Chapter 181: Crafting Equipment

Few days gone by, and Albert officially arrive at Melk. He will take care of the city for a while and appoint someone to be in charge of the area after Luiz's death.

Of course hearing the king himself arrive, the people become busier preparing to receive him. And I got more bored since I don't have much to do.

I wanted to go somewhere and hunt monsters, but when I went scouting, the monsters near the city hasn't increased much. But it's a good thing that they are returning little by little.

Since I am no longer needed by the others, I went my own way deep in the forest with Victoria. To where I store the Giant Salamander's tail. I'm thinking of making some protection for me. And if there are some leftovers, I would make some for the others as well. I think mostly it would be for Kayla since her fighting style is a close combat. And since she's a healer as well, protecting her is the most important duty as a group.

"Roy. You can't just keep running away from works. You are needed by everyone." Sonia said as she suddenly appears out of nowhere like usual.

"Actually, I can. The stampede is over now and whatever works needed to be done, anyone other than me can do it. And although the numbers are few, Albert also brought some people that can be used as manpower to help as well. I can leave everything to them." I said.

As for Victoria, since she can't go hunt monsters as well, she followed me since she was bored. And with her knowledge of armor from her previous world, I hope I can make more things.

"Well, since that's what you think. Anyway, what are you two doing going into the forest? I heard that you two just became lovers. Don't tell me you want to do it in the forest!?"

"As expected from a succubus. Your thoughts went that way in an instant. We're going to where I store the tail of a Giant Salamander is. I'm thinking of making some protection garbs for myself."

"Why? What's wrong with your Aura? You can just use Aura for protection, right?" Sonia asked.

"Having double protections mean I can endure more attack. And also, Giant Salamanders are monsters with resistance toward fire attack. I hope with this new equipment I'll make, I can resist magic attack. At least from fire magic. I can't cut magic with Aura after all. I hope I can do it in the future."

Being unable to protect myself from magic attack is the biggest weakness an Aura user has. Sonia and also Victoria has told me the legend about an Aura user that can cut magic, but I think that's still too far for me if the story is true.

At least for now, my goal is to be able to improve my Aura so I can step on air first. My air element magic should be helpful so I can do that, but the magic stones for cultivating my air element is not done yet.

And I also wanted to improve my summoning level as well. But there are no monsters nearby. If I want to do that, I have to go further from the city. But if I go too far, the others will be worried.

I have too many buts and ifs here. Since the stampede is over and the future is unknown, I started to overthink about everything. Maybe I was overthinking in the past as well, but now I do it more frequently.

In the end, everything is for the sake of my survival. Overthinking is fine as long as I don't overdo it.

For now, since there is no urgent matter at hand, I can overthink as much as I want.

Well, not for long. Since I have arrived at our destination, I will focus myself on crafting some equipment.

"We're here. Let's start making something."

We entered a cave inside the forest where I store the Giant Salamander's tail is. I haven't even taken the scales off of the tail, so that's the first thing I do after I arrive despite saying things like let's start making something.

"By the way, does Salamander's meat edible?" I asked the two old- I mean experienced ladies.

"Whatever the case, this one's meat is already rotten. Why didn't you pick some meat right away and brought them to the hotel?" Sonia said.

Well, the smell is terrible. She's right, the meat is rotten. But I think the scales are still fine. So, let's take off the scales off first.

"Yeah, I forgot about that. What about the body of the Giant Salamander?" I asked Victoria.

Since Victoria is helping Shirley and the others much more often than me, and she also often goes to the guild, she should know about the aftermath of the Giant Salamander's body.

"After being taken by the guild, they grabbed some volunteers to taste test the meat. So far, there have been no side effects. Which means soon everyone would be able to taste it. This is the first time we tried to consume Giant Salamander's meat after all, so they need to be careful first." Victoria explained.

Then she continued and told me that although there had been multiple cases of hunters subjugated Giant Salamanders, none of them brought the Giant Salamander's meat before since Giant Salamander's nest usually deep in a cave and is difficult to bring back their meat. And its other parts of the Giant Salamanders are valuable, like its claws, fangs, and scales. So, they are more important than its meat.

Although I don't know what they were being used for since there is no blacksmith in this world. Maybe they are being used as knives or other kitchen utensils? Or maybe they are being processed into some kind of jewelries?

After some time of taking off the scales, I threw away the other parts since they are not needed. The fact that the meat is still there after a few days meant that there are no monsters nearby. Which is as expected after the stampede.

"Alright. Victoria, please show me a good armguard for me. One that is fit to be hidden under my sleeves." I asked Victoria.

Then Victoria transformed into an armguard which is the one I used to have her transformed into before I used her as grappling hook. I already wore it before so I got used to it quickly and I decided I will make one similar to that.

I didn't do anything fancy to build the equipment. Just hammering and cutting the scales so I can shape them into what I want them to be.

As a prototype, I turn one scale of the Giant Salamander into an armguard. The shape is quite simple. Simpler than the armguard that Victoria shows me before. But since this is just for experiment, it's fine.

"Alright, Victoria! Attack me!" I ordered Victoria to test the endurance of the prototype.

Victoria in her human form, has one hand transformed into a hammer and strikes me lightly. I blocked it with the armguard without using Aura at all.

And I stopped the hammer easily. The experiment was a success! The scale armguard is working!

"Good! This size makes it easy for me to hide it under my sleeve. But before that, let's try hitting it until it broke. Victoria! Harder!"

"Okay! You're the boss here!"

Victoria said as if she was forced to do it.

This time Victoria used various weapon to attack. A sword slash, hammer strikes, spear thrust, axe swing, and my armguard able to protect me. Her attacks make a scratch on my armguard, and finally, on the 12th attacks, my armguard broke. Luckily before the axe hit my arm, I covered it with my Aura so I'm not hurt.

"12 attacks! Great! Next, let's make another one and try attacking me while I covered the armguard with my Aura!" I said.

I quickly made another one similar to the one that got broken. Since I made one before, I did it faster and tried it with Victoria again.

This time, the protection on my arm is stronger than before because of my Aura. After having Victoria attacked me for a hundred time, there's no sign that it will break at all.

"Great! With this, I can make a great armguards and shin guards for me!" I feel excited that I can build my own armor.

But when I looked at Victoria, she seems worried about something. It's the first time I see her like this.

"Victoria, what's wrong?" It was Sonia who asked first. Seems like she also noticed that Victoria is weird today.

"Nothing. Just… I can't seem to get any stronger than I am. No matter how much I trained, I won't be able to get stronger or faster. The best thing I can do is to alter my weight to improve the damage. And now the duty of being your armor is disappearing, my job is getting lesser and lesser." Victoria says her worry.

"…that's it?"

"What!? We're about to enter a war against the cult! And you think these thoughts of mine is useless!?" Victoria is angry at me. It's the first time I've seen her like this. I always thought that Victoria is the most chill person I have met. But even she has some worries.

"Well, first, you are from another world. Your imagination is your strongest weapon now since you can transform into anything you want now. Strength? Rather than improving your power, you can increase your arsenal. Transform into something else instead of sword and hammer. There's no magic in your world, right? But you have the idea of air gun. That means there's a way for you to compress some air without magic and use it as a gun."

"Hmm… you're right! My worry is totally useless now. I still have a lot of ways to get improve other than physical strength. Thanks, Roy!" Victoria smiles at me.

"Rather, I was confused since you should have known about it more than I do. Does the stampede affect you in a way?"

"I think it did. There are several times that I was outmatched by a monster."

"Sigh… my slime forgets that she is a slime… anyway, I haven't done talking about your strength yet. Did you forgot that just the second time we talked after I summoned you for the first time that you told me you have other abilities from the slime that you can use after I improve my level?" I remind her of the time she told me that time travel is one of the slime's ability. And there are other abilities she will regain as I improve my level.

"…right! And I have transformation ability and weight changing skill. As for the next one… it's probably… I got it!"

"What!? Do you know what ability you will regain?"

"I won't tell you about it! I'll show you later when I can do it!" She said.

Seems like she has returned to her cheerful state. That's good. The gloomy Victoria is not something I want to see.

After that, we made the armguards and shin guards for me. When I tell Sonia to ask if the girls wanted to get some equipment, they refused since they think it might look ugly on them since I'm not a professional.

I guess I'm the only one getting some new equipment.