Episode 92

A few days had passed since opening the shop.

I haven’t matched the first day’s sales, of course, but so far things are going smoothly.

“Faik, is it okay to open the shop now?”

“It’s fine.”

As I answered, I put the “Open” sign outside.

Alicia opened the shop door and began today’s business.

We’d learned the day’s routine by now, so preparations and everything else ran efficiently.

A few adventurers arrived as soon as we opened.

Just as we finished dealing with them, a female adventurer came in.

“Oh, so this is Faik’s smithy.”

I heard her voice as she stared around the shop.

I was thinking of going to the back to do some smithing, but she caught my attention for some reason.

Partly because she was attractive, but there was also an aura that set her apart from the other adventurers.

She looked like a perfectly ordinary woman, but maybe she was a higher-ranked adventurer.

At that moment, our eyes met.

“Are you the owner of this place?”

She inspected me slowly from head to toe.

“…Ah, yes.”

“I see, so it’s true you’re engaged to the lord’s daughter.”

Near the reception, the Barnast family crest and the business permit were posted.

When I nodded, the woman looked around the shop again.

“Did you make all the swords here?”

“That’s right. I’m not very good at things other than swords, so I don’t handle them.”

“…Oh, is that so?”

Her tone and expression carried a hint of meaning.

She continued to observe the shop closely.

“Your skill is… no, it’s beyond what I expected. Where did you do your smithing before? With hands like these you could make it in the capital, right? Weren’t you invited by any court or the like?”

A rapid-fire barrage of questions.

I wondered how much I should answer; she seemed to be probing my abilities.

…I figured she was probably an adventurer of some competence.

She might even ask me for work in the future.

I didn’t want to exaggerate, but being honest might lead to jobs down the line.

“I was a smith at the neighboring country’s court. At that time I mostly did maintenance like Enchantment.”

“The neighboring country… ah, so that’s why I’ve never heard your name. Hmm, I didn’t consider that possibility at all. I should reflect on that.”

“…Y-yeah.”

Then she smiled and held out her hand to me.

There was rice stuck to that hand, and she stuck out her tongue as she offered the other hand.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Bertie. I’m planning to place an order for a sword soon, so I came to take a look.”

“…I see.”

“I’ll talk about the details later. I haven’t eaten my second breakfast yet… I’m getting hungry. Well then, see you.”

With that she left.

…S-second breakfast? Isn’t breakfast supposed to be once?

As I tilted my head, Alicia stared at me.

“Do you know her?”

“No, I don’t.”

“…I see.”

Alicia puffed her cheeks and gripped my hand tightly.

“Alicia?”

“…It’s kind of nice that everyone seems to like Faik… but I’m also a bit worried.”

“…It’s not like that.”

“And there’s a sort of good vibe with Arme too.”

No, that’s never happened.

Arme’s just been closing the distance on her own.

As I gave a wry smile, a loud voice came from the shop entrance.

“Good morning, Lord Faik! Lady Alicia!”

Ivas came cheerfully into the shop.

Today he seemed to be alone for the first time in a while.

His smile was as usual.

“Ivas, what’s up?”

“Um, I wanted to get a little Enchantment done…”

Ivas pointed the sword he had hanging at his waist toward me.

Looking at the magic readings, the damage was indeed starting to show a lot.

“Ah, geez. You used it pretty recklessly, didn’t you?”

“Hehe… Yesterday I was attacked by a monster we don’t usually see… but I somehow managed to defeat it.”

“A monster you don’t usually see?”

“Yes… I think it was a Heavy Monkey!”

Alicia reacted to Ivas’s words.

“Heavy Monkey… a C-rank monster. They’re quite strong—were you all right?”

“Yes! We’re fine and dandy!”

Ivas and Weather should be D-rank adventurers.

From a D-rank adventurer’s perspective, a C-rank monster is generally a higher-level foe.

Of course, individual monsters and D-rank adventurers vary in strength, so it’s hard to judge definitively.

“If there are no injuries that’s good, but are Weather and Erna safe as well?”

“Yes! But that fierce battle wore us out yesterday, so we decided to take the day off today!”

“I see.”

“But it was so sudden that we were surprised. Why would one be in a place like that?”

Alicia put a hand to her chin and answered.

“Strong monsters… in this case, the Horned Dragon’s influence might be altering the ecosystem.”

“What!? The Horned Dragon’s adverse effects could show up even in places like this!?”

“Monsters that don’t usually come into town might be fleeing from the Horned Dragon.”

A change in the ecosystem, huh.

This is mainly why adventurers hunt monsters.

Each region has its own ecosystem.

By slaying monsters that have overpopulated, they protect the ecosystem.

Adventurers don’t necessarily think about it that deeply.

They became adventurers primarily to earn money.

The Adventurers’ Guild manages the ecosystems and assigns hunts to adventurers in the form of requests.

“But S-rank adventurers are heading this way, right? Won’t it be taken down soon?”

“No, they’ve arrived, but it seems to be an extremely strong monster that attacks don’t affect it at all.”

“Even for S-rank adventurers?”

“It seems difficult for one person. If someone could land several high-powered spells it might be defeated, but a single person doesn’t have that luxury… so there appear to be two options now.”

“Options?”

“Yes. Either prepare a much sturdier sword so attacks will land, or gather adventurers to buy time to amass magic. Requests have been issued to adventurers, but given who we’re dealing with… no one is applying.”

…It’s an opponent that even S-rank adventurers are struggling with.

No one would accept it easily.

Besides, this town doesn’t have that many high-ranked adventurers gathered here.