Chapter 71

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Just managed to finish it before I go to sleep. I think I had stuff to mention… it’s gone now, my head is ready for sleep.

Business.

“So, it’s finally time.”

I sat up and made a declaration.\n

After returning from Palmasque, I should do it.\n

I take the green caterpillar’s monster card from the item box.\n

I remove the Misanga on my ankle, and pass it to Sherry.

Accessory: Misanga – one empty skill slot.

I switched the Misanga I had without anyone noticing.\n

To the one with the empty skill slot.

“Ah, yes.”\n

“I’m certain that Sherry will show off her talent.”\n

“Well, I think it’s a horrible superstition that a master smith who makes a sacrificial misanga with their first misanga is talented.”

Sherry is rational.\n

She keeps a tight hold on her reasoning.\n

However, she’s not completely calm.\n

I won’t tell her that the misanga I passed her, isn’t her first one.

Miracles happen to those who believe in them. TN: イワシの頭も信心から – This is a Japanese proverb, “A sardines head comes from belief.” I had to look up the meaning, it comes from sardine heads being hung up to chase off spirits with their smell.

A drowning man will grab at a straw. TN: More proverbs.\n

An impatient beggar won’t get much.\n

Those who believe, shall be saved.\n

Belief is passed onto your descendants. TN: No idea about this one, so I guessed と孫子も言っている.

Soldiers shouldn’t jump to conclusions\n

Even though victory has been taken before, there’s no guarantee this battle will be won.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.\n

Ask, and it shall be given you.

“Well, even if it is just a folk tale, Sherry just has to become an example of a master smith who succeeded. What do you think Roxanne?”\n

“Right. Sherry will surely succeed, because she was chosen by Master.”

I used Roxanne to motivate Sherry.\n

The joy will be greater after being under pressure.\n

It’s my job to put the pressure on.\n

I’m not sure what would happen if the fusion fails.

That?\n

What happens if it fails?\n

If I pressure her, and she fails, aren’t I really bad?

Will it be alright?\n

You’ll succeed won’t you?\n

Is there a chance it’s just been luck so far?\n

Is there a chance to fail at a low level, even if there’s an empty skill slot?

It’s not a 100% guarantee yet.\n

It’s not definite that it will succeed.

“I’m fusing it.”\n

“No, wait. Crap, is it too late? Damn. Sorry. Yes, please make it.

What will I do if it fails?\n

I’m giving off a suspicious look as I think about it.\n

Well, I don’t know if there’s a chance of failure.\n

Maybe it will be alright?

Sherry is rational.\n

She’ll probably be alright, even if she fails.\n

There must be a lot of master smiths who failed.

Even if it fails, it’s a trial we’ve been given by God.\n

If we pass the trial, there will be happiness.\n

The poor people become happy. God’s country is open to us.\n

It’s the new moon after the seven trials.

As I pray to the moon, Sherry begins the fusion.\n

Light is emitted.\n

The dazzling light calms down before long.\n

I hold my breath as I watch.

Accessory: Sacrificial Misanga – substitute skill.

It’s fine.\n

It was a success.

“I did it.”\n

“That was bad for my heart.”\n

“As expected of Sherry. Sherry succeeds as a master smith. Master expected it so there was nothing to worry about. Master knows how talented you are.”

Roxanne says it cheerfully.\n

Even though I expected it in reality, the stress got to me and I tensed up.

“Thank you, Roxanne.”\n

“”Well, it’s good. As expected of Sherry.”\n

“Yes, thank you.”

Well, it turned out alright.\n

I talk to avoid suspicion.

Kaga Michio|Male|17 years old.\n

Explorer Lv35|Hero Lv32|Wizard Lv34|Monk Lv34|Cook Lv30\n

Equipment: Wand|Leather Shoes|Leather Gloves|Leather Hat|Leather Armor|Sacrificial Misanga

Roxanne|Female|16 years old.\n

Beast Warrior Lv22\n

Equipment|Scimitar|Leather Shoes|Leather Gloves|Leather Hat|Leather Jacket|Wooden Shield

Sherry|Female|16 years old.\n

Master Smith Lv19\n

Equipment:Club|Waterproof Leather Mittens|Leather Hat|Leather Jacket|Leather Shoes

We went straight to Vale’s labyrinth while wearing the sacrificial misanga.\n

We hunt rabbits and other creatures while we are in a good mood.

Also, if I wear another misanga while wearing the sacrificial misanga, only the first one is effective as equipment.\n

If I use [Analyze] on myself while wearing two, only one is displayed.

If I wear a misanga on my right ankle, and then equip the sacrificial misanga on my left ankle, [Analyze] will just display the misanga.\n

If I then remove the misanga from my right ankle, nothing will be displayed as equipped by [Analyze].\n

In this state, [Analyze] has probably decided that the sacrificial misanga on my left ankle is invalid equipment.

Since it isn’t displayed, I don’t think there is a possibility of the effect being active.\n

Sherry says the effect won’t work unless I re-equip it.\n

Wearing two sacrificial misanga will not have the second one become automatically active after the first has been expended.\n

Equipping large amounts of them at once to prevent many attacks doesn’t work, so trying to sell large amounts of them to make money won’t work.

After hunting through most of the day, we arrive at Vale labyrinths ninth floor boss room.\n

A rapid rabbit is killed by making good use of [Overwhelming].\n

Since we already know how to fight it, we managed to beat it without a difficult fight.\n

Everything ended without any problems.

“What demon is on the tenth floor of Vale’s Labyrinth?”\n

“NT Ant.”

Sherry shares her knowledge.\n

The NT Ant?\n

It’s not a good feeling since I’ve been poisoned by one before.

We go to the tenth floor, and hunt demons.\n

Three water spells are required to beat a Lv10 NT Ant.\n

There’s no problem if they can be defeated with three spells.\n

It seems we can fight fine on Vale Labyrinth’s tenth floor.

After leaving the Labyrinth, I’ll go to the Imperial Capital to do some market research.\n

I should examine the price of mirrors before I bring one along.\n

I leave Sherry & Roxanne to prepare dinner, and I head out alone.

A mirror is a high level luxury in a grocery store.\n

There’s a mirror hanging on the wall, with a gaudy frame attached to it.\n

It has a decoration made from wood which is twisted into a pattern.

That’s the sort of decoration that mirrors have?\n

It’s a useless decoration.\n

There is a desktop mirror with a stand as well, but there doesn’t appear to be any full length mirrors or triple mirrors.

The price is higher than I expected.\n

The cheapest one, which is similar to mine, is 18,000 nars.\n

The expensive one…. is much higher in price.\n

The expected price is 3-4 times more than the price in Palmasque.

I leave quickly because it’s so high.\n

I don’t know what the shop attendant thought of me, after I only heard the price.\n

They might sprinkle salt later.

The next morning, we make plans to move onto Quratar’s tenth floor as well.\n

We start with the ninth floor boss.

“The NT Ant boss is the Hunt Ant. It’s similar in strength to the NT Ant, but it’s poison attack skill is stronger, and it’s regular attack has a high chance of poisoning.”

Sherry gives us a briefing.\n

It won’t be a powerful enemy at all if it’s strength is the same.\n

For Roxanne.

We entered the boss room.\n

Roxanne evades attacks from the ant up front, and I was around the back with Durandal.\n

It seems we can still use this strategy.

“What demon is on the tenth floor?”\n

“The Escape Goat.”\n

“Ahh.”

Escape goats on the upper floors will be troublesome.\n

The first escape goat began to run away after three spells, as I expected.\n

It seems to still run away after it’s lost half it’s health.\n

Three more will make it six spells to defeat it.

After it begins to run away, I have to time three spells perfectly.\n

If I’m even a little off it will get away.\n

On Quratar’s tenth floor, since NT Ants often appear after the ninth floor, I don’t want to take on a mixed group.

What happens if we encounter more demons on the higher floors that run away?\n

If seven spells are needed, it would probably start running after the fourth spell, so I could kill it with three, but what happens if eight spells are needed?\n

Escape goat seems to be becoming a demon I’m worried about.

When I use Durandal, I can kill an escape goat with one [Rush].\n

NT Ant can be killed as well with a single [Rush].\n

Usually Durandal would require a second swing.\n

Should I use [Rush] on NT Ant’s to prevent being poisoned?

I use Durandal since I want to recover some MP, though if I’m attacking with [Rush] then I’m using MP so I’m probably not getting anywhere.\n

However, I’m probably absorbing MP while using [Rush].\n

[Rush]’s MP efficiency isn’t good, but it can’t be helped.\n

Whenever I take out Durandal on the tenth floor, I’ll use the warrior job.

After leaving the Labyrinth, now that I have a mirror, I go to the territory of the Harz Duchy on my own.\n

I shouldn’t take Roxanne and Sherry to the elven paradise of good looking men.\n

I asked them to do the laundry and prepare breakfast.

Even though I need to sell two items to get the 30% bonus, I can’t do that this time.\n

It would be a total loss if I can’t sell it.\n

I don’t think this first one is just a trial.

I went to a room in Miyagi that had been used for disaster relief.\n

It’s a room like a lobby, that the adventurers used for [Field Walk], so it should be fine.

“I’d like to speak to the knight leader, Gozer.”

I pass the knight’s emblem to a knight inside.\n

He confirms both sides of it.

“May I have your name?”\n

“My name is Michio. If you tell him I’m an adventurer from the flood relief then he’ll know who I am.”\n

“Please wait here for a moment.”

The knight enters the interior of the castle.\n

Everything went smoothly because of the emblem.

I waited in the lobby.\n

It’s a really bright room.\n

The side window is wide open, and light is coming in.

When I came previously, everything was closed up.\n

It was during the flood relief, so it was probably raining outside.

The sun is high in Quratar.\n

The sun isn’t that high here yet.\n

I heard that this was to the north, but maybe it’s to the east?

“Oh. It’s the adventurer after all?”

I hear a voice as I look through the window.\n

This voice isn’t Gozer?

When I turn around, the Duke of Harz is standing there.\n

He has a smile that seems like it’s shining.\n

Why can’t the elves die from a curse?\n

Leaving Sherry & Roxanne behind was the correct answer.

“Gozer isn’t here?”\n

“Gozer is at the training school currently. We can talk instead. Come with me.”

The Duke turned quickly, and left the lobby.\n

He’s as impatient as last time.\n

You’d think he’d act a bit more noble.\n

It probably doesn’t matter what he does, since he’s good looking.

“I thought it would be a good time to come after the sun had risen, but was I mistaken?”\n

“There’s no problem. In this season we are awake as soon as there is light.”\n

“Ah.”

I see.\n

The season is different in the north.\n

The sunrise is early, so they are going from spring to summer.\n

If this was the arctic, they’d still have sun at midnight.\n

Since this is north of Quratar, does the sun rise earlier here?

“The hardship is over. The rain has stopped, and the water level has decreased. There isn’t any more worry about floods.”\n

“That’s good to hear.”

The Duke opened a door, and entered a room.\n

It’s the small office I was in before.

“Sit. So, what are you here for?”\n

“The other day I met lord Gozer in Quratar’s merchant’s guild.”\n

“Ah, that time.”

The duke sits in his chair.\n

I put the mirror on the duke’s desk.

“I hear that a mirror from Palmasque might be useful as a present.”

I unwrap the mirror from the papyrus it’s in.\n

It’s scary showing it to the duke instead of Gozer.\n

Even though I’m grateful.

“It’s quite nice, but the decoration doesn’t fit in.”\n

“Ah, you have some nice wood in your territory don’t you?”\n

“Yes, do you need some for something?”

I’ve thought of something.\n

Since I saw the forest outside the window, I’m going with it.\n

There might be a wood processing industry here if they have a forest.

“Since it’s a gift, I was thinking you could remove this decoration, and add something from your own territory.”\n

“Ah, I see.”

The duke picks up a bell from his desk, and rings it.”

“You called?”

When the bell rings, the door opens at once and someone comes it.\n

Quick, very quick.

“Ah. Please tell Gozer to come.”\n

“Yes.”

He answers briefly, and leaves.\n

He gave a compete bow, and never showed me his face.

He might be a personal guard.\n

It seems odd for someone to appear immediately inside a castle.\n

Maybe there are guards lurking in the shadows?

“Please speak to Gozer about selling the mirror. I’ll return this emblem to you as well.”

The duke puts the emblem on the desk.\n

I accept it, and sit down on the sofa to wait for Gozer.

Eventually, there’s a knock, and Gozer enters the room.

“Excuse me for taking so long. Oh, it’s the adventurer.”\n

“He seems to be called Michio.”

I should have introduced myself to the duke, but instead gave my name to the receptionist first.

“Michio.”\n

“He’s come with a mirror from Palmasque.”\n

“Oh.”

Gozer looks at the mirror on the desk.

“The frame is a bit dull.”\n

“That’s true.”\n

“But the rest isn’t bad.”

The duke and Gozer talk about the mirror.\n

Gozer turns towards me.

“It’s hard to get something like this isn’t it?”\n

“It’s not too hard if you buy it from Palmasque.”\n

“Did you go to Palmasque?”

Did I make a mistake?

“…yes.”\n

“I see. You must be a truly excellent adventurer. This is more than I expected.”

The duke’s misunderstandings are getting bigger.

“There are no knights who can go from Bode to Palmasque in our order of knights.”\n

“Well, it wasn’t easy.”

I’m not sure if I can go from Bode to Palmasque either.\n

I hope they don’t think of me too highly.

“I’ll pass this to a tradesman to experiment a bit with making a frame. I’ll need another ten, can you get them?”\n

“I can, but not all at once.”\n

“It can be over several days.”\n

“That’s fine then.”

It should be alright, as long as they have enough on hand in Palmasque.

“I’d like a bit of variation in the size. What is the price?”

The price?\n

It’s around three times more if you buy them at the Imperial capital.\n

It was 35 silver coins, so triple that is 10,500nars.

Should I be bold, and overcharge?\n

Is that too high?

If the order of knights were determined, they could buy the mirrors themselves.\n

With a party of six taking turns using [field walk], they could probably make it to Palmasque.\n

If it was difficult, they could just stay one night in Palmasque.

The cost of one person for a day in Palmasque is 1,000 nars. If all six spend the night in Palmasque, then it’s an extra 2,000 each added to the cost of a mirror if they all take one.\n

The total cost of a mirror would be 5,500 nars.

If the cost of the adventurer is 500 nars a day, that’s another 1000 nars added to each mirror.\n

If I can make the round trip in a day it’s only 500 nars though.\n

I can’t be fussy, I shouldn’t overcharge.

“Well…”\n

“Hmm, for this size, how about I give you 12,000, no… I’ll make it 13,000 nars. What do you think?”

As I worry about it, Gozer suggests a price.

“That seems a bit expensive.”\n

“You’re probably thinking of prices in the Imperial Capital. It costs extra to get to the Imperial Capital from here.”\n

“If you organized a group of adventurers to go to Palmasque, couldn’t you get them for half that price?”\n

“It’s hard to hire people. It’s not something that’s needed every day. Since it’s a one of a kind event, a little extra cost is unavoidable.”

This is the opinion of the leader of Harz duchy’s order of knights?\n

They employ people long term, instead of on a short mission basis.\n

Even if there is no work, they have to look after their employees.\n

Employing an adventurer seems to be cheap at first, but it isn’t if you consider the long term.

Oh, I was invited to the order of knights as an adventurer too.

“Then, I will get them for 10,000 nars each.”\n

“Are you sure that’s alright?”\n

“Yes.”

It’s still selling it for triple what I paid, so it’s good business.

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