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Chapter 130: When both sides are eager to come to a deal, negotiations go pretty easily.

I didn’t get to see a lot of Clanger’s Alley last time, since I was with Ragnall and Hibiki, or like, we had other business going on, so I was surprised to see exactly how vast Clanger’s “Alley” is.

Rather than an alley… it’s a broad area spanning several streets off the main road.

Since it’s more of an adventuring town instead of a production town, I assumed the facilities for each smith would be modest, but in retrospect, Labyrinth Cities are all extremely large cities that cater to adventurers and mercenaries, so I probably should have expected forges at least as big as the ones in Nyl.

The forge that the Kartinez sisters brought me to was definitely just as big as Helward’s forge.

There doesn’t appear to be as many smelting stations, though.

Or like, that totally makes sense, since the amount of magic ore produced in Ploids isn’t nearly as much as the amount produced in Nyl City.

Instead, the space is filled with smiths, making the smith-to-forge-space much denser.

Which also totally makes sense, due to how little real estate there is in the city.

Going around to the side, Andira-san and Lizette-san led me to the side entrance, which was two large cargo doors left open to vent the heat from inside.

The heat is pretty intense, but it doesn’t bother me all that much.

Well, I mean, yeah… of course it doesn’t bother me… I’m basically as heat resistant as I want to be, or at least as far as my MP will allow.

Which is a lot.

“I wonder where Felixon is…”

Lizette-san stands on her tiptoes, trying to peek over the din of smiths all working hard.

It seems like Felixon isn’t the master of the forge, just a smith who works here.

H’ooh… so it really is more monster part blades in Ploids.

But… the method to make them isn’t exactly what I thought it would be.

Sure, there’s some people sharpening bones and fins and whatever, binding things together in a more sophisticated version of tribal-style weapons, but the majority of monster parts blades … …. …

You can melt bones?

What the heck?

How do you do that?

I mean, magic, yeah, but.

It must be because I only worked in Helward’s Forge, which completely specializes in magic ores, and was only interested in trying to perfect my abilities with magic ore, but I just realized I have NO idea how making blades with monster parts work!

I feel like I wasted a drake fin, completely.

I want to cry inside.

Looks like I know where I’m spending the rest of my time … dammit.

There’s the Forge exploration too.

Argh!

Dammit!

Fine, I’m just going to watch as hard as I can and try to steal the techniques now!

I trigger <Magic Sensory> and stare intensely.

Hm, I see.

It’s precision resonance, huh? So I’d have to match the materials magic frequency with a directly opposite one.

Ah, so I’ll have to be careful in selecting a material.

It seems like they then temper it with what basically looks like kneading dough with magic, then … … then it seems like there’s a lot of different things they can choose to do before they forge it into a blade.

Hm… wouldn’t it be more effective to layer the frequencies during the melting?

That might be interesting.

Since magic frequencies don’t work exactly like physical frequencies when you add or subtract them, it’s possible that I could find really interesting effects….

“Hello, Miss. We meet again.”

Hah-!

As I was deep in thought, someone came up to me and surprised me.

Oh, isn’t this the dwarf ojii-san that I saw earlier?

…Ah.

Then this is that forge from earlier?

I didn’t notice, since the Kartinez sisters brought me over through the back ways.

I guess that makes sense.

What was his name again?

Oh yeah.

“Hello, Graham-san. I’m just tagging along this time.”

I gesture at Andira-san and Lizette-san, but they’ve gone stiff for some reason.

?

“Oh, isn’t it Lowen’s daughters? What can I do for you?”

Graham-san smiled kindly at them, but they seem so nervous all of a sudden.

Those ossans did call him a blademaster… ah.

He must be the master of this forge, too.

And even if he’s not the official master, he’s gotta practically be the master of the forge.

“U-uh, well, we’re just here to see Felixon… …”

Eh?

Wasn’t it about being able to borrow forge facilities?

Wouldn’t it be better to ask Graham-san?

I feel like saying that, but it’s probably no good to step in and meddle with the sisters’ relationships with the other smiths in the city, so I just shrug as Graham-san directs an apprentice to go find Felixon.

“So, are you enjoying what you see?”

Graham-san asked, a twinkle in his eye.

The question is directed at me, of course.

“Ah, yeah. Unfortunately, my understanding of monster parts smithing seems to be pretty poor.”

“Kuku, well, you apprenticed at Helward’s, after all. It can’t be helped that you weren’t exposed to monster blades in Nyl. Most forges there don’t bother with monster parts except as additives, after all.”

“Haah… I wish someone had told me there was still so much to learn.”

I couldn’t help but complain bitterly about my waste of a drake fin.

Well, even if I complain, since I was using my crazy plasma way of forging, I had purposefully attempted to forge them without people seeing (although sometimes I’d still get caught), so …

After I finished complaining, I turned to Graham-san, expecting a rebuke, but his eyes were comically round as he stared at me.

“… Miss, there’s so many things I have to say about that, that I don’t even know where to start. First of all … you have an ice drake for materials? Second … you were capable of forming dragon fire without a magic furnace?”

“Well, yeah.”

Graham-san chuckled low before ramping up into full-blown laughter, drawing curious, and some jealous stares from the other smiths and apprentices that were within earshot.

“Kukuku, hahaha, FWAHAHA! Ah, Miss, you really are quite an anomaly, being able to induce dragon fire purely with you own magical power alone!”

… Yeah, I’m aware.

“…Ah, I see. So all that fuss today about rare materials, it was related to you, then? I see, if you’re someone who can adventure with the White Demon, then there’s little doubt that the rumors about the mountains of rare beasts is true. Was it just you and the White Demon who hunted them?”

“It was actually mostly me and one of my kinsmen.”

Ragnall did help, but the monsters in the Water Corridor pretty much ignored him, and we were there mostly to let Seimei-san let off some steam, so he held back.

“How impressive. An ice drake… how envious. Ah, it must have been quite a fight.”

Graham-san rubbed his beard as his eyes drifted into the distance.

…It was actually a pretty quick fight, practically a one-hit KO, but I guess I don’t have to destroy his imagination about it, so I’ll just let it go.

As I was quietly keeping that to myself, Graham-san continued.

“Ah, but it seems I’ll have to give Lowen’s daughters an apology. The young ones of this forge can be too reckless at times.”

Graham-san’s eyebrows furrowed.

So he not only knew about what had happened, he also had a pretty good idea of who was involved. But…

“It was something they did on their own, right? I don’t think it’s something Graham-san should apologize for.”

When I said that, Graham-san smiled bitterly.

“No, it is something I should apologize for, since I’m at the root of the problem. They were all hoping to get precious monster parts in order to curry favor with me, after all.”

“Ah…….”

Suddenly, the smiths’ reckless behavior made a lot more sense.

For one thing, that’s how they all found out about the materials; they overheard it somehow because Felixon works in the same forge.

Secondly, they weren’t expecting to Kartinez sisters to yield the materials to them, they were expecting them to feel privileged to yield the materials to one of the three blademasters in Ploids.

And thus, by getting the Kartinez sisters to give Graham-san rare materials, the smiths expected to be able to earn some side benefits.

So basically, they were acting like gangster grunts.

‘You want to make our Big Brother happy, right?’ or that kind of thing.

And since they were competing with each other, the smiths didn’t care that the materials technically belong to someone else, because in theory, even that someone else would understand why good materials should go to a good blademaster, and so, in theory, it should be easy to placate the owner of the materials after the fact.

An ask for forgiveness not permission way of thinking.

Well, they are all still idiots.

Hmph.

If I’m going to barter off my materials, I’M the one who’s going to get the benefits, okay?

“Speaking of which, if I give you enough drake materials for a sword…”

“… You would like me to teach you how to forge monster parts?”

I knew this old dwarf-san and I could get along splendidly.

Both of us had sparkling eyes as we look at each other for a moment, then shook hands firmly.

For 5kg of drake bone, 2kg of drake scales, and 3kg of drake hide, I got myself another swordsmith teacher~.

And, I’ll just say, there’s still a LOT of drake left, so I don’t feel like I’m losing out at all.

I mean, the ice drake was huge, probably over 30,000kg in weight.

Graham-san doesn’t feel like he’s losing out either, because even 1kg of drake parts can go for an astronomical price that would remain out of reach of most smiths, even if they saved all their earnings for most of their lives.

We’re talking about in the hundreds of millions.

It’s hard to find a drake, let alone kill one, after all.

Sightings tend to be counted by decades.

By the way, the smiths who were harassing the Kartinez sisters weren’t even after the drake materials, because that was something the sisters were smart enough to keep completely secret.

In other words, Graham-san got super rare materials unexpectedly, and all he has to do is teach me.

That said, since he’s a blademaster with some pride, he probably wouldn’t agree if he didn’t approve of me a little, at least.

“Let me see what you can do first, though.”

Huh?

I look over at Graham-san, who has a twinkle in his eye as he says that.

I think he might have some ulterior motives too… oh well.

I don’t mind showing him how I forge.

It’s not like anyone can replicate my methods, anyway.

—

Extra

The Kartinez sisters, the elder sister Andira and the younger sister Lizette, exchanged glances as they waited for the apprentice to call Felixon over.

“I thought Miss Jun and her sisters and Miss Hibiki just came into Ploids today,” Lizette-san said.

“… Yeah. I wonder how she knows Graham-san…”

Andira was just as mystified.

They weren’t confused that Jun knew OF Graham-san.

There weren’t many forgemasters in the world, and even fewer blademasters.

And the masters in the Labyrinth Cities were the most famous, partially due to their abilities and partially due to their accessibility for Unaffiliateds.

But for the girl to know Graham-san by face … or rather, it was downright odd that Graham-san knew HER by face.

Andira and Lizette shook the thoughts from their heads.

Anyway, right now she’s a client, so they should do their best to solve the current problems and make the best armor they could for her.

And there was Felixon now, coming over.

“Lizette-! I’m so sorry…”

It was pretty obvious exactly what relationship Lizette and Felixon had as he rushed over, not minding the grime and soot that was all over him as he grabbed Lizette by the hand, looking over worriedly.

Andira wanted to roll her eyes.

Could these two lovebirds not do this while she’s standing right here?

It’s already a bit of a sore spot for her that her younger sister had found a lover before her!

“We weren’t really talking about things quietly, so it can’t be helped.”

Lizette replied.

That was true.

Even if it was loud in the forge, they should have thought better of things when they had discussed renting a magi-furnace before.

After all, although they weren’t well-known among adventurers, the sisters’ skills were enough for ordinary smiths and armorcrafters to be wary of.

They were the daughters of a well-known armorsmith and had inherited his forge.

If they weren’t women, and if they weren’t so particular about armor appearances, they would have probably been looked up to by a large portion of armorcrafters in Ploids.

Jun wasn’t wrong in recognizing that their abilities were good.

Anyway, the OP cheat gamers were strong enough to not need the best armor available, and like Karin, the gamers are more fixated on appearances than the average adventurer.

Just, each of them might be focused on their armor appearances in different ways … regardless, Jun judged the sisters’ abilities to be good enough, and they paid particular attention to appearance, comfort, and lack of wardrobe malfunctions.

Anyway, due to their abilities, the sisters had a decent magi-furnace and the necessary tools for most armorcrafting themselves, even if their facilities are on the small side, but there was no way their workshop could compare to the abilities of the facilities in one of the most prestigious forges in the city.

It couldn’t be helped that a few ears in the surroundings had perked up when they came asking to rent some of the facilities.

It couldn’t be helped that it was easy for a few of those ears to work out that they had rare materials that couldn’t be processed easily by normal magi-furnaces.

“I’m really sorry… even though we had decided that we’d discuss the payment in materials after you discussed it with the actual owners of the materials… I couldn’t stop those guys from acting up.”

Although he was a proper smith of descent standing at the forge, Felixon was still on the young side and wouldn’t have been able to restrain the others with his authority or reputation alone.

All of it really just couldn’t be helped.

Andira scratched the back of her head.

“It’s fine. But we wanted to try to finalize the deal now, so it won’t happen again. We did bring the owner of the materials along this time … hm? She didn’t follow us?”

Both Andira and Lizette looked around.

They had just assumed Miss Jun would follow them… but they didn’t really say anything about it…

“…Did she stay behind to talk with Master Graham? Seriously, just what kind of relationship do they have?”

Andira wondered aloud.

“?”

Felixon tilted his head curiously, but before he could ask, a commotion erupted from a part of the forge – the part where the highest rankings smiths worked.

Specifically, Graham-san’s area.

“…What is going on?”

Felixon says, noticing many apprentices and lower-ranked smiths abandoning their posts to watch the commotion.

A few minutes later… …

“… So your client is also a smith?”

Felixon’s lips twitched as he asked.

“… I’m not sure that’s within the realm of smithing anymore, though…”

Lizette said.

“… … …”

Andira, on the other hand, said nothing out of shock.

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<a/n: It seems unrealistic that Jun wouldn’t have encountered any monster blade forging in Nyl, but just roll with it. This is the story of plotholes after all~. Sorry.>