CH 15

Chapter 15: The Weapon Order

Yuto: (*YAWN) “.....so sleepy…”

Even though his body was worn out, Yuto could barely sleep last night.

He washed his face with the cold water of the well, and washed away the sleepy sensations from his consciousness.

There is only one reason why Yuto couldn’t sleep. It was all because of the material he earned last night.

The Quest Reward that was given to him was a solid chunk of Mithril.

Mithril is a desirable, admirable, and THE most famous source material for making weapons, and this applied to ALL adventurers.

It is extremely light, harder than steel, and endures punishment like nothing else.

If he makes this into a weapon, the sharpness of his blade will be second to none.

And because Mithril has the property to allow magic to flow through better than any other material, it is also prized as the best material to make a mage’s staff or wand.

As armor, it cannot be matched by any other material, and your defenses will exponentially grow.

No matter what you make it into, it will become the best item of its class.

That is what Mithril is.

Anyone who is an adventurer will do anything to obtain mithril, but the price of Mithril is beyond any normal adventurer.

That is because Mithril can only be obtained from dungeons.

And the chance of obtaining some is extremely low.

The Mithril sold in the market are generally from someone who has spent long days inside Instant Dungeons, and finally hit a winner - it was like winning a lottery in most cases.

Other than that, for those with more skills and abilities, they would join a clan which is composed of many groups of Adventurer Parties, and in the base dungeons where Mithril is known to be dropped, rumors are that they have completely monopolized all of those spots.

Adventurers from the top clans will almost always be carrying items made of Mithril.

Hence, the rumors continue and spread like wildfire.

Because of the scarcity, the market price of Mithril is severely inflated.

A single Mithril sword would cost no less than 10 million gards.

And Yuto accidentally acquired that unobtainable material!

No, he couldn’t sleep.

He pondered what he would make it into. Is making a weapon the right choice?

How would a Mithril weapon feel in his hands?

Can you carry material into Mari’s store?

Wait! If he gets a Mithril Sword, it will only be a matter of time before someone takes it from him!

Is there anything he can do to prevent it from being stolen?

As his imagination ran rampant, before he knew it, morning fell upon him.

Yes, his lack of sleep and rest was his own responsibility. It was self-inflicted.

But there was no way Yuto could hold back the overflowing excitement that kept pouring out of him each second.

This was because Yuto WAS an adventurer by heart.

To be set down before every adventurers’ dream, he was now a creature that could not disregard or ignore this.

Putting that aside, Yuto completed his Daily Quest tasks, and headed to Mari’s store.

Mari: “Welcom—...oh, it’s just you, Yuto.”

Yuto: “Today, I came here as a customer, so you can greet me like one too, you know?”

Mari: “Sure sure, welcome—. So, what’s up?”

Of course, Mari only responds like this to Yuto.

If that wasn’t the case, there would be no way that she would be managing the store right now as the head manager.

But Yuto is a customer so he did feel a little indignant that she would treat him this way.

But this is partly Yuto’s fault.

Ever since becoming an adventurer, Yuto has stepped into this store penniless only to look upon all the weapons and armor.

Because of that, Mari stopped treating him like a customer long ago.

Yuto: “Uh, so, yeah, I wanted to put in an order.”

Mari: “....I’m sorry. The Stand Up comedy tavern is right down the road. They open at night.”

Yuto: “Hey, I’m serious.”

Yuto knew that Mari wouldn’t believe him. Still, he couldn’t help but feel offended at her reaction.

Mari: “But Yuto, you don’t have money right? Orders are REALLY expensive. I don’t think you could afford one.”

Yuto: “What if I brought in the material?”

Mari: “Well, sure. We could give you a discount if you bring in the materials yourself, but at most, I can only make it half-off. Our skill fees are not cheap.”

The Plutos Weapon and Armor Shop Owner Duglar was one of the most famous weapon smiths in all of the Labyrinth City of Kronos.

Even if you use the same material and same size sword, his swords would cost double that of other shops.

Duglar’s Smithing Skills are extremely high.

If he even touches a weapon, it’s price and value will skyrocket.

Mari: “So I’m going to ask this, but what’s your budget?”

Yuto: “...could you do it with 50,000 gards?”

Mari: “....Okay, fess up. What did you do, Yuto? Let’s go to the city guards and maybe they’ll lessen your sentence if you confess first. Don’t worry. I’ll go with you.”

Yuto: “Hey! I earned this money!”

Yuto couldn’t believe that Mari, his childhood friend, would look at him like he’s some sort of criminal.

Yuto: “Look, I worked and earned this money fair and square. Did you forget that I’m a D-Rank adventurer?!”

Mari: “Fine fine. So what material did this oh so great D-Rank Adventurer bring to us to make his mighty and powerful weapon?”

Yuto: “....it’s this…”

A heavy sound echoes onto the store counter. Yuto places the Mithril in front of Mari.

Mari inspects the material carefully.

Mari: “.....Yeah, nope. Nope nope nope. That’s impossible. There’s no way Yuto would bring this to me.”

Mari has large beads of sweat dripping from her forehead as she shook her head in denial.

Mari: “WOW, I wonder what this is—? Silver....no, not silver. Aluminum?.... Not quite. OH! It must be a mixture of different metals!”

Yuto: “It’s Mithril.”

Mari: “.............................Yuto.”

As Yuto let’s her know what she already knew, a tragic weight falls over Mari’s expression.

Mari: “Yuto, let’s go now before it’s too late. I’ll be waiting for you here until you get out. I promise. So let’s make sure to make amends for all your crimes and maybe they won’t execute you….!!”

Yuto: “LOOK! STOP THAT! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!”

Mari could not stop the tears flow out from her eyes, and starts to hiccup and shake.

Look, it’s true that anyone in their right mind can only assume that Yuto MUST have stolen this.

It is an immovable fact that Yuto WAS an E-Rank adventurer until just the other day.

There is no way a bottom-tier, last-place WEAKEST adventurer like Yuto could even MISTAKENLY get a hold of real Mithril.

Even a D-Rank Adventurer would have an impossbily hard time obtaining it. Of course he would be suspiciously accused.

Mari: “Well if you got it fair and square, what is this? A Mithril-like rock?”

Yuto: “I think...it’s regular Mithril. Look, last time, I went to an E-Rank Instant Dungeon, and it turned out to be a Unique Dungeon. When I defeated the boss, I got this from it.”

Just in case, Yuto mixed in one tenth of a lie into a myriad of facts.

He honestly thought that he could tell Mari about the Skill Board. But if word got out that the Skill Board gives out Mithril… there’s no telling what would happen to Yuto.

So Yuto.... begrudgingly had to avoid telling her the truth.

Mari: “Huh… really? I’ve never heard of Unique Dungeons until now.”

Yuto: “It’s a rare dungeon, so there’s barely any information on it.”

Mari: “And you want to make a longsword with this Mithril?”

Yuto: “Yeah, if possible, I’d like it to be as close to this sword as possible.”

Mari: “Understood. I’ll ask the owner, so wait here.”

Mari left Yuto and disappeared into the back of the store.

In the back of the store is the Shop Owner Duglar’s personal workshop.

Duglar rarely pokes his head into his own shop.

That’s how much he trusts Mari.

As Yuto waits... time passes.

From the back of the store, Mari re-appears with some confusion and concern on her expression.

And another appeared with her.

Yuto: “............!!”

As soon as Yuto caught sight of him, he stood upright as straight as he humanly possible could do.

The Weapon and Armor Shop Owner, Duglar appeared.

He is shorter than Yuto in height, but his arms are 3 times thicker than Yuto’s.

He had a magnificent beard, and the Dwarf among all Dwarves glared intently and pierced Yuto with his eyes.

Mari: “Owner… so… this is Yuto, the man who wants to order a custom Mithril weapon…..”

Duglar: “.........”

No matter what Mari says, Duglar stood there silent.

He continued his gaze that seemed to unravel Yuto from the inside out.

Yuto felt helplessly transparent before Duglar as cold sweat dribbled down his spine.

Yuto couldn’t tell how much time passed.

At that moment, Duglar loosened his stare.

Duglar: “Give me your sword.”

Yuto: “.....what?”

Duglar: “Your sword. What you got on your waist.”

Yuto: “Uh...YESSIR! HERE IT IS!”

Yuto scrambled to take off his sword and gave it to Duglar.

Duglar took the sword and unsheathed it. He let the light gleam off the whole of the blade.

Duglar: “.....This... is from our shop. How long have you had it?”

Yuto: “Ummm… maybe around 9 years now?”

Duglar: “I see…. It’s amazing that you haven’t broken it.”

Yuto: “Of course. It’s a work of Master Duglar.”

Duglar: “You’re wrong.”

Duglar glared once more at Yuto.

Yuto: (YIKES!!)

Yuto flinched and became smaller.

Duglar: “There are first-rate swordsmen who will break their own blade.”

Yuto: “Umm… r--really?”

Duglar: “A swordsman will pour his soul into his blade. Those who’s blades break is because they don’t put enough soul into it.”

Saying what he came to say, Duglar put the sword back in its sheath.

Duglar: “Mari--, I’ll leave the business side to you.”

Mari: “Y--YESSIR!!”

Duglar left with those words and disappeared into the back of the store.

When he was gone, Yuto exhaled loudly as if he forgot to breath during the entire conversation.

Up until now, Yuto only met Duglar MAYBE twice or at most three times. But this was the first time he spoke to him.

This was his first conversation with one of the greatest weapon smiths in all of Kronos.

Yuto couldn’t help but be nervous.

Yuto: “So….does that mean he’ll take the job?”

Mari: “Yeah, when I asked him that there’s a man wanting to make a custom Mithril order, he told me, ‘let me see him’ and came storming out of his workshop. I panicked when that happened.”

Yuto: “Does that happen every time a custom order is made?”

Mari: “No, I think it’s because the material was Mithril, so he wanted to be sure of the wielder. A Mithril Weapon would be the highest honor to make for any weapon smith.”

If he’s going to make a world-class weapon, the weapon smith also deserves to confirm the personality and character of the wielder to see if he or she is worthy of holding it -- something like that?

But Duglar took a look at Yuto and didn’t say no.

Yuto: (Does that mean that he approved of me as the weapon holder?)

To be acknowledged by the greatest weapon smith is the greatest honor.

Yuto: “Oh crap! Mr. Duglar took my longsword!”

Mari: “You wanted a weapon close to that sword right? The Owner will use it as a sample as he makes a new one.”

Yuto: “W--wait...what? So that means….”

If he doesn’t have a weapon, Yuto can’t go hunting in dungeons!

Yuto’s shoulders shrug to the floor.

Mari: “Look, it will take about a week no matter what, so treat it like a vacation, okay?”

Yuto: (*sigh) “ ….okay.”

Since he did make the request to have a custom weapon made, it will be impossible to ask for his original weapon back.

It can’t be helped.

Yuto gave up on getting his sword back.