I’m past the manga, as of now. Feels good.
One hour after we left the guild. We were walking along the street.
『I never imagined we’d be refused a room.』
“Un.”
『So even if you have a guild card, they can’t give lodgings to a kid.』
Though the landlady said this while refusing us a room, she was also clearly bothered by Fran’s clothing.
With clothes made from ragged cloth and sandals on her feet, Fran looked like a homeless person or a runaway slave.
She must look like nothing but trouble.
Though smell might not be an issue since she cleaned herself with Purification magic.
『First, let’s buy you some new equipment and clothes.』
“?”
So she didn’t know. I’ll take care of everything, so you can just relax.
We headed to the plaza right across from the Adventurer’s Guild.
Because I heard that there was a row of shops meant for adventurers there.
A weapons forge, s.h.i.+elds forge, repairs forge, pharmacy, alchemy shop, bar, restaurants, and lots more.
This also helped me learn prices.
A steel knife cost 2000 gil, a rank 5 HP potion was 10000 gil, a rank 4 antidote was 2000 gil.
Rank 5 was the worst potion possible, but the prices were incredibly high. Well, we were told that it can instantly heal serious wounds. If a medicine like that existed on Earth, then it would probably have been more expensive, so I didn’t think it was too bad.
I had no idea what any of the goods on display were, and this strangely made my heart race.
『This is fun.』
“Un.”
『Oh! Fran, you think so, too?』
『There’re lots of new items. It’s amazing.』
『Yeah, I agree.』
I could tell that there was a sparkle in Fran’s eyes. It didn’t really show on her face, but Fran was clearly having a blast.
But where’s the shop I’m looking for?
The truth is, I heard some juicy information on the street.
That a famous blacksmith was staying in Alessa.
Apparently, he was renting and running a forge.
I wanted that blacksmith to make Fran her armor. We might not have enough money, but asking should be free.
『But where could it be?』
I saw some forges and armor shops, but they didn’t give an amazing impression.
Shouldn’t I be able to tell where such an amazing blacksmith is because there’d be tons of people there?
『Could the smithy already be closed?』
If it was overly popular, then that could happen too.
“The young lady over there. Would you like to take a look?”
“Huh?”
“That’s right, I’m talking to you.”
I was on guard as I thought, “No way, is some guy hitting on Fran!” but the person who spoke to Fran was an elderly dwarf man.
But he might actually be a lecherous old pervert so I wasn’t able to relax just yet.
If he does anything weird, I’ll act like I was falling and stab him through the foot.
“If you’re looking for armor, why not take a look?”
“How’d you know?”
“When you’re my age, you can tell just by looking.”
“……”
“No need to be so on guard. The reason is simple. Your footsteps showed you have immense skill. But your dressed in dirty clothes. And you looked at the forges and armor shops several times. Thus, you are looking for armor, correct?”
This old man isn’t just some ordinary person! Who in the world is he?
Name: Garth Age: 82 years old
Race: Dwarf
Job: Arcane Blacksmith
Lv: 33
HP: 160 MP: 173 Strength: 122 Agility: 46
Skills: Dismantle 2, Flame Resistance 7, Smithing 10, Smithing Magic 9, Appraisal 7, Mining 3, Sewing 5, Hammer Techniques 2, Hammer Wielding 7, Poison Resistance 2, Leather Crafting 6, Fire Magic 6, Working Nonstop 6, Arcane Smithing 7, Identify 8, Fire G.o.d’s Blessing, Energy Manipulation
Extra Skill: Ingenuity
t.i.tles: The Wandering Blacksmith, Honored Blacksmith of the Cranzel Kingdom, Master Blacksmith
Equipment: Magic-Steel Blacksmith’s Hammer, Clothes of the Salamander’s Leather, Phoenix Emblem Sandals, Bracelet of Stamina Regen
His skills, stats, and t.i.tles were all impressive. Could this old man be the rumored famous blacksmith?
That would also explain why he had such a keen sense of observation.
Well, it was fine. He approached us. I’ll just think of this as a lucky break.
“Impressive.”
Wahahaha, I’ve lived for a long time. In any case, would you like to check out my shop?”
“I’d really like to.”
“Then come this way.”
Garth led us to a shop located in the corner of the plaza.
During that time, lots of people looked at us.
They were staring at us intensely, as if evaluating us.
『Huh? For some reason, everyone’s looking at us.』
“Bad guys?”
『No, they aren’t that, but…』
The really noticeable stares were coming from the male merchants.
They were keeping such sharp watch over us that Fran even mistook them for enemies.
Why in the world was this happening?
“Ahh, pay them no mind. Those merchants are all impatient to sell their weapons. They even follow the people who come out of my shop, trying to force them to buy their goods.”
Geez, that sounded like a pain.
“I’ll let you out through the backdoor when you leave so you can relax. More importantly, what kinds of things were you looking for?”
I wasn’t relaxed at all, but at the moment, all I could do was think about an answer.
But first, I needed to make most of our good luck at meeting such a skilled blacksmith.
“You’ll sell stuff to me?”
“I only sell my weapons to adventurers who’ll use them. You pa.s.sed.”
The old man said he sold his weapons super cheaply to adventurers.
It seemed he traveled across the country doing just that.
He was a picky master craftsman. But I didn’t hate that.
『Let’s ask him to show us his swords first.』
“Show me your swords first.”
“What? But you have a wonderful sword on your back. After all, this is my first time seeing an Intelligence Weapon.”
No way! How’d he find out?
Appraisal? No, I have Appraisal Block. There’s no way he could’ve found out.
“…Intelligence Weapon?”
Fran tilted her head to the side and repeated his words.
Excellent acting! Keep dodging the question!
“Ahh, no. I’m not trying to trick you or anything. I just wanted to make sure. My eyes are a bit special, so I can see just a bit even if something has Appraisal Block. Especially when it comes to weapons.”
So an ability like that existed! Come to think of it, he also had the skills Identify and Ingenuity. Did he find out because of those skills’ effects?
“Well, all I know is your sword’s attack power, that its Mana Conversion is rank A, and that it’s an Intelligence Weapon. How’s that, Sword?”
『Then you should understand, shouldn’t you? That I want this young lady—Fran—to use a proper sword.』
“Huuh? Is this Telepathy? You really do have your own mind! Amazing, truly amazing!”
『You’re acting like a kid.』
“Master is like that sometimes, too.”
『What? You’re kidding, right?』
“I’m serious.”
『Ah, well. Anyone would act like a kid if something he liked was right in front of him.』
“Un.”
I looked at the old man, Garth, who was chattering animatedly.
“Uwa, it really has its own Intelligence!”
『You mean I’m just like him?』
I should control myself in the future.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry. I was overexcited. But after looking at your status, I don’t think you’ll be needing one of my swords.”
『No, no. You saw my status, right? All of your swords are stronger than me. Or at least, the ones over there.』
Without a doubt, the high quality steel weapons came from this blacksmith.
Inside his shop were identical weapons all over the place.
They were either my equals or stronger than me.
I couldn’t help but reply bitterly when I saw weapons like those.
Could it be that I could only find my true self after realizing that my stats were abysmally low?
“Solely in terms of attack power, that’s true. Ahh, was that it? Do you not know a lot about Mana Conversion Ranks?”
『Mana Conversion Rank? I recall seeing a line about that.』
“So you don’t know. What a shame.”
『Is it important?』
“Not just important! When it comes to evaluating swords, it’s an essential figure!”
No way! I had no idea.
“What a surprise.”
『Explain more in detail.』
“Of course. The Mana Conversion Rank determines how much of an effect loading mana into the weapon will have. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that a weapon’s performance can vary drastically based on it.”
『So that’s what it is.』
“For example, take this sword.”
Garth took down a dagger that was hanging on his wall and held it in his hand. It was made out of steel and had a Mana Conversion Rank E.
“A weapon with Mana Conversion Rank E has a transfer efficiency of five percent. As an example, if you put 100 MP into it, its attack power will increase by 5.”
Garth continued to explain.
The next thing Garth took out was a mythril dagger.
It had Mana Conversion Rank C-. He said it had seventy percent efficiency. Meaning if 100 mana was put into it, its attack power would increase by 70.
This was definitely important. A weaker sword could match a stronger one with that.
“The better the conversion rate, the better the efficiency, and the longer the increase can stay in place. In other words, its effect lasts longer.”
『As a reference, is mythril’s conversion rate of C- high?』
“Of course. Mythril is particularly efficient. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that there’re no weapons with a rank higher than C- on the market. And even so, for the sake of increasing a weapon’s conversion rate, its base attack power is low. Most of them are useless.”
“Then a rate of A is amazing.”
“Yeah. A weapon with a rate of A is a full on magic sword. A transfer efficiency of two hundred percent. The truth is, my weapon can’t even compare.”
Transfer efficiency of two hundred percent. Does that mean if I put in 100 MP, my attack power would increase by 200?
That’s super strong! Could my time finally be coming?
『Is there a limit to how much mana I can load?』
“It varies depending on the material. You’re made of…I can’t really tell. It looks like a mixture of magical steel with a halmolium base, but…”
Fran handed me to Garth and he checked while tapping on my blade.
“You should be able to handle more than orichalc.u.m, so 1000 shouldn’t be a problem. Well, there’s no way someone could have so much mana, though. Anyway, even the magicians of the royal court just barely have 500 MP!”
As he laughed heartily, a serious realization hit me.
I can store 1000. Meaning I can increase my attack power by 2000?
Though I thought this was strange considering I was one-shotting enemies already.
I thought that it was because I hit an enemy’s vitals or because I was flying super fast thanks to Telekinesis, but…
Most likely, I was already unconsciously loading mana into my blade.
“How long will the effect last?”
Well, once again, it depends on the material, but for Mana Conversion Rank E, it lasts five minutes. It goes up by two minutes after every increase in rank.”
『Then rank A lasts…』
“About thirty minutes.”
“That’s a super long time.”
『Then I’m not a useless sword?』
“If you’re useless, then nearly every sword in the world is useless as well.”
『I see, so that’s it… Uwaaa! Thank Christ!』
I was really glad to hear that. Happy enough that I’d be crying if I had eyes.
So both my body and my mind have turned into a sword. I never imagined that I’d be happy at being stronger than other swords. Well, this wasn’t a bad feeling.
“You’re the cream of the crop even among magic swords. You might even be on the level of a divine sword.”
“Magic swords? Divine swords?”
“Yeah. Did a G.o.d-rank blacksmith make you?”
『No, I really have no idea. I can’t remember anything about that.』
“I see…”
『Is there anything you know? If so, please tell me.』
Not knowing where I came from didn’t sit right with me.
If I could find out, I would.
“There’re ranks for blacksmiths as well. We’re divided into Blacksmiths, Greater Blacksmiths, Arcane Blacksmiths, and G.o.d-rank Blacksmiths. The Job also branches off into other ones, so this isn’t all of them. As it says in the name, G.o.d-rank Blacksmiths are the pinnacle of all blacksmiths. In the past, there were five such unidentified legendary blacksmiths.”
“Five legendary blacksmiths. So cool.”
“We blacksmiths admire them greatly. Only G.o.d-rank Blacksmiths would be able to make a divine sword.”
『And you’re saying a G.o.d-rank Blacksmith made me?』
“That’s what I think, but maybe not… You’re too weak to be called a divine sword. But you’re also too strong to be a magic sword. You’re smack dab in the middle.”
『What’s up with that. Doesn’t that mean an especially skilled Arcane Blacksmith could have made me?』
“Well, that’s also a possibility.”
『How strong is a divine sword?』
I became very interested after hearing all that.
How strong could a sword that’s stronger than me be?
“Divine swords are mystical weapons strong enough to rip apart the sky or split the earth. It’s written that in a past war, someone wielding a divine sword killed over ten thousand people in a few dozen minutes.”
『Was that really a sword?』
“The weapons that G.o.d-rank Blacksmiths make are only called divine swords. Apparently, some of them aren’t in the shape of swords.”
“Apparently?”
“The only one I ever saw was the Flame Sword Ignis.”
『Oh, then how strong was that Ignis sword?』
“My Appraisal skill was still low at the time so this isn’t everything.”
Name: Flame Sword Ignis
Attack: 1800
Mana Conversion Rank SS
Skills: Grant Fire Magic, Grant Holy Flames, Unknown
“That’s what it was.”
『Ahh, I see. My apologies for trying to compete against it. There’s no way something like me could be a revered divine sword.』
“Don’t say that. You’re already a plenty good sword.”
『Are you comforting a magic sword like me? Old man, you’re a good person!』
“Nonsense. I’m also happy to meet an interesting sword as yourself!”
『Old man Garth!』
“Sword!”
Fran got bored of our conversation and looked around the shop without even glancing at us.
“Hm. This breastplate is nice.”