Chapter 11 11: The Blacksmith!

Lucifer shook his head, regaining his bearings as he entered the store made of black stones.

The smell of oil, smelted metals, and coal filled his nose as he found himself at the counter in a few steps, as the glowing red gemstone in his pendant slowly dimmed.

The walls were empty with a few farming tools, raw swords and a barrel with poor quality test swords that were only 10 copper to purchase, generally bought by young adventurers as their first weapon.

'Despite being labelled poor, they match the city's low-grade weapons with durability alone...' He thought, remembering the game's item attributes and wondering how accurate that translated into reality.

"Maintenance of my weapon is a must..."

Even though nobody came to greet him, Lucifer didn't make an issue.

Instead, he noticed various parchments that were quite clear, teaching you the basics of caring for a weapon or armour.

'Though the armour one is a little simple, best to visit Ned, the armourer, for more information on that...'

He didn't make an issue because old man Bernard would judge his customers on the first 10 minutes of entering his store if they were here for knives, kitchen goods or a real weapon.

Consequently, he would judge the person with his [Judgment] skill that showed him the talents a person had for a particular weapon and skills.

This is why Lucifer changed his specialisation a moment ago rather than before. Since he didn't have much to do, he browsed more high-quality swords, axes and a few hammers and looked over the two tasks he snatched from the quest board.

[Collect! Kukuru Flowers]

Mandy, the apothecary, wishes for somebody to collect poisonous herbs to create antidotes for sale.

The flower's leaves are blue and sharp, with five leaves shaped like tiny houses.

Collect 10 leaves for 1 silver coin

Located in the southern plains near the Grammun Tomb.

[Hunt! Crag Beasts]

The guild requires that these pesky beasts from the southern plains be culled; currently, they are increasing en masse due to the mating season starting in two months; they like to eat rabbits and small beasts, thus roam mainly close to the farmlands and small forest near the Southern Grammun Tomb.

Warning! Crag Beasts are levels 5-7! Be careful!

Each beast earns 50 copper + 50 copper for the tusks!

-

Under the task for the crag beast was a cute image, likely drawn quickly, as a small boar with two tusks and thick fluffy fur was crushing what seemed to be a human under its feet with a giant skull sign below the warning.

'Oh, that's why...' Lucifer nodded, seeing that [Drawn by Fel] was added at the bottom.

Lucifer put the two pieces of ghostly paper into his grimoire before thinking to himself. It seemed that the level of people in this world truly matched the game.

For some strange reason, most NPCs would only gain a fraction of the experience or [Prana] from a killed monster, something to do with their connection with the goddess Celestia being weakened due to negligence in the game's backstory.

The [Hero] and women around him would gain almost the whole experience, the Hero 100%.

In comparison, the [Heroines] would get 60-70% which got quite a few complaints due to the trouble of levelling the women once Toshiro was higher level; all the women were more than 10-20 levels behind.

Sadly NPCs would get 5-10% of the Prana at most.

There were exceptions of the natural world; otherwise, wouldn't the Hero kill everyone, steal the queens, and live a charmed life?

"Oi, young lad."

Those high up in the church, royalty, nobles and, of course, the illustrious Demon lords, who sat on their thrones across the entire Celestia, only a handful resisted on this continent of Wundara though

'Come to think of it, did the 72 demons of Solomon inspire them?'

However, not all the lords were demons; some were monsters and strange races like werewolves, vampires and even slime!

'Most of them are female, though... I think apart from the last 72nd lord and the 5th lord, they were all women... With a bad end scene with the Hero's party if he lost to them.'

Lucifer began to realise that the game he had been playing was a little darker than he thought; the fact the female Lord would sexually conquer the heroines while making the hero watch was pretty grim.

"Oi, young lad."

He remembered many calling it a [Netorare] game and going mental.

Still, it was more of a rape-on-defeat game in the older eyes of Lucifer, who didn't get all those cool buzzwords apart from the old man [Netori], which he always felt represented!

'I never lost the fights, though... I don't like that shit.'

"OI!" an old man suddenly shouted, catching Lucifer off guard as he dropped the book [How to care for your spear, the basics!] onto the ground as old man Bernard looked at him with a slightly displeased look.

'Thankfully, it looked like I was engrossed in this book on spear maintenance!'

Bernard's eyes were glowing with a slight brown light, different from the elven slut Fel; his eyes could only see a person's skills related to weapons and combat.

The moment he looked at Lucifer and saw the book, a smile came to his face as he nodded.

"Your focus is good, and you know the right path."

Lucifer observed the man who would soon follow Toshiro to every town and be forced by the church and kingdom to forge a holy sword which would almost take his life.

A short dwarf with slightly greying hair, a ginger beard with stumpy, pointed ears, and a wrinkled face full of signs of ageing. Yet he felt energy-filled, his hand holding the hammer like a 19-year-old ready to fight against his village enemy.

"Really? Thanks... uhm...?"I think you should take a look at

"It's Bernard; most folks call me old man, though."

"Ah, thanks, Bernard; I'm Lucifer!"

"Are you the lad that killed that damn white wolf bastard? Carried home by the cute lass Gwen?"

"Yes, thanks to her, I have a place to stay."

"Oho? I hope you won't do anything untoward if you cannot take responsibility! That girl is like a daughter to the old men of this town... getting wounded like that... losing her noble family's support and being abandoned here..."

'Eh? Nobility!?'

It was the first time Lucifer learned something outside the game, a sense of joy and shock filling his mind as the old dwarf began to bellow.

"Gyahaha, well, that cute girl probably wouldn't tell anyone. She hates to brag or speak about that... but also finds herself to be some monster... Girl doesn't know that many of the men in the village would love to marry er', but her family are too fearsome..."

"Well, it's true, she is more beautiful than most nobles..."

"Oho? With the scar?"

"It's part of who she is, part of her beauty."

"Gyahahaha! I like it, boy!"

Bang!

The old man's strength must have been almost 8 or 9 as the hand that slammed Lucifer's back almost made him collapse on the ground, trying his best to resist with his current halved strength of 3.

"So... I can tell that girly has probably given you money... she's too damn kind."

Bernard walked into the back room, a loud noise rumbling through the room, steel and metal seemingly thrown around as banging and clanging sounded for almost 3 minutes before he left the room, carrying something in his hands.

The black shaft was around 145 cm, not the longest of spears, something in between a short spear and a long spear.

Its blade was wrapped in a beautiful red cloth that seemed to tie the tip into the wooden shaft as Bernard handed it over.

"Hmmm?"

Lucifer felt the blade only to notice it wasn't metal or wood. It was a long fang, rather two slightly curved fangs fused and filed down, forming two sharp crescent-like blades, able to slice and stab effectively.

"Surprised, huh lad? It's the two biggest fangs from that bastard Ulgarm you killed last night and some spares used to improve its sharpness and durability."

Bernard paused for a moment before continuing.

"Now you take the money Gwen gave ya' make sure you treat her to something nice; that girl always donates money to the starving homes with poor yields each season or the village collection box."

"Stupid girl..." Bernard whispered as he turned to the counter, taking a sip of the brown coloured liquor

He looked at the old dwarf, feeling a sense of reality; the game never mentioned the relationship of people outside of the [Hero], so learning what people felt towards Gwendolyn made him realise why the party was almost forced to leave after he rejected her.

'It seems I need to pay more attention to avoid any issues; these are all living people, not images or animations...!'

"I'll make sure she doesn't have to worry anymore, at least if that's what she wishes."

Bernard liked the boy's words, his beard's whiskers fluffing as he smiled at Lucifer, nodding, seeming to have made some decision.

"Okay, for that spear, let's call it an advance payment. The task?"

Lucifer leaned closer to see what he would ask him, wondering if it would be challenging.

"Go on..." Lucifer replied, a little curious.

"Make her smile; all us old un's cannot make that girl truly smile... If you make her smile, then treat us as even."

"But..."

Bernards's short body stepped forward. His eyes were dark and misty, but still, a fierce aura began to exude from his body.

"If you hurt her... If you make her cry..."

His eyes became bloodshot, grasping on the tattered robe of Lucifer, almost pulling him off the ground as his body visibly shook.

"I will kill you, no matter how strong you become... No matter where you run... I will make sure to make you regret it!"

"So make sure you don't step into her business without the right resolve! Okay... boy... No... Lucifer!"

The entire situation was sudden as Lucifer looked into the old man's eyes; he could understand the desire to protect someone he saw as a daughter because he wasn't an immature hero; he couldn't just shout with enthusiasm, "I promise!"

So instead, he stayed calm, looking into his bloodshot eyes of Bernard, listening to his heavy breathing before he finally responded.

"I cannot promise I will make her happy; there is always the chance she doesn't choose to be with me. Furthermore, I suffer from slight amnesia and cannot remember much of my past; thus, before I can protect myself, how can I always promise to make her happy when I am powerless?"

Lucifer felt the old man's anger alternating between increasing and understanding as his eyes looked at him sadly.

"But if I take that step... If we do become closer than simple friends. I will do everything in my ability to fulfil your request."

The last sentence seemed to settle something in Bernard's mind; it wasn't the enthusiastic and positive answer he expected, forcing him to look the boy over again before nodding, maybe more satisfied with this thoughtful answer instead.

"Lucifer, do you drink?" He asked, shaking his brown hip flask with a sloshing sound and tossing the spear into Lucifer's hands.

The words [Ulgarm's Bane] momentarily appeared in the grimoire's smoke.