by Yuu Tanaka
I don’t know. I don’t have any memories of being crafted.
“I see.”
Do you know anything about me? Any little detail would help.
I was disgusted by how I didn’t know where I had come from. If this man had any information about me, then I’d like to know it.
“We blacksmiths have our own rankings, you see: Blacksmith, Great Blacksmith, Arcane Blacksmith, and Godsmith. There are derivations of the Smith Class but I won’t talk about them today. The Godsmiths are the greatest of the blacksmiths with legendary prowess. There have only been five of them in recorded history.”
The Legendary Five. Sounds cool.
“All blacksmiths long to become Godsmiths. They’re the only ones capable of crafting divine blades.”
So you’re saying a Godsmith crafted me?
“I think so, but there’s no way to be sure… You’re too weak for a divine sword, but, on the other hand, you’re too strong for an enchanted sword.”
What? Okay, maybe a really good Arcane Blacksmith made me.
“It’s possible.”
How strong is a divine sword?
Now I was curious. How strong was a sword that was better than me?
“A Divine Sword can split the heavens and crack the earth. It is the ultimate weapon. The last time it was used in a war, it claimed the lives of tens of thousands in a matter of minutes.”
A sword can do that?
“It doesn’t have to be a sword proper. Weapons crafted by Godsmiths are all called Divine Swords. That’s what I hear anyway.”
So, you’ve never seen one.
“Only the Flame Sword Ignis.”
And how strong was Mr. Ignis?
“My Identify wasn’t as strong as it is now so I couldn’t get a full scan, but…”
Name: Flame Sword Ignis
Attack: 1800
Mana Conductivity: SS
Skills: Flame Magic; Flame God; Unknown
“That’s the gist of it.”
Holy… I’m sorry for acting stuck up. I know now that I am no Divine Sword.
“Aww, don’t say that. You’re a fine sword yourself.”
You’re trying to cheer up this dull blade? You’re such a nice old man!
“Don’t worry about it. Not every day I get to meet a talking sword. You brought a bigger smile to my face than I did to your blade!”
Garrus!
“Sword!”
From the corner of my eye, I could see Fran browsing the store with a bored look on her face. “Hm. This is a good breastplate.”
Ten minutes later…
“Ahahaha. Sorry for leaving you out of that discussion, little lady.”
“It’s okay.”
So I guess Fran can keep using me as her main weapon. Could you make me a scabbard, though?
“Sure! I’ll make the finest scabbard you’ve ever seen.”
We won’t be able to pay you much… But we want some armor too.
“All right, what’s your budget?”
We still need to get supplies and lodging, so… How does 150,000G sound?
We could settle for cheaper armor, but Garrus was a famous Arcane Blacksmith. I wondered what 150,000G would get us from his inventory.
“Let me see… You know what, I like you two so much I’ll throw the scabbard in along with the armor.”
Are you sure? That’s awful nice of you.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. So, what kinda armor you want? I may be a blacksmith, but I can do leatherwork too.”
What do you think?
“I want something light.”
“Leather it is. We’ll use metal to reinforce the protection of your vital areas.”
“I’ll go with that.”
“What about headgear?”
“I don’t like wearing anything. It gets in the way of my field of vision.”
“In that case, I’ll fit you with a Beastman Earband. You won’t have to get your ears pierced, either.”
“’Kay.”
“Now just sit tight.”
Garrus disappeared into his storage room and brought out an assortment of gear.
“Try these on for size.”
He took out four pieces of armor: Flame Bull Dress Armor, Paralysis Cat Gloves, Venom Wyvern Boots, and the Mithril Earband (Cat Type). Their defensive values weren’t half bad, and they came with decent buffs like Flame Resistance, Impact Resistance, Paralysis Resistance, Poison Resistance, and Magic Resistance. The armor was weak compared to the Guildmaster and Donadrond but was slightly stronger than the average adventurer on the street.
The set was colored white and black and looked quite good on Fran. The base of the dress armor was basically a white dress with black knee socks, but the breastplate was reinforced with metal and leather. The quality of the material drove the defensive value up further.
On top of that, Garrus had given Fran some ordinary clothes. They didn’t have any defensive value whatsoever, but they were finely-woven.
This is high-quality gear. Are you sure we can have all this?
“How many times do I gotta tell ya that it’s fine? Strong adventurers need strong gear. And god knows my gear ain’t nothing compared to an enchanted sword. Besides, I’m not making a loss here.”
Isn’t that nice of him, Fran?
“Thank you.”
“Just make sure you drop in from time to time, eh? I’ve always wanted a closer look at an Intelligent Weapon.”
Just don’t do anything weird to me.
“I’ll just use Identify and Connoisseur on you, at most.”
That sounds harmless enough.
“Oh, and if you bring me some materials, I could craft some gear for ya. On the cheap, of course.”
I immediately thought of the high-rank materials I had left in my Pocket Dimension. Selling them to the Guild would make us stick out like a sore thumb. May as well solve the problem by having old Garrus make armor from them.
“We have materials.”
Yeah, we want to keep our low profile, so could we bother you to make gear out of them?
“Oh? What materials do you have in mind?”
C- and D-Rank.
C-Rank was the point where it was normal for the government to get involved and dispatch its knight battalions if the monster was sighted near a city. They made B-Rank adventurers work for their keep.
Got an empty room?
“Right this way. Are you gonna bring it in later?”
“We have it right now.”
“You have an item pouch? I don’t see one on you…”
And he was right, Fran wasn’t equipped with an item pouch. She only had a shirt, sandals, and sword on her.
It’s in one of my skills.
“Interesting… Didn’t think a sword could double as an item box.”
I ignored Garrus’s muttering and went inside the empty room. It must’ve been a storage room originally because of its lack of flooring and high ceiling.
Here goes.
I began extracting items from the Pocket Dimension. First were the Tyrant Saber-Tooth’s fangs, claws, and pelt. Next came the Doppel Snake fangs and scales. Then came the Blast Tortoise shell and skin. They were all enough to fill the entire room.
I only told the old blacksmith about the Gluttonous Slimelord I had killed. I didn’t want to take it out since that would leave the room sticky and covered in Slime. I’d save it until I found a barrel I could store the thing’s remains in.
“Holy… Did you kill all these yourself? These are materials from C- and D-Rank monsters.”
Pretty much.
“And you did it alone?”
I did it by myself, to be precise. I just flew around with Telekinesis.
“Hahahaha! That’s ridiculous! Well, that’s one way to use that ability.”
I didn’t come equipped with many basic skills, so I figured I had to get creative.
“All right, I’ll be able to make plenty of good gear with these. Wo
rd of caution: The little lady’s not gonna be able to equip them until she levels up a bit.”
I expected no less from armor made of high-rank monster material.
“I won’t be able to handle this quality of leather by myself. I’ll have to enlist some help. Maybe—”
Uh, Garrus?
“Oh, excuse me. I was getting a bit excited there. Can’t remember the last time I had this much material to play with. Anything else you folks hiding up your sleeve?” The man was absolutely beaming.
“So you’ll make it for us?”
“’Course!”
But how much does a blacksmith of your stature charge for custom gear?
“Let’s see… You brought all the basic materials and all, but it’s going to cost at least 3,000,000G.”
Jeez, that’s a lot of money.
“Would you mind selling the leftover material to me?”
Sure, take it.
“That makes it easier. It won’t take much to craft the young lady’s armor, so I’ll buy the rest of the material from you and use that to cover the crafting fee. Deal?”
Deal.
“Then we’re in business.”
“When will it be ready?”
“It’s gonna take about a month.”
That’s longer than I expected…
“It’s plenty fast, I promise you. Besides, I can’t afford to be sloppy with such fine material! I’ll need some extra components too, so I’ll need to order them in.”
Can’t be helped. Are you okay with that, Fran?
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it.”
“It’s gonna be great!”
We then diced the Slimelord’s remains into a steel barrel Garrus had prepared for us. The Slime had its different uses apparently.
“You don’t happen to have any crystals on you, do you?”
“No.”
“Ah, that’s a shame.”
Crystals can be used to make armor too?
“Yep. It adds to the buff of a particular piece of armor. Take this Doppel Snake fang, for example. Using it to craft armor will give you medium-level Poison Resistance, while crafting a weapon with it will give it Poison Fang. Now if you add a Doppel Snake Crystal to it, you get more Poison Resistance and Advanced Poison Fang instead. You could use some other crystal on a given material, but you get a greater effect if you pair a certain material with its corresponding crystal.”
I didn’t know you could use crystals that way. Unfortunately, I had absorbed every crystal we came across. I’d have to store the crystals of the monsters whose skills I already owned. I could always pop them out of storage for a quick bite anyway.
We’ll keep an eye out.
“That’d be for the best.”
I guess we’ll be taking our leave for today.
“Bye-bye.”
Sorry for all the trouble.
“Hahaha! Just wait until you see your gear! Also, I’ll finish your scabbard in three days. Remember to come pick it up.”
We will.
We took care of our material problem and got some great gear out of that meeting. It was a good thing we ran into him.
You look great in it too, Fran. You look like a real adventurer now.
“Thanks.”
Let’s see… Uh, do you need underwear?
“Not really.”
A-are you sure?
I mean, she said she didn’t need it, so…
No. That was no excuse. I know buying underwear was a difficult hurdle to overcome, but if I ran away from this problem now, I’d run away from it forever!
I didn’t want Fran to lose her femininity. I had to go on the offense!
No. We…are going underwear shopping!
Ten minutes had passed after we left Garrus’s shop.
And we’re here.
“So frilly,” Fran said as she looked through the store window. There were many frilly designs decorating the display.
It is a specialty store for housewives.
My heart was pounding in my metaphorical chest. Any man would’ve felt the same way. This was my first time going into this type of store in either of my lives so far.
“Welcome.”
“Hm.”
“What’s this? An adventurer?”
The store attendant was a young lady with short, blue hair that seemed more fitting in a cyberpunk setting than a fantasy one. Her tone of voice reminded me of a delinquent.
“So? Whaddya lookin’ for? We got underwear and lingerie fit for everythin’ from daily life to combat.”
“What should I get?”
Just repeat after me.
“Okay.”
“Five days’ worth of underwear. The easier to wash, the better.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And I want some undershirts I can wear beneath my armor.”
“Five days’ worth of that stuff too?”
“Yeah.”
“Our smallest size underwear is over there. Anythin’ ya like in particular?”
“Not really.”
“Nope, not havin’ it! You’re too cute for that answer, sweetie!”
The store attendant used to be an adventurer. She was unsatisfied with the lack of cute-yet-functional underwear, so she ended up having to make them herself. She had now teamed up with this store to sell specialty items for female adventurers.
“Ya’ve got white skin, black hair, black eyes, and black ears. This’ll look great on ya.”
Wh-what? Black shorts? And it came with the mythical tail slot?
That’s dirty. Too dirty! But that’s what makes it so good!
“This line was made with Beastmen in mind, which is why it has a hole for your tail. Whaddya think?”
I dunno. I thought it might be too mature for Fran. She wasn’t at the age where she should be worried about pheromones or seduction yet. She’d be more suited to something cute.
The next item the attendant showed us made it look like she had read my mind.
“We got other stuff too. How ‘bout this?”
The unmistakable striped panties. And they came with white and light blue stripes too!
“Or this one.”
Wow, she was good! These panties looked like ordinary cream-colored panties at a glance, but upon closer inspection one could see it was decorated with frills and ribbons. She kept showing us one set of underwear after another, but there was always a problem with either elasticity or breathability.
“We could cut a hole out in that one for ya. On the house.”
“Then I’ll take this one and that one.”
“All right. Anythin’ else?”
What else would a girl need? Facewash? Oh, I know—may as well get a skincare kit while we’re at it.
“A skincare kit? If you have it.”
“Sure do. We have an entire selection of it, in fact.”
“Just give me whichever.”
“Here ya go.”
It didn’t look like they sold bras here. Was it because we were in the sticks, or had civilization not advanced to that point yet? Fran was on the petit, flat side anyway, so it wasn’t like she needed one.
“So that’s five days’ worth of undies and undershirts… A pair of breathable shirts and shorts… Do ya need any nightgowns with that?”
“Give me two.”
“Will do. A bar of facial cleanser and a towel…”
They had soaps here. Were they the same as on Earth?
“This bar of soap was made with alchemy and is guaranteed to leave your skin soft and smooth. It’s also odorless which makes it perfect for an adventurin’ lady such as yourself.”
I see. That was really useful. Smelling like flowers on a hunt would make it easier for monsters to sniff us out. Being odorless was a great feature.
We bought clothes and all the basic necessities the attendant had recommended. She was grinning the entire time, which I took to mean that people didn’t usually buy this much in one go. She was even kind enough to
see us off.
“Thanks for your patronage!”
I still had to teach Fran how to wash her clothes, however. She would tear through her entire wardrobe if she did a poor job of it. Why didn’t I just do it for her? Absolutely not. There were too many risks. She would have to do this one on her own. I’d die if I ever looked at Fran in a dirty way.
Thirty minutes later…
We stood in front of the inn the store attendant had recommended to us earlier. This inn was supposedly popular among female adventurers. It had a nice-looking façade, so I had a good feeling about it.
We went inside.
The reception area was also neatly kept. Cute flower pots casually decorated the tables. I brushed a spot with Telekinesis and found it spotless. This was a good inn.
“Teacher, you’re acting like an in-law.”
I’m sorry, but I’m doing this for you, Frannie!
“Welcome.”
A young lady of about twenty years old was sitting behind the reception counter.
“Do you have any rooms?”
“Will you be staying by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Where’re your mom and dad?”
I guessed renting a room at her age was going to be tough.
Fran, show her your guild card.
“Here.”
“Wait, it’s real?”
“Yes.”
The girl marveled at the guild card for a while before confirming its authenticity.
“Well, you look like an adventurer, so I guess you’re okay. It’ll be 300G for a night. The 400G option comes with a meal. All our rooms are single rooms. Which will it be?”
Let’s get some food for tonight.
“I’d like the food option for one night.”
“All right. Here’s your room key. Please look after your belongings.”
“’Kay.”
She proceeded to tell us about the price of utilities, but we ignored it. We could use magic or skills to substitute lanterns and hot water. I was surprised they had toothbrushes, but we could just use cleansing magic to bypass it.
“You can exchange this coupon at the cafeteria for a free meal. Feel free to visit our cafeteria at any time.”
She gave us two meal tickets. It was nice that we could eat whenever the cafeteria was open. But we still had a ton of monster meat left, so that would’ve been more economical to eat. I’d have to prep our meals before we stayed at an inn the next time. I just needed to cook the whole lot beforehand and shove it into the Pocket Dimension. That way, we’d always have piping hot food ready to eat.
