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　After my shocking first time, we continued traveling on the road for about a day, and then in about another 1-2 days later, we arrived at the royal capital. It would usually take about a week to travel from the fief capital to the royal capital, but we had my superior carriage and golem horses. So we arrived rather quickly. But we were still taking our time traveling since we weren’t in a hurry.

　Also I found out it was because of my mental resistance skill that I wasn’t distraught by my first time. It seems it was able to significantly reduce negative emotions and mental stress. Since mine was level 10, it probably completely shut everything out. I couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.

　We were currently having a lunch break. We parked the carriage off the road, and took out a table and chairs for a relaxing meal.

　The menu was egg sandwich. It was a dish of lightly-cooked scrambled eggs inside a sandwich. It was seasoned with only salt and pepper. I gave them a bit before, but it was still too early for them to eat mayonnaise frequently. The bread was soft and was made using natural yeast. The two of them were eating with surprised expressions. Fufufu, is it good? There’s plenty more! Eat up!

　Incidentally, I baked this loaf of bread early this morning using earthenware I made using earth magic.

“Ren, how many more recipes do you have? This is my first time eating bread like this!”
“Rather, is this really bread~!? It’s my first time having this kind of bread~!”

　Ufufu, I’ve robbed both Lily and Arisa of their first time¹….. Or, rather, please spread egg sandwiches more, past reincarnated folks. It wasn’t even that difficult to make.

“I still have many more recipes. The bread I made was just one of them. Is it that soft and good?”
“It’s very good~ truly a bliss~”
“Ren, why don’t you become a chef?”
“Becoming a chef is a bit……since I only cook for fun.”
“…….This is for fun?”
“This isn’t the level of just for fun~…….”

　What to say? Well, my Cooking skill is already LV10.

“Ah, right. Lily, is there an inn you would recommend at the royal capital? I would like one with a bath and where Norn and Bell can stay.”
“Huh? You’re going to stay at an inn?”
“Eh? Well, yeah.”
“I was going to invite you to stay with me at my parents’ home! Please live at my house!”² “Ehh? As expected, that’s a bit too much.”
“No, no, you’ve been taking care of me in various ways, and you’ve also given me so many delicious foods, so I should be the one saying thanks! And I’ve also promised to teach you magic! There are even spell books at my parent’s house, so it’ll also save us time too! So please do come!”³

　Woah, she’s pushing rather hard for it……but, hmm.

“Umm, then, I’ll take you up on your offer?”
“Yes! Please indulge yourself!”

　Well, it’s true that I fed them a lot, so I guess I’ll intrude for a while?

“Lily, you’re being a bit sly, you know~?”
“The fast one wins, right Arisa?”⁴ “Muu.”

　Why are you two competing for me……?

“Speaking of which, does Ren have any plans when we arrive at the royal capital? After buying ingredients and such?”
“Right……I’m basically just going to be looking for ingredients, and Lily is going to be teaching me about magic-related things so I’m okay there too. After that……”

　Lily was going to be teaching me about magic, so I didn’t have to search for a spell book. I was grateful that my expenses would be reduced.

　Speaking of magic, Lily could use Barrier Magic. In fact, after trying various things, I found out I could also use it. After checking my status, my skills did end up increasing, so I was currently in the middle of leveling them up.

　As for Alchemy, there basically wasn’t a spell book for it, and Lily said that it could only be learned if someone taught you it.

　Scrolls for skills like Compound and Create Magic Tool were sold at the Alchemist guild, but the scrolls were only sold to people who possessed the Alchemy skill. But even with the skill, if the person wasn’t part of the guild, it would still be difficult to obtain them.

　As such, I was postponing Alchemy again due to those circumstances. What a shame.

　So that would mean I just have the Blacksmith skill left to train……

“…….Is there a place where I could rent a smithy?”
“A smithy?”
“Yes, I want to practice my Blacksmith skill.”
“Eh? You have a Blacksmith skill? So you can make swords?”
“Well, yes. I made the ones I’m currently using. There’s something I want to try making, so I would like to improve my Blacksmith skill. That’s why I was wondering if there is a place like that.”
“……If that’s the case, I might be able to introduce you to a place~”

“Arisa?”
“Ah, right. Arisa’s family……”
“Arisa’s family? Is there something about it?”
“My family has been a family of swordsmen for generations~ And there’s a blacksmith’s place that we’ve always favored, so if I ask the master there, maybe it would work~”

　I see.

“So how long do you need to rent it? I think you will need some money to rent it, is that okay~?”
“I think I should have enough money. If it’s not enough, I will do my best to gather herbs and earn more. If I’m renting it, I want to borrow it for at least six months.”
“Six months!?”

　For now, I would like to make LV10 the target skill level. I felt like it would take about six months to focus and train it up to that point. If I couldn’t get that far in six months, I would just have to lower my head and ask to extend the period.

“Um, is it okay to ask for that?”
“Leave it to me! You’ll be giving me more delicious things to eat after all, right~?”⁵

　Is she implying that I should feed her more……?

“So what kind of sword do you want to make? A mana sword? An attribute sword? You mentioned alchemy before so perhaps a magic sword?”

　Mana sword? Attribute sword? What are those? Arisa listed a few but I was confused so she explained.

　Mana sword. A sword with no attribute effects, but it was stronger and more durable than ordinary swords. In addition, since mana was infused, it was effective against spirits and the undead. It was also highly versatile because it wasn’t geared towards any element.

　Attribute sword. A sword with various attribute effects. Because it specialized in different attributes, the overall strengths and weaknesses would depend on the attribute.

　A powerful mana sword and attribute sword could even be used in conjunction to release mana to temporarily boost attack power and effect. The mana expended by the sword would recover with time, but the recovery rate varied.

　And magic sword. A sword that had attribute effects and skill effects. The typical skills placed on it would be skills like Increase Attack and Increase Defense. There were even rare skills such as Increase Luck. In addition, if the sword had a special skill effect but no attribute effect, it would still be classified as a magic sword.

　Furthermore, depending on the weapon, there were even special weapon-specific techniques. I suppose this would be appealing to chuunibyou?

　As such, it seems that alchemy was usually required to create magic swords. Alchemy again! And the goal of a swordsman would be to get the most powerful magic sword too. Hmm.

“If you get a magic sword, you can also call yourself a magic swordsman~!”
“There’s various things wrong about that.”
“Right~ The rest would be holy sword and cursed sword~?”

　Ohh, so there’s even that sort of thing?

　Holy sword. A powerful sword with sacred powers bestowed by god. It had the holy attribute, and also possessed very powerful special abilities. The holy attribute was the dominant attribute over all the other attributes except for non-attribute. As such, it was a powerful weapon just due to it being a holy sword. Just as the name implied, with the attribute effect and various special skills, it was capable of performing rather outrageous feats.

　It was said that old master blacksmiths of the past were capable of creating holy swords.

　Cursed sword. Apparently, it was an evil sword bestowed by the Dark God. Aside from having the dark attribute, the specs were basically the same as the Holy Sword. However, the holy sword and the cursed sword were naturally weak to each other, so the higher ranking weapon would win if the two were to pit against each other.

　Lastly, the divine sword. The existence of it only came up in legends and it seems that the exact details of it were unknown. Something along the lines of being able to cut through anything?

　But, I wonder.

　I wasn’t too sure about the divine sword, but if people in the past were able to make holy swords and cursed swords, then I could probably also make them using Creation Magic. When I consider that, I felt very grateful to Arisa.

　Yep, but for now, let’s just do our best with a magic sword first.

1. Silva: Lood!
2. Silva: Translation: Please marry me!
3. Silva: Translation: Your cooking is so good you’d make a good wife.
4. Silva: And Lily wins a waifu, for the record, Lily translates to Yuri.
   Robinxen: I love this because the affection system in Neptunia is called Lily Ranks.
5. Silva: Your intentions are spilling.