Chapter 389

Chapter 389

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 389: Guest From The North (4)

There was a minor misunderstanding along the way… but anyway, we decided to leave for the Yareunshade territory with Faye.

Just like Carla suggested, all of us together this time.

For me and the others, we just needed to wrap up our current tasks and pack our bags, but Iona had just returned to her professorship after a long time, so she said it would take a bit of time.

Well, it would be a day at most. It was just the right amount of time to let Baru, who had traveled all this way without rest, recover from his fatigue.

The next day, after all preparations were complete.

Perhaps he was starting to feel self-conscious now, as Baru, looking at the members of our group, stiffened as I asked him,

“May I call you Baru-kyung…?”1

“Please call me whatever is comfortable. Honestly, even this formal address I’m receiving now is burdensome.”

Baru said, slightly shrinking his body.

Indeed. A huscarl of a great territory might be equivalent to a knight order commander… but here, it’s not a particularly high position.

There’s me, a Count of the Empire, Helena, a Saintess of the Church of Righteous Radiance. Not to mention Elisha and Iris, who recently officially reclaimed their positions as High Elves, and even Iona, a Lord-level vampire and war hero.

Even Faye is, after all, the daughter of a Jarl, so the only person here with a lower status than Baru is Carla.

And even Carla, whose title is technically a slave, is a special case who could become the Countess of Lindelheit in my stead whenever she wishes.

Being a warrior, he’s probably cautious because he’s sensitive to hierarchy. He’s trying to maintain some composure as he came as the Jarl’s representative, though.

He also has to act as a guide, but he seemed too tense, so I shrugged and joked.

“I don’t think you should tell me to speak comfortably. The Circulating Life did that and now I’m calling her ‘Mother’.”

“…I respectfully request you continue to call me Baru-kyung as you are now.”

“Alright, Baru-kyung. You said you came all the way here by land, right?”

“That is correct.”

“There’s still some time left, so if you have horses or a carriage you rode, please bring them. It would be a shame to leave them behind.”

“Hmm. I appreciate the consideration, but I don’t have such things, so it’s alright.”

“???”

Wasn’t it a racial trait of dwarves to be magically inept, to the point of not even considering teleportation?

That’s why I thought he would have traveled with mounts for such a long distance…

Was my reaction that obvious? Baru, who had been stiff, slightly relaxed his expression and lifted one foot.

Short but muscular legs, typical of a dwarf. Looks like firewood stacked for winter.

“As you can see. A dwarf’s legs are short and thick.”

“Hmm… manly.”

“Thank you. As you said, they are manly legs, and they are indeed quite sturdy… but they are not suitable for riding horses.”

“Ah.”

I briefly imagined him trying to mount a horse with those legs. No matter how I pictured it, it didn’t look right.

He probably wouldn’t be able to get on in one go. Unless he used several stirrups connected like a ladder to make it long.

And even if he somehow managed to get on, that wouldn’t be the end of it.

Horses are larger creatures than you might think. It would be difficult to properly secure his body with those legs.

Faye is a half-elf, so she’s not that short, a problem I’ve never thought about before.

“Well, then did you perhaps run all the way here?”

“Of course, I ran. But I didn’t just run.”

Baru smirked, as if he had been waiting for my dumbfounded reaction.

Then, he took off one of the shoes he was wearing and showed it to me.

From above, I had thought it was just a normal steel greave-style boot, but the sole looked completely different.

I didn’t know what it was, but I could see thick gears and springs through a transparent material. And a purplish magic stone.

There was even a hole in the center of the sole that looked like a nozzle. It looked unusual at first glance.

What in the world is that?

I was momentarily mesmerized by its appearance, which somehow filled me with a sense of romance, when Baru’s proud voice continued.

“Jarl Rohan is not only an excellent lord but also a superb craftsman. All huscarls receive his family name as their own and can request one item of their choosing.”

“Baru-kyung asked him to make these greaves.”

“That is correct. I can run faster than a horse without exerting much effort. If needed, I can even use the magic stone for short-term flight.”

“Wow…”

Shoes with not only increased speed but also a booster?

They are a race terrible at magic, except for enchantments where design skills are more important than magical talent, but there’s a reason why they can stand shoulder to shoulder with others skilled in magic.

Dwarves have the ability to create magical items without magic.

“Since I’m also a dwarf, I can do basic hammering… but since I was young, I preferred hitting heads with a hammer rather than hitting steel, so it’s difficult for me to make something like this. But the Jarl made it in a week.”

“Huh… I’m an amateur in this field, so I don’t know well, but isn’t that fast?”

“It’s beyond fast, it’s astonishing. Normally, even a master craftsman would take at least a month for such an item. But Rohan is both a Jarl and a Meister.”

Ah. That makes sense then.

Most dwarves offer their faith to the steel they strike.

However, it’s not the kind of faith where they dedicate everything to a god like humans or elves, but a faith in the way they want their creations to be evaluated and recognized.

Because of that, there’s naturally a tremendous amount of technological inflation in Nidavellir, the Dwarf Kingdom.

It’s a place where almost every house has a small forge, and they make or repair small household items themselves.

In such a country, you need to be at least a master craftsman to survive as a blacksmith.

It’s said that in the Levantin Empire, there might be one or two master craftsmen in a large city, but in Nidavellir, they’re common even in rural villages.

To be called a Meister and have your skills recognized in such a country, you would have to be capable of making something like this.

Well, Iris could probably make something like this if she put her mind to it…

But that would be a magic tool. These boots don’t have any special enchantments other than the booster using the magic stone.

In other words, if left in the hands of a skilled magician, they could be enhanced even further. The reason people are crazy about dwarven-made weapons and armor must be this.

I was admiring them for a moment when Baru, glancing at me, asked in a subtle voice.

“Would you like to see how they work?”

“If possible.”

“There’s no reason why not.”

Baru nodded and took a stance. Then, he lightly pushed off the ground.

“Heoh.”

His body flew 2-3 meters in an instant. He jumped north, south, east, and west, drew circles, and showed off his free directional changes.

And finally, he even levitated for a moment using ignition magic. It was the first time that dwarf physique, resembling a half-cut log, looked cool.

I was unknowingly clapping enthusiastically for a moment.

Suddenly, I felt a chilly sensation from behind and slowly turned my head.

“……”

“Heop!”

I met eyes with Faye, who was staring at me with lifeless, unfocused eyes.

“Junior. Do you like those boots that much?”

“S-Senior Faye. It’s not that…”

“It’s not that? Then why are you looking at them with such envy? If you weren’t interested, you shouldn’t have asked him to demonstrate, right?”

“Just calm down and listen to me. They’re boosters, okay? Any guy would be interested in shoes with boosters. This is just a natural phenomenon.”

Baru nodded, seemingly understanding my words perfectly.

Yeah. It’s a sentiment any guy can relate to. But the only guys here are me and Baru.

If I had to say, Faye used to like this kind of gear, but she’s completely out of it right now, so she doesn’t count.

Where did she get so worked up? Was it because I admired the equipment Rohan made? Or because I was eyeing other equipment even though I have Faye as my exclusive maker?

What’s certain is that Faye is jealous right now. Then there’s only one thing to do.

“I’m disappointed, Senior Faye. Did you really think I was envying Baru-kyung’s equipment just now?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“Of course not! I wasn’t envying it; I was just imagining what it would be like if something like that was made into full-body armor! You could make that for me, right, Senior Faye?”

“…Keep going.”

Faye tilted her head, urging me on. Maybe it was her messy bangs, but the atmosphere felt even more ominous. It looked like she would pull a kitchen knife out of her chest at the slightest stutter.

But that won’t happen. I already have a perfect model in mind.

A hero movie I enjoyed watching on Earth. Among them, I recalled the world’s greatest tycoon who engaged in vigilante activities wearing a state-of-the-art suit and continued my explanation.

A helmet with communication and simple auxiliary functions, a torso with a power source and shield generator, arms that could launch projectile weapons or magic, and legs that could fly.

“The most important thing is that it should be able to be reduced in size and carried around normally, and then unfold and automatically put itself on when needed. As Senior Faye knows, full-body armor is cumbersome to carry around and put on by yourself, right?”

“Hmm…”

Talking about it made me think of Earth after a long time, so I must have gotten a bit excited.

Faye swallowed a groan at my unexpectedly long explanation. She pondered for a while and then tilted her head.

“Hey, Junior. Isn’t it enough to just use Dragon Transformation?”

“…Huh?”

“You wouldn’t need to carry anything around at all; it happens automatically with just willpower and know-how, and there’s probably nothing as strong as dragon scales flowing with mana, right? Plus, all your abilities are greatly enhanced too.”

“Th-that is.”

“No matter how I think about it, Junior, I think it would be much better for you to just use Dragon Transformation.”

“……”

Today. One of my dreams died.

Gweok.

TL/N: Kyung is a Korean honorific, like ‘Sir’ or ‘Lord’ ↩️