“Tek here, when I became a working adult, I ate a lot of sugary confectionery from different shops--however, when I was in University, almost all of the sugar I had, would come in the form of energy drinks.”

 

“Master, the merchants seem to be departing,” Liza comes over, alerting me that it’s time to start moving--I ask Lulu to start the wagon, as I sit against the backboard, opposite Mara, and observe her creations. She had been practicing blacksmithing when I made a forge and anvil for her using my Cube Magic.

 

It seems that the merchants who are with at the same camping ground are departing. There are three groups of merchants--and they told me a lot of stories while we shared alcohol and fish. Strangely, none of the girls, other than Mara, wanted to drink.

 

The most troubling is, “It’s been told, that in a remote place, deep in the mountains--a deep crimson light can be seen, and the ghostly sound of metal-on-metal hammering rings out, resounding through the night.”

 

This, ghost story, seems to have been started because of Mara and I--we would go out into the mountains for her to practice her blacksmithing. Purely using Magic, and a hammer, to create a makeshift workshop is quite rare.

 

Since we can arrive at Gururian City before noon, I invite a pair of sisters to join us.

 

“Yay!”

“Thank you very much. Are you sure it’s alright?”

“I don’t mind, we have the same destination anyway.”

 

These sisters were doing the reckless act of walking from their village to Gururian City on foot--without any escorts. It seems that the distance from their homes to the city is two days, and they were very lucky that they didn’t get attacked by Monsters or thieves.

 

Last night, they slept in a tent near our wagon, while we slept in the wagon itself. They were asking random people if they could join their camps, even their tents--they seem to be way too innocent.

 

After the girls hop into the back of the wagon, we start moving, joining the other merchant’s carriages. There are a group of rather suspicious young nobles gathering on the open field in front of Gururian City--so I decided that I should just blend in with the normal merchants.

 

***

“Merchants who are visiting Gururian City! We desire Magic Swords--we promise, whoever gives us Magic Swords, we will owe you a favour in the future. A favour that you can use in the future!” A man in his twenties and wearing expensive clothing is appealing to the merchants who are lining up to enter the city.

 

Naturally, no one answers him--he seems to be like the noble that we ran into at Bollhart.

 

Since it seemed that it would cause problems, I stored Liza’s Magic Spear in Storage--it hadn’t yet become a problem, but it had the potential to, especially since it was a Magic weapon. So, right now, Liza is wearing a normal sword.

 

“Hey hey, that noble said that he’d owe you a favour if you gave him a Magic Sword! It’s amazing right, Sister?”

 

“It sure is. However, such rare and expensive things like Magic Swords have nothing to do with us.”

 

“You girls, you will easily get deceived in the city like that, you know?” Arisa butts into the sisters’ carefree talk, worrying for them, “What he said really means ‘We don’t have money. However, we want Magic Swords--give some to us for free. As compensation, we’ll owe you a favour in the future, if we succeed. But, don’t complain if we don’t succeed.’ which is convenient for them alone, isn’t it?”

 

“Ooh, so it’s like that. I didn’t know.”

“Arisa, you’re so smart.”

 

The sisters had gotten down from the wagon with help from Nana. They quickly line up in the queue for people, since the lines for individual people and the line for carriages are different.

 

“Tek, thank you.”

“Thank you very much. On top of letting us use the safety of your camp, you also gave us meals.”

 

“Don’t worry about it.”

 

“That won’t do. We’ll be working in a store called Midoriya, so if you need something there, please, pay us a visit. I can’t give you a discount, but I’ll prepare the best goods for you.”

 

I accept the girls’ good will, and thank them.

 

The nobles and their servants seem to be negotiating with the merchants who are waiting in the queue, they are moving along one-by-one.

 

I’ll enter the city before they get here.

 

We go toward the gate, without lining up. Nana and Liza have talked to one of the gatekeepers, they learned that we can go in first, since nobles are prioritized--although it’s not like Bollhart, where they didn’t even bother checking us at all, they only seem to only formally check us.

 

I heard, “Eh?”, and “So, he’s a noble?” from behind. Come to think of it, I never told them who I was.

 

***

During the past several days, Mara has been mostly secluded in the wagon and playing around with materials we gather--she has been practicing, and making swords for Pochi and Tama. The finished products almost equal Liza’s Magic Spear.

 

If they weren’t too big and heavy, I could give them some of the Magic Swords from my storage--but Lizardmen seem to be stronger than most Demi-Humans, and their weapons are large and unwieldy compared to those of the Humans, Dogkin and Catkin.

 

Also, Mara looked like she was bored--and I purchased her specifically for making weapons and armour.

 

Apparently, there are five types of Magic Swords.

 

The first is the type that incorporates the Magic Circuit from Trazayuya’s Holy Sword research--I wrote out a decoded version of the papers, and gave it to Mara. She was so excited that after a quick thanks, she forgot the rest of her food that she had been eating at the time, and dashed off into the wagon.

 

She didn’t sleep at all for the next three days as she practiced.

 

The second type is a normal Magic Sword like the one that Dohar made--it’s the type that can accept Magic Power without a special Magic Circuit, since that’s characteristic of Magic metals like Mithril or Adamantite, it’s difficult to acquire the material, but they are very strong.

 

The third type is weapons made made from Monster parts, just like Liza’s Magic Spear. The performance is similar to the second type, but the weapons differ greatly between individuals--weapons made from the same type of Monster’s parts could have great differences.

 

The fourth type is Cursed Weapons. Even though it grants a permanent Magic effect, it basically harms the wielder, so very few people use this type of weapon--None of the girls, or Mara, had met anyone, other than Dohar, who used this kind of weapon.

 

The fifth type is where the blade and Magic Circuit are made separately, and then attached together to become a complete Magic Sword. Mara was best with this type, since she was very confident in her blacksmithing, and I would add the Magic Circuit.

 

We tried creating a Magic Circuit during the casting process. But the Circuit Liquid was too weak to heat and dissolved halfway through. The resulting sword can barely accept any Magic Power, the Magic is then distorted--so there isn’t really any practical use for it.

 

I decided to try something, making swords by shaving the shell from a beetle Monster, and combining it with Hard Newt’s bones. I then created Magic Circuits for the top of the hilt, and the joint between the sword and hilt, laying them on top of each other when I joined them.

 

This resulted in usable Magic Swords, but they were weaker than Liza’s Magic Spear--and Mara was upset that I basically took her only job, the only way that she could be useful.

 

So I stored them away--Mara made some blades, and I made separate handles with Magic Circuits, resulting in the blades now used by Pochi and Tama.

 

I also got the Bone Crafting Skill when I was shaving the bones.

 

***

Now we have entered the city, I have a few things to do. The first of which is to go to the City Lord and give Nina’s letter to them.

 

Karina and the maid squad are inside the ship that’s currently entering the port--but they most likely will remain on the ship until it reaches the capital.

 

Since Raka shouldn’t be able to detect us here--there should be no need to worry.

 

It seems that the first preliminary fights to enter the qualification list are currently happening in the public parks right now. It seems that you have to pay three copper coins to participate--and when 10 people have gathered, the first preliminary round could begin.

 

A match happens every time two people gather.

 

People who managed to win the four first preliminary matches could participate in the second preliminary round.

 

It seems that each city has to have the best four.

 

It’s been a week since all of this began, and there are currently 20 people who have passed the first round.

 

Since there’s a match taking place in a park near the main road, I decide to have Lulu stop the wagon, so we can watch. The people participating in this fight are rather mixed, mostly between level 5 - 8, with some that exceed level 10 are mixed in too.

 

The ones currently fighting are both around level 15, they wear leather armour and use one-handed swords and shields, they seem to be experienced mercenaries.

 

Their levels aren’t too different from Liza and the others--but they’re so slow, and there are way too many useless movements. I’d say that the Beastkin girls could beat either of them, and that isn’t my favouritism.

 

Apparently, the winner of this match is eligible to participate in the next set of fights, so the cheering is quite frantic.

 

Suddenly, an uproar can be heard from nearby.

 

“It’s terrible! Monsters have appeared inside the city!”

 

I quickly check my map, but surprisingly there are a lot of Monsters in the city--they are domesticated Monsters called Running Dragons, used by the cavalry.

 

There are no Monsters in the direction where the shout originates. The one there is a Demon--and there happens to be a troublesome person nearby.