Karl nodded in acceptance. "Well, then I suppose that I should take you all into the branch. I suspect that at least one of you will likely want to challenge for branch leadership in the future, as you're more powerful than I am by a fair margin.
I can assure you that I won't object too vocally."
Louie laughed. "Oh no, you don't. You're not pawning that workload off on us."
"Well, I must say that the Guild really was generous. The only thing that they didn't send us was another blacksmith to help with new recipes."
"Oh, I can help with that. My blacksmithing skills might not be at the level of a prime blacksmith in the Guild, but I have centuries of experience at the forge making items for Blood Arrays.
