Volume 2 - CH 23

“Sorry about shouting at you like that. A troublesome adventurer was bothering me recently. I thought that one came back again.”

In contrast to his words, Blacksmith Berga did not look the least bit contrite about it.

….they say if you manage to annoy him somehow, then he’d refuse to do any work for you.

Let’s avoid making a fuss by acting deferentially for now and ask him about making a mythril sword.

“We’ve heard that you were a skilled Blacksmith. There are a lot of rough people amongst adventurers. There must be more than a few that would try to ask you to make something strange after hearing about your reputation. I could guess what happened.”

I need to butter him up somehow and get into his good graces.

Saying that it might’ve been his fault would very much be a mistake.

Let’s try to placate him somehow.

“What’s with that blatantly obvious attempt to suck up to me. Hah, you must’ve heard what others said about me and already decided to do that beforehand. How annoying.”

This old guy is even more obstinate than I expected.

Even as I felt my face twitch, I tried my utmost to maintain my smile.

“Listen here, kid. You must’ve come here to hire me for something, but there are two things I don’t like! Brats that think too much of themselves and mindless sycophants! Nowadays all adventurers are either one or the other!”

Berga’s volume kept rising higher and higher.

“It all went to hell when La Colina got that pretentious title, the City of Adventurers! Now it’s all brats with power gone straight to their heads, or those lazy asses trying to leech off the city’s prosperity; greenhorns, the lot of them! Everyone that comes to me lately is just like that!”

“I-I see….”

….why am I getting a lecture just because I said a few words of social pleasantries after entering a smithy.

Glancing to my side, I saw Luce looking mighty awkward.

I must look like that too.

“Berga-san, is an adventurer stalking you? Are you okay?”

Luce gently changed the subject.

“I can handle a brat like that! I was just in the middle of scolding that little Magic Swordsman twerp about her attitude when she dared to say that ‘I have all the money you want, so just shut up and make a fitting sword for me’! It should be more than obvious that I wouldn’t be living in this place if I was motivated by something like money!”

….I was also thinking that if there was nothing else, then I would try to persuade him with money.

If I didn’t listen to him like this, then I would’ve made the same mistake.

But, a Magic Swordsman, huh.

It’s a Class with high Attack and Magic stats, double-edged yet high powered Skills that are best suited to short and decisive engagements.

Since it’s such a glass cannon Class, it’s somewhat unsuited for clearing Dungeons, but it’s also one of the easier Classes to level.

“I get irritated just by remembering it! When I threw her out, she made some threats about ruining my shop and left. However, this Berga doesn’t yield to threats like that!”

Berga raised his clenched fist and roared out.

It seems he’s quite irritated.

He’s also much more stubborn than anticipated.

Perhaps we should come back at a later time instead.

“Umh, then we’ll just….”

“Don’t make an old man talk for a long time like this while standing! How inconsiderate of you…. Come with me!”

Just as we tried to excuse ourselves, Berga retreated back deeper into the smithy.

Luce and I couldn’t quite keep up with the situation and kept standing in place at the entrance of the shop.

“Luce, should we go in like this?”

“….maybe he’s just lonely and wants someone to talk to.”

“Hey kids, I can hear you two! I thought that I would at least hear you out, but if you don’t want to tell me, then get out!”

The angry shouts of Berga could be heard.

“N-no, we’ll be right there!”

Luce and I hurried after Berga and walked further into the smithy.

….I thought I could start talking about the topic of the mythril ingot, but it seems Berga wasn’t quite finished with his sermon.

“Kids these days ignore their own abilities and try to cover for it with weapons and other circumstantial things! You have to start with yourself first! I can’t make weapons that make someone a Hero just by holding it, and a weapon like that shouldn’t even exist to begin with!”

“O-okay…..”

How long will he keep going with this?

Luce is even keeping her mouth closed by force, trying not to yawn already.

“I know this because I’ve been a Blacksmith in this city for a long while. Defense type Classes and speed type Classes like yours are hard to level. You are still too young too. You two are not at the level where you could make proper use of a weapon made by me just yet! You must’ve thought to make up for your lack of Attack powers with money, but if you try to rush into things you are not yet suited for, then you will just get yourselves killed!”

However, what he was saying was indeed correct.

In Berga’s eyes we must’ve looked like a Heavy Knight and a Clown that tried to compensate for our lack of Attack stat with a weapon.

However, even if we manage that, we would still be far from the Classes that are specialized for those things.

Thinking that we would just throw our lives away for nothing like that, it seems he called us to the back of the smithy to properly lecture us about it.

That line of thinking itself was not wrong.

It’s something you would expect from a first-rate Blacksmith who’s seen a lot of adventurers.

“Please let me explain our situation for a bit.”

“What? I’m trying to warn you here! You would interrupt….”

“I haven’t even told you what I would like you to make. I would like you to decide if it goes against your personal beliefs after I’ve done that if possible.”

“Hn, I don’t think I would change my mind even if I heard you out.”

I took the Mythril Ingot out from my Magic Bag and put it on the table.

Berga gasped.

“W-w-what, this is….! Could it be, mythril!? I’ve been a Blacksmith for a long time, but this is only the second time I’ve laid my eyes on mythril….”

“I would like you to make a sword from this.”

“A mythril sword….by me….! A-as a Blacksmith, I have to attempt this….! N-no! Giving unsuitable weapons to weak people is against my personal code! I won’t do it!”

Berga tore his gaze away from the mythril.

However, he was obviously reluctant to do so.

“Old man, Luce and I obtained this by defeating a Mythril Golem on our own.”

“Wha….what!? Don’t try to lie to me! The Mythril Golem is a terrifying monster that even B rank adventurers have trouble with! It’s not something two little greenhorns like you could….!”

I took out a slim metal plate.

It was my adventurer badge.

We just got recognized as B rank adventurers by the Guild Leader, Hallein.

“Luce and I are B rank adventurers.”

“That’s absurd….”

Berga took my adventurer badge and closely inspected it.

“Mmgh….who would’ve thought that a B rank adventurer would come here in a lowest grade armor.”

…..as I expected, my Iron Armor makes people look down on me.

It’s even more pronounced with a Blacksmith like Berga is.

I would like a Black Steel Armor made as soon as possible, together with the mythril sword.

“W-well, it seems you have some ability after all. You calmly listened to what I had to say too. I can give you a passing grade, but just barely. Yes, just barely.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

I wasn’t sure for a bit there, but it seems he will do the job for us.

“That’s right, Elma-san! Why don’t you have the Rune of Destruction embedded into the mythril sword while it’s being made?”

“I guess so…..If it’s a mythril weapon, then I will be able to use it for a good while. It’s Attack bonus will be quite high too, so there shouldn’t be any problems with having it embedded.”

I nodded in agreement, then took out the Rune of Destruction and handed it over to Berga.

――――――――――――――――――――

〈Rune of Destruction〉

【Market Value: 20 million gold】

A Rune that brings Destruction.

It increases the embedded weapon’s Attack bonus by 【30％】.

――――――――――――――――――――

A single weapon can only have one Rune embedded.

We got this one as a drop item from a Cry.

“Y-you even had a rare item like this on you…. I didn’t expect this to end up being such a large job.”

Berga whispered as he cautiously raised the Rune of Destruction to his eyes.

After that, I also managed to hand over the black steel items and put in a commission for making a Black Steel Armor.

Berga even muttered a few words of relief that I wasn’t planning on fighting in this Iron Armor even after this.

Making a sword from mythril, a set of armor from black steel, and embedding the Rune.

He agreed to do all three tasks for 4 million gold.

Having a weapon order made costs quite a bit.

Aside from the metals I handed over, there are other materials that will also be necessary, which Berga has on hand in his smithy, but the costs for that are included in that sum too.