But did Seth care for that?
"So far, I have seen some older models and some Dungeon Buster," the blacksmith started pondering. "In my opinion, the magic technology used by the titans is very advanced. To be able to get this kind of performance despite the mediocre materials is impressive," he gave an honest verdict.
Although he was not able to properly appraise them, the magic circles and formulas he could see and estimate were comparable to the knowledge he had learned under Al'Zalsar when he created the vessel for the lich.
The only thing holding these people back was the lack of a system. System ratings of materials were based on the prerequisites needed to originally refine and work with them. Players just needed to grind the needed skill level to allow them to meet these requirements.
While the system streamlined the refinement and processing of uncommon and above materials, these people would have to spend an incredible amount of time and resources to research the prerequisites needed to refine magic ores that were otherwise useless.
Even knowing the prerequisites did not guarantee meeting them. They could only work with what they had. The development of technology was a necessity when facing a lack of powerful base materials.
"Mediocre Materials?" Orlof ignored the compliment Seth had given and focused on the negative. It was now obvious that this man belonged to a faction that didn't see the appearance of a Minas Mar in a positive light and tried to hurt their public image.
Seth was a little disappointed. To think he had been fooled, there could be a person with good eyes. Had this guy thought he could fool a simple-minded craftsman?
Apart from his own observation, another good indicator that this guy was not an ally was the frantically gesturing envoy of Minas Mar in the background. Jane's guy was probably telling him to get out of this conversation. But did Seth care for that?
"You are using ordinary steel and barely refined magic iron ore for most of the Titans. You managed to refine some magic steel in small quantities for the Dungeon busters. What else am I supposed to call it, if not mediocre materials?" the blacksmith said brusquely with a shrug.
Seth knew what ores they traded with the empire, and after seeing the products in person, he was able to get a picture of their advances in metallurgy. Whether it was a Titan or a dungeon buster, they were mostly made up of uncommon and common components.
The people of this world used
"If they are so mediocre. I bet you would be up for a demonstration of something superior?"
Seth stopped for a moment. Was this man trying to get humbled? Was he trying to gauge their potential power? Or was he actually hoping for them to smash apart a dungeon buster and spin it as Minas Mar looking down on their culture, or something stupid like that? Unless he pulled out here, none of those outcomes were necessarily in their favor. But did Seth care for that?
"What are you thinking of for a demonstration?" the bard asked, curious, his voice suggesting that he had taken the bait.
"How about we gauge one of your finest blades against one of mine and see which lasts longer?" the man proposed confidently. As a military man, he probably had a collection of famed blades.
It was now clear that he was trying to gauge their potential power.
However, there was no gain in this wager. Seth already knew that the best he could bring out was maybe an epic blade made from a rare material and upgraded with enchantments. If he simply won, he would only reveal that they could do better than that.
"Hmm, that sounds a little boring. Marquis, do you have a dungeon buster?"
If no option was going to be purely positive, they should at least do some advertisements.