Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Thousand Kills Star Makes an ID
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“The Star of a Thousand Kills is making an ID card.”
“How’s that? It’s nothing special, right?”
Despite Leonne’s words, Enoch couldn’t bring himself to nod for the first time in ages.
For one thing, it was incredibly impressive.
Hundreds of thousands of swords raining down?
If Enoch had been there, he was confident he’d have died more heroically than anyone else.
And that a monster that big could be killed just by mincing it up?
Even smaller monsters would die if you diced them that fine.
Wouldn’t it be weirder if it survived?
“Uh, um….”
As Enoch hesitated, Undine unexpectedly chimed in.
[Quit shoving your own standards onto everything! How’s a moron like you supposed to handle something like that!]
Her tone rubbed him the wrong way, but she was right.
Just then, the smoke rising from Leonne’s attack cleared away on the wind, and Enoch clapped without thinking as he took in the sight.
A pit so deep the bottom was barely visible.
On top of that, the surrounding lava had somehow crystallized.
Lava shouldn’t get that hot.
“R-Really? I figured you could pull it off soon enough, Enoch….”
“Leonne.”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think so.”
“R-Really?”
As Leonne scratched her head, the dwarves who’d been watching from afar while fleeing came rushing over.
[Oh yeah! You dwarves there! Praise me!]
Undine, who hadn’t done much, puffed out her chest.
But the dwarves barreled right past her with the same momentum.
[Huh?]
They ignored Leonne too and crowded around the deep pit, tapping it and making their eyes gleam.
“Ooh…! This is!”
“It’s not just melted and refrozen! The mana caused a mutation!”
The dwarves who’d been rescued launched straight into a debate without a second thought.
Just before Undine could scream in frustration, Liraum approached with a hearty laugh.
“Haha! Sorry about that! They’re a crazy bunch!”
Behind her, the less crazy dwarves expressed their thanks.
“Th-Thanks to you, we survived!”
“Even if Liraum had caught it, the village would’ve been mostly destroyed.”
“By the way, you’re the Millennium Sword Queen? Is that true?”
Ignoring the odd comment, Leonne gave a pouty smile.
Then she cleared her throat with a hem-hem, glanced sideways at Liraum, and asked the dwarves.
“Anyway, folks. Liraum was bragging that she’s the top smith among dwarves. Is that true?”
Leonne had hoped the dwarves would freak out and call it nonsense.
Then she could slip in and demand they prove their skills by making stuff for Enoch….
“Hmm… Well, pretty much. Hate to admit it.”
“She’s the best in this village, at least! Not so much on the mainland—top ten, maybe? One of… ten fingers?”
Liraum grinned.
“Hear that? That’s me.”
“It’s really true…? No way….”
“That good!?”
Leonne pouted in disappointment.
She’d been planning to get a ton of gear made for Enoch on this trip.
“Well, whatever. We’ll call killing that thing settling a debt! Tell me if you need anything. I’ll make it myself.”
“Huh? For real?”
“You ever seen me lie?”
“Yeah. Plenty of times?”
“Have I?”
Liraum cackled.
Ignoring her, Leonne’s eyes sparkled as she started listing out needs.
First, armor for Enoch. If there’s good leather, some clothes too. Shoes? His foot size has gotten bigger lately. And then….
“Oh, right.”
Come to think of it, what was that about?
“What’s the deal with that custom? Something about qualifications.”
“Oh, that?”
Liraum gave Enoch a quick once-over, then nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, you pass!”
Enoch tilted his head.
“Based on what?”
“Saw you using it well earlier. Weapons aren’t supposed to be that easy to handle.”
Even the gloves she’d made for Enoch normally required an adjustment period.
Stably channeling mana into a delicate weapon took exceptional control, plus a process to attune it with your own mana.
But Enoch had drawn out decent performance right away, so by Liraum’s standards, he passed.
“Be happy. It’s a work by Liraum of the Red Hammer, one of the Ten Great Mastersmiths.”
“Ten Great Mastersmiths!? You!?”
Leonne’s jaw dropped.
Liraum shot her an incredulous look.
“You don’t go out much, do you? How do you not know this? What, hiding a honey jar at home?”
“N-No…. I just don’t have reason to go out….”
“That’s why you’re still single and living like a pauper.”
“Wh-What’d you say! I could make stuff too if I wanted!”
“Oh sure, I bet you could.”
Leonne ground her teeth, but held back her murderous impulse with superhuman patience.
‘One of the Ten Great Mastersmiths, huh?’
The continent’s top ten artisans were collectively called the Ten Great Mastersmiths.
Nine of them were usually dwarves.
Anyway, that changed things.
Leonne glanced around slyly, then sent a wisp of thin mana toward Liraum.
A technique called telepathy, sending sound secretly via mana.
[Hey, so….]
“What? What’s with the tel—, mmph…!”
Sealing Liraum’s mouth, Leonne whispered.
[I’ve got some adamantium stashed away.]
[Ad-Adamantium…? You have some…?]
Adamantium, called the metal of the gods.
Unlike mithril, it was one of the rarest rare metals—even superhumans struggled to obtain it.
[How much?]
[Hmm… Enough to outfit Enoch head to toe?]
[You lunatic! You skimmed from the family reports!?]
[Hmph! Who cares. That family.]
[It’s a miracle they haven’t wiped you out yet….]
Liraum gaped in disbelief.
Ignoring it, Leonne pressed on.
[Anyway, can you make weapons and armor for Enoch?]
[…He’s really not your son?]
[I told you no.]
[Well… whatever. I’d actually beg to do it.]
With confirmation secured, a smile bloomed on Leonne’s lips.
[Then I’m counting on you!]
[Did this really need telepathy?]
[It’s a secret from Enoch too.]
Outfitting him head to toe in adamantium?
At Enoch’s level, it’d be like advertising, “Please rob me!”
So she planned to gift it when his skills caught up.
[When’s that?]
[Master… is a bit short. Grand Master?]
[You lunatic.]
Was she just never gonna give it?
*
The crazy dwarves snapped out of it at some point and joined the saner ones in throwing a grand feast.
A feast for Leonne, savior of the village—or just an excuse to drink.
Now, Leonne asked a slightly weary-looking Enoch.
“How’re the dwarves? Pretty decent folks, right?”
“Yeah. More than I thought.”
“Right!?”
Delighted, Leonne hugged Enoch tight.
“Our good Enoch.”
“Hehe….”
“Now you get it a little, right? You shouldn’t have prejudices against whole races. Sure, there are weirdos, but that’s on the individual, not the race.”
It was the same for countries, ethnicities too.
There might be groups with customs or tendencies that clashed, but you couldn’t judge people without interacting.
That was Leonne’s take.
“Yeah, got it.”
“Aww, such a good boy!”
Whether Enoch was fully convinced remained to be seen.
*
Back from the volcano, Leonne and Enoch resumed training.
Having seen Leonne’s power firsthand, had it lit a fire under him?
Enoch trained harder than usual, and his talent showed visible results.
But pushing physical training that hard meant he was wheezing by the end every day.
Leonne, ever the Enoch mom, wouldn’t just watch him suffer.
“Enoch, Eri seems pretty adapted now. How about starting spirit arts lessons today?”
“Huh?”
Enoch cocked his head.
“Why spirit arts?”
“Huh…? D-Do you not want to…?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Enoch pointed straight at Undine.
“Spirits fight on their own, right?”
“Oh, that’s what you meant?”
Ahem, Leonne cleared her throat and straightened her awkward posture.
Her flustered expression brightened into a big smile.
“Spirit arts are important, and so are the spirits themselves—but the summoner’s skill is just as crucial.”
Enoch still looked puzzled, tilting his head.
Makes sense—he’d grown up watching Undine.
Spirits contracted with bonds that strong and powerful were rare.
“First, you summon a spirit from the spirit realm and maintain its manifestation.”
Eri skipped this since she was born in the mortal realm.
“Then, build familiarity. There’s a channel between summoner and spirit called a ‘path’—it widens and strengthens with deeper bonds.”
Eri skipped this too, seeing Enoch as her parent.
…Huh?
Leonne faltered a bit but kept a straight face.
“That’s prep. To really use a spirit’s power, you train. Schools diverge here, but I only know one well… so that’s probably all I can teach.”
She knew other schools but stuck to her own to avoid mishaps.
Enoch didn’t care.
Leonne’s method?
Perfect.
“Really? Hehe, that’s my Enoch. Where else would you find such a good kid?”
Ruffling his hair wildly, Leonne extended one slender finger.
“Alright then. One-Point Lesson number one!”
*
Days passed since they started practicing spirit arts.
Once it settled into a groove and felt natural, Leonne took Enoch out again.
Today’s goal: his ID, specifically a mercenary tag—the simplest kind to make.