Volume 2 Chapter 5 (1/2)
On our way to a store that handled weapons, we stopped by a pawnshop and turned the gems I made using [Creation] into money.
The gold coins were heavy and therefore consume an intense amount of magic power. In that regard, creating the jewels was the better choice.
I was making gunpowder and various rare metals which couldn’t be easily procured without [Creation] daily so I wanted to conserve as much MP as I could.
After I got the gold coins, I listened in on the conversations between the nearby people of this town but I then found a popular equipment shop.
As a testament to its popularity, the shop was pretty big.
Inside, around fifty humans known as adventurers were intently looking for equipment.
From swords to spears to bows. From clothes to armor to footwear. Those seemed to roughly be the store’s main products. The mass-produced cheap products and the high-quality ones made by craftsmen were each lined up in their own corners.
“Oto-san, Oto-san, there’s a huge amount of weapons here.”
“Quality is more important than quantity, master. I’m a little bit disappointed.”
“I don’t really know these weapons well. I mean, I like the bow and all but… ever since I met that little one, a bow just can’t satisfy me anymore.”
Each of my girls expressed their own reactions.
Elder Dwarf and I then went to the corner where the finest items were lined up while Kuina and Ancient Elf visited the corner where the shoes were.
Elder Dwarf picked up the most expensive sword. The material used on it was an alloy made of iron and a little bit of mithril. This was a scheme done so that the cost of production would be reduced.
“Pitiful.”
Her face became grim as she murmured so.
“I pity the materials that were used like this as I pity the person that will wield this weapon. This is isn’t a sword; it’s just a scrap of iron.”
She looked at it with terrifyingly cold eyes.
Meanwhile, the surrounding people were astir; Elder Dwarf, the silver-haired prepubescent beauty that didn’t belong in this place, gathered their attention. With a remark like that though, it was unavoidable.
And a few moments later, a giant of a man came from the inside of the store.
He had skin as dark as the night and a body trained through and through.
“You! You the one that dared to suggest my sword’s rubbish!?”
His footsteps were loud and heavy as he trotted towards us.
“Just when I thought it was a first-class adventurer dissing my sword, here I see no one but a little girl! But I won’t let anyone take a piss at any of my work, not even a brat like you!”
The man bellowed a nerve-wracking speech.
It was so loud the men that tried to pick up the girls earlier would hesitate.
However, Elder Dwarf didn’t move an inch.
Even though she looked like a silver-haired beauty in the first half of her teens, she was, in fact, a powerful S rank monster. An ordinary human wouldn’t make her feel threatened, not even one tiny bit.
“Take a piss? I’m merely stating the facts. The fire in the furnace wasn’t hot enough; the materials aren’t distributed properly; the alloy has been struck far too heavily making the sword brittle; the weight’s uneven; and then there’s its shape which is suited neither for slashing nor bashing. Now, selling this sword, that would be taking a major piss at anyone.”
Instead of backing down, she rained in criticism after criticism on him and he winced.
“Like you know how to forge one. Cut it ou–”
“This is how a real sword should be.”
She threw the slender blade that hung from her back to the large man.
The sword was her insurance in case she ever ran out of bullets.
“What the, this sword… what the, this is made of mithril. There’s other metals mixed in in the alloy but it’s not for bringing down the cost of production but rather to strengthen the alloy. Furthermore, the skill it takes to make the grip firm and the blade smooth… such a sword, it has to be made by Yappaluna, the legendary blacksmith of the royal capital.”
“I’m the one that made that sword.”
“There’s no way a brat could–”
“I made it.”
Those short words had so much intensity in them, it allowed the man no rebuttal and brought him into silence.
She then retrieved her sword, put it back into its sheath, and turned around to face me.
“Master, let’s go. I’ve seen all there is to see.”
She said so as she pulled my hand.
The large man didn’t say anything further. Did he feel some sort of reverence towards someone of exceptional skill comparable to a master blacksmith?
The surrounding people were still observing us as we left. I then thought of something good: with this many people giving us attention, it was a great opportunity to advertise.
“Everyone, a week from now, we will be building a city to be located between this one and the dungeon in the east. There will of course be a shop selling the weapons made by this girl so please do come.”
The noise the surrounding humans made grew louder.
Adventurers, in order to survive, were always starving to have powerful weapons after all.