[Another morning, another bonus~!]

As the sun peeked over the horizon, Navi's annoyingly cheerful voice echoed in Axel's ears.

[Today's bonus... 20% increase for speed in Concoction auto-crafting~!]

While this should've been an exciting upgrade, the person in question was…

"Too noisy," Axel grumbled, turning over in bed. "Let me sleep a bit longer..."

After revealing the System's existence to the girls the night before, a great burden had lifted from his shoulders. Combined with not having slept at all yesterday, that night, he had slept like a log!

[What are you doing, Contractor... don't you have things to do? C'mon, wake up!]

But the little penguin was relentless, practically searching for someone to listen to his bragging, evident from the grin on his face.

Still, it was true that Axel had a lot on his plate.

"Ugh..."

Reluctantly, he rose from the bed and stretched.

His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and he struggled to keep them open.

Just as he scratched his head, preparing to get out of bed, his hand brushed against something soft... and warm...

"..."

Looking down, he realized he was touching a large mountain. So large that it couldn't fit in his hands. Soft and supple, springy and exciting.

"Fenrir..."

Axel sighed, noticing the face staring at him from beside him in bed.

"You slipped into my bed? Don't you have your own room in the castle?"

As soon as Axel moved his hand, Fenrir, as if nothing had happened, sat up and smiled. "It is my duty to protect Master, so I need to stay by your side as much as possible."

"Suit yourself..."

He figured arguing would only waste his time, so he quickly left the bed and began changing clothes. He didn't mind Fenrir watching; after all, they both had seen everything they could physically see. There was nothing to hide between them anymore.

Once he changed into his usual attire, Axel left the room.

Fenrir, of course, followed, walking a few steps behind him.

Their destination wasn't the dining hall for breakfast. It was way too early for that.

But rather, he went outside the castle and toward the south district. He wasn't heading to the workshop or the laboratory, but rather to an empty lot situated between the two.

A spot with access to the flowing river.

"This should be a good enough place to start with..." Axel nodded.

Up next, under Fenrir's watchful gaze, Axel began to craft another building. He didn't rely on any pre-built house designs; instead, he utilized the Modification feature to transform the raw materials he had gathered or bought from the shop directly.

First, he created a large, open-air forge.

It was spacious enough to hold or melt about a ton of metal at once, standing roughly three meters tall, two meters wide, and two and a half meters long.

He constructed it from special fire-resistant bricks, which could maintain their shape even at temperatures reaching 3,000 degrees Celsius.

This design allowed for ample buffer even when processing Mithril, which required a strict and accurate temperature of 2,000 degrees.

After constructing the forge, he moved to the "accessories." Including the air intake, fuel chute (for coke), and chimney, everything was set up for manual control. This feature enabled precise adjustments of temperature and oxygen intake.

"Good... Next is..."

Continuing with his work, Axel built a structure around the forge.

The walls near the forge were once again reinforced with fire-resistant bricks, and he avoided using flammable materials to prevent any potential disasters, such as the forge catching fire.

With meticulous attention to detail, Axel perfected the Forge Workshop.

He included windows, vents, and fireproofing, and equipped the space with tools like hammers, anvils, and sand beds. Additionally, he designated a secondary area near the forge for the normalization treatment of forged items.

After attaching a waterwheel to the back and connecting it to a mechanism inside the new workshop, everything was finally complete.

"The Forge is complete!"

Axel exclaimed, smiling with satisfaction at his accomplishment.

Excited to test it out, he entered the building, added an adequate amount of coke into the chute, and ignited a fire.

He activated the mechanism linking the bellows to the spinning waterwheel outside, automating the airflow into the forge. Then, he pulled another lever to fully open the chimney, allowing white smoke to billow skyward.

Within moments, the coke ignited to a bright orange glow, indicating that the forge was functioning as intended.

It became so hot that Axel began to sweat while observing the flames! The room's temperature surged by at least five degrees instantly!

"No cracks, no gaps, no leaks..." he muttered, inspecting every corner of the forge. "Great, looks like it's working perfectly!" He smiled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Touching the walls, he confirmed that the heat-resistant bricks were doing their job properly as well. With this assurance, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief and let Beatrix handle the rest.

Trying to melt metals?

Axel was an amateur with no knowledge or experience in smithing, so he didn't dare attempt it.

Instead, he sealed off the forge completely right after, cutting its air supply so that the flames inside would eventually die out. He couldn't just leave the forge working, as it would be dangerous. He needed to "turn it off."

Once he finished, he and Fenrir headed back to the castle for breakfast.

It was perfect timing; by then, the others were also awake and having their meal.

As they were seated around the long table...

"Beatrix," Axel said, cutting straight to the point.

"I've set up the Forge, so you can assign work to those who need it. For now, they can focus on making necessities like tools, nails, and cooking utensils."

Even with just one forge, the workload would require more than a dozen individuals. In short, it should be more than sufficient to provide work for everyone who is still "jobless" at present.

"As for those who continue to refuse to work..."

Axel paused, contemplating.

"If they remain the same for three days, we'll have no choice but to expel them from our kingdom. Please communicate this to them."

Kicking out lazy individuals might be the best course of action, but when it comes to human relations, this "logical" decision could be risky. It might provoke resentment among the citizens or instill fear in their hearts. Therefore, he couldn't simply expel them.

However, if it were done with everyone's consensus, that would change everything.

If they choose not to work despite having the opportunity, then that's their decision. But expulsion would be the inevitable consequence.

Beatrix understood the implication behind Axel's words and smiled.

"Leave it to me, Sir Axel. I'll ensure that everyone hears your message."

"Good."

Once that matter was addressed, everyone returned to their breakfast, engaging in light conversation here and there. Their voices were filled with excitement.

The reason?

After the Valkyrie Knight Order's morning training, they would begin learning how to use magic!

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