"Stop working? You’re crazy! My men never stop working—they—" Garrick’s words died in his throat.

In the next instant, he felt the courtyard beneath his feet expand.

The forges around them split apart and multiplied before his eyes.

Stones ground against each other with a low rumble, walls slid silently aside, and the entire layout of the barracks reshaped itself to make room for everything.

When the transformation was finally complete, Garrick found himself standing at the center of a sprawling complex containing three hundred identical forges, each already equipped with every tool and implement a blacksmith could possibly need.

Ethan smiled with satisfaction, then strode over to the refined ore storage area, a vast chamber wide enough to easily hold several thousand metric tons.

Once there, he deposited roughly two hundred and fifty metric tons of steel—the highest-quality material stored in his system inventory.

The lower-grade steel would be distributed among other, less important blacksmith shops, used to forge common tools that meet the far less demanding needs of the general population.

Alongside the steel, Ethan added the ten thousand kilograms of mithril he had obtained with the premium gacha tickets.

Steel, of course, wasn’t all that was needed to produce those armors and weapons.

Fortunately, everything else—especially the cloaks—would be produced directly by a small, newly built elven cooperative that specialized in fabrics infused with elven magic.

Ethan hadn’t visited them in person yet, but he planned to subsidize them and make sure they were under his complete control.

In time, he wanted to turn that cooperative into the hub for the production of textiles, artifacts, and elven silver items across the entire continent.

After all, as skilled as the dwarves were with steel, the elves excelled with silver, artifacts, and textiles.

Ethan let out a soft sigh, pulling two more items from his inventory.

The first was the dwarf summons card. The second was the SS-Rank buff that would boost their work rate for an entire month and multiply each item produced by ten.

Garrick was already practically drooling as he stared at the gleaming mountain of mithril.

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest when more than two hundred and fifty dwarves suddenly appeared in the courtyard, materializing out of thin air.

For a moment, all of them looked around in confusion, bewildered expressions on their faces, thick fingers scratching at unkempt beards.

Then a wave of pain struck their heads as the system flooded their minds with everything they needed to know.

"They are your new subordinates," Ethan said, exchanging glances with the dwarves, who were taking in their surroundings with curiosity and admiration etched onto their faces.

"I’ll leave them in your care. Feed them, bathe them, and then put them all to work." Ethan let out a soft chuckle. "Their starting wage will be ten gold coins a month, but it will increase in the future."

Without delay, Ethan retrieved five thousand gold coins from his storage ring and handed them over to Garrick.

"That should be enough to pay the wages and cover the rest of the lower-value items. Focus on using up the mithril reserves first, then the steel. You need to produce as much as possible by next month."

For a moment, Garrick simply nodded, his eyes wide, still trying to process it all. Soon, however, he turned away abruptly.

"What do you mean, feed and bathe them?! I’D RATHER DIE THAN—"

Ethan simply walked out of the barracks, pretending Garrick’s furious complaints didn’t even exist, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

He hated having to integrate system-summoned people into Goldenveil, but fortunately, he now had someone to do that work for him.

Doran and Garrick would manage just fine.

With a soft sigh, he picked up the second item he’d taken from the system’s inventory and tore it between his fingers.

[You used: SS-Rank Work Efficiency Bonus on blacksmiths at the Goldenveil barracks!]

[The work speed of all blacksmiths at the Goldenveil barracks will increase significantly while the bonus is active!

While the bonus is active, for every item produced by the blacksmiths at the Goldenveil barracks, ten will be deposited into your system inventory.]

Ethan’s lips curved into a satisfied smile, and he finally let his shoulders relax.

By next month, without a doubt, he would have enough armor to equip one—perhaps even two—entire legions.

Now, all that was missing were the soldiers.

He quickened his pace.

It was a shame his wealth had dwindled so much, but it was all right.

Ron would be back soon, and he could, once again, drain every last coin out of him.

If anything went wrong, he was ready to simply travel to a nearby city and auction off a few artifacts.

Gold was already a very minor problem for Ethan.

"Ah..." He sighed, stretching his arms as he reached the gates of his own palace.

He crossed the wide marble path that connected the gate to the staircase, then suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He looked up and, there, at the base of the staircase, saw a woman.

She was beautiful, without a doubt.

She had dark, deep eyes, and her full breasts pressed tightly against a steel breastplate, pushing upward as if struggling against the restrictive armor. The soft, plump flesh spilled temptingly over the metal’s rim.

Her waist was slim and delicate, tapering elegantly before giving way to generous hips, with thick, shapely thighs that filled her attire with a natural sensuality.

Her skin was milky white, glowing beneath the sunlight, and her cheeks were softly flushed, a shy blush tinging her delicate face.

Back on Earth, Ethan had seen many beautiful Korean women, especially idols.

None of them came even close to the woman standing before him.

"You’re... Snowbreath, am I remembering correctly? Did you come for that drink?" Ethan said with a gentle smile on his lips.

She nodded in confirmation, the small gesture shy, her dark eyes flickering away from his gaze for just a moment.

"Well... I... it’s just that..." She hesitated, drawing a nervous breath, the blush on her cheeks deepening even further.

"It’s okay, come with me. Let’s have a drink and talk," Ethan said, offering his arm to Seo-ah with noble, respectful courtesy.