Ch.48Dreisen (6)

It had already been two weeks since I commissioned the weapons and armor from the blacksmith.

During that time, I had completed as many quests as possible to gather enough funds for the journey to Faerus Vale, and once I had sufficient money, I immediately stopped working and increased my time practicing with the sword to prepare for the dangers ahead.

My swordsmanship…

Honestly, I had never formally learned swordsmanship in a systematic way.

I had paid for accelerated lessons at the swordsmanship guild before, but what I learned could hardly be called “swordsmanship” in the true sense.

Swordsmanship is generally divided into three categories: swift sword, heavy sword, and phantom sword. Both the instructors at the guild and I myself considered my style to be “heavy sword.”

Heavy sword style—maintaining a solid stance and delivering powerful strikes with full force.

It suited my personality and, more importantly, my aptitude.

Although I was too young then and lacked money, so I could only barely learn proper stance and how to handle a sword correctly, those fragments of knowledge became the foundation of my swordsmanship.

Even though I had enough skill to easily handle street thugs, I couldn’t guarantee victory if I were to fight against professional swordsmen who lived and died by the blade or knights who had received systematic martial training.

The state of unity between sword and mind, was it?

To those who wielded swords as extensions of their limbs, my swordsmanship would be nothing more than a stick waved around by a novice, and to knights, my style would appear like that of a ruffian who relied solely on brute strength, swinging wildly.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

“Huff!”

That’s why I needed to hone my skills even more.

I was a swordsman, will be a swordsman, and will die as a swordsman.

With that thought, I wiped away my sweat and went up to my room at the inn where I was staying.

The bath water I had prepared earlier had cooled to lukewarm, but as my body, heated from training, entered it, the lukewarm water quickly became warm.

“A higher level of mastery…”

For warriors, reaching a higher level of mastery was more precious than life itself.

Even for a former street beggar like me this was true, so how much more would it mean to knights who truly needed strength to protect the people, or to swordsmen who sought to elevate their schools’ reputations?

Splash!

I rose from the bathtub, washed my body again, and then with a towel wrapped around me, opened the window to cool down in the cold air.

Just as I was becoming familiar with the view of the city from the inn’s window, there was a knock on my door.

“Are you there?”

“Who is it?”

“I’m from the blacksmith. Your weapons and armor are ready for pickup.”

“Finally…”

Having paid an entire gold coin, the equipment prepared should last me a long time.

I put on my clothes properly and opened the door, heading toward Dreisen’s blacksmith shop.

*

Rustle!

“Here you go. Can you really wear all of this?”

“Of course.”

Clink… Clink…

I began putting on the equipment the blacksmith had laid out, one by one.

I secured daggers under both armpits and attached more to both ankles in the same manner.

Then I took off the chain mail I was wearing and put on the double chain mail with inner lining, distributing the weight with a belt to fit it snugly to my body. A heavy halberd was then slung across my back.

“My goodness… You truly have a naturally strong build.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Swoosh!

Afterward, I put on a long coat with an ivory exterior and burgundy interior as a surcoat, and seeing this, the blacksmith exclaimed admiringly:

“You look completely like a knight now.”

“A knight?”

“Well, yes! Only knights typically wear that level of armament. Plus, you ride a horse, so anyone seeing you would think you’re a knight who received early knighthood after the death of your master.”

“Hmm…”

Indeed, most adventurers struggled to earn money and weren’t skilled at maintaining equipment that required careful attention like armor, so they mainly used the cheapest cloth armor.

Metal armors like chain mail or plate were used almost exclusively by the military or knightly orders, so certainly, my appearance would make people think I was a knight rather than an adventurer.

“Well, I haven’t been knighted, so it doesn’t really matter. I can just tell people I’m an adventurer if it comes up.”

“That’s true, but… what about that?”

“Huh? Oh… that…”

“That” referred to the chain mail I had been wearing.

I had bought this armor before, but now that I had grown taller, I could no longer continue using it.

The double mail I was now wearing was made with extra room to accommodate growth, so I could keep using it, but the old chain mail, made for an adolescent’s body, would be difficult to sell for a good price due to its awkward size.

“…Could you modify it for me?”

“Modify?”

“Yes, to adult size. You probably have leftover chain links from making this armor…”

“That’s true… but there will be an additional charge.”

“I’ll pay it, of course.”

There would be plenty of money left over after making all this equipment anyway.

One gold coin equals 1,000 silver coins, and considering that I bought chain mail and leather armor in Rascal for “only” 50 silver coins, I would probably get several hundred silver coins back.

“Then I’ll deduct that cost and give you the change.”

“Mm.”

I watched as the blacksmith’s apprentice took away the chain mail, and then received 650 silver coins in change.

So the cost of this equipment and resizing the chain mail came to about 350 silver coins.

I put the silver coins into my spatial storage and then asked the clerk:

“When will the modification be completed?”

“About a day or two? We just need to add more chain links to what’s already there.”

“In that case, I’ll be waiting at the same inn as before.”

As the clerk nodded, I left the blacksmith shop again.

*

The next day arrived.

While I was training after lunch, an employee from the blacksmith shop came and showed me the modified chain mail. I put it into my spatial storage and headed to the blacksmith shop.

The reason was simple.

I needed oil to maintain the armor and weapons.

When I asked the clerk for weapon oil, he brought out several large containers of oil bundled together, calling it a “travel package,” and I bought it and put it in my spatial storage.

With weapon maintenance taken care of, the next thing was to buy food.

For a long journey, I would normally buy preserved food, but with spatial storage, it didn’t matter if I bought ingredients that were close to spoiling—which was quite convenient.

I deliberately purchased large quantities of lower-quality ingredients to save money, replenished my dwindling spices, and stopped by a general store to stock up on potions for treating injuries and internal medicines like antipyretics and anti-inflammatories.

As my spatial storage began to run out of space, I stopped my supply run.

There would be other villages and cities along the way, so buying too much would be foolish.

“Is this the stable?”

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Please put a sun shade on this horse.”

“A sun shade… Are you heading to the desert?”

“I’m going to Faerus Vale.”

“I see. Then a sun shade is essential.”

Although waterways reached Faerus Vale, the central part of the continent was much drier and hotter than the coastal regions.

If exposed to direct sunlight, both humans and horses would literally be in mortal danger.

“And I’d like to buy some spare horseshoes too.”

“You’ll need skills to attach horseshoes…”

“Don’t worry. I have experience working as a farrier.”

“Ah, that’s fine then.”

Faerus Vale is very far from Dreisen.

If the horseshoes—essentially the horse’s footwear—wore out completely, the horse wouldn’t be able to run.

“And I’d also like to get vaccinations for the horse, if possible.”

“Vaccinations? My, you’re really preparing thoroughly. Wait just a moment. I’ll call a veterinarian.”

Diseases in the central regions differ from those in the outskirts.

Even the same disease might present different symptoms, or similar symptoms might indicate different diseases.

That’s why both humans and horses needed vaccinations, and since I had plenty of money, I planned to vaccinate against every single disease possible.

Before long, a veterinarian came, took 60 silver coins, and gave Spotty hundreds of injections. The farriers changed Spotty’s horseshoes for free, calling it a service.

Soon, Spotty, experiencing both discomfort (from the injections) and comfort (from the new horseshoes), was fitted with a sun shade. I fed Spotty generously before returning to the inn to sleep.

Today was my last day in Dreisen, and tomorrow would begin the long journey to Faerus Vale, the heart of the Faerun continent.

“Adveeentuuure…”

Calling out for adventure like a death rattle, I waited for tomorrow’s sun to rise.