Leave a comment

“Ren! What’s up with that sword, isn’t it a bit strange!?”

　Three days after our reunion, Triela was now yelling at me. Or to be more precise, she was waiting for me at the back entrance, and got angry at me when I showed up. I’m not really sure why.

”Ah, and the food was delicious! Everyone was so happy! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. So was there something wrong with the sword? Did it perhaps break by any chance?”

　That’s strange. It’s supposed to be made so that it wouldn’t break easily.

“Ah, it’s not like it broke or anything like that.”
“Hmm? Then, what’s wrong?”

　…….So it seems three days ago, after we had lunch and separated, she had gone to the guild’s resource room. Like I said, there were many things there that she had wanted to know. That being said, Triela couldn’t read many characters. So she had pleaded with the librarian and asked them to teach her.

　Apparently, her companions also had a great time that night with the sandwiches I made or something like that. That stupid Cain was also eating too. 𝓕𝓾𝓬𝓴!

　And the next day, she had gone to the forest on the east side to gather herbs in order to test out what she had learned in the resource room. There were a total of eight people who left the orphanage with her, including Triela and Cain, so the expenses for food and rent was quite high.

　And so, like usual she had gone with them and divided into two groups, one to learn more about gathering herbs and the other to earn money. Since she had just learned it yesterday at the resource room, as expected, she wasn’t entirely confident in herself. And as usual, they split up and Triela decided to join the gathering group.

　But judging from the results, Triela was successful. Up until then, the earnings from the herb gathering group weren’t too great, and even with adding in earnings from miscellaneous requests, the total would at most equal to around a silver coin. In most cases, the earnings from gathering herbs would be about 7 small silver coins, but the earnings for that day was 5 silver coins. Apparently, it was the highest amount ever.

　Incidentally, the monetary unit in this world is called gil. Going from the bottom, the coins begin with small copper coin, copper coin, small silver coin, silver coin, small gold coin, and gold coin. In terms of gil, a small copper coin would equal 1 gil. A copper coin would equal 10 gil. And the monetary value continues to increase by 10x beyond that. There’s also currency under 1 gil, but I’ll spare you the details. Going from my senses, 1 gil feels about equal to 1-10 yen. The range is kind of large? Well, there’s also various elements like price fluctuations, time period, and such.

　Anyways, moving on.

　The large room at the inn where Triela and the others were staying cost seven coppers a night, per person. For eight people, that would be five small silver coins and six copper coins in total. Adding in food expenses, it was just barely safe.

　And on that day alone, they had made more than seven times the usual amount of money. So naturally, everyone was in an uproar. Apparently, Triela had misled everyone and given the explanation that she had been informed by a kind blacksmith. She also explained that the food from the previous day was also given by the same person.

　Naturally, the next day, Triela went out again with the gathering group. But apparently, half of the other group that would normally go out to accept miscellaneous requests within the city, decided to go to the guild’s resource room to study. So with half of eight people remaining splitting into two groups, there’s only two people per group? Yep, knowledge is a weapon, so it’s important to study.

　But here was the problem. The day before that, Triela’s group of four, which included Cain, got ambushed inside the forest by goblins when they were gathering herbs.

　When a goblin attacked her, Triela had quickly drawn her sword and managed to block it, then countered by slashing back. But despite managing to counter, she was still an amateur at using the sword. And it seems she had swung towards the sword that the goblin was holding.

　Initially, she had thought she had failed and that she would damage the sword that she had received. But instead, the sword Triela had swung managed to cut through the sword that the goblin was holding and split the goblin cleanly into two.

　When Cain saw that, he had made a huge deal out of it. That being said, she couldn’t talk about me and didn’t want to. She had managed to mislead everyone, but after returning to the inn, Cain had wanted Triela’s sword and been persistent about it.

　Incidentally, the earnings from the goblins and the herbs gathered by four people on that day resulted in a small gold coin. Ah, and on a side note, apparently the rusty, broken sword that the goblin had is now hanging from Cain’s waist. Lame!!

“Um, congratulations?”
“Thanks! No, that’s not it! What’s with that sword? Is it really made by Ren!?”
“It’s definitely a sword I forged.”

　The sword I gave to Triela three days ago was a new sword I forged for myself after my blacksmithing skill reached LV5. So it’s definitely a sword I made. Incidentally, there’s a similar sword hanging on my waist right now, which I forged two days ago.

“Umm…….as expected, one for Cain would…be.”
“I will never make one for Cain. But if it’s for the other children, I might consider it.”
“Right~”

　I refuse to give Cain a sword even if my life were on the line. He could just earn enough to buy one for himself.

”To be honest, this sword is too much for the current me to handle……”
“It doesn’t matter. Please keep it to protect yourself, Triela.”
“I had a feeling you’d say that…….okay, I’ll keep it.”
“Good. Ah, and also can I ask you for something?”
“What is it?”
“I’ve made leather armor for Triela, and I need to adjust it to fit you.”
“…….I suppose I don’t have a choice anyways?”

　YES!

“Of course.”

　Yep, this is also for the sake of my mental peace. And so I began adjusting the size of the leather armor. We sat on a bench in the back alley as I made the adjustments. Although I said it was armor, isn’t it actually more of a leather breastplate than leather armor?

　However, I’ve also prepared arm and knee guards, so including the breastplate, I guess it is actually a complete set of leather armor? With this, most of the vital points of the body should be covered.

“For now, I’ve made it so that you can adjust the size up to a certain extent with the belt, so it should be usable for a while even if you grow up and your body becomes bigger. But if you feel that the size doesn’t fit anymore, don’t force yourself to use it and get a new one. Otherwise, you’ll get injured.”

“Okay, I understand. But this is amazing, it fits so well but it’s still easy to move in. The one from before was very difficult to move in, but how did you get my sizes? I’ve grown quite a bit in the past year or so.”

　I checked her sizes using Analyze the day we met, but……

“…….Right, you have grown a lot.”

　When we were back at the orphanage, I was taller, but now Triela was taller. And her entire frame was slender and slim. Or rather, it was actually slender and skinny.

“Actually, Ren didn’t seem to have grown taller at all……? Ah, but your chest……”

　Right, I haven’t even grown a millimeter taller! God dammit! What am I even supposed to do with this ridiculously big chest!? Wait, don’t stare at my chest! Stop it!

“Please don’t stare at my chest so much.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“To be honest, they’re a nuisance. Rather, Triela’s rapid growth is more surprising to me.”
“A nuisance……”

　Even if you look at me like that, a nuisance is a nuisance. My chest gets in the way and I’m forced to keep my movements tight, and they also get in the way when I swing the hammer during forging, and when I use a sword. It hurts when I run, and if I say something like this to people who don’t have them, they might get angry, even though it would just actually be a pain if they did. Also, my shoulders get sore.

“It was the same with the sword, but I get the feeling that this leather armor will also be amazing……I wonder if my equipment is too strong and it’ll cause me to be unable to gain actual experience?”

“It could be a problem when considering the future, but I still want Triela to be properly equipped.”

　But it’s still better to use good equipment, since she should be able to learn how to properly use them.

“If you say so…… Well, okay, that’s fine then, but when I get back and Cain sees this armor, he’s going to make a fuss again.”
“Just ignore him.”
“That’s harsh!”

“Fine, just tell him you saved up some money and buy it. Triela, you were able to meet me because you walked around on your own two feet looking for a mutual assistance contract partner. If Cain also wants his own sword and other equipment, he should get it for himself.”

“That’s true. In fact, he always mocked me whenever I went out to the eastern district and called it pointless.”

　That a-hole, is he still as foul-mouthed and stupid as ever? Laughing at my best friend’s efforts, unforgivable. But for now, I’m prioritizing Triela’s diet. I should add more meat.

“There’s so much meat, I can’t eat it all……”

　Nope. Everything must be eaten.