Status Update – Sorry for the delay in getting these out guys! I'm posting them at the top of Chapter 9 to let everyone check them out!

  I'm also going to change some of information to make it easier to understand!

  Status Screen – Chapter 8

  Spoiler

  Skills – Chapter 8

  Spoiler

  Magic Screen – Chapter 8

  Spoiler

  Ability Screen – Chapter 8

  Spoiler

  -|- -|- -|-

  Edwin didn't have time to stop and ask Lucien about Deloria, as another patroller runs up with a report.

  Edwin motions the man forward, and he salutes, his fist banging over his heart.

  “Sir! The lower levels of the mine has been taken over by a nest of Cave Spiders. We are currently sweeping them up along with some of the prisoners who volunteered to fight. Because of the veins of coal in the mine, we aren't able to use fire to burn them out, so the progress is slow. They are making headway, though.” The man speaks rapidly, and Edwin nods.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Go speak with the new miner volunteers if you need more manpower. Clearing the mines is first priority. We need the mine to be safe in order to work it properly.” Edwin says, and the patroller salutes again, happy to have orders instead of just being yelled at. Even Edwin can see the relieved expression on the man's face.

  After the patroller is gone, Edwin turns to Lucien with a raised brow.

  “Cave Spiders?” Of all the monsters it could have been, Edwin has something of a fear of spiders.

  Lucien, of course, recognizes the uneasy look on Edwin's face and gives a soft chuckle before replying.

  “Cave Spiders can grow about as big as a small dog; but thankfully their venom is rather weak. It acts as a paralytic, but wears off after only five minutes or so. Healers can use the venom to help immobilize a patient, while others use it for the same affect.” Lucien explains, to which Edwin nods, letting out his own sigh of relief.

  “Well, at least it could have been worse...” But even as he speaks the word, a new yell goes up from the mines entrance, where several patrollers and prisoners come out screaming.

  What comes out after them though is something out of Edwin's nightmares. Its a giant bloody spider.

  “Ah. The Cave Spider Queen...” Lucien says nonchalantly; and Edwin has the sudden urge to strangle the older man.

  Thankfully he doesn't. There isn't any reason to loose his cool just yet. Even if the giant freakin' spider scares the hell out of him.

  But there's no real time to be afraid. Already the patrollers are being pushed back, and the Spider Queen is giving as good as it gets, if not more so. It also constantly spawns off large eggs that crack open almost as soon as they hit the ground. Within moments it could be a total mess.

  “My lord, the hammer.” Lucien suddenly says, and within a moment Edwin nods and calls forth the weapon Lucien had just mentioned.

  Its a good call.

  As a precaution, Edwin had actually stored several of the weapons in his Void Space, ready to be used at any time. And from watching the fight with the Patrollers, its easy to tell that blades and arrows simply bounce off the hard chitin shell of the Queen's hide.

  The weapon Edwin actually summons is a two handed hammer, looking like a cross between a sledge hammer on one side, with a broad flat edge; and a pike on the other, with a curved, wide spike. Good for both brute damage and grappling with larger opponents.

  Edwin didn't have much training with the weapon though, but it was easy enough to figure out.

  So he rushes to join in the fight, shouting several people out of the way as he flanks the 10-foot tall spider to the right. Several of the Patrollers see him coming and figure out his plan, and switch to diversion tactics to keep the Queen's attention on them.

  Unlike the regular Cave Spiders, the Queen is able to spit its venom as well as sticky thread. Its just over ten feet tall and nearly twice as long, with a regular segmented body and big red eyes and black fangs sticking out of the front of its head, which is elongated crest-like black thing sticking off the top of its head. It almost looks like a crown.

  Its legs are long and thick where they connect to the body segments, and yet slim as they reach the ground, with three-clawed 'toes' that dig into the soil and rock beneath it. Out in the light of day, its shell is smooth and there isn't any hair on it at all.

  And its obviously in a bad mood.

  But as Edwin nears it, the calming battle mentality comes over him, and he forgets his fear and gives a small, feral smile.

  With a running start, he jumps up and swings the hammer over his head with both hands.

  “Hah!” He yells as he smashes the hammer down on the back leg on the right side right in front of him.

  With his strength and the weight of his jump and speed from running behind him, the hammer works nicely; and the sudden -CRACK- of shattering chitin is greeted with a cheer from the weary fighters, and a coarse scream from the Queen as it stumbles.

  With the upper portion of the chitin shattered on its hind leg, its no longer able to support its weight on that leg, which snaps at the lower joint, breaking off and gushing a rather putrid yellow blood that splatters on the ground. Edwin actually jumps away from it.

  The smell is enough to make him almost gag.

  But the Queen doesn't stay off-balance for long, and instead rapidly turns itself on its other seven legs, looking for the one who'd hurt it. Edwin though stays one step ahead, staying along its side and out of its sight for as long as possible.

  But moving in such a manner means he cannot get up enough strength or speed to attack again, and he grits his teeth. Suddenly though he has to jump back and duck in order to avoid the Queen's abdomen and its shooting spider's silk that would have covered him from the chest up.

  “Whoah, that's dangerous.” He mutters, before grinning all over again.

  A sudden idea had just come to him, and he's more than ready to try it out.

  Dropping the hammer with only one hand, he raises his other hand and focuses his mind on the magic, gathering his mana.

  “Cage of Earth!” He yells, letting lose the mana at the same time.

  Underneath the Spider Queen, the earth quivers before suddenly sinking down into a pit, a berm of earth and stone being created around its edge to use the displaced earth that is carved out of the center.

  The Spider Queen is taken by surprise as its footing is suddenly yanked out from under it, and it falls indignantly into the pit.

  Usually the Cage of Earth is a low tier spell, only enough to drop most enemies to their neck in the ground; and can be used to quickly dodge an incoming attack if cast under the caster. But here Edwin had poured quite a bit of mana into it.

  Like all spiders, the Queen is able to climb out of it once it regains its footing.

  But Edwin wasn't about to allow that to happen.

  With his face flushed and sweating from the large use of magic, he switches to another spell; this time focusing on water.

  Water is opposite to the fire magic he'd been taught before by Allisa on the first day of his training, nearly two weeks ago. She only has very little affinity to it though, so was only able to show him some of the most basic spells for that.

  But Edwin had a clear image in mind, and with a feral grin he holds up his glowing hand toward the pit again.

  “Freeze!” He yells, releasing the built up mana once more.

  This time, a freezing cold wind blasts out from the pit, and inside of it he can hear the Spider Queen's sudden scream as the earth and walls of the pit are frozen under a layer of ice so smooth and slippery the Queen cannot get a hold of it. No way out, and no way to keep its balance.

  Edwin is forced to grit his teeth against the sudden feeling of fatigue and mental haziness that comes from using a lot of magic in a short period of time, but with a viscous shake of his head he dispels the mental fatigue and charges up the rocky berm around the pit. At least this side is still clear of ice.

  Other Patrollers and fighters join him. Within the pit, the Queen is struggling to stand up, slipping and sliding this way and that on its seven remaining legs. Its quite funny to watch, but the Queen's red eyes were clearly bloodshot in anger.

  Edwin pays it little mind though, and instead takes several breaths, checking his remaining mana. Its almost depleted, but there's enough for a final spell. Thankfully the one he has in mind isn't that consuming. Its not as flashy as a pit or ice or fire.

  He holds up his hammer in his hands and with a sudden jump leaps right out into the pit!

  Swinging the hammer down, he pours magic into it before yelling.

  “Earth's Weight!”

  It was another earth spell, but this one changes the weight of an object. It only lasts about five seconds, but when used in a fight can add extra force and weight to a weapons' strike or increase the durability of a shield against a blow.

  This time Edwin was going for full offense, and with the sudden increase in weight the hammer slams downward far more quickly than before. The spell had actually increased the 'mass' of the object, and thus gravity worked to add extra force to it as well. He slams down like a meteorite.

  The Spider Queen saw him coming though, and tried to twist out of the way; but with its icy footing all it was able to do was crouch down beneath Edwin's swing.

  And Edwin was going straight for its head.

  -CRASH!- Almost squarely between the Queen's eight eyes, the hammer slams down with enough force to pop several of them, spraying out the nasty yellow blood while also cracking its hard exoskeleton like a brittle egg. And that's before it hits the ground, slamming against a literal rock and a hard space.

  Almost instantly the Queen is dead, and its head is quite literally crushed, splattering blood, fangs, eyes and brain matter all over the damned place.

  Its black chitin is also smashed to bits, and several of the sharper pieces rip holes into Edwin's clothing. Thankfully his ability 'Hide of Earth' keeps him from being cut up by the spraying bits.

  But he's covered in the spiders' muck. Even he makes a twisted face at that.

  Everyone who was watching though doesn't care. A large cheer goes up, first from the patrollers and fighters who had been struggling against the Cave Spiders and then the Queen; and then the others, miners, patrollers, and prisoners alike join in.

  No doubt word will spread soon enough to the rest of Jottenhiem.

  It isn't every day that people get to watch a Demon Lord fight, after all.

  Edwin only sighs and hefts his hammer, swinging it to rid it of the layer of muck on it before pulling it back into his Void Space.

  After that, its only a matter of releasing the magic he'd conjured, and the pit raises up and the ice disappears in a quick swathing of fog that soon disappears in the day's heat.

  Tired and mentally exhausted, Edwin waits while Lucien strides over to him.

  “Butcher the Queen and take everything that can be used. Get another group into the mines and finish up clearing it out. I need to rest and clean up.” Edwin says almost as soon as the manservant gets to him, and Lucien nods and bows.

  “There's a change of clothing in the carriage, my lord. You can get hot water at the food tent.” Lucien says then, turning an oblique eye at Edwin's kill. Like during the fight with Krash, he's quite surprised at Edwin's dept skill of using a variety of abilities to take out his opponent... Even if they often end up a bloody mess because of it.

  *DING*

  Several new messages pop up before him, but he waves them off. He's too worn out to check them right this moment. Instead, he walks through the still cheering crowd, and heads toward the food tent, intent on getting water to clean up with.

  To bad he happened to run into Deloria before he can get that far. The short Iron Pixie had a rotten look on her face, and as soon as she catches sight of Edwin, she starts in on him.

  “What the hell do you think you're doing!? I was planning on dealing with that big spider once I rested a bit!” The woman was yelling again, the crowd around them give her stares and glares which she doesn't seem to recognize at all.

  Edwin though doesn't even flinch. Instead, one of his eyes twitches.

  “After a year stuck in that mine, I was going to kill it myself! UGH! Why did you have to steal my prey?!” The woman just didn't seem to get it, and Edwin's eye twitches again.

  Edwin doesn't say anything though, and instead reaches out and grabs the short woman by the front of her overalls. Lifting her up is surprisingly easy, and within moments her nose is almost touching his own as he stares at her.

  “You will quit being so selfish. I did what I had to do in order to re-open this mine. I killed that Queen personally, and I will beat your short ass black and blue if you DO NOT STOP YELLING.” His words are low and deep and utterly cold. He was tired and worn out and in no mood to entertain someone who acted like a spoiled child.

  Deloria on the other hand looked like she'd just eaten something disgusting. For a moment her face goes red, as if she were about to yell again, but the look on Edwin's face; or rather the utter lack of it seems to stop her from speaking a word. Instead, her face goes white and after a moment she nods.

  Edwin stares at her for a moment longer then slowly drops her back to the ground, letting go of her once once her feet have a firm footing.

  “Good. Now, I'm going to go clean up, change, and rest for a little bit. Once I get back we will talk, and you will teach me how to mine. If you do not like that, then leave.” Edwin says then to the numb-looking woman, and Deloria nods again while keeping her mouth clamped shut. It isn't a good idea to anger Edwin right now.

  Even she isn't dense enough not to catch that point.

  Hidden behind Edwin, Lucien actually lets out a smile.

  Pixies are greatly known for the trouble they cause, and Iron Pixies are even worse. With strength on the level of dwarves, they're hard to deal with both physically and otherwise.

  Edwin though just doesn't care at the moment. He walks off toward the cooking tent to get cleaned up. He fails to see that Deloria had started blushing rather brightly as she looks over her shoulder to watch Edwin's back.

  -|- -|- -|-

  “Aaah, I'm alive again!” Edwin groans after washing up with hot water and changing his clothing.

  Back at the cooking tent, he's sitting at a table and is leaning back on a bench, stretching with his arms above his head.

  With his stamina and mana both recharged, he definitely feels better than he had after the end of the fight, and around him people are coming and going with the hurried pace of people excited to be working once more.

  They cooks were also busy at work around several large bonfires and a large grill built of large stones taken from the mine and an iron grate someone managed to find. The smell of stews, grilled meats, and roasting vegetables is enough to make anyones stomach rumble.

  Even Edwin is tempted to order a bowl; but doesn't. There isn't any time to do so.

  Across from him, Lucien and Deloria are sitting side by side on a bench.

  Lucien looks quite pleased, but Deloria refuses to look at Edwin. She hadn't screamed even once since Edwin had warned her off, and instead was almost sulking. So far she's only answered questions in monosyllables.

  Well, there's no helping it.

  “Okay, how's it coming along, Lucien?” Edwin finally asks, leaning his forearms on the table and asking about what he'd missed while cleaning up and resting.

  Lucien takes a moment to gather his thoughts then clears his throat.

  “The mine is officially re-opened, my lord. Without the Queen to spawn new Cave Spiders, the rest were easily routed. Because we weren't able to set fire to the monsters within the mine due to the veins of coal, we were able to collect quite a lot of spider silk. Four whole carts full, to be honest. I've had them shipped to be stored at the Citadel for distribution to the weavers and clothiers later.” Lucien gives his report, and Edwin nods.

  “Good. With that, things are finally back on track.” Edwin says, before turning his gaze to Deloria, who'd been listening with something like a surprised look on her face.

  “You can ask questions, you know. I'm not that secretive of a Demon Lord.” Edwin cannot help but tease her, causing Deloria's face to go red again. She opens her mouth as if she's about to yell again, but with a look to Edwin snaps her lips closed.

  “Ah. I was just surprised. Things were bad here even before I got trapped in my own mine. I honestly never expected any of this.” Deloria finally says, her tone now almost so soft that Edwin has to strain to catch her words. But she motions around her at all the work that is going on.

  A bunch of tents are being set up, and several groups are building the sorting and weighing machines needed for any mining operation. Edwin had already seen that the place had been literally picked clean once the mine closed before. Without proper infrastructure, no large scale operation can work, after all.

  “Hmm. That's because I'm doing all of this myself. After the fight with Krash, I killed the nobles and took control directly. You could call this an Imperial Project, but it isn't the only one. The farms outside of Jottenhiem, the quarry in the east and the woods near it, and the problems with the bandits outside of Lotash and the forest there.” Edwin says, giving Deloria the short version.

  The Iron Pixie is surprised again, and this time her mouth hangs open. Even Edwin thinks its a good look for her, but doesn't say anything.

  Such thoughts were becoming more and more common. It probably has to do with all the extremely good lookin' women running around him.

  “Anyway. Once you teach me mining here, I'm going to need a manager for the mine here. But I also heard that you used to own the biggest foundry in Jottenhiem. So we'll likely need your skills there as well.” Edwin says, and with a look to Lucien, he nods his head.

  Having Deloria was actually a stroke of good fortune.

  “I'm going to build an 'Ironworks' in the western part of Lower Jottenhiem. A massive smelter and foundry all in one, specialized in producing steel.” Edwin says then, with his own grin at the surprised look coming from Lucien this time.

  “Steel? That's really hard to produce though!” This time Deloria forgets herself and yells, but Edwin doesn't mind. Instead, he gives her a slight grin of his own.

  “Forging steel is hard because gauging the proper amount of carbon in the iron is almost impossible with the current technology here. But I was summoned from a world where there is no magic, and technology was used for everything.” Edwin says then, actually enjoying the startled look from Lucien and Deloria.

  “Jottenhiem, open the Design menu, please.” Edwin says softly, and with a soft chuckle of amusement that brushes his ear, a sudden projection pops up over the table.

  It was the rough design of a blast furnace. The sort used to smelt large qualities of iron, copper, tin and other metals. Its a really rough draft though. Edwin never worked in a steel mill himself, and instead could only recall what he'd learned in school or during his own studies.

  But he has the main principle down.

  Lucien is looking at the design with a critical eye, studying the notes that Edwin had written around it while Deloria is almost too shocked.

  “This is... a furnace? What the...” Deloria mutters to herself, before she shakes her own head and starts really looking at the floating image in front of her.

  “Iron is a fairly easy metal to deal with. Its fairly easy to pull the impurities out of it, and can be used for a lot of things. But the downside is that its inconsistent from one forge to the next. Some are too brittle, others too soft.

  “Steel is several times stronger. It can also hold a sharper edge, when used for weapons. Its also far less brittle and isn't any heavier than regular iron, either. As a material for weapons, armors, and as a construction material, its far superior.” Edwin explains after giving the other two a moment to examine the projection.

  “In order to actually produce steel though takes a far different technique than what is used in regular forging. It also requires other materials as well. This blast furnace is the first step in doing that. By blowing a certain amount of air upward into the molten metal, you can draw off far more carbon and impurities than otherwise while using less fuel. Once that's done, its easy enough to add in the trace carbon, usually from coal or other carbon-rich minerals along with the other materials to create a consistent steel alloy.”

  It was a technology that Eternia had never seen before, and even Deloria was having a hard time grasping it.

  “Blowing air... upwards?” She finally asks, and Edwin nods, motioning to the lower part of the furnace.

  “When you work a forge, you pump bellows in order to give the fuel enough air to get to temperatures hot enough to melt the metal, either out of its raw ore form or already formed ingots. The blast furnace on the other hand doesn't blow air into the fuel; but into the metal itself. The oxygen in the air binds more readily with the impurities in iron at high temperatures, and bubbles up to the top.

  “Scooping it out like cream from milk, and you can separate trace metals like copper, tin and others.” It was an advanced technique, but as Edwin explains Deloria's face becomes bright and excited.

  “It will take a lot of work to set up though. And a lot of experimentation. I know the basis of it, but I don't know the specifics. So to start with we'll build it and work on it while also using regular forging techniques to produce the metal we need right now as rapidly as we can.” Edwin says then, cutting Deloria off before she could comment.

  Deloria takes a moment to collect herself instead of screaming again and nods her head.

  Smiling, Edwin has Jottenhiem stop the projection, and stands up.

  “Now then, its time for me to get to work as well. Teach me everything you can, Deloria!”

  -|- -|- -|-

  Hi guys! This is the first part of chapter 9! It ended up being larger and longer than I had imagined, so I decided to split the chapter into 2 parts.

  Things are progressing nicely in Jottenhiem, and this chapter even had a bit more action! I hope you enjoy it!

  As always, feel free to leave comments or the like!