Ch.41Chapter 41 – The Dwarf’s Forge

The next morning at dawn.

I was repeating the same daily routine of waking up Sera as we headed out to the guild.

“Ms. Eve called for me yesterday.”

“To make something for her?”

“Yes.”

I thought Eve was supposed to contact me first before meeting with Sera, but somehow the order got reversed.

“So I’m planning to do a quick delivery in the morning and then go make the potion.”

It’s an easily forgotten fact that Sera’s dream job isn’t being a delivery person but an alchemist.

“That’s good.”

“…Yes, I suppose it is?”

Somehow, her response seemed a bit lukewarm.

She should be fine financially by now.

“You haven’t gotten yourself into debt somewhere, have you?”

Sera’s face briefly turned ashen.

“You didn’t…”

I started to worry that she might have actually gotten into debt somewhere.

“I-It’s fine. I’m not really in debt or anything like that.”

“…I see.”

She seemed to be forcibly changing the subject.

Maybe I should press her about it later.

“By the way, what about you, Mr. Kay?”

“Same as always.”

When I said that, Sera looked at me with concern.

“Is there something you want to say?”

“…No, nothing.”

Despite her expression clearly showing she had something to say, Sera held back.

We were about to head to the request board in an awkward silence when—

“Oh, Sera, I have a favor to ask…”

“Yes?”

When she mentioned going to make something, I suddenly remembered something.

Thinking it was worth a try, I told Sera, who once again gave me a worried look.

“Well, I can try to make it… but it doesn’t seem good for your health.”

“It’s just for emergencies. Can I ask you to do it?”

Sera thought for a moment.

“I’ll give it a try. When do you need it by?”

“Before the Great Subjugation.”

“Understood.”

Sera answered with a smile.

Just as I finished talking with her, Ludger appeared, squeezing himself between me and the request board.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for you.”

As Ludger approached with a bright smile, I remained cautious while he spoke to me in a friendly manner.

“You know, I was quite surprised when you just paid for the repair costs and left yesterday.”

“If we’re being honest, it was your fault.”

I wasn’t particularly confrontational, but I raised my voice slightly to make my point clear.

Right, it wasn’t my fault.

Strictly speaking, it was that Arian woman or whatever her name was whose head broke the window.

I didn’t break anything directly.

“Well, we were at fault too, so I don’t mind if it goes on our tab.”

Ludger said, scratching his head as if a bit embarrassed.

“Who is this person?”

I pondered how to explain him.

It didn’t seem right to introduce someone approaching in a friendly manner as an attacker.

Or should I just tell the truth?

While I was thinking to myself, Ludger introduced himself.

“Ludger Jestia. I’m from the Jeolei Order.”

Ludger took a step closer with a smile.

Sera awkwardly smiled and stepped back.

She seemed to have instinctively backed away when a large, muscular old man suddenly approached her.

“Hey, I’m not that scary.”

Ludger said with a somewhat disappointed expression.

“And miss, you look like someone I know. If you don’t mind, your name is…”

Wait, is this old man…?

“I think you should stop there.”

I intervened, stepping between Ludger and Sera.

I could see Sera looking relieved as she hid behind me.

‘Is he hitting on someone young enough to be his granddaughter?’

I glared slightly at Ludger while thinking this.

Fortunately, Ludger seemed to realize how his behavior might appear.

“No, it’s not like that, she really looks like a friend…”

“Please say something that makes sense.”

“I have a daughter her age…”

That’s information I didn’t need to know.

I cautiously opened my mouth while remaining wary of Ludger.

“Didn’t you have something to discuss with me?”

“Ah, right. I’ll learn the young lady’s name another time.”

Ludger said with a smile.

“Like before, perhaps about joining the Jeolei Order…”

“I decline religious solicitation.”

“…Just as expected. So I brought a different proposal.”

Ludger said.

“If you’re willing, how about we pick a suitable subjugation request and go together?”

“You’re a church person, not an adventurer, aren’t you?”

When I asked that, Ludger smiled brightly and pulled something out from his chest.

It was an identification card that adventurers carry.

‘A-rank…’

It was a rank far beyond my reach.

Sensing my gaze, Ludger smiled broadly and spoke.

“I was an adventurer in my day before being scouted by the Order.”

“…I see.”

How much could an A-rank earn in a day?

As I stared at the ID card, thinking about this despite myself, I could hear Ludger chuckling.

“Well, it would be better for your lady friend to go about her business. I’ve been taking up the young lady’s time.”

“Um…”

When Sera looked at me, not knowing what to do, I simply nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“…Then I’ll see you at the inn later.”

Sera selected a few delivery requests and left, saying she might be back late.

Watching her go, Ludger smiled and said:

“Do you two share a room?”

“Do you want to get hit?”

Of course, I meant by Sera, not me.

I thought if he got hit once, he’d never make such jokes again.

+

Soon, Ludger arbitrarily selected a request.

‘The location is quite far.’

I looked at him with concern, as going far would interfere with things I needed to do.

“Ah, don’t worry.”

Ludger said with a smile.

“For your lady’s sake, I’ll use a teleportation scroll.”

“I keep telling you, it’s not that kind of relationship.”

I reluctantly accompanied Ludger, but this old man kept making unnecessary comments.

Still, I thought it would be beneficial if we could travel quickly.

As we were walking, Ludger suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke up.

“Oh, let me see your sword.”

“Here it is.”

I handed him the sword that had bent from yesterday’s use.

Ludger frowned slightly as he examined it, then spoke.

“Are you perhaps short on funds?”

“Would an adventurer have much money?”

It was a cheap secondhand item that I was planning to discard anyway.

Ludger sighed slightly and said:

“Well, I suppose it would be difficult to use a weapon suited to your skills when you’re positioned so far below your actual ability.”

I just shrugged at his comment.

It was a weapon I’d use until it broke, then throw away.

Besides, my main weapon was the greatsword on my back.

“Since we have a teleportation scroll, time isn’t an issue. Let’s go!”

“Where to?”

“To the blacksmith, of course!”

Are you going to pay for it?

I wanted to ask that, but the old man suddenly dragged me toward the workshop.

He disrupted my stance so quickly that I couldn’t resist being pulled along.

We passed through the places I had visited before with Eve and Sera, went through an alley, and arrived at a location.

“Where is this?”

“My regular blacksmith.”

Unlike the collectively operated workshop from before, this was a small shop.

Being early in the morning, it wasn’t open yet.

However, Ludger didn’t mind and knocked on the door.

“I know you’re not sleeping, come out, you bastard!”

After a moment, the door opened and a young man came out.

“Who is—oh, it’s you, Mr. Ludger.”

“Perry, what’s your master doing that you’re the one answering?”

“He says, ‘Who would come out when you act like that so early in the morning, you damn fool.’ That’s his message.”

“Good, I need to settle things with that guy once and for all. Lead the way.”

Is this person here to pick a fight?

I was thinking that when my eyes met with the young man called Perry.

Since I was wearing a helmet, Perry probably didn’t think our eyes had met.

“Oh, are you Mr. Ludger’s disciple?”

“If I had to say, I’m more like his prisoner.”

Since I was dragged here.

Perry snickered at my response, and Ludger, seeing that Perry wasn’t moving, said:

“Come on, if I make a scene here, that guy will come out.”

“No, please don’t. We barely make enough to get by day to day.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I know that eccentric makes plenty of money despite being in a place like this.”

“No, really.”

Perry seemed to know Ludger well enough to converse with him easily.

Fortunately, Perry’s savior appeared from inside.

“*Cough* Ugh, *cough*.”

It was a short, heavily bearded old man.

He was walking out slowly while coughing lightly.

“Ah, looking at his face, he went drinking yesterday.”

When Ludger said that, the bearded dwarf man shouted, apparently provoked:

“What are you saying, you old geezer!”

“Aren’t you twice my age?”

“You and I aren’t the same, you fool!”

Soon the dwarf man lunged at Ludger, and the two began an unseemly scuffle.

‘Oh.’

But they were fighting more impressively than I expected.

So I decided to leave them be.

“Do they do this often?”

“It started with their long-standing relationship from when Mr. Ludger was an adventurer and apparently owed my master a great deal.”

“In other words, they’ve grown old together.”

As I watched the two old men’s unseemly fight, Perry nodded in agreement.

“So, who are you? What’s your relationship with Mr. Ludger?”

“I’m Kay. We don’t have any particular relationship, and honestly, I don’t know why I was dragged here.”

Perry said incredulously:

“Ah, he must have brought you for that matter on his own.”

“That matter?”

I was about to ask Perry when the fight had already ended.

The two men, still panting, separated and finally remembered their business, beginning to talk.

“So, what brings you here?”

“I want a decent sword for this friend.”

“No credit, you bastard.”

“He’ll pay. He will.”

At Ludger’s words, I looked at Perry and said:

“I don’t have money, so can I leave?”

“…I’ll pay.”

At Ludger’s surrender, the dwarf old man laughed loudly and approached me.

“Give me your hand.”

Despite saying that, he pulled my hand without waiting for me to offer it and examined it.

After pressing and touching it in various ways, he spoke:

“You’re a bit strange, aren’t you?”

“In what way?”

I asked, looking at the old man.

“You don’t have many calluses? How long have you been handling a sword?”

“…A few weeks?”

I answered vaguely, since I couldn’t claim to have handled a sword for long, even including the time since I regained consciousness.

The old man looked dumbfounded, then turned to Ludger and shouted:

“Hey, isn’t it too much to bring me a novice?”

“A novice? You haven’t seen this friend fight.”

Ludger said with a smile.

“He could probably hold his own against me for a few rounds if he tried.”

“You must be getting old, idiot!”

“I’m still active, you know!”

The two started their scuffle again.

“Can I escape?”

When I asked Perry, he shook his head.

“If Mr. Ludger is determined, you won’t be able to escape, so give up.”

Damn it.

“…Oh, really?”

“He fought well against Aria too, not just me.”

“Even if you’re old, Aria is a monster. Is he perhaps what they call a genius?”

The old man looked at me with interested eyes.

“So, a sword.”

“Yes. This friend’s weapon is too inferior for his level.”

“Haven’t you heard that a master doesn’t blame his tools?”

“Isn’t it that a master uses better tools because he’s a master?”

The two old men started bickering again.

“Well… this should be suitable.”

The old man went inside.

After a moment, he came out with a sword.

It was an ordinary-looking sword with no special features.

“Use this for now. You have so few calluses on your hands that I can’t tell what kind of grip would suit you.”

I drew the sword from its scabbard once.

‘Oh…’

While I couldn’t claim to have a good eye for weapons, it seemed like the best sword I had held so far.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. My job is to provide goods for money.”

“Speaking of which, can you give me a discount?”

I stood up with the sword at my waist.

At that moment, Perry, who had been working on something, paused and handed me a whetstone, saying:

“Well, take good care of it. My master makes good weapons, so the quality is guaranteed.”

“Doesn’t Perry make them too?”

It was a curious question.

Immediately, I heard the old man shouting:

“That guy’s skills are far from ready!”

At those words, Perry sighed and said:

“He says I’m not ready yet.”

I felt a bit sorry for him.

Just as I was thinking of comforting him, I noticed what Perry had been working on.

It was a bow.

“Ah, this is something I made.”

“Hmm…”

It looked much better than the one I had picked up at the workshop before.

Then Ludger got up and approached.

“What’s this, can you shoot a bow too?”

“No.”

I only remembered shooting once and missing spectacularly.

“Well, looking at his hands, he must have held one at least once. Couldn’t hit the target though.”

I was surprised by the old man’s words from behind.

“How did you know?”

“I can tell by touching.”

Then the old man grinned and said:

“Hey, Ludger. You can’t shoot a bow either, can you?”

“Me? I’m a perfect shot.”

“Really? Isn’t this friend better than you?”

At those words, Ludger drew his weapon.

It transformed into a bow.

Then he began to aim it at the old man.

“Hmph, I’ll show you.”

“Put that away! Don’t shoot in here, go outside, you idiot!”

A moment later, we were in what seemed like a backyard where there was a target.

‘Why did they give this to me?’

Somehow, I ended up holding Perry’s bow.

“Watch carefully.”

Ludger drew the bow.

Soon an arrow materialized and flew straight.

It hit the center of the target precisely.

“Ah, this bastard. You’ve been practicing a lot.”

The old man grumbled.

Then, as if remembering something, Ludger spoke to me:

“Why don’t you try drawing it as a test? I find it hard to believe you can’t shoot.”

“No, that’s…”

Perry had already brought an arrow.

‘How did I end up like this?’

I was playing along with these two old men’s pace.

I drew the bow and shot the arrow.

Naturally, the arrow landed far from the target.

“…As you can see, I can’t shoot a bow.”

I said, handing the bow back to Perry.

But Perry, the old man, and even Ludger started looking at me strangely.

“Is it that bad?”

I asked, surprised by their unusual stares.

“What a strange fellow.”

The old man lamented.

“Your posture was good, so why did it miss?”

Perry also spoke as if he had seen something peculiar.

‘I just held it properly because the posture came to mind.’

As I was answering inwardly, a hand was placed on my shoulder.

I turned to see Ludger.

“You.”

Ludger spoke in a slightly lower voice.

“Are your head and body not in sync?”

“What?”

After thinking for a moment, Ludger spoke again:

“Seeing how you held the bow, I got a feeling.”

Ludger’s demeanor had changed slightly from before.

“It’s like someone forcibly implanted weapon handling knowledge into your head.”

Ludger looked at me.

“A bow isn’t an easy weapon to handle. You don’t just swing it around, right?”

Ludger paused briefly and picked up the bow I had been holding.

“Holding the bow, drawing the string, at what angle, how much force to apply… yes, it requires experience and practice to shoot.”

As he examined the bow in detail, he spoke:

“In that sense, you were strange just now.”

“Strange how?”

“Your posture seemed forced, as if someone taught you, but you had no experience.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the bow,” Ludger added.

“I see.”

So that’s why I couldn’t handle the bow.

There would have been no reason for the Order not to include archery in my training.

Since it was in my head, I could assume the posture.

However, a bow is different from other weapons in that you don’t wield it directly.

‘So I could recall the posture, but couldn’t hit the target because I had no experience shooting.’

My head and body were out of sync.

Ludger seemed to ponder for a moment, then suddenly smiled brightly.

Not understanding why he was smiling, I stepped back a bit, and he reached out to me.

“You should know you’re lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was just planning to teach you. Now there’s more to learn!”

I was about to object, wondering why he was deciding this on his own.

But Ludger had already gone to Perry.

“Perry, I’ll take this bow too. With arrows.”

Ludger threw something from his pocket, which Perry caught.

It was a gold ornament.

“We don’t accept barter…”

“Come on, it’s gold, so exchange it as you see fit! It’s a hassle to carry coins around!”

“Ah, then the change…”

“That you should give back.”

Soon Ludger grabbed me roughly again.

“Now, let’s go! My lessons are very special!”

“Why should I learn from you?”

I finally managed to ask.

Ludger smiled and said:

“For now, think of it as for my own selfish reasons. I need to train someone useful for something I have to do.”

As expected, nothing is free.

It’s an investment based on need.

However.

“How do I know you’re stronger than me?”

I said, slightly entering a combat stance.

“Oh my, customer, you shouldn’t…”

“Leave him, Perry. Let’s see how long he can last.”

Ignoring the blacksmiths watching from the side, I took my stance.

Ludger laughed more heartily.

“Instead of fighting, let’s make a bet.”

“A bet?”

I asked, wondering what he meant.

“If you lose to me, you have to do everything I say, alright?”

“Where’s the logic in that?”

The moment I said that, Ludger disappeared from my sight.

As I was startled, I heard a voice from beside me.

“Here.”

Just as I thought “already?” in my mind—

*THWACK!*

It was a surprise attack.

He must have hit my helmet, as my vision immediately blurred slightly.

As I tried to swing my weapon to counterattack, Ludger was already in motion.

*THUD!*

*SMACK!*

With crisp sounds, Ludger began hitting my body repeatedly.

“Oh my, that’s brutal.”

I could hear the dwarf old man laughing mockingly.

In the end, I fell backward pathetically without even managing a proper sword strike.

Enduring the pain, I barely managed to say one thing:

“Coward…”

“Coward? You just couldn’t react because you’re inadequate.”

With a composed look, Ludger approached and began dragging me away, while the dwarf old man laughed loudly.

‘I’ll pay you back double.’

As I was being dragged away shamefully, all I could do was vow revenge.