CH 112

Chapter 112 - Twelve

“…… Souya. I knew you’d come.”

Early the next morning. Souya was visiting the workshop of his acquaintance, the weapons smith Doga. He brought as a souvenir the same high-grade whiskey as before, but he did not open the bottle.

He also had a bottle of red wine in his possession, which Peryton had given him, but he was in no mood to pick it up now.

I had a sentimental thought that if everything related to the Red Horn was cleared up, I would put it in the depths of my dimension box.

“…… Doga-san, I’m sorry to bother you so early in the morning. I wanted to speak with you before your workday began.”

Souya apologized for his visit, then sat down in his chair and loosened his tie.

On the table in the guest room was a single glass of drinking water, unlike the previous times when the table was lined with drinks and snacks. It was partly because it was before the work of the Doga began, but the decision was made that at this time of the day, there would be no need to surround the table with drinks.

I wanted to make a few trips around Ilstadt today. I had also promised to meet up with my familiar Shamil later.

“You look very tired …… Well, I got the general gist of it last night from that little girl, Louise. It must’ve been hard.”

“I won’t deny that I’m tired, but it’s hard to sit still right now …… I didn’t know Louise-san was here, too. She seems to be very busy as well.”

“Mm-hmm …… I heard that you encountered the Red Horn, which is in the process of Demonization. The boy, Seran, kept looking and looking, but he couldn’t find what he was looking for …… I never thought you’d find it so soon. I’m sorry about that.”

Doga continues, stroking his white beard.

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“…… I also heard that you took out a few of the bronze demon soldiers. A man of your stature should have no difficulty in doing so …… Are you at least getting used to it?”

“…… to a certain extent. It was wielding a tricky sword, so it wasn’t an easy win.”

“A sword of spirit compression. What bad taste …… Souya, do you have any countermeasures?”

I don’t think I had a hard time against the bronze daemon itself, but I had a lot of trouble with the sword sealed with the spirit of fire, which seemed to have been created by the Red Horn.

“I would like to rely on Ranak’s knowledge of the spirit sword. I also hope to borrow some of his other magic items that he has in large quantities against the Red Horn …… I’m making some very naive assumptions for a rival I haven’t seen in 20 years, but…”

Souya mentioned the name of one of his former fellow adventurers, Ranak the Ashen, one of the Six Heroes.

“…… Rosalind has told me that Ranak is not allowed to leave the city of Lunes because of his position as the Archbishop. You must go there to meet him …… are you finally ready to reveal yourself?”

“I’m prepared for that. Now if only I could do something about the discrepancies in ability due to blanks and the presence of magic items, and the negative effects that come with fame ratings …… However, I still feel like it’s not fair to try to rely on Doga-san’s connections as much as possible.”

“Don’t worry about trivial matters …… Let me help you as much as I can. If it is not safe here, there is no reason not to.”

Doga promised Souya his cooperation. Souya thanked his friend of 20 years and reached into the void.　

“Open.”

Souya took out the horns of the dark-gray Silver Demon from the dimension box and placed them on the table. This was the horn of the Silver Demon that he had killed in the battle at the old fortress. It was the only valuable thing he had on hand at the moment.

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“Doga-san, if you have any Demon Bane, would you be willing to give it to me …… This may not be enough, but just loan it to me until I finish off the Red Horn …… I won’t be satisfied until I knock off the head of that demon.”

Souya’s words were tightened, perhaps out of anger, and Doga had a look on his face that said he had seen something unusual in a long time.

“You sound like Seran. No, you might have looked like the Silver Rei. …… Well, all right.”

Doga picked up a Silver Demon’s horn on the table, checked the material, and nodded slowly.

“It’s of good quality …… Souya, can I have back the mithril saber from before? In exchange, I will give you a sword that can fight demons in a reasonable way. Just wait here for a moment.”

Doga left the room, and a few dozen seconds later returned with a sheathed sword in his hand, which he handed to Souya.

Souya stands up and pulled the blade from its scabbard. The beautifully gleaming blade looked exactly like the same Western saber that Souya was currently using.

“The shape, material, length, and weight are almost the same. You will be able to handle it in the same way. The only major difference is that it is equipped with a Demon Bane, which has a level 2 strength …… I wonder if that’s okay? We don’t have anything above level 3 strength, so give it up.”

There are four levels of strength for special weapons that the non-gods can create: weak strength level 1, normal strength level 2, oversized strength level 3, and destruction strength level 4. Most of the special weapons are of only weak strength level 1, but those of higher strength are sold at high prices.

(T/N: I changed the word suicide weapon(特攻 武器) to special weapon. It looks much better that way.)

“If it is a mithril Demon Bane with a normal strength of level 2, I could probably cut a house with just one slash of these. I’ll return it to you when I’m done with it.”

“Souya.”

Doga interrupted Souya.

“I said I’ll give it to you. If you want, why don’t you take care of the Red Horn and then sell it and buy a house? …… I don’t want you to neglect your life because you are conscious of returning it. You should only think about knocking off the head of the Red Horn, rather than the gain or loss of an eccentric old man …… Is that good or bad?”

Doga’s strong tone and eyes made Souya smile and express his gratitude.

He is stubborn. If this happens, he will forcefully give it to me.

“…… Of course, it’s good. Thank you, Doga-san.”

Souya received a new mithril saber from Doga. When he pulled the blade from its scabbard, he found the inscription and the words “Doga Grundy” dug into the base of the blade.

“Demon Special Weapon No. 12. It says.”

“It means that that’s the 12th Demon Bane, Demon Special Weapon that I created. By the way, the one-and-a-half-handed Bastard Sword that Seran is using is the 13th Demon Bane weapon. The boy seems to have named it Thirteen.”

I remember when I used to have my weapons carefully named, but apparently they have simplified it now.

“…… I see. Then let’s call this sword Twelve, shall we?”

Souya decided to name the weapon after Seran, who is about to accomplish the subjugation of the Red Horn.