Seeing this, the master smith could no longer stay still. He instantly took out a weapon, a lot more powerful than the cheap trash he had just forged, and arrived in front of Damon in the blink of an eye. "You are not going anywhere!" He roared and as he slashed down at Damon.
At the sa ti, his hand reached his system interface to notify the authorities, but all of a sudden, the master smith’s agitated face froze.
The guy’s body twitched abruptly as he dropped the weapon in his hand in an odd manner. His entire body then fell on the ground with a thud, completely paralyzed.
All the while, Damon continued walking. He did not kill the guy, as it might create so problems for him down the line. He simply paralyzed the idiot and made his way out of the academy as fast as he could.
It was very common for students to leave in this manner from the academy, as there were many training sessions and official trips. No one bothered to question them or found this occurrence strange.
The students who were firm believers in the master smith had their hands full as they tried to shove healing potions and antidotes down the guy’s throat.
Eventually, soone ran to inform the superior, but it did not matter. By then, it was already late. The big group had already exited the academy and was now walking on the city streets.
Damon led the exodus straight to the teleportation center and then paid the fees for everyone.
A total of 112 students!
So had tagged along even without signing a contract. Not all of them would probably grow to beco prodigies and geniuses, but it was fine. Damon was pretty sure most of them would at least end up becoming above-average blacksmiths, and he needed the manpower anyway.
This was a bloody good opportunity. When else would he be able to recruit talented blacksmiths like these? That too, all in a single go?
The teleportation process went smoothly without any hitch, and everyone managed to get out of the city in ti. Damon had set the destination as Ranthor City, one of the neighbouring cities of Niera.
After everyone arrived at the new city, Damon promptly arranged accommodation for the group and then opened up his system interface to make a call. He couldn’t possibly babysit the whole group. He also couldn’t drop them off at the Blood Hall.
In fact, it would be wise not to even ntion to this group that he was a vampire. The mont he revealed that he was a vampire to these guys, they would probably, no definitely scatter in the wind like frightened mice.
It was one thing for them to hate their life and want to go sowhere else, but there was no way any of these guys were ever going to trust a vampire.
Humans and vampires have the longest history of blood-soaked grudges, after all. Centuries of war, betrayal, and fear had carved an unbridgeable rift between the two races. To most humans, vampires weren’t lords or leaders. They were predators. Parasites.
The mont the apprentices learned the truth, most of them would bolt, and the rest would live with suspicion festering in their hearts. Damon knew better than to gamble on fragile trust when he had just reaped such a windfall.
He called up Sylvara, who had so experience in dealing with these things.. "Hey, are you busy?"
Sylvara raised her brow on the other side. With her grandfather out of commission and her entire clan in shambles, not to ntion the trial area inaccessible for the ti being, she was indeed quite free at the mont.
She hadn’t expected a call from Damon since he had ntioned he would be quite busy in the days ahead. "No. Nothing like that. Do you need sothing?" She curiously asked.
Damon smiled and then explained everything. He needed an interdiary between him and these blacksmiths, and who better to represent than a beautiful woman who was all business. The ice queen can rule these new guys to her heart’s content and put them to good work.
If Sylvara handled them for him, then it would be a different matter. He would be the silent backer while Sylvara would be the front of the operations.
Damon explained everything to Sylvara, who gasped in shock. "You’re telling ," she said slowly, "that you walked into an academy, humiliated their master, and walked out with over a hundred apprentices following you like ducklings?"
Damon laughed. "Sothing like that." He had to give a lot of cringeworthy speeches and embarrassing monologues to achieve this ridiculous feat, but he did not plan to reveal that to anyone he knew.
"One hundred and twelve, to be exact," Damon added. "And before you ask, yes, most of them signed contracts. The rest tagged along anyway." His crimson eyes glead with satisfaction.
Sylvara blinked at him, then let out a soft, incredulous laugh. "You’re insane. Do you even realize what you’ve done? Entire guilds bleed gold and fight wars just to claim a handful of smiths with talent. And you just... scooped up an academy’s worth in one afternoon."
Her laughter faded, her tone hardening. "But Damon, humans won’t follow a vampire. The second they find out what you are, you’ll lose them all."
"Which is why," Damon cut in smoothly. "I want you to be the one they see. You’ll be the face of the forge. The patron. The ntor. They’ll trust you. anwhile, I provide the resources, the knowledge... and the protection."
Sylvara narrowed her eyes, considering. Her clan was in ruins, their influence dwindling, and their na had long since disappeared from the leaderboards. But with a hundred and twelve apprentices working under her banner? She could rebuild, and fast.
And Damon, as always, was dangling the bait perfectly.
Even otherwise, how could she possibly refuse him after everything he had done and they had gone through together? Like her grandfather said, he never beca one of them, but in the end, they ended up becoming a part of his team.
"I will do whatever you require of . I will do it to the best of my abilities." Sylvara answered.
***
Mass release sponsored by Syphatrol
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