Chapter 56: Momentary Thoughts Part 4 Part 2

「In the past, one terribly bad lie cost me my dear wife. But not only that, but even though I lost her she was unable to really die. Since then I was pretty much stuck in place, as if time stopped for me.」

She couldn’t really die, so does that mean she was turned into undead? That would explain the description and would fit in perfectly, but I couldn’t be sure.

「I was still a weakling when we first met, but that incident changed me. I swore an oath that I won’t let a tragedy like that to occur ever again.」

「…… So you’d advise me to refrain from challenging him?」

「No, not in the least. Go right ahead and try yourself, if you want. I wasn’t able to beat him, but maybe you will have more luck than I did…… I have decided that if someone would want to challenge that guy, I wouldn’t stop them and would help them out should they be deemed worthy.」

「………」

It seems that Weissash was left kind of broken after his fight with the Gravekeeper and would be reluctant to fight it again. But wasn’t that in direct contradiction to his statement that he would help me out in whatever way he could? But still, he wouldn’t try to drive me from challenging him to a fight…… Umu, I’ll just have to take it at face value, since I don’t have enough information in that regard. Besides, maybe Katsu and Pencilgton will do their own digging and find something useful in that regard?

「Oh, we’re here. I wonder, when was the last time I used this place? It’s been so long that I seem to have forgotten.」

「You said that, old man. Small wonder that even the furnace is clogged with dust. That’s what you get when you let a place like that rest without any actual work being done.

「Oh, Break.」

「Bre-nee-chan!」

We arrived at a place that was small and looked like a forge or a blacksmith’s shop. It was similar to the blacksmiths shops that I have seen at Sekandil and Thirdrema, but…… I don’t know. There was something going on with it that was difficult for me to put my finger on. Anyway, hammers, anvils, furnace and all of the blacksmith’s whatnot was present here.

From the reaction of the two bunnies that accompanied me, I could imagine that the blacksmith bunny, Break, was Weissashe’s daughter and Emul’s sister? I wonder…… does Weissash has even more children? I guess if there’s one thing that you shouldn’t underestimate about bunnies is their ability to reproduce.

(Is it just me, or does every single one of them ends their sentences differently?)

As I managed to keep that to myself, I looked at the bunny that was bigger than Emul but slightly smaller than Weissash.

「You must be that Sanraku-guy that Pops and Emul mentioned before…… “Sanraku” is kinda mouthful, so how about I call you Raku instead? You don’t mind, do you?」

Stop it! Don’t give me such a weird nickname all of a sudden! You could at least ask me for my consent first! Or maybe ask me to help you come up with something that is going to be acceptable! Umm, oh man, that Break bunny…… I can already feel that she is going to cause me quite a bit of headaches in the near future.

「Break, my dear…… Time to do your thing.」

「……!!! Pops, does that mean that I can finally use the golden hammer again!?」

「Yes, it’s for a fight with that Gravekeeper…… We told him that it was a bad idea, but his lad here wants to do it anyway……」

「Hee…… Wait a moment, let me get the furnace going……」

As Break started to get to work, Weissash turned towards me again.

「That’s right, in just a short while we are going to create a true Vorpal Weapon for you.」

「Eh, ah, could you made it double while you’re at it?」

「Yes, sure thing.」

Then I take the Vorpal Knives out of my inventory and hand it to Weissash. He takes them from me while looking at them for a moment.

「Hmm, hmm…… This is nice, this is indeed a good weapon. Oh, and what’s this? I see that you also have some materials on your hand. …… What is it?」

The thing that came to my mind on mention of that was the image of a big black wolf that sank its teeth into my legs. But the fight that was ahead of us would not be easy, and it would be something closer to an all-out war…… A really nasty war.

Next monster that I managed to obtain materials from was the Mud Digger, but when I tried to remember what items I obtained from it, but then I remembered something else: I sold them for money sometime earlier.

So that means…… The only thing that I could sacrifice in here right now were the materials that we obtained together with Emul most recently. Materials from a certain insect that was really hard to kill and it took a whole lot of bees to wear it down.

「I don’t know if it’s going to be enough…… But here are the materials from a strong enemy.」

「Fumu…… The armor plating of Stag Beetle? Not bad, and their condition is also pretty good.」

I remove the Stag Beetle’s armor plating from my inventory and hand it to the bunnies as well. The materialized item should have been very heavy, but still, Weissash handles it as if had no weight at all.

I chose the armor plating over anything else because it was the hardest item in my inventory, and it should be relatively the best when it comes to weapon creation. Maybe it could even serve to boost the item’s attack statistic?

「Break, dear, what about the furnace?」

「Getting warmer, but it will take a little bit longer to be ready.」

「Right, so let’s get some preparations done before that.」

While he takes various instruments from the walls and sticks them behind his belt for an easier access, the other bunny, Break, comes to me and starts talking.

「Ya know what, yer a lucky guy. ‘Tis been a while since Pops there decided to use the golden hammer to create something.」

「Is that so? Umm, Break-san, was it?」

「Didn’t you know? Way back, Pops used to be THE best blacksmith in the whole town. I am supposed to succeed him one day, but I have still a long way to go.」

Succeed? As if, as a Forgemaster?

While I was thinking that, Emul climbed onto my back again and patted me on the shoulder.

「No wonder that you don’t know about that, Sanraku-san, because I never told you. But yes! Daddy…… I mean, His Majesty is the best blacksmith in the whole town!」

「And it’s not just an empty title. He is a renowned Forgemaster whose skills have been recognized by the best human Foragemasters as well! That’s our Pops for you!」

As the two bunnies looked at their father, the flames in the furnace started to burn strongly, and the forge was yet again filled with the sound of hammers striking against metal.