episode_0133

“Gilbert!”

“Um…”

Gilbert, who had been lost in his thoughts, barely came to his senses when Gwendolyn called him.

I quickly turned my head and looked around, and the store was empty, wondering where all the people had gone.

Gilbert shook his head, realizing that he had gone too deep in thought. I wanted to shake off the thoughts that left a bad aftertaste.

“You waited a long time, right? I said I would do it as quickly as possible, but there were too many customers.”

“I see. That’s a good thing.”

“Please come in first! He’s a precious guest, but you can’t keep him outside, right?”

Gwendolyn grabbed Gilbert’s hand and pulled it with force. It was clearly a swordsman who struck iron, so his pulling power was amazing.

Gilbert pretended not to be able to win and followed her into her weapon shop.

Gwendolyn’s weapon shop, Ensis, was little different from my previous visit. Most of the things, including the old interior decoration, creaky floors, and oil smell, were still the same.

However, there was not a single sword left that had been plastered all over the place or on display. It was a huge improvement compared to just a few months ago when there were not even a single ant baby, let alone a customer.

“Business seems to be going quite well.”

“This is all thanks to Gilbert. As soon as the rumor spread that regular deliveries were being made to the Count of Hart, everyone was anxious to buy the sword. Thanks to that, I’m making a lot of money!”

Gwendolyn spread her hands wide and shouted joyfully.

Gwendolyn was so happy every day that she didn’t know how long it had been since she had been this faithful every day.

Actually, she couldn’t tell anyone, but she had a dream.

It was a dream she had had since she stood in front of the fire holding a hammer.

That is, giving the best sword to the best swordsman.

This is what every swordsman dreams of, and Gwendolyn also made it her life’s goal to give the best sword to the best swordsman.

Therefore, for her, money was a necessary means to produce a sword.

The materials needed to make a good sword were all expensive, and money was needed to purchase them.

But is life as good as your heart?

Until she met Gilbert, her weapon shop, which only focused on swords, was nothing but flies. While she was spending her days feeling skeptical about swords that were being sold for barely enough to fill her mouth, she met her savior.

Gilbert the Lionheart.

Although she said she was crazy about swords, she didn’t know his name.

The count’s son of a bitch.

Shame on the Hart family.

He, who was called by many names, took a different path from before when he entered Demeia Academy.

Among them, what she paid most attention to was becoming the exclusive disciple of Brianna, the Imperial Sword Saint.

Becoming a disciple of a swordsman who commanded an empire with just a sword was not something that anyone could do. There were many political reasons for taking Princess Seraphina as a disciple, but accepting Gilbert was a matter on a different level.

Rather, it was a bad choice from a political perspective, and the only explanation was that Gilbert had a natural talent for swords.

Perhaps that’s why Gwendolyn was very interested in Gilbert. Since her goal was to give the best prosecutor to the best prosecutor, it was only natural that she pay attention to Gilbert, who might become the best prosecutor in the future.

She had been looking forward to meeting him, but a few months ago, she came face to face with the famous swordsman and her student. Even now that I think about it, I wonder if she used the luck she would have for the rest of her life that day.

The swordsman she met in person was amazing, but she was more interested in Gilbert.

Rather than her already rising to a high position as a swordsman, I wanted to see Gilbert, who was still unknown, rise to the top with the sword he made.

Maybe it was because she had not yet been recognized as the best swordsman.

You can’t give the best sword to the best swordsman, but there was romance in giving the sword that would be the best to the swordsman who would be the best.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough money or materials to make a sword suitable for him, so we had to wait until later.

“I will say it bluntly. I asked for a sword to be made. The ingredients are these first.”

“This… ?”

The item Gilbert presented was a metal she was familiar with. It was a rare metal with excellent mana sensitivity called tears of the moon.

It is known that moon tears only occur when metal that can store mana is exposed to the magic of the full moon for a long period of time.

As far as she knew, the Tears of the Moon were mainly used in magic transmission devices in the field of magic engineering and were occasionally used to make wizards’ staffs.

However, due to the poor strength and hardness of the metal itself, it did not receive much attention, and is now treated as just a rare metal.

Do you want me to make a sword with this?

Gwendolyn’s eyebrows came together in the middle.

It was an idea I had never thought of before. Even if a sword is made of metal with poor strength and hardness, it can only be used as a ceremonial sword.

It did not fit Gwendolyn’s aesthetics of pursuing only swords that could be used in combat.

However, it bothered me a little to flatly refuse the request of Gilbert, who could be said to be my benefactor.

Should I just close my eyes and accept the request just once?

Her worries deepened.

“I can see what you’re thinking. Moon tears are not a material for the Sword God. It’s not a large enough amount to make a sword in the first place.”

“But you can’t make it into a sword grip or a guard, right?”

“I plan to melt the tears of the moon in the magic furnace and mix them with mithril and black iron.”

“Melted in a magic furnace… ?”

Gwendolyn’s head began to spin rapidly. The melting method in a magic furnace was a technique commonly used in magic engineering.

It was a method mainly used to create an alloy by mixing metals with high magic sensitivity and other materials, and Gilbert said that he mixed the tears of the moon with mithril and black iron.

“Even if you melt the tears of the moon in a magic furnace to make an alloy, it won’t change much. Magic engineers have already experimented with it, but the effect was not that great.”

“They wouldn’t have used mithril and black iron.”

Gwendolyn swallowed her saliva as she looked at Gilbert’s indifferent gaze.

Surely, as far as she knew, they didn’t do anything crazy like that.

Mithril was a metal that was highly effective when dealing with undead monsters. Because it contained the perm energy that destroys evil, the undead hunters were trying desperately to get their hands on mithril-made equipment.

However, mithril production was concentrated in the Holy Empire. Most of the mithril produced here was used to arm the Holy Knights, so only the remaining part was distributed on the market.

Because of this, whenever Mithril was put up for sale on the market, it was expensive. Since the basic auction price was hundreds of gold, magic engineers with limited budgets could not even think of buying mithril.

The other material that Gilbert mentioned, black iron, was in a similar situation to mithril. Unlike mithril, the production of black iron was not concentrated in one place, but the price varied widely depending on the quality.

In particular, the quality of black iron coming from a vein near Visvark, the central city of Lithuanian territory, was considered the best, and most of the famous swords on the continent were made using black iron from Visvark.

Fortunately, the Lithuanian territory was ruled by Gilbert’s original family, the Counts of Hart. Although the empire strictly controlled the export of black iron to the outside world, it was not a big problem even if the eldest son of the Earl of Hart used some of the black iron to make swords.

Above all, didn’t he have a strong image as an imperial hero used as propaganda by the imperial family?

As long as they didn’t commit traitorous acts such as stealing it to the outside world, that level of use could have been easily dealt with.

“It won’t be difficult to get black iron since Gilbert is there, but the price of mithril alone might be enough for a year’s budget for a decent territory.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

Gilbert took out several bags of gold coins that he had prepared in advance. Combining the rewards received so far with the support received from the Hart family, the amount was almost eye-watering.

Gwendoline alone has more gold coins than she has ever seen in her entire life, so she will never run out of money.

“Well, you can’t get Mithril just because you have money.”

Gwendolyn opened the pocket full of gold coins and carefully opened them with trembling hands. This is because the amount of money has made me lose my sense of reality.

“Gwendolyn Ensis. There’s one thing I’m forgetting.”

“Are you forgetting?”

“Okay. Who is my sister-in-law?”

“Ah…!”

Gilbert Lionheart’s private residence.

Serafina Rector Infractus.

She was the first princess known to be closest to the next emperor. With her help, it was not impossible to obtain Mithril.

“I didn’t think of that. However, I don’t understand why melting three metals in a magic furnace to create an alloy is not possible. Just mixing metals doesn’t always make a good alloy. Moreover, moon tears are a metal that has recently been evaluated as being less useful than its rarity. It is sold at a fairly high price, especially among collectors who collect rare items. And even if you make an alloy of mithril and black iron, it only becomes a brittle glass sword.”

Before we knew it, Gwendolyn returned to the swordsman, organized her thoughts and released them. In her opinion, melting these three materials to create an alloy was no more or less a waste of money.

Moreover, mixing mithril and black iron, which had very different properties, was as absurd as combining water and fire. Gwendolyn acknowledged that Gilbert was great, but she could not match him in making swords.

“I know. That’s why we mix the tears of the moon together.”

“Are you saying that the tears of the moon have that effect?”

“That is the correct utility. Moon tears are a special mineral that can only be created by retaining the magic power of the full moon for a long time. Good magic conductivity is just an additional effect.”

In the game, it was none other than Gwendoline, who became the greatest swordsman, who figured out how to use the Moon Tears correctly. She used all kinds of materials to create the best sword.

Money was no longer a problem for her, who had already reached the top, and she continued to produce, spending every penny to achieve one goal.

The resulting recipe was to mix mithril and black iron using the magic power of the moon. This was the best sword in a limited route that could only be obtained by taking a specific route in Tactical Combat.

It required an absurd amount of money and fame to make it, but today’s Gilbert had the wealth and reputation to meet all of that. Isn’t being bitchy always relative in the first place?

“How on earth do you know that, Gilbert?”

“It just so happened that”

“No, rather, that really happens? No, wait a minute. Moon tears are good at retaining magical power, so when melted in a magic furnace…”

Gwendolyn raised her eyes sharply and began to consider various possibilities.

Calendar’s tears, mithril, and black iron.

Thinking about the reactions that could occur if these three things were melted in a magic furnace, I started calculating using all the knowledge I had.

After contemplating alone for about twenty minutes, she decided that what Gilbert said had potential. At the same time, a great sense of excitement came over me.

This recipe might be the starting point for creating the best sword she had dreamed of.

“Gilbert. I think there will be a bit of trial and error. Is that okay?”

Gilbert nodded calmly as he saw his father-in-law starting to glow. To be honest, it was Gwendolyn who made it, not him, who only knew the recipe.

Because he was a knight who knew how to drive a gigantic soldier, but not a swordsman.

“Okay. As long as one more requirement is met.”

“As much as you want.”

“I wish I could put an artificial spirit into the sword that will be made. Location doesn’t matter.”

“What kind of weird thing are you saying?”

Gwendolyn, who has the aesthetic that a sword should exist as a sword, showed resistance to the idea that she wanted to put an artificial spirit, which can be said to be the essence of magical engineering, in the sword.

This was something Gilbert also expected. This idea itself was something Gwendolyn came up with after becoming the best swordsman, so there was a good chance that she wouldn’t be able to accept it now.

As a result, his prediction was correct, and he repeated exactly what she said in the game.

“If you can connect an artificial spirit and a sword, you can also create the Ego Sword that can be found in legends. Isn’t that a romance for the swordsman?”

“Romance…”A legendary sword that is said to have existed only in literature during the mythical era when warriors and demon kings existed.

When she was young, she decided to become a swordsman when she heard the story of that sword. As a swordsman, it was his dream to be able to create an ego sword that could choose its owner.

Gwendolyn felt her heart beating faster and faster.

A legendary sword in mythology.

The holy sword is reproduced with her hands.

Gwendolyn’s eyes sparkled, and she blurted out to Gilbert, who made this suggestion, without thinking about it.

“Gilbert, would you like to marry me?”

Gilbert had no idea what to say in response to Gwendolyn’s sudden advances.

***

“Your Majesty”

A man was kneeling in front of a blond-haired, red-eyed man in a room decorated with ornate decorations. He bowed deeper as if he was sorry that his master was uncomfortable.

“Is it Seraphina again this time?”

The red-eyed man, who was one of the few people who could call the First Princess by her name, was looking down at the retainer with indifferent, cold eyes.

The man who was prostrating flinched and trembled at the sharp force.

“That’s right. Princess Seraphina announced that the Slaves have been eradicated.”

“Is it that kid again this time? You really pick boring things to do.”

It was almost like a complaint, as if he was bored with everything or that he didn’t like the whole situation, but the look in his eyes was different.

His eyes were sticky, full of jealousy and anger boiling from the bottom of his heart.

“I think it’s time.”

“What do you mean…?”

“It is the moment to open up your shrinking body. Contact those children right now. The moment I get my hands on either of them, I will move.”

“I will obey His Majesty’s orders.”

The man trembled because the moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived, and he bowed politely and went outside.

The man who was quietly watching the scene suddenly curled up the corner of his mouth.

Thinking of the sweet fruit I would pick and eat after waiting so long.