The convoy halted two miles outside the city, at a fork in the road where the path to Oakhaven split from the main trade route.
The Duke's carriage door opened. The iron-haired noble stepped out into the snow, flanked by two knights in full plate armor.
Valeria hopped down from the sleigh. She gestured for Kael and Ignis to stay back. This was a conversation for sharks, not tigers.
"You have your safe passage," the Duke of Ironclad rumbled, his breath steaming in the cold air. "Now, the payment. Prove to me that the Guild is framing me."
Valeria reached into the sleigh. She pulled out the Silent Crossbow wrapped in oilcloth.
She walked over and held it out.
"This is a Guild-issue Phantom crossbow," Valeria said. "Enchanted for silence. Only Handlers and elite hunters carry them. This specific one belongs to the man you are looking for."
The Duke took the weapon. He examined the stock. He saw the serial number etched in the wood.
"And the letter?" he asked.
Valeria handed him the forged letter Ignis had written.
"Found on his body," she lied. "It details a plan to plant 'evidence' of beastman harboring on your estate, Your Grace. The Handler was supposed to execute it, but he ran into a... trap... in the woods."
The Duke read the letter. His face darkened. The veins in his neck bulged.
"Those whip-cracking bastards," he growled. "They dare to plant evidence on my land?"
He looked at Valeria. His eyes were sharp, calculating.
"You said he died in a trap. Who set the trap?"
"The woods are dangerous," Valeria said evasively. "Poachers. Old war mines. Angry bears. Does it matter? The result is that you have the weapon, the letter, and a casus belli to crush the Guild in this region."
The Duke handed the crossbow to his knight. He stepped closer to Valeria, looming over her.
"You are not a simple merchant, Madame V. You speak like a strategist. You walk with a Tiger Beastman who breaks bones like twigs. And you live in the Oakhaven valley, a place that is supposed to be a ruin."
"I value privacy," Valeria said, holding his gaze. "And I value neighbors who keep the Guild busy."
The Duke snorted. A ghost of a smile touched his lips.
"Fine. Keep your secrets. As long as your 'privacy' results in dead Guild agents, you and I will have no quarrel."
He turned back to his carriage.
"But be warned," the Duke added, pausing at the door. "The Guild is like a hydra. Cut off one head, two more grow. If they find out you played a part in this... not even I can save you."
"I don't need saving," Valeria said softly. "I just need customers."
The Duke laughed - a harsh, barking sound.
"If you ever have more of these..." he gestured to the crossbow, "...bring them to the Iron Keep. I pay well for Guild steel."
The carriage rolled away, the knights marching behind it.
Valeria let out a breath she had been holding. Her knees felt weak.
Kael was beside her in an instant, his hand on her shoulder. "You stood your ground against a Grand Duke."
"I was terrified," Valeria admitted. "But now, we have an ally. Sort of."
Ignis leaned over the side of the sleigh. "He didn't arrest us. That is a victory. Now, can we please go home? My toes are freezing."
Oakhaven Estate - Evening
The return to the farm was a celebration.
When the sleigh pulled into the yard, passing through the stone gate, the atmosphere changed instantly. The heavy, oppressive air of the city was replaced by the humming, mana-rich air of the Sanctuary.
"Food!" Caspian cheered, rushing out of the house.
They unloaded the haul.
Ten barrels of salt.
Five casks of oil.
Bolts of thick wool.
And the iron.
"Salt," Silas whispered, dipping a claw into an open barrel. He licked it. His tail wagged involuntarily. "Real salt."
That night, dinner was a feast.
It wasn't fancy - just stew made from the remaining Stalker meat and Spirit Wheat dumplings. But it was seasoned. It had salt. It had oil to fry the dumplings.
For five people who had been starving on watery gruel for weeks, it tasted like a royal banquet.
"To the Merchant," Ignis toasted, raising his cup. "Who walked into the lion's den and sold the lion's own teeth back to him."
"To the Merchant!" the others cheered.
Valeria smiled, but her mind was already working.
She looked at the iron ingots stacked in the corner. She looked at the keg of blackpowder Gric had managed to procure.
[Mission Update: The Merchant of Death.]
[Objective: Establish a Defensive Perimeter.]
[Sub-Goal: Craft 10 Explosive Devices.]
[Reward: Alchemy Recipe: "Liquid Fire".]
"Eat up, boys," Valeria said. "Tomorrow, we stop building walls. Tomorrow, we start building traps."
The Next Morning - The Workshop
The "Merchant of Death" phase began with chemistry.
Valeria cleared the kitchen table. She laid out the blackpowder, the iron scraps, and the clay pots Ignis had fired in the kiln.
"We are making landmines," Valeria announced.
Lucian, who was sewing wool tunics for everyone, looked up. "Land... mines?"
"Explosives buried in the ground," Valeria explained. "When someone steps on them... boom."
She drew a diagram on the slate.
"We need a fuse mechanism. Ignis, this is your department. We need a chemical trigger. Something that ignites on pressure."
Ignis adjusted his monocle, looking at the blackpowder.
"If we mix Fire Bloom pollen with crushed flint," Ignis mused, "it creates a volatile paste. A sharp impact—like a boot stepping on a plate—would cause a spark."
"Perfect," Valeria said. "Kael, I need casings. Hollow iron spheres. Scorings on the outside so they fragment into shrapnel."
Kael grinned. "Fragmentation. Nasty."
"Caspian, Silas," Valeria continued. "You are the diggers. I want a perimeter established fifty yards out from the wall. A ring of death."
For the next two days, the farm was a factory.
Kael hammered red-hot iron into grapefruit-sized spheres. Ignis mixed volatile pastes with the care of a bomb disposal expert. Valeria assembled the mechanisms.
The result was the [Iron-Lotus Mine (Type 1)].
[Item: Iron-Lotus Mine.]
[Rank: D-Class Tech.]
[Damage: 300 Physical / 50 Fire.]
[Effect: 5-meter radius explosion. Causes "Bleeding" and "Burn".]
"It's crude," Ignis critiqued, holding one of the heavy iron balls. "But effective. It will take the leg off a horse."
"Or a Paladin," Kael added darkly.
They buried ten of them in a staggered pattern along the main approach road, marking the safe path with subtle stones that only they knew how to read.
As they finished burying the last mine, snow began to fall again. Heavy, thick flakes that promised a blizzard.
Valeria stood on the wall, looking out at the white landscape.
She felt safer. But the System wasn't done with her.
[Alert: Sanctuary Level Up.]
[The World Tree Sapling has reached Stage 1.5.]
[Mana Density Increasing.]
[Warning: The scent of Pure Mana is spreading beyond the valley.]
"Something is coming," Silas said.
He was standing beside her on the wall, his nose twitching.
"Enemies?" Valeria asked, her hand going to the lever of the ballista.
"No," Silas said, confused. "Not... meat scent. Not... iron scent."
He frowned. "Smells like... ink."
The South Road
A lone figure was walking up the road toward the Oakhaven estate.
He shouldn't have been alive. The cold was minus twenty degrees. The snow was waist-deep.
But the figure walked atop the snow, leaving no footprints.
He wore a tattered grey robe covered in patches. On his back, he carried a massive wooden crate that was easily twice his size, strapped to him like a backpack.
He stopped at the edge of the minefield.
He looked down at the snow where a mine was buried three feet away.
"Rude," the traveler murmured. His voice was smooth, like old parchment sliding over stone.
He adjusted his round spectacles. He had fox ears twitching atop a messy mop of white hair.
[Target Identified: ???]
[System Error: Cannot Analyze High-Level Target.]
The traveler looked up at the fortress walls. He saw Valeria and the husbands watching him.
He waved.
"Hullo!" he shouted. "Is this the establishment serving Spirit Wheat? I caught the aroma three valleys over! I wish to trade!"
Valeria stared at him.
"He walked through the Stalker territory?" Kael asked, gripping his axe. " alone?"
"He's carrying a crate the size of a house," Ignis noted. "And he has no mana signature. That means he's either a powerless beggar..."
"...or he's so strong he can hide it perfectly," Valeria finished.
She looked at the traveler. A wandering merchant? In the middle of a blizzard?
"Lucian," she ordered. "Warning shot."
Thwip.
A needle flew from the roof, landing in the snow inches from the traveler's boot.
The traveler didn't flinch. He just looked at the needle.
"Ah," he smiled. "Darning needle. Steel. Good balance. But you missed my toe."
"State your business!" Valeria shouted from the wall.
"I told you!" the Fox-man called back. "I am a Traveling Merchant! The name is Renard. I buy, I sell, I trade in oddities! And right now, I am very interested in that glowing tree you have in your greenhouse!"
Valeria's blood ran cold. He knew about the tree.
"We don't have a tree," Valeria lied.
Renard chuckled. He tapped the side of his massive wooden crate. The crate unfolded slightly, revealing shelves of glowing potions, strange weapons, and books bound in dragon skin.
"My dear lady," Renard said, his eyes glowing with a faint, golden cunning. "I have a System too. And yours is telling you that I am dangerous."
He took a step forward, right over a mine. It didn't detonate.
"But I assure you," Renard beamed. "I am a Capitalist. I don't kill my customers. I just... exploit them."
[Event Triggered: The Wandering Black Market.]
[NPC Renard has arrived.]
[Reputation: Neutral Chaotic.]
Valeria looked at Ignis. Ignis looked at Valeria.
"He has a System," Valeria whispered. "He's like me."
"Open the gate," Valeria ordered.
"Are you insane?" Kael hissed.
"No," Valeria said, her eyes fixed on the Fox merchant. "He has goods we can't buy in the city. And if he wanted us dead, I have a feeling we'd already be buried."
She leaned over the wall.
"Come in, Renard! But if you touch the tree, the Tiger eats you."
Renard bowed theatrically.
"Fair terms! Put the kettle on! I have Moon-Sugar for the tea!"