Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 53

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 53
Maker Barony.
A notice had been posted in the Maker Barony—the domain of that Black Mage noble whose name was lately on everyone’s lips in Harundel—calling for Debt-Slave Mercenary Black Mages.
The compensation was double the standard hire rate for a 2nd Class Black Mage.
The job description: manufacture and delivery of Skeleton Soldiers.
Full-time employment, monthly salary.
Wasn’t this an absolute steal?
Making Skeleton Soldiers was bread and butter for any 2nd Class Black Mage.
It was work you could do with your eyes closed, and they were offering double wages for it?
The job was easy, the pay was generous—there was no reason not to go.
And so Hui set out toward the Maker Barony, driving a Skeleton Horse carriage.
He arrived.
The moment he stepped into the domain, his eyes widened.
Skeleton Soldiers were moving about everywhere.
Plowing fields, hauling stone, felling trees.
The sight of Skeleton Soldiers engaged in farmwork struck even Hui—a Black Mage himself—as utterly extraordinary.
‘So the rumors were true. He controls Undead infinitely through bloodline ability…….’
In any case, upon arrival, Hui found himself seated across from the lord in an audience chamber.
The lord: Tay, the Maker Baron.
A young Black Mage draped in a black robe. The strange bone ornament perched on his shoulder made a striking impression, and beside him stood a pretty young girl.
‘So this is the Maker Baron everyone’s been talking about lately.’
While Hui was thinking this,
“Oh! Welcome, newcomer! I’m thrilled you’ve volunteered!”
Tay spread both arms wide and beamed.
“Pardon? What did you say?”
What’s this? Something feels off.
“Excellent. Starting today, you’ll be put to work making Skeleton Soldiers for ten hours straight!”
“T-ten hours?”
“Don’t worry about running low on mana. If you do, I’ll have you drink Mana Potions!”
“What? Those expensive ones?”
Mana Potions were rather costly commodities.
Normally, if a Black Mage’s reserves depleted, he simply rested until recovery—that was standard. But this man was talking about dosing him with potions just to keep him working?
This… something’s not right here, is it?
“Now then, straight to the production floor with you! Come along!”
“Wait, wait just a moment! Shouldn’t we go over the contract terms……?”
“You can read the contract while you work! Let’s go!”
Hui found himself half-dragged toward the workshop.
And then.
The moment the workshop door swung open, Hui’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
A long wooden structure had been installed in the spacious chamber.
Wooden boards lay flush against each other at regular intervals on the floor, and atop them bone fragments were being steadily conveyed from front to back.
“What in the world is this?”
“It’s called a conveyor belt. The details aren’t worth explaining.”
Tay said this casually.
At the front section, ordinary laborers were assembling bones to specification and fitting them together.
They arranged and fixed the bones into a human skeletal form—simple work, really—and the assembled pieces traveled along the wooden boards, moving steadily forward.
And the station where those boards arrived was precisely where Hui would be stationed.
“Have a seat here.”
Tay indicated a chair.
The instant Hui sat down, a complete skeleton assembly slid into view before him.
“There. Just infuse it with black magic. Simple, right?”
Hui raised his hand and cast black magic.
Dark mana seeped into the bones, and light ignited in the vacant eye sockets.
One Skeleton Soldier completed, standing up on its own.
The risen Skeleton Soldier was led away by a laborer standing by.
And immediately, the next skeleton assembly came sliding forward.
Hui infused it with black magic again.
The Skeleton Soldier rose and departed.
The next skeleton arrived.
He infused again.
Again.
And again.
Again.
“……”
What was this.
A manual Skeleton Soldier manufacturing factory.
Hui’s face drained of color.
“Um, um, sir. Do we perhaps get a break……?”
“Five hours of work and thirty minutes rest! The food’s going to be delicious, don’t you worry!”
He despised himself for perking up at the mention of good food.
Hui understood now.
This was no cushy assignment.
There was a reason the wage was double.
And so he toiled, and toiled again.
Forced labor—or rather, since this was a Necromancer, skeleton labor.
* * *
Creating Skeleton Soldiers that provided excellent labor came with conditions.
The bones had to be human in form.
Bipedal, equipped with two arms, and a single head.
In other words, anything that wasn’t a humanoid skeleton didn’t achieve proper efficiency when made into a Skeleton Soldier.
If you tried making Skeleton Soldiers from wolf bones, they couldn’t saw through wood or carry stone, could they?
So humanoid Skeleton Soldiers were the most versatile.
Of course, one could make Skeleton Soldiers from the bones of quadrupedal animals.
Skeleton Horses were an example.
But those served only for carrying loads or riding—they couldn’t dig earth or grip tools to work.
That was why the bones most commonly used in Skeleton Soldier production came from humanoid monsters.
Orcs. Nol. Hobgoblins. Hobcolts.
These races’ bones were ideal for Skeleton Soldier creation. Large frames and sturdy bones meant the resulting Skeleton Soldiers were of superior quality.
Goblins and Cobolts, by contrast, went unused.
Their frames were too small—even if made, the resulting Skeleton Soldiers would be useless. What earth could a little Skeleton Soldier dig with a shovel?
The problem was price.
Monster bones were also used as ingredients in magical reagents.
Alchemists often ground them and mixed them into potions, and they were sometimes used in magical enchantment.
Because of this, monster bones weren’t mere spoils of war—they were legitimate commodities traded on the magical materials market, and their price wasn’t cheap.
Still, it was all profit once made.
When one Skeleton Soldier was completed, it became a permanent labor force.
No feed required, no wages, no sleep, no complaints.
Once initial investment costs were recouped, everything after that was pure gain.
That was why Tay purchased bones in enormous quantities.
Through Harundel’s Monster Material Market, through the Silver Shield Guild’s distribution network, and even reaching out to merchants in other cities, he procured bones on a massive scale.
Those bones rode conveyor belts where laborers assembled them, and Black Mages including Hui infused them with magic, transforming them into Skeleton Soldiers.
As fast as they were made, Tay’s Lord of Death skill controlled them, swelling the numbers.
Thanks to this, the count of Skeleton Soldiers increased by roughly 500 per month.
One could produce more if money were no object, but reality wasn’t that simple.
There was income from bone spear sales and territorial taxes, while on the other side lay expenditures for Skeleton Soldier production costs and fief administration.
Balancing income against expenditure, roughly 500 per month was the sustainable limit for maintaining a profit.
Though this was insane in itself.
That’s 6,000 Skeleton Soldiers secured in a year!
What a horrifyingly massive number!
A gangster Necromancer—or rather, at this scale, an army Necromancer was more apt.
In any case, expanding the Skeleton Soldier count required expenditure, and there was yet another problem.
He couldn’t equip all these Skeleton Soldiers with proper armor and weapons.
Armor. Weapons. Everything cost money.
Outfitting a single Skeleton Soldier with heavy armor and iron weapons multiplied the unit cost several times over.
There wasn’t enough money to armor all 500 monthly productions.
So Tay employed a different method.
He purchased chicken bones and animal bones separately, then processed them using Bone Processing Dark Magic.
He crafted weapons and armor from bone, or tools like shovels and pickaxes, which he distributed to the Skeleton Soldiers.
Of course, equipment made from bone lacked the durability of metal.
With use they cracked, shattered, and needed replacement.
Still, having something is better than nothing, so I use it.
The difference between digging soil with bare hands and digging with a bone shovel was stark.
The same applied to combat skeleton soldiers.
Equipping them with bone swords or bone spears was far superior to leaving them empty-handed.
Later, I could reinforce them with dark magic processing to make them as durable as metal weapons, but that only raised the unit cost, which was the problem.
Ah, money! The more I earn, the less I have!
Still, for now, this was sufficient.
“Even so, this isn’t bad.”
Tay sat in the reception hall of the lord’s manor, muttering as he flipped through the settlement report.
The total number of skeleton soldiers had exceeded six thousand.
Among them, roughly two thousand elite skeleton soldiers clad in heavy armor.
About two thousand ordinary skeleton soldiers armed with bone weapons.
The remaining two thousand had been distributed to the domain’s inhabitants through rings and deployed for agricultural and civil engineering labor.
At this level.
Now there was no need to worry about being robbed despite the Crazy Craftsman earning money through his abilities.
In the old days, he’d worried about being stripped clean for making too much money without backing.
Now he commanded a military force that even most barons and counts couldn’t challenge.
An impossible level without the backing of a high-ranking grand lord of count level or above!
Yet such high-ranking grand lords rarely moved directly to plunder a mere baron.
Honor wouldn’t permit it.
In this age.
Honor mattered greatly.
Tay nodded in satisfaction.
In any case, the domain was running smoothly.
“Master. A merchant is requesting an audience.”
Rant spoke as he opened the reception hall door.
“A merchant? Grain trade?”
“No. They’re requesting to purchase rings.”
“Rings?”
Tay’s eyebrows rose.
Rings meant.
The Light Obsessive Skeleton Control Ring?
“How did an outside merchant learn of this?”
“It seems the rumor spread among the merchants who frequent the domain. They say the farmers here wear rings and use skeleton soldiers for farming.”
Rumors had spread.
It was understandable. A steady stream of merchants and mercenaries passed through the domain, and the sight of farmers commanding skeleton soldiers was impossible to miss.
“Interesting. Bring them in.”
The rings had been made purely for agricultural use, but… thinking about it, these were exceptional goods indeed.
Rant nodded and left.
A moment later.
A merchant entered the reception hall.
A Black Mage is Too Easy as a Blacksmith
Author |
Automaton G
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Samyang C&C Corp.
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© Samyang C&C – Dreambooks. This book’s content may not be used in any form or by any means without Dreambooks’ written permission.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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