Blackgold

## [source]

A greydwarf grandmage incharge of Deepblues finances. Although the grey dwarf looked disgusting to others, in Sharon’s absence he was the leader of the grand mages. If he was moved, it would be easy to obtain the Deepblue.

“Worry about the losses before you worry about reputation! Even after this every genius will fight for a spot as Her Excellency’s apprentice, regardless of whether they pay or not. Do you want the most beautiful Master to stop being delighted?"

The Stormhammer tribe was a large tribe of the grey dwarves, so large that it had its own kingdom. Blackgold in particular was a very special one; his affinity lay not with alcohol, but with appraising ore and gemstones. He also had great talent in magic, which combined with his love for gold and unique appraisal abilities netted him a position as the treasurer of the legendary mage.

## Plot

“It won’t be hard, I can get you all the old… Wait, what did you say? Grand mage? You?!” Blackgold almost jumped out of his seat, circling around Richard several times as though he had seen a beast, “How? Aren’t you only… Twenty? Level 18 is the same as me! I mean, magic is only a hobby, we duergar aren’t that good at it, but… This is amazing! Where are all the other fellows who had more potential than you in testing? You weren’t even supposed to… Eh, forget it. This is really amazing!” 5;12

Richard looked at Blackgold with suspicion; the grey dwarf was clearly hiding something about his evaluation. Blackgold stubbornly refused to say more, but he had learnt how to deal with this fellow during his years as an apprentice. Obstinance was met with obstinance, and by the time they reached Blackgold’s office the grey dwarf had given up and answered.his question.

His potential in magic had been judged as ‘excellent’ during his initial aptitude test, but that definitely wasn’t good enough to be a student of Sharon’s. There were still the grades of genius, outstanding, legendary, unique, and Sharon. Even the worst student in the past had been rated as a genius, while the rest were outstanding at minimum. The chances of even becoming a grand mage were supposed to be low, forget achieving it at such a tender age.

Of course, far too many things in this world relied on luck. Nothing was absolute so long as destiny was on one’s side. The God of Luck was one of the most worshipped deities in Norland.

### **Close Ally**

Blackgold was now one of the most important people in the Deepblue. Even if there were other mages stronger than him, he had been close to Richard for a long time and cultivated a strong relationship with him. Especially with the Archerons showing their prowess recently, no one could afford to offend the duergar, not even a legendary mage. After all, people were already speculating whether Richard could break out past the epic realm entirely.

The grey dwarves were amongst the most important races in the Far North, yet Blackgold chose to ally with their greatest nemesis.

### **Duergar Warships**

It wasn’t long before the northern fleet was close enough to the Deepblue to open fire, their long-range artillery capable of striking even the top of the tower. The seven warships spread out in the standard naval formation of a large row, and from this distance one could barely make out the duergar on board loading their weapons. However, the grand mages weren’t flustered at all; the Deepblue was extremely stable and had a number of powerful defensive arrays; artillery shelling wouldn’t be able to leave more than a scratch. The only way to take over the place would be to send an army on shore to occupy it from within.

However, that was easier said than done. Done with his war against the reapers, Richard had bolstered the Deepblue’s defences greatly. Even if the Far North sent ten full regiments, they wouldn’t return alive. This fleet had two to three regiments at best, at which scale they would simply be walking to their own graves.

“Blackie, you numberdumb! You’re still alive?” a clear voice resounded from the fleet, interrupting Blackgold’s rage. The grey dwarf’s expression warped strangely in response, but he ran to the edge of the platform and stared down at the bridge of the flagship to find a familiar face.

“Stormhammer! Why don’t you just sit in your cave and look for honest work forging metal? Are you sick of life?” Blackgold shouted at the face that resembled his own.

Stormhammer laughed, “I came to see you. I heard that you’re muddling along in the Deepblue, and you’re even a treasurer? To think you were the same kid that couldn’t tell the numbers apart, what hammer made you smart? Anyway, have you seen these babies under me? They’re my masterpieces, how are they? Leave the Deepblue and come back before your masters find out how many mistakes you make in your accounting, or they might just feed you to the sharks.”

Stormhammer spoke so quickly that Blackgold was left confounded, not knowing where to begin his response. However, the other grand mages took this as a sign of acquiescence instead. The treasurer of the Deepblue had been a failure at mathematics!

The moment Blackgold started screaming out orders, the others retreated to the other corner of the terrace. The fanatic had been trying to combine dwarven gunpowder with the reaper energy cores for a while now, and after initial successes be had immediately decided to go as big as he could. He called his new design the megacannon, but every test run had simply blown up his laboratory.

## References

1. ↑ v1ch19
2. ↑ v1ch22b
3. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 83
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Book 9, Chapter 84