Chapter 53

The town was deserted, and a stray dog yawned as if bored. Most people had probably either crowded down at the port or gone to the church to hear Iiria’s speech.

Thanks to that, we were able to head for our destination without being attacked by thugs.

That said, with the swordsman named Balan accompanying me, it felt like even if someone like Dodol came at us, he could probably beat them down instead.

“…You.”

“Guildmaster, I have a request.”

I opened the door to the Magic Stone Processors’ Guild hall and walked inside without minding the exhausted-looking master craftsmen gathered there staring at me.

Then I set two bags down with a heavy thud on top of the counter where the guildmaster was seated.

Gold coins spilled out from one bag, and unfinished magic stones rolled out from the other.

“There are three hundred imperial gold coins here. And these are Grade Four magic stones with wind magic circles engraved partway. I want you to finish the rest.”

The guildmaster stared blankly up at me, blinked several times, and then made a look of disgust that almost seemed on the verge of tears.

“Not content with turning master craftsmen into apprentices, now you would have us do even the menial labor for the apprentices of those former master craftsmen?”

The words were like a curse.

No, they also sounded like resentment, or maybe sulking.

Because now Takahashi Workshop, full as it was of fallen losers, was making overwhelmingly more money.

But just when I felt, uncharacteristically, like shouting at him that even at a time like this he was still saying such things, Balan beside me did it for me.

“Decide whether you’ll die here, or work to live.”

Balan placed a hand on the counter, and the instant he put a little strength into it, with a dull, heavy creaking and crunching sound, the sturdy counter sank until it was half its original height.

At the sight of that display of arm strength, more terrifying than a punch, the guildmaster lost his words completely.

I shoved the bag full of gold coins and magic stones, which I had only just barely managed to keep hold of, straight at the guildmaster.

“Would anyone pay an apprentice this much? I’m asking you for top-class work that we can’t do.”

The guildmaster probably was not a bad person, but he was weak in adversity.

I had just been thinking that it would be better if the vice-guildmaster, who seemed more reasonable, were here instead.

“And you’re telling us to wipe the asses of those hopeless hacks?”

Several master craftsmen stood up and glared at us.

Balan’s presence kept them from jumping at us, but the atmosphere was such that it seemed violence could break out at any moment.

“You lot may be better at making money, but we do our work staking our honor on it!”

I wanted to say that a fair portion of the reason your workshop is doing well is because it is built on the slave labor of apprentices, but apparently their skills really were good.

After all, it seemed that strong influence within the guild ultimately came down to the obvious hierarchy of how skilled one was as a craftsman.

“There’s a monster in the mine! We need wind magic to kill it, this is no time to be saying things like—”

As I pressed my point, Balan’s hand, as big as a fan, cut me off.

The master craftsmen flinched because they probably thought he was about to hit someone.

But Balan merely turned his palm over and took the bag of magic stones from my hand.

“Look.”

He tossed it over still inside the bag.

One of the master craftsmen barely managed to catch it, then awkwardly took out the magic stone as instructed.

“Even if I look at something like this…”

The master craftsman’s words stopped there, and another master craftsman picked up a magic stone and also fell silent.

Then they passed it along one after another to the next person, and every one of them wore a bitter expression.

Balan snorted like a bull, as if to say, Well?

The master craftsmen might talk and talk about honor, but it seemed they could not lie to themselves about the quality of skill.

“…Did you lot carve these?”

If the silence had continued any longer, I was about to say it myself, but one of them asked first.

“Yes. These were carved with only the parts each of our people is good at.”

“…”

The master craftsmen looked at one another, and then another one spoke.

“How many waves does the ‘ripple’ need?”

“Hey!”

Another master craftsman rebuked him, but then yet another said,

“What’s the point of being stubborn here? If we do nothing, we’re monster feed!”

“That’s right, and besides…”

What came after and besides… did not immediately follow.

But after an unwilling deep breath, he said grudgingly,

“The workmanship isn’t bad.”

A craftsman was not considered fully trained unless he had mastered every step of magic stone processing.

But if one thought about it normally, of course people had strengths and weaknesses, and there was no need for one person to master everything alone.

“How many waves does the ‘ripple’ need?”

When the question was repeated again, no one snapped at it anymore.

“Seven, or eight.”

Balan said it shortly, and the master craftsmen burst into an uproar.

“Hey, I’ve never heard of seven waves on a Grade Four magic stone. The standard is four, isn’t it? Will that really work?”

“Seven, or eight.”

Combined with how he looked, Balan was practically like a golem.

To the agitated master craftsmen, I said,

“Is it… too difficult, maybe?”

The murmuring of the master craftsmen stopped dead, and the air heated up as if someone had switched on an electric heater.

“Do you insult our skill!?”

“As if there’s any way we couldn’t do it! What nonsense are you talking!?”

While I bowed and apologized over and over—yes, I’m sorry, yes—the master craftsmen each took magic stones out of the bag, and at the end, together with the now-empty bag, they hurled back the bag full of gold coins as though throwing it at me.

“We, the proud Magic Stone Processors’ Guild, could never endure being slandered as people who took advantage of another’s plight!”

By now, I had come to understand the handling of the word honor a little better.

So I gave them the words meant exactly for moments like this.

“Yes. But I would like to erect a monument stating that it was thanks to your skill that the dragon was subdued.”

The master craftsmen widened their eyes like cats spotting a ball of yarn, then somehow grew fidgety and looked away.

“Hoh, hmm… well, if you insist.”

“Indeed, nngh, we can’t take the gold, but…”

They muttered things like that under their breath.

I felt as though I could hear Kururu’s voice saying, You really have started to understand this world, haven’t you?

“Then, may I ask for your help?”

They moved their hands before they moved their mouths. That was why they were craftsmen.

They immediately went out from the guild hall, and just then the vice-guildmaster, who seemed to have been deeper inside the building on some errand, was standing there staring blankly at the state of the main hall.