It was not weird at all to see adventurers and adventurer teams sending folks to the Adventurers' Association to cater to their logistics work. In times of peace, it was extremely common to see all manner of adventurers venturing to the association. Naturally, war times bore a heavier burden to the logistics department of any team.
Due to the impending war, movement across the city walls was very highly regulated. Even adventurers would face a lot of inspection and scrutiny. Unfortunately, this couldn't be helped unless someone had sufficient status. Barda found out just how easy he had had it moving around with the princess in tow since back then he hadn't faced much farse.
It took some time but the group was able to finally get to the Adventurers' Association. Going further from the third wall was extremely restricted, such that only residents could go past.
Among other things, a country had to be wary of spies from an opposing kingdom. Once that kingdom declared war, then all bets were off. Anything goes. All is fair in love and war. Having worked as an espionage agent for most of his previous life, he was well aware that this the season to be in if you were a spy. Even freelance spies had a good time in all this.
The focus of the world was in the city. Everyone knew just how powerful Tristan was a city-state, but its biggest advantage was in defense. During peacetimes, the walls are seen as nothing more than a divisive tool to segregate the rich and the poor. In war, the walls serve a very strategic tool for keeping the enemies out and the civilians protected. This was why none of the walls built had ever been put down.
On the flip side, there was Gumina. Having risen steadily, Gumina was the kingdom to beat. It had been a small country, barely noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Things had taken a change a generation ago when the previous king took over.
It was said the previous king of Gumina had rejected the throne as a prince and gone off to become a pirate in the seas. After much raping and pillaging, he returned a powerful warrior. Where once he had lacked ambition and charisma, he returned overflowing with it.
Soon after, the name Gumina started surfacing all over the place. They refused to pay tributes to kingdoms that saw them as vassals. They would raid villages and towns near them, invade lesser cities and free ports. They were calling out the superpowers that maintained the rule of law in such weak and defenseless communities.
Soon, a superpower, now long forgotten, rose to fight the new kingdom after they invaded one of their vassal towns. Who would have guessed that they were the chicken the kingdom used to scare the monkeys. A thorough beating ensued, and the superpower was so defeated that they were lost to oblivion. A large chunk of their lands and holdings was captured by Gumina, which led to the current Gumina.
Over time, Gumina had instigated and been involved in more wars than any other kingdom. After the death of the king, his son proved to be just as or more ruthless than his dad. For him, killing was for fun. He started wars when he missed seeing rivers of blood. He invaded lands just so he could see how they would react.
Most people avoided any kind of association, including trade, with the Gumina Kingdom. This was because even the slightest thing could set the king off, or nothing at all. Under such leadership, how could anyone hope to collaborate?
While this was bad for their economics long term, the kingdom was thriving. This was due to all the vassal kingdoms and cities that were almost run dry by the king in taxes and tributes, using them to make up for his deficiencies as a king.
Raised in a generation that knew nothing but war, traces of the former kingdom had long since been forgotten. The new Gumina was a battle-maniac society, prioritizing the warrior as the top profession, overlooking all else.
This was set as a match of giants. An unstoppable force had met an impregnable defense. Whichever side survived the crash would set up the next several decades in terms of relations between the Eastern and Western continents.
Barda and his people finally got to the Association. Barda walked with them, showing where to find each of the requirements he wanted. Many he didn't know where to find. Karla, one of his new subordinates, proved invaluable in the shopping trip. She had a nose for sniffing out the best deals. She would always end up getting everything she wanted at the price she wanted. Who said shopping was not a talent?
Most of the materials required for forging and other adventurer-related work were sold at the association or around it, as that was where they had the most need. Subsequently, all Barda and his people had to do was go round the marketplace eyeing everything.
Barda took the time to learn the things he saw by heart, since the moment he saw them his mind would pull out the information related to them from the books he had read. Explaining to his eager group of students made it even easier for him and it became a part of his knowledgebase.
Finally, everything had been purchased. They moved to one of the private forging rooms available in the Adventurers' Association after paying for it for 2 days.
Barda then went about the process of showing the team how to modify the materials and refine them. This had been by far his most time-consuming task mainly because he had no proper way to do it.
Now, with a wealth of knowledge from the reading materials he had scanned, he could pick out whichever method he chose depending on the criteria. Since he was planning on mass-producing, Barda chose a relatively easy method of refining to teach Batoo and the others.
The method chosen may have been easy, but it was the least effective. Due to improper handling of fire during refining, the method seemed to rely on luck more than anything.
With a few tweaks, Barda had managed to remove the kinks in the fire handling. It was a math problem that Barda easily spotted the error and accurately fixed it. This gave rise to a simple yet effective method of refining materials that he could train others.
Since they were the first seed, Barda chose to teach them the basics. He refined a piece of metal and then proceeded to mold a basic dagger from it. Soon afterward, he had the class repeat the same under his supervision. With his guidance, their first product was not that bad. As an incentive, Barda told them to keep the dagger, to remind them of how they started. He didn't know the storm this would later cause.
The class had some materials they had bought for learning purposes, so they were at liberty to make up to 5 practice knives. Since this was wartimes, the practice knives could still be used. Barda was positively impressed by the products that Villima and Frani, 2 of his new subordinates produced. They weren't as good yet. Given they were starting, all they could do was improve.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said of his buddy Batoo, who wore a forlorn face as he ended up mediocre again.
After the knife lesson passed, the sword lesson came next. A bit more complicated than the knife given the length and the usage, not to mention the variety. Swords were also the standard weapon in a battlefield, one that everyone must have had.
Barda opted for a relatively basic sword. With the resource and the people he had at hand, he couldn't hope to mass-produce a better sword. However, a basic sword made from better material was still better than just an ordinary sword.
Therefore he decided that he would make up for the sword's basicity by enhancing the quality of production and materials used. Hopefully, this would give the sword some edge when fighting the opponents' castle-forged swords.
After toiling himself almost to death, Batoo was ready to drop on the ground. Looking at his sword, he wondered if it was good enough. He then took it and walked over to where Barda was working.
As Karla put the finishing touches in her latest creation, she noticed someone standing over Barda with his mouth wide open. Curious, she too went over to see what was happening, and just like Batoo, her mouth hung wide open as well.
It didn't take long for Frani and Villima to join the other 2 with similar reactions. By now, Batoo had snapped from his shock but he couldn't bring himself to turn away. The masterpiece that was on the table wouldn't let him.
Seeing an audience form up, Barda asked, "What do you think, is it a befitting gift for the commander?"