Chapter 401

Chapter 401

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 401: The Starting Point

Rustle, rustle.

“Round and round.”

“What are you suddenly talking about, Junior?”

“Oh, nothing. It just suddenly came to mind.”

It’s definitely not because Faye came close from the front to shave my horns, so my vision was filled with her round chest.

“Well… it’s not like you being weird is a new thing, Junior…”

Tilting her head, Faye seemed to accept it and went back to scraping my horns with her dagger.

For reference, a normal dagger can’t even scratch my horns, so she’s using the Shining Lion Dagger.

It was a little funny when the dwarves, who initially lent Faye the dagger without thinking, panicked and ran away shouting, “Kkyaaaaak! The legend that ordinary weapons don’t work on dragons was true!!”

Chuckling at the memory for a moment, soon the only sound in the makeshift workshop, obtained by semi-threatening the dwarves, was the scraping of horns.

Neither Faye nor I said anything, keeping our mouths shut. Usually, the silence between us was comfortable, but why did it feel awkward today?

Just as I was about to say something, moving my lips.

“Hey, Junior.”

“Uh, uh? What is it, Senior Faye?”

“Come to think of it, have I ever told you why I’m so obsessed with weapons made with alchemy?”

“N… no?”

That’s right. Why did Faye vow to create the best alchemical weapons?

During H&A, I just assumed it was because she was an alchemist character… but thinking about it carefully, Faye must have had her own reasons.

And these reasons probably weren’t trivial.

The scorn from her family, the ridicule at the academy, and even the coldness of her father, who should have been the most trustworthy.

Wasn’t it a dream she had protected through all these trials? If she couldn’t achieve it, something so desperate must have sustained Faye all this time that she would rather take her own life.

As I straightened my posture to show I was ready to listen intently, Faye chuckled and said,

“It’s true that it’s an important story, but it’s not something for you to be so serious about, Junior.”

“How can I not listen properly when it’s about Senior Faye’s business?”

“You always have something to say…”

The hand that had been holding the back of my head to keep it still. Faye moved only her fingers on that hand, gently stroking me.

Actually, it was closer to tickling than stroking, and my heart was about to soften for a moment.

“…My mom died because her weapon broke.”

“……”

It was a heavy story after all.

Faye continued without giving me, who was flustered, time to collect myself.

“It was something that happened when I was young, but I still remember it vividly. At the time, I was helping Mom with her work and learning the basics of alchemy at the same time, you know? That day, the business was over, and we were just about to close up.”

Dusk. The setting sun dyed the sky red, and people’s hearts were filled with the anticipation of going home to rest.

A man stumbled towards the alchemy shop where Faye and Laura were busily tidying up.

“I knew he was a stranger we hadn’t seen before, but it wasn’t unusual to have such customers, so I let him into the shop without much suspicion. He looked like he might have been hurt, the way he was staggering.”

But he wasn’t.

He wasn’t a customer but a robber… no, an assassin pretending to be a robber. He pretended to be hurt to lower Laura’s guard and then revealed his true colors once inside the shop.

“He was aiming for me at first. He probably wanted to take me hostage. Fortunately, the shop was also Mom’s workshop, so there were various defense systems, and I was safe… but he didn’t stop even without a hostage.”

The assassin kept slashing with his sword, demanding all the money and valuables. Even when Laura said she would give him everything and asked him to leave.

Perhaps even that was a kind of act to hide his true identity.

Anyway, due to the assassin’s fierce resistance, the defense systems installed in the workshop quickly reached their limit, and it was just before the sword was about to reach Laura and Faye.

“Mom stepped forward to protect me, holding a self-defense dagger. If she blocked this one attack, he would have been trapped by the defense system again.”

But that’s where the problem occurred.

A single strike that somehow managed to break through the attacks coming from all over the workshop.

It was a sword strike weakened enough for Laura, who didn’t know how to fight, to deflect… but the moment Laura’s sword collided with the assassin’s sword, it snapped.

The result was devastating.

Laura’s upper body was deeply cut, inflicting a fatal wound.

Still, it was an alchemist’s workshop. If she had retreated immediately and healed with a high-grade potion, she might have survived somehow.

But Laura didn’t do that. She knew that if she left her spot, Faye would be in danger.

“Mom actually moved forward. She threw herself, embracing the assassin…”

And was impaled along with the assassin by the mercury stakes created by the defense system.

“I belatedly poured a potion on her, but even a high-grade potion wasn’t enough. It’s obvious since a hole was pierced through her chest.”

However, Faye’s efforts were not entirely meaningless.

Unlike the assassin, who died instantly, she bought enough time to leave a will.

“She said, ‘I love you,’ and told me to take the broken dagger and find Yarle of Yareunshade before passing away in my arms.”

After that, Rohan came to find Faye first, and that’s how we ended up going to the Yareunshade family.

“…I found out later. That the dagger Mom held at the very end was a gift from Dad.”

It was the first weapon Rohan ever made. For a dwarf to gift their first creation is quite significant, so it’s not strange that Laura had it.

“Ah, I don’t resent Dad because the dagger broke. It was his first creation anyway, how well could he have made it?”

“Well, yeah…”

No matter how skilled Rohan was, he wouldn’t have been called a master from the beginning.

“But you know. What must Mom have thought when the dagger, the one she trusted as Dad’s weapon, broke? What must Dad have thought as he secretly cried, holding the broken dagger?”

Reaching that point in her thoughts, Faye made a decision.

To create weapons with alchemy.

Weapons that would never betray their master at the most crucial moment… weapons that could be trusted until the very end.

Alchemically created items generally have good durability. This is a tendency that arises because the academic discipline of alchemy itself aims for perfection.

That’s why even the same alloy is of better quality when mixed through alchemy than when simply melted in a furnace.

“Somehow, I was embarrassed to say it, so I just made up an excuse that I was creating them to help the struggling blacksmiths… Yeah, I didn’t want anyone else to die like Mom.”

“Is that so…?”

There were many things I wanted to say, but I nodded as calmly as possible. Right now, there was someone who seemed to have even more to say than I did.

For example… Rohan, who had come to Faye’s workshop early to take his medicine.

Faye was so focused on shaving my horns, or so engrossed in the past she recalled while telling her story, that she didn’t seem to notice Rohan behind her.

Did she not know what Faye’s dedication to alchemy was all about? Rohan stood frozen with a dazed expression, as if he had been hit on the back of the head.

Seeing him unable to manage his expression even after our eyes met, I subtly took Faye’s hand.

“Is this much horn powder enough, Senior Faye?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! Too much might actually ruin the medicinal effect. Thanks for your hard work, Junior.”

“What did I even do? By the way, as soon as the horn you had taken to make the golem grew back, you went and shaved the other one. It looks like it’ll take a little longer for my horns to be even.”

I shrugged and stood up. Then Faye giggled and stood on tiptoe.

Faye, with her hand fully extended, patted my head as if praising me. She seems to have developed a taste for touching my head lately.

Though, I also occasionally grope her chest when I’m bored, so I can’t really say anything.

“More than the horns, thank you for listening to my story. It was something I’d never told anyone before, but talking to you about it, Junior, makes me feel a bit better!”

“I’m glad I got to know Senior Faye a little better too, so we’re even.”

“Hehehe. Still, it would be a little embarrassing to go around talking about it, so you have to keep it a secret, okay, Junior?”

Faye tried to silence me with her unique, strange laughter. But it was already too late.

Silently, I raised my hand and pointed behind Faye. She tilted her head in confusion but obediently turned around.

“……”

“……”

“……”

A silence filled the makeshift workshop, one that couldn’t even compare to the quiet from a moment ago.

Faye’s pupils trembled as if there was an earthquake, and Rohan, who had been surprised a moment earlier, was looking at Faye with a wistful gaze.

I roughly assessed the situation and nodded.

“Then, you two take care of the rest. I’ll be going now, Senior Faye.”

“J-Junior! Where are you going?! How can you leave me in this atmosphere?!”

“I need to disrupt the Evil God’s plan even a little bit. I’m going to go deal out today’s punishment!”

And with a whoosh, I threw myself out of the makeshift workshop.

“You knew, didn’t you?! You knew and didn’t say anything, Junior?!”

I heard the sound coming from behind me with one ear and let it out the other.

Yandel is a heavyweight after all.