Welcome to the Golem Commotion (8)
“Forty-eight…? One more knife, huh?” I asked after hearing the guard captain’s words. The knives I’d collected at the scene totaled forty-seven. It wasn’t fifty because I’d smashed several during the fight.
“Yes. We investigated the combat site and found one more, so I placed it inside the armor.”
“Ah, thank you. What did they say about how to use it?”
“It can hold knives twenty centimeters or shorter, up to thirty kilograms total, in the inner pocket. You can retrieve them by hand or with Puppetry magic.”
“Excellent.” I was genuinely impressed by its performance. It really was excellent. Subspace pockets were high-difficulty magic, so manufacturing them as magic items wasn’t easy.
They must have limited the function to lower the production difficulty.
That didn’t mean this armor was cheap, though. On the contrary, it was probably expensive enough that even if you paid in gold coins, you wouldn’t get much change.
“The ownership transfer is complete, I assume?”
“Yes. It is now legally and completely yours, Mr. Wayne. Congratulations.”
“It’s nothing. I owe it all to you guys.”
While I spoke humbly, my hands moved quickly to snatch up the armor. It was unbelievably light for something that could hold forty-eight knives.
Hehe. Gotta give this to Franc!
This was an item Larilura couldn’t claim ownership over even if she tried. She had helped midway, but I was the one who took down Anasiss from start to finish. Honestly, in our party, I was the only one who could crush that insane knife-wielding psycho bitch without dying.
The only worry was whether Franc might feel reluctant to use something that belonged to that psycho child-abusing amputee woman. In games you could loot the sword of a psycho great demon who had Thanos-snapped the world and use it without hesitation, but in reality it wouldn’t be easy to happily wield a tool previously used by a child murderer.
“Thank you! Nord!”
Fortunately, Franc didn’t seem to mind at all. When I handed her the armor after parting with the guard captain, she was purely delighted. Feeling a little concerned, I told her,
“Franc. If it feels off, you don’t have to force yourself to use it.”
“No. Weapons don’t carry any sin. I don’t want to copy Anasiss’s exact tactics, but I’ll come up with my own way to use them properly.”
“Aigo. Our Franc really is kind. There, there.”
“Hehe. I’m always the one receiving from Nord.”
“Hey now. What are you saying? I get to receive your love every single day for free—something other men couldn’t buy even with a million gold. This kind of magic item doesn’t even cover a day’s interest.”
I declared it firmly while hugging the angelic Franc and vigorously stroking her back. All the while, Larilura watched our display with ice-cold eyes.
“Um~? Could you two please refrain from your lovey-dovey acts while leaving me completely out~? I feel like a strand of seaweed just drifting on the ocean surface, you know~?”
“Ah, that’s called ‘being salty.’ It’s an emotion only solo people with cold flanks experience.”
“Ahaha. When I’m with senior~ I learn so muuuch Britannia language I’ve never heard or seen before~?”
“If you’re going to laugh, laugh with your eyes too. Don’t just lift the corners of your mouth.”
Anyway, this magic item set was a huge score. For our Franc, the trajectory-changing knives and the knife-storage item were a perfect combination.
I let go of Franc and said,
“With this, our work in Heisvent is finished. I’m planning to head back to Sargadis starting today. Anyone have any remaining business?”
“Ah! About that! How about we take a carriage back today?!”
“A carriage?”
“Yes! We earned a ton of money, after all☆!”
Larilura counted on her fingers with obvious pride.
“Plus if we walk back we’ll only arrive in the evening, right? Then after listening to the guild’s report, gathering information, and organizing it, we’d waste another whole day for nothing. Total time waste♡!”
“Isn’t it just that you don’t have the confidence to control Ringring Number Three the entire way back?”
“That’s true buuut! Going back alone would be so lonely!”
The fake tears were obvious, so stop crying, kid. I chuckled at Larilura’s cutesy crying performance.
“Fine, let’s do that. It won’t cost much anyway. Oh, are you two going to say goodbye to Rozanna?”
“Nope. We already did last time, so it’s fine. I don’t want to make her cry again☆!”
“I’m good too. Beynya said clean farewells are better. What about you, Nord? Don’t you need to say goodbye to Erika?”
“Ah, that’s right! Erika wanted to say goodbye!”
“I’ll pass. Meeting as Arthur Wayne would be awkward, and there’s barely any connection as Nord.”
A suspicious masked guy versus the uncle she played with for a day. It was a fucking gold-tier balance of getting railed by a gay guy versus getting railed by a gay guy. There wouldn’t be any conversation after “Thank you.”
“It’d just make the atmosphere awkward, so I’ll skip it.”
“Really~ Senior can’t be helped! Then I’ll go instead and at least pass on the message!”
Larilura said, pressing a V-sign to her eyes.
“I’ll reserve the carriage while I’m at it! I’ll come to the inn where you two are staying later, so wait for me~?”
“I’ll stop by the Mage Guild too, so take your time.”
“Okaaay~!”
---Dada-da!
She answered nicely but immediately sprinted off. Did she not understand the meaning of “take your time”? I should have said it in Romanian.
“Nord. You’re going to buy materials for the enchantment magic, right? Let’s go together.”
Franc said while taking my hand. Ah, skinship as daily life. So fucking nice. I interlaced my fingers with hers.
But why does she look like a mother following her troublemaker son on an errand? Is she worried I’ll cause another incident the moment she takes her eyes off me? It’s exactly the same look my mother gave me when I said I was moving into a dorm.
Mom. Your son has achieved even numbers with mothers in this fantasy otherworld......
Please forgive your only son, whose fiery filial piety rivals Fire Fist Ace. I’ll come visit again soon. I renewed my firm resolve to one day bring Franc back to my family.
When I returned from the Mage Guild after purchasing the alchemical solution, Larilura had also come back to the inn. For some reason she was wearing a mask.
“What’s wrong? Were you being followed?”
“Sniff. No. My makeup ran……”
After a tearful farewell with Erika, when Larilura removed her mask her makeup was a total mess.
“Erika said that someday she’ll definitely become a bard and come find us…. So as a wish for me to work hard without getting hurt, I gave her one of the knives I use during my circus performances……”
“Don’t cry, Priscilla.”
“Huaaang, Sister Franc…… Don’t call me by my real name……”
“There, there.”
---Pat pat.
Larilura buried herself in Franc’s arms and was comforted. I watched while dropping the golem core into my pocket and crushing it with Franc’s hammer.
So this is that slug thing or whatever.
---Thud thud, crush crush.
I poured the powdered golem core into an alchemical solution that resembled an ink pot. Once the ink was used up, adjusting the concentration would be difficult. So I poured the ink into a small bowl we had bought together and dissolved the golem core powder in it.
“Kheung. Ahem. So, Sister Franc. Have you tried on that armor?”
“Yes. But it was really tight around the chest. So I asked at the guild about the magic circle’s position and roughly learned how to process it.”
“Wow…… Really? I’m so jealous of your queen boobs, sister……”
“Wa, queen…?! Um, Larilura? ‘Boobs’ isn’t exactly a common expression in Britannia language, you know?”
While processing the ink I reflexively muttered at those words.
“Franc’s boobs, the best boobs in all of Britannia……”
“Nord!”
“Ah, sorry.”
I just couldn’t hold it in. It was a fact. In my entire life I had never seen breasts larger than Franc’s. Therefore, as her boyfriend, I could call myself a co-owner of a world cultural heritage site.
---Glance.
When the scolded me looked away, Franc let out a sigh. Then she asked Larilura,
“Larilura. Isn’t there some kind of trick to Puppetry magic? Manipulating the knives turned out to be quite difficult.”
“Sorry. I’ve never considered using Puppetry with knives, so I don’t really know what that sensation feels like. If you’re practicing the Puppetry spell itself, I can help you with that?”
“I’ll ask for that later. For now I want to focus on other things first.”
Franc said this while looking at me. She must have been talking about mana awakening. I nodded.
“By the way, what is senior doing?”
Larilura, still firmly in Franc’s embrace, asked. She clearly had no intention of leaving that spot. Our girlfriend’s maternal, breast-filled embrace was a 20th-century museum that returned anyone held within it to their boyhood.
“I’m turning it into a magic item with enchantment magic. You know, the one I learned from that book you saw too.”
“You mean Lord Crown Crown’s book? Senior~ Can I borrow it later too~?”
“Are you going to learn enchantment magic as well?”
“I’m not particularly interested in it, but it’s fan curiosity~♥”
She was showing her fangirl colors. I nodded.
“Sure. I’ll lend it to you later.”
“Yay♡! Ah, but what are you doing right now? Are you putting mana into the ink~?”
“Yeah. I heard magic items are divided into ones that store mana in advance and ones that use the wearer’s own mana, so I’m making it the rechargeable type.”
Anasiss’s knives were the latter, and Tabula’s mask was the former.
I had never felt any mana from Tabula’s mask until now.
At first I found that strange, but after rolling my elite brain around a bit, I quickly figured it out.
Well, it’s a stealth item. If mana leaked out, what would be the point?
It would be no different from an assassin walking around while wearing perfume. Upon checking, the reverse ᚲ (Kenaz) also hid the mana’s presence as an additional stealth effect. That was why I couldn’t sense the mana dwelling within it even though it was a mana-charging type.
My own awakening of the ᚲ (Kenaz) rune could be explained the same way. The mask must have absorbed my mana to charge itself, causing the rune’s mana to react inside me.
“Anyway, this completes it.”
I said as I painted the ᚲ (Kenaz) rune onto the engraved section of Franc’s mask. This way it wouldn’t get erased.
The rune absorbed my mana. The entire mask began flashing with emerald-green energy.
“Ooh…… Oh?”
I widened my eyes to exclaim in admiration but stopped. It was taking longer than expected. Why is it taking so long, fuck. At this rate I’ll turn into a grandma.
---Whoosh!
The mask finally finished absorbing and returned to its original color. I checked that the rune didn’t erase when touched, then handed it to Franc.
“Franc. Try it on.”
“Okay.”
---Click.
Franc put on the mask as instructed. I focused my mind and blocked the mana flowing into it.
---Whoosh.
Even so, Franc’s presence blurred exactly like when I had used the rune. It had begun functioning as a magic item.
Larilura threw her arms up and shouted brightly.
“It worked☆! Congratulations!”
“Hehe. Rune magic has a relatively low difficulty even among enchantment spells.”
Other magics required additional processing, so they consumed more materials and were harder to create. But rune magic was originally activated by ‘carving’! If even a hobgoblin bastard could carve runes on the ceiling and use them, there was no reason I couldn’t do the same.
At my words, Franc took off the mask and smiled.
“Thank you, Nord. I’ll use it well.”
“Please do. But be careful, okay? The materials are cheap, so even if I fill it completely with mana it won’t last half a day.”
It couldn’t be helped because it was a weak golem core. But if that was the case, just how expensive were the materials used in Tabula’s mask? As expected, even though I could now use rune enchantment magic, this mask was too valuable to throw away. The same went for Anasiss’s clothes that Franc would use. It seemed better in many ways to process them later, change their appearance, and keep using them.
“Ah, so Larilura? When is the carriage reservation?”
“Two hours left. We can relax a little more☆!”
“Two hours? Then let’s enjoy the room a bit longer before checking out.”
And so we savored the beds of the fifteen-copper-per-night inn, then returned to Sargadis around lunchtime. We had only been away a few days, yet for some reason it felt like we were coming back after a long time.