Genghis Khan Part 2

Part 13

「Okay, seventeen thousand Nars per sword is fine with me.」

「Thank you for your understanding, sir. Do you have the swords with you

right now, or do you need time in order to go and bring them here?」

「I have them here with me. They are in my Item Box.」

「Then, if it is all right with you, I would like to call for a Weapons Merchant

so that he could appraise them and confirm their legitimacy. I would have

dome that myself, but unfortunately, I am an Armor Merchant, not a

Weapons Merchant, so I can only appraise armor instead of weapons. Oh,

and please, do not worry about the appraisal fee. Since your decision to sell

the swords in your possession right away was a spontaneous one, then allow

me to take care of the costs.」

With that said, Luke the Broker stood up and left the room, leaving me alone

in it with Sherry and Roxanne.

「The decision to sell these swords was a truly spontaneous one, but I trust

that neither of you have any issues with that, right?」

「Yes, of course.」

「Worry not, master. Since I am your slave, everything I make belongs to you,

and you are free to do whatever you see fit with those items.」

「Well, thank you very much Sherry, but without you and your Master Smith

Job it would have been impossible to make those six 「Copper Swords of

Obstruction」and sell them at such a high price now, so I am going to give the

credit where the credit is due.」

While Luke the Broker was still not back with the Weapons Merchant, I

materialized my Item Box and took out all six 「Copper Swords of

Obstruction」out of it. It would have been more than a little annoying if I had

to do it all in front of him while pretending that I was using the proper chant,

you know?

After a while more of absence, the broker finally returned to the room, and he

brought the Weapons Merchant with him, exactly like he promised he would

do, and something was telling me that there is a strong possibility that this

Weapons Merchant might be a middleman as well. I placed all of the swords

on the table and he fiddled with them for a moment before he declared:

「Those are six copies of the「Copper Swords of Obstruction」, without a

shadow of a doubt.」

Well duh, of course they are. Who do you take me for, a counterfeiter who

was looking forward to making an attempt at getting some quick cash?

As soon as he was done confirming the authenticity of the weapons on the

table, the Weapons Merchant left the room, leaving us alone with the broker

again.

「Now that there is no doubt as to the authenticity of the swords that sir is

offering, I can proudly say that the deal has been made. Here is your

payment: one hundred and two thousand Nars for the six 「Copper Swords of

Obstruction」, and a special bonus of thirty thousand six hundred Nars to

commemorate the beginning of, hopefully, a very fruitful partnership for the

both of us. As for my personal payment for this transaction, it is going to be

two thousand six hundred Nars, leaving you with one hundred and thirty

thousand Nars total.」

One hundred and thirty thousand Nars for the six 「Copper Swords of

Obstruction」? Hell yeah! Let's! ! ! Fucking! ! ! GOOOO! ! !

Luke the Broker then opened his own Item Box and placed all of the swords

that he got from me there. Next, he procured a number of gold and silver

coins, my payment for this transaction, and placed them on the table in front

of me. It was a total amount of thirteen gold coins and twenty six silver coins.

Man, 「Thirty Percent Discount」 is a wonderful Skill to have. With it around,

things that would normally be classified as a fraud, stealing or robbery pass

on as something completely normal, and no one even bats an eye or dares to

question it! The only regret that I have in regards to that Skill is that it works

only on the final, summed-up price of all six products, and not for all of the

six swords separately. If I could do it like that, then I am sure that I would

have been able to milk Luke the Broker out of an even bigger sum of money,

and he would simply accept as the most obvious thing under the sun.

「Thank you very much, it is a pleasure to be doing business with you. Also,

in the near future, if you happened to have any information about Skill

Crystals available for purchase at affordable prices, I would be very

interested in buying them from you. Would that be possible?」

I took the money from him and placed them in the safety of my Item Box.

While doing so, I tried to inquire bout the possibility of striking any more

possible deals with him in the future. This man, Luke Acid, seems like a truly

excellent middleman, and if I could strike such a good deal with him even

though he technically is just an Armor Merchant, then I think there will be no

harm in continuing to buy and sell items from him, especially if my 「Thirty

Percent Discount」continues to yield me such wonderful results.

My ability to appraise items and equipment with 「Identify」is going to give

me an overwhelming advantage, because it will make it all too easy to find

equipment with Empty Skill Slots, and that in turn will allow Sherry to create

items and equipment with Skills embedded into them without the risk of

failing the fusion, which is going to give birth to the best possible loop of

creating and selling things to Luke the Broker at thirty percent increased

prices! And I will be able to use that system any time when it will look like

the possibility of winning an auction is going to be too low, which does not

change the fact that I should still use both selling and buying auctions, just so

that I could see for myself how both of them work.

One other merit to my current situation will also be that if I decide to buy

things from auctions through the use of the middleman, I will not be having

peoples attention fixed directly on myself, and since Luke is the mind of

merchant who seems to be having his own share of secret business endeavors,

then I can probably rest assured that he is not going to go around announcing

to everyone that he and I have become business partners. On the flipside, I

also cannot allow the fact that a skilled merchant like him found his way to

me get into my head. I have to keep it cool and hold my hand as close to my

chest as possible, only revealing the cards in it when it will be absolutely

necessary. And while we are on the subject of buying and selling, I should

also make sure not to sale too many items with Skills in them at once and in a

short amount of time. I should be selling them little by little once in a while

to ensure that the market prices of the items that I will be selling do not

plummet and collapse, because that would only make things more difficult

for the both of us.

「Did you. . . . . . . . . . use a Skill Crystal you obtained on your own to make

these swords?」

「That is right.」

Luke the Broker was looking at mine and Sherry's faces with a mixture of

curiosity and slight alertness. I wonder why is that? Did Sherry said

something wrong just now, or said something that she should not have said?

「If you managed to do that, then I am sure that you must be pretty

experienced and have good skills as a Master Smith.」

He shook his head with a smile. Wait a minute. . . . . . . did he said「Swords」?

Not 「Sword」, but 「Swords」, as in, plural? Is. . . . . . . . is it just me, or does

this guy think that Sherry was the one who made all six of these 「Copper

Swords of Obstruction」by herself? I mean, if she did fuse all six of them on

her own, then I guess it would really be a testament to how Skilled as a

Master Smith she was.

Part 14

And if that is the case, then I see no need in correcting his thinking by saying

that she only made one of them. If he wants to think that Sherry is so amazing

that she created six 「Copper Swords of Obstruction」, then so be it. Is that

what he meant when he was saying that Sherry must be pretty skilled and

experienced? Or maybe he was deceived by how thin her ears are, because of

the general understanding that the thinner the Dwarf's ears, the older they

actually are? That is another misunderstanding of his, and a pretty big one at

that, but it is also the one that I cannot hold against him, because if I was not

Sherry's owner and looked it up at her Intelligence Card or had my

「Identify」 Skill, I would have also thought the same and it would have never

even crossed my mind that she is actually one year younger than me.

「Of course Sherry is skilled. She and I are both good with our hands.」

That is another thing that I will not bother to correct him about, because that

little lie might actually be pretty advantageous for us in its own right.

「I see. Well, let me give you a bit of advice when it comes to smithing and

item fusion: There are people who buy cheap Skill Crystals and fuse them

together with equipment to make weapons and armors with Skills in them in

order to sell them at an elevated price and in large quantities, so if you are

planning to do the same, I would not recommend it all that much. It would be

bad for the business as a whole, not to mention incredibly reckless, and even

if it would give you a lot of profit in the short term, then the long-term

consequences of such an act would be pretty catastrophic for the market.」

I already know that, but there is no harm in asking for a little more detailed

clarification, so. . . .

「Why would that be so bad?」

「Because normally people tend to buy certain things only when they need

them, and when they do not need them, they do not buy them. Usually, the

number of people that need certain items is always going to be bigger than

the amount of the item that they need, which makes it possible for those in

possession of said items, or those who deal in buying in selling them to

increase or decrease the price of that item accordingly when they are being

put on an auction. But when many people try to sell large quantities of items

simply because they used cheap materials to make a lot of them in hopes of

quickly gaining a fortune for themselves, what they end up achieving is the

effect opposite to the one that they have intended. Over the years of my work

as broker I have seen many who have attempted to do that, but very few who

have actually succeeded.」

So that is it. What he meant to say is that when there are many competitors

who try to manipulate the prices by bringing too much of a certain item onto

the market, it ends up screwing up demand and supply, causing those who

thought they are going to make huge money on it go through nothing more

but huge disappointment. After all, for everyone else but me, the process of

fusing equipment and Skill Crystals together is a huge gamble where the odds

are stacked against you at all times. Just one successful fusion is normally a

cause for celebration, and two successful fusions in a row would probably

mean that whoever achieved that could make a lot of money with just those

two fused items alone.

However, that is the purely idealistic version of how things would go,

because as we are all well aware, the reality is not as kind to the people as

they would wish it to be, because when you use auctions and go through them

with the help of a middleman, you have to be aware that a part of the fortune

you would make by selling the items the Master Smiths have created would

have to go to the broker himself because they do not run charities, and this is

their way of making money. I think that many Master Smiths fail to realize

that because if they manage to succeed with the fusion of the items, they

become blinded by the prospect of how much money they could earn, and

then they have their sweet dreams shattered when they do not earn as much

money as they have initially thought they would earn.

「Sherry, if you do not mind me asking, does being a skilled Master Smith has

any effect on the success rate of fusing Skill Crystals with equipment, or is it

just a superstition?」

「I cannot say with absolute certainty, but the belief that the success rate of

Skill Crystal fusion is going to be greater is the Master Smith performing the

fusion is a skilled one is certainly quite popular these days.」

When I asked her about it, that was Sherry's opinion on the matter, but I have

to remember that hers might be a somewhat biased one, because she only

learned that she became a Master Smith recently, and moreover, I kind of

forced her into making her first fusion, and she was pretty desperate to

become a Master Smith even though she herself claimed that it was not the

case at all.

However, that information actually works in my favor, because I know with

absolute certainty that it a load of horse crap.

The success rate of the fusion does not depend on the level of the Master

Smith, or how skilled he or she is.The success rate of Skill Crystal fusion

depends only on one factor, and one factor alone: whether the piece of

equipment that you want to infuse has Empty Skill Slots or not. If it has, the

fusion will be successful, and if it does not have them, the fusion is going to

end up in failure.

「Do not worry, Sherry. I am not going to force you to do anything that you

do not want to do.」

For the time being, I decided to reassure Sherry that I am not going to behave

like a slave driver that would force her to fuse items against her will.

「I see. Thank you for being s kind to me, master.」

「If that was what you were worrying about, then you can rest assured. My

goal is not to try to make a quick fortune or to destabilize the market. I am

simply trying to equip my Party members and myself with the best gear

possible so that we could make the exploration of the Labyrinths that much

easier for ourselves.」

I explained to Luke the broker what my objective here was.

「In that case it would be my pleasure to continue doing business with you as

a broker. Let me just tell you that: since there will be a lot of competitors

during the auctions, it might not always be possible for you to buy things at

extremely low prices. Is that all right with you?」

So it seems that will not have any issues with being my personal broker from

now on. He also knows that I have one hundred and thirty thousand Nars on

me right now, so there is n way he would pull out from doing business with

someone who has that much money on them.

「Basically, if the prices end up being a little cheaper than the regular market

price, I would have no problems with it, and I will leave all the decisions

related to the process of buying and selling to your judgement. Also, can you

tell me if you have Scissor-esque Carnivorous Plant Skill Crystal available

for sale?」

「For the 「MP Absorption」 Skill?」

Sherry checked in with me, and I nodded affirmatively, confirming my

intentions. Having more than one weapon that would allow us to regenerate

MP is definitely going to be useful, and for that, we would need Scissoresque Carnivorous Plant Skill Crystal.

「If possible, I would also like to get some more Rabbit Skill Crystals to

create more weapons with 「Chant Interruption」for us. Once I get my hands

on those, I would then like to aim for the Kobold Skill Crystals.」

If I reduce the number of situations where I use Durandal to fight, it would

enable me to get more Bonus Points into increasing the value of EXP

obtained from monsters, allowing us for large gains of it, we should be

aiming for that in the first place.

Part 15

And since we can use the eighth floor and its Needlewoods as our new

farming spot, 「Chant Interruption」Skill will be immensely useful to us.

「I see. Is there anything else we would need?」

I asked Sherry to be sure that we got everything we would need on the list.

「I think it would be a good idea to make a 「Sacrificial Misanga」by fusing a

Green Caterpillar's Skill Crystal with a regular Misanga.」

「Sacrificial Misanga」, huh? Luke the Broker was wearing something that

was named exactly like that. If its name is anything to go by, then I am

guessing that it is going to be something related blocking, or perhaps even

negating an attack that is going to be targeted towards the one who is wearing

it?

「In that case, please add Green Caterpillar Skill Crystal to the list of the items

I would like to get from auctions. As long as my Party members feel like it is

going to be something necessary for us to obtain, I do not mind getting it,

even if it is going to be a little bit on the expensive side.」

「Understood. The fee for purchasing Skill Crystals is five hundred Nars. If

there will ever be a time where you are going to have some more questions

and I will not be in the anywhere in the Guild's main hall, then just go to the

waiting room and ask one of the staff members there to call Luke the Armor

Merchant for you.」

「Understood. I will make sure to do just that if the need ever arises.」

I assured hm as I handed the five silver coins off to him.

「Well then, I guess that concludes our business today. Thank you for your

patronage, Michio-sama, and I hope for our partnership to be a fruitful one.」

When our business was over, Luke the Armor Merchant bowed down to me

and left the room, leaving only the echo of his final words behind him.

「That man is weird.」

That was what Sherry said to me as soon as we left the Merchant's Guild and

got far away from it to be absolutely sure that nobody could eavesdrop on our

conversation.

「Strange? What do you mean, strange?」

「I mean, it was awfully nice of him to give you a bonus to commemorate the

beginning of your partnership, but still . . . . . why did he give you such an

odd number as one hundred and thirty- two thousand Nars? No matter how

hard I try to find any semblance of reason behind it, I fail to see it. I just do

not know what that man was thinking by offering you such an amount of

money.」

「Ahhh, I see. So that is what you have been worried about.」

For someone without the knowledge of the Skills that I have at my disposal,

such an uneven number is undoubtedly doing to sound strange, and it is only

natural that Sherry would get suspicious of someone who offered me such a

strange price seemingly out of nowhere.

「I knew it. Broker and middlemen are all a shady bunch that should not be

trusted at all.」

I realized that Sherry was somewhat distrustful of the brokers and middleman

from the Merchants Guild, but that comment of hers just now only solidified

that belief for me.

「Yes, you did tell me that yesterday before we got here, and thanks to that, I

was able to avoid the pitfall that Laurel was trying to lure me in. Thank you

for that, Sherry.」

「Please think nothing of it, master. It is a slave's duty to ensure that no harm

comes to their master, no matter if it is a physical or financial one.」

「Yeah, but still, I feel like thanks were in order, and that is why I have

extended them to you. Let us keep being careful in our dealings with the

Merchants Guild from now on.」

「Yes, of course!」

「I agree with both master and Sherry of course, but I also think that this man

must have given master such a good price because he was able to see how

amazing of a person master truly is.」

Roxanne, it is nice to know that this is how you feel, but it definitely would

not hurt you to be just a little bit more distrustful of others, especially if they

are brokers and middlemen whose Job is to make money out of other people

trying to make money for themselves, you know?

「Sherry, you mentioned that item in our conversation with Luke before, but

what kind of item is 「Sacrificial Misanga」, exactly?」

I asked Sherry because I felt genuinely interested in the subject of that item.

「It is an accessory whose purpose is to sometimes absorb the attack that the

enemy directs towards its wearer.」

「Sometimes? Not always?」

Does that mean that the effect of absorbing the attack targeted at the wearer

has only a certain percentage chance of activating, or are there some other

restrictions added to it as well?

「Well, basically, there are rumors that state that 「Sacrificial Misanga's」effect

has a higher probability of being activated if the attack that is supposed to be

absorbed is a really strong one, but the strength of the person wearing it also

seems to be one of the factors for it. From what I have heard, more often than

not it seems to be working for the people who are fighting against strong

monsters at the upper floors of the Labyrinths, whereas it almost never

activates on the lower floors of the Labyrinths where the enemies are all

relatively weak, or at least that is how the story goes.」

「I see, so that is how it works.」

Then, are there really no other conditions to it after all? Like, for example,

that the effect of absorbing the attack only activates if the attack that hits you

shaves off more than half of your HP, or that it only works for the attacks that

would leave you with 1 HP or the one that would have outright killed you?

And does the effect works for just a single attack, or perhaps for an entire

series of attacks that would have normally reduced your HP to zero?

Well, whatever the case with that might be, as long as you figure out exactly

how to proc its effect, then it is going to be a really handy piece of

equipment.

「So, what happens when the effect of 「Sacrificial Misanga」gets successfully

activated?」

「The item itself is going to be destroyed, but in exchange, it completely

nullifies the attack, eliminating even the things such as the feelings of shock

or pain that would normally be there when you suffer a direct hit. The

downside is that it only works once, so people who have to go into close

quarters combat tend to not rely on it very often, but it is the most useful for

those who into the Labyrinths only occasionally or those who use magic from

the backline as a last resort for when they might get hit by the monster that

broke through the vanguard's defenses.」

Well, since it gets destroyed after absorbing only one attack, then I can

definitely see why would regular physical fighters be reluctant to be using it,

since when you fight with monsters it is common for them to be using more

than just one attack, not to mention that knowing that your final line of

defense against being killed is only going to last for one hit before

disappearing without a trace is pretty damn scary in its own right. I guess I

technically could have Sherry make that item and then we could run some

experiments to see what are the exact condition for the activation of that

item's Skill, but since its effect only works once and then the misanga gets

destroyed.

「Sherry, if you were to make this item, then would you say that it would be

good for Roxanne, since she is fighting on the front lines, but is so good at

dodging that she rarely gets hit by any attacks?」

「No, I think that you would be the one who would benefit the most from

wearing it, master.」

「I can totally see why you would think like that, but cannot help it but feel

that such a good effect that it has would be wasted on me if I am to be staying

in the backline. In my opinion, you or Roxanne, the Party members who are

always on the frontlines, would be much better off with it.」

Part 16

「And I heard more than one tale of how wearing a「Sacrificial Misanga」

helped save the life of many a Party Leader who thought that they are not

going to be needing it, only to realize after the fact how lucky they were to

have it. So I insist that if we ever end up making one, you should be the one

to wear it, master.」

Roxanne insisted on me wearing the「Sacrificial Misanga」 as well.

「I understand. If you ever make one of them, I will be sure to wear it on me

during the trips to the Labyrinths.」

「Uhm. . . . . . . okay, I will try to do my very best when that time will

come.」

「Of course you will, and I have no doubts that you are going to succeed with

flying colors. I have absolute faith in your abilities, Sherry.」

「T-Thank you very much, but I really do not think that being a skillful

Master Smith has anything to do with increasing the success rate of the 「Skill

Crystal Fusion」.

Yeah, that is what I think as well, but I cannot just blurt it out of the blue like

that. So instead. . .

「Is that so? Why is that?」

That is what I wanted to ask, but Roxanne has beaten me to the punch.

「Generally, it is said that the better the Master Smith, the higher the success

rate of the item fusions that he or she performs, but a great old scholar once

said that there is actually no correlation between those two things

whatsoever.」

「Oh, is that so? I did not know that!」

Roxanne and Sherry then proceeded to have such a conversation. While we

are already on the subject, then I wonder if these 「Scholars of Old」 that

Sherry is talking so much about had any grounds to base their claims and

theories on, or were they simply trying to pass whatever came to their minds

as scientific theories without having any way of proving if what they were

claiming was actually right or not? Because if they did not have anything to

prove that their claims had any base in reality, then they were simply trying

to scam and deceive the people while making themselves look smart and that

is something that I absolutely do not approve.

「Is 「Sacrificial Misanga」 a good item to wear not only when going against

tougher enemies on the higher floors of the Labyrinths, but during the hunt

for Skill Crystals and materials from monsters as well?」

「It is not strictly bad, but I would not go and say that it is the best thing that

you can possibly wear either. Not to mention that in and out of themselves

misangas are quite cheap, so Armor and Accessory stores will not even buy

them if you tried selling it to them, and aside from their Skill, they offer next

to no defensive value whatsoever.」

「But in that case, would it not be quite wasteful if it broke and you lost it, and

then you would be forced to go hunt for another Skill Crystal for the purpose

of fusion if you wanted to keep wearing it?」

「Of course it would be wasteful, and that is precisely why most of the people

who managed to get their hands on one of them tend to never use them

exactly because of the fear of losing such a helpful item to a random monster

attack.」

Sherry said that the moment when 「Sacrificial Misanga's」 Skill activates and

gets expended, the whole item is going to be destroyed. That is why I was

wondering if that Skill, let us call it 「Sacrifice」for the time being,would do

the same to all pieces of equipment it would be attached to. Because if so,

then even if the effect itself might be useful when fighting hard battles

against tough opponents, it would still be a huge waste to simply go and

carelessly attach it any of our valuable pieces of equipment.

「Are misangas hard to create? Because right now, everything I have heard

about it makes me think that there is an awful lot of hassle involved with

practically every aspect of that accessory.」

「That is the first impression that most of the people are getting, but in

actuality, misangas themselves are quite easy to make since in order to create

it all you have to do is to combine a number of simple threads together, and

they are usually one of the first few items that every Master Smith is taught to

make at the practice table.」

「A practice table, huh? If you had one of these, would you like to try making

a misanga as well, Sherry?」

「Thank you very much for the suggestion, master, however, I believe that

doing this would be counterproductive and only lead to a waste of our

precious money and resources. As I said, misangas cannot be sold at Armor

or Accessory Stores, and I think that they would not sell well even at a

General Store. Looking from a perspective of someone who just became a

Master Smith, if you would keep buying threads from the Merchants Guild,

you would quickly go into the red money-wise. That is why a common

practice among freshly-made Master Smiths is to go into the Labyrinth in

order to fight against the Green Caterpillars and collect their Silk Threads,

which they can then use to try and create two misangas a day, one in the

morning, and one in the evening once enough treads have been gathered.」

Only two misangas a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, huh?

Well, seeing how just one item fusion consumed so much of Sherry's MP

that she must have lost all of it at once, I can definitely see how that would be

a problem for the Dwarves who just became Master Smiths, but had no

reliable way of replenishing their MP and had to result to waiting until it

recovers naturally. But such a strategy also had one major plus to it: while

they were in the Labyrinths collecting Silk Threads from Green Caterpillars,

they definitely are able to increase the levels of their Master Smith Jobs, in

only by one or two. Training combined with item gathering. . . . . talk about

killing two birds with one stone.

「Okay, so now that I sold all of the 「Copper Swords of Obstruction」in our

possession, it would be a good idea to get ourselves some new ones as a

replacement. Would you be able to make them, Sherry?」

「I am sorry, master, but I think that currently it would be impossible because

I am just getting started as a Master Smith. At the current moment the best

course of action for me would be to start my training as a Master Smith from

making misangas, and then gradually move on into making more complex

and difficult things.」

「Is that so? Well, I guess it really would be impossible to go and ask a novice

to suddenly start making things that are way out of their league, huh?」

「I am truly sorry, and I hope that soon I will master the art of forging and

fusing enough to be of real help to you, master.」

*Sigh* So it is just like I was afraid it would be. Just because Sherry

managed to become a Master Smith, it does not necessarily mean that she

will be able to do anything right from the get-go. Right now she should have

her Master Smith Job at Lv.2, so I guess the only thing there is to do right

now is to allow her to gain more EXP so that both the level of that Job and

her maximum amount of MP both increase to such a degree where she will

no longer drain herself out of MP completely after performing just a single

fusion. And since I have a Bonus Skill that gives me twenty times more EXP

than usual, the process of Sherry's growth is not going to take as long as it

normally would.

「Do not worry. You have already helped me greatly by learning Skill Crystal

Fusion. Should we go to the Weapon Store and buy ourselves a sword or

two?」

On our way back home from the Merchants Guild we stopped by the Weapon

Shop to look at the swords they were offering there.

We are here because I needed a replacement sword for when I shift my build

more towards using magic. Whenever that happens, I cannot just go around

using Durandal all the time, because that would be a dead giveaway for other

people that I am not an ordinary Mage.

Part 17

But at the same time, I need something that would be more than just a

weapon for show, because a Wand cannot be used as a physical weapon

during the times of emergency. That is why I also need to have a sword for

myself, just in case I ever needed to protect myself when a monster would

run into my melee range, where using magic would no longer be an option.

Now, the question is: what kind of sword should I take? Should I go with an

ordinary Copper Sword on the assumption that I will rarely use it? Or maybe

something better than that, something that I would be using more often?

Anyway, it is a good thing that I have 「Identify」and that it works on weapons

and items as well as humans, because without it I would have probably

choose something that does not have any Empty Skill Slots, rendering the

potential fusions of these weapons with Skill Crystals completely useless.

Looking at all the swords in the store's offer, the thing right above the

Copper Sword in terms of Quality was the Iron Sword. Getting something

like that for myself should be reasonable enough, right? The Iron Sword also

has variants that have either one or two Empty Skill Slots whereas the Copper

Swords only have a single Empty Skill Slot, however, none of the weapons

that are being put on display here seem to have actual Skills embedded into

them. I briefly looked at the Scimitars as well, but they also had only a single

Empty Skill Slot. This is a little letdown, but still well within what I was

expecting. After all, it would be a dream come true if I could find a good

weapon with Skills already in it in an ordinary Weapon Shop, and as we are

all well aware, dreams do not often come true when we want them to. I just

have to move on and keep searching for something that might end up being a

good enough substitute for Durandal.

The type of Sword that is a tier above the Iron Sword is a Steel Sword. When

it comes to them, they had up to three Empty Skill Slots, which was a

pleasant surprise. There was also a thing called Damascus Steel Sword, but

since it is being displayed on the wall behind the counter where the Shop

owner is, so it is probably not for sale and is intended to only serve a purely

decorative purpose. Maybe it is the finest piece of weaponry that the owner

has available, and that is why he wanted to gloat to everyone about it?

Looking at it from a distance, I did not see any Empty Skill Slots in it at all,

so I stopped carrying about it immediately, because I do not need anything

that is both more expensive than anything else that the store has to offer and

does not have Empty Skill Slots which would enable it to become even more

stronger with the Skill Crystal Fusion.

Maybe I should just stick to buying myself an Iron Sword, which seemed like

a good balance of price and the Skill Slots it offered? It is the type of weapon

that is neither low or high tier, so if I end up infusing it with Skills, I should

still be able to sell it for a good price without having too many regrets about

it. I would also need to buy a spare sword to fuse and sell in case I ever end

up finding another Skill Crystal as a Drop Item from the monsters roaming

about in the Labyrinths

In the end, I ended up buying one Copper Sword and one Iron Sword for

myself. Both of them have Empty Skill Slots, of course. The Iron Sword has

two Empty Skill Slots in it while the Copper Sword has a regular one Skill

Slot. Also, it occurred to me only after I finalized the purchase of these

swords, but. . . . . . . . . . . but maybe I should have gone and buy two pieces of

the same type of sword instead of two different ones, because buying two of

the same swords would have allowed me to save up that much space in my

Item Box. The way Item Box works, as long as you have multiple copies of

the same item, you can place more than one copy of it into one item slot, but

Copper Sword and Iron Sword are going to occupy two separate spaces since

they are not the same. This is an oopsie on my part, but in hindsight it is not

all that bad of an oopsie because a solution to the problem of taken space in

the Item Box is quite simple here: if I am not going to be using the Copper

Sword in favor of the Iron Sword, I can always leave the Copper Sword

physically at home instead of keeping it in the Item Box.

「Sherry, am I right in thinking that in terms of the material hierarchy, a

sword made out of steel is a cut above a sword made out of iron?」

It was hard for me to ask that of Sherry while we were still inside of the

Weapons Shop because I did not want the owner to overhear us and think that

I am a total amateur who does not know even the basic things like that, so I

waited for it only after we left.

「Yes, when we talk about the order of the weapons, or rather the strength of

the materials that have been used to make them it would be copper = = = >

iron = = = > steel.」

「Okay, I understand that. However, why is steel considered stronger than

iron since steel is technically made from iron?」

「Eh?」

Sherry stopped and looked at me as if I was some kind of braindead idiot.

「Ehhh?」

Oh my fuck, do not tell me that I have done it again! If that is indeed the

case, then I sure as hell am glad that I did not mention any of that back in the

Weapon Shop.

「Uhm. . . . . let me confirm if I understand this correctly, master. You are

asking if steel can be made from iron?」

「Well. . . . . yeah, that is basically what I wanted to ask. Is it not the case

here?」

「. . . . . . . . . Generally speaking, not only steel and iron, but all metals and

materials similar to them are made through the process of processing the

items obtained from the monsters from the Labyrinths.」

「Is. . . . . . . . is that so?」

I thought that Sherry was going to look at me with those cold eyes of hers

again, but this time it did not happen, thank god for that. Right now, due to

how short she was she was looking up at me with gentle eyes.

「If I remember correctly, one of the great scholars of old wrote in some of his

notes that he would attempt to create steel by the means of using iron instead

of monster materials. However, just because he wrote that he was going to

attempt it does not mean that he has actually succeeded, and even if he did,

the equipment and methods he might have used to do so are now considered

to be a lost technology.」

「In other words, you do not know how to do it?」

「No, master. I really do not know how to do it, and even if I knew, I am sure

that a feat like that would be something way beyond my current abilities as a

newbie Master Smith.」

Even if it is lost now, if the technology allowing for the creation of steel by

using iron exists out there somewhere, then it probably means that steel can

be created by using iron. And that is good news. Very good indeed.

「It is okay, Sherry, you do not have to beat yourself up over it. The most

important thing for me right now is knowing that steel can possibly be made

from iron, and at the current moment I do not need anything else. But since

we are already on the subject, then I would also like to know a few more

things: is Damascus Steel similar to normal steel, or is it better from it?

「Supposedly, since it is harder and more flexible than ordinary steel while

maintaining the sharpness to its edge.」

「Now, since it is better, then can Damascus Steel also be made by using iron

as the base component for it?」

Part 18

「Maybe it could, but currently this is nothing but a speculation.」

So Sherry does not know for sure, and at the current moment I do not have

any means to confirm or deny that possibility. On to the next question then.

「Can Damascus Steel be dropped by a monster as its Drop Item?」

「Yes, it can. Damascus Steel is an item dropped by a monster called Rem

Gollem.」

「Good. Damascus Steel is better than ordinary steel, but is there something

that tops Damascus Steel in terms of value and durability?」

「That is right. Tha material that is a grade above Damascus Steel in a same

way that Damascus Steel tops steel is called Orichalcum.」

Orichalcum? I feel like I have heard that name somewhere before, but I

absolutely cannot remember where. Maybe is some RPG game, perhaps?

「Do you know about Orichalcum, master?」

Sherry asked, most likely because of the facial expression that I had when she

mentioned Orichalcum.

「No, that is the first time I am hearing about it, but the name itself got me

interested. Do you know how to make it?」

「No, and as of yet, I cannot even begin to imagine myself creating a highgrade material such as that.」

I guess I should have expected that, since back on earth Orichalcum was

depicted mostly as a legendary metal that was supposed to be tougher than all

ordinary metals known to mankind. I just feel glad that it did not turn out that

the thing that is a grade above Damascus Steel is actually Depleted Uranium,

because then we would have a problem. . . . . . . . . . . oh, wait a minute. . . . .

. . . what if, what if Depleted Uranium was actually Orichalcum all along?!

「I see.」

Okay, let us not go to such places with my thought trains. Orichalcum is

Orichalcum, and definitely not Depleted Uranium, and that is final, end of

story.

「However, I did not see anything that would look like Orichalcum Sword

back there in the Weapon Shop. It was filled only with Copper Swords, Iron

Swords and Steel Swords. Are weapons made out of Orichalcum something

that you cannot obtain from Weapon Shops, or through ordinary means?」

「When it comes to the Orichalcum-class weapons, I think it is quite possible

the shopkeepers might be selling them only to the people whom they have

close relationships with, or perhaps they sell them only through the auctions,

and not in their shops directly. If the word got around that they are keeping

such rare and valuable weapons in their stores, then the amount of break-ins

and robberies in those establishments would simply skyrocket.」

Yeah, Sherry was absolutely right. If these weapons really are much more

valuable than the regular ones, then of course it would make much more

sense to sell them all at auctions where the prices can often get pretty

ridiculous if you were to happen upon a bidder who would decide that he

needs to have that particular item at all costs.

So that is how valuable Orichalcum and the weapons made out of it are for

the people of this world? I am not going to lie, this makes me want to have

one of these for myself, just so that I could see for myself how amazing they

really are.

Afterwards, we went to the Labyrinth of Vale, but not to make any progress

in our exploration, but simply so that we could go to its second floor to hunt

ourselves some Green Caterpillars and collect their Drop Items: Silk Threads.

With a sizeable amount of them on us, we went back home, where I intended

to have Sherry create us a Misanga before dinner.

「All right Sherry, here are all of the Silk Threads we have collected today.

Think you will be able to make a Misanga out of them without any

problems?」

「Yes, master, that should be more than enough. Well then, allow me to get to

work on it!」

I handed all of the Silk Threads off to Sherry, and she accepted them eagerly.

Next, she placed one bundle of Silk Threads in her left hand, and another one

in her right hand and proceeded to chant the incantation for the 「Armor

Creation」spell. When she was done, the threads in her hands began to shine

with a brilliant, yet somewhat violent light which was reminiscent of the one

that shined when she created a 「Copper Sword of Obstruction」. That was her

cue to clasp her hands together, which caused the two base items in her hands

to merge into a singular new item.

「I see now. So this is how accessories are made? I guess the process really is

the same for all types of items, just like you said.」

「Ohhh, this is the first time where I have seen people actually make

equipment. It looks every bit as amazing as I have imagined.」

So Roxanne also felt amazed when she saw Sherry make equipment, huh?

Well, I can definitely say that I understand how she feels.

Eventually, the light in Sherry's hands finally subsided, revealing the final

product of Sherry's latest fusion:

{Misanga}

Accessory

Skills: None

Effects: None

Yes, what remained in Sherry's hands now was a freshly created Misanga. As

expected, even though it has been fused with a Skill, it had no Skills or

effects because there was no Skill Crystals involved in the fusion process.

Also, looking at Sherry now, it does not look like is experiencing any of the

effects of the MP deficit, so that probably means that the fusion of ordinary

items without any Skills added into them does not consume as much MP as

the fusion of items with Skills in them does. But maybe I should ask her, just

to be absolutely sure:

「How are you feeling, Sherry? No negative thought plaguing your head all of

a sudden?」

「No, master, I feel fine. The fusion of equipment without any Skills added

onto them does not cost as much MP as the fusion of items with Skills in

them, so as long as you will want me to fuse ordinary items, I should be able

to make a few of them instead of just one.」

「Okay, that is great to know, but tell me now: can the item and equipment

fusion fail even when making simple equipment like the Misanga that you

just created?」

「I should be fine as long as I will keep making simple things in order to gain

more experience as a Master Smith, but if I suddenly tried to make something

much more difficult, then the probability of failure would be much higher

than usual. You also need to remember that even if you have the necessary

tools and resources for making a successful fusion, there is always a chance

that the fusion might randomly fail, and there is nothing you can do about it.」

Sherry answered. So as long as she keeps making normal items that are not

too difficult to make she should be okay. Also, after our bit of exploration for

Silk Threads her level as a Master Smith has increased to Lv.5, so even if she

had to make something with a Skill in it, her MP should not get totally

depleted with only a single fusion.

「Oh really?」

I muttered to myself while receiving the Misanga from Sherry's hands.

Although it was created through a Skill, it looked like a perfectly ordinary

braided bracelet with nothing strange or abnormal about it. It is just a simple

accessory that can be wrapped around your wrist or ankle.

「There is also a saying, or I guess a superstition would be the more

appropriate word here, among the Master Smiths community. A superstition

that states that if a Master Smith manages to create a 「Sacrificial Misanga」as

their first item ever fused, then that means that they are definitely going to

have successful business as Master Smiths.」

「Is that so? Well, would it not be nice if that turned out to be true?」

「It most certainly would, but I would not hold my breath counting on it. That

story is nothing more but a myth that is supposed to encourage the young

Master Smiths to commit to their craft without the fear of failure.」

「A myth, huh? Well, you can never know for sure. Personally, I like to

believe that every myth has a bit of truth mixed in with it.」

Of course it is a myth. Creating items with Skill in them has nothing to do

with skill, luck, fate or any other similar thing.

Part 19

All that matters with it is whether or not you have Skill Crystals and a

weapon, armor or accessory with an Empty Skill Slot where that Skill Crystal

can then be placed. Unfortunately, since the Misanga created by Sherry just

now was made with plain ordinary Silk Thread, it meant that it did not come

together with any Empty Skill Slots, not even one. In other words, no matter

how hard I would have wanted it, it cannot be made into a 「Sacrificial

Misanga」.

Also, is it just me, or is that myth one hell of an unfair one? I mean, what the

hell man? A Master Smith who manages to create a 「Sacrificial Misanga」is

going to be a successful one and the one that does not manage to create it as

their first fusion is not going to be a successful one? If that is not hellishly

biased and RNG based, then I do not know what is, because it all depends on

whether or not a Master Smith manages to obtain a piece of equipment with

an empty Skill Slot in it or not. If he or she got lucky and got their hands on

such an item, then hooray for them, they are going to be locked on a surefire

express towards success according to the people and their myth. But if they

did not have so much luck as to get their hands on something with Empty

Skill Slots, they are going to end up the same way that Sherry did: being

called a failure, a loser and being made an outcast.

However, Sherry proved that she is not a loser. Since she managed to become

a Master Smith in the end, it should be enough of a proof to anyone who has

ever doubted her that she is not a failure. There is absolutely no way that

someone as cute as her could ever be a failure. She is and will be an amazing

Master Smith, there are no doubts in my mind about that.

「It does not matter whether you are a skilled Master Smith or not. In practice

that has nothing to do with the success rate of the Skill Crystal Fusion, and

the same rule applies to the odds of creating a「Sacrificial Misanga」. Your

own skills have nothing to do with it, all that it boils down to is blind luck,

nothing more.」

That is right. Now that I have cracked the code with how does the fusion

process work, Sherry will no longer have to worry herself with the odds of

her fusions succeeding or failing, because as long as she follows my

guidance, all of her fusions are going to have a one hundred percent success

rate. The only unknown factor we have to be concerned about is the

probability of creating the equipment that is going to have Empty Skill Slots

in it. If I could just figure out how to make it so that each and every one of

the items created by Sherry came up with Empty Skill Slots, then that

combined with her hundred percent fusion success rate would have to make

her one of the best Master Smiths in the empire, id not the best, most reliable

Master Smiths in the entire world.

The best Master Smith, huh? Would that not be a thing to behold: being able

to stick it to the ones who mocked and ridiculed you through nothing more

but your honest work and its results, unlike all those other Master Smiths out

there.Maybe thinking that if they can get an item with Empty Skill Slots

through fusion is a way for the Master Smiths to psyche themselves up,

because thinking like that makes them think that they are among the very few

ones who are better than all the others? It might also be possible that different

Master Smiths might have different odds of obtaining Empty Skill Slots on

the equipment that they are making, but for the time being I should not worry

myself with that.

「I see. Well, this is the first piece of equipment that you have made since you

officially became a Master Smith, so I am going to be wearing this Misanga

with pride, Sherry.」

「Are. . . . . . . are you sure about this, master? I mean, this is just an ordinary

Misanga, without any Skills or additional effects, so it is literally not going to

do anything to improve your defenses.」

「Maybe, but what of it? Does that make it useless, or something that you do

not want me to wear?」

「No, I. . . . . . . . . uhm, n-no, of course not. If you want to wear it even though

it does nothing special, then. . . . . . .. then that makes me very happy, master.

Thank you so very much.」

Sherry bowed her head down to me as if I had done something monumental

or worthy of praise, while in truth I felt like I did no such thing.

Even though Sherry told me that the thing with being a skilled Master Smith

having effect on your probability of successful fusion was nothing but a myth

and I know it to be true. . . . . . it still makes me just a little bit curious,

because the way I see it, it is kinda like with ghost stories. Even though you

know that there are no ghosts and that they are not real, a part of you is still

getting worried and frightened whenever you hear about them, and tells you

that it would be good for you to avoid being alone near pitch-black spaces. . .

. . . but instead of worrying about that, we should be focusing on two other

things right now: getting more Skill Crystals for Sherry's future fusion, and

before that, pray that she is going to create a Misanga that is actually going to

have an Empty Skill Slot on it. Only when that happens will the things be

able to truly kick off, enabling Sherry to start turning her dream of being a

legitimate Master Smith into a reality. I just hope that from now it is going to

be a smooth sailing for her, and that reality is not going to make her go

through any more brutal reality checks like it did with me. I would absolutely

hate it to see her dreams get shattered when they are so pure and genuine.

I took the Misanga created by Sherry and wrapped it neatly around my right

ankle. Just hard enough for it not to fall off when I would move around a lot,

but also just light enough for it not to feel uncomfortable and then tied it with

a simple butterfly knot for the ease of taking it off in the evenings or during

baths. That way, replacing it if it gets damaged is going to be easy as pie, and

maybe I could even add some more decorations to it whenever I felt like it.

With that matter out of our way, we could finally proceed to making dinner,

which is going to be a Genghis Khan hot pot. That is right, you heard it

correctly. Not just your any other ordinary hot pot, but a Genghis Khan hot

pot.

A Genghis Khan hot pot without any special tare sauce to pour on it, but a

Genghis Khan hot pot nonetheless.

A Genghis Khan hot pot without regular barbequed lamb meat, but with a

Goat Meat obtained from our battles with Pan on the seventh floor of the

Vale's Labyrinth.

Overall, this is going to be a truly unorthodox Genghis Khan hot pot, but

since this world does not have all the necessary ingredients needed in order to

cook its modern-day iteration, but I have no choice other than to somehow

deal with this conundrum by substituting the ingredients from earth with what

we have available here.

Beginning the preparation process, I prepared a simple, disposable wooden

stand and a pair of two iron plates. I placed one of the iron plates on top of

the wood, put four moderately sized stones into the corners of that plate and

then placed another iron plate on top of those stones, and filled the rest of the

empty space between the two iron plates with charcoal. With that, my

makeshift grill has been assembled. All that is left to do now is to light up the

charcoal with a little bit of fire (I would not dare to use Fireball for it in fear

of burning down the entire kitchen) and I slowly grilled all of the Goat Meat

and selected vegetables on the upper plate until the meat was dripping juices

and the vegetables were getting soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Part 20

Yeah. . . . . . . no matter how I look at it, this looks an awful lot like

teppanyaki! ! ! How could I have messed up even something that is so simple

to prepare. . . . . . no. No, this is not teppanyaki. Since I am the only one in

here who knows the actual difference between teppanyaki and Genghis Khan,

that means that I am the one who has the right to decide what this dish is and

how is it going to be called. And so, I hereby declare that this dish is a

Genghis Khan hot pot! And to those who might be complaining that it is not a

genuine Genghis Khan hot pot, at the very least I used the fish sauce to make

the Goat Meat look similar to twice-cooked pork, one of the staple dishes that

tend to be utilized in hot pots, so there you have it, Genghis Khan with my

own twist added onto it!

Now that I have explained why this is a Genghis Khan hot pot even if some

parts of it are clearly unorthodox, it was time to start making the finishing

touches so that it could finally be served, so I used the leftover gravy in order

to season the vegetables with it for a bit until they reaches just the right

amount of softness and crispiness.

「Just a little bit more time and the meal should be ready.」

「Of course. Thank you for going out of your way to cook for us, master. I am

sure it is going to be delicious.」

「Thanks, and you bet it is going to be delicious. I personally guarantee it, or

my name is not Kaga Michio!」

All that is left to do now is to see if the meat and the vegetables are not burnt

anywhere, and we are good to go. Since I was the cook responsible for the

preparation of the entire meal this time, it was my responsibility both as the

chef and the head of the household to divide the meat between all of the

residents.

Daddy Cool.

It would have been nice if we had some chopsticks that we could eat the meat

with, but since we do not have them, forks will have to do instead. Also,

even though Genghis Khan that I have prepared is the main dish and the star

of the show here, we also had some side dishes to go with it, mainly:

Roxanne's cream stew and Sherry's soup, both of which have been brought

in and served together with bread right after I finished distributing the meat to

all of us equally.

Taste wise, I have to say that it was nothing that would obliterate your taste

buds with tasty goodness the moment you put it into your mouth, but it does

not mean it was bad. Quite the opposite, actually. It was much better in

comparison to the previous meat-based dish that I prepared last time, so I

guess I could say that I was able to improve a bit as a cook thanks to that

previous experience, and that is what cooking is all about: learning from your

previous failures and using them as stepping stones for improvement.

「Master, it is delicious!」

Roxanne also said that the meal I have prepared was delicious, so I guess it

paid to experiment with this Genghis Khan hot pot, even if I was not entirely

sure how the end result was going to turn out, so all that is left for me to do

now it to enjoy the taste of my deliciously-made meat and vegetables as I

continued grill more of them while enjoying the mundane conversation about

everything and nothing with my two beautiful slaves, which makes me feel

the same level of luxury like Lieutenant General Mutaguchi when he

surrounded himself with beautiful geishas during the battles in Meimyou. But

even though I certainly enjoy such a cozy atmosphere, it does not change the

fact that there is something that I wanted to ask Sherry about, and I think that

right now might be as good of a time as any to finally get this matter out of

the way.

「Sherry, I know that now might not be the best time to be asking something

like that of you, but. . . . . . . . if you do not mind, then would you tell us how

exactly you have become a slave?」

I am certain that just like in Roxanne's case, there has to be some kind of

story behind it, so if possible, I would like to learn what that story was.

「Uhm. . . . . . . . . . . . . I, w-well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 」

「No, no, no, it is something that you would rather not talk about, then that is

perfectly fine with me.」

It is true that I want to know about Sherry's past and how she became a slave,

but if this subject is something that makes her remember particularly bad

memories, then I am not going to force her to share them with us just so that I

could satisfy my own curiosity. So far, all that we know about her is that she

must have come from a family that was doing pretty good for themselves

because they were wealthy enough to have a number of books at home, but

that is pretty much it.

「. . . . . . . . . . No, it is all right, master. I knew that sooner or later you would

want to know about it, and I do not intend to hide anything from you. The

main reason, or rather, a cause behind me becoming a slave was because my

brother got seriously injured while he was exploring the Labyrinth that was

near our village.」

「Your brother. . . . . . . . got injured?」

「Yes. Ours was mainly a family of Master Smiths, but my father was not as

talented of a Master Smith as my grandfather was, so he was unable to create

items could be sold for a lot of money, therefore he relied on my brother for

being the main source of income after grandfather passed away.」

So it would seem that the generation to which Sherry's grandfather belonged

was the one that was filled with pretty skilled Master Smiths and Sherry's

grandfather was an especially good Master Smith even among all of them,

but his son, Sherry's father, did not seem to inherit his father's abilities when

it came to smithing, and that must have caused him to fall from grace, similar

to what happened with Sherry when she failed to obtain the Job that everyone

around her seemed to be obtaining pretty much effortlessly. The question

now is: how big od a social stigma it was to be a bad Master Smith in the

eyes of the Dwarven communities? Was it something that was seen as

inconvenience, a kind of impotence, or something that would result in the

ostracization of the entire family?

「So your brother got injured while in the Labyrinth, which made him

incapable of providing further income for the family. What happened then?」

「We had to borrow money in order to buy the medicine that could help with

his injury.」

「Borrowing money just so you could help heal your injured brother. . . . . .

oh, Sherry, I am so sorry for you.」

「Well, if your brother's injury was a serious one, then I guess no ordinary

medicine could help him, but rather a high-end one, right? In that case you

would really have to pay a hefty amount to get that kind of medicine, which. .

. . . . damn, I cannot even imagine how tough it must have been for you.」

Even if I did not want to patronize Sherry, I had no choice but to agree with

Roxanne's words here.

「That is right. Normally we would not have been able to pay for the medicine

that my brother needed, but with the money we borrowed, we were able to

get our hands on it pretty easily. The thing is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .」

「Let me guess: the real problems started only after you already bought the

medicine, but you lacked the means of returning the money to those whom

you borrowed them from?」

「That is just how it is with debts: once you end up taking one, getting out of

it is going to grow harder and harder with each passing day.

Part 21

「I have seen what debts, even the smallest, seemingly insignificant ones, can

do with those who have taken them and their families. It might not be

immediately obvious to those looking from the outside, but the families

stricken with debt are all the same: slowly rotting away from the inside, little

by little, until it tears them apart completely. I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I

absolutely did not want that to happen to my family.」

So it was actually such a thing? Well, I can certainly agree with what Sherry

said just now. Once you get yourself stuck in the clutches of debt, there is no

way to easily get out of them, because interest rates are unfairly high and they

keep on growing on a day to day basis, not to mention that if you fail to

deliver the payment in time, moneylenders will not hesitate from employing

hired muscle to finish the collection in a. . . . . . . . not so subtle manner.

「I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I guess houses like that really do exist, huh?」

「Yes, unfortunately. And, well. . . . . . . you know how it is. Once you start

borrow money, no matter how hard you would work the amount that needs to

be returned never seems to be dwindling down but keeps on increasing

instead, and before you even realize it, you end up relying on borrowing more

money and taking other debts just so you could pay off the previous ones, and

soon you are going to run yourself so ragged trying to pay them all off until

at one point you are going to be too sick and tired to lift a finger, much less

work to get money for your lenders. And. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and once that

happens, it will inevitably lead to a family break-up. That is why I offered

myself to be sold as a child-slave before the same miserable fate could have

befallen my family.」

She did what?! Did I just misheard it, or perhaps heard it right after all?!

「Wait a second. Are you telling me that you. . . . . . . . .sold yourself into

slavery of your own free will?!」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yes, that is what I have decided would be best

under the circumstances my family was under in that moment.」

Was that the rational thing to do? Could Sherry not have look for some other

solutions first before turning herself towards this drastic one. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . no, if my assessment of her is correct, then Sherry must have been a

smart individual ever since she was young, so she probably determined that

given her family's situation, it really might have been the best thing for her to

do. . . . . . . . . but I still feel like I have to ask her about it. I need to hear her

say that it was the only option remaining for her, or else I feel like I am not

going to be able to fully accept it.

「Was. . . . . . . . was there no other way besides that? Because becoming a

slave just so that your family could get out of debt seems a bit. . . . . . . .

excessive.」

「I realized that as well, but back then, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable

thing to do for me. . . . . . . . . . no, it was the only. . . . . . . . the best thing that

I could have done. Think about it, master. I was a failure who failed to

become not only a Master Smith, but a Shrine Maiden as well, so the

reputation of my family as a whole has already been damaged enough, so I

decided to remove myself from it before my presence could cause any more

harm than it already did to them. Of course, I was uncertain. . . . . . . and

scared of what would happen to me, but if I became a slave, then the least I

could do was to learn how to speak and write in Brahim, which would allow

a whole new set of possibilities to open themselves before me one day when I

would eventually regain my freedom. All I had to do was to do my best to

learn it, because I heard over and over again that highly educated slaves tend

to be bought by the richer kinds of clients.」

「Brahim, huh?」

Was the ability to learn how to speak and write in Brahim really worth selling

yourself into slavery? I mean sure, in this world, if you can speak and write in

Brahim, you will be able to do much more than those who cannot speak and

write in it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . so did Sherry analyze all of the pros and cons

of that situation and ultimately decided that the potential profits far

outweighed the demerits?

「Was. . . . . . . . . . was your family really okay with such a solution?」

「It was more like they accepted that solution, because to be honest. . . . . . my

offer was a Godsend to them. My younger brother and sister were still to

small to work, and selling my older brother, the one responsible for

supporting the family with his income from his goings into the Labyrinths

was absolutely out of the question. Whether they liked it or not, they had no

choice. Selling me was the best option from the standpoint of my family's

well-being.」

The best possible choice? Could they not sell their father? Or maybe they did

consider it at one point, but ultimately decided that it would not be worth it

because no one would be willing to give half a decent price for a Dwarf who

has a reputation of having no talent as a Master Smith? Yeah, that would

make frighteningly much sense, because Sherry could always be sold to

someone as a sex slave, and since she was a virgin, and an educated one at

that, then her overall price could have been elevated that much higher.

「Well, that is in the past, so do not worry about it anymore, okay? Right now,

Roxanne and I are your new family, and we will never abandon you, so just

focus on doing your best and making sure that you are going to be living your

life to the fullest everyday from morning until dawn, all right?」

「Of course. Thank you for your understanding. . . . . . . . . . . and your

compassion. It really means a lot for me, Miss Roxanne, master.」

「Now that you have met master, you will never have to worry about things

like that Sherry. Because master is the best possible, most amazing master we

could have ever hoped for!」

「Yes, that is certainly true.」

Although it made me immensely happy to hear Roxanne singing such high

praises of me, I was beginning to think that it is more than a little scary how

she was able to come up with such increasingly complex things almost at the

spur of the moment and without batting an eye at that. Okay, do not think too

hard about it. Just. . . . . . . . . . just go and offer her more meat. Yeah, that is a

good thing to do. Stuff Roxanne's mouth with more of that delicious meat of

your so that she would focus more on eating rather than on anything else.

That being said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . god damn, this Genghis Khan hot pot

turned out to more popular than I thought, which could be clearly seen by the

rate of how fast all of the ingredients were disappearing from my makeshift

grill. Even though there were three of us at the table right now and we were

all eating as if tomorrow was supposed to never come around, we still

practically burned through all of the side dishes in an instant, and the meat

and vegetables that my Genghis Khan hot pot consisted of were running low

at an astonishing rate.

Part 22

At this rate, I do not know if we are going to have enough of it to last us for

another serving for all of us.

At times like these, I really do pity that this world does not have yakisoba

like the one you could by and make in Japan, because some sizzling hot

yakisoba with teriyaki sauce would have gone amazingly well with that

grilled Goat Meat. Unless. . . . . . . . . . . if I remember correctly, then I think I

saw something that looked like pasta noodles in one of the shops that sold

food and cooking ingredients, so if I were to buy such pasta noodles and

experiment a little with grilling them and with the ways of replicating the

taste of the sauce, then I think I might have been able to pull such a makeshift

yakisoba off. . . . . . . . although thinking about making plans for it and

actually preparing it are two entirely different things, and no one can

guarantee me that a dish like that could really be prepared with the

ingredients this world has to offer. At best, I could have made something that

could only be classified as poor imitation of yakisoba, and at worst, I would

have wasted the ingredients only to receive a tasteless mess of a dish for all

my troubles and expenses.

However, I do not know if the fish sauce they sell in this world, like the one I

bought in the Imperial City from that old lady at he stand could make a good

yakisoba at all, and the prospect of failure and having to eat something that

might not even be edible in the first place is too scary for me at the current

moment, so instead of trying to make something like yakisoba, maybe I

should start with something much simpler and safer to make, like a garnish,

for example.

Okay. . . . . . . that is it. . . . . . I am not going to eat another bite. I am

completely and utterly filled to the brim.

「Phew. . . . . . thank you for the meal, it was great, if I do say so myself. By

the way, I wanted to ask this before, but I could never find a good moment to

do so: how do you find your lives with me? Do you have any complaints with

the lifestyle of the Explorers of the Labyrinths we have been living?」

I asked them about the thing that I was interested in ever since I have bought

Roxanne way back when.She has already said a few times that she enjoys her

life with me, but a small part of me could not help but to wonder if that was

actually true, or was she simply saying that because she knew that this was

what I wanted to hear her say? After all, one of my responsibilities as the

master of my slaves was to make sure that they are going to be provided with

food, clothing and the appropriate living conditions, so I wanted them to tell

me if their lives have been lacking in any of those areas so far, because what I

might think of as good living conditions might actually not be like that at all

in their eyes.

「Uhm. . . . . . . .Can I really say that? Because I do not know if I should be

saying that.」

「It is okay. I am your master, after all, so you can tell me anything.」

Roxanne, who is usually supportive of me to a fault, was now hesitating. Is it

something difficult to say? Or maybe something that she would feel bad for

saying because of how good I have been treating her and Sherry so far?

「Living with you so far has been a pleasure filled with positive surprises,

completely unlike the usual three ways in which slaves are treated by their

masters.」

「Three ways of how slaves are treated? What are those? Care to elaborate on

that?」

「The first one is when you, the slave, have been bought by a rich man who

took a liking to you for some reason or other. Generally speaking, for us

slaves, everything depends on how wealthy of a client decides to take us in.

The wealthier the client, the better our treatment and environment are going

to be, at least theoretically. Also, in case of ending up in a place that has a lot

of slaves, the thing that decides who is going to be in the higher and who in

the lower social position is almost always the principle of seniority, and the

slaves with the most seniority in the group is considered to be the leader who

gets to call the shots among the entire group.」

Ahh, so I guess that in places and households that accommodate a lot of

slaves, it could be said that the first slave to be bought, the one with the

highest position and authority among all the other slaves could be said to be

someone akin to a slave manager. And once a slave achieves the position of

the manager of all the other slaves, then of course his or her treatment is

going to change for the better, because they will no longer be at the bottom of

the hierarchy, but a step above all the others. To draw a parallel to the

modern world, it would be like a difference between working as a bottomdwelling pencil pusher for a company and working as the chief of the entire

section of it, who does not have to do the mundane work that all the others do

and has the power to do literally whatever the hell he wants with everyone

who works under their command. And to continue along that train of thought,

if you had the option to choose between working for a small upstart company

and the big megacorporation with a firm position on the market, which of

these two would you choose? Heh, the answer to that question should be

pretty obvious, am I right? Bigger ones are always better, if only for their

prestige and the potential benefits of working in such corporations, handsdown. However, all of the above only applies to the houses and environments

where there is a greater number of slaves, so I have no idea at all if any of

what I just stated would apply to the households where there are only two

slaves.

「Ohhh, I have heard that too!」

「You also knew about that, Miss Roxanne?」

Since both Roxanne and Sherry were being kept in the same Slave Shop, it is

no wonder that they have heard the same kind of story.

「I have also heard that even if the female slaves do not have a good position

in the regular hierarchy of their new master's household, they can still have a

good life if they become his concubines. Based on what I have been told, if

you become a concubine of a rich or powerful man, you could enjoy a

comfortable life in luxury that you have never even known existed! Back at

the Slave Shop, before master bought me, Alan-san told me that I could have

become one if I worked hard enough for it!」

Yeah, that is. . . . . . . . . . . . certainly one way to look at it, and at the same

time that is a way of life that could also be possible for the women back in

my old world. Go find yourself a rich, older guy and live comfortably as his

concubine while simoultaneaosly sucking him off of all of his money. It is a

sad thing to say, but in modern day Japan and in the rest of the welldeveloped countries, being a concubine of the rich guys was one of the more

valid ways for the women of the twenty first century to live a comfortable,

easy-going life. All they had to do was to make sure that the guy they have

set their sights on would be wrapped around their little finger and does not

get bored with them and voila, here is your recipe for a life void of worries

and responsibilities. Also, Roxanne, about that last bit. . . . . I am honestly not

sure if I should be happy or concerned for you. But at least that puts into

perspective why Roxanne is as well mannered as she is at all times: it is all

because being well-mannered is one of the most important prerequisites to

being a good concubine, and I am sure that at some point or another Alan the

Slave Merchant must have considered selling Roxanne as not just any

ordinary slave, but as a concubine to some wealthy client.

Part 23

Heh, good thing that I managed to make her my own before that happened,

but at the same time, I feel like I should be a little more grateful to the guy,

because if it was not for him educating Roxanne in such a way, then who

knows if she would still be the same lovely, well-mannered and obedient

Roxanne she is today?

「Well. . . . . . . . . . . all things considered, to me it seems like you would still

need quite a fair amount of luck to be noticed and then taken in by someone

rich, since the client's mind and preferences are something that no slave has a

way of knowing, so in the end, if a slave manages to catch the rich client's

eye, then it all boils down to the price that the Slave Shop's owner dictates,

and whether or not the client is going to be willing to pay the specified price

or reaches the conclusion that this is still too much and that he is going to try

his luck looking elsewhere, right?」

Anyway, while this aspect of how the slaves are being kept up and cared for

by the Slave Shops they have been sold to is undoubtedly very interesting, we

should not let ourselves get sidetracked by it too much. I have to make sure

that we stay on the main subject without going off topic at every possible

chance, otherwise we will be talking about it way into the late night hours.

「Of course, you are right, master, but in practice such cases tend to be more

on a rare side of things. It is true however, that most of the slaves who dream

of winning themselves the favor of a rich patron are those who have lost their

previous lives and were turned into slaves due to unfortunate circumstances.」

「In other words, being spotted by a wealthy client is a form of potential

escapism for some of the slaves?」

If you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. If someone was made a slave

against their will, then of course they would try to do anything in their power

to stop being slaves as soon as possible, but if they wound up in a multi-slave

residence or establishment, then getting back their freedom for themselves

would take not only an exceedingly large amount of luck, but also strength of

will and tenacity to make yourself more appealing than the rest of the slaves

they have been stuck with. I have never been a slave myself so I cannot say

for sure how such people must be feeling, but if I were to hazard a guess,

then I would say that it would be pretty similar to how I wanted to escape

from my shitty life back in Japan, the only difference being that I thought that

suicide would be the miraculous panaceum that would make all of my pain

and suffering go away.

「Okay, so that takes care of one way of how slaves are being treated. What

about the other ones?」

「Right. The second way of slave treatment involves Adventurers, Explorers

and anyone who is venturing into the Labyrinths on a daily basis and they

have lost their adventuring companion. Instead of hiring a new Party member

for themselves, such people might choose to buy themselves a slave who is

going to accompany them instead.」

「Oh? So things like that actually do happen, huh?」

I guess it would be similar to my case, only that I did not buy Roxanne

because I lost my previous companion. I bought her because I did not want to

be all by myself in this strange, unfamiliar world.

「Yes, and in that case, the rights of ownership can even be transferred from a

parent to a child once they grew up, and the same rule can be applied if the

owner remarries. However, if you buy a slave that is of a different race then

you then there will be no issues with inheritance. That is also why slaves are

recommended as caretakers for children, since they can look after them at all

times and even go to the Labyrinths to fight for them on their behalf.」

「So in that particular case it is okay to just think of slaves as long-term

caretakers?」

It looks like this world seems to be filled with various things and

opportunities across all aspects and walks of life, just like in my old world. In

accordance to that, those who have the money to afford it will not think twice

about buying themselves slaves, because a slave is always a pair of extra

hands, be it for tasks such as taking care of the children, doing household

chores like cleaning or cooking or even going to the Labyrinths to make

money for their masters. I can certainly see the benefits of having them, and I

also understand why in general it is better to have your slaves be inherited by

the other members of your family in case of your sudden, unexpected death.

They are just too good of an improvement to your daily lifestyle to not have

them.

「When the master of the slave dies and they had no family to pass the slave

to, it is common practice to include a passage in your last will and testament

that states that the slave is to be free of his slave status and get his freedom

back, and many such slaves tend to turn that into an opportunity for

themselves, since if they were heading into the Labyrinths and managed to

get a hefty amount of experience while battling there, it makes them a perfect

choice for a potential Party member and companion, and people who buy

slaves for the purpose of making them the members of their Party have been

around for years, being almost as old as the system of slavery itself.」

「And the slaves have nothing against it? I mean, statistically speaking, not all

of them have to be thrilled about the perspective of heading into as dangerous

of a place as Labyrinths on a daily or almost daily basis.」

「Even if some of them feel like that, they usually keep it to themselves and

endure it. After all, being somebody's Party member is certainly better than

lifetime of serving someone who would only exploit and abuse them.」

That is an argument that I cannot argue with. Also. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

「Exploitation and abuse? That is pretty crazy!」

I mean, I know that no anyone is capable of treating slaves as fellow human

beings and instead treat them like things, or their personal possessions that

they can do anything the hell they want with them, the examples from the

history of my own world are more than plenty. . . . . . . . . . but even knowing

those examples, I still find it hard to believe that someone could be

mistreating their slaves in the world of this game, but that is probably

because I did not see any such mistreating with my own eyes just yet, and to

be honest, I hope that I will not have to be a witness to them for a good while

longer.

「It definitely is more than crazy, but thankfully, the majority of the wealthy

clients buying slaves are people who managed to achieve some degree of

success in their lives, which usually means that they are calm, well behaved

and treat their slaves in a good way, and they are doing that because they do

not want to antagonize their slaves, because they know that they are going to

be the ones who are going to be taking care of them when they grow old.」

If that is so, then I wonder if the good way of treating their slaves by the

nobles and wealthy people is a genuine act stemming from kindness and

understanding, or is it nothing more but a cold pragmatism fueled by the

knowledge that if they are going to try to abuse them, it will have a negative

impact on the master-servant relationship with their slaves in the future,

where the masters are going to be needing them the most?

On the flipside, even if they are treated badly, slaves have probably learned to

put up with any abuses that bad masters have been throwing their way

because they probably realized that any attempts at getting revenge for

getting mistreated would be utterly pointless. After all, in the relationship that

slaves have with their masters, slaves are the ones with the weaker positions

of the two. If they tried to do anything to their masters, the abuse would just

get even more severe than it already might have been.

Part 24

In the most extreme cases, slaves would probably start getting accused of

crimes they did not even commit and had their supply of food taken away

from them so that they would suffer from hunger and malnutrition for their

insolence. There might also be cases where a whole group of slaves might be

unilaterally punished for the sins of just one of them, simply to prevent them

from even thinking of ever doing what the offender had done if they know

what is good for them.

However, I wonder how are the things in this world from a purely medical

standpoint. My previous world, the twenty first century one is the kind of

world that is so technologically advanced that there are very little cases of

diseases that cannot be cured at all, and the people who are afflicted with

them are not doomed live a miserable existence, but can instead still enjoy a

relatively long life, even in the face of something as serious as cancer. But as

for this world I am living in right now. . . . . . . well, let me just put it this

way: if your head is being filled with suicidal or nihilistic thoughts when your

MP gets completely depleted, then something is telling me that this world

might have a serious problem when it is going to be hit with diseases such as

dementia or depression.

As for the housing situation. . . . . . . . . . . . . in Japan, up until recently there

was this trend where it was not uncommon for the three whole generations of

the families: grandparents, parents and children to live in the same house, but

from what I have heard that trend seems to be on the decline now because an

increasing percentage of young people wants to live and work in the big cities

were they can be independent from their parents. . . . . . . . . but can such a

situation really be likened to having a master living in one home with a bunch

of his slaves? No, definitely not. These two situations might appear to be

similar when we look at them purely from the perspective of numbers and

logistics, but are completely different when you start delving deeper into

them. In modern-day Japan, and probably across the rest of the world as well,

even if large families live together under one roof, usually there is no need

for everyone to constantly keep tabs on one another and have all of the

members of the household under constant surveillance. In most cases, usually

the members of the three generations living in the house tend to not interfere

with one another and simply live out their lives as they normally would, but

there is still that particular feeling of familial bond between all of them,

which prevents the situation from devolving into the one where it is basically

that one house is inhabited by six or more complete strangers. But since in

this world it is customary that a long-term care of the children is often

relegated to slaves (and probably servants and maids in case of wealthier

members of the nobility as well) so I think that if it ever came to the situation

that a family that has slaves would be forced to live with the members of their

extended family, or in come cases maybe even their in-laws, then I highly

doubt that they would try to make an effort to talk and keep in touch with

them. The most likely scenario in such case would probably be that the head

of the household would simply order the slaves to take care of the needs of

the extended family members, and that would probably be it. No complaints,

no protests, just acceptance from both sides that this is simply how the things

are supposed to be. And that, to be honest. . . . . . . . is kind of sad, actually.

「All right, let us say that I can more or less wrap my head around how that

second way works. There are points that could definitely use some ironing

out in my opinion, but we will worry about that some other time. Anyway,

that leaves only one way of treating slaves to discuss, right?」

「Yes, and the third way of treating slaves is buying them exclusively so that

they would explore the Labyrinths for their master, and nothing else beside

that.」

「That sounds really similar to the second one that you mentioned.」

「It cannot be helped since the second and third way really do sound similar to

one another, but in truth, the cases of the third way being used are way fewer

in comparison to the first and second way.」

「So that is how it is, huh?」

I said that, but even so, I really cannot see what is the difference between

buying slaves just for the purpose of exploring the Labyrinths and hiring

them as the members of your Party.

「At first glance, there really appears to be no difference between normal

slaves bough for the purpose of taking care of the house and the children, but

there is one major difference between them, and a pretty big one at that: the

ones meant only for exploring the Labyrinths will improve their fighting

skills and will become stronger and stronger with each battle they are going

to be engaging in. Also, since strong and reliable combatants whom you can

trust are a necessity if you want to tackle the higher floors of the Labyrinths,

they are pretty much irreplaceable and will almost never be treated badly,

since poor treatment would most definitely reflect poorly on their willingness

to fight for their master as well as their overall performance.」

「I see. So that is it.」

It is a well-known fact that the work at the farms, in the mines or with

household chores can be a physically demanding one that is also unlikely to

give you a decent amount of money, so the slaves who work with those thing

are unlikely to be earning more than their masters do.

On the other hand, the slaves who enter the Labyrinths have one advantage

over their master: they can actively increase the Level of their Job and

become progressively stronger, so with enough time spent on dungeon

crawling and Levelling Up, it might not be impossible for them to one day

become strong enough to proclaim themselves stronger than their master, but

that is only under the assumption that the master is someone who only sends

their slaves to gather the items in the Labyrinths while they themselves

simply stay in the safety and warmth of their house, because the story is

going to be different if the master chooses to go to the Labyrinth together

with his slaves. And since the EXP points are always divided equally

between all the Party members, the slaves would not be able to earn more

EXP than their master, who would simultaneously be the Party Leader as

well.

But just as Sherry and Roxanne said: as the levels go up and the slaves going

to the Labyrinths become stronger, their treatment is going to drastically

improve. The stronger they become, the harder it will be for them to die while

fighting the monsters in the Labyrinths, and they are going to secure their

position further, since it would be inefficient and unwise to get rid of your

strongest Party Members just so that you could replace them with weaker

ones.

After all, if you do not have access to Bonus Skills that increase the amount

of the EXP that you obtained from defeated monsters, the process of gaining

levels is going to take a long time, and it is extremely unlikely that the slaves

going to the Labyrinths would be able to increase their levels to something

around Lv.40 or Lv.50, even if they were going there every day and stayed

inside for the majority of the day, so it is not like they would be swaggering

around trying to look all important if they did not have the stats and strength

to back that up.

「Master, I want you to know that I am only telling you what I am about to

tell you because I know how good of a person you are, okay? So, it seems

that there is also a possibility of striking an agreement with the strong

Labyrinth-going slaves that would allow you to buy them from their master's

if they conclude that they are being treated especially badly, and sometimes

even the slaves themselves can come up with such a initiative.」

So such a thing can happen, huh? Well then, I guess I will have to make sure

that I treat Roxanne and Sherry especially well to make sure that does not. . .

. . . . . happen. . . . .

Right then, a certain thought has downed upon me.