Winter Sword (2)
Winter Sword (2)
After checking Lastina's letter, I headed straight to Emilia's house.
Upon arriving at Emilia's house and knocking on the door, busy footsteps came rushing down, and Emilia bounced over with a thump-thump.
"Uh, uh! Master...? What's up?"
As the door opened, Emilia appeared, slightly slick with sweat. Not only that, the heat following right behind her whooshed out, carrying the distinct pheromones unique to a female in heat.
I could easily tell what she'd been up to.
'From the crack of dawn.......'
Even if it hadn't been long since she lost her virginity, getting lost in a masturbation trance this early in the morning felt a bit much.
But rather than point it out and embarrass her, I pretended not to notice, smiled, and handed her the letter.
"This is...?"
Luckily, she could read, and after scanning the letter's contents, her face lit up with a huge smile.
The sword was finally complete. It was something I'd been waiting and hoping for.
"Wait a sec! I'll change clothes and be right down!"
"Yeah."
She really should've washed up first, but the excitement of her sword being finished wasn't something you could easily hold back.
Especially now that she'd become a true swordswoman, no longer seeing a sword as just a well-sharpened club like she used to.
It wasn't long before she quickly threw on some clothes and came back down to the first floor, a pouch stuffed full of gold coins in her hand.
"Let's go!"
"Alright."
She probably thinks the guild issued her a check...... Well, for a country girl who never got any financial education, it's hard to believe a scrap of paper counts as money.
With light steps, she headed to the Workshop. And I followed behind her.
As befitting an adventurer's city, the most bustling spots were for adventurer gear, and thus the most prosperous area was the Workshop District.
We passed roads packed with adventurers who'd stopped by from morning to maintain or browse weapons.
Unlike the street just moments ago that was so crowded you could barely find a foothold, we entered the inner area with not a single customer in sight.
It was a craftsman's alley, dead silent like a ghost town.
You'd wonder if they even did any business with no one around, but this was actually the place in the city where the most gold coins changed hands.
Among them— I knocked on the door of a workshop without even a sign, and a voice called from inside as if they'd been expecting exactly us.
"Come in—."
With permission, I opened the door, and there was Lastina, sprawled out limp over the display stand, greeting us.
She barely turned her head to check Dojin and Emilia's faces, then wobbled unsteadily as she dragged herself upright.
"You're here...?"
"...Why do you look so wiped out?"
"Ughhh— Try making a sword yourself, and you'll see your energy just drains away... Anyway, I sent the letter this morning. You got here fast."
As expected of an expensive delivery service, Lastina seemed plenty satisfied with the speed, flashing a faint smile.
Stretching with her arms raised high and proudly showing off her massive chest even in her drained state, Lastina seemed to recover some energy as she opened the display stand and ushered the two inside.
"Come on in."
"You're not bringing it out?"
"Couldn't this time."
Dojin tilted his head at her completely different reaction from when she'd made her own sword, but as he stepped inside, he immediately understood why she couldn't bring it out.
Deep in the workshop sat a massive greatsword. The exact same size as the greatsword Emilia had handed over.
"......What the hell is this?"
But its blade wasn't metal. An unidentified blue crystal stood in for the blade.
Lastina pointed at the sword as if to say, what do you think?
"Like it?"
"Like it or not...... Won't this thing shatter if you swing it?"
"Shatter? I'd swear on my life even a dragon stomping it wouldn't break it."
Dojin peered closely at the translucent blade. A razor-thin edge so sheer you could see right through to the other side, like glass.
And this was supposed to have the durability to withstand a dragon's stomp? Hard to buy it.
"Take a listen."
As he stared at the sword in silence, Lastina urged Emilia to pick it up. After all, this was the sword she'd live with for the rest of her life alongside it, so Emilia nodded and approached.
It looked like mere flashy decoration at a glance, but with a craftsman's guarantee, it couldn't be just that.
The moment she gripped the hilt and tried to lift it lightly, Emilia dropped to her knees.
"Eek—!?"
"You okay!?"
"I-I'm fine...."
Dojin rushed over in a panic at the sight of her suddenly buckling, but Emilia waved him off lightly.
Pushing Dojin back, Emilia glared down at the sword and bit her lip.
'Why is this so heavy......?'
As she stared daggers at the hilt, Lastina burst into booming laughter beside her.
"Hahaha! See? Now you get why I couldn't bring it out?"
"......Yeah, I get the gist."
It was so heavy even the monstrously strong Emilia couldn't lift it. No matter that she was a dwarf, a Level 1 Lastina couldn't handle that weight.
If anything, the fact that forging a sword this heavy only left her a bit drained was unbelievable.
"How heavy is this thing?"
"Wanna give it a try? Master?"
"Sure— Ugh!"
Taking the hilt from Emilia, Dojin jolted at the sudden massive load and grabbed it with both hands.
He managed to keep it from toppling, but that was his limit. Dojin was grateful for his sturdy body that wouldn't get hurt easily.
Otherwise, the moment he took it, his bones would've snapped and he'd be crushed flat.
"Whew... How the hell are you supposed to swing this— thing you made?"
Circulating magic power through his body, Dojin barely managed to stand the sword upright and shot Lastina a look as he asked.
But Lastina shrugged like it was none of her business.
"I just made it exactly as you said, that's my only crime?"
"...What did we say?"
"Same size as the original sword, and absolutely unbreakable."
An extreme frozen land where everything freezes solid, and a very special ore that only forms there.
This sword, made from that ore, possessed a weight beyond all prediction at first glance, and thus an indestructible, unyielding nature.
"Made with winter sealed inside, so let's call it the Winter Sword."
Emilia looked at the sword upon hearing the name. Now that it had one, the ore's sparkle even seemed to embody winter itself.
A fitting name, but separately from that. The problem was how to even carry the damn thing.
A weapon's value is proven by being wieldable. A giant sword you couldn't swing, let alone lift... was just a useless lump.
"How are you supposed to use something like this?"
"A swordswoman asking the smith how to use a sword?"
"......There's such a thing as common sense. A sword this heavy—"
"Master, enough."
Emilia cut Dojin off and gripped the hilt. Then she grunted, hoisting it up with both hands.
The massive sword twitched and began rising onto her shoulder. No more staggering like before when she couldn't even lift it.
"Hoo, haa! Hng! Th-there...!?"
It was just perching it on her shoulder, but she'd lifted it. Veins and blood vessels bulged across her face, and burst blood vessels started popping in her eyes.
Lastina clapped as if impressed, then fiddled with the end of the hilt she was holding. Suddenly, the sword's weight lightened.
"......Huh?"
"Impressive, you actually lifted it."
"No, what is this......."
"Magic to reduce the weight. How else do you think I made it?"
"If that was an option, why not from the start......."
"Magic isn't permanent, so if you can't handle the original weight, I wasn't gonna hand it over at all."
And above all.
"The advantage of a greatsword is its weight, so why would I take that away for anyone?"
"Ah......."
Hearing that, Emilia let out a gasp of realization. Yeah, strip the weight from a greatsword meant to crush and smash foes—what was even the point?
Better to just ask for a sharp, slender longsword.
Emilia lightly lifted the sword in her hand, gaining one piece of enlightenment.
"Then just enchant it with weight-adjusting magic?"
"You think I'm a mage? I don't know spells like that."
"Ah......."
Magic swords were rare gear forged with magic imbued from the start. You couldn't slap magic on later.
No wonder there were so few. The weight-reduction magic was something Lastina had learned because she needed it for smithing work.
"Figure out how to use it yourself, and first, payment time."
Having neatly packaged the Winter Sword complete with its sheath for storage, Lastina said that and eyed Emilia.
Her gaze clearly asking if she'd brought the money, but Emilia puffed out her chest proudly and pulled out the gold coin pouch.
"I've got plenty of money!"
"I'll just take material costs."
Click-clack, tapping the abacus, Lastina calculated the resources that went into making the Winter Sword.
Ultra-rare materials mineable only in extreme zones, of course, plus the reagents and materials used to enchant the magic on the sword, all added up......
"20 platinum coins."
"Yeah! 20 gold... coins?"
"No, 20 platinum coins."
One platinum coin equaled 100 gold coins. 20 platinum coins meant 2,000 gold coins.
Emilia had come with a pouch full of gold coins, sure, but even all together, it wouldn't reach 100.
Nobody carries around a million won in 500-won coins, and Emilia wasn't lugging that much cash in coin form either.
Heck, even rifling through her account wouldn't turn up that kind of money.
"Uh, uhh— so......."
Emilia, who'd confidently opened her wallet, hesitated a bit and peeked at Lastina's reaction.
Then, in a half-whimpering whisper,
"C-can I... put it on my tab......?"
Lastina heard that and just smiled without a word.