Master Smith Part 2

Part 13

Roxanne continued to shower me with some much-deserved praise, while

Sherry stood a little bit more o the side where she continued to swing her

Clun around while mumbling things like 「Like this. . . . . .?」「Or this. . . . . ?」

「Or maybe that. . . . . . . .?」「No, probably more like this. . . .. . 」「Or like that

after all. . . . . . .」to herself. When I glanced towards her, it definitely looked

like she was practicing the correct way of swinging her Club around, which

kind of made her look like a baseball player practicing his swings before a

game. She looks like she is beginning to figure something out, so maybe we

should allow her to practice in peace for a while longer without getting in her

way?

At first I though that her training method is a little unusual for that kind of

weapon, but thinking about it now, if she wants to be hitting two opponents

with one swing, then of course she would have to practice swinging the Club

from side to side. But this really reminded me of what I used to be seeing on

tv, where baseball players, batters, to be specific, practiced their movements

by swinging their bats from left to right and then right to left many times

over. Also, while watching over Sherry's practice, I noticed one particular

thing about her, mainly. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Is Sherry a left-handed batter? Huh? Was she always left-handed? Or is it

simply that I have not paid enough attention to notice that particular detail

about her? Because if she really is left-handed, then this changes everything

about her self-imposed training regimen.

「Uhm, Sherry? Sorry for noticing that just now, but if you are a left-handed

batter, then should the placement of your hands on the Club's handle not be

reversed?」

If she is a left-handed person, then her left hand should be the one on the top,

instead of her right one in the way she is holding the Club now. That kind of

grip, called a traditional grip, might work if all she would be swinging around

was a sword, but clubs and other bat-like weapons are a little bit more

specific if you want to utilize them effectively.

「Left-handed batter? Reversed?」

And she looked at me with puzzlement in her eyes, probably thinking that

here I was, spouting some ridiculous nonsense again.

「With your current grip, the swing would be much smoother if you started it

from the right and then moved to the left.」

While I was still back on earth practicing swordsmanship during my short

kendo career, the instructor was always telling me that my right hand should

be the one on top while I was gripping the sword in my hands, even though I

myself am left-handed. I do not know why that was, and back then I did not

need to understand, so I never really pursued that matter. In turn, in baseball

it was the other way around: those whose domineering hand was the left one

were always told that their left hands should be the ones they should be

placing on top of the other one when gripping the baseball bat. Yeah, I do not

understand why that is either.

「. . . . . . . . . . Something like this then?」

Sherry asked, swinging the bat from right to the left.

「Yeah, you got that right? And, what do you say? You can easily feel the

difference, right?」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ah! It is true! It does feel easier to be swinging it that

way!」

Sherry tried swinging the Club several more times while changing the grip on

the handle. For a moment I also thought maybe I should teach her about the

one-legged form and the importance of the positioning of her feet and the

right stance whenever she swings, but I ultimately decided against it, because

that thing would be useful only in baseball, and not in martial arts where the

gap between you and the opponent is often too big for it to be effective, and

pendulum method is completely out of the question, because it would be too

difficult for a novice to perform and teaching her that would simply take too

much time.

「But then, does that not mean that when Sherry is swinging her Club in such

a way it would be easy for the opponent to tell from which direction the

attack would be coming from based on the way she is holding the Clubs

handle?」

「I do not think we have to worry about that considering the fact that most of

the monsters are not intelligent enough to properly recognize Adventurer's

attack patterns.」

I had such a conversation with Roxanne while watching Sherry improved

training regimen. She is waving her Club from the right with her right hand

up and then waving from the left with her left hand up.

「I see. Sometimes it is harder to detect if you shake it the other way around,

right?」

「Exactly. And if we ever happen to encounter human enemies or monsters

that will be able to tell where are my attacks coming from, I can always try to

mix it up in the middle of an attack in order to confuse them and throw them

off balance.」

Yeah, just like Sherry says, that should be more than enough to do the trick.

Besides, that would only be relevant only if we did happen upon monsters

that would be intelligent enough to properly understand the difference

between the attack coming at them from the different sides.

「Also, while what Roxanne says is definitely a downside, I think that this

downside can be more than made up for by the sheer amount of damage that

she is going to be dishing out.」

In any case, what is truly important here is trying it first. Sherry states that

now that I have shown her that different method of swinging she is definitely

going to nail it, but I should not get too excited before I see it with my own

eyes.

The next group of monsters we happened across consisted of only three

enemies so we dealt with them quickly with my magic and the girls' physical

attacks and moved on forward, where we then encountered another group of

four monsters consisting of four Collagen Corals. Great, no Escape Goats this

time, which means that the battle is going to be that much easier on us. As the

opening act, I used tow Fire Storms to weaken the monsters sufficiently,

clearing the way for Sherry to have another try at hitting two of them at once.

「I am going in, master!」

「Yeah, go for it!」

Sherry psyched herself up and I encouraged her further while also launching

a third Fire Storm at the enemies, just to be sure that their HP is going to be

low enough for Sherry to actually defeat them. All that is left for her to now

is to go wild without worrying about any of the four enemies making a run

for it.

Standing in front of the two monsters, Sherry assumed her stance and then

swung her Club with enough force for the hit to still be a powerful one, but at

the same time weak enough to only graze the first monster and allow the

momentum to carry her strike onwards towards the second enemy. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and this time the strike did manage to connect!

「. . . . . . . . ! ! ! ! ! ! !」

「Ohhh. . . . . . . . . 」

Now, while Sherry did say that since she is a Dwarf then her STR stat is quite

high and that even among other dwarves she was considered to be a bit

stronger than the rest of her peers, but here is a hot take after what I saw just

now: I do not know if I should call that strike of hers just now overbearing or

incredibly powerful. . . . . . . . . . . but Sherry's attack really did end sending

those two Collagen Corals flying a fair distance away. So that is an attack

that only Dwarves, who are inherently much stronger than the members of

other races, can do, huh?

Part 14

Something that only they are capable of doing, that cannot be replicated by

the members of any other race. Could this be the reason why Dwarves

primarily use hammers, clubs, mallets and other types of two-handed

weaponry? I feel that now that I have witnessed her in action, I understand

that a little bit better.

Unfortunately, while that attack did ended up knocking the Collagen Corals

back, it failed to kill them, so I had to use another Fire Storm in order to keep

damaging them, but I was not feeling bad about it, because Sherry managed

to fulfill the goal that she set up for herself.

「Did you see that, master?! I did it! Thank to what you have shown me, I was

able to properly maintain the optimal strength of the first hit and carry it over

all the way to the second one! I did it!」

「Yes, you did. Great job, Sherry.」

「Thank you very much!」

「That was a magnificent strike, Sherry. I was amazed at how far you send

these Collagen Corals flying.」

「To be honest, I was amazed by that as well. Thank you very much for your

assistance and going along with my selfish wishes as well, Miss Roxanne.」

「Do not mention it.」

While Roxanne and I were complimenting Sherry, I used the fourth and then

fifth Fire Storm to make the sure that all four of the Collagen Corals will fall

down without fail. And after defeating the monsters, I had some thought

occur to me while I was looking at how happy Sherry was about executing

her move properly. Dwarves. . . . . . . their great strength. . . . . . . talent. . . .

. . . . . . . something that only they can do. . . . . . . something that can only be

done in Labyrinths. . . . . . . . . . . hammers and two-handed weapons as their

traditional weaponry . . . . . . .

Could it be? Is it possible that I might be onto something with this line of

reasoning? In order to confirm my suspicions, I opened the Party Job Settings

while my heart began to beat noticeably louder, and scrolled all the way to

Sherry and the list of her available Jobs:

Villager Lv.9, Explorer Lv.10, Herbalist Lv.1, Warrior Lv.1, Merchant

Lv. 1, Shrine Maiden Lv.1, Swordsman Lv.1, Monk Lv.1, Farmer Lv.1,

Master Smith Lv.1

Finally, there it is! Sherry has obtained the Master Smith Job! She said that

she was one of the strongest people in her entire village, so in terms of pure

brute strength, she should definitely have more than enough of it to be

"talented" enough to explore the Labyrinths ( I also noticed that she unlocked

the Farmer's Job, most likely due to her picking up herbs from the garden

when she was preparing dinner yesterday), so the last thing that was needed

for her to become a Master Smith and the thing that she was missing, the very

last condition that she failed to fulfill for so long must have been this: to hit

multiple targets with a single attack.

. But now that she has successfully executed that attack after I gave her

baseball-based pointers, she finally managed to get her hands on what she

always wanted. And now that she has that Job unlocked, this means that she

can become a Master Smith like she always wanted. And I cannot wait to see

her reaction when she finds out about that. This is going to be such a huge

step forward, both for her as a person, and for us as a Party. Now that Sherry

has become a Master Smith, we are finally going to be able to fuse any Skill

Crystals we find or buy together with our weapons and armor. But now that

things are going so well, it almost makes me afraid that something bad is

going to happen to us, so let us hope that this is just a "what if" and nothing

more.

「All right girl. How about we call it a day when it comes to exploration and

go back home?」

「Already? Is it not a little bit too early for that?」

「Well, it might be, but there are a few more errands that I want to do, like

visiting the Merchants Guild.」

「Understood.」

To tell you the truth, these "errands" that I wanted to do were little more than

an excuse to stop exploring the Labyrinth earlier than usual today, because

now that I feel so happy and uplifted for Sherry that she managed to obtain

the Job she has always dreamed of, it would be exceptionally hard for me to

do anything productive. That, and there is also a matter of my feeling that

things were going a bit too smoothly for us lately. Or to put it in other words,

the last few days felt as if we were under the influence of some super potent

good luck magic, so it would be a huge waste to squander the effects of that

magic simply because we do not know when to give up and call it a day. Now

that we have achieved all of our (or mine) goals set up for today, leaving the

Labyrinth and spending the rest of they day regenerating our strength seem

like the most logical thing to do. Also, even though the three of us learned to

cooperate each other better to the point where we should now be able to

breeze through the monsters and Floor Bosses from the first seven floors of

the Labyrinths, we must never forget that no matter how confident we might

be feeling, we will never be truly safe as long as we continue to explore the

Labyrinths halls. That lecherous Party that went to challenge Pan before was

an all too good of an example of that. Their Party consisted of six people, the

maximum allowed number of Party members and they all had weapons with

「Chant Delay」 imbued into them and they even managed to inflict so much

damage onto the Floor Boss of the seventh floor that I was able to one-shot it

with Durandal the first time we were fighting against it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and

yet, they were the ones who ultimately wound up dead in that encounter, as it

was evident by their equipment that was now placed safely in my Item Box.

So if we do not want to end up exactly like them, then I say it would be best

to quit for the time being while we are still ahead than to push our luck and

end up getting ourselves into a real shit-show of a situation.

「So, you really are going to go visit the Merchant Guild, master?」

Sherry asked me. That is right, Sherry, it is my current objective, since it was

you who told me that Skill Crystals and equipment that already comes with

Skills embedded into it can be bought at an auction in the Merchant's Guilds.

We have all of the weapons with 「Chant Delay」 left behind by that previous

Party after all, and if we are not going to be using their weapons, then we

might as well go and sell all of them for some nice money, and maybe buy

some Skill Crystals while we are at it. That being said. . . . . . . . . . . well,

how should I put it. . . . . .

Sherry has managed to finally become a Master Smith, but she has no way of

knowing that just yet, which is why she behaves just like she normally does,

not feeling the tension and the thrill at all. Well that was to be expected, since

as a Party leader I am the only one who can check the Party Job Settings, but

still. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . being the only person in my group who knows that

we actually have a joyous cause for celebration is a kind of a bummer, I am

not going to lie.

「That is right. Have you ever been to an auction before, Sherry?」

「No, I have not been to one or used one personally just yet. I also heard that

even though the auctions are opened to anyone from the general public to

participate, the people often do so by hiring a broker or other kinds of

middlemen to attend the auctions for them.」

「A middleman or a broker, huh? I wonder why is that? Well, I guess we shall

find out once we get there ourselves.」

Part 15

Since that was it for today's exploration of the Labyrinths, the day was not

even halfway through when we arrived back in the building of the Quratar

Adventurer's Guild through the Warp portal. While we were there we asked

for the directions that would point us to the exact location of the Quratar's

branch of the Merchant's Guild, which, as it turned out, was located on the

other side of the Quratar's Labyrinth and the Adventurer's Guild and the

ward where our house was located. We are lucky that the center of Quratar is

so big and houses pretty much all of the facilities necessary for proper

adventuring and everything else related to it, because that way we have

access to pretty much all that we need within just a short walk from the

Adventurer's Guild.

「So this is the place, huh?」

I remarked when we have arrived in front of the Merchant's Guild's building.

「Yes, this is the headquarters of the Merchant's Guild's Quratar branch.」

Sherry confirmed that for me in a matter-of-factly fashion. I have to say, I

expected the Merchant's Guild's building to be a big one and it certainly was,

but in an altogether different sense than the one that belonged to Quratar's

Explorer's Guild.

「I is quite big. . . . horizontally, I mean.」

「That is because building it in such a way was more efficient while keeping

the place representative at the same time, as is expected of one of the two

biggest guilds in Quratar.」

「Two biggest guilds?」

「Yes: the Explorer's Guild and the Merchant's Guild. While the Explorer's

Guild can be said to be the source of Quratar's strength, the Merchant's Guild

can definitely be called the source of Quratar's wealth.」

The source of Quratar's wealth, huh? Certainly, if the Merchant's Guild had

enough money to own such an impressive building, then the amount of

money they must have at their disposal has to be even more amazing.

「Master, since you decide to go in there, then may I give you a word of

advice?」

「Sure, go right ahead.」

「Okay then. Please, do be careful while doing business in that place. I heard

that it is practically impossible to haggle or outwit the brokers and the

middleman of the Guild because they are all cooperating with one another.

One of the Dwarves I knew tried it and failed spectacularly, and after that he

complained about it to pretty much everyone at every opportunity he could

find.」

Something like that actually happened to one of Sherry's acquaintances? That

is sad to hear, but that is just how it is while dealing with merchants and other

people who know their way around working with money. They will always

look for a chance at maximizing their own profits while cutting their potential

losses as much as possible.

「Really now, do you not just hate it when brokers try to take so much money

out of you, even though we are the ones coming to their Guild with the

intention of buying their items and selling them the ones that we possess?

Because to me, it almost feels like a robbery or extortion in broad daylight!」

「There, there Sherry, there is no need to be getting all emotional about it

here. . . . . . . 」

I told Sherry to keep her cool, but essentially I agree with what she said, for

the reasons stated above, and from her words, it would seem that

participating in an auction is not as simple as I thought it would be. In that

regard, this world has much more in common with my old one than one

might have expected. After all, earth has auction houses as well, and from the

rumors that I heard about them, the competition for even the smallest or

cheapest of the items they offer can be incredibly cutthroat, and in order to

outwit and outmaneuver all the people who might want to get their hands on

the same item that you want, you need to not only have absurdly large

amounts of money, but you also have to know how to play them in the right

way. There is only one constant, unchangeable thing that you can be pretty

sure of, regardless of the world that you live in: as long as money moves

around, people are going to be moving along with it as well, and since broker

is also a type of occupation, then there is nothing strange about them doing

everything in their power to maximize their gains from every transaction,

because every businessman in the world is going to care first and foremost

about their own self-interests, everyone else's be damned. You have to be a

special kind of shrewd to be a broker, but it is the kind of shrewd that I can

most definitely respect, to a certain degree at least, or until they will try to use

their cunning tricks and honeyed words on me.

「All right, shall we get inside then?」

「Y-Yes, let us do that.」

「Of course, master.」

When we entered the main building after our arrival, there were several men

and women in the lobby. Now, is it just my imagination, or did they really

started eyeing us all over as soon as they saw us? Even for someone like me,

who got used to being looked down upon throughout my life, this feeling of

being sized up and labeled based on my appearance alone was pretty

unpleasant. When we stopped to have a proper look around, a man soon

walked up to us.

「Oho, now there is a face that I have never seen around here before. Is it your

first time visiting Quratar's Merchant's Guild by any chance, sir?」

「It is, actually.」

I replied to his inquiry. Since this was really my first time here there is no

point in lying, but nothing is stopping me from using 「Identify」 on him at the

same time. Let us see who this guy is and what are his Stats.

『Laurel』

Male, forty seven years old

Job: Sex Maniac Lv.35

Equipment:

Iron Sword of Landslide, Sacrificial Misanga

Oh, would you look at that, a human who has Sex Maniac set as his main Job

and is not even trying to hide it. I think this is actually the first time I saw

someone like that. Now that I think about it, if this man is one of the brokers

working for the Merchant's Guild, then should he really have Sex Maniac as

his main Job? What if somebody were to see it on his Intelligence Card and

thought that this is awfully unprofessional of him? Then again, I guess there

are not that many occasions when you have to present your Intelligence

Cards to others in the first place, so he either found a way to hide it from

others or he really just does not care about it at all. Anyway, if this

information were all that I had to go by to make myself an opinion about this

man, it would have to be such that someone who has Sex Maniac set as his

main Job does not fit to be an employee of the Merchant's Guild at all. But I

cannot make hasty judgements just yet. First, let me wait and see what this

man actually has to say to me, because there is no way someone like him

would just chat someone like me up without some kind of reason behind it.

「My name is Laurel, and I work here as a broker. If it is all right with you,

sir, then could I ask for a moment of your time so we could talk?」

「I am not going to have anything against it as long as it is just going to be

talking.」

「Of course. I will not hold it against you if you decline anything that I might

offer you, sir. Now, if it is not too much trouble, then I would like you to

accompany me to the upper floor.」

The broker pointed to the stairs leading to the Guild's first floor and I started

following after him, but then. . . . . . . . . . .

「Wait a minute, please.」

I looked back at Roxanne and Sherry, who stayed behind on the ground floor

without a single word of complaint. As much as I do not like the idea of

leaving them alone here, I think that taking them with me to the room where

this Laurel guy is heading might be just as bad, because if he sees Roxanne's

big boobs and Sherry's cute, small figure, then who knows what he might try

to do to them.

Part 16

So, in that case, the best possible option here would be. . . . . . . . .

「Roxanne, Sherry. I will take care of things here, so I want the two of you to

go to the western clothing store we have been to earlier and do some

shopping there, since it is about time for the three of us to get new sets of

clothes.」

「Are you sure, master?」

「Yes, I do not mind. We have some money to spare, so we might as well

spend them on clothes and some other daily necessities.」

「All right, as you wish.」

Yes, that is what I wish right now. We would have to buy more clothes

sooner rather than later, so this is as good of a chance as any to do so while

keeping the girls safe from all those prying eyes at the same time.

After I saw the girls off with my eyes, I turned back and followed the Sex

Maniac broker Laurel upstairs as he walked deeper and deeper into the

Merchant's Guild building. As I was walking a step behind him at all times, I

began to wonder if maybe I should have Durandal with me when I entered

here. I know that the chances of me getting jumped in the middle of the Guild

building, and in broad daylight at that are pretty unlikely, but you know what

they say, right? Being too cautious of the danger that might be lurking behind

every corner has never actually killed nobody.

A short while later, we have arrived at a thoroughly bleak-looking room with

only a table and chairs in it. What is this, some kind of medieval conference

room?

「I can see that you are wondering about this rooms scarce décor, so allow me

to explain. This room and all the other room here on the first floor are used as

private spaces for the purpose of discussion and negotiation.」

「Is that so?」

The broker turned his back to me and walked to one of the chairs and sat on

it.

「Yes, very much so. Please, sir, go an and have a seat.」

Since I was invited to do so, I sat on a chair in front of Laurel, at the other

side of the table. My current position s also good for one other reason: Laurel

is sitting at the side of the table that is next to the windows – which are all

made out of glass by the way, which shows just how much money the

Merchants Guild has – while I am sitting in such a place that the entrance to

the room is almost directly behind my back, so if he tries anything funny with

me, I will be able to get out of the room and start running immediately, but

that is all under the assumption that he wants to harm me in the first place. I

am probably overthinking this way too much and he is just going to present

me with some legitimate, honest business offers, but as I said, I am not going

to take any kind of unnecessary risks.

「Now, before we start talking about anything related to your business here at

the Merchant's Guild, would it be all right with you if we could talk about a

few things unrelated to it?」

「I guess that depends on what kind of thing we would be talking about, but

sure.」

「Then allow me to get straight to the point. Those two ladies that were with

you. . . . have you been their owner for long?」

「And what makes you think that I am their owner? They might simply be the

members of my Party.」

「Let me put it this way: when you are in the broker's line of business as long

as I am, you learn to recognize things like that after nothing more than just a

glance at the customers who come here.」

If that is how he puts it, then I guess there is no use in trying to lie to him or

convince him that he has judged me wrongly, because that would only serve

to worsen my position in the business talks with him that are still ahead of us.

So as much as I do not want to admit it like it is a no big deal, I have no

choice but to be honest with him about it.

「Sounds reasonable enough. To answer your question then: I am their master

for some time now, but it has not been too long since they became mine.」

「I see. You look like a fine young man who is at the height of his life right

now, so I would assume that you and your slaves have gotten to know each

other. . . . really close? There is no need to hide it; if I had a pair of female

companions such as them I would have done so as well without a second

thought. And that is why I would like to ask you. . . . . . . . . . . would you like

to join the Guild made specifically for the like-minded people like yourself?」

「Like-minded people. . . . . . . like myself?」

「Oh, I am sorry, was that too cryptic of a wording that I chose? Very well

then, allow me to rephrase that in a more direct way: would you like to join a

Guild made only for Humans who appreciate the pleasures of the flesh and do

not shy away from reveling in them at every opportunity they can find while

using the Job obtained by indulging themselves in said pleasures in order to

traverse the treacherous halls of the Labyrinths in a much smoother way than

others?」

Is. . . . . . . is this guy trying to recruit me to join the Sex Maniacs Guild?

And more importantly, such a Guild legitimately exists here in this world?!

To be honest, that proposition of his made me feel nervous and a little bit

lost. Then again, I guess that if it is a common knowledge that Humans in this

world have something like Sex Maniac as their race-specific Job, then it

would be not that hard to guess that someone who has come to the Guild

together with two exceptionally beautiful girls, then he must be someone who

already managed to unlock that Job for themselves, so I guess that takes care

of the question of how did he figured out that I might be a Sex Maniac as

well. . . . . . . . . . . . . but to invite me to join his Guild simply because of

that? Something smells fishy here, and I have to get to know what and why.

「Your Guild? You mean, like. . . . . . . . Sex Maniacs Guild?」

Let me start with a simple, seemingly innocent question.

「Oh, so you know the name of the Job already. Could it be that I am actually

talking to a comrade with the same Job that I have?」

The broker leaned back against his chair and smiled with delight while

gazing up to the heavens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . which looked quite strange

because here in this room, it made him look as if he was looking at the

ceiling.

This whole situation is strange as fuck, but it might also be a good

opportunity. If I steer the conversation in the right direction, I might just be

able to learn something new about the Sex Maniac Job and how its Skills

work.

「No. I am afraid that have not obtained that Job yet, but I did hear some

stories about it that managed to pique my interest.」

「Oh? Stories, you say? Like what, for example? Maybe I will be able to shed

the light on some of the matters that you are interested in, so if you do have

any questions, feel free to ask them, and I shall try to answer them to the best

of my ability.」

So as long as I have questions about the Sex Maniac Job, he is willing to feed

me the information himself? Not gonna lie, that is actually a pretty sweet

deal.

「Since you offered yourself, then I am graciously going to take you up on

that offer. So I heard that Sex Maniac Job has a Skill called 「Abstinence

Attack」. Can you tell me something more about it? How exactly does it work

and is it even a useful Skill?」

「You know that much already?」

Part 17

He asked me with a slight tinge of astonishment mixed into his voice just

now. Could it be that I have stepped head-first into another slimy subject?

「Is that something that I should not have known about?」

「Not exactly. It is just that the only people who know about that skill are the

members of the Guild, so I was simply wondering how did you know about it

since you said that you do not have the Sex Maniac Job yet and you do not

belong to the Guild. Do you perhaps have an acquaintance who belongs to it

and told you about it?」

「Well, you see, the thing is. . . . . . . . .. . 」

So the existence of that Skill seems to be a secret, huh? Well, I cannot say

that I blame the members of this so-called Sex Maniacs Guild for being so

secretive about it. After all, since Humans are universally regarded as a race

that possesses immense, near-insatiable sexual desire, I guess that has to

mean that our standing in the hierarchy of all the races of this world is not all

that great, probably to the point where others might be trying to look down on

us as little more than deviants who can think of nothing but sex all the time.

On the flipside though, I think that this prejudice against Humans might be

exactly the thing that increases the bonds of camaraderie and the feeling of

solidarity and internal unity among the members of that Guild.

「No, if you do not want to compromise the identity of the person who told

you about it, that is perfectly fine. After all, there are people who have

unlocked the Sex Maniac Job but did not join our Guild, and we respect their

decision and choice to stay anonymous. Now, as for the 「Abstinence Attack」

Skill, allow me to share with you what I know and how I use it. As I already

told you, Sex Maniac Skill is a Job that is to be used mainly in the bedroom

due to the bonus to the vigor and sexual stamina it provides, but it can also be

pretty useful while exploring the Labyrinths, and it is all thanks to

「Abstinence Attack」. It is an Attack Skill that will enable you to deal serious

amounts of damage even to the Floor Bosses, and I always end up using it a

lot whenever I am going to the Labyrinths every ten days.」

「That seems like a pretty long time. Does it always have to be so long in

order for it to be effective?」

「There is no specific time limit placed on that Skill, I was simply saying what

turned out to be working the best for me after I ended up experimenting with

various periods of sexual abstinence, but in the end, the major factor is

always going to be how long you yourself are going to hold out, because

every person has a different threshold of how long they can go on without

sexual intercourse before they finally succumb to their urges. I said that in

my case it is ten days, because even though I am married, my work as a

broker and the trips to the Labyrinths tend to occupy most of my time and

attention, so even though I would definitely like to do it with my wife more

often, that is the compromise that I have reached with her in terms of

connecting the satisfaction of our marital needs with my effectiveness in

battle.」

The Sex Maniac broker explained to me. Assembling the pieces of the

information he gave me, the following explanation can be put together: it

would seem that 「Abstinence Attack」 is an attack that enhances your

physical strength through the act of sexual abstinence, hence the name of the

Skill, and it looks like abstinence from having sex is strictly necessary so that

the Skill could work properly, but I wonder if there are any loopholes that

could be exploited with that condition, because let us face it: I might not be

married to Roxanne and Sherry, but there is no way that I would be able to go

on without having sex with them for more than two, maybe three days.

「Ten days of abstinence in order to get a power boost substantial enough to

inflict major damage even against the Floor Bosses? I am not going to lie,

that does sound incredibly useful, but I do not know if I would be able to hold

out for that long.」

「Hahahahahahaha, seeing how attractive your female companions were, I

cannot say that I would blame you for it, sir, and you should not feel bad

about it. The best part about this Skill is that you can control how powerful

its boost is going to be by increasing the number of days spent in sexual

abstinence, but if you only want to refrain from having sex for two or three

days, nothing is stopping you from doing so aside from the fact that the

increase in strength of 「Abstinence Attack」 is not going to be as big as it

would be after ten or more days of abstinence.」

Since I expressed my interest in the 「Abstinence Attack」 Skill, the broker

was giving me quite a lot of additional information about it. A few days of

abstinence from having sex in exchange for a decent boost to your power,

and after ten days the accumulated amount of it would be enough to do a lot

of damage even to the Floor Boss in the Labyrinth. In other words,

「Abstinence Attack」 is an attack whose power changes depending on the

period of your sexual abstinence.

The longer that abstinence is, the more attack power you are going to have,

which would explain why 「Abstinence Attack」 has been so weak when I was

trying to use it during our previous trip to the Labyrinth: it was because I

attempted to use it the day after I received the Sex Maniac Job by having a

threesome with Roxanne and Sherry, of the period of my sexual abstinence

lasted for about a few hours. . . . . . . . . actually, no, it would be more fitting

to say that there was no period of abstinence in my case, and as a result, the

attack made with 「Abstinence Attack」 was weaker than the regular sword

slash without any Skills.

In other words, if I wanted to make an effective usage of 「Abstinence

Attack」 to fight regular monsters and floor bosses with it, I would not only

have to refrain from having sex with Roxanne and Sherry, but I would also

probably have to keep Sex Maniac as my main Job so that the effect of the

accumulation of sexual energy that would later be turned into raw energy that

would strengthen my attacks whenever that Skill would be involved could

continue to be in effect, and that is a no-go for me, for obvious reasons. Even

though the Enhanced Vigor Passive Skill is a nice thing to have for the

purpose of boosting my stamina in the bedroom, that single effect alone is not

worth locking myself from the ability to use the Item Box that Explorer gives

me when it is set as my First Job.

That being said, I wonder how exactly does the 「Abstinence Attack」 work,

exactly? Does it really accumulate the sexual energy stored throughout the

periods of abstinence and then releases it all at once in a burst of strength, or

is it something more along the lines of augmenting the senses of the user that

have been dulled by abstinence to cause him to go on an adrenaline and

primal instincts fueled rampage? Ohhh, I like the sound of that second

possibility, but the first one, the one that I deemed to be the default one is not

half-bad either. Initially I have dismissed that Skill as useless and guilty of

wasting my precious Bonus Points, but now that someone took the time to

actually explain to me what does it do and how does it work, I have to say

that it sounds pretty awesome, as long as you manage to fulfill all of the

conditions required for using it. Should that happen, you would have an

amazing Skill at your disposal. An incredibly effective Skill. A Skill that

might just end up saving you in a pinch if you used it during a difficult Floor

Boss encounter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

However. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part 18

「Sorry to disappoint you. . . . . . . . . . . . but I really do not think I am going

to be able to join your guild.」

The ability to use one Attack Skill in exchange for not laying a single finger

on Roxanne and Sherry for as long as ten days in order for it to be effective?

That is too steep of a price for me, and the one that I am simply not ready to

pay just yet. Just like this guy had said, I am at the prime time of my youth,

and I want to use it for all it is worth, and what is the point of being young

and having your sexual vigor enhanced if you cannot use it whenever you

want?! Yeah, exactly. And that is why it is impossible for me. That is what I

have decided, and I will not be changing my mind at this moment.

「It is exactly because I have such beautiful girls as my companions that I do

not want to fail their expectations of me and continue to show them my

affections whenever I can, which would be impossible if I decided to use

both the Sex Maniac Job and the 「Abstinence Attack」. And besides, I think it

is still a little bit too early for me to be making a decision about which Guild I

would like to belong to. I am definitely going to give that matter some

thought. . . . . . . . but not right now, and most likely not in the near future. If

this is supposed to be a decision that is going to be sticking with me for the

rest of my life, then I want to make sure that I made the absolute best choice

possible, and for that, I think I am going to need at least a few more years of

gathering experiences.」

That, and there is also one particular matter that I was wondering about when

it comes to 「Abstinence Attack」. If the power of that Skill increases the

longer you are abstaining from engaging in sexual intercourse, then the

immediate conjecture that you would have drawn is that it uses your stored

up sexual energy to provide you with the boost to your attack whenever you

use it, and if you have sex too often or you try to use that Skill the day after

you just had sex, its power is going to be greatly diminished. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

but what if that is not all that there is to it? What if that Skill also has some

hidden rules or factors, like. . .. . . . . like also using your natural vitality, also

known as your lifespan, as its fuel as well? I mean, just think about it.

「Abstinence Attack」 gets weaker when it does not have any energy coming

from abstinence stored in it, and it gets stronger the longer your period of

sexual abstinence is. If the only thing powering it up was the energy coming

from your sexual desire, then the older guys, the ones who have naturally

smaller libido than the young guys who are at the peak of their youth would

not be able to use that Skill, and this Laurel guy did not mention anything

like that, which has to mean that as long as you have Sex Maniac and

「Abstinence Attack」 unlocked, you have to be able to use it even if you are

about to transition from being a mature man into the realm of the elderly.

And that can only mean that it also uses your life force to some degree. . . . . .

. . . . . . . or it can be the other way around, by which I mean that the older

you get, the more convenient it gets to be using 「Abstinence Attack」 because

the elderly people naturally do not have a high libido, which makes it easier

for them to continue living their lives in sexual abstinence because they no

longer feel any attachment to anything sexual. Looking at the broker guy

now, 「Identify」 told me that he is forty seven years old, which means that he

is thirty years older than me, so I wonder what kind of difference there is

between his libido and mine, but seeing how he said that he has no problems

with having sex with his wife once every ten days and I would not be able to

keep going without getting frisky with Roxanne and Sherry once every two

or three days, then it has to be considerably smaller than my youthful one.

But then again, if Sex Maniac has the 「Enhanced Vigor」 Skill which allows

you for a significantly better performance in the bedroom, then I wonder if

that Skill also affects your overall libido, or does it make it so that it

decreases in smaller quantities over the years if you continue to have it as

your First Job without ever changing it? Or is it that the Job's efficiency and

the effectiveness of its Skills declines slowly the older the user gets? But

whatever the case may be, this is not something that I have to worry myself

with, because. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

「So. . . . . there you have it. I thank you for extending an invitation to join

your Guild to me, but this is not a decision I will be able to make right now.

Sorry.」

「Oh, please, do not fret about it. As I said to you downstairs, I will not mind

if you decline to buy anything I might be offering to sell you today, and the

offer to join the Sex Maniacs Guild falls under those words as well. So, since

you have come here, then I assume that it is to participate in the auction? If I

may ask, is sir going to be buying, or is sir perhaps interested in selling?」

When I gently refused his offer the Sex Maniac broker became more

withdrawn, or perhaps he switched gears into his more professional

demeanor. It seems that the invitation to the Sex Maniacs Guild he was trying

to extend to me was purely coincidental then, which is good, because that is

one less thing for me to freak out about.

「Since this is my first visit here, then let us say that I am interested in both of

those things. But for the time being, I would like to first and foremost hear

what you have to offer.」

「I see. If sir is interested in buying, then it would be better for you to do so

while going through a broker like myself, since I can imagine that you are not

the kind of person who has enough time to simply be sitting here in the

Guild's building, waiting for the items you desire to be available for auction,

correct?」

「That assessment of yours is correct, but as I said, today I have come here

mainly to see how exactly do things work here, but eventually I would be

interested in both buying and selling items, if at all possible of course.」

There does not seem to be a system that would tell you when things are going

to exhibited and what kind of thing they are going to be, which seems like a

major flaw to me. And since I have no way of knowing what will be available

for auction and when, then I really cannot afford to be staying here in the

Merchant's Guild all day in hopes of happening upon the right auction. But in

that case, how to solve that particular problem? Do I just place an order

through a middleman and leave everything up to him?

「In that case, let me tell you how things work her in regards to selling items.

The final bidding price can vary greatly depending on the exact time of the

year, but you can always work together with one of the brokers to find the

best time to sell your desired items.」

So what he is saying is that as long as I do not know what items are going to

be auctioned and when, I also have no way of knowing what the best time for

selling is going to be, and that means that it is going to be that much more

likely that I am going to get beaten by other customers in an auction. But no

matter the case, there is one thing that is always going to remain unchanged.

Part 19

The thing that the brokers will always want in on the sale to make as much

money out of it as possible.

「I see.」

「If it is okay for me to ask, what would sir be interested in buying?」

「Kobold Skill Crystals, among other things, but as to what exactly, I guess it

depends on what would actually be available and how much is it going to

cost.」

「Kobold Skill Crystals, is it? Just give me a moment and I will check their

current prices.」

Laurel the Sex Maniac broker took out what looked like a notepad from his

pocket and started looking through its pages, which looked like they were

made from a brownish, delicate material, which meant that they were most

probably made out of papyrus instead of ordinary paper.

For the next minute or so, the only sound that could be heard in the room was

the sound of the broker flipping through the notebook's pages.

「So? How is it?」

I asked while trying not to sound as impatient as I truly was. I mean

seriously, how long does it take to check one simple thing written in a

notebook?!

「One Kobold Skill Crystal has been sold yesterday for five thousand two

hundred Nars, and before that, the other has been sold for five thousand four

hundred Nars. On the twenty eighth day of the spring, one was sold for five

thousand two hundred Nars as well. . . . . . . . . and two days before that, there

was also one that got sold for five thousand two hundred Nars.」

I have no way of knowing if this price, five thousand two hundred Nars, is a

fair price for a single Skill Crystal, but if that is the established market price

for them, then there is nothing I can do about it besides accepting it. Or

rather, if his words and notes in that notebook of his are anything to go by,

then it would seem that people have been buying Skill Crystals at that exact

price for quite some time now, and it would actually make a lot of sense,

since it is a common knowledge that the fusion of the Skill Crystals usually

fails, and it had to be one of the factors in elevating the price of the

successfully fused Skill Crystals.

「Is that so? So that is how much they cost. . . . . . . . . . .」

「Now, if you were to request me as your personal broker, I would charge a

fee of five hundred Nars. And although the usual custom is that broker ask

for their payment to be made in advance, I would be okay with the payment

being delayed, seeing as I am going into the Labyrinths myself.」

「I see. So that is how it is.」

Those who enter the Labyrinths are always at risk of losing their lives, so if

the broker were to die while in the Labyrinth I would not be able to get my

broker's fee back, so that is why he would be fine with me paying him later.

「When placing an order, all of the bidders are requested to decide on a

maximum bidding price in advance, and the end result is going to be revealed

here in the Merchant's Guild at a later date. You should also know that since

you would be competing with other bidders, not many items will be able to

be sold for less then the specified price.」

Laurel the Sex Maniac finished his explanations with a slight smirk on his

face. Sherry did warn me that the brokers are cooperating with one another

before we entered the Guild building, but now that he has told me that to my

face, I see how brilliantly simple of a system that actually is.

What they do is basically something like that: they tell their buddies what the

highest bid is going to be, and then they are going to compete with each other

until that highest bid is reached. That knowledge can certainly be helpful

when selling items through a broker, but on the other hand, if I decided to go

through with the idea of selling items on my own, that would only be a

chance for them to drive a harder bargain. And the best thing about it is that

no one can really do anything to stop them from doing so, because it seems

highly unlikely that the Merchant's Guild would be doing anything to cut

these proceedings down when they are gaining so much money from it. Also,

if all of the sellers are brokers working for the same Merchant's Guild, they

can just split the profits from the sold items equally between all of them. But

even if they do not do that, they are still going to be helping each other when

the time for an auction comes, just as long as there is a promise of money to

be made from the transactions planned during that auction. It also works the

other way around. When the customer who is not a broker or a middleman is

the one trying to sell their items, they are probably going to do everything in

their power to drop the price of such items and then buy them at a price that

is way below the maximum price set by the seller.

I think that now I more or less understand how exactly does their system

work. And I also realize that as long as that system is effective, beating the

brokers at an auction is going to be practically impossible.

「All right, I understand what you are saying, but it looks like now is a really

bad time for it.」

「Then how about selling? What do you want to sell here today, sir?」

「Five Copper Swords of Obstruction that I obtained from the Labyrinth

today.」

「Five? In that case I regret to inform you that this number is pretty

unfortunate.」

The brokers face became a little distorted. What, what is wrong with the

amount that I just specified? Some kinda bad number? Or is it perhaps that

now is not a good time to be selling weapons in batches of five in general?

「Unfortunate? In what sense is it unfortunate?」

「The Copper Swords of Obstruction are usually sold in sets of six almost

exclusively to the Parties wanting to challenge the Floor Bosses on the lower

floors of the Labyrinths, and when they are sold in such a way, they tend to

be sold for a much higher price. I mean, I could buy them off sir's hands if

you would really insist on it, but in the off chance that sir would be willing to

postpone the selling of the swords until you could obtain a sixth one to

complete the entire set, then I would have no qualms about paying the highest

possible price for them.」

Then the broker made a face as if he was pondering something pretty

intensely. Maybe he is performing various calculations in his head right now?

And on a side note, I wonder if brokers and middleman of the Merchant's

Guild have access to the 「Calculate」 Skill?

「Is the set of full six of them really selling at a way higher price than for five

or less of them? How big of a difference are we talking here, exactly?」

「The full set of Six Copper Swords of Obstruction usually goes for one

hundred thousand Nars. As for the set of five, my guess it that they could

probably be sold for about fifteen thousand Nars each, thirty thousand at best

if the winning bid at the auction ends up being especially high. Also, if you

decide to sell these five swords individually and not all at once, then the

resulting price of each consecutive sword that you sell would very likely be

lower than the last one's.」

「Is that so? So that is how it is, huh?」

If I remember correctly, the broker's share for winning at the auction is half

the price, right? Even though I perfectly understand why does it have to be

like that, it is still a pretty big amount. Damn, it is exactly like what Sherry

said. That is too little chance for making a reasonable profit and too much

formalities and trouble to be dealing with.

「So, what would you like to do, sir? Are you going to hire me as your

personal broker?」

Yeah, this guy is absolutely no good for me.

「No, I do not think I am going to do that. Instead, I am going to look for

another one first. Sorry for taking so much of your time.」

Part 20

I shook my head and stood up from the chair on the edge of which I was

sitting. If I want to participate in the auctions, then getting myself acquainted

with a broker is going to be a necessity, but if I have to pick someone in the

ends, then I do not want it to be this guy right here. For a broker, he was too

willing to show me all of the cards in his hand way too readily even though

this was the first time we met each other. If I have to settle in for someone,

then at the very least I would like it to be someone who is not going to share

all of his deepest secrets with me five minutes after saying hello to me.

Also, not that I think about it clearly, there is no way for this guy to have a

「Calculate」 Skill, because that is something that only those with the Job of a

Merchant possess, and it was not on the list of Sex Maniac's Skills when I

unlocked it. So if possible, I would like to find myself a middleman who has

a Merchant Job, but there is also a matter of the auctions themselves: whether

or not my Thirty Percent Discount would work on the items bought at the

auctions or not, because if it worked, then even if the max amount of Nars I

could get for a single Two-Handed Copper Sword of Obstruction would be

just fifteen thousand Nars per sword, then with the additional thirty percent I

would still get a total of one hundred and seventeen thousand Nars total.

「Of course, that is your right to do so, but will you be able to find another

broker?」

「I do not know, but I am sure that I am eventually going to find another one

for myself as long as I work hard enough for it.」

It might take me significantly more time than if I were to accept Laurel's

offer right here and now, but if liking for a bit longer will be able to

guarantee me that I am going to receive the best prices possible for my items

and my broker will not be someone who runs his mouth all too happily at

every possible occasion, that that is going to be well worth it.

I left the Merchant's Guild and went to a nearby clothing store, where

Roxanne and Sherry were waiting for me. When I walked through the store's

door, I immediately noticed them as they were picking clothes and looking

like they had a good time talking to one another. It was beautiful to see that

they are such good friends.

「Sorry it took so long. Did I keep you waiting?」

「No, not at all. Do not worry about that, master.」

(Ahh, of course. How could I ever forget?)

Of course the two of them did not wait for long. After all, since Sherry went

Shopping together with Roxanne, who has a penchant for looking at every

item she wanted to buy until she examined it thoroughly, there was no way

for their shopping trip to end as quickly as I have hoped it would end. Even

now it looked like they were still in the middle of choosing the clothes that

they wanted to buy, so I could only sigh in such a way that they would not

hear me. As much as I do not like it, I guess it is something that simply

cannot be helped.

「I see. That is good. Did you manage to find some decent clothes that you

would want to buy?」

「We did, but we are having trouble deciding which ones to choose as the

final ones. Master, between these clothes here, which do you think are

better?」

Roxanne came to me with two pieces of clothing, one on each of her arms. So

at the very least she managed to narrow down the possible choices to just two

options? Wow, I see she is making actual progress! Okay, so let me see what

we are working with here. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

「. . . . . . . . . . . . Hmm, both of these clothes look nice, but it is hard for me to

make a definitive choice, since you would look beautiful no matter what you

would be wearing, Roxanne.」

「Ah, thank you, master. In that case. . . . . . . in that case I will chose

something that is going to be pleasant for master to touch. Is. . . . . . . is that

all right with you?」

「Yes, of course.」

Looks like I am going to have no choice but to stay with them until they will

finish picking up the clothes again, but since it cannot be helped, all I can do

is to put up with it again and hope that it will not take much longer.

「How about you, Sherry? Have you finished choosing what you want to buy

for yourself as well?」

「Ah, yes, I have already made my choice. Is. . . . is something like that going

to be okay with master?」

「Let me see. . . . . . are you sure you this is what you want to go with?

Because you could pick something a little more extravagant and I would have

nothing against it, you know?」

I asked Sherry when she presented me with the clothes that she has chosen

for herself. In the end, she chose something that looked similar to the clothes

that she was wearing right now, probably because she wanted something she

could feel the most comfortable in. When I touched the tunic she was holding

myself, it was very smooth to the touch, and it reminded me of an extremely

thin, tanned pelt. Not to mention that the size-wise it looked like something

that might have been taken from a children's section, and looking around the

shop to check on that specifically, I noticed that there was as much

"children's" clothing on the shelves as there was adult clothing, which makes

me think that the existence of Dwarves in this world must have been a

blessing for the children's clothing industry, because without it, the number

of children's clothing for sale would have probably been significantly smaller

in comparison to what I see here now.

「Yes, I am absolutely certain that this is what I want to go with.」

「All right. If you are certain that this is what you want to go with, then that is

what we are going to buy.」

「Thank you. Well, the clothes that the slaves are wearing are also master's

belongings, so your word is the final one in this matter. If you think that these

clothes would suit me the best, than I am going to place my full trust in your

judgement.」

Sherry muttered the last part of her sentence really quietly, so I could not

clearly hear what she was saying, but. . . . . I mean of course I realize that the

clothes that I am buying for them are technically my belongings as well

because I am the one paying for them with my money. . . . but what was that

supposed to entail? That I could wear their clothes whenever a fancy would

strike me and then would not be able to object? I waited for a moment to see

if maybe Sherry was going to elaborate on that a bit more, but she did not say

anything else, so I also decided not to pursue the subject any further.

After buying the clothes and then the ingredients for dinner, the three of us

went back home. Once the preparations were all complete, I made Sherry sit

right in front of me across the table. I know that Roxanne might get angry

about it, but right now it is a necessity, because there is something that I have

to talk about with Sherry in regards to her finally becoming a Master Smith.

Now that she has finally unlocked that Job, it means that she is going to have

new Skills that we will have to try out and new responsibilities associated

with them.

「Is something wrong, master? Because you are staring at me quite intensely. .

. . . 」

「Yeah, well, it is nothing. Do not pay it any mind.」

「Y-Yes, as you wish. . . . . . . .」

(. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )

Part 21

It is great that Sherry can now be a Master Smith. . . . but how am I going to

explain that to her? Right now, that is my biggest point of concern. I have to

inform her that she managed to obtain the Job that she was unable to get on

her own before, but how can I do that if I did not even tell her or Roxanne

that I have the ability to see all of the Jobs that they have unlocked and also

have the ability to change their Jobs without them even realizing it? No, now

is not the time for me to be worrying about such things. If I want to utilize

Sherry's services as a Master Smith, I have no other choice but to inform her

about it right now. Because if I do not do it right now, then when? If I keep

dialing it back because of all of my worries, I will never inform her. I have to

give it to her straight without trying to be deceitful or roundabout about it,

because the last thing I want right now is for her to think that I was trying to

deceive her.

Steeling myself, I inhaled deeply and then exhaled, and declared after a brief

pause while looking her straight in the eyes:

「Sherry. Starting from today, you are a Master Smith.」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huh?」

When she heard those sudden words coming from me, Sherry literally froze

in place with her mouth wide open.

「It is understandable for you to be surprised, I get it. After all, you tried so

hard to obtain that Job before, but no matter how hard you were trying, things

were never going as you were expecting them to go, causing you to fail over

and over again.」

「Ah. . . . . . . . 」

「Were you not the one who told me that you have already given up on trying

to obtain the Master Smith Job? That you thought that you just could not

become one, so you simply stopped trying? But now, you do not have to hold

yourself back with those excuses anymore, right? You can finally be who you

always wanted to be.」

「W-Well, I, uhh. . . . . . . . 」

Sherry was so confused by my words that she did not know how she should

respond to me, and I cannot say that I blame her for it. After all, my words

just now probably took her entire world and flipped it on its head in a single

second.

「Remember what I told you before: that you can definitely become a Master

Smith if you try hard to achieve that dream of yours. And remember.

Remember the passion and drive towards becoming the Master Smith that

you felt in the past! Because those feelings of yours are still there, right?

They did not disappear, right?!」

「T-That might be true. . . . . . . . but even so. . . . . 」

「I know it might be hard for you after all this time, but try a little bit harder.

Just for a little more.」

Then, I opened my Item Box and took out a Copper Sword and a Skill

Crystal out of it.

「These are. . . . . . . . . ?」

「Like I said, Sherry. You are already a Master Smith, so do what a Master

Smith does and fuse those two together for me.」

「B-But. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .」

I really wish there was another way of going about it here, but at present I

have no choice but to be a bit forceful and capitalize on the momentum here

to snap her out of her shock.

「Do your best, do your best, do your best, do your very best, and if you do

not succeed, then just keep doing your best some more until you finally

succeed!」

「N-No. . . . . . . . . . .」

「You can do it. It is just a matter of your feelings.」

「But. . . . . . . . . . 」

「No buts. Everything is going to be all right. You are among the people who

understand you, and will not ridicule or condemn you if you fail. Now come

on, and let us do it.」

I feel like I did a sufficiently good job with cheering Sherry on, so even if she

is still confused about the whole thing, then I should at least be able to

convince her to do as I say right now.

「Now come on and repeat after me: 「Skill Crystal Fusion」. Do not be shy

and repeat after Michio: 「Skill Crystal Fusion」.」

I continuously repeated that sentence until she began repeating it after me,

exactly like I told her to do.

「「Skill Crystal Fusion」?」

Roxanne also tried repeating it after me, probably thinking that this was

going to help. No, no, no, Roxanne my dear, even if you keep repeating it

countless times, it will not do anything because you are neither a Dwarf nor a

Master Smith. However, I do have to admit that her appearance when she was

trying so hard and was tilting her head in puzzlement looked hella cute.

However, even though I thought that Roxanne will not be able to do anything

to help here, then apparently I was mistaken, because it was not my forceful

momentum that pushed her to try; when she saw Roxanne trying her best,

Sherry became slightly more motivated to try saying the words I was trying

to make her repeat as well

「「S-Skill Crystal Fusion」.」

It was done with a quiet and fearful voice, but Sherry finally managed to

mutter the Skill's name.

And as soon as she finished saying it, her eyes became wide open with

disbelief and surprise.

Just now, I quickly opened the Party Job Settings menu and switched

Sherry's Job to Master Smith Lv.1, so what was going to happen if she were

to recite the Skill's name in such a state? If my assumption was correct, then

a chant for the 「Skill Crystal Fusion」 Skill should have revealed itself to her

in her head, and apparently that is exactly what happened, because Sherry

looked at her own hands, then at me, and then back at her hands like she was

unable to comprehend what just happened now.

「See? So how about getting a bit more fired up now?」

I clenched my fist and stroke a gutsy victory pose.

「But why. . . . . . . how? I do not understand. . . . 」

「I told you, right? That as long as you get serious and work towards it, then

you will definitely be able to change. As long as you get serious, everything

around you will be able to change. Now, fuse these two for me, please.」

I presented Sherry with a Copper Sword and Rabbit Skill Crystal once more.

If would have probably been better to wait for a bit before making her

attempt her very first fusion, but in this case, I feel like the better approach is

to strike the iron while it is still hot.

「Would. . . . . . . . . . . . would that really be okay?」

「As long as you are okay with it.」

This is one of the Copper Swords in my possession that has an empty Skill

Slot. If my hypothesis about it is correct, then the fusion of this sword with

the Rabbit Skill Crystal should be a one hundred percent success. And if it

ends up failing anyway, it will only mean that my hypothesis was wrong, and

Sherry will not be the one to blame for it. But there is one possibility that I

did not prepare for, unfortunately: the possibility that when the fusion will

fail, the weapon and the Skill Crystal will be gone, broken down into their

base materials. I have prepared no countermeasure against that (not that I

myself know of any) but there is no time to be thinking about it now. I have

to believe in Sherry's success.

「W-Well, before I do that, would it be okay for me to check the chant for the

Skill first?」

As expected of a really smart person. Can she remain calm no matter what

kind of situation she is being thrown into?

「Sure, go right ahead.」

Part 22

「Yes! X X the God's will, born of the shadow of heaven and earth.」

Sherry slowly uttered the chant for the Skill.

「Think you will be able to pull that off?.」

「Yes, or at least I think so.」

「By the way, what was that word at the beginning? Because I could not hear

it all that well.」

I asked to know what was the word that was not translated in my head.

「Did I mess something up? I thought that I articulated the word 「Celebrate」

pretty clearly.」

「「Celebrate」, huh?」

「Celebrate the God's will, born of the shadow of heaven and earth. Yes, that

is it.」

Sherry confirmed the chant again.

Now that she knows the right words to say, everything is going to be left in

her hands. Whatever comes next, it is an unknown territory for me, so I will

not be able to help her or give her instructions other from the ones that I have

already given her.

Gazing at me once more, Sherry seemed to have made her decision.

Nodding silently, she held the Copper Sword and the Skill Crystal in her

hands, Copper Sword in the right, and Rabbit Skill Crystal in the left. Next,

she placed the hand with the Skill Crystal over the sword, and continued to

hold it centimeters above it.

「Celebrate the God's will, born of the shadow of heaven and earth. 「Skill

Crystal Fusion」!」

Sherry chanted the 「Skill Crystal Fusion」 chant for real this time. For a brief

moment, her hand that held the Copper Sword shone with a bright, white

light, and then it faded away. The thing that remained was a sword, so I

looked at it and used 「Identify」 on it.

『Two-handed Copper Sword of Obstruction』

Two-handed Weapon

There it is. Two-handed Copper Sword of Obstruction with 「Chant Delay」

Skill. So the fusion process was a success!

Instead of getting dismantled, the ordinary Copper Sword became TwoHanded Copper Sword of Obstruction, and 「Chant Delay」 replaced the

empty Skill Slot. In that case, I guess it means that the hypothesis that the

fusion of the Skill Crystals with equipment is a surefire way to a guaranteed

successful fusion is probably a correct one.

「Well done, Sherry. I knew you could do it.」

Taking the finished product from her, I examined it in my hands. It looked

exactly the same as the other Two-handed Copper Sword of Obstruction that

we took from the Party that Pan slew before us on the seventh floor of Vale's

Labyrinth.

「Have I. . . . . . . . have I succeeded, master?」

「Oh yeah, you have succeeded, there is no doubt about it.」

「Yes, you definitely did it, Sherry!」

Following after my example, Roxanne also congratulated Sherry.

「「Congratulations on your first successful fusion, Sherry.」」

「. . . . . . . . . . rry.」

However, there was something strange going on with Sherry, because she did

not look happy at all. Instead, she was crying while lying down on the table.

「W-What?」

「. . . . . . . . . sorry.」

「W-What's wrong, Sherry?!」

「I am sorry! I am sorry for succeeding! I am sorry for not giving up on

becoming a Master Smith! I am sorry for being born such a failure!」

Instead of being happy, she just continued to apologize. And refused to look

me or Roxanne in the eyes when we were trying to reach out to her.

Ah. I see what is going on here.

Is she also suffering from MP deficit? Because her behavior is very much the

same as mine whenever I was running low on MP.

When you run low on MP or ended up using it all completely, you enter a

state where your head is filled with nothing more but negative thoughts. So

apparently, even though she became a Master Smith capable of performing

fusion, since that Job starts at Lv.1 it probably means that it does not have all

that much MP, and because of that the MP cost of fusion ended up draining

Sherry out of her MP completely.

I handed the sword to Roxanne and moved to the other side of the table, and

procured the MP Recovery Medicine from my Item Box. I ended up buying a

few of those just in case, but I never would have thought that I would be

forced to use it in such a way.

「It is okay, Sherry. You are great. You are amazing. Now here, take this

medicine, and you will feel better right away.」

「No, it is fine, there is no need to be using your precious items on someone

like me, really, just leave me like I am now! I am sorry for being the cause of

item wasting! I am sorry! I am so, so very sorry!」

Sherry shook her head while trying to convince me not to waste the MP

Recovery Medicine on her. Is she in a state where her condition was so bad

that she will not even accept medicine?! Good God, I hope she is not going to

try to kill herself if this goes on, but in order to not find out about that, I have

to make her take the medicine, even if I have to feed it to her by force!

「Sherry, believe me! Your successful fusion was amazing! I would have

never been able to do something amazing like that, not even in a million

years!」

「That's not the case, because a living failure like myself could never be

successful at anything!」

Was she now stuck in a mental loop where she literally perceives everything

related to her in a negative light?

「Uhm. . . . . . . . . Sherry, I also think that your successful fusion of the Skill

Crystal and that sword was quite amazing.」

While having Roxanne act as a distraction, I poured the contents of the MP

Recovery Medicine's bottle into my mouth.

The condition that Sherry has causes an unbelievable amount of mental

damage, so it should be dealt with as quickly as possible.

I hold Sherry down and turn her towards me. Her small, pale reddish lips are

so pretty.

I stuck my mouth to hers and then pried it open with my tongue as I inserted

it inside of her while her own tongue entwined around mine and clung onto

me as if it was clinging for dear life.

This is the first time where I have seen her being so passionate. Initially she

was resisting for a bit, but gradually she loosened up and entrusted herself to

me. I also moved my tongue and entwined it around hers and allowed them to

dance around each other until she has sufficiently calmed down.

After securing the safe passage, I poured the liquid medicine directly into

Sherry's mouth. After that, I pulled out my tongue and held her lips sealed

until I made sure that she swallowed it all. Only when I was sure that she did

that did I decide let go of her.

「Well, how about now? Feeling better?」

「Yes, much better. Uhm, I . . . . . . . I am sorry for how I acted just now.」

「You don't have to apologize. It is okay, really. Trust me, if there is anyone

who knows what you just been through, it is definitely me.」

I placed my hand on her fluffy hair and stroked her head.

Now that she managed to calm down, Sherry took a deep breath.

「That reminds me. There was an old superstition about how those who have

just became Master Smiths should not attempt to fuse items right from the

get-go, because for most of them the weight of failure is so great that it

pushes them into committing suicide.」

Should have told us about such a crucial detail earlier, damn it! But now I

know. That no matter if the fusion was a success or failure, the loss of MP

might push the young Dwarves into committing suicide. So, if Sherry was all

alone with no one to stop her, it would be more than likely that she would

have died today.

「For the time being I am just glad that we managed to calm you down

without you hurting yourself, so do not worry about it for now.」

「Yes, of course.」

Sherry took a slow and deep breath to calm herself for good. What matters

the most now is the fact that she knows that she became a Master Smith, or in

other words, that she was just as talented as everyone else to do so.

Part 23

「Uhm. . . . . . . . . . . . So, master says that Sherry became a Master Smith?」

I thought that the ordeal was over, but then another bullet came flying

straight towards me from an unexpected place. And the one who fired it was

Roxanne.

「Yeah, that is right.」

「But why. . . . . . ?」

I do know why. But I cannot tell you that just yet.

「The method of how she did that is a secret, but as you could see for yourself

she definitely is one now, there is no doubt about it.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes, that is so.」

「I see. Well, since master is so amazing, then it must have something to do

with that.」

Roxanne bowed down to me with respect. Ahh, Roxanne, always ready to

believe whatever I tell her, no matter how big of a pile of bullshit it is going

to be.

「You as well, Sherry. Since you could do that now even though you could

not earlier, then it must mean that you are even more amazing than you

think!」

Maybe it was because she was still a bit overwhelmed, but Sherry did not

pursue that matter herself all that much. Instead, she looked at me with rather

glossy eyes.

Did she just accept me a little bit more? If so, then that would be great. After

all, the journey of a thousand miles starts with but a single step, and doing all

that is in my power to build up trust between me and my slaves is one of my

responsibilities as a master.

「When Sherry became a Master Smith, it felt as if my attack power went up.」

Suddenly, Roxanne said something strange.

「Huh?」

「Because I became a Master Smith, I can now give the benefits to the other

members. Of the Party that I belong to. Finally.」

I checked Roxanne's stats, and she was right. And the same was true for

Sherry.

「The Beast Warrior does not increase the attack power of the entire Party, so

if Sherry can do that, it just show how amazing Job Master Smith is.」

「Okay, but what that does even mean, exactly?」

I asked Sherry.

「When the Master Smith is in the Party, the attack power of the other Party

members increases. This is a fact that has been known for a long time.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes.」

「Really?」

「Yes.」

When I checked with Roxanne, she nodded her head vigorously.

「Did you not know that, master?」

And when I turned back around to face Sherry, I saw that she was looking at

me with incredibly cold eyes that were saying 「I cannot even be with this guy

anymore」.

Sherry, please, stop looking at me with such eyes! Even though she was still

respecting me, it felt as though I have lost quite a number of points with her

for some reason. Or maybe this is just my imagination. . . . . . . . . . . . . no,

her gaze is still a cold one, even though I closed my eyes and opened them

again, hoping that her facial expression was going to change to a warmer one.

「So if a Master Smith is in the Party, he or she is going to grant the effect of

increased strength to the entire Party?」

Did that Job really have such a Skill? Well, I never really checked what it

was going and what Skills does it have, so now might actually be as good of a

time to check that as any, so I opened the Party Job Settings, scrolled over to

Sherry and inspected the effects of the Master Smith Job:

『Master Smith Lv.1』

Effects: Increased STR (Medium), Increased STA (Small), Increased

DEX (Small)

Skills: Weapon Creation, Armor Creation, Skill Crystal Fusion, Item

Box Operation

The only effect that a Master Smith has is Increased STR (Medium). The

higher your strength, the higher your attack power. In other words, increase

in attack power may mean an increase in the STR Stat, but other than that,

there was no mention of anything that would even remotely sound like a

Party wide increase to STR.

Now, let me compare that to Roxanne's Beast Warrior

『Beast Warrior Lv.23』

Effects: Increased AGI (Medium), Increased STA (Small), Increased

DEX (Small)

Skills: Beast Attack

Beast Warrior has no effects or Skill that would increase the STR of the user

whatsoever. But just to be on the safe side, let us confirm that with the actual

owner of that Job.

「Roxanne?」

「Yes? What is it, master?」

I highly doubt that Beast Warriors possess some kind of hidden Skills, but

since I can never be too sure about that, it is always worth it to check out all

of the possibilities before jumping to conclusions too soon.

「Do correct me if I am wrong about that, but Beast Warriors do not have any

Skills that increase their strength, right?」

「Yes. As unfortunate as it is, we do not possess any such abilities.」

「But in exchange for that, you are supposedly able to move around the

battlefield more swiftly, am I understanding it right?」

It should be like that, since Beast Warriors do not have any Skills that

increase their STR, but they do have a one that increases their AGI by a

medium amount.

「I. . . . . . . .. . I am not sure if I follow, master. Could you say it in a clearer,

more understandable manner?」

「What master probably wanted to say was that if there are Beast Warriors in

the Party, then does that mean that all of the Party members will be able to

move faster as well, but this is just a hypothesis and there is no reliable way

of proving or disproving it.」

Sherry explained what I meant to Roxanne. Well, that was not exactly what I

wanted to ask, but if such an explanation helps her understand it better, then I

have no reasons to clear that up.

「Oh, I see.」

「So Sherry, how exactly do you confirm that your strength has increased

after obtaining the Master Smith Job?」

「The process itself is relatively simple, because all you need to do is to see

how many Skills you are going to need in order to defeat certain monsters on

certain floors of the Labyrinth.」

「I see, so that is how it is.」

So it would seem that even though this world is not all that technologically

advanced, they still have something that can be called scientific verification,

even if it is done for only a little bit, and as a result of it, the people of this

world seem to be absolutely certain that having a Master Smith in your Party

is going to increase the overall attack power of all the Party members.

「Yes. That is the reliable method that the great scholars of old came up with,

and the one that they have been using since ancient times.」

The great scholars of old, you say? I do not know who exactly these "great

scholars of old" guys were, but they sure seemed to be a bunch of pretty

smart guys.

「Are there any other Jobs that increase the strength of the entire Party besides

Master Smith? Like. . . . . . . let me see. . . . . . . like Swordsman, for

example?」

「You understand well things well, master. It is said that Swordsman is one of

the Jobs that increase the strength of the user and his Party as well.」

Yeah, that is because the effect of the Swordsman Job is Increased STR

(Small). So technically, if you would have both a Master Smith and a

Swordsman in your Party, that would mean that you would receive not one,

but two increases to your STR, one medium and one small.

In other words, the effects of some of the Jobs can also be given to all of the

Party members, not just one, and they can stack multiplicatively with one

another.

I have confirmed that my magical attack power dropped when I removed the

Hero Job from the list of my active Jobs, so there is no doubt that Jobs with

similar effects are going to have a similar impact on me depending on

whether I have them equipped or not.

In addition to that, there are also Jobs that affect the whole Party, and those

might be the ones that we should be focusing on obtaining.

「Did you know that the Jobs could affect the Stats of the Party members,

master? Where exactly did you learn about that, I wonder?」

Sherry, please stop looking at me with such cold eyes. What if they stay that

way and you will be stuck with that condescending glare for the rest of your

life?!