1.
Knock knock.
"Who is it?"
A cheerful voice came from inside.
"It's Lionel."
"Oh? Already? Come in!"
Having received permission, I opened the door and entered the room.
"..."
The moment I entered, the scent of roses lingered in my nose.
I had not had many opportunities to smell roses, but I had come to recognize the scent thanks to the flowers in Dolores's garden.
This was definitely the scent of roses.
Yeomhwa was sitting cross-legged on the bed.
She seemed far too lively to be believed as a patient.
Though the strip of seaweed plastered neatly to the center of her forehead was at least... proof that she was receiving some kind of treatment.
"Are you feeling a little better?"
"I'm totally fine! Cough cough!"
Totally fine, cough cough...
She really was okay, right?
"I came to conduct a little needs assessment."
"A needs assessment?"
Yeomhwa pressed the seaweed firmly back onto her forehead so it would not fall off, then tilted her head.
"I need to figure out what kind of equipment I should make for you."
Even with the same kind of weapon, the final product differed depending on what its user wanted.
In Ruby's case, I had been involved in most of the process, but...
For Yeomhwa's equipment, since she was a High Ranker, I thought I ought to place more emphasis on her own requirements.
So naturally, the first thing I needed to know was...
Exactly what Yeomhwa needed.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions now."
"Ooh, an interview."
"...A conversation. Just a conversation."
"Hehe."
I brought up what I had been wanting to say.
"Could you take everything off first?"
"...Sure!"
Yeomhwa curled up the corners of her lips, pulled down the blanket, and grabbed the hem of her top to pull it up—
"Your equipment. The equipment you're wearing. Your weapon, secondary weapon, and emblem, if possible."
"Oh."
It did not take long to clear up the misunderstanding.
Fortunately, all I saw of Yeomhwa's bare flesh was her firm lower abdomen.
Dolores always understood exactly what I meant when I said it like that. I had made a mistake.
Yeomhwa removed the equipment she was wearing and regularly used, laying it out on the floor.
The three main parts I intended to inspect were her weapon, secondary weapon, and emblem.
But although I had heard Yeomhwa was called a battle mage and used guns...
"...A book?"
Her primary weapon was unexpectedly a red book.
On the cover was a circular silver ornament that had been inlaid into the illustration...
'A cylinder.'
Something resembling the chamber of a revolver was depicted there.
I immediately checked its information.
─────────────────
[Tmir's Grimoire] [★★★★★]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [ - / 100]
─────────────────
『In the era when guns and cannons had only just appeared in the world.』
『Court magician Tmir laughed at the world's mockery that guns were slower and weaker than magic.』
『He carved bullets out of magic and inscribed them onto papyrus.』
『Open to load, close to fire.』
─────────────────
【Converts spells recorded in the grimoire into the form of magic bullets.】
【Temporarily manifests the firearm most suitable for the spell recorded on each page.】
─────────────────
『Maybe you idiots will come to your senses once there's a hole in your heads. I'm different.』
- Grand Court Magician Marcus Tmir -
─────────────────
Open to load.
Close to fire.
Well, I could tell Tmir had a nasty personality, but...
"...This equipment is..."
Way too good, holy shit.
I had seen footage of Yeomhwa fighting before. The moment she pointed somewhere with her finger, a massive gun appeared in midair.
Then it fired bullets.
So I had thought her primary weapon was a gun...
But that was not it.
She did it with a book.
The gun was just the form her magic manifested in, while this book was the core.
"Normally, it's open to load, close to fire, but..."
Yeomhwa tucked the book against her chest and aimed at the window with her finger.
"I optimized it, so... I boiled it down to this."
"To what?"
"Bang."
Pew.
A red laser shot from Yeomhwa's hand and set the curtain on fire.
"Gasp."
Pat pat pat pat.
Yeomhwa hurriedly patted out the flames on the curtain, then...
"Keep this a secret from Dolores!"
"..."
You have got to be kidding me.
So that was what it was.
Then there was no need to touch this one.
I held the book up to Yeomhwa, and the compatibility that appeared was...
─────────────────
[Tmir's Grimoire] [★★★★★]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [75 / 100]
─────────────────
"Wow."
I had genuinely never seen anything like it before.
A completed five-star piece of equipment, perfectly suited to its user and already optimized?
Maybe it was because I had only ever seen Rankers wheezing around in garbage-tier equipment, but this felt strangely moving.
I was absolutely not talking about Dolores.
Primary weapon passed. I would leave this one untouched.
There was a reason Yeomhwa was strong.
That left the other two slots to inspect.
Next was the emblem.
What Yeomhwa handed me was a black badge.
"This looks pretty cool."
It was about two finger joints long.
So this was an emblem. It was kind of cute.
It looked a little like a beetle, didn't it? Its shell was split down the middle, like an insect with folded wings.
I held the beetle-shaped thing up to Yeomhwa.
─────────────────
[Silent Finale] [★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [15 / 80]
─────────────────
『Before death, the beetle closes its wings.』
『Seven days of endurance and cries spewed forth.』
『Explosive mana takes root and erupts.』
─────────────────
【Accumulates a portion of the vibrations from sound-based magic manifested by the user as reverberations.】
【Overlays accumulated reverberations onto the next sound-based magic to amplify its power.】
─────────────────
Mm, this was good.
Reverberations... sure, that sounded nice.
It accumulated them, and then, uh, amplified power...
It did seem like a fairly excellent emblem.
...But it was for sound-based magic.
"Do you use sound-based magic?"
"No? I'm a battle mage."
"Then are you a good singer, by any chance?"
"How did you know!?"
Aha.
She must have at least scored those fifteen points because she could sing well.
This was a problem most Rankers faced.
No matter how good an appraisal device they used, they naturally could not know the exact effects their equipment actually possessed.
At best, this was probably all they could see.
─────────────────
[Silent Finale] [★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment]
─────────────────
『Before death, the beetle closes its wings.』
『Seven days of endurance and cries spewed forth.』
『Explosive mana takes root and erupts.』
─────────────────
Four stars, and something about explosive mana...
From Yeomhwa's perspective, she probably thought it was simply an emblem that amplified her power.
[I wish she'd just throw it away ㅠㅠ]
Agreed.
"But was this actually any good?"
"...It was super good~"
[Hahahahaha]
There was not an ounce of conviction in her tone.
"What was good about it?"
"It's four-star."
"Okay."
I got the general idea.
Yeomhwa's level of understanding.
Honestly, I had been impressed after seeing her primary weapon, but it seemed she had just gotten lucky.
In that case, I would make the emblem my top priority.
I had never made one before, so I was a little excited. It seemed like it would be quite an interesting job.
"What about your secondary weapon?"
"Um... I don't have one."
"What?"
"It got destroyed last time..."
"Destroyed?"
"Yeah..."
As if it were nothing important, Yeomhwa explained what had happened.
Her previous secondary weapon had been called [Preparation].
It was equipment that temporarily drew up mana, then explosively discharged it.
"I was really close to clearing a floor."
"Yes."
"I thought I could do it with just a little more firepower... so I activated the Circle and [Preparation] together, and then... boom."
She had used the Ether Circle together with something else that pumped up her mana?
The Ether Circle was a bracelet that abnormally accumulated mana and sent it violently back through its wearer's circuits.
If I remembered right, having more mana was not always simply better...
No wonder there had been something wrong with her body.
"And after that, my body went bleh too."
"..."
She really was the type to push herself too hard.
Which meant she had no secondary weapon right now, didn't it?
I had planned to make the emblem first, but...
Cancelled.
Even a garbage emblem was better than having none at all.
I would make her secondary weapon first, then the emblem.
"...Then I'll make you a secondary weapon."
"Yay!"
Still sitting cross-legged on the bed, Yeomhwa bounced her shoulders in delight.
"Ah, how much? And what materials do you need?"
"...?"
What was she talking about?
"The cost is fine, and as for materials... I won't know until I take a look."
How could I ask her for materials when I did not even know what I would use?
"Huh?"
At that, Yeomhwa blinked as though she could not understand.
"You're not charging me?"
"Not for now, no."
"And you're getting the materials yourself?"
"That's right."
"Hmm... Kid, if you ask me..."
What? Last time, I was pretty sure she had called herself an aunt.
Suddenly, she had changed it to big sister.
Just how old was she...?
"When climbers commission a blacksmith, this is normally how it works..."
Yeomhwa explained as she unfolded one finger at a time.
The entire crafting fee was paid upfront when the contract was made.
The client had to continuously supply the materials needed for crafting.
Even if the crafting failed, the materials consumed could not be recovered.
And on top of that... even if the desired grade did not come out, it was difficult to hold the blacksmith responsible.
What the hell?
Wasn't that absurdly privileged?
"...That's ridiculously aristocratic."
"Because they're aristocrats! Even so, famous blacksmiths have people lining up for them."
"Who are these famous blacksmiths?"
I suddenly became curious.
Now that the Sun Dwarves had gone to shit, just who were these scoundrels claiming—no, calling themselves—famous blacksmiths?
It seemed like this industry needed some serious reform.
"For one, there are barely any Sun Dwarves left... and they only make mass-produced goods."
...That was a little sad to hear.
"The Frostblade Tribe. For custom work, the Black Anvil Tribe is probably your best bet?"
"The Black Anvil Tribe..."
"So if you're going to keep working as a blacksmith, wouldn't it be good to accept money and materials and all that?"
I appreciated Yeomhwa's advice.
I had not known that kind of culture existed.
I could probably decide on some reasonable fee and accept money, but...
With materials, even if I wanted to ask for something, I did not decide what to make beforehand, so it was hard to specifically demand anything.
Only after examining the wearer and deciding what kind of equipment they needed did useful materials catch my eye.
"Then, Yeomhwa..."
"Yeah, hurry up."
Since that was the culture... it sounded like she was telling me to take money.
It would be awkward to charge too much, and okay, ten thousand gold was one hundred million won.
"Just ten thousand gold..."
Just give me a hundred million won.
That was when it happened.
Squish.
Yeomhwa gently took hold of both my cheeks.
"I'm rich, you know?"
"...Yes, I'm jealous."
"Ask for more."
What kind of negotiation was this?
Wasn't I the one getting paid...?
"If it were Ruby, I'd have threatened her with kisses..."
Yeomhwa murmured regretfully as she kneaded my cheeks.
"But I can't do that to a kid."
Rattle.
At that moment, the doorknob rattled.
"...?"
I looked toward the door, but no one came in.
"Anyway, ask for more!"
"...Twenty thousand gold?"
"More."
"Fifty thousand."
"More."
"One... one hundred thousand...?"
Only then did Yeomhwa finally smile in satisfaction.
"That should be enough for spending money, at least."
"Spending money, at least?"
"Yeah. I'll think about the actual crafting fee later too... what I should give you."
Apparently, being a blacksmith was more...
"Is this the culture around here?"
"Yep!"
Profitable a profession than I had thought.
"Then first..."
This would be my first time crafting a secondary weapon.
Since it was a type I had never made before, I needed something to use as a reference.
I looked at the red grimoire lying on the floor.
"I'm taking the book with me."
"...Gasp."
Yeomhwa hurriedly hugged Tmir's Grimoire to her chest, but...
"So I can use it as a reference."
When it came to crafting, I was not someone who negotiated.
"Sob..."
I successfully took it away.
I pointed to the silver cylinder embedded in the grimoire's cover.
"Your weapon is incredibly good..."
This was only my personal thought and imagination, but...
A secondary weapon was called a secondary weapon because it was supposed to support the primary equipment, wasn't it?
Climbers only used different pieces of equipment together because they had no other choice.
Shouldn't the basic principle be for them to blend together deliciously, like an Oriental salad?
That was the thought that came to mind.
"I want to make them fit together as though they had always been a set."
The primary equipment and secondary weapon.
One set of two pieces of equipment, each making up for what the other lacked.
"...Like set equipment?"
"Yes."
I had heard that set equipment was only something found among complete newbie gear.
Like industrial work gloves and industrial boots, a matching set like that.
I had never heard of good equipment having set effects.
"Let's try it."
A secondary weapon that supported her primary weapon... along with healing effects.
I could do it. If it was me.
I would give it a shot.
It was a job I was attempting for the first time, and only an idea in my head, but...
That was why it seemed even more fun.
It was a field I had never tried at all before.
I picked up Tmir's Grimoire and rose from my seat.
"Then I'll be going!"
"Already?"
"I need to start right away."
Honestly, seeing this grimoire had motivated me a little.
At least among the equipment I had seen, this seemed to be the best.
So, you could say it had spurred me on a bit.
I opened the door just like that.
Bang!
Crash!
Accompanied by a tremendous noise.
"...?"
Standing in front of the door was Dolores, her silver hair disheveled.
"...Mama?"
Flinch.
Avoiding my eyes, Dolores fumbled with the handle.
"Ah, hello, Lionel..."
"What are you doing here?"
"I was... waiting... I have something to discuss with Yeomhwa..."
"...Okay, then."
It seemed she had something to discuss with her privately.
I passed by Dolores without thinking much of it.
"I'll head to the workshop."
"Mm-hm, be careful on your way."
Dolores stared particularly intently at my face as though inspecting something, then...
Creeeak...
She entered Yeomhwa's room.
And then...
"Wait, Dolores, I didn't do anything—"
"Shh... The kid can hear you."
Bang!
The door closed.
"...Oops."
Looks like she got caught burning the curtain.
Praying for Yeomhwa's survival...
I left them behind and headed for the workshop, holding Tmir's Grimoire in my arms.
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