Ch.146146. The Blacksmith (1)

After Sir Lancelot the Rabbit Knight swore his loyalty to me, we went ahead and completed the animal friend contract in one go.

This ninth contract proceeded with remarkable smoothness, and naturally, as always happens, the contract brought changes to both parties.

The one who underwent the greater transformation was, of course, Sir Lancelot, who was of lower rank and status than me. He experienced comprehensive changes under my superior influence.

His appearance didn’t change much, but his muscle density increased several times over, and his magical power (aura), which was already considerable for an animal, seems to have increased by nearly 1.5 times.

Though it rarely happens, aura is ultimately a type of resource that can be depleted, so having a larger total amount of aura can never be disadvantageous.

Meanwhile, as I felt Sir Lancelot’s mystery seeping into a corner of my soul… I was surprised to feel absolutely no change occurring, and I felt a bitter emotion at the result I had anticipated all along.

From the beginning, the special abilities I gain from animal friend contracts are limited to the innate abilities of the contract subject, so Sir Lancelot’s mystery, which he acquired entirely through training, was completely ineffective for me.

Well, since I hadn’t expected much to begin with, I wasn’t greatly disappointed.

I dismissed it as insignificant and spoke to Sir Lancelot, who was moving around testing his newly enhanced body.

“Sir Lancelot. Could I perhaps witness your swordsmanship firsthand right here?”

[Of course…! By all means!]

When I made this request, Sir Lancelot openly displayed his desire to show off his achievements while drawing a sword from his waist.

His sword, which seemed out of place with his clothes that looked like refurbished old garments, was sized appropriately for Sir Lancelot to handle with one hand… if I had to describe it, it was closer to a stiletto (a thrusting dagger).

It appeared to be reasonably well-maintained, but the sword itself was too old to be considered good quality. Wielding what I presumed to be a standard-issue weapon of the Elven Kingdom’s army, Lancelot began performing a sword dance in the air…

And to my eyes, it truly looked like dancing.

Lancelot’s movements, seemingly derived from those of a typical elven swordsman, appeared more like dancing than any martial art.

His footwork on the ground concealed the power needed for leaps within lightness, and his dazzling movements as he continuously shifted position showed elegance and beauty in each motion.

Of course, this was merely the surface appearance. In reality, the essence of these movements was not dance but killing, and with my heightened wild senses, I could discern the principles of swordsmanship and martial arts that Lancelot had mastered.

When classifying swordsmanship into the three elements of ‘strength,’ ‘speed,’ and ‘flexibility,’ his style consisted of 70% flexibility and 30% speed.

Though it might appear slow at first glance, his distinctive movements based on the flexibility of an elf’s (variant rabbit’s) body were optimized for evading enemy attacks.

Furthermore, he could accelerate at will when necessary to launch quick attacks or deflect an enemy’s attack to deliver a counter.

In short, this swordsmanship specialized more in defense than offense.

This style—normally gentle yet capable of quick and precise attacks when needed, specialized in deflecting and receiving attacks—was perfectly suited to Rabbit Lancelot’s physique.

Like all elven martial arts, this swordsmanship appeared extremely difficult to master, which made sense considering that his movements could be executed with almost any sword.

Of course, the high adaptability of his swordsmanship meant that he, as a one-handed swordsman, moved as if using different weapons… in other words, he hadn’t perfectly made the swordsmanship his own or infused it with his personal style.

Moreover, this swordsmanship was presumably developed for slashing and parrying, yet the weapon Lancelot was currently using was a dagger for piercing armor gaps—a stiletto.

While it did have some edge, it was basically a piercing dagger closer to an awl with a slight edge, and since it was originally sized for a human, both the handle and hand guard were too large for Lancelot to use comfortably.

[…Phew, how was it?]

“Excellent, that was truly splendid swordsmanship.”

[…You flatter me!]

So while I offered that praise to Lancelot, who was looking at me expectantly, I also voiced a question that had been on my mind for some time.

More precisely, I directed it to Grand Master Hecate, who had approached and was watching Lancelot’s swordsmanship.

“Grand Master Hecate, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“If you happen to know a blacksmith, could you introduce me to one?”

※ ※ ※

As I’ve mentioned a few times before, druid magic has the worst compatibility with metal.

To be more precise, the issue isn’t with metal itself but with the products of metallurgy, which symbolize the advancement of human civilization. From a mystical perspective, processed metal is inevitably incompatible with the mystery of nature that forms the foundation of druid magic.

…Saying it like this might sound rather forced, but considering that specific principles rarely apply to mysteries in the first place, this is a relatively acceptable issue.

No, actually, for a phenomenon caused by mystery, the correlation and causation are quite clear in this case.

Anyway, while the compatibility between processed metal and druid magic is terrible, there are a few exceptions in this world…

That exception is the metal called mythril, also known as true silver.

Similar to silver in form and properties but with strength surpassing even steel, mythril is one of the three legendary metals. It’s the most common of the three, though its capabilities are far from common.

Among all metals in the world, it has outstanding durability that places it among the handful of exceptional materials, and despite being so hard, it’s unbelievably light.

Thanks to these characteristics that seemingly defy the laws of physics, weapons and tools made of mythril are incredibly light.

Additionally, mythril has high magical affinity, making it perfect for enchantment, and its conductivity for magical power or aura is excellent, allowing it to deliver more destructive power than ordinary metals.

Perhaps due to this high magical affinity, while druid magic cannot normally be applied to processed metals, objects made purely of mythril can be fully enchanted with druid magic.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, “mystery” is mysterious precisely because its operating principles and mechanisms are unknown, so it’s nearly impossible to determine why this phenomenon occurs.

Anyway, mythril weapons are the only exception to the imbalance between druid magic and metal objects, so I had set my sights on a mythril weapon as the gift I promised to this small but great rabbit knight.

The main reason was that I could handle the exorbitant enchantment costs myself, but there were several other advantages as well.

Rabbit Knight Lancelot, having reached an intermediate level, possessed physical abilities that seemed incredible for his small frame, but there were still physical limitations to simply giving him a heavy, large weapon.

Moreover, since his martial arts relied on speed, a lightweight mythril weapon would be ideal.

Another reason was that I happened to have a considerable amount of hard-to-obtain mythril.

The mythril equipment I took after defeating that bandit knight in the past—armor and rapier so severely damaged that even their enchantments had disappeared—had lost their value as equipment but could still be melted down and reforged.

Considering the size difference between that bandit knight and Lancelot, the mythril I possessed would probably be enough to make a complete set of equipment.

With these reasons in mind, I asked Grand Master, the only person I could trust in this Elven Kingdom, if she knew any blacksmiths she could introduce me to…

“…As it happens, I know a skilled blacksmith among my acquaintances.”

After appearing to consider for a moment, Grand Master Hecate said this to me.

A blacksmith whom the Grand Master—a true demigod at a level beyond even the superior rank—would acknowledge as “skilled”…

As I memorized the address and details of this blacksmith that Grand Master was telling me about, I couldn’t hide the excitement rising within me.