Author: Kaburagi Haruka
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
Chapter 55: Blacksmith
Author’s note: About the title; for now I’ll keep it as is until there are complaints.
~*~
Heading toward the blacksmith introduced to us by the guild, we walk through the city as a group.
Kevin, the one being introduced; Master, the negotiator; I’m going, because Master is; and Amy is coming along since the other three of us are.
And then Yig, who hates being left out… In other words, we all end up going along.
“Ain’t it gonna be a nuisance to have five of us all visiting at once?”
“We do have business there though. It’s about time for Eir to get some quality armor and equipment for one.”
At the moment I’m wearing the leather equipment Master prepared for me at his hometown of Focalor.
To not impede my movements, the equipment is kept to as little as possible, making it more a ‘protector’ than ‘armor’.
After half a year of fierce battle, it’s looking pretty ragged too.
The grand hedgehog, Yig, the tyrant rhino, and the giant zombie.
In less than half a year we’ve fought four disaster beast or comparable monsters. This is normally unthinkable.
“Muu, is Master Rimuru actually unlucky?”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“I mean, we’ve had to fight four disaster beasts in half a year.”
“Ahahaaa, Boss is a natural magnet for trouble~”
“Uwaah, he’s the worst type.”
Amy joined in on teasing Master.
The only ones who didn’t join in on all four fights are Amy and Yig, so they’re carefree about it.
“Et tu, Amy?! Isn’t it more Eir’s fault?”
“Nope, I’m practically a goddess of luck.”
“Then it’s Kevin. He actually participated in all four fights.”
“Yig only attacked us because of you two!”
Kevin bellowed as he was being framed.
Since he was shouting while holding a log-sized bone, the babies held by women watching from afar began crying.
As he looks now Kevin seems about as barbarian as can be, so kids are sure to cry.
“Look, now Kevin is making babies cry.”
As I point directly at the women, they quietly screech for some reason.
Followed by a teary apology of “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” as they practically flee into their houses.
“That’s obviously your fault, ain’t it?”
“Mumumu… How rude.”
Fully equipped with long gloves, knee socks, casquette, eyepatch, and cloak, I should look like a beautiful petite girl.
“No, you clearly look like a painfully suspicious person.”
“What are you saying, Kevin! It’s good that Eir is dressed to aggravate a fourteen year old boy’s fantasies!”
“Please Amy, just stop…”
She acted like she was being supportive, but I can only see it as delivering the finishing blow. Just so you know, Master coordinated this outfit, okay?
I drop to the ground, hanging my head. Then a high-pitched voice cut in.
“Ah, it’s Yig! Hey, we didn’t see you for a long time, where’d ya go!”
“Yig, helloo.”
“Good, you look fine. I was worried you might be sick.”
Two boys and a girl around ten years old called over.
Among them, the seemingly quiet boy and timid girl were holding hands like good friends.
Nay, not at the level of good friends. Their fingers are intertwined in a pattern commonly known as a lovers grip.
Which means, lovers, at their age–!
“Gunununu…”
“Unununu…”
Amy also seems to have noticed their linked hands, as she growls in the same way I do.
The more rascally boy must not have noticed the air around those two, as he energetically called over to Yig.
Or actually, is this–
“That kid is interested in Yig.”
“You think so too, Master Rimuru?”
“It’s actually kind of cute when it’s as blatant as that, isn’t it?”
Master, you’re composedly calling that boy cute, but you know there’s only a two year difference between you, right?
Well, Master both outwardly and inwardly matured quite a bit faster though.
“Oh right, hey, we took you to our secret base last time, right?”
“Yeah yeah, that shabby place?”
“Don’t call it shabby! We remodeled it some more since then!”
“Oh, working hard then.”
“So come and take a look, Yig!”
“Eeh, I’m on a job with Boss right now–“
Yig glances over at Master.
She doesn’t seem against the idea, so I guess she’s asking for permission to break off from the group?
“Ooh, can’t she go with us, mister?”
The boy appeals to Master, looking for permission.
To be with the girl he likes, the boy does his best to look manly. Seeing this, there’s no way Master could say ‘no’.
“The request is done, and we’ve finished the report, so go on. We’re only working on Kevin’s weapon and looking at equipment for Eir anyway; I doubt we’ll need your strength.”
“Alright! Then let’s go!”
“Wai-, I didn’t say I would go yet-“
“Come on, hurry up!”
Bursting with excitement, the boy pulls Yig along.
The quiet children bow to us before following.
“Springtime has come for Yig–uh, what?”
“Mn, nothing.”
I intertwine my fingers with Master’s.
It’s not like I’m jealous of those kids or anything like that. I just felt like I was losing, so I’m distracting myself with Master’s hand.
“I mean, if we’re too slow the weapon shop will close. Let’s hurry and go?”
“It’s not even past noon, Eir.”
“Mufufu.”
And so we went on our way to the weapon shop.
That laugh is creepy, Amy, please stop.
~*~
Since we need a craftsman who can process titan bones, the guild is introducing us to a prominent artisan in the city.
In this city, blacksmith = weapon shop, in most cases, and the shop we were introduced to was also a weapon shop that had their crafted equipment displayed in the store.
The store’s appeared to have so little business you wouldn’t think it was on the main street. There was not much attention to cleanliness, and the flowerbed by the entrance had become a miniature jungle of weeds.
“Here?”
“Yeah, according to the map this should be the place?”
“Kinda seems like they pushed us in the wrong direction, doesn’t it?”
Amy mumbles, full of suspicion. This certainly doesn’t seem like a store that sells very well.
In any case we’ll have to go inside, but the giant bone won’t fit through the door, so Amy is left watching over it outside just as before.
“Excuse mee.”
“–welcome.”
For a customer service job, the voice that welcomed us was dim. The bell on the door signaling customers had entered also gave a dull ring. Upon closer inspection, it’s rusty.
The interior of the store was, similar to the source of the voice, a bit gloomy.
One wall was decorated with swords, axes, spears, and the like; all of which looked quite sharp.
Just as we were told, he seems to be the real deal. If he can take care of his weapons like this, then you’d think he could at least polish the doorbell.
“We were guided here by the guild. We heard we could place an order for a weapon here.”
Kevin speaks up as our representative. We came here this time for Kevin, so it’s his job to be the first one to say something.
Master will get his chance when they get into the details.
“Hmm? By guild, you must mean Neue?”
“Uh, come to think of it I didn’t get her name. It was a young woman working as the receptionist.”
“That would be Neue. Seriously, this was unneeded.”
The guy running the weapon shop is surprisingly young. I was imagining someone dwarf-like when I heard he was a skilled blacksmith, so this is a bit unexpected.
He looks to be about forty. He’s tall and muscled, certainly the appearance of someone robust and powerful.
But with a bothersome reception and a gloomy voice, he kind of brings the mood down.
“Come now, don’t say that. We’ve come with some uncommon materials. We were recommended this place to have them processed, and so we’ve come to pay a visit.”
“–What’ve you got?”
Master politely explains our circumstances. The man seemed moody, so Master’s words aren’t quite as well put together as usual.
“It won’t fit in here, so it’s outside.”
“What a pain. Let’s take a look.”
Sluggishly standing up from the counter, he was considerably tall, and strongly robust, just as his first impression suggested.
His nearly two meter tall frame went to the entrance and stuck its head outside–
“Hey, is it this bone?”
“Yes. We had the chance to fight a giant zombie, and this is its material.”
“That’s quite the thing you’ve brought… I’ll be working my fingers to the bone processing this.”
“Really bone deep.”
“Eir, quiet.”
Thought I’d lighten the mood with a gag, but I ended up gagged instead.
The old guy’s voice seemed to jump a bit; it could be that he’s excited to see such rare materials.
And Master, aren’t you treating me a little mean?
“It may have been a giant zombie, but that means it’s titan bone. Rather than a magic-filled living titan bone, this is probably even harder. I’m impressed you defeated it.”
“Yes indeed, we were lucky. We were close to being wiped out.”
That’s true, if not for Master’s heat resistance, we probably would have been done for.
It was mostly my fault though.
“I’m sure. But if you defeated this thing, you all must be pretty strong?”
“Come to think of it, we haven’t introduced ourselves. I’m Rimuru. I’m acting as ‘Disaster Beast Slayer’ Kevin’s trusted retainer.”
“Kevin! That adventurer making a name for himself lately.”
The old guy raises his voice in surprise after the introduction.
Since this city was beset by the tyrant rhino, Kevin’s name has been spread around for defeating it.
“Yes, and the first one to greet you was our leader himself, Sir Kevin.”
“–I’m Kevin.”
“Well… It’s an honor to meet you. The name’s… I am Ashe, the blacksmith. I apologize for the unfriendly welcome. I am not the particularly sociable type.”
“Nah, I don’t mind. More importantly, can ya do it?”
Upon hearing Kevin’s name, Ashe showed an instant change in demeanor, but he knits his brow when pushed forward.
“I can certainly turn it into a weapon, however…”
“You don’t need to speak fancy. Well?”
“I see, that’s a relief. With materials this good, it’s true I could make a light an’ strong weapon. But… It’s a bit too thick. Turning this thing into a weapon would mean cutting at it until it’s a thickness a human can hold.”
“That makes sense…”
The femur we brought is about fifty centimeters thick. I we want to make the handle for a spear or axe, then ten centimeters should be more than enough.
“We do have bones considerably thinner than this.”
“And where are they?”
Master cuts in. If I recall, the fibula, part of the calf, should be thin and straight; that would probably be better suited to a weapon in that regard.
But carrying it around would get in the way, so we threw it into dimensional storage.
Unlike the femur, which we intended on using as material, it’s still sitting in there. So we can’t take it out in front of people.
“Considering its size, it’s quite heavy, so we left it at the inn. If needed, we could bring it here immediately?”
“If possible I’d like to see it right away. But I can hardly ask you to go through all that trouble…”
“We don’t mind. In that case we’ll bring it back in about one hour.”
We can claim we went to the inn and got it with that much time.
Master brings his mouth to my ear… Ah, his breath kind of tickles.
“Eir, go waste some time for about an hour. After that could you bring the thin one back here? I’ll hammer out the details with him in the mean time.”
“Hah… Yeah, got it.”
“Also, put away that femur when you get someplace where nobody can see.”
“Ahu… Y-yeah.”
Every time he talks, his breath seems to hit in waves, and make my back tingle.
“We’ll have her bring it here. I’d like to talk about the details of the weapon we want until then.”
“Yeah, sounds fine. But will she be okay? She seems a little unsteady.”
“She’s always been strange. Plus she’s actually inhumanly strong, so she can carry that much easily.”
“R-really? Alright. Then come this way.”
Saying that, Master and Kevin went to a separate room.
In his place, a boy of about fifteen, probably his apprentice, arrives at the counter.
Well then, I guess I’ll go waste an hour with Amy.