Precious metals like orichalcum didn’t appear on the market all that often, after all. Even if it did, it was typically a really high price.
We spread a tactical rumor about an eccentric merchant who only dealt in orichalcum, as well as several excuses as to why we wouldn’t sell smaller amounts.
People typically only asked for enough to make one sword. Orichalcum was not only rare, but also difficult to process. We also listed it at a price much higher than market value, so there weren’t many customers who were interested in what we were selling.
However, that was the trap. Because if someone still wanted to buy it... They’d be very suspicious.
“The group that bought it is the Lao Workshop. I ran some checks, and we haven’t got any record of such an organization. Once the orichalcum passed Felsen’s borders, I was powerless to investigate further...”
“Why’s that?”
“Their country doesn’t have a mercantile guild. Everything there is managed by the Magical Chamber of Commerce and Industry.” The Magical Chamber of Commerce and Industry... Felsen’s mages, craftsmen, and merchants were all managed by that enormous guild-like organization. Olba was powerless to investigate because it was a domestic organization, and not an international one like the mercantile guild.
“So you don’t know who purchased the orichalcum...?” It was suspicious no matter how you looked at it. They must have had considerable financial backing, though...
I had no way of knowing if it was a governmental conspiracy, or just some individual lunatics. Either way, they were probably the people we were looking for.
The orichalcum I sold was only genuine at face value, by the way. It was actually iron that I had weight-adjusted by using [Gravity]. The exterior was plated with a golden material. Still, I wasn’t some kind of crook. I did lodge several valuable gemstones inside.
I didn’t want to give the thieves any actual orichalcum, but I also didn’t want to cheat anyone out of their fair purchase. That being said, they did cheat me in the first place by stealing my Frame Gear parts... I probably didn’t need to include the gemstones at all, huh?
The only issue was that I didn’t know if it was something done by the Felsen government, or just some splinter group. It was troubling to think about. Felsen was also the nation that had the most Yulong refugees living in it.
“The Felsen Kingdom is famed for their magical engineering and artifact research. They’re known well enough for the eastern half of the continent to be known as Lestia’s Blade and Felsen’s Mysticism.” That reminded me, some strange magic was obscuring the looks of the thieves during the initial hit. Could that have been the result of Felsen research? It was true they were a highly advanced nation, but I didn’t think they’d be capable of producing a Frame Gear or anything.
I didn’t have any conclusive evidence that implicated Felsen. However, it was very likely that whoever did steal my stuff was operating out of that country.
“Olba, please let me know if anything unusual comes out of Felsen. I’ll be in your debt.”
“No need to be so polite. I’m always happy for an opportunity to earn more profit, and I think if I asked any more of you I might incur some kind of karmic penalty.”
“Oho? Well, if you must know... I have a special flask that can preserve hot drinks and soups for extended time periods.”
“I’d love to hear more!” I opened up [Storage] and fetched a thermos flask I’d recently created. It was fairly easy to make if you had someone capable of wind magic, since it was just a case of making a vacuum inside the flask. It wasn’t as effective as the thermos flasks from home, though.
I drew out a little diagram on the ground while explaining the basics. Naito also appeared from somewhere and started intently listening to my explanation. Arma looked fairly bored, though, so I opened up a [Gate] and sent her to see Yumina.
I gave a few of them to Olba, along with a disassembled one to show him the basic structure. Old man Naito also asked for one, so I gave him my personal thermos.
It made sense that he’d want it given the amount of outdoor work he did. I felt a little guilty for not thinking of him sooner.
After that, I used a [Gate] to move a few of the metal shipments to Babylon’s Workshop. Then, I said goodbye to the two of them. Olba went off to his store branch in Brunhild. Naito happily walked off with his thermos. He was surveying a new construction project.
I was about to head back home through a [Gate] before I saw a few familiar faces in the castle town. I stopped in my tracks and called out to them.
“Howdy there! How are you guys?”
“Huh? A-Ah, Your Highness?!” The young adventurer, Lop, turned to me and dropped the spear in his hands. His three companions also reacted with similar surprise. The only one that didn’t show much of a reaction was the small white mouse riding atop one of the girls’ heads. She hurriedly stopped, so he almost fell down off her head, though.
It was the rookie adventurers I’d met on the slaving ship. Lop, Fran, Eon, and Klaus. The white mouse atop Eon’s head was also one of my summons.
“Has the little guy been of help to you?”
“Yes! Snow tells us when magical beasts are on the prowl, and also detects traps for us!”
“Heh... Not bad, little guy.” The white mouse stood atop Eon’s head and twitched his whiskers.
...Did he seriously just rub the back of his head awkwardly...? You really are a smart mouse.
It seemed like the group had named him Snow. Well, he was a snowmouse, so that made sense.
“We were promoted to Purple just yesterday, actually!” Fran, the swordswoman of the group, happily reported her news to me.
That’s good! They’re advancing pretty quick. Guess they’re rookies no more.
Dungeon exploration didn’t contribute toward your guild promotions, since it wasn’t a quest. However, discovering new floors, chambers, monsters, treasures, and hidden rooms and then reporting them to the guild would get you points towards your next rank.
Guild Ranking went like this: Black -> Purple -> Green -> Blue -> Red -> Silver -> Gold. It wasn’t all that hard to get from Black to Purple, but it was still an achievement in itself.
“Snow keeps finding hidden passages for us. We’ve found quite a few treasure chests now... One even had this inside!” Fran held out a mithril sword. It was old, but it looked like it was in good shape. It was definitely a valuable find.
“What are you gonna do with it?”
“Well, we all spoke about it and we decided I’d keep it and use it in battle. We went to great lengths to find it, after all...”
“You should sell it.”
“Huh?” The four of them looked at me blankly, so I explained myself. They may have risen to Purple from Black, but they were still newbies. Rookie adventurers swinging around a mithril blade? That could attract attention. The bad kind. I didn’t want them getting accosted by people who were after a quick cash fix.
“Oh, I see...”
“You should sell it because you might end up being attacked for it. You don’t want to stand out, not yet at least.” It was advice based on my own experiences. It’d be fine if they were strong enough to stand up against the people who’d come after them... But I wasn’t so sure they were quite at that level yet.
“Aw... I-I like this sword, though...”
“But he raises a fair point. There’s a lot of risk in keeping it. We should avoid endangering ourselves, Fran.”
“I guess, Klaus...” Klaus, their bowman, seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. At least she seemed to understand what he was saying, even if it made her sad.
“Besides, can’t you guys buy decent gear for everyone with the money you make from selling the sword? It’d be better to have a balanced party.”
“...That’s true. We all found the sword, so I shouldn’t enjoy the spoils alone. Let’s do it! Let’s sell it.” Fran seemed hesitant, but she finally agreed to follow my advice.
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br /> “Alright, then. I’ll buy your sword. I’ll pay you a little more than market price, too. Consider it a graduation gift for your purple status.” I figured I’d give them about twenty golden coins to the kids, since I had withdrawn some cash lately anyway.
But then I kind of started to worry about them being attacked and robbed of the cash. Plus, the idea of giving roughly two million yen to a bunch of thirteen-year-old kids didn’t sit too well with me.
“...Or, if you give me the mithril sword, I could make you kids some new gear, just for you. How about that? What do you choose?”
“Seriously?! The gear, the gear!” Hook, line, and sinker. I felt a little bit guilty, in all honesty. Almost like I’d swindled the kids out of a mithril blade.
I decided to craft something worthy of twenty golden coins.
I went to the Silver Moon’s backyard and opened up [Storage] to take out a bunch of raw materials. Then, I began using [Modeling].
I made an armor and spear set for Lop, light armor and a sword for Fran, leather armor and a bow for Klaus, and a robe-and-staff ensemble for Eon.
I wanted to use mithril for the metal armor, but it didn’t end up being viable. I ended up using reinforced steel instead. I also adjusted the weight of their clothing using [Gravity]. Outwardly it wouldn’t look very different to normal armor. A person would only know about the enchantments on the gear if they wore it.
I coated the bladed edges of the sword and spear with thin phrasium. With that, their weapons would handle a little better, and cut a lot better.
I also enchanted Klaus’ bow, so it applied [Accel] to any arrows it fired. Any arrows fired from it would be a lot more powerful. I also made a bowstring out of thread-like phrasium, and a bow that could actually handle it. For his leather armor, I weaved it with dragonscale for added protection. I put strips of leather in front of it, though. Outwardly, it just looked like normal leather armor.
Eon’s cane was tipped with what appeared to be red and yellow spellstones. Her primary aptitudes were fire and light, but it was actually a cunning disguise. The spellstones were pure phrasium, colored yellow and red. It would allow her magical attacks to become much more powerful. I even weaved some phrasium into her robe as well, just to reinforce her a little. It wasn’t visible, though.
I completed the fairly plain-looking gear, and then I explained the special qualities of each to them. Initially, they looked a little disappointed at the seemingly shoddy stuff, but they soon perked up after they realized just how powerful the equipment I’d given them was.
“Now listen up. You can’t tell another soul about this stuff, alright? It’s one-of-a-kind. Nothing like these exist anywhere else. If the time comes for you guys to finally sell them, then sell them to Olba Strand’s company.” I knew for sure it’d be worth more than twenty gold. The Strand Company had the finest appraisers around, after all.
The four of them thanked me, much to my chagrin, as I handed them enough dragon meat to feed four people. Suddenly, the bell rang on the clock tower. It had just turned noon.
I told them to pass the meat over to Micah, asked her to treat them to a home-cooked meal, and then left in a hurry.
Lunch was waiting for me back at the castle, after all.
Interlude I: Of Gods and Men
“Hmm... I think he’s in the wrong here. You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I-I know, right?!”
“Quite right. Put another way, this just shows how little faith he has in you. In other words, he doesn’t trust you. He can’t believe in you because he thinks that if he were in your shoes, that’s what he’d do. He knows he’d definitely fail in your position, so how could he trust you?”
“You’re right... I think this helped clear up my doubts. I’ll break up with him. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me.”
“Yes, I agree, that would be for the best. There are plenty of good men out there to choose from.”
“Yes! Thank you very much, Lady Karen!” The female knight rose from her seat, bowing her head respectfully as she left the room. Karen saw her off with a wave of the hand.
This gazebo-like structure at the corner of the training grounds was a popular relaxation spot among the female knights. Come noon, they could be seen carrying their lunches there.
However, on occasion Karen could be found seated there. At those times, the gazebo became a refuge where the troubled sought advice. Though it went without saying, her advice extended to romance-related topics only.
While it was women that mostly sought her counsel, at times men approached her for advice as well. That should come as no surprise, for love troubled all without regard for gender. But to receive advice from the Goddess of Love herself was something one could normally only dream of.
“I should think eavesdropping is unbecoming of a king.”
“Ha, so you did notice me.” I revealed myself, lifting my [Invisible] spell. Her expression was so earnest that it piqued my interest somewhat.
“You take giving advice more seriously than I’d have thought.”
“This is my area of expertise, after all. Knowing what one desires, what advice they wish to hear, is second nature to the Goddess of Love.” Karen puffed up in pride.
“Hmm? So what you just said there wasn’t really your opinion?”
“Of course it wasn’t. Well, to be quite honest, I don’t know if it justified breaking up, but that was what she wanted. She simply couldn’t bring herself to go through with it. I merely gave her the push she needed.”
Is that really okay...? But, well, when people seek advice, they’ve already found their answers within themselves. They simply wish for someone to judge and reinforce those answers. And through that, they can affirm they’re not mistaken. Maybe that’s all that love advice really boils down to. There isn’t a single, correct answer. It all comes down to the person in question.
“The order here has many female knights, which means just as many troubled hearts. Though that includes the men, as well.”
“You don’t say? So that makes you something of the counselor here, doesn’t it?” Roughly thirty percent of our knight order were married. Those were mostly soldiers given to us by Eashen, originally Takeda shinobi under Tsubaki’s command, in addition to men under the command of the Takeda Elite Four. Those were, for the most part, men.
The newly appointed knights, however, were mostly single.
In this world, one comes of age at fifteen, and by the age of twenty most are married.
But that applies only to the townsfolk. Adventurers in search of glory often only sought marriage after retirement, and married later on in life. Though, they may marry someone younger.
Many of the applicants to Brunhild were former adventurers, and as such being unmarried after the age of twenty wasn’t uncommon.
With this many single men and women in one place, one might expect them to hook up and marry, but naturally, things didn’t go quite as well as one might wish.
Put simply, our women didn’t seek marriage.
And within our order, they had reason to object to the prospect of matrimony. Typically, an order of knights consisted mostly of men. Female knights either didn’t enlist, and if any did, they were either nobles or joined through favors and connections.
But Brunhild had no regard for gender, so female knights were more common here compared to other places. Women who couldn’t become knights in other countries gathered here. Coming from such a background, they endeavored so as to not be inferior to the men, and marriage was of a low priority to them. The head of our order was a woman, in fact. Lain.
Many of them sought lovers but shunned marriage, like the female knight from earlier.
“Isn’t this bad for them, though?”
“Not particularly, no. But it is true that women are placed in a disadvantage if they prioritize their position so much that their age catches up with them. Quite a few men prefer younger brides, not unlike a certain someone.” Kar
en grinned broadly. I walked right into that one. Though it was true my fiancees were all younger than me, besides Leen.
“Do they avoid marriage because they don’t want to start a household?”
“Well, that’s part of it. They’ve finally become knights, so they don’t want to give up on their careers. Even if both husband and wife work, once children come into the picture, everything changes. It’s a complicated matter.” Even though the order allowed its knights to be married, it was still an issue. We had no qualms about married women becoming knights. We could appoint them to a safer brigade that deals in the castle’s duties if they wish.
But it was true that children complicated things. They couldn’t leave their children in the care of neighbors all the time.
“We need a nursery...” A nursery, or a kindergarten. I should consult Naito about building something.
“That said, there isn’t much to do if they can’t settle on anyone to marry in the first place.”
“Settling on someone to marry, huh...? People usually marry out of love in this world, right?”
“Not necessarily. Nobles marry out of political convenience, and have their fiancees decided for them. Parents decide for children quite often, as well. Commoners usually marry out of love, but are often introduced to partners by their acquaintances.”
“Matchmaking, huh...?” Matchmaking or not, men and women needed opportunities to meet. As a rule, the knights were cooped up in the castle, with the exception of the ones on patrol. There was no way they could meet anyone the way things were.
“Maybe we could host a mixer or something?”
“Within the order? If it’s just among our knights, they see each other all the time. It wouldn’t bring anything new to the table.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t. They’re all colleagues, after all. If that’s all it took for them to get married, they’d have all hooked up by now.” In practice, we already had couples among our knights, and some that had broken up as well. Working alongside one’s ex-lover could be difficult, and some have to be reassigned to different postings.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9 Page 11