Chapter 32: The Sword and The Magic Light

「So, when I went deeper, I found a hole in the wall of the cave, and I found a room.」

「Is that the cause? What happened inside? 」

The next morning I went to report what happened inside the cave to Ginta-san. We sat at a table in the fuel shop. Originally, this table was set for business negotiations, but it seemed most customers of the fuel shop that used this table were regular guests.

However, I had never seen anyone use it frequently.

At first, I thought I’d go to the Coal Mining Association, however, I didn’t know about its location. Therefore, I went to the fuel shop and was able to call him straightaway.

「I found magic light, human bones, a sword, and a report. A monster appeared while I explored the room. But I defeated it, so is it okay for me to have the spoils?」

「…Oh, well, that room is not mine, so the contents of that room are also yours, because I am just paying for the coalmine itself as a common property. I just want to know about what you’ve found in there.」

Ginta-san thought for a moment and then responded.

Perhaps, that was the case. I took everything from the item box and lined it up on the table.

I took the Wisp Core too.

「This sword has a shape I’ve never seen. It’s slender, but the blade is long, and I feel like it will break if I shake it firmly. Is it really a sword or something that imitates one?」

「I don’t know what type of sword it is, but it seems that the sharpness will improve if I insert magical power. So I will use it from now on.」

I had not seen the sharpness after inserting magical power, but it was safe to say that the addition of magical power had some sort of effect.

「I see. It won’t be good if it breaks suddenly during battle, so check the strength for the time being. Anyway, is this magic stone a magic light? It’s shining but it’s not too dazzling…」

Ginta-san changed the subject and continued to speak.

「…Hmm…and this thing looks like a paper book…Is this an artifact? 」

「I feel so yes. The performance of this sword is not at the level of any other sword, and this report is also written in a different language.」

I said that while pointing to the report. The paper didn’t seem to have deteriorated so much when I turned it over. It looked like Washi* paper.

「Can I take a look? 」

Ginta-san turned the page without waiting for my answer.

「I don’t know this language…Wait a minute. You said this paper book was a report. How did you know this is a report?」

「Ah… 」

I got careless. I completely forgot that I could not even read the title, and yet, I told him it was a report.

I should have just lied to him, but now it was too late. What should I do?

「Well, the format of the writing is similar to the reports I know. 」

「I feel a bit confused. How can you know the format when you can’t even read it? It actually looks like a diary except that it is written with unknown characters.」

I dug my grave. Sure, it felt like a diary format with the date, weather, and content.

It couldn’t be helped though, so I decided to be honest.

「Yes, I can read it, and it describes a dragon somehow. I just didn’t want to get in trouble.」

「Hmm…I see. You don’t have to worry for now, but if you didn’t intend to go that way, you should have to hide it well. If it turns out that you can read an ancient language, a solicitation from the country will come, and if you refuse, there’s a high probability that you’ll be abducted.」

Was it a high probability? And I was the one who discovered the secret room, and uncovered what was written on the report. Sure, perhaps, I should have just hidden it.

Would it be better for Ginta-san if I were to be abducted? Mainly in terms of patent fees.

Anyway, I thanked him for being honest with me. It would be bad if the information were sold to the country like this.

「Yes, thank you for your advice. 」

「Well, I am not sure about the sword, but this magic light is not so rare among artifacts. It is one of the most common artifacts, but since it is the original and the performance is high, you could sell it if you become in need of money. If not, you could use it for yourself.」

Was it not a rare artifact after all?

「By the way, how much would it cost if I sell it? 」

「It would cost a house of a reasonable size built outside the royal capital. 」

It wasn’t a loss. As expected, artifacts, rare or not, were at a different league.

By the way, what about the Wisp Core? I decided to call it a black stone. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

「By the way, what is this black stone? It came out of the black monster that suddenly appeared while I was exploring the room.」

「A black monster with this sort of artifact? Is it a Wisp? It’s not something you can defeat by yourself. What did it look like?」

「Eh… The outline was blurry. The sword and magic didn’t work, and it was a large monster with six legs.」

「…You’re not joking, right? The famous feature of Wisp is the number of legs and the blurry and black outline… Is this black stone a Wisp magic stone? If that’s the case, a castle can be built with it.」

A castle, huh…It meant the Wisp Core was a dangerous thing. Reasons to be targeted by some country would be added more and more.

What would happen if a national spy were listening to our conversation? This place had no soundproof magic tool.

「What is a Wisp magic stone? Is it strong? 」

「It’s not strong by itself, but you can exert a mass of power through the Wisp magic stone after accumulating magic power into an attacking magic tool, when used to defeat a Wisp.」

Was it like a magical version of a headphone amplifier?

It might be like fusing hydrogen with a fission bomb.

「Well, by the way, how do you defeat a Wisp correctly? 」

「I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard that it’s possible to freeze the air with an artifact boosted with a Wisp magic stone. I’m not sure about the details. If there were another way to defeat it, it would be a big discovery.」

Freeze the opponent with the icing air and the opponent would die. Was it like this?

「I beat him to death with my bare hands. 」

「Hmm… I don’t think a Wisp will die from that… But when someone found icy burn marks on a Wisp, I certainly heard that the discoverer collapsed due to an excess of magical power. Was that the cause?」

A Wisp had a high possibility of being a mass of magic. However, this story was dangerous in various ways. What should I do?

「I feel like I am going to be chased around by various entities once this is found out. Can you keep this information a secret…?」

「Yes, I will keep it a secret. I’m not going to betray your trust. 」

Yeah, a good person saved me. If Ginta-san was a bad person, I might have been forced to read old documents aloud in a dark basement somewhere for some time.

「The report is over. Is there anything else I can do right now? 」

「No, nothing in particular. If the coalmine returns to its original state, it will be possible to return to the mining system of the heyday within a month. Depending on the demand, it may be possible to dig more.」

「By the way, what are you going to do with the coke market? 」

「I’m looking for a buyer right now. It seems that the production system is not very well prepared yet, but it is already competing for another high-performance blacksmith fuel.」

It seemed that the purpose was a little different from the original plan, but there was no problem with selling well.

I did not see a problem by competing with other fuels in order to raise the reputation of coke.

「I understand. I’m going to leave this town after I have my weapon, but I’ll come back to pick up the patent fee in my spare time.」

I wanted to see various things. It would be a waste to stay in one place when I came to another world.

「You don’t have to do that. We have services that can account your patent fee within other branches. Of course, transferring money would be expensive because of taxes and fees. But with this method, you won’t need to come here every time to get your sum.」

I haven’t heard about it before. It was natural that taxes would be applied.

There were no taxes in the Adventurer’s Guild, but they were probably deducted from the very beginning.

「Is that so? I can receive it at a different destination, huh. That’s good news. Would it be okay overseas too」

「Foreign and National Guilds are half-independent but connected to some extent, usually you can withdraw a sum, but in your case, I don’t think it will work, do you know why?」

Was it because the patent could only be used in this country? Not releasing it abroad also meant that you could not receive support from abroad.

It seemed that other patents were also one-on-one. So there were many cases where foreign countries were not involved in such arrangements.

「Okay. For the time being, you can invest my share until you no longer need capital investment. Afterwards, I will request my money to send on my direction every time I need it. 」

「I thank you for that. I will do so. 」

「Well then. I will leave now. 」

I left the fuel shop and headed for the weaponry shop. It wouldn’t be strange if my weapon was completed today. I also wanted to know about this special sword. I wondered if the blacksmith knew about all kinds of swords.

When I entered the workshop, I saw Sumizu-san nearby. He didn’t seem to be busy.

「Excuse me. I picked up a new weapon during an adventure that seems to be an artifact. Can you see what it looks like?」

「Yeah, leave it to me. Show me. 」

I took out the sword.

「It seems this sword increases its proficiency by inserting magical power. 」

Sumizu-san yelled at me after I spoke.

「Put that weapon on the ground right now! Let’s talk about it later! That thing is extremely dangerous!」

…Eh. Was the sword that dangerous? Was it a cursed weapon?

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*Washi (和紙) is a decorative paper of a kind traditionally handmade in Japan. Washi is generally tougher than ordinary paper made from wood pulp, and is used in many traditional arts.

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