Inn Level 4 (Part 2)
After hearing that Eliona and Riaen's identities wouldn't be a problem, we headed for the forge where Silver had gone.
The forge was attached to the side of our inn as if it had been expanded onto it, and inside was a door leading underground.
Silver was down there now.
And…
"I don't know much about blacksmithing, so forgive me for asking — is this enough?"
I could see a furnace and an anvil, at least.
But was that really all you needed to do a blacksmith's work?
"I'm not sure. I don't know much about that sort of thing either…"
"I've never had any interest in blacksmithing."
"Well… when we lived at the castle, we never had occasion to see a blacksmith at work."
Grace, Rain, and Eliona answered that way.
But…
"I've never seen one in person either… but I think this should be enough…"
Riaen seemed to know something; she surveyed the interior of the forge as she spoke.
"There's a bellows here to feed air into the furnace… and over there are hammers and tongs… so you should be able to make at least the basics."
So nothing grand, but the bare minimum was in place.
As we were talking…
Clunk.
"Hup!"
The door to the underground opened, and Silver came bursting out.
She was carrying a small box, and inside it were what looked like iron ingots.
"Hm? What are you all doing?"
"We were looking around the forge… are those iron?"
"Yeah. Pretty good quality steel."
Silver said, showing us the iron ingots.
"So this inn restocks these every day, Grace?"
"Yes. So feel free to use as much as you like."
"Creating something from nothing — a Transmigrator's power really is something else, isn't it?"
Silver said, rolling up her sleeves.
Hmm…
"Isn't a maid outfit a bit odd for blacksmithing?"
I hadn't mentioned it, but Silver, Eliona, and Riaen were all wearing maid uniforms right now.
Grace's clothes were ones she'd made with magic, so I'd just assumed the other three's outfits were magical creations too and let it go.
"Ah, you're right. I should change into work clothes."
Silver must have found the maid outfit awkward as well; she changed with magic.
It was thin, but it minimized skin exposure.
Was that a normal blacksmith's outfit?
As I was thinking that…
"Alright, alright — sparks and metal shards might fly, so everyone out."
Silver said, shooing us away.
She was doing it for our safety, so I didn't mind.
I'd wanted to watch a blacksmith at work at least once, though…
"…I wanted to watch…"
I wasn't the only one; Riaen murmured the same thing.
Anyway.
We left the forge to Silver and returned to the inn.
"Come to think of it, when the inn hits Level 4, the forge isn't the only thing that unlocks, right?"
"Oh, right. It said quests open up too."
I honestly had no idea what that function was.
Calling it a regular game quest felt off, since quests had already opened at Level 3.
Which meant this was a distinctly different feature…
"Come to think of it… was that bulletin board over there before?"
"?"
"?"
"?"
At Eliona's words, Grace, Rain, and I all looked toward the board.
She was right.
That hadn't been there before.
"It looks similar to the ones at Adventurer Guilds or Mercenary Guilds."
"Really?"
"Yes. Which means… perhaps when adventurers or mercenaries visit, we're meant to give them quests?"
I'd heard explanations about adventurers and mercenaries before, so I knew them well enough.
But would adventurers and mercenaries come all the way here to take quests?
"There's already a quest posted."
"So there is."
⏱ Time Limit:6 Hours
Judging by how it looked, a six-hour countdown started from the moment you accepted the quest.
"Hmm… I don't think we employees can take the quests."
Grace tried to pull the quest notice off the board, but her hand passed straight through it.
As if no paper existed there at all.
"At this rate, we won't be able to test the quest function until an adventurer or mercenary actually shows up."
We decided to set the quest matter aside for later and first discuss where to assign Eliona and Riaen.
The discussion didn't take long.
Both of them already had places in mind.
"Please assign me to the tavern."
"I'd like to be assigned as a cleaner…"
Eliona to the tavern, Riaen to cleaning.
No one objected.
Having someone at the tavern to improve the quality of the drinks was something Grace, Rain, and I all wanted.
And cleaning was work someone had to do to keep the place clean.
Besides, the guest rooms don't really need staff assigned to them.
Assigning an employee to the guest rooms was supposed to improve their quality, but the rooms were already more than good enough — overflowing, even.
Since the staff and I each had our own private rooms, there was no real reason to raise the guest room quality further.
Time passed. Grace told me meat had started appearing in the kitchen pantry, and Eliona and Riaen's employee levels had risen — they'd chosen alcohol quality increase and cleaning quality increase, respectively — when…
Bang!
"It's done!"
The door connecting the forge to the inn flew open, and Silver burst out.
"Done?"
"I didn't hear a single hammer strike…"
Was the soundproofing that good?
I wouldn't have to worry about going deaf from hammering in the forge, at least.
"Here! Look!"
Silver showed us what she'd made.
It was a sword.
Except…
"I told you."
"Yeah. No talent."
Just as Grace had said earlier, Silver apparently had no gift for making swords.
"Sister Silver…"
"…Now I understand why you collected them instead of forging them yourself…"
Eliona and Riaen said.
Silver offered an excuse.
"Can't help it. There's no whetstone here, so I couldn't put a proper edge on it."
Not putting an edge on it wasn't the problem.
It was basically a lump of metal that merely resembled a sword.
And it was crooked, too.
Still, I'm curious.
What kind of sword would someone with this skill produce under a quality-boost buff?
That curiosity was enough for me to leave Silver to her blacksmithing for now.
"The forge levels up after crafting ten items, so handle that yourself. That's one down."
"Ten, huh… It'll take some time, but that much is fine… Understood."
Silver, pleased that she'd already made one sword and only needed nine more for the forge to upgrade, headed back.
Watching her go, Grace asked me.
"Is it really ten? That seems like a huge difficulty gap compared to leveling up the kitchen or the tavern…"
Making ten dishes and making ten swords were worlds apart in both difficulty and time.
But…
"It is ten. But I never said a single word about swords."
"Ah…"
"I figure even ten little things like nails would probably count. Of course those aren't easy either, but still way easier than swords."
Silver had just decided on her own that it meant swords and gone into the forge.
"…Shouldn't we tell her now?"
"…Honestly, knowing Sister Diamond, even if she knew that, she'd still insist on making swords."
Grace answered Eliona's question that way.
"…True…"
"If it's Sister Silver…"
Eliona and Riaen couldn't deny it.
"…Ah! Come to think of it, I forgot about this! Master!"
Then Eliona reported something she'd forgotten.
"I… got a skill."
"Oh, really?"
When an employee's level rose, they could usually choose one of four options: work speed increase, product quality increase, physical ability enhancement, or mana capacity increase.
There were exceptions, but basically it was one of those four.
There was also a chance of gaining an additional skill, but so far neither Grace nor Rain had gotten any — so Eliona was the first to gain a skill this way.
"What skill?"
"Cocktail Making."
Cocktail Making, huh…
"Looks like the skills you get aren't completely random."
"Yeah."
Eliona was currently assigned as the tavern bartender.
So she'd gotten a related skill.
It could have been pure chance even if skills were completely random, but we could safely rule that out.
"Do you happen to have any fruit, honey, spices, herbs? I'd like to try it right away."
"Sorry. Only fruit for now."
"Ah, well, nothing to be done then."
Eliona looked disappointed.
She'd gotten a skill and couldn't even use it — of course she was.
…Her mental fortitude is better than I expected.
Considering how she'd been staring blankly into space when I first saw her, she'd adapted surprisingly fast.
She was going to live in the middle of the infamous Dragon Canyon with three dragons — wasn't she scared?
Judging by how close she was to Silver, she probably already knew Silver was a dragon.
"Come to think of it, Master. Have these two been shown the rooms they'll be living in?"
Rain asked, looking at Eliona and Riaen.
It was true — I hadn't told them where they'd be staying.
And not just them; I hadn't told Silver in the forge either.
"I'll go fetch Sister Diamond."
"…I've been thinking this for a while, but isn't calling her Diamond a bit dangerous? That's why I go by Rain instead of Garnet."
"True. But 'Sister Silver' just doesn't roll off the tongue… I'll have to work on it."
After that exchange with Rain, Grace dragged Silver out of the forge.
…When she'd shown us the sword earlier, I'd been too focused on the blade to notice, but Silver's face and clothes were now smeared with soot.
"We should probably get her washed up while we assign rooms, right?"
"Rooms? Oh, right — we still haven't seen the rooms we'll be using?"
Silver, dragged out, seemed to finally understand why she'd been pulled away, and straightened up.
And so we headed for the employee rooms on the second floor.