A Greatsword Knight Is Romance and Dreams
A greatsword for a female knight is the stuff of romance and dreams.
Name: Nix
Level: 25
Physical Stats: 45
Mental Stats: 30
Aura Stats: 45
Remaining Stat Points: 0
Trait: None. You're just an ordinary human, aren't you? Better work hard.
This is my current status window. My level rose by ten, so I dumped fifteen points each into my Physical and Aura stats. My Mental stat had gone up by fifteen too, probably thanks to hitting that trance state. Looks clean and satisfying. Those perfectly balanced numbers put me in a good mood.
"If I activate Aura Reinforcement on top of this, my stats would hit ninety."
That meant, in theory, the force I could output was eighteen tons.
"Anyone who eats my charge might as well get hit by an eighteen-ton truck."
I felt like a human bulldozer. "With my body like this now, I should be able to sweep through monsters even more easily."
My strengthened physique would show off incredible performance. Who knows—maybe one day I'd blow away an entire mountain with nothing but the wind pressure from my fist?
"No way a human could actually do that."
Right now, heavy tension hung over the walls of Dorua. The city had always been a frequent target of monster invasions, but the current situation was on another level entirely.
"Today... might really be our last."
"Don't say stuff like that!"
Beyond the walls, tens of thousands of monsters were swarming. The soldiers had every right to fall into despair, yet their morale wasn't broken.
"It's fine. We have the knight with us, don't we?"
"Yeah! The Red-Blooded Black Knight will carve through every last one of them!"
The Red-Blooded Black Knight. The knight who had stopped a monster legion's advance single-handedly and slaughtered thousands. The soldiers spoke her title with respect and reverence.
"If the other knights and the Red-Blooded Black Knight step up, no monster could possibly get past us!"
She had become a legend. To the soldiers, the Red-Blooded Black Knight was practically a figure out of myth.
"How does it feel hearing all that?"
"Oh my god..."
Marco and I were standing beneath the wall listening to the soldiers. My face burned red while Marco grinned and teased me.
"At this point I think we really have to start calling you 'Sir Knight' with proper respect."
"Please don't. I might actually desert."
"Whoa, you can't do that. What would happen to our city if the knight ran away?"
Hey, what's with this guy?
"Ow!"
"If you want to keep your sides unpinched, you'd better watch that mouth."
"Come on, my sides are reserved for my future wife only."
Ugh. Red-Blooded Black Knight? They might as well just call me the Black Knight.
"We've arrived. This is the new weapon shop."
"Hmm. Bigger than I expected."
The place Marco and I headed for was the weapon shop.
"They specialize in greatswords here too."
Shops that truly specialize in greatswords are rare. After all, they're hard to make and don't sell well.
"This is the place Delgarm recommended."
After that brutal fight with the monsters, my greatsword had finally reached the end of its life. It was covered in cracks and could no longer be used. When I went to Delgarm looking for a new weapon, he recommended this shop instead.
I'm more of an armor specialist than a weapons guy. If you want a weapon, you'd be better off going to that fellow.
Weapon Master.
Daniella.
The woman called a master when it came to weapons.
"There's no signboard on the shop?"
"They apparently don't bother with things like signboards. Artisan spirit or something."
Artisan spirit? What does that have to do with not having a sign? I couldn't understand that sensibility at all.
"Welcome. Thank you for visiting our weapon shop."
A cute dog beastman girl greeted us warmly. Beastmen really were a popular race.
"Why doesn't she end her sentences with 'woof'?"
"Pardon? Is... is that important?"
"Of course it is! It's a critical matter!"
It's basically law for beastmen to add 'woof' or 'meow' at the end of their sentences.
"That's rude."
Marco scolded me, but I stood firm.
"Then I'll add woof from now on. Woof!"
"Krr~! That's the stuff!"
That's the national rule for beastmen. A wave of peace washed over my heart.
"Sigh. You really haven't changed one bit."
"People shouldn't change too easily. That's a death flag."
"You certainly have a silver tongue."
I handed the clerk the recommendation letter. It was the one Delgarm had given me when he introduced Daniella.
"It's a recommendation from Delgarm. I was told this would let me meet Daniella."
"From Master Delgarm? He doesn't hand out recommendations lightly... Woof."
After verifying it, the clerk led us deeper into the workshop.
"Confirmed. Please follow me this way. Woof."
The inner part of the workshop had a reception room prepared for guests.
"What would you like to drink? We have coffee, black tea, and woof tea. Woof."
I understood coffee and black tea, but what on earth was woof tea?
"What's woof tea?"
"It's coffee I make myself. I gave it a cute name—woof tea."
"Then I'll take the woof tea."
I'd already had coffee and black tea in my previous life, so this time I'd try the woof tea.
"Understood. Woof."
Soon the tea arrived along with some light refreshments.
"Miss Daniella is in the middle of an important finishing process, so it may take a little while. Woof."
"That's fine. It's only natural for the workshops to be busy right now."
A lot of weapons had been damaged during the attacks from the undead and monsters. The workshops were hammering away nonstop to replace them.
"Mmm, this flavor...!"
Café latte? The coffee carried a rich milky taste.
"How is it? Does it taste good? Woof."
"It does. I like how smooth it is."
The combination of strong coffee aroma and soft milk was impossible to dislike.
To be honest I only ever drank espresso before, so I didn't know much about this...
My personal creed was that coffee should be bitter. Yet the espresso the clerk prepared was surprisingly drinkable.
Is it because my body changed?
In my previous life I hadn't liked sweet things. As a kid I loved sweets and would even eat spoonfuls of sugar, but the older I got the more I preferred savory, rich, or sharp flavors. Garlic in particular was the best.
As expected, Koreans run on garlic.
While I passed the time sipping coffee and nibbling the snacks, the person we'd been waiting for finally appeared.
"Sorry I'm late. The workload suddenly ballooned and it's been a pain~!"
A beautiful red-haired woman appeared wearing hakama-style pants and bandages wrapped around her chest.
"I am the Weapon Master, Daniella!"
A confident beauty whose slightly protruding canines only added to her charm.
"Fox beastman?"
"That's right. I'm a rare fox beastman, you know?"
Daniella had fox ears on her head and a lush, fluffy tail on her rear.
Twitch, twitch.
"So cute!"
Those twitching ears and that fluffy tail—this was the true appeal of beastmen.
"Ahem! Please offer more praise!"
"Fox master is cute!"
"Ehem!"
"Fox master is the best!"
"Ehehem!"
"What a performance..."
Watching us, Marco's expression was steadily souring.
There was a brief commotion, but it wasn't a problem.
"Hmm... You used this weapon like a complete dog."
Daniella's face took on a complicated look as she examined the cracked greatsword.
"It seems you maintained it properly, yet the weapon couldn't endure its owner's strength. Still, the fact that it kept its shape is somewhat impressive."
Her sharp eye that saw straight through the sword's condition—as expected of a true professional.
"This can't be used anymore. If you insist on reusing the material, the only option is to melt it down and reforge it."
"Kuk. So I really have to say goodbye to my first weapon."
You worked hard. Patrasche.
"What will you do? Shall I melt it down and make you something new? Or would you rather look at a different weapon?"
Obviously the latter. Even if I had Patrasche melted down and reforged, my strength would keep rising. The new weapon would just break again before long.
"Please show me a new weapon."
"I've been waiting for you to say that. I happen to have a weapon that would suit our Red-Blooded Black Knight perfectly."
"...Please stop using that title. It's embarrassing."
"You're the hero who saved the city—you should hold your head high!"
"Kukuku. Yeah, it really suits you."
These people, I swear...
"Come, this way. The weapon I want to show you is quite heavy, so I couldn't bring it out."
We were guided deeper into the workshop and descended into the basement.
"Normally, well-made weapons are displayed outside or kept in the vault. But the ones stored here are the pieces that turned out excellently yet are too difficult to handle."
When we reached the basement, a thick iron door stood in our way.
"There's a lot of dust, so watch your step."
It must have been left alone for a long time—the dust was no joke.
"Cough, cough!"
"Shouldn't you clean in here?"
"Not many people come down here, so it's fine. Besides, the vibrations from all the hammering make the dust settle again right away."
Creak. The iron door opened, revealing the space inside.
"There are quite a few."
"Weapons made back when iron was scarce. They still haven't found their owners."
They were dusty but clearly well cared for—the weapons themselves looked pristine.
"I maintain them myself whenever I have time. They're like my troublesome children."
Daniella gazed at the weapons with the eyes of a parent, a hint of pity in her expression.
"This is the one."
The spot she pointed to held a massive greatsword standing upright.
"It's made from Amadas steel. Forged using the Damascus method, it's exceptionally tough. In terms of hardness alone, it wouldn't lose out even to orichalcum."
Amadas steel. A metal produced in the eastern empire, boasting impressive strength and elasticity. The downside was its truly ridiculous weight—far heavier than tungsten of the same volume.
"This will be my new weapon."
It boasted considerable weight, but for me it was a perfect match.