Smiling Chronos left the study making his way to the Carriage waiting for him outside. Several nobles and merchants tried to intercept him, but he brushed them off saying that an important matter had come up.
Boarding the carriage Christopher drove it to the end of the Ducal plateau where they came face to face with a large metal gate.
"Permissions and Id please," Said one of the gate guards.
Handing over the letter of invitation and his family ring the guards confirmed who he was and that he had been invited before letting him into the mountain.
In the past there had been countless beasts and monsters on the surface which had forced the original settlers to live inside the mountain. This had led to them creating everything they needed inside of the mountain and blocking the entrance with a castle.
That castle had been expanded until it became the royal castle it is now.
Because everything had been inside the mountain in the past there were many caves and buildings for supporting life right under the noble's city. This included mushroom farms, grazing caves for animals, tannery's, carpentry workshops, and the forges that the people had relied on.
But as time went on the knights, warriors, and mages had cleared most of the monsters on the surface allowing the commoners to move out of the mountain and begin new lives.
Now most of the buildings inside the mountain were more of a safety line for the nobles in case the mages city was ever breached. Many of the older buildings had even been converted to supplying the army with necessary equipment and goods.
The royal forge was one of these buildings located in the depths of the mountain.
The mountain was separated into upper and lower districts and had entrances to both the upper and lower parts of the noble city.
The lower district of the mountain mostly served the nobles in the noble city but could be repurposed to produce military gear in an emergency.
However, the true master craftsmen lived in the upper mountain district and only the master craftsmen, the royal family, or an invited guest were allowed to enter the upper mountain.
Coming out of a short tunnel they saw a large cavern filled with skilled craftsmen running around carrying enchanted gear, repairing broken items, and delivering them to the knights waiting for them outside.
But this cavern wasn't their goal. The royal forge was much deeper in.
They passed through multiple caverns filled with workshops made from ancient lumber and caverns filled with military research specialists manning various unusual devices and magic items.
With preservation spells on everything in here it would be a century or more before they needed to replace anything. Making it the perfect place to perform longstanding experiments or organize massive projects.
Finally, they reached the cavern for the royal forges.
The cavern's walls were lined with glowing forges as apprentices moved between anvils hammering away at the enchanted weapons and armor they were working on. With forge masters inspecting their work and correcting the apprentices where needed.
From the size of it Chronos estimated that this forge alone was able to produce more than a thousand pieces of gear in a month. And there were still several other forges hidden away inside of the mountain.
What really surprised Chronos was that he saw very little magic charcoal around.
Most blacksmiths preferred working with magic charcoal as the qualities of the tree it came from could be imbued into the weapon or armor you were working on if you were skilled enough.
But every forge fire here was created through magic making it cleaner and easier to produce than with normal wood. The temperature and size of the flames could even be controlled by the apprentices or forge masters wandering about the cavern.
However, this made some sense as it was difficult to acquire magic charcoal in large quantities on the plains around the capital. If they wanted to use magic charcoal for so many forges, they would need to transport 10 tons of charcoal or more into the forge every month.
Magic flame on the other hand could be produced by anybody with mana and the right spell making it one of the best flames for mass production.
Though from the looks of it the apprentices had gone through extreme training in order to produce the best flames possible with their magic.
Stepping out of his carriage the intense heat within the cavern struck Chronos' face. Startling him with just how hot the forge cavern was. He wondered how the blacksmiths put up with it all the time before he was distracted by the men standing in front of him.
In front of him were Blacksmith Smith and Archivist Quillfeather standing next to a large well-built man that looked to be in his late 50's.
"Greetings, so you're the one that wants to use my forge. You'd better show me something damn impressive after forcing me to let it cool all night." He grumpily said.
"I'll do my best to live up to your expectations, Forge Master...?"
"Bron. Now come with me. I don't want to let my forge sit for too much longer."
With that Forge Master Bron turned around and stomped off.
Chronos glanced at Smith who just shook his head.
"I understand where he's coming from. Let's go before he restarts his furnace."
Nodding Chronos followed them into the back of the cavern to another room.
This room was large with a high vaulted ceiling made completely from what was once white stone, though now it had been stained black from soot. Underneath all of the soot he could still faintly make out all of the magic formations used to protect this room and enhance anything made here.
Along the back wall was a massive forge furnace with an opening large enough for multiple smiths to work at with a descending metal plate that would allow it to reach temperatures that none of the forges outside could withstand.
On the right wall was a large anvil with an extensive collection of hammers, tongs, chisels, punches, and other smithing tools hanging on the wall.
On the floor around the anvil Chronos could make out the impressions of multiple crates and barrels that had been moved out of the forge for today's job.
Despite the clear age and appearance of the place it was clear that it had been lovingly cared for over the years.