Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Two weeks after Crest Cave became a dungeon, the investigation was going through difficulties.
「Poison gas region? This is the third place we’ve seen.」
「So now all the paths going in have been crushed.」
Tatsuya made a sour face as he grumbled at Makoto’s report as she marked spots on the dungeon map. This was your typical eruption in the mines, coal mines, etc. Unlike normal mines, the isolated dimension dungeon version had poison that you couldn’t drive out. In other words, you needed a gas mask or something or else you couldn’t go forward.
「What’s our victim report look like？」
「Three dead from the gas trap.」
「Ah……」
Tatsuya glared at the map, frowning at this unpleasant report. Twelve with poison gas, ten with pitfalls, 15 with cave-ins, and adding those up to the total number of people dying practically every day, this dungeon had already taken over fifty lives.
This was a new, or newly discovered dungeon, so death was unavoidable. Still, fifty people in such a short amount of time was no laughing matter. If anyone was to use these mines later on, such a number of casualties could not simply be dismissed as “being sacrificed for a good cause”.
「What did Hiro say？」
「That this amount of poison gas can be stifled with environmental enchantments via spirit cloth.」
「So we may actually be able to go further in.」
「Apparently so.」
Tatsuya felt anxious with this basically expected answer. There wasn’t actually an issue with charging forward into the gas region. They would stand out, but that didn’t faze them.
The real issue was more that Tatsuya felt they were being set up.
「Hey Makoto.」
「What？」
「You think it’s ok？」
「……I really can’t say.」
Makoto frowned, reserving her answer at Tatsuya’s roundabout question. Of course she knew what he was getting at.
「We were able to get through the dungeons in Ortem village and beat that tower golem, so I think it’s mostly fine. But I have the same bad feeling you do.」
「That’s what I thought……」
Now that Makoto’s specialty was an orichalcum-made katana and she had strengthened her body with the highest self-amplification extra skill, only something major would stop her. This was also true for the weaknesses that both Makoto and Mio had back in Ortem’s dungeon were they couldn’t use light-based elemental attacks. Both girls had practically conquered these issues thanks to daily practice and the blessings of Igreos, so now the only problem was how to deal with traps. Normally thinking about it, there wouldn’t be much of a problem delving into proliferating dungeons, but Makoto couldn’t just shake off this bad feeling.
「Let’s discuss what to do after Hiroshi and the others get back.」
「Agreed. Hiro might begin finding a way to help the others break through the poison gas areas.」
It was no use just idly chit-chatting. The two elders reached that conclusion and began talking about strategy and anything feasible while they waited for the other three to return.
「Finished analyzin’ the poison gas, mate.」
「……That was quick.」
「Well, I pretty much knew from the start.」
「I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, mister workshop master.」
The meeting between the Adventurer’s Association and the mining team. Hiroshi conveyed the results of the poison gas analysis, while all the organization leaders from Crest Cave nodded, impressed. Azuma workshop’s reputation had already sprung up in Forre, hence why they had entrusted Hiroshi with the job, so they expressed their relief when he had delivered.
Needless to say, the Crest Cave division leaders of the Forre Adventurers’ Association were humans. Leaving the job to dwarves would certainly not come to anything good. This wasn’t racial discrimination, but came from actual results. The dwarves in question were not simply fine with that; they pushed the job on other races, so this would never become problematic.
「So you have a way to deal with it？」
「That ain’t gonna be a problem. Alchemists can make novice-class expendable amplification items, so once ya learn the trick ya can easily make the tools. But it ain’t without its problems.」
「Such as？」
「The easiest tools to make are throwaway expendables, so ya can’t change the time limit. When ya use it ya create a power field round yer eyes, nose, ‘n mouth, so ya can’t avoid havin’ difficulty seein’, breathin’, which is the second problem.」
The two leaders fell silent at his explanation.
「We can also make gas masks but the equipment solidifies and the vision impairment is way worse than the expendable version.」
「Anything we can use to tolerate poison gas？」
「Unfortunately we can’t make nothin’ with the herbs we got here. Even if we were, it’d only have a temporary effect ‘n won’t block all the poison, so it ain’t really viable.」
「……Is that so……」
So all they could do was rely on making gas masks or using expendables. There wasn’t a problem with that, but they couldn’t just have both methods with holes in them, and gas masks would put a huge restriction on using potions. It would be quite troublesome for the items to have no effect without bringing along antidotes.
Still, there was a possibility that the expendables would lose their value depending on how long you had them out, and also, if the effects wore off in the poison region due to some unforeseen trouble, that would be that. Besides, if there were a bunch of traps that nullified the effects of these items, this was just too risky.
「……There really is no other way？」
「The resistance enchantments o our equipment’s the best, but makin’ anythin’ Class Five’s purty hard y’know？」
「Well, that is true.」
The Adventurers’ Association Division Leader grimaced at how even more impossible that method was. Were they able to do that or had a number of adventurers there with that sort of equipment, they wouldn’t have struggled with poison gas in the first place.
「You cannot give it to us？」
「There ain’t much more catalyst left, only for one or two people.」
「……Then there is no point……」
The two elders made sour faces at Hiroshi’s proposed numbers. Also, there was a clear reason for the catalyst hardly remaining. It was because it had already been used on new clothing/equipment. Not only did multiple resistance enchantments make the effect slightly greater, you could also maintain the minimum amount of resistance even if the equipment were to break, so Hiroshi made sure to always attach this enchantment to new clothing/armor as a lifeline.
「……It seems that we must rely on that expendable thing. How much time per usage?」
「Depends on the quality, but the standard items are about half a day for full effect. Ya won’t know till ya experiment, though.」
「Experiment, eh……」
True, an experiment probably was necessary. But who were they going to use for the experiment? This poison was the kind that makes you comatose within just thirty seconds and then kills you within five minutes tops. Forcing a regular human to undergo this was nothing short of inhumane. On the other hand, they didn’t have too many death row prisoners. While many were sentenced to death by execution, the executions tended to proceed immediately after examination, so it was very rare to find sentenced criminals who were still alive.
「Well, we do not seem to have other options, so I suppose we shall think about this experiment.」
「Agreed.」
With no other conclusions, the two elders accepted Hiroshi’s offer of expendables and began developing a strategy. Once they had come to a consensus on the problem before them, the elders sighed and then began discussing the biggest problem.
「So, Adventurer Association. Will the isolated mine return to normal？」
「We shall have to take down the boss first. Honestly, from the perspective of public order, we cannot allow a dungeon to appear in an area that links to towns……」
「Hm. If a dungeon were not in the middle of the city, we could profit quite a bit off it.」
「I know. No matter how much revenue we gain from the increase in adventurer work, not being able to use Crest Cave as a mine is a very large minus for both Forre and this town.」
Two weeks after the mine Crest Cave became a dungeon. Thanks to the adventurers assembling from every area, the town was very lively. Money they dropped, profit on sales from dungeon items, and the money the merchants dropped in pursuit of the adventurers. All of these elements proved without a doubt that Crest Cave as of now had an unprecedented boom.
But that was only because they had about three months’ worth of iron ore. Once the storage depleted, without being able to use the mine, the current boom might not hold up for long.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「If we added in the cost of security, I think we might be able to use it as a mine, but……」
「True, the parts we dig up will resurface after a time, so the conditions have become preferable to before with not having to worry about drying out.」
「Ah～、so the production amount for magic steel ‘n all that’s goin’ up.」
「Aye. The production of iron is lower than half what it was before. Thanks to that, we have an abundance of magic steel and mythril.」
Hiroshi could sense the gravity of the situation from the elder’s sour face. He had anticipated this to an extent, but it seemed that mine workers at Crest Cave were too skilled and had actually contributed to the lowering of the iron supply. Also, magic steel and mythril could not be processed so easily, not even with Forre’s technology.
They had a resolution for magic steel and mythril processing, but mentioning that would be a bit too risky.
「If we can at least refine the extra ore, the processing will have a fair amount of reserve power to back it up……」
「Is refining magic steel and mythril all that hard？」
「Not only do ye need a large amount of mana, ye have to keep the fire on at a delicate level. Balancing the two of them is quite laborious……」
「I see……」
Magic steel products being so expensive stemmed from the issue of ore refinement.
「If we could at least make do with mana, we’d have a prospect of replacing twenty to thirty percent of the equipment circulating within Forre to magic steel……」
「Can ya make do with mana？」
「Do ye have a plan or something？」
「Leave me to my discretion and it’ll sound complicated, but I do got an idea.」
Hiroshi began showing his hand from the get-go, not hesitating to wield his authority (despite trying to avoid that previously). They hadn’t even been to this country before, and yet Azuma Workshop’s name had spread throughout. Hiroshi had probably figured that there wasn’t much of a point in keeping their skills confidential.
Then again, the main reason why Hiroshi had given in was definitely due to what he had heard from Igreos.
「What idea？」
「Leave a smeltin’ furnace ‘n forge right there on the feng shui ‘n then make a smeltin’ furnace that draws out mana and a building with a barrier that can be used fer processin’ the mana of the feng shui then yer mana problem’s solved.」
「……True, Master Azuma. It does not seem to be a resolution that we can manage with your discretion.」
「With the feng shui, we’d need permission from the temple, and for makin’ the smeltin’ furnace we’d need the cooperation of the Darl house and Igreos Temple, or else findin’ ingredients gonna be tough.」
Hiroshi brought politics into the conversation, and the guild leader just groaned, unable to figure out what to do.
「We have intermediaries in Darl and Igreso Temple, so if ya provide some gifts as representing Forre then I can help ya git somewhere. But remember that the temple over here ain’t got nothin’ to do with it, so even if I talk to ‘em about it, it’ll take everything just to get the Farlane priestess princess and Darl priestess communicatin’.」
「Either way, we cannot do much about it today.」
「I reckon I agree. Makin’ enough smeltin’ furnaces would take several months, plus ya ain’t gonna be able to supply land to go along the feng shui right away.」
The guild leader calculated a careful conclusion based on Hiroshi’s appealing, yet not immediately implementable proposal.
「I am certain that they will sanction it soon after I consult them, but I do not quite have enough materials in order to go before their majesty. Master Azuma, could ye perhaps make one or two trial products consisting of that smelting furnace and smithy？」
「If that’s all ya want, then as long as ya can resolve the site and the temple issues, two days in one place fer ingredients ‘n a half a day fer the smeltin’ furnace, and if ya need a building then that’s one or two days.」
「Then I and the adventurer association will go to talk with them, so might I ask that you proceed with the ingredient side of things？」
「Roger that.」
There seemed to be a course of action now. Once again, Hiroshi would be getting busy on something other than adventuring, but heck, this always happened, so he didn’t care. In fact, the only time Hiroshi ever did anything adventurer-like was in the dungeon at Ortem and Darl’s underground ruins, in addition to the rescue mission at Sweltering Tower when Aearis and the others had been captured.
And so Hiroshi and friends once again became involved in a matter directly related to the core of the country despite not strongly identifying as adventurers or as guests from the unknown continent.
At the same time Hiroshi was speaking with the adventurer association and ore guild leaders, Haruna and Mio were borrowing a furnace and forge set for smelting and forging practice.
「……Yet another crack……」
Haruna’s shoulders sank as she saw the huge crack in the small throwing knife used for practice. This would make the third time she failed at quenching.
「This is the first time it’s gone tis horrible……」
「Haru, you just need to keep practicing.」
「I know, but after failing ten times in a row, you get kinda down……」
Wiping her sweat off from the forge heat, Haruna sighed at slow progress. Four items she failed at smelting with too little flame, three broke in the process, and three had too much flame in them and broke.
Right now, the only completed forged item that Haruna could use was the one that Hiroshi had instructed her in all the way. Incidentally, Haruna’s first product had a bad shape at the end of the forging process, as she had failed with the whetstone, unable to cut or stab (rendering the knife pointless) so they had made it over again. Everything else she had consisted primarily of arrowheads and devices.
「Mio-chan, is forging really this difficult？」
「If you managed to even make five completed products without anyone’s help at proficiency 50, you essentially still have luck on your side.」
「Wow……」
Haruna just groaned at what Mio said. The difficulty was heartrending.
The ranks were all ultimately severe, but novice was especially tough with forging. The reason was simple: there were no “easy” products to make. Not even arrowheads were all that easy, hardly any different from molding a knife if you wanted to make something that stabs when shot; truly devilish.
In addition, even if you could make arrowheads like that, you couldn’t go up more than 20 proficiency. Also, proficiency 20 still meant the success rate for knives was practically the same as 0 proficiency. If so, then growth would increase the most by starting from knife practice, as you could learn everything you needed to know about forging from there.
Then again, there wasn’t really a proficiency in novice where you levelled up by failure. You had to become fairly adept at it so that you realized why you failed, probably, but failing at low-success rate work truly yielded nothing, which had broken the hearts of many a player aiming to be a blacksmith. Though it was still a lot better than the other crafting skills where you don’t rise at all with failure, it was hardly reassuring to get only a tiny bit up.
This world was different in many ways other than physics, but this particular element seemed to not have changed. So Haruna wouldn’t have any clue as to what went wrong in the forging or quenching process just with three failures.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Do you know why I failed, Mio-chan？」
「I do, but I doubt you’d understand just by me explaining.」
「Oh……」
Haruna’s shoulders dropped immediately at Mio’s reply. The current problem was feeling the processing elements on an intuitive level. Most normal humans would definitely not be able to understand even with an explanation.
「What I can say is that the breaking during the forging process is because you keep trying to stretch it too far. You just have to pay attention to how you strike.」
「It makes sense in my head, but I really don’t know when I’m breaching it.」
「And that’s just where you strike a bunch and figure it out.」
「That’s what it comes down to, huh.」
「You aren’t yet at the level where you can follow along and copy.」
With these kinds of machines that didn’t interpose traditional techniques, you couldn’t “steal” anyone’s move until you were able to do the work from scratch by yourself. You had to fail over and over again while being scolded by your boss and the higher-ups, compiling work after work diligently and neatly until finally you attained the skill.
In that sense, Haruna was kind of blessed. Other than food, she generally wasn’t seen as a source of revenue or a replenisher of consumables. Even if she were to fail, she would be using novice materials, which could generally be gathered in large quantities without difficulty. She was already contributing a good amount with stands and street concerts, so the team had a good amount of funds. Thanks to that, no matter how many mistakes she made, no one complained about her, and Haruna was able to focus solely on polishing her skill.
Then again, in such a lukewarm water-like situation, it was difficult to say whether or not this was good for polishing one’s skill.
「I’ll just try a bit more.」
「Hang in there, Haru.」
Haruna reinvigorated herself, tossing the failures in the furnace and glaring at the fire, thermostat, etc. Unlike smithing, where she couldn’t tell she was improving, Haruna had begun getting an understanding of smelting. Now she could correctly time when she took out the ingots, making sure that it was properly quenched.
「This time, I at least want to get to tempering it.」
「Good luck.」
With Mio’s encouragement, Haruna psyched herself up before she began hitting the ingot, molding the shape. Though she herself had lamented the lack of progress, Haruna’s handiwork with the knife had improved quite a bit from when she had begun. And then, finally……
「The quenching didn’t work, but……」
「You might have held back a bit too much on that.」
「But if I redo it, then……」
「You’d better not. Wait till it’s annealed.」
「Ah. Then I’ll anneal it.」
With annealing and everything else, the knives they made for practice took way too much time to make. Even when they were made, it wasn’t like the knives would be used, so Haruna figured she may as well just follow the correct procedure through all the way, putting the knife in the furnace for annealing and looking at the thermometer as she adjusted the temperature accordingly.
「So, Haru.」
「What？」
「I don’t think you need to be so urgent for something as simple as sewing……」
「No way, this is a matter of life and death.」
Focusing a good amount on overseeing the annealing, Haruna gave Mio a curt reply. Hiroshi would have been able to finish this process in just a few seconds, but Haruna had to take her time with it, plus she had to control the temperature a certain amount by herself or it would get tough.
Still, Haruna had enough leisure to chat with Mio, so she decided to pass the time by doing that.
「A matter of life and death？」
「Mhm.」
「How so？」
「Many reasons, but the main one is underwear, I guess？」
Concerned about this environment filled with men (although they were pretty much all dwarves), Haruna told Mio about her truly serious problem in a lowered voice. All this time she had yet to separate her eyes from the thermometer, moving the temperature back up whenever it got too cool. This level of conversation must not really distract her.
「Underwear？ Why？」
「Cause I can’t get my hands on cute underwear without making it myself.」
「Especially with bras？」
「Mm. The same was true for Japan, but a lot of the time you can’t even get a good designed bra for anything past D-cup.」
「Is that bragging I sense？」
Mio made a rather dark comment on Haruna’s unique “worries”. Though she had grown quite a bit recently, Mio was far from even a C cup, plus her stature had all but halted, stretching and shrinking by one millimeter. When you realized she still probably wouldn’t be over 105 centimeters tall upon entering high school (even without this weird flux in height) you could tell this was rather heartrending.
「Bragging? Mm, more like the cold hard truth？」
「And with that statement, you’ve made enemies of me, Mako, Lina-san, and Nazaria-san all at once.」
「Although I would say that regardless of chest size, whoever likes you is going to like you for you. The rest is just a problem you have to settle yourself.」
Haruna adjusted the temperature back down from being slightly too hot as she commented on Mio’s anxiety with a pained tone, possibly convinced that Mio’s worries took greater priority over hers. When it came down to it, even when you saw the design of a bra is important, it was just an issue of trying to appeal to the male in question, but in Haruna’s case, there was a strong, symbolic implication that she had given in and rewired her brain.
In other words, she was a maiden in love and wanted to ensure that she was always at the ready, even in areas that weren’t visible.
「……I always think this, but you really are a cheater.」
「How so？」
「Because, you’re already so big, and yet you wear clothing that doesn’t go with the size all the time.」
「Really？ I still struggle, you know……」
Haruna would definitely fit in the big-boobed category, and yet she looked good in just about anything. Even when you had her wear clothing that looked silly with big breasts, something clouded the senses and she still ended up looking perfectly fine without pressing her chest down or anything; quite the fearsome phenomena. From Mio’s standpoint, it wasn’t as shoddy as “looking slender”, but a fragment of something more sinister, no doubt. Makoto went a step further and just referred to it as “the heroine effect”.
「Anyhow, I feel like there are loads of enemies prowling around for this matter, so I definitely want to be able to make my own.」
「And it has happened before, so I can’t deny that……」
Green with envy at Haruna’s bust size, Mio had previously forced her to wear strange-designed underwear that she made. If that had caused Haruna to be wary of her, then Mio really couldn’t complain.
「Still, if all you wanted is to make underwear from spirit thread, you’d have to at least be able to make proper throwing knives……」
Haruna began grumbling in a pained tone for a different reason this time as she looked at the knife she was in the middle of annealing. This seemed to be the first time in her life that she had come to such a standstill with something, and right now Haruna appeared to have lost some self-confidence.
In the end, once Haruna had finished annealing the throwing knife, its shape was still an odd failure, the balance improper and unfit for throwing in a straight line. It was a truly pitiable product.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「So what were we even discussing？」
Dinnertime. Haruna confirmed as she lay out boiled edamame on the table. These were ones that she had reserved from Ortem when returning from Darl to Wulls Workshop, teaching the residents the correct way to eat it while she was at it. Of course, just as the name suggested, all it involved was sticking the edamame with the branches still attached into a pot and boiling them. By this point in time, no doubt, the elves were enjoying it with some cool ale.
Other than edamame, there were also sausages, cheese, and dry-cured ham on the table (a menu that practically screamed “this goes well with liquor!!!”), and around all of that filling in the fine details included things like pickled cabbage river fish and german omelettes.
As you may have gathered from Haruna being the one cooking, Hiroshi’s group had moved out of the inn and was now renting an apartment with a decent amount of space that the Adventurers’ Association had introduced them. Finance-wise, they could have still stayed at the inn, but either way, the minors had all agreed that the apartment was better for cooking without reserve.
「First, in regards to conquerin’ the mining dungeon, we decided on assemblin’ all the alchemists and teachin’ ‘em how to make aqua presses.」
「Aqua press, eh? Come to think of it, it wasn’t just maintaining breathing and vision underwater, you could also protect against poison gas, dust, and the like.」
「Well, ya gotta rememba there’s also a flaw to it where ya visual senses drop by about 10 percent.」
Tatsuya and Makoto nodded with slight grimaces at what Hiroshi had just pointed out. The item in question was one they had been very comfortable with back in the game. After all, there weren’t many pieces of equipment sitting around that had strong environment-resistant capabilities like what Hiroshi made, and yet there were plenty of dungeons and quests that you couldn’t progress through without first thinking of some sort of countermeasure. As a result, in exchange for this slight penalty, throwaway items like these with perfect environmental resistance for a certain amount of time were always in high demand, with practically every player relying on them for adventuring.
「Oh yeah, how long did that one last？」
「Minimum six hours guaranteed. After that, it depends on the ability, but at most twenty four hours. And if we try usin’ it in the poison gas region we just discovered, it’ll nullify it plenty, but with more severe poison gas, the aqua breath ain’t gonna completely nullify it.」
「So if we pick up worse readings further in, it’s a no-go.」
「Yup.」
Hiroshi conveyed the correct information to Makoto and Tatsuya. Even though they wouldn’t be the ones using the items, there would be less issues if they knew what was going on.
「So, about directions for makin’ the aqua breath, I kinda wanna ask Mio to do it.」
「……Why？」
「She already has to bar hop between Wulls ‘n Darl on separate errands. Tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that, she ain’t gonna be here.」
「I see. What for？」
「She’s gotta test out smelting furnaces in order to more easily refine magic steel. It don’t seem like that dungeon’s gonna go back to normal even if we complete it, so she figured it was best to act under that assumption.」
Everyone nodded as they listened to Hiroshi’s explanation. Were Crest Cave to remain a mine dungeon, the production of iron would fall, also bringing about excessive amounts of magic steel and mythril ore. This could very well result in a worldwide decline in iron products.
In such a situation, it was then best to take care of the excessive products and replace them with iron-made products. At least on paper that was how it should go, but things were never quite that simple…
「Hiroshi-kun, is it really ok to increase production of magic steel and all that？」
Haruna let out a worried voice about the prospect of increasing the production of these military-related products. Though she was far from aware of the international situation, even an amateur could guess what the impact would be.
「As a prerequisite, we gotta at least send part of it to Farlane ‘n Darl, as understood by the guild leader in this town.」
「Well, one has the smelting forge ingredients, and the other has the food supply.」
Hiroshi replied rather happily to Haruna, and Tatsuya nodded as he recalled the power relationship between the three kingdoms.
One actual problem was that even if all the military equipment became magic steel-made, Forre and Farlane clashing would only lead to a draw with injuries on both sides. Besides, in order to launch a widescale attack on Farlane, Forre would have to have much better food production capabilities. Logistics would crash, Forre would lose, and Farlane would end up losing power to sell its food to a country. No one would profit from this.
Also, in the case of Forre picking a fight with Darl, first it would need to gain total control of Midas Federation. Midas Federation declared that the queen of Darl was too annoying to deal with and therefore they refused to merge, also ignoring a portion of the country composed of war hawks. Even if Forre tried to approach Darl from their direction, invading this country in the prospect of an all-out war with Darl would risk back-stabbing which they could not afford.
Then again, before any of that, as there wasn’t even a single country of the great western three kingdoms that had grown as a result of foreign campaigns, Forre didn’t even comprehend the idea of trying to enlarge their land by waging war after war. Farlane had simply become a country as the surrounding cities drew near in light of its heroic deeds, while Darl found it difficult to even take on monsters without being safe in their country’s environment. When it came down to Forre, they generally had no interest in anything besides mines and liquor, only becoming a big country in the middle of their pursuit of mine development and iron transportation routes.
Even if that were not the case, Forre constantly had its hands tied with monster extermination and abruptly appearing dungeons, so even if they had the energy to go all the way out on expeditions, no, precisely because they were a big kingdom, they did not have the energy to spare.
「In the first place, even with magic steel equipment, the only thing changin’ is that less normies get hurt when fightin’ monsters.」
「Right. The wars in this world generally depend on the grade of the monster rather than the grade of the equipment.」
Makoto agreed with Hiroshi’s comment. Saying this would make them sound a bit bad, but no matter how many normal soldiers put on magic steel-reinforced armor, Julius, Douga, or someone of Rayna’s caliber could easily sweep them with their special moves. All three of them could only lower their power to about three times the power of regular people (where it was originally ten times their strength), so it would still be overkill either way.
It was the same with regular attacks. The average person could equip as much magic steel weapons as they pleased, but all that would amount to would be slightly superior to the average iron weapons that Hiroshi brought out to the market. With comparatively high attack skills in intermediate class, the soldiers probably could score a little damage on Julius and Rayna, but all it would do to Douga would be a slight scratch to him. But even before that, Julius and Rayna wouldn’t have normal equipment on them for war, so there wouldn’t be any sort of advantage for regular soldiers even with strengthened armor.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
In order to ensure that no one player had an extreme difference in battle, there were a variety of adjustments made in-game, so even if Hiroshi were to go up against someone at level 10 with hardly any skills, he wouldn’t receive no damage like he did over here, and even if Makoto or Tatsuya were to fire at him with one of their strong attacks, they wouldn’t kill him in a single hit with a critical. But in this world, such kind restrictions did not exist. Hiroshi in fortress mode would practically suffer no damage from Makoto, Tatsuya, or Haruna’s highest firepower, and Teres or Artiem wouldn’t be able to so much as scratch him with whatever weapons they used.
In this world, once you got to a certain point, every individual’s power level would come into play, no matter how cruel it was.
「Well, at any rate, right now it’s just an experiment/test run. She can’t make more than the kind o’furnace that individuals can handle, so while her craftin’ ability’ll be higher than most, it’ll only be a one percent difference, I think.」
「And anything beyond that concerns politics, eh.」
「Prolly yeah.」
It probably wouldn’t be enough to disrupt the power balance between the countries. That was what the Japanese people determined based on previous considerations. In a sense, they were right. Just because Forre’s magic steel products increased did not mean that tensions would be rising between the three powers or Midas Federation, nor did it mean that the power balance between the western countries would crumble. However, even if the western countries appeared to be intact, from a global perspective it was not only not that simple, Hiroshi and friends did not realize how much they had influenced the world, or at least would not realize that until they had to later on solve some trouble in the Great Library of Rufeus in the capital, Lorren.
「Well, and so she’s gotta go around talking to people here and there for two to three days, so during that time, Haruna-san, ya should just do somethin’ productive with Bro and the others.」
「Got it. I already have some plans anyway. How about some food for starters?」
「Yup, thanks for making it.」
Prompted by Haruna, Hiroshi expressed his thanks and reached out for the pickled cabbage and river fish. The older members of the group already had edamame in one hand and were gazing intently at the homemade beer.
「Edamame is the best！」
「Yep, beer and edamame go perfectly together!」
Nicely cooled beer and organically cultivated, fresh tasting edamame. The salt amount was also perfect, a happy taste independent of the liquor.
「Tomorrow, I guess I’ll go ahead and work at the stall. Been a while.」
「What are you selling？」
「Hot dogs. We got all these delicious sausages we made, plus I kinda wanted to make something a little orthodox Kansai style.」
「Ah, I see. True, the hotdogs you made using these countries sausages were great.」
In response to Haruna’s answer, Tatsuya nodded as he remembered the hotdogs they ate yesterday. The orthodox kind was certainly good, but the Kansai cabbage and curry powder version was great too. Either one of those could easily sell.
「……I don’t care either way, but don’t you think there might be an alternative to simply rushing to the stall every time we have nothing to do？」
「Oh? But I think that basically sums us up, don’t you？」
「……Mio, you say something too.」
「Edamame and beer, do they really go that well together？」
「Absolutely, but you need to wait eight years, little miss……」
Losing her strength at Mio’s comment from out of left field, Makoto rebuked her. Unfortunately, there were hardly any countries in this world either who would allow Mio to drink liquor out in the open, based on appearance and age.
「When the team’s out doing their own thing, I think we should at least ensure safety.」
「So you’re in agreement with operating the food stand？」
「C’mon, food stands never lead to any issues, as long as you don’t roughhouse with the customers.」
Making a small sigh at Mio’s pointer, Makoto figured “why not” and conceded. In reality, she had no idea what else there was besides food stands anyway.
「While we’re at it, Haru, how about you go with Tatsu and the others to Stiren and help secure a transportation point there？」
「Ah～、I don’t see why not.」
「Are we seriously going all the way to the capital just to sell food……」
Haruna nodded at Mio’s proposal while Tatsuya looked fed up. True, they would eventually have to go to Stiren anyway, but for something like this?
「Seems like the capital would have more strange sausages where those came from, so I say that’s a pretty good reason, right？」
「Alllll right……」
「Fine, sheesh……」
Exasperated at what Haruna had just said, but also unable to deny they liked some good sausage and liquor, the two elder members sighed on the surface while expressing agreement. In the end, they gave in to some of their food cravings (or rather, that was now their main priority in going to Stiren), once again proving how nonchalant these people were.
Meanwhile, in Igreos Temple (main branch)…
「Special delivery～、special delivery～」
「Octogal Dispatch, at your se～rvice!」
「Delivery～、delivery～」
Three octogals had moved to where Nazaria and Igreos were.
「Home delivery～、home delivery～」
「Delivered at the appointed time～」
「Delivered without regard for appointment～」
「Absent～、absent～」
「Takeout～、deliver at another time～」
「Dispose of body～」
「Uhh, I don’t really understand what any of you are saying……」
The octogals did their little game of association as per usual, while Nazaria, not used to these strange creatures, grimaced as she threw a comment their way.
「Letter from Elle-chan～」
「Stamp on the receipt, please～」
「Or a sign, that works too～」
Signing the receipt brought before her by the octogal, Nazaria also took the handwritten letter from Aearis into her hands.
「Safely delivered～」
「We will send the receipt to her in a jiffy～」
「We will standby～」
Having finished their task for Aearis, one of the octogals teleported back to Wulls. The remaining two, upon declaring their standby, were now enshrined atop the heads of both Nazaria and Igreos. It was a little off-putting to see an octogal on Igreos’ head, but he himself showed no signs of discomfort, so it must not be all that problematic.
「……I see, so as a preventive measure for Crest Cave, they’re thinking of building more new smelting furnaces and increasing the amount of refined magic steel.」
「A frontal attack, hm. Truly a great tactic.」
「It is？」
「Crest Cave likely will not go back to being a mine now that it has shifted into a dungeon. According to what we know from Alfemina, it would seem that the underlings of the evil god put up quite a fight. The isolated dimension appears to have been solidified quite quickly this time around. So by that logic, magic steel ore crafting will skyrocket. Indubitably, strengthening one’s crafting prowess with magic steel products is the most constructive option as of now.」
Conveying this information from the god grapevine to Nazaria, Igreos meanwhile thought of his own role in all this. No matter how the pieces would fall, at the moment, things were guaranteed to be terribly busy with Forre’s increase in smelting furnaces.
「Igreos-sama, it seems that Aearis-dono will be showing up here along with Hiroshi-dono tomorrow.」
「In that case, we must quickly set up the production increase of holy fire-baked heat-resistant bricks.」
「Should we tell Her Majesty about any of this？」
「Eh, this is the strong, independent priestess princess we are talking about. No doubt even if one such as myself had not told her about it, she will have known.」
「Then all that remains now is just how the Forre royal family will respond to this.」
「The only thing in their heads is iron. If the amount of refined magic steel is to increase, they will undoubtedly try to push this plan forward without thinking of profit or loss.」
This insistence on iron from the Forre family was also consistent with the entirety of the nation, regardless of status. This disposition (incomprehensible to the other countries) was hiding a lot of Barold’s secretive movements, and just as much so was it troublesome to deal with in regards to diplomatic relations with their allies.
「Either way, this appears to be a momentous occasion for history.」
「Well, it would be nice if it results in something amazing for the world……」
Sighing at Igreos’ excited demeanor as he struck a pose, Nazaria decided to send the octogals back to Wulls with a response and a gift.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Two weeks after Crest Cave became a dungeon, the investigation was going through difficulties.
「Poison gas region? This is the third place we’ve seen.」
「So now all the paths going in have been crushed.」
Tatsuya made a sour face as he grumbled at Makoto’s report as she marked spots on the dungeon map. This was your typical eruption in the mines, coal mines, etc. Unlike normal mines, the isolated dimension dungeon version had poison that you couldn’t drive out. In other words, you needed a gas mask or something or else you couldn’t go forward.
「What’s our victim report look like？」
「Three dead from the gas trap.」
「Ah……」
Tatsuya glared at the map, frowning at this unpleasant report. Twelve with poison gas, ten with pitfalls, 15 with cave-ins, and adding those up to the total number of people dying practically every day, this dungeon had already taken over fifty lives.
This was a new, or newly discovered dungeon, so death was unavoidable. Still, fifty people in such a short amount of time was no laughing matter. If anyone was to use these mines later on, such a number of casualties could not simply be dismissed as “being sacrificed for a good cause”.
「What did Hiro say？」
「That this amount of poison gas can be stifled with environmental enchantments via spirit cloth.」
「So we may actually be able to go further in.」
「Apparently so.」
Tatsuya felt anxious with this basically expected answer. There wasn’t actually an issue with charging forward into the gas region. They would stand out, but that didn’t faze them.
The real issue was more that Tatsuya felt they were being set up.
「Hey Makoto.」
「What？」
「You think it’s ok？」
「……I really can’t say.」
Makoto frowned, reserving her answer at Tatsuya’s roundabout question. Of course she knew what he was getting at.
「We were able to get through the dungeons in Ortem village and beat that tower golem, so I think it’s mostly fine. But I have the same bad feeling you do.」
「That’s what I thought……」
Now that Makoto’s specialty was an orichalcum-made katana and she had strengthened her body with the highest self-amplification extra skill, only something major would stop her. This was also true for the weaknesses that both Makoto and Mio had back in Ortem’s dungeon were they couldn’t use light-based elemental attacks. Both girls had practically conquered these issues thanks to daily practice and the blessings of Igreos, so now the only problem was how to deal with traps. Normally thinking about it, there wouldn’t be much of a problem delving into proliferating dungeons, but Makoto couldn’t just shake off this bad feeling.
「Let’s discuss what to do after Hiroshi and the others get back.」
「Agreed. Hiro might begin finding a way to help the others break through the poison gas areas.」
It was no use just idly chit-chatting. The two elders reached that conclusion and began talking about strategy and anything feasible while they waited for the other three to return.
「Finished analyzin’ the poison gas, mate.」
「……That was quick.」
「Well, I pretty much knew from the start.」
「I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, mister workshop master.」
The meeting between the Adventurer’s Association and the mining team. Hiroshi conveyed the results of the poison gas analysis, while all the organization leaders from Crest Cave nodded, impressed. Azuma workshop’s reputation had already sprung up in Forre, hence why they had entrusted Hiroshi with the job, so they expressed their relief when he had delivered.
Needless to say, the Crest Cave division leaders of the Forre Adventurers’ Association were humans. Leaving the job to dwarves would certainly not come to anything good. This wasn’t racial discrimination, but came from actual results. The dwarves in question were not simply fine with that; they pushed the job on other races, so this would never become problematic.
「So you have a way to deal with it？」
「That ain’t gonna be a problem. Alchemists can make novice-class expendable amplification items, so once ya learn the trick ya can easily make the tools. But it ain’t without its problems.」
「Such as？」
「The easiest tools to make are throwaway expendables, so ya can’t change the time limit. When ya use it ya create a power field round yer eyes, nose, ‘n mouth, so ya can’t avoid havin’ difficulty seein’, breathin’, which is the second problem.」
The two leaders fell silent at his explanation.
「We can also make gas masks but the equipment solidifies and the vision impairment is way worse than the expendable version.」
「Anything we can use to tolerate poison gas？」
「Unfortunately we can’t make nothin’ with the herbs we got here. Even if we were, it’d only have a temporary effect ‘n won’t block all the poison, so it ain’t really viable.」
「……Is that so……」
So all they could do was rely on making gas masks or using expendables. There wasn’t a problem with that, but they couldn’t just have both methods with holes in them, and gas masks would put a huge restriction on using potions. It would be quite troublesome for the items to have no effect without bringing along antidotes.
Still, there was a possibility that the expendables would lose their value depending on how long you had them out, and also, if the effects wore off in the poison region due to some unforeseen trouble, that would be that. Besides, if there were a bunch of traps that nullified the effects of these items, this was just too risky.
「……There really is no other way？」
「The resistance enchantments o our equipment’s the best, but makin’ anythin’ Class Five’s purty hard y’know？」
「Well, that is true.」
The Adventurers’ Association Division Leader grimaced at how even more impossible that method was. Were they able to do that or had a number of adventurers there with that sort of equipment, they wouldn’t have struggled with poison gas in the first place.
「You cannot give it to us？」
「There ain’t much more catalyst left, only for one or two people.」
「……Then there is no point……」
The two elders made sour faces at Hiroshi’s proposed numbers. Also, there was a clear reason for the catalyst hardly remaining. It was because it had already been used on new clothing/equipment. Not only did multiple resistance enchantments make the effect slightly greater, you could also maintain the minimum amount of resistance even if the equipment were to break, so Hiroshi made sure to always attach this enchantment to new clothing/armor as a lifeline.
「……It seems that we must rely on that expendable thing. How much time per usage?」
「Depends on the quality, but the standard items are about half a day for full effect. Ya won’t know till ya experiment, though.」
「Experiment, eh……」
True, an experiment probably was necessary. But who were they going to use for the experiment? This poison was the kind that makes you comatose within just thirty seconds and then kills you within five minutes tops. Forcing a regular human to undergo this was nothing short of inhumane. On the other hand, they didn’t have too many death row prisoners. While many were sentenced to death by execution, the executions tended to proceed immediately after examination, so it was very rare to find sentenced criminals who were still alive.
「Well, we do not seem to have other options, so I suppose we shall think about this experiment.」
「Agreed.」
With no other conclusions, the two elders accepted Hiroshi’s offer of expendables and began developing a strategy. Once they had come to a consensus on the problem before them, the elders sighed and then began discussing the biggest problem.
「So, Adventurer Association. Will the isolated mine return to normal？」
「We shall have to take down the boss first. Honestly, from the perspective of public order, we cannot allow a dungeon to appear in an area that links to towns……」
「Hm. If a dungeon were not in the middle of the city, we could profit quite a bit off it.」
「I know. No matter how much revenue we gain from the increase in adventurer work, not being able to use Crest Cave as a mine is a very large minus for both Forre and this town.」
Two weeks after the mine Crest Cave became a dungeon. Thanks to the adventurers assembling from every area, the town was very lively. Money they dropped, profit on sales from dungeon items, and the money the merchants dropped in pursuit of the adventurers. All of these elements proved without a doubt that Crest Cave as of now had an unprecedented boom.
But that was only because they had about three months’ worth of iron ore. Once the storage depleted, without being able to use the mine, the current boom might not hold up for long.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「If we added in the cost of security, I think we might be able to use it as a mine, but……」
「True, the parts we dig up will resurface after a time, so the conditions have become preferable to before with not having to worry about drying out.」
「Ah～、so the production amount for magic steel ‘n all that’s goin’ up.」
「Aye. The production of iron is lower than half what it was before. Thanks to that, we have an abundance of magic steel and mythril.」
Hiroshi could sense the gravity of the situation from the elder’s sour face. He had anticipated this to an extent, but it seemed that mine workers at Crest Cave were too skilled and had actually contributed to the lowering of the iron supply. Also, magic steel and mythril could not be processed so easily, not even with Forre’s technology.
They had a resolution for magic steel and mythril processing, but mentioning that would be a bit too risky.
「If we can at least refine the extra ore, the processing will have a fair amount of reserve power to back it up……」
「Is refining magic steel and mythril all that hard？」
「Not only do ye need a large amount of mana, ye have to keep the fire on at a delicate level. Balancing the two of them is quite laborious……」
「I see……」
Magic steel products being so expensive stemmed from the issue of ore refinement.
「If we could at least make do with mana, we’d have a prospect of replacing twenty to thirty percent of the equipment circulating within Forre to magic steel……」
「Can ya make do with mana？」
「Do ye have a plan or something？」
「Leave me to my discretion and it’ll sound complicated, but I do got an idea.」
Hiroshi began showing his hand from the get-go, not hesitating to wield his authority (despite trying to avoid that previously). They hadn’t even been to this country before, and yet Azuma Workshop’s name had spread throughout. Hiroshi had probably figured that there wasn’t much of a point in keeping their skills confidential.
Then again, the main reason why Hiroshi had given in was definitely due to what he had heard from Igreos.
「What idea？」
「Leave a smeltin’ furnace ‘n forge right there on the feng shui ‘n then make a smeltin’ furnace that draws out mana and a building with a barrier that can be used fer processin’ the mana of the feng shui then yer mana problem’s solved.」
「……True, Master Azuma. It does not seem to be a resolution that we can manage with your discretion.」
「With the feng shui, we’d need permission from the temple, and for makin’ the smeltin’ furnace we’d need the cooperation of the Darl house and Igreos Temple, or else findin’ ingredients gonna be tough.」
Hiroshi brought politics into the conversation, and the guild leader just groaned, unable to figure out what to do.
「We have intermediaries in Darl and Igreso Temple, so if ya provide some gifts as representing Forre then I can help ya git somewhere. But remember that the temple over here ain’t got nothin’ to do with it, so even if I talk to ‘em about it, it’ll take everything just to get the Farlane priestess princess and Darl priestess communicatin’.」
「Either way, we cannot do much about it today.」
「I reckon I agree. Makin’ enough smeltin’ furnaces would take several months, plus ya ain’t gonna be able to supply land to go along the feng shui right away.」
The guild leader calculated a careful conclusion based on Hiroshi’s appealing, yet not immediately implementable proposal.
「I am certain that they will sanction it soon after I consult them, but I do not quite have enough materials in order to go before their majesty. Master Azuma, could ye perhaps make one or two trial products consisting of that smelting furnace and smithy？」
「If that’s all ya want, then as long as ya can resolve the site and the temple issues, two days in one place fer ingredients ‘n a half a day fer the smeltin’ furnace, and if ya need a building then that’s one or two days.」
「Then I and the adventurer association will go to talk with them, so might I ask that you proceed with the ingredient side of things？」
「Roger that.」
There seemed to be a course of action now. Once again, Hiroshi would be getting busy on something other than adventuring, but heck, this always happened, so he didn’t care. In fact, the only time Hiroshi ever did anything adventurer-like was in the dungeon at Ortem and Darl’s underground ruins, in addition to the rescue mission at Sweltering Tower when Aearis and the others had been captured.
And so Hiroshi and friends once again became involved in a matter directly related to the core of the country despite not strongly identifying as adventurers or as guests from the unknown continent.
At the same time Hiroshi was speaking with the adventurer association and ore guild leaders, Haruna and Mio were borrowing a furnace and forge set for smelting and forging practice.
「……Yet another crack……」
Haruna’s shoulders sank as she saw the huge crack in the small throwing knife used for practice. This would make the third time she failed at quenching.
「This is the first time it’s gone tis horrible……」
「Haru, you just need to keep practicing.」
「I know, but after failing ten times in a row, you get kinda down……」
Wiping her sweat off from the forge heat, Haruna sighed at slow progress. Four items she failed at smelting with too little flame, three broke in the process, and three had too much flame in them and broke.
Right now, the only completed forged item that Haruna could use was the one that Hiroshi had instructed her in all the way. Incidentally, Haruna’s first product had a bad shape at the end of the forging process, as she had failed with the whetstone, unable to cut or stab (rendering the knife pointless) so they had made it over again. Everything else she had consisted primarily of arrowheads and devices.
「Mio-chan, is forging really this difficult？」
「If you managed to even make five completed products without anyone’s help at proficiency 50, you essentially still have luck on your side.」
「Wow……」
Haruna just groaned at what Mio said. The difficulty was heartrending.
The ranks were all ultimately severe, but novice was especially tough with forging. The reason was simple: there were no “easy” products to make. Not even arrowheads were all that easy, hardly any different from molding a knife if you wanted to make something that stabs when shot; truly devilish.
In addition, even if you could make arrowheads like that, you couldn’t go up more than 20 proficiency. Also, proficiency 20 still meant the success rate for knives was practically the same as 0 proficiency. If so, then growth would increase the most by starting from knife practice, as you could learn everything you needed to know about forging from there.
Then again, there wasn’t really a proficiency in novice where you levelled up by failure. You had to become fairly adept at it so that you realized why you failed, probably, but failing at low-success rate work truly yielded nothing, which had broken the hearts of many a player aiming to be a blacksmith. Though it was still a lot better than the other crafting skills where you don’t rise at all with failure, it was hardly reassuring to get only a tiny bit up.
This world was different in many ways other than physics, but this particular element seemed to not have changed. So Haruna wouldn’t have any clue as to what went wrong in the forging or quenching process just with three failures.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Do you know why I failed, Mio-chan？」
「I do, but I doubt you’d understand just by me explaining.」
「Oh……」
Haruna’s shoulders dropped immediately at Mio’s reply. The current problem was feeling the processing elements on an intuitive level. Most normal humans would definitely not be able to understand even with an explanation.
「What I can say is that the breaking during the forging process is because you keep trying to stretch it too far. You just have to pay attention to how you strike.」
「It makes sense in my head, but I really don’t know when I’m breaching it.」
「And that’s just where you strike a bunch and figure it out.」
「That’s what it comes down to, huh.」
「You aren’t yet at the level where you can follow along and copy.」
With these kinds of machines that didn’t interpose traditional techniques, you couldn’t “steal” anyone’s move until you were able to do the work from scratch by yourself. You had to fail over and over again while being scolded by your boss and the higher-ups, compiling work after work diligently and neatly until finally you attained the skill.
In that sense, Haruna was kind of blessed. Other than food, she generally wasn’t seen as a source of revenue or a replenisher of consumables. Even if she were to fail, she would be using novice materials, which could generally be gathered in large quantities without difficulty. She was already contributing a good amount with stands and street concerts, so the team had a good amount of funds. Thanks to that, no matter how many mistakes she made, no one complained about her, and Haruna was able to focus solely on polishing her skill.
Then again, in such a lukewarm water-like situation, it was difficult to say whether or not this was good for polishing one’s skill.
「I’ll just try a bit more.」
「Hang in there, Haru.」
Haruna reinvigorated herself, tossing the failures in the furnace and glaring at the fire, thermostat, etc. Unlike smithing, where she couldn’t tell she was improving, Haruna had begun getting an understanding of smelting. Now she could correctly time when she took out the ingots, making sure that it was properly quenched.
「This time, I at least want to get to tempering it.」
「Good luck.」
With Mio’s encouragement, Haruna psyched herself up before she began hitting the ingot, molding the shape. Though she herself had lamented the lack of progress, Haruna’s handiwork with the knife had improved quite a bit from when she had begun. And then, finally……
「The quenching didn’t work, but……」
「You might have held back a bit too much on that.」
「But if I redo it, then……」
「You’d better not. Wait till it’s annealed.」
「Ah. Then I’ll anneal it.」
With annealing and everything else, the knives they made for practice took way too much time to make. Even when they were made, it wasn’t like the knives would be used, so Haruna figured she may as well just follow the correct procedure through all the way, putting the knife in the furnace for annealing and looking at the thermometer as she adjusted the temperature accordingly.
「So, Haru.」
「What？」
「I don’t think you need to be so urgent for something as simple as sewing……」
「No way, this is a matter of life and death.」
Focusing a good amount on overseeing the annealing, Haruna gave Mio a curt reply. Hiroshi would have been able to finish this process in just a few seconds, but Haruna had to take her time with it, plus she had to control the temperature a certain amount by herself or it would get tough.
Still, Haruna had enough leisure to chat with Mio, so she decided to pass the time by doing that.
「A matter of life and death？」
「Mhm.」
「How so？」
「Many reasons, but the main one is underwear, I guess？」
Concerned about this environment filled with men (although they were pretty much all dwarves), Haruna told Mio about her truly serious problem in a lowered voice. All this time she had yet to separate her eyes from the thermometer, moving the temperature back up whenever it got too cool. This level of conversation must not really distract her.
「Underwear？ Why？」
「Cause I can’t get my hands on cute underwear without making it myself.」
「Especially with bras？」
「Mm. The same was true for Japan, but a lot of the time you can’t even get a good designed bra for anything past D-cup.」
「Is that bragging I sense？」
Mio made a rather dark comment on Haruna’s unique “worries”. Though she had grown quite a bit recently, Mio was far from even a C cup, plus her stature had all but halted, stretching and shrinking by one millimeter. When you realized she still probably wouldn’t be over 105 centimeters tall upon entering high school (even without this weird flux in height) you could tell this was rather heartrending.
「Bragging? Mm, more like the cold hard truth？」
「And with that statement, you’ve made enemies of me, Mako, Lina-san, and Nazaria-san all at once.」
「Although I would say that regardless of chest size, whoever likes you is going to like you for you. The rest is just a problem you have to settle yourself.」
Haruna adjusted the temperature back down from being slightly too hot as she commented on Mio’s anxiety with a pained tone, possibly convinced that Mio’s worries took greater priority over hers. When it came down to it, even when you saw the design of a bra is important, it was just an issue of trying to appeal to the male in question, but in Haruna’s case, there was a strong, symbolic implication that she had given in and rewired her brain.
In other words, she was a maiden in love and wanted to ensure that she was always at the ready, even in areas that weren’t visible.
「……I always think this, but you really are a cheater.」
「How so？」
「Because, you’re already so big, and yet you wear clothing that doesn’t go with the size all the time.」
「Really？ I still struggle, you know……」
Haruna would definitely fit in the big-boobed category, and yet she looked good in just about anything. Even when you had her wear clothing that looked silly with big breasts, something clouded the senses and she still ended up looking perfectly fine without pressing her chest down or anything; quite the fearsome phenomena. From Mio’s standpoint, it wasn’t as shoddy as “looking slender”, but a fragment of something more sinister, no doubt. Makoto went a step further and just referred to it as “the heroine effect”.
「Anyhow, I feel like there are loads of enemies prowling around for this matter, so I definitely want to be able to make my own.」
「And it has happened before, so I can’t deny that……」
Green with envy at Haruna’s bust size, Mio had previously forced her to wear strange-designed underwear that she made. If that had caused Haruna to be wary of her, then Mio really couldn’t complain.
「Still, if all you wanted is to make underwear from spirit thread, you’d have to at least be able to make proper throwing knives……」
Haruna began grumbling in a pained tone for a different reason this time as she looked at the knife she was in the middle of annealing. This seemed to be the first time in her life that she had come to such a standstill with something, and right now Haruna appeared to have lost some self-confidence.
In the end, once Haruna had finished annealing the throwing knife, its shape was still an odd failure, the balance improper and unfit for throwing in a straight line. It was a truly pitiable product.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「So what were we even discussing？」
Dinnertime. Haruna confirmed as she lay out boiled edamame on the table. These were ones that she had reserved from Ortem when returning from Darl to Wulls Workshop, teaching the residents the correct way to eat it while she was at it. Of course, just as the name suggested, all it involved was sticking the edamame with the branches still attached into a pot and boiling them. By this point in time, no doubt, the elves were enjoying it with some cool ale.
Other than edamame, there were also sausages, cheese, and dry-cured ham on the table (a menu that practically screamed “this goes well with liquor!!!”), and around all of that filling in the fine details included things like pickled cabbage river fish and german omelettes.
As you may have gathered from Haruna being the one cooking, Hiroshi’s group had moved out of the inn and was now renting an apartment with a decent amount of space that the Adventurers’ Association had introduced them. Finance-wise, they could have still stayed at the inn, but either way, the minors had all agreed that the apartment was better for cooking without reserve.
「First, in regards to conquerin’ the mining dungeon, we decided on assemblin’ all the alchemists and teachin’ ‘em how to make aqua presses.」
「Aqua press, eh? Come to think of it, it wasn’t just maintaining breathing and vision underwater, you could also protect against poison gas, dust, and the like.」
「Well, ya gotta rememba there’s also a flaw to it where ya visual senses drop by about 10 percent.」
Tatsuya and Makoto nodded with slight grimaces at what Hiroshi had just pointed out. The item in question was one they had been very comfortable with back in the game. After all, there weren’t many pieces of equipment sitting around that had strong environment-resistant capabilities like what Hiroshi made, and yet there were plenty of dungeons and quests that you couldn’t progress through without first thinking of some sort of countermeasure. As a result, in exchange for this slight penalty, throwaway items like these with perfect environmental resistance for a certain amount of time were always in high demand, with practically every player relying on them for adventuring.
「Oh yeah, how long did that one last？」
「Minimum six hours guaranteed. After that, it depends on the ability, but at most twenty four hours. And if we try usin’ it in the poison gas region we just discovered, it’ll nullify it plenty, but with more severe poison gas, the aqua breath ain’t gonna completely nullify it.」
「So if we pick up worse readings further in, it’s a no-go.」
「Yup.」
Hiroshi conveyed the correct information to Makoto and Tatsuya. Even though they wouldn’t be the ones using the items, there would be less issues if they knew what was going on.
「So, about directions for makin’ the aqua breath, I kinda wanna ask Mio to do it.」
「……Why？」
「She already has to bar hop between Wulls ‘n Darl on separate errands. Tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that, she ain’t gonna be here.」
「I see. What for？」
「She’s gotta test out smelting furnaces in order to more easily refine magic steel. It don’t seem like that dungeon’s gonna go back to normal even if we complete it, so she figured it was best to act under that assumption.」
Everyone nodded as they listened to Hiroshi’s explanation. Were Crest Cave to remain a mine dungeon, the production of iron would fall, also bringing about excessive amounts of magic steel and mythril ore. This could very well result in a worldwide decline in iron products.
In such a situation, it was then best to take care of the excessive products and replace them with iron-made products. At least on paper that was how it should go, but things were never quite that simple…
「Hiroshi-kun, is it really ok to increase production of magic steel and all that？」
Haruna let out a worried voice about the prospect of increasing the production of these military-related products. Though she was far from aware of the international situation, even an amateur could guess what the impact would be.
「As a prerequisite, we gotta at least send part of it to Farlane ‘n Darl, as understood by the guild leader in this town.」
「Well, one has the smelting forge ingredients, and the other has the food supply.」
Hiroshi replied rather happily to Haruna, and Tatsuya nodded as he recalled the power relationship between the three kingdoms.
One actual problem was that even if all the military equipment became magic steel-made, Forre and Farlane clashing would only lead to a draw with injuries on both sides. Besides, in order to launch a widescale attack on Farlane, Forre would have to have much better food production capabilities. Logistics would crash, Forre would lose, and Farlane would end up losing power to sell its food to a country. No one would profit from this.
Also, in the case of Forre picking a fight with Darl, first it would need to gain total control of Midas Federation. Midas Federation declared that the queen of Darl was too annoying to deal with and therefore they refused to merge, also ignoring a portion of the country composed of war hawks. Even if Forre tried to approach Darl from their direction, invading this country in the prospect of an all-out war with Darl would risk back-stabbing which they could not afford.
Then again, before any of that, as there wasn’t even a single country of the great western three kingdoms that had grown as a result of foreign campaigns, Forre didn’t even comprehend the idea of trying to enlarge their land by waging war after war. Farlane had simply become a country as the surrounding cities drew near in light of its heroic deeds, while Darl found it difficult to even take on monsters without being safe in their country’s environment. When it came down to Forre, they generally had no interest in anything besides mines and liquor, only becoming a big country in the middle of their pursuit of mine development and iron transportation routes.
Even if that were not the case, Forre constantly had its hands tied with monster extermination and abruptly appearing dungeons, so even if they had the energy to go all the way out on expeditions, no, precisely because they were a big kingdom, they did not have the energy to spare.
「In the first place, even with magic steel equipment, the only thing changin’ is that less normies get hurt when fightin’ monsters.」
「Right. The wars in this world generally depend on the grade of the monster rather than the grade of the equipment.」
Makoto agreed with Hiroshi’s comment. Saying this would make them sound a bit bad, but no matter how many normal soldiers put on magic steel-reinforced armor, Julius, Douga, or someone of Rayna’s caliber could easily sweep them with their special moves. All three of them could only lower their power to about three times the power of regular people (where it was originally ten times their strength), so it would still be overkill either way.
It was the same with regular attacks. The average person could equip as much magic steel weapons as they pleased, but all that would amount to would be slightly superior to the average iron weapons that Hiroshi brought out to the market. With comparatively high attack skills in intermediate class, the soldiers probably could score a little damage on Julius and Rayna, but all it would do to Douga would be a slight scratch to him. But even before that, Julius and Rayna wouldn’t have normal equipment on them for war, so there wouldn’t be any sort of advantage for regular soldiers even with strengthened armor.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
In order to ensure that no one player had an extreme difference in battle, there were a variety of adjustments made in-game, so even if Hiroshi were to go up against someone at level 10 with hardly any skills, he wouldn’t receive no damage like he did over here, and even if Makoto or Tatsuya were to fire at him with one of their strong attacks, they wouldn’t kill him in a single hit with a critical. But in this world, such kind restrictions did not exist. Hiroshi in fortress mode would practically suffer no damage from Makoto, Tatsuya, or Haruna’s highest firepower, and Teres or Artiem wouldn’t be able to so much as scratch him with whatever weapons they used.
In this world, once you got to a certain point, every individual’s power level would come into play, no matter how cruel it was.
「Well, at any rate, right now it’s just an experiment/test run. She can’t make more than the kind o’furnace that individuals can handle, so while her craftin’ ability’ll be higher than most, it’ll only be a one percent difference, I think.」
「And anything beyond that concerns politics, eh.」
「Prolly yeah.」
It probably wouldn’t be enough to disrupt the power balance between the countries. That was what the Japanese people determined based on previous considerations. In a sense, they were right. Just because Forre’s magic steel products increased did not mean that tensions would be rising between the three powers or Midas Federation, nor did it mean that the power balance between the western countries would crumble. However, even if the western countries appeared to be intact, from a global perspective it was not only not that simple, Hiroshi and friends did not realize how much they had influenced the world, or at least would not realize that until they had to later on solve some trouble in the Great Library of Rufeus in the capital, Lorren.
「Well, and so she’s gotta go around talking to people here and there for two to three days, so during that time, Haruna-san, ya should just do somethin’ productive with Bro and the others.」
「Got it. I already have some plans anyway. How about some food for starters?」
「Yup, thanks for making it.」
Prompted by Haruna, Hiroshi expressed his thanks and reached out for the pickled cabbage and river fish. The older members of the group already had edamame in one hand and were gazing intently at the homemade beer.
「Edamame is the best！」
「Yep, beer and edamame go perfectly together!」
Nicely cooled beer and organically cultivated, fresh tasting edamame. The salt amount was also perfect, a happy taste independent of the liquor.
「Tomorrow, I guess I’ll go ahead and work at the stall. Been a while.」
「What are you selling？」
「Hot dogs. We got all these delicious sausages we made, plus I kinda wanted to make something a little orthodox Kansai style.」
「Ah, I see. True, the hotdogs you made using these countries sausages were great.」
In response to Haruna’s answer, Tatsuya nodded as he remembered the hotdogs they ate yesterday. The orthodox kind was certainly good, but the Kansai cabbage and curry powder version was great too. Either one of those could easily sell.
「……I don’t care either way, but don’t you think there might be an alternative to simply rushing to the stall every time we have nothing to do？」
「Oh? But I think that basically sums us up, don’t you？」
「……Mio, you say something too.」
「Edamame and beer, do they really go that well together？」
「Absolutely, but you need to wait eight years, little miss……」
Losing her strength at Mio’s comment from out of left field, Makoto rebuked her. Unfortunately, there were hardly any countries in this world either who would allow Mio to drink liquor out in the open, based on appearance and age.
「When the team’s out doing their own thing, I think we should at least ensure safety.」
「So you’re in agreement with operating the food stand？」
「C’mon, food stands never lead to any issues, as long as you don’t roughhouse with the customers.」
Making a small sigh at Mio’s pointer, Makoto figured “why not” and conceded. In reality, she had no idea what else there was besides food stands anyway.
「While we’re at it, Haru, how about you go with Tatsu and the others to Stiren and help secure a transportation point there？」
「Ah～、I don’t see why not.」
「Are we seriously going all the way to the capital just to sell food……」
Haruna nodded at Mio’s proposal while Tatsuya looked fed up. True, they would eventually have to go to Stiren anyway, but for something like this?
「Seems like the capital would have more strange sausages where those came from, so I say that’s a pretty good reason, right？」
「Alllll right……」
「Fine, sheesh……」
Exasperated at what Haruna had just said, but also unable to deny they liked some good sausage and liquor, the two elder members sighed on the surface while expressing agreement. In the end, they gave in to some of their food cravings (or rather, that was now their main priority in going to Stiren), once again proving how nonchalant these people were.
Meanwhile, in Igreos Temple (main branch)…
「Special delivery～、special delivery～」
「Octogal Dispatch, at your se～rvice!」
「Delivery～、delivery～」
Three octogals had moved to where Nazaria and Igreos were.
「Home delivery～、home delivery～」
「Delivered at the appointed time～」
「Delivered without regard for appointment～」
「Absent～、absent～」
「Takeout～、deliver at another time～」
「Dispose of body～」
「Uhh, I don’t really understand what any of you are saying……」
The octogals did their little game of association as per usual, while Nazaria, not used to these strange creatures, grimaced as she threw a comment their way.
「Letter from Elle-chan～」
「Stamp on the receipt, please～」
「Or a sign, that works too～」
Signing the receipt brought before her by the octogal, Nazaria also took the handwritten letter from Aearis into her hands.
「Safely delivered～」
「We will send the receipt to her in a jiffy～」
「We will standby～」
Having finished their task for Aearis, one of the octogals teleported back to Wulls. The remaining two, upon declaring their standby, were now enshrined atop the heads of both Nazaria and Igreos. It was a little off-putting to see an octogal on Igreos’ head, but he himself showed no signs of discomfort, so it must not be all that problematic.
「……I see, so as a preventive measure for Crest Cave, they’re thinking of building more new smelting furnaces and increasing the amount of refined magic steel.」
「A frontal attack, hm. Truly a great tactic.」
「It is？」
「Crest Cave likely will not go back to being a mine now that it has shifted into a dungeon. According to what we know from Alfemina, it would seem that the underlings of the evil god put up quite a fight. The isolated dimension appears to have been solidified quite quickly this time around. So by that logic, magic steel ore crafting will skyrocket. Indubitably, strengthening one’s crafting prowess with magic steel products is the most constructive option as of now.」
Conveying this information from the god grapevine to Nazaria, Igreos meanwhile thought of his own role in all this. No matter how the pieces would fall, at the moment, things were guaranteed to be terribly busy with Forre’s increase in smelting furnaces.
「Igreos-sama, it seems that Aearis-dono will be showing up here along with Hiroshi-dono tomorrow.」
「In that case, we must quickly set up the production increase of holy fire-baked heat-resistant bricks.」
「Should we tell Her Majesty about any of this？」
「Eh, this is the strong, independent priestess princess we are talking about. No doubt even if one such as myself had not told her about it, she will have known.」
「Then all that remains now is just how the Forre royal family will respond to this.」
「The only thing in their heads is iron. If the amount of refined magic steel is to increase, they will undoubtedly try to push this plan forward without thinking of profit or loss.」
This insistence on iron from the Forre family was also consistent with the entirety of the nation, regardless of status. This disposition (incomprehensible to the other countries) was hiding a lot of Barold’s secretive movements, and just as much so was it troublesome to deal with in regards to diplomatic relations with their allies.
「Either way, this appears to be a momentous occasion for history.」
「Well, it would be nice if it results in something amazing for the world……」
Sighing at Igreos’ excited demeanor as he struck a pose, Nazaria decided to send the octogals back to Wulls with a response and a gift.
