Chapter 22: The Feast and The Steel Plate

「Sumisa has been saved! Let’s have a feast! Bring the ale! …Hmm? A customer? I’m sorry, but the workshop is closed today. Come back tomorrow.」

Sumisa-chan’s father forbid me from entering his workshop.

Did the shop owner who was the parent of the girl I have saved just ignore me? Was there a possibility that such a thing would occur in modern Japan?

Of course not. No doubt about it. Dwarves had a habit of expelling humans straightaway.

I had no choice but to leave it for tomorrow. Therefore, I decided to find an inn.

However, I had no idea where to search for a good place to sleep. Should I ask the guard?

When I went to the gate, I saw the guard. He was the same guard that checked my Guild card before. He was friendlier now than before.

「Is your equipment request going well? 」

「Ah… I think I will take care of it tomorrow. In fact, I could not even enter the workshop…」

「Hmm? You could not enter the workshop? Did you bargain or something?」

I did not even say what I wanted, let alone bargaining.

「No. Sumisa-chan’s father left before I could say anything. I remember her father saying, “Let’s have a feast!”」

「Sumisa-chan’s father, huh. Did you talk about the magic-related material? Well, there is no problem. Actually, several people here wanted to express their gratitude to you for saving Sumisa-chan. So I was asked to invite you to attend the feast at Sumizu-san’s house. What will you do?」

A dwarves’ feast…

When it came to games, dwarves had a strong gusto for alcohol. But what should I do in this world? I bet it would be a feast full of ale and drunk dwarves. That made me feel uneasy.

In the original world, I was neither strong nor weak when it came to alcohol, but what about now? I could run without getting tired, but the amount of food I could eat did not change. I was not sure if it was okay to try alcohol in this world.

Participating in the feast was the best option now, whether I liked it or not. Maybe I could ask Sumizu-san to process my weapons and armors as well.

「I will go. 」

「I see. Do you know the location? Just say who you are. So, all you have to do is go in and show the Guild card to someone nearby who doesn’t seem to be drunk. That should help.」

「Okay, I understand. I’ll go now. 」

I decided to go in the end…

He talked about a magic-related material. Was the skin armor of the Metal Lizard a magic-related material? It felt rather physical than magical to me.

I went to the workshop. The door was unlocked. When I entered the workshop, I noticed a door on the side and I could hear a voice from there. When I entered, I saw Sumizu-san.

「Excuse me. I’ve been invited to the feast. 」

「Ah? You’re the customer from a while ago, aren’t you? Are you perhaps the adventurer Kaede? Actually, I haven’t thanked you properly. You sure are delicate-looking for an adventurer, but thank you for saving my daughter.」

Why did he recognize me now, and not a while ago?

…Anyway, Sumizu-san talked to me. I did not feel like he was drunk because of the lack of alcohol smell on his breath.

Sumisa-chan seemed to be drinking with the women in the back. I did not know if she was drinking ale or juice.

「Yes, no problem. I also use magic even though I’m an adventurer. But I must confess that I haven’t trained my body that much.」

I spoke those words as I showed my Guild card.

「Did you come to my workshop to use magic? Wait. Are you looking for my Sumisa?」

Sumizu-san’s dusty-looking eyes looked at me with suspicion. I tried to clarify the reason why I came to his workshop.

「No, actually… 」

「Sure, Sumisa’s staffs are often good, but if you want a standard staff, you won’t have to bother yourself to order it. Or do you want something special?」

…I thought there would be a problem, but he just mentioned the staff.

「No, I also use a sword. In fact, I defeated a Metal Lizard. I have it in the item box, but I want you to use it to make me a sword and armor. I heard that the processing fee is high, and I believe the money I have is insufficient. However, I also heard that you can buy the Metal Lizard Metal; so perhaps, we can negotiate a price given this condition.」

I wondered if I were bargaining by lowering the processing fee with the skin armor trade…

「Oh, you have the Metal Lizard Metal. Of course, I can buy the skin armor of the Metal Lizard. But how much do you have? Do you have 100 kg or so in your item box?」

「No, I have the whole corpse. My item box has a large capacity and the Metal Lizard I have is the one I defeated by myself.」

「You defeated the Metal Lizard by yourself, huh. If you really did it by yourself, then that means you’re strong. If so, then I don’t know why you need a sword when you are already strong enough. You must have your reasons. I will process what you need by buying the skin armor. Okay then, now just drink!」

With that said, Sumizu-san gave me a wooden mug taken out from somewhere and poured ale onto it. I drank it all at once, as I was told. The alcohol percentage seemed to be high, but I did not feel drunk. I drank hard as they told me to, but I felt no sign of getting drunk.

A few hours later, I saw many drunk people sleeping in the room.

I was not drunk, but I fell asleep because there was no reason to be awake. By the way, humans in this world did not seem to vomit even if they got drunk. There were women too, so I was glad I didn’t have to watch them vomit.

—

The next morning. When I woke up with the sound of a bell, I saw that other people were already working around me.

I could hear the sound of hitting iron from the workshop.

I didn’t see Sumizu-san, but I decided to see his workshop. Sumizu-san seemed to have given instructions to other people at the workshop.

When I finally saw him, I called him out.

「Excuse me, what should I do with the Metal Lizard? 」

「Oh, the Metal Lizard, yes. I set up a large processing place yesterday, so I will process it for the time being, follow me.」

He told me to follow him, so I followed him. It seemed that other 5 people were following him too. I arrived at a wide area surrounded by low walls. However, the ground was made of stone and no grass grew.

「This is the place to handle the big guy. This place is just a dismantling place where I use occasionally. To be honest, I never thought of a means to store big monsters up to this point. Please put it here for the time being.」

With that said, Sumizu-san pointed to the middle of the area. I put the Metal Lizard in there.

「Well then, I will start processing it. By the way, if you defeated the Metal Lizard, it means that you can use several types of magic, am I right. Can you use Fire Magic?」

Sumizu-san opened the mouth of the Metal Lizard while asking me that question.

「Yes, I can use it, but why do you ask?」

「Is this your first time witnessing a processing of the Metal Lizard? It is difficult or impossible to remove the skin armor if we leave it as it is. We can only process the skin armor if we burn the insides first. That way, the skin armor can be easily separated into several parts.」

Did they dismantle it in such a way?

Aside from the legs, the armor around the back that resembled a steel plate seemed to exceed 100 kg quite easily. While thinking about it, I created a fireball and thrusted it into the Metal Lizard’s mouth.

The Metal Lizard started to burn firmly throughout the insides. I didn’t create a huge fireball, but the burning had a lot of momentum.

「You have an amazing magical power. If you can shoot fire like this at that speed, then I should say that your prowess is at least from the B-rank. You might even reach A-rank in no time. No wonder that you could defeat the Metal Lizard by yourself. If you are this strong, why do you need a new sword and armor?」

「I can use magic, but since I act solo, you can’t use magic directly at an enemy without guarding oneself. I own a wand of about 20 cm long. To be honest, even if my magic power is at a practical level, it feels more convenient to fight with the sword while using magic at the same time. The armor also serves as an avant-garde and a rear-guard defense. Besides, if I have a armor, my focus won’t be disturbed, which is good.」

「Well, I haven’t heard of such fighting style before, but it doesn’t look like you’re lying. Did you say that your wand is 20 cm long? That’s quite short. What kind of material did you use for your wand?」

「Well, I bought from a store in Ain, so…」

「Hmm, if you don’t know, perhaps it is made from iron core or copper leather. These materials are used for beginners, you know. Actually, it might cost you a lot of money, but you can make your wand faster, did you know? …Oh, it looks like the insides have burn.」

When I noticed it, the corpse of the Metal Lizard collapsed. Several metal parts were piled up on the ground. Yet, those metal parts looked different from when they were as a skin. Did they shrink? They seemed to round up when heated as well.

The skin armor that resembled a steel plate on the back looked like a one-piece. Still, it seemed to be actually a rectangular armor plate of about 50 cm x 70 cm attached to its back. It looked easy to use.

It seemed that all of those pieces were still very hot, so I waited for them to cool down before touching them. Meanwhile, I continued to talk about the wand.

「Does the magic speed change depending on the material of the wand?」

「Yeah, that’s right. But, you have to ask Sumisa for more details, because Sumisa is more familiar with wands and staffs. I specialize in weapons and metal armor. Especially at our house. Our main materials are materials that require magical processing. So we often collaborate with wizards and witches.」

By the way, I remembered something. I wanted to know what was magical about the Metal Lizard.

「I don’t see any magical elements in the Metal Lizard armor, but why do you need magical processing?」

「Ah, if you hit them as they are, metal pieces won’t bend even if we heat them up. So that’s when the magic tools come into play. You don’t touch it with your hands, just process it with a magically insulated tool, and then put in magical power, the metal piece will return to its original hardness.」

Did they process it in such a way? Did that mean that the metal pieces do not bend even when heated? Did they know about thermal expansion*?

「That sounds like a lot of work. Is there anything I can do to help?」

「No, it’s a task that requires a lot of experience, so I can’t leave it to an amateur. Is it okay to pay about 2 kg from the extra material including the armor?」

「It’s okay. By the way, is it fine to use the Metal Lizard Metal when making a wand?」

「There’s no problem, the performance will surely increase. It takes maybe 1 week or more to process a wand if you truly want a new one. Can you explain it to Sumisa in the meantime?」

Apparently, the negotiations were concluded.

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*Increase in linear dimensions of a solid or in volume of a fluid because of rise in temperature.

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