Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

"You want Lucktod to be part of my party then? Is that what you mean, General Bunzenbark?"

"Yes. Would that be possible?"

General Bunzenbark looked slightly unsure at Allen.

(Hmhmm, it seems they've already started rivalries amongst Allen's Armies.)

Allen turned to look at General Lucidral from the elves.

He looked bemused, as if he was about to burst out laughing seeing the dark elves trying to get Lucktod, who looked too young to even shoot an arrow, into Allen's prestigious Abandoned Gamers party.

Since Allen's objectives revolved around various dungeons like the S Rank Dungeon or the Talent Change Dungeon, he decided on forming various smaller adventurer parties between members of the same race.

Then a conglomerate of parties would become a Clan.

A Clan was basically a collective of multiple adventurer parties, which would consist of:

Allen would remain as the leader of the Abandoned Gamers party, and the Clan leader of all four Clans.

Allen's Abandoned Gamers would consist of Allen, Kurena, Cecile, Dogora, Kiel, Sophie, Formar, Merle, and Shea.

Now he had to wonder if Lucktod, who looked like he was still 8 years old, should join them as well.

In a way, that was more a matter of equity and honor.

The dark elves were the only group that had no members being part of the Abandoned Gamers party.

"What's Lucktod's Talent by the way?"

"B-black…"

"He's a Black Mage."

Lucktod stammered trying to get the words out, but Bunzenbark quickly took over for him.

This was important for all dark elves to really ascertain their position in Allen's Army.

"Hm? Merus, what's Black Magic again?"

'It's a talent that focuses mostly on spirits that attack or debuff the enemy. Though it's just a 1 Star Talent.'

"L-Lord Merus?!"

Bunzenbark reacted loudly, as if his soul was leaving his body.

He had heard Allen was able to call Merus on command, but it was still a shocking sight.

(1 Star, after a Talent Change it'll reach 2 Stars. Though he also has a Spirit King with him, so it's not like he'll fall behind. I'm pretty sure all Spirit Kings are demi-gods after all.)

Allen's gamer brain was at full throttle now.

Lucktod had no combat experience, and his Talent only had 1 Star.

Abandoned Gamers had already gained a member recently in Shea, but she was just another frontliner.

Having someone who could casts debuffs alongside Sophie's healing and buffs could be helpful.

The only downside was that even if they went to the Talent Change Dungeon, he would only get a 2 Star Talent.

But the Spirit King Fabre would be with him, so that did not rule out the possibility of gaining even more Stars in the future.

"I don't mind having him in my party. But for now I'd prefer if he spent time in the dungeons with you until he levels up enough. Also, if we'll be in the same party, you can just call me Allen and I'll call you Luck."

"T-thank you very much, we'll do so."

Bunzenbark bowed deeply and thanked Allen on Lucktod's behalf.

They discussed some other topics about Allen's Army's objectives, and the meeting came to a close.

A day passed after that.

Allen's party went to a village in Baukis they had visited in the past.

There was a [Nest] left near the S Rank Dungeon, which they teleported to before riding on Bird B summons towards the region that used to be the Melkia Kingdom before it was absorbed into the Baukis Empire.

They walked through the village and headed to a house with many vases and pots adorning its facade.

"Excuse me, is Master Habarak home?"

Allen knocked on Habarak's door, he was a master craftsman.

"H-hello. Oh, Allen, you're here again."

Habarak's apprentice opened the door, and recognized Allen. He quickly let them inside.

As they waited, the apprentices served them tea.

Some time later they heard footsteps of someone running.

"H-hey! Welcome back. Listen, is it true that you recovered our Goddess' Divine Artifact?"

Habarak was breathing heavily from running as he greeted Allen and asked if he really had recovered Freya's Divine Artifact.

"Yes, that's correct. The news reached here too then?"

(Wait? I thought that it wasn't public knowledge that it got stolen in the first place though?)

"Yeah, of course we'd know that!! The fire is so hot that it's obvious!!"

For some reason he seemed almost angry shouting that.

But he quickly apologized.

Allen still looked confused, so Habarak tried to explain in more detail.

The last time Allen was there, the fire in the forge was already rather weak.

But the fire did not seem to be scared of fading away, a certain warmth concealed within.

They knew that meant Freya was still happy about something.

Hearing that, Allen realized just how much one had to familiarize oneself with the properties of fire, and the Goddess of Fire.

Habarak looked like a careless old man, his hair disheveled like that of a child, but in a way he was like a shrine keeper of fire too.

There was the possibility that all fire had gotten so weak because Freya poured all the power she had into her Divine Artifact, which Dogora used to defeat Basque.

"Oh right, this is the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi. Show him, Dogora."

"Hm? You brought the Divine Artifact here?"

In response to Allen, Dogora picked up the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi which was placed against the wall, and showed it to Habarak.

"The Goddess of Fire Freya has decided to be kind to us. This Divine Artifact is just a symbol of that."

"O-ohh! You're using her Divine Artifact!"

After that they briefly explained everything that happened in the Holy Land.

Including how Dogora ended up becoming Freya's apostle, and would spend the rest of his life trying to gather followers for her.

"So even that happened. Though these days it's hard to work with orichalcum, the fire still hasn't regained all its power."

The forging fire from Freya was still weak, so he could not work on the two lumps of orichalcum, or Basque's greatsword yet.

"That's perfectly alright. We actually came here to see if we could convince you to move with us to Heavy User Island."

They were not there to get their orichalcum worked on.

"Wh-what?"

Allen decided he needed to explain a bit more.

After Freya's Divine Artifact was stolen, most of the faith placed in her slowly went to Digragni.

So now Allen was considering taking the blacksmith and all his tools to Heavy User Island, where all the other followers of Freya would live.

Allen already had an army of 5000.

It was best if everyone there had easy access to a good blacksmith on the island.

Even better if it was an excellent one like Habarak, whose skill was hardly matched by anyone else.

Habarak looked at the Divine Artifact Kagutsuchi.

Everyone patiently watched for his reply while he slowly closed his eyes.

"Alright, I'll gather my things then. Also, my apprentices are plenty skilled as well, could I take them with me? I can guarantee they won't disappoint you."

Rather than leaving them behind to fend off for themselves in their craft that was slowly being phased out, Habarak felt his apprentices would have a better chance on the island as well.

"Of course, that would help us greatly!"

It would be tricky for a single blacksmith to maintain an entire army, so more were always better.

Hearing that made Allen glad.

"Alright. All of you, stop staring and go get your things ready."

"Oh, no need for that. Kurena, Dogora, do it."

"Finally our turn!"

"Gotcha."

"Hm? What are you doing?"

"Just wait and see. They'll be done soon."

Allen's friends went outside.

There they began circling the building while striking at its foundations with their weapons.

They were essentially digging up Habarak's workshop, which he also used as his home.

Once they were done separating the building from the ground, Kurena, Allen, Dogora, and Merus, lifted the house together.

"Wha-?!"

Habarak lost his balance and exclaimed in confusion.

(Good, it's working. I knew I could count on our strength.)

"Alright everyone, time to go!"

Allen used his Bird A summon's Awakened Skill [Homing Instinct] to return to Heavy User Island.

He had arranged for a similarly shaped hole to be dug on the island already, so he just had to place the house in there now.

"Somehow…I can't believe this is happening…"

"The hardest part is still ahead of us. We've barely started populating the island, so if there's anything you need for your work please tell me."

They were at the foot of the hill with Freya's temple on top.

The blacksmiths relied on Freya's power for their craft, so Allen placed them closer to the temple.

(I think it would be a good idea to have more workshops around here too. I'll ask the development team for that later.)

At first the plan was to have only Habarak's workshop there, but seeing how well it was working so far, Allen was now thinking of turning that area into a blacksmiths' district.

"Hmm, for starters I'll need a source of clean water, and plenty of hot volcanic rock. The more the better."

Allen meant it as a simple question, but Habarak quickly listed one thing after another.

He even mentioned things that Allen would have never thought were related to blacksmithing.

Allen wrote it all down inside his Grimoire like a shopping list.

"Well, let's about it then, let's go back to the village."

They were done showing Habarak around the island, so now they would return to his village so he could bring all his apprentices.

"I almost forgot. I'm sure you won't be around there all the time, so could you tell me what kind of tools or weapons you want ahead of time? I'll just pump out whatever I can once I've settled in. Who'll use what would be helpful to know too."

While Habarak would be living in Heavy User Island from there on out, Allen's party would not always be home.

He wanted to have a rough idea of the measurements of those using his tools and weapons.

His suggestion made sense, and showed how much he understood of Allen's party's lifestyle.

At the moment they had two lumps of orichalcum, Basque's orichalcum greatsword, and the one that broke in half.

Those two greatswords had been tailored for Basque, so the hilt and blade measurements had needed to be adjusted for Kurena.

Though modifying Kurena's greatsword had the least priority.

"We have two lumps, so one can be used to make a sword and the other for a shield. I'll be using the sword so a smaller one would be better, and if there's surplus material it can go into the shield…"

Allen's sword would not need a lot of material, so he wanted the remaining orichalcum to be used on Dogora's shield.

"No Allen, wait."

Then Dogora interrupted Allen and Habarak's conversation.

"Hm? What's wrong Dogora?"

"I'd prefer to have two axes. Would that be alright?"

Dogora suddenly decided he wanted to fight with two weapons instead.

Or maybe he had been wanting that for a long time now.

(Hm? I wonder if Basque inspired him somehow.)

Maybe Dogora felt like Basque's dual-wielding style would fit him as well.

"Hm? Well, I guess that's fine too."

It felt like this was the first time Dogora made a choice by himself, instead of rolling with whatever Allen said.

Allen decided to respect that decision, and did not say anything against it.

"Also, I'd like to turn the broken greatsword into a set of knuckle guards and light armor for Shea."

"Mm? Are you sure you want to use that on me?"

Allen had already decided what to do with the two lumps of orichalcum, so now Basque's orichalcum greatsword that was cut in half by Dogora and Freya remained.

"I mean, I guess you won't need them once you become Beast King."

"True, assuming I ever achieve that."

Kurena, Dogora, and Allen would all get orichalcum weapons now, so the only frontliner without them would be Shea.

The broken greatsword could provide plenty of material for knuckle guards, and at least a breastplate for Shea.

Shea had told Allen how she would inherit a hidden treasure of Albahar's royal family if she managed to gain the throne.

Allen was willing to listen to any story involving treasure.

As far as Shea knew, Albahar's secret royal treasure was a set of orichalcum knuckle guards, an orichalcum breastplate, and a yellow Sacred Bead.

Only the Beast King could equip those.

Once Shea became Beast King and obtained that treasure, Allen figured the surplus orichalcum could be used to craft more armor for Kurena, given that the party's defenses were lowered now that Dogora no longer had a shield and fought with two battle axes instead.

With that, Allen settled on an order for the orichalcum weapons to be crafted.

First, a battleaxe for Dogora from the orichalcum lumps.

Second, a sword for Allen from the orichalcum lumps.

Third, a set of knuckle guards and a breastplate for Shea from the broken orichalcum greatsword (and eventually reforged into Kurena's armor)

Fourth, adjusting Basque's orichalcum greatsword to fit Kurena's size.

"Okay, got it. Now I'll just wait for the fire's blessing."

Habarak would tell the Wraith A summon in the village once he was done forging.

That way the master craftsman Habarak moved to Heavy User Island, and Allen was able to put his orichalcum to use.