Volume 4.12 - Extra 3.4

Volume 4.12 Extra 3.4

「Aww, I failed～……」

「Well, this is above yer skill level, so failure is to be expected, mate.」

「What do you think went wrong？」

「The way ya diffused the magic was a lil uneven. This ain’t somethin’ ya can just replicate by copyin’ people, so the only way is to just get used to it, yup.」

「Just practice, huh……」

Hiroshi collected the charcoal as he explained Haruna’s failure in detail. This charcoal also had its uses.

「Ah……」

「Mio, ya fail too？」

「Sorry, Sensei. I think I majorly goofed……」

As Hiroshi and Haruna turned to look in the direction of Mio’s voice, where mana was sprialling out of control, they saw an awfully distorted magic circle floating in the air.

「Ah～、got a weird lil thing that came out here.」

「Uhh, is that safe？」

「Well, ya might wanna git a weapon out, at the very least.」

「Umm, that sounds quite worrisome……」

Despite the urgency of the situation, Hiroshi was oddly placid. Haruna, uncomfortable at his demeanor, gave a low-key objection. And the result?

「Take that！」

Hiroshi’s pole axe cut into the gigantic fly that had emerged from the magic circle, splitting it in half in a brilliant fashion and resolving the situation in an instant.

「So what’d ya goof up on？」

「At right about the same time that Haru screwed up, a fly flew into the paper during the manufacturing process.」

「Mm, ‘n then Haruna-san’s mana failure combined with the spell imbued in the paper to make a strange reaction, I take it.」

「Yeah. I honestly couldn’t control it.」

「Well, no biggie. It didn’t turn into nothin’ major, we got some mighty fine materials, and we always expect accidents of these sorts with high rank alchemy.」

There hadn’t been any particular issue, and so Hiroshi ended the conversation abruptly on that note. After that, there weren’t any particular problems, and the items Hiroshi and friends intended to make in the morning had eventually accumulated a good amount.

Finishing lunch, and then almost done once Aearis and Artiem’s equipment was complete, Layotte paid the workshop a visit.

「I hear you were making Aearis and Artiem’s equipment. Is it finished already？」

「Nah, I was gonna git to makin’ it right now.」

「Okay. Then sorry, but could you also take on Rainy’s equipment while you’re at it？」

Hearing Rainy’s name, Hiroshi made a surprised face. They all were becoming fairly attached to Rainy, but he had thought Layotte only thought of her as a throwaway pawn.

「Last time in the investigation of Elza Temple, her equipment became fairly useless, as you probably know.」

「Yup, I was there after all. Still, ya sure ya want me to make all this equipment for someone who’s just a pawn？」

「Well yes, as she is no longer just a pawn. While she of course is not suitable for the role of priestess, Rainy appears to be quite favored by the queen of Darl and the leaders in Forre and I cannot simply discard her anymore.」

「Yeah?」

「Besides, it would not sit right with me to have a subordinate with so many connections treated the same way as all the other grunts.」

Hearing Layotte’s words, Hiroshi sent a somewhat lukewarm gaze his way. All said and done, Layotte also appeared to have taken a bit of a liking to that deviant of a spy.

「Well alright, but specifically what would ya want？」

「Well first we need armor. Rainy often gets herself into scuffles, so something nice and sturdy would be great. If possible, something that can trick detection skills and something that would be difficult to leave an impression. For the weapon, something you can hide. Generally a dagger. After that, if possible, I want you to come up with a transportation method.」

「Transportation method？」

「Yeah. Given that she’ll be going on ahead of you, it’s getting a bit difficult to manage regular transportation. So I’d like something that has speed and maneuverability.」

「Gotcha. And what about the armor material? Also, if I’m makin’ clothes, I can make ones that allow ya to change the design around to a certain degree.」

Hearing Hiroshi’s suggestion, Layotte went into deep thought for a moment, eventually deciding that he would determine this after hearing upfront what the materials were.

「Alright. What are the options for materials？」

「Soft leather armor seems good, and have it from somethin’ like rock boar, wyvern, garbarensia, or behemoth. Clothing can be regular cotton ‘n hemp, spider silk, or spirit thread. I could throw in an oddball like a pseudo hemp made from maneater fiber, but I don’t exactly got it in storage, so it would take time to get the ingredients.」

「……If we have the clothing as spider silk, which armor material would you recommend？」

「From the specs I’d say behemoth or garbarensia. We already took down three behemoths in the dungeon from last time, so there’s a mountain of supplies we have all to ourselves. We haven’t had much of an opportunity to use garbarensia either, so the pelt is pretty much all there in storage too.」

「In other words, those two have no difference in price, correct？」

「That’s right. Also, I’ll just go ahead ‘n make orichalcum-based weapons, as there’s a buncha that in storage too.」

Inwardly dizzy at all the flashy materials that Hiroshi kept bringing up, Layotte nodded, feigning composure outwardly. He wouldn’t last too long if he got surprised at every one of their absurd actions, and it was pointless to seek common sense from these guests of the unknown continent in the first place anyway.

「Alright. What about the price for that？」

「Y’know, I never actually got to putting a price on any of the equipment. If I recall, the best equipment we sold at the Adventurer’s Association was 10,000 chrone, so maybe about ten times that amount would be accurate？」

「……Isn’t that a little too cheap？」

「Eh? Is it？」

「Because from your current skill level, an orichalcum-made weapon, and not to mention with special functions added on cannot even be bought for ten times that amount, you realize？」

「……But that price is on par with the state budget, mate……」

Hiroshi groaned with a stiffened expression, and Layotte breathed a deep sigh upon seeing this. Then again, there was only a market price for magic steel products at best, so it wasn’t all that unreasonable for Hiroshi not to understand the price for orichalcum or behemoth leather equipment.

With that being said, it was also true that these pieces of equipment were way too pricey to just be casually giving out to a subordinate. Usually, the most you bestowed to people with achievements was 30,000 chrone for daily use items.

If one of the leaders in Forre who became friendly with Rainy had not spoke out about how they were willing to use any amount of money to buy her good equipment, this would have most certainly been a price Layotte would have immediately refused. Even he was not so attached to Rainy as to get her something of that caliber.

「Well, I don’t care much about gettin’ all that money, plus it’s an acquaintance who’ll be usin’ the equipment so I’ll keep it at 20,000 chrone per each article. Transportation can be half the price off for a golem car. So with the armor, clothing, weaponry, ‘n transportation golem we’re lookin’ at 100,000 chrone altogether.」

「Alright. I shall take you up on that offer. I can prepare the money by tomorrow.」

Nodding at the price Hiroshi had offered, Layotte left the workshop. Seeing him go off, Hiroshi went right to work.