Ch.41Gathering Materials (1)

Clang-!!

The sword and hammer collided multiple times.

The sword deflected the hammer and created an opening in Arges’s defense, and I exploited that gap with punches and kicks.

Though I managed to land several successful attacks this way, it seemed I wouldn’t be able to use this method much longer.

‘This sword is useless now.’

Clatter-

I threw the warped and deformed sword to the ground.

Seeing this, Arges smiled as if victory was his. It was a natural reaction when a swordsman discards his sword.

“If you get on your knees and beg now, I’ll finish you with just one blow to the head. Though I can’t guarantee you’ll survive even that one hit!”

Though he told me to beg with his words, he charged at me with his hammer, clearly not intending to give me even a moment to plead.

It was a reckless charge, as if he could simply endure a few of my kicks or punches.

In reality, even if I landed five bare-fisted punches, Arges had the ability to ignore them and crush my skull with his hammer.

So instead of throwing ineffective punches, I took backsteps to avoid his attacks.

But how long could I keep running in this cramped forge?

Thud-

Eventually, I felt my back touch the wall. Arges shouted as he jumped toward me, sensing his opportunity.

“Now I’ve got you!!”

At the moment when Arges’s overconfidence and carelessness reached their peak, I seized my own opportunity and moved.

‘Now.’

Swoosh-

I suddenly lunged forward instead of continuing to retreat, avoiding the hammer’s impact point.

Simultaneously, I unleashed the martial energy I had been concealing throughout the fight.

“I was worried you might sober up because you felt threatened.”

Starting with punches to his solar plexus and jaw, I pummeled Arges’s entire body like I was tenderizing meat.

Seeing the martial energy surrounding my hands, Arges belatedly tried to shake off his drunkenness, but it was already too late.

Before he could respond, all my punches had connected with his body, and Arges was slammed into the wall and knocked unconscious.

“Phew… Fortunately, I managed to take him down according to plan.”

I collapsed onto the forge floor, feeling intense fatigue washing over me. It was the backlash from pushing my concentration beyond its limits.

Lilly approached me and cooled my body with a gentle breeze.

“Well done. You did well against such a monster.”

Lilly looked at Arges with disgusted eyes. Though I had managed to knock him out, aura was slowly leaking from him, suggesting he would regain consciousness soon.

“He is a monster indeed. Even without using aura, just his physical abilities alone were almost too much for me to handle.”

If I had infused my sword with sword energy, it wouldn’t have bent or broken so easily.

But if I had started using sword energy, Arges would have used his aura too, which would have reduced my chances of victory to zero.

‘Actually, though it’s not aura…’

In this battle, I needed to do two things.

Endure without sobering Arges up, and then attack with full force when his guard was at its lowest.

If he hadn’t been so careless due to his drunken state, he would have immediately countered and smashed my head.

‘If things had gotten truly dangerous, Lilly would have stepped in, but then breaking his pride would have become much harder.’

The best way to break someone’s pride is to have them beaten by someone they consider clearly weaker.

After resting and catching my breath, I stood up and stretched.

“It seems he’ll take a while to regain consciousness, so I’ll go out for a bit to take care of something.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to buy some charcoal. As you can see, there’s nothing here except alcohol.”

Most dwarves use charcoal they make themselves, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sell it.

In fact, quite a few sell well-made charcoal to show off their craftsmanship.

“Will that dwarf actually make something with charcoal if you ask him to?”

“He lost, so his pride is broken. No matter how much he dislikes it, he’ll comply at least once.

It may not be the sword I want, but it will be more than sufficient as a temporary weapon.”

A sword made by Arges, even with just charcoal and ordinary iron, would be considered a masterpiece, but that wasn’t enough.

The sword Arges needed to make wasn’t just a masterpiece but a God-Slaying Sword capable of killing an evil god.

“Well then, I’ll be back.”

I asked Lilly to watch over Arges and headed to Zone A to buy charcoal.

* * *

Leaving the quiet Zone D for Zone A, I was once again greeted by intense heat and the loud clanging of hammers.

However, what exhausted me wasn’t the heat or noise, but the crowds of people that left barely any room to step.

‘Since it’s Zone A, I guess everyone who came for the festival has gathered here…’

Even though all the craftsmen here were dwarves, their skills naturally varied.

And the most skilled dwarves were mostly stationed in the underground zones.

However, since you couldn’t enter the underground zones without a pass, most adventurers and merchants opted for the next best thing.

They went to where the second most skilled craftsmen were located. And that place was here, Zone A.

Fortunately, the shops selling charcoal weren’t crowded.

I picked up some charcoal from the shop display and headed to the counter. There, a dwarf was leisurely drinking alcohol.

“I’d like to pay for this charcoal, please.”

“Four gold coins.”

If we were just talking about the price of charcoal, this would be considered expensive by most standards. In another city, you could buy a decent sword for about the same price.

But it was a reasonable price in its own way. I had expected this price range and specifically came to a place that specialized in making charcoal.

“Here’s four gold coins.”

“Hmph, seems you have a good eye.”

“This place specializes in making charcoal rather than selling it as a side business like other places.

I was thinking I might have paid even six gold coins for it.”

I said this with sincerity.

It also implied that I wouldn’t have bought it if it had been seven gold coins, but that seemed to please the dwarf.

“I’m in a good mood. Just give me two gold coins.”

“No, I should pay the proper price. But may I ask for a favor instead?”

I placed four gold coins in the dwarf’s hand, and he put down his drink and looked at me.

“Let’s hear it.”

“I’d like to use the mine underground. Could you issue me a pass?”

“Stop right there. I don’t know how skilled you think you are, but you’ll probably die after taking just a few steps.

If you value your life, you’d better forget about going in.”

The dwarf who heard my request tried to dissuade me, as if that place wasn’t a playground.

Considering that the upper levels of the mine should be safe regardless of how dangerous the mine was, he must have guessed that I intended to go deep inside.

“You probably want to mine mythril, but even we dwarves have a hard time finding that. You’d better wake up from that dream.”

“I’m not going there with vague dreams of striking it rich. I have something specific I’m looking for, so please help me out.”

I had no intention whatsoever of mining mythril with its terrible drop rate.

And even if I were lucky enough to find some, it was questionable whether I could mine it without proper mining skills.

“Haah, fine. I’ll issue you a pass.

But make sure to stop by when you enter and when you leave to report that you’re still alive. Otherwise, I’ll have trouble sleeping at night.”

“I’ll do that.”

Since I needed to take the elevator in Zone A to get to the underground zone anyway, it wasn’t an inconvenient condition.

After receiving the pass, I pushed through the crowds again and headed back to the forge.

* * *

When I returned to Arges’s forge, the mess had been cleaned up.

The wall that had collapsed from the hammer blow had been perfectly restored, as if by magic.

“That wall was completely destroyed, but now it looks perfect.”

“Right? I was really surprised when I saw him fixing it. I thought he was just a drunk, but I guess he really is a dwarf.”

“Shut up!”

From a distance, a hammer came flying just like before. But unlike earlier, there was no force behind it, so I could easily catch it.

I handed over both the hammer and the charcoal I had bought to Arges.

“I’d like to request a temporary sword first.”

“Why should I do that?”

Arges glared at me, seemingly offended by my request for a “temporary” sword rather than just a sword.

If he were to make a sword, he would be swallowing his pride to make it with charcoal, so being treated as temporary must have felt insulting.

So I offered both stick and carrot.

“You attacked me and lost. You also destroyed the sword I was using.”

“Fine, I admit both. Take the sword and get out.”

Arges started to light the fire and add the charcoal, as if wanting to finish quickly.

The temperature inside the forge began to rise rapidly, but I remained standing inside and continued speaking.

“And if I bring you nectar, then I’d like to request a proper sword that I can use for a lifetime, not just a temporary one.”