Chapter 104. Reason for visiting

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Just a quick TL note this time.

In a certain part of the chapter Hind is confused because Selene uses “we” when referring to the people that make the weapon and Albert used the plural form of “you” when he’s making the request.

This is because in Japanese, the way “I/Me” becomes “We/Us” is simply by adding 達 (tachi) after it. Same thing with “You”. This kind of thing is not as subtle in English as it is in Japanese so the reason he’s confused is more apparent in the original version.

That will be all, enjoy the chapter.

「You see, I requested blacksmiths from various places to craft me a greatsword, however, none of them seemed to feel right to me.」(Albert)

Having said that, Albert proceeded to line up one greatsword after another on top of the table.

He sure is doing whatever he wants in other people’s guild home…though this should be mostly part of his roleplay.

That brusque personality of his does really make a point that he’s a mercenary.

The swords Albert had placed there, gave the feeling that they were out of the ordinary, you could tell with a single glance from this far away that they were excellent weapons.

「Ooh, this greatsword is a “first rate +2”! Hind, look at this!」(Yumir)

「This one is +3! To not use these, what a waste!」(Tobi)

「…」(Hind)

Without even bothering to ask for permission, Yumir and Tobi immediately started touching the greatswords to get information from them.

As expected from these two…

Once I asked Albert, he replied with 「I don’t mind, in fact, I’d like you to check them」, so having heard that, I went to inspect one of the greatswords.

..Just as I thought, being first rate on top of being arranged to this size…they have quite the attack power.

If we were talking about the value of its attack power, it’s higher than the greatsword we sold Albert back then so…what exactly is he dissatisfied with?

「I even went as far as to use the greatsword you sold me to adjust the center of balance, but it doesn’t seem like that was the issue.」(Albert)

So…is it something like his intuition making him say that? Even if we are inside a game? Hmm….

However, the person that is using them is the one considered to be the strongest player so there’s merit to his words.

And over there, it was Selene-san accompanied by Riizu timidly inspecting the swords that were lined up.

It seems like rather than her fear of strangers, it was her curiosity as a master blacksmith that won over.

「This one, don’t tell me…is this the work of Brandon-san!?」(Selene)

Selene-san looked at the first sword with amazement.

Having completely forgotten about her fear, she approached the gigantic Albert and talked to him.

「Yeah. Brandon also resides in the Beli Confederation so he was the first one we made a request to, unfortunately, he was only able to make a single sword for us.」(Albert)

「This one is made by Vales-san and this other one by Madock-san! Aren’t all these greatswords made by famous crafters!?」(Selene)

「Vales is from the Rust Kingdom and Madock is from the Mahl Republic. I dropped by their stores while doing mercenary work.」(Albert)

Albert said it as if it was nothing but…the players Selene-san mentioned were people even I knew about…

The reason for that is because those players were all lined up at the top when you sorted the weapon category by attack power in the trading BBS. They really stand out.

「You mean that our sword is better than the ones made by these famous master blacksmiths…?」(Selene)

「That’s right, I want a sword made by you. First off, I believe that Miss Selene would also be counted among those master blacksmiths. There’s no need to be so modest.」(Albert)

…Hm? 「Our」? 「You」?

I get the feeling there’s something wrong with the way they worded things.

「That means…you are counting me too? The one that named the weapon was Selene-san though?」(Hind)

「Isn’t that a given? This greatsword is a joint work between you both after all.」(Albert)

「Hind-kun. In order for it to have the same weird feeling Albert mentioned again, as I thought, we might have to craft it in a similar situation as before…」(Selene)

「Eh, I don’t think I’m good enough of a master blacksmith…」(Hind)

“I believe I’m quite mediocre”, is what I told them.

“It’s not a problem that has to do with your skill as a master blacksmith”, he thoroughly emphasized that point.

Furthermore, Selene-san looked at me as if she wanted to take this request…as you’d expect she would be really happy, being requested this as a master blacksmith.

For her to decide to do something on her own was quite unusual, so I should respect her wishes here.

「…I’ll leave the decision to Selene-san. If she decides to take the request, I’ll do my best to help her out.」(Hind)

「Thank you, Hind-kun. …Albert-san, the request to craft a greatsword and an axe, I’ll take it!」(Selene)

「I owe you one!」(Albert)

With his daughter drinking tea at her own pace by his side, Albert bowed his head.

After taking the request, we talked about the finer details of the deal.

I believe the order we did things was wrong, but since there was no need to do things meticulously it was fine. This was a game after all.

Once Tobi remembered that he still had homework he hadn’t finished, he turned pale and logged out in a hurry.

Since I didn’t know about it, it probably had to do with supplementary lessons…don’t forget those.

And then, Yumir and Riizu were bored so they took Philia-chan with them and went to hunt some monsters in a nearby area.

In the guest room, only the three of us remained.

「If it would be possible, I would like for both of you to keep making my weapons as long as you keep playing this game.」(Albert)

「You mean you want to make a long term contract? However, there’s the possibility of you not liking our weapons at some point, also, there’s the possibility that an even more impressive blacksmith will appear in the future, so it’s nothing something I would recommend.」(Hind)

「I also want to hear a proper evaluation of each sword I make. In order for you to be able to tell me that the weapon is not good when you are not satisfied with them, there’s a need for us not to be bound by a contract.」(Selene)

「Hmm…」(Albert)

Hearing what we had to say, Albert started to think.

Wanting a long term contract was something that a government worker, who would prefer stability like him would ask for and I could empathise with him.

This being an online game that receives updates after a set time, there’s only things like gear and consumable items to take into account.

Wanting to acquire a supplier for those things, is something that I can understand.

「Before we go into details, let’s exchange friend codes first. It’ll make it easier to communicate.」(Hind)

「…Let’s do that.」(Albert)

This was also to establish a relationship, me and Selene-san exchanged friend requests with Albert.

The first time we met, I never thought that he would be a player we established such a deep connection with.

Since our playstyles were so different, I thought that would be the only time we would meet.

「For us, like Selene-san said before, it would be ideal to undertake requests on a one by one basis. In the case that you don’t like the weapon, we don’t mind if you go to another blacksmith.」(Hind)

「We’ll never know if you’ll always be satisfied with them after all…you are quite particular about the weapons you use and that is something I have noticed after talking to you so far. Since you are role playing as a mercenary, this is an important point for you after all.」(Selene)

「Just by you taking that stance towards crafting, it already makes me think that it would be fine to enter a long term contract but…no, it’s fine. Understood. However, I’ll pay it in full in advance, if what you craft turns out to be better than I imagined, I’ll give you additional pay. This is something I won’t back down from.」(Albert)

In case the weapon that’s made is not to his liking, he won’t complain either, after saying that, he crossed his arms.

It was a favourable contract with no demerits for us, me and Selene-san nodded to each other.

The gold Albert showed us was way more than necessary, on top of that, he had also brought the ingots made from rare metals from the Beli Confederation.

「In that case, we’ll accept those conditions.」(Hind)

「Thank you. Me and Philia are in the Royal Capital of Waaha because of a request to guard some people that wanted to immigrate to it, we plan to be in Sala for around three days. Can I ask you to have the gear prepared within that time frame? If it’s not possible, I don’t mind if you exten-」(Albert)

「That won’t be a problem. No matter how long blacksmithing takes in TB, it’s possible to craft a single sword within one hour.」(Selene)

Albert expressed the time frame he would want the weapon to be done in and Selene-san immediately gave him a reply.

However, the Albert parent and child duo are going to be here for close to three days, huh…

「Albert-san, actually, I have an idea.」(Hind)

Both of them looked at me with curiosity and I suggested them coming with us to investigate a certain place.

He replied with 「Interesting…let’s go together」, his face right now looked ferocious and he laughed in agreement.

Eh, I know he didn’t mean to do it like that but, aniki…Selene-san is getting scared…