Chapter 591: A Reciprocal Relationship (1)

After getting so excited by Areum’s remark about alloys that I held her and spun around inside the workshop for a moment.

She, with her face flushed red, scolded me before immediately giving me an additional explanation about the Mithril alloy.

More precisely, about what the mineral itself was that was needed to make the alloy.

“To get straight to the point, if you want to make something new with this Mithril, there are only two options.”

“Huh?”

“Orichalcum. Other than that, Adamantium. These two are the only materials that can uniquely be used for alloys.”

“Orichalcum…. Adamantium….”

“I can obtain the catalyst or any other additional materials needed for the alloy, but… this is a material I can’t obtain myself, so there’s nothing I can do. Oppa-ya, you’ll have to find it yourself.”

“Where to find them…”

“How would I know that? The ones that appear out there mostly pop up rarely from being the first to clear a dungeon, so I don’t know. Besides, they aren’t the type of things I can obtain.”

“…….”

“…That’s why I told you to listen when I speak, didn’t I?”

Orichalcum, or Adamantium.

The names of these unfamiliar minerals, which made my head spin just hearing them, rather made me feel even more lost.

Even Mithril itself, aside from my Mithril Greatsword, was something I’d barely seen, so where on earth could I find minerals like these, which sound like they’re from legend?

At least, I don’t remember finding any in the point shops I browsed. Besides, if there were any, they would be unreasonably expensive, I’m sure.

I wouldn’t forget such an impressive mineral after seeing it once, so essentially, it meant it would be difficult to obtain immediately through indirect means like the point shop.

“If I manage to obtain either Orichalcum or Adamantium, can you make the alloy itself?”

“Well, yeah? Because they’re such rare items, I only saw someone handling Adamantium once about 20-30 years ago, but I roughly know how to make it, so there’s no problem.”

“Okay, then. For now, thanks for telling me.”

Now that I’ve heard everything, I realized it wasn’t something to just get blindly excited about, but still, I was able to learn about the hope that could revive my old memories, so that alone was enough.

Moreover, I even received the answer that Areum could make it if I had the materials, so this is sufficient.

Obtaining Orichalcum or Adamantium, like legendary minerals, was entirely my responsibility. I don’t know when that will be, though.

Therefore, for now, I could only put the Mithril Greatsword (what it used to be) in one corner of my subspace pocket and wait until the time I could use it again.

In the end, it was decided that I would buy the Damascus steel greatsword, which I had previously borrowed from Areum for a brief performance test, to replace the Mithril Greatsword.

It was similar in size and weight to the Mithril Greatsword, and I had experience swinging it a few times.

Thus, from my custom weapon to the repair of the Mithril Greatsword. For now, the matter concerning weapons was roughly concluded.

From now on, it was time to have a conversation not with the blacksmith Areum, but with the hunter Areum.

After all, now that I’ve confirmed she has romantic feelings towards me, parting with Areum just like this without anything happening felt like it would be a shame.

“I bought a new greatsword for Oppa-ya, so our business is all done, right? I… I have to go back to work now! Be careful going back!”

“Areum-ah.”

“Ah, is there still business left…?”

“There’s no business left, but can I ask just one favor?”

“A, a favor?”

“If you’re going to work now, can I watch you work from the side?”

“W-Wha?!”

As soon as I said I wanted to watch her work, as an excuse to spend just a little more time with Areum, she couldn’t hide her momentary flustered feelings.

Perhaps I thought she reacted that way because watching blacksmith work from the side was disrespectful to Areum, but hearing her next words, fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the reason.

“My… my work… to Oppa-ya, it probably won’t be very interesting…”

“Still, I want to see it, is that okay?”

“Ah, n-no… It’s not that it’s impossible, but…”

“Then, can I watch?”

“P-Usually, once business is done, you leave quickly, but today why are you sticking around like sticky glue…?”

…Well, until now, most of the time when I met Areum, we parted ways like that.

That’s understandable, because until now, I hadn’t considered at all that Areum might have romantic feelings towards me.

Due to circumstances, I had met her all this time while wearing a mask of unknown identity, and even just this morning, Areum must have recognized me completely as a woman.

Rather, the fact that she felt romantic feelings towards me even while recognizing me as a woman, and even put my name on her sexual fetish list, is quite astonishing in many ways.

We had already built a connection several times as weapon artisan and customer, and we had grown closer by owing favors to each other.

Perhaps, it might be possible.

Even crossing the barrier between man and woman in many ways with her today.

“Why am I sticking around like sticky glue? I just wanted to see Areum working, that’s all.”

“B-But…”

“And, somehow today, I feel like staying with Areum a little longer.”

“Eek?! S-Stop saying strange things!”

Areum’s appearance, blushing and flustered with each small expression of affection, felt incredibly lovely.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the usual Areum I’ve seen so far isn’t cute or anything.

I too harbored quite a lot of romantic feelings towards her, but because I was hiding my identity as a man, I couldn’t help but not express them. In reality, harboring romantic desires in my heart wasn’t just Areum; it was me too.

Actually, today I worried that our relationship might drift apart by revealing the fact that I am a man to her, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Rather, on the contrary, I was already half convinced that it would serve as an opportunity for the distance between Areum and me to become closer.

“So, can I not watch?”

“…Follow me to the back of the workshop. It might not be very interesting, but since you want to see it so badly, I guess I have no choice but to show you….”

“Yeah. Thanks, Areum-ah.”

Actually, what I wanted to see was the other side of Areum, more than Areum working in the workshop.

Quietly suppressing the desire harbored in my heart, I followed behind her and stepped into the workshop once again.

I needed to check the content of her ‘sexual fetish’ as well, so she could develop more sexual feelings towards me.

“If you’re going to watch me work, you have to watch from that distance. If you get too close, sparks might fly and it’s dangerous.”

“Ah, okay.”

“I told you earlier… it probably won’t be very interesting.”

“I don’t mind. I just want to see Areum working hard.”

“……”

At my subtly dropped words, Areum quietly blushed and turned on the furnace.

Perhaps because it was a modern furnace, it caught fire instantly and the temperature rose.

As soon as the furnace temperature rose, she began pushing lumps of metal contained in large black crucibles into the heated furnace one by one.

To a non-expert, they looked like mixed minerals, but even during that process, Areum was carefully combining the contents of the bottles, so I watched her doing the preliminary work for a little longer.

About 10 minutes later, she took out the first crucible she put in and poured its contents onto a pile of casting clay.

-Chiiiiiiik.

“……”

Because of the face shield, her expression wasn’t clearly visible, but it was clear that she was concentrating hard anyway.

After initially solidifying the molten metal on the pile of clay, she immediately picked up large tongs and lifted the still not fully cooled lump of metal.

With her other hand, holding a rather large hammer, she prepared to strike it down.

Certainly, now the image of a blacksmith that I had imagined in my head is starting to form a bit.

While thinking that, as I quietly watched Areum’s work, her large hammer was swung down towards the not-yet-cooled molten metal.

Immediately, a solid yet crisp sound began to echo repeatedly inside the workshop.

-Kkang!

“……”

-Kkang! Kkang! Kkang!

As she got into the main work, concentrating, she began crafting the item into the shape of a weapon by swinging the hammer.

Perhaps imbued with her awakened abilities as she struck, the thick lump of iron flattened out with just a few impacts and began to take shape.

The appearance of the iron lump itself, gradually changing, was quite interesting, but more than that, something else entirely captured my gaze.

-Flop.

“……”

-Flop, flop.

“……”

Each time the hammer was swung down from above, Areum’s chest moved, receiving the recoil.

Even without that, her large and destructive breasts were already imposing, but those two huge mounds were moving up and down.

Even if I didn’t deliberately focus my attention there, I couldn’t help but have my eyes drawn to them, which was unavoidable.

According to Areum herself, she said just watching wouldn’t be very interesting.

At least from a male perspective like mine, it was definitely not an uninteresting sight.