Archer's Adventure Manual

Chapter 178 Reunion with Old Smith

Loran traversed the streets and alleys. Although the environment was different from before, he could still roughly discern the route.

Loran finally found the building from his memory: Lena's training camp.

The training camp was deserted by then, and Loran went in to find it empty.

"Is anyone there?" Loran tried calling out, but there was no response in the empty training camp.

Loran looked at the area in the training camp that was originally intended for reading and studying, but now it had become a mess.

Various books were thrown on the ground like trash. Picking up a few books to examine them, I found that they were all damaged.

There were signs of being trampled, signs of being torn, and... signs of being scratched by some kind of sharp claws.

What exactly happened here? Loran's doubts deepened.

He arrived at the familiar training ground, where the training scarecrow lay upright on the ground, and the shooting target was broken in half to one side.

Everything at the training ground has fallen into disrepair.

As a skilled retired adventurer, Instructor Lena must have put up a fierce fight when the monsters arrived, and perhaps she has already broken through the encirclement.

Loran followed the route he remembered to the blacksmith shop, which was operating as usual. He saw a familiar figure—Old Smith.

Old Smith was still accompanied by his dwarf assistant, and they were currently forging an iron sword.

"Mr. Smith." Loran greeted Mr. Smith. He was very happy to see that Mr. Smith was alright after not seeing him for a long time.

However, old Smith's face had lost its former radiance, replaced only by deep wrinkles.

Old Smith looked up and saw Lorraine. A look of surprise crossed his face. "Lorraine! You... why are you here?"

Lorraine shook his head. "That's not important, Mr. Smith. What are you doing?"

"Oh... blacksmithing, Rockfall is much better now than before, and the nobles are much more generous than before," Old Smith said, uttering something that sounded rather nonsensical.

Given Patton's precedent, Lorraine wasn't surprised. He looked at old Smith and asked curiously, "Mr. Smith, are you still researching my recurve bow?"

"A...reverse...bow?" Old Smith seemed to be deep in thought. He had a deep impression of this thing. He pondered for a long time before remembering it.

"I remember now, yes, I recall it. It was a very innovative design, and many people thought it was a fantastic idea, a really great one."

Lorraine smiled and nodded. "Hmm, Mr. Smith, could you forge me another recurve bow? I happen to have one on me that you can compare it to."

Old Smith took the bow from Loran, examined it briefly, and said, "Uh... it should work. Wait a moment, oh, no rush. It might not be possible now. I still need to complete a batch of tasks, forging metal weapons... probably."

"It will probably take a few more years, there are just too many of those weapons."

Loran was taken aback by what he heard, and was somewhat shocked. What kind of weapon would take several years to forge?

Before Loran could voice his questions, the rumble of a carriage reached his ears.

Loran glanced to the side and saw a wagon loaded with a great deal of goods. The goods on top were not anything else, but... iron ingots.

A whole cartload of iron ingots—enough to meet the weaponry needs of an entire legion.

"Old Smith, the materials you need have arrived. Come and claim your share," a man who looked to be of high rank said loudly as he stepped down from the carriage.

Old Smith readily agreed, "Yes, yes, yes."

He then trotted over to the side of the carriage, pulling a small cart, and caught the heavy iron ingot.

His dwarf assistant also came to help from behind, pulling a small cart over to assist.

The two of them made several trips back and forth in a small cart before they were able to barely deliver all the necessary materials.

"I'm off. Remember to hand over the ironware on time," the coachman instructed before speeding away.

Old Smith and his dwarf assistant kept carrying iron into the blacksmith's shop, and it was clear that the two were working very hard.

Especially for Old Smith, who is getting on in years, forging irons is already very physically demanding, and now it's just adding insult to injury.

Seeing this, Loran stepped forward to help, and asked curiously, "Mr. Smith, who sent you so many orders? Does Rockfall Town have such a large demand for weapons?"

Old Smith paused for a moment when he heard Loran's question, then shook his head with a smile. "I don't know, it's just what the lord requested. With enough weapons and equipment, the lord can maintain the peace of the town."

"Maintaining the peace of the town? Smith, do you remember what happened not long ago? If I remember correctly, a lot of monsters invaded Rockfall Town." Loran raised the question.

The people in the town seemed to be avoiding this spot, even though Rockfall Town was surrounded before Loran and his group left.

What caused Rockfall Town to escape its previous state and present itself as a relatively good place now? Was it really because of that advance team?

But if that's the case, why have the townspeople never mentioned it?

After hearing Lorraine's question, Smith pondered for a moment before slowly speaking: "Indeed, many monsters appeared in town a while ago, on the afternoon you suggested I leave, Lorraine."

"However, I do not regret my decision. Later, the Warren nobles solved the monster problem. They drove the monsters away. It may sound unbelievable, but it is true."

"So now I am very grateful to the lord for the peace he brought to Rockfall Town. Now I can make ironware in peace. I am very content."

This time, Loran obtained crucial information about the monster problem that the Warren nobles had solved.

After Smith finished speaking, he shook his head. "Lorraine, if you have any more questions, please ask another day... I have work to do right now, so I don't have much free time. I'm sorry."

"Alright." Loran left. Old Smith's reaction was somewhat similar to that of Barton's parents. Although the two didn't have a bad relationship, there was always a strange sense of distance between them.

Loran didn't think this was the behavior one would expect from someone who had survived a catastrophe... He just felt that people seemed somewhat... numb.

If you want to know the answer, you'll probably have to visit the castle of the Warren nobles. Smith said that they were the ones who solved the monster problem.

So how exactly did they solve it?