The Blacksmith's True Worth
The sword repair was finished in no time.
Lulu had simply gathered the materials she said she needed, hammered away with her usual *clink-clink-clink*, and declared it done.
It always looks so easy when a true artisan does it, but trying it yourself reveals just how difficult it really is.
That alone showed how exceptional Lulu’s skills were.
I picked up the repaired sword and left a message on the marketplace.
The repair was complete, so they could pay the balance and come pick it up.
But there was no reply. It seemed the claim that they’d use the weapon in place of a deposit had been genuine.
‘Well, they’ll answer once they see it.’
Since they said they liked the sword, we’d have to negotiate the price anyway. They were the ones who needed it more, so they’d reach out first.
All I had to do was wait.
So, to kill some time and satisfy a question I’d been curious about, I asked,
“Hey, Lulu. Even weak people get stronger when they wear high-grade gear, right? If I used equipment you made, how strong could I become?”
“Hmm… Since the lord is so frail, if you wore gear on the same level as what Lady Siren helped me make earlier… you’d probably be able to handle a pack of regular orcs.”
“Regular orcs, you mean?”
“That’s right. Mutated ones would be too much.”
A regular orc was 3rd grade.
Since I was currently 2nd grade, that meant I could take on something one rank higher.
The gear she’d just made was 9th grade, but when I asked why it felt too stingy, she replied that with my current ability, I wouldn’t be able to draw out its full power anyway.
To summarize: the weapon’s attack power was enough to slice through something around 5th grade with my strength.
If I managed a surprise attack and cut a 5th-grade monster, I might win—but of course, the monsters wouldn’t just stand still.
Since they’d dodge all my slow attacks, the realistic cutoff was around 3rd grade.
And more importantly, she said defense was the real issue.
Up to 3rd grade I’d be fine, but from 4th grade onward, the internal shock would become dangerous.
Even if the armor absorbed ninety percent of the impact, the remaining ten percent would still be enough to injure me.
No matter how good the armor was, it couldn’t absorb every last bit of force, so it made sense.
“Ah~! Lord! In that case, if Lulu and I process the hide from the Big-Mouth Saw I caught last time, we could probably make something that would shrug off attacks of a similar grade!”
“Oh~! We still had that? Lulu, can you work with leather too?”
“Well… sure, I can tan hides. But Big-Mouth Saw? I’m not too familiar with sea monsters…”
“Asne caught one. Asne, can you bring it right now?”
“Yes! I’ll fetch it right away, my lord!”
It was the creature that had dropped an 11th-grade giant master stone.
If we could make equipment from its hide and bones, it would surely turn out to be something excellent.
Leaving the puzzled Lulu behind, Asne stepped outside.
Soon she returned, floating the hide and bones wrapped in water through the air.
“Hiiiik…!? Th-this… isn’t this a water dragon?!”
The massive hide had been preserved along with its skeletal structure.
It looked like ordinary leather at first glance, but up close it was covered in incredibly fine, densely packed scales.
The moment she saw it, Lulu recognized exactly what it was.
“What? I thought you said you didn’t know much about sea monsters?”
“I’ve handled this kind of hide once before, so I recognized it immediately! So this is what they call a Big-Mouth Saw…”
“You’ve never seen one in person? It really does look exactly like the name suggests.”
“It may be a lesser dragon, but it’s still a water dragon! The ones that reached me had already been butchered elsewhere, so this is the first time I’ve seen one intact!”
“Just how many powerhouses are there in your world that they can hunt things like this?”
Its roar alone had frozen me in place from far away.
There were also the Empire’s knights who had wiped out the Snow Leopard tribe, which included 9th-grade warriors.
“Those capable of slaying such beasts are few and far between even in our world! I heard the one sent to me came at great cost.”
“Hmm… I see. That’s somewhat reassuring.”
“You said Lady Siren caught this one? Well, if it’s Lady Siren, she could probably take down not just a lesser dragon, but even a superior one…”
It seemed that even in their original world, Asne had been in a league of her own.
The fact that someone like her was now one of my territory’s residents felt incredibly fortunate.
“Well… just make the equipment without pushing yourself too hard. I’m heading back to the house.”
Since Asne was going to work on my gear together with Lulu, I was about to ask Lei or Ruin to fly me home, but Asne said she’d take me back and forth herself.
It was a rare chance to be carried in the arms of a Black-winged woman, but it looked like I’d have to pass.
Once I got home, I had nothing particular to do, so I washed up again and lay on the bed to check the internet.
“Hm? Kang Su-jeong?”
It was currently eleven o’clock.
Yet the internet was flooded with articles about Kang Su-jeong.
The general gist was something like: *Korea’s Rank 1 Hunter overcomes recent poor condition!*
Her weapon had been broken, so it was no wonder her condition had suffered.
Now that she had a new weapon in hand, she must have shaken it off.
If articles like this were coming out, she had probably been running dungeons or gates.
When I checked my status window, I found a message waiting.
The top one said she had paid the repair fee and taken back her original weapon.
I’d told her to pay a reasonable amount, but she had sent 500,000 gold.
Lulu had only spent a few minutes hammering away, yet I’d earned five billion won.
“Just doing this much would let me live comfortably, wouldn’t it?”
There were also messages from Kang Su-jeong lavishing praise on the mithril longsword Lulu had made.
She said that since I was running the shop anonymously, I might need powerful backing, and offered to become that backer herself. She had a lot to say.
Honestly, the combat power of Korea’s number one hunter didn’t interest me much.
Both Mino and Miya were 9th grade like her, and Asne was on an entirely different level.
However, in terms of recognition and influence, Kang Su-jeong would be very helpful.
A single well-placed word from her could send my nameless forge soaring into the spotlight.
But I didn’t want that kind of attention.
It would only bring more work.
It was better to have a few solid, high-profile customers like her.
So I replied and simply asked her to mention it only to trustworthy people around her.
She immediately understood and said she would only introduce it to those she could vouch for.
“Even though she’s Rank 1, she really has a good personality.”
She was the type of person whose pride was actually charming.
Yet when I looked at our chat, she was incredibly polite.
That should be the norm, but in today’s world, people like her were rare.
It put me in a strangely good mood.
She was currently offering 8,000,000 gold as payment for the weapon, saying even that seemed insufficient and that she would sell off some of her accumulated assets to give more. I had to stop her.
Honestly, a 9th-grade weapon? It was insanely good.
But was it really worth 8,000,000 gold—800 billion won? I wasn’t sure.
The average price for 9th-grade weapons on the marketplace was only 2,000,000 gold.
No matter how top-quality it was, how well-balanced, or how it was made from a single piece of mithril so the edge would never dull, it still felt excessively expensive.
If Lulu had poured her heart and soul into it, maybe, but she had simply followed my request for a plain, ordinary appearance.
Still, since she insisted on paying, refusing felt awkward, so I simply told her that amount was more than enough.
“Wow… she even gave me every rare material she had…”
In exchange for the 8,000,000 gold she said was everything she currently possessed, along with her special materials, the mithril longsword became hers.
She also added one more commission.
She said she would diligently save money for a while and asked me to make her a set of light armor.
I accepted the request and asked if she had a preferred design.
An image was promptly uploaded to the chat.
“Hmm… It’s a very practical design.”
It was a suit of light armor meant purely to protect the wearer.
The simple design that allowed unrestricted movement clearly reflected her personality.
“Well, she did say she only cares about practicality. She’s the kind of person who’ll wear anything as long as the stats are good, with zero sense of aesthetics.”
A red helmet, green chestplate, orange skirt, violet vambraces, yellow greaves, and pink boots.
The dizzying look she had worn because the effects were good was still famous as a legendary meme.
Even the veteran players in RPG games wouldn’t wear something like that.
She had calmly explained that she simply wore whatever gave the best stats for each slot.
Legendary blacksmiths had apparently poured their hearts into crafting gear just for her.
After all, she was essentially the face of the nation. If she walked around in that “Tokhwigondu” look, the country’s prestige would plummet, so the government had probably stepped in to help.
That was why I felt a little petty.
Kang Su-jeong’s real appearance was incredibly beautiful.
As an Awakened, she maintained herself diligently and had a great figure.
Thanks to her carefree personality, she was famous for refusing to dress up no matter how much people around her begged.
“I should ask Lulu to make something based on this image, but emphasize her figure a bit…”
Since I was making it anyway, I decided to create a full set so she wouldn’t be able to wear anything else with it.
It had been a while since I last sketched, so I doodled on my sketchbook.
Tomorrow I’d show this to Lulu and ask her to make something similar.
I’d also ask Asne to make it top-tier 9th-grade.
Then, since she valued efficiency above all, she probably wouldn’t want to wear anything but this set.
“Hehehe… I’m already looking forward to it…!”
It would be best if I could get her exact measurements.
So I asked Kang Su-jeong for her full body measurements.
Without the slightest hesitation, she listed them all.
“163cm, 42kg, 34-23-35… C cup… Whoa…”
All the information any man would want to know came pouring in without effort.
Of course, those were just the rough figures.
Below that, she had meticulously written down every circumference and length from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
Overwhelmed by her pure, mechanical madness, my admiration for her three sizes instantly turned into a sigh.
I simply wrote down the detailed measurements next to the mechanical armor sketch I had drawn.