Chapter 21: A New Companion and a New Weapon

 

“Liliella-san, they went your way!”

“Leave it to me! Haa!”

Liliella-san swung her spear sideways, and a Blade Wolf’s head was sent flying in the same direction.

“This is amazingly sharp!?”

Liliella-san said, surprised by the sharpness of her new weapon.

“There’s still some left! Don’t let your guard down!”

“R-right!”

◆ ◆

Having returned to Hexi, Liliella-san had split up with her old party and asked to make a party with me.

She said it was so she could repay some kind of favour she apparently owed me.

She really didn’t have to worry about something like that though.

And when I asked her whether it was all right for her to split up with her companions, she said the following:

“Since I was looking for herbs that could cure Alza, I was not able to make a fixed party focused entirely on collection-type requests.
So my companions were going to split up with me eventually anyway.”

Apparently, that was how it was.

Well, even I felt lonely adventuring alone, and thinking it might be more fun with a fellow B-Rank as a companion, I decided to form a party with her.

And this day, we went on our first adventure as a party.

The request was to subjugate Blade Wolves that were coming out onto the roads.

It seemed the Blade Wolves that had escaped from under the mutant’s control before had, instead of returning back into the depths of the forest, actually made a strange area their territory.

“This is the last one, right?”

Said Liliella-san, cutting off its head.

“But still, this spear is amazing.”

Liliella-san scrutinized the spear she was holding.

“Ahaha.
And spears are more effective in combat than swords anyway.”

When we had formed the party, we had instantly been faced with a problem before setting out.

That problem was that Liliella-san’s sword had broken.

It had broken when she had been fighting with the Blade Wolves and the Mutant before.

And since she hadn’t had the time to buy a new one because I had dragged her off to her old hometown, she had completely forgotten about it.

So, we had hurried to go buy her a new weapon, but there had only been ones of rather low quality.

To be honest, Gordov-san’s weapons were way better.

So, I had asked the town’s blacksmith to let me borrow the forge.

If they only sold weapons of that quality in the shop, I thought it would be faster if I just made one myself.

And just because I had managed to borrow a stubborn craftsman’s workplace didn’t mean I was doing so for free.

I had to give him a hundred gold coins and quite a lot of the materials of the Blade Wolves I had defeated…

“Sure! Use it as you please, bro!”

He generously lent me the forge.

Thank goodness I had collected the Blade Wolves that had been defeated with the mutant before coming back to the town.

So, I decided to make a new weapon for Liliella-san.

Liliella-san used a sword originally, but that was only because it was what she had been able to get with the nearly no money she said she had had.

“I mean, I had to send money home to auntie, so I had to use the bare minimum amount of money for my equipment.”

Yep, that was a disaster waiting to happen.

Since it had come to that, I had bought a bunch of different weapons at the weapon shop in order to find out which one would be the most suitable for her.

“I-I feel bad making you buy all these.
Wait, can’t I just use one of these anyway?”

I shook my head at Liliella-san, who was holding back from trying to get a proper weapon.

“No way, you need to choose a weapon that suits your strength.
If a strong person uses a weak weapon, their strength will be merely an illusion.
Low-quality weapons aren’t durable enough to withstand the power of a strong person.
So I have to make the weapon that fits you the most.”

Then I had Liliella-san use a bunch of different weapons, the result of which turned out to be that the weapon the most suited to her was the spear.

Spears also had the advantage of being quite long, and in a fight against a person with the same amount of strength using a sword, they were way better.

“The materials used will be this! A mutant Blade Wolf’s short blade! I’ll use this as the head of the spear!”

“The mutant’s materials!? W-w-wait a second! You don’t have to use such valuable materials!”

Liliella-san was saying the weapon would be a waste on her, but even if it was a mutant, there really was no need to be so careful with this level of material.

“Then, its body will be carved out of a Killer Plant, and I’ll make the other end out of a Green Dragon’s scale!”

“Hang on!? I think I just heard an amazing name there!?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

It was just a fragment of one of the Green Dragon’s scales, after all.

“And then I guess I’ll process a Venom Viper’s scales into the metal fittings.”

“I’ve never even heard of the name, but those are definitely valuable materials!?”

“They’re completely normal materials!”

“And that’s definitely a lie!”

Cling clang cling clang went the hammer as I processed the mutant’s blade, after which I strengthened each part’s hardness, corrosion resistance, deterioration resistance and sharpness retaining with magic.

“I have no idea what you’re doing specifically, but the thing’s shining, so it’s definitely something amazing!?”

Ahahaha, this much is normal for dwarves.

“Alright, finished!”

I held out the completed spear to Liliella-san.

“I’ve finished making your spear! Come on, take it!”

“…”

But for some reason, she didn’t take it.

“Come one, give it a whirl.”

“Is it really okay if I touch this? It won’t steal my soul or something, will it? Even though it’s releasing that amazing aura? It’s not a magic spear, is it?”

“I strengthened it with magic, so I guess you could call it a magic spear, yeah.”

“I knew it!? To be able to make a Magic Item, who on earth are you!?”

“I used to be an ordinary villager and now I’m an ordinary adventurer?”

“Your concept of ordinary is wrong! An ordinary former villager can’t become a B-Rank adventurer within a month, they can’t defeat a mutant with amazing swordsmanship, they can’t fly, they can’t cure near-impossible-to-cure illnesses, they can’t burn the Forest of Magic Beasts down with magic, and they can’t defeat an A-Rank monster bare-handed either! And they can’t make Magic Items either!! ……”

Having shouted that all in one breath, Liliella-san was out of breath.

So, hang on…

“I had no idea!?”

“How can you only realise that now!!”

I got scolded.

“B-but everyone back in my village can do that!?”

“Then there’s no way that’s an ordinary village!”

I didn’t know.
So my village wasn’t normal…

“Well, my village might not be ordinary, but I’m an ordinary adventurer.
There are many people who can defeat a mutant.”

“Like! I! Said! There! Aren’t! Any!”

But there really are.

It’s common sense that if you want to become the best warrior, you have to be able to use and do swords and magic and healing and smithing and everything on your own.

“Oh right, Liliella-san, you’re a self-taught adventurer, so you never had a master, right?”

“Eh?”

“My masters told me that if I wanted to become a proper person, I had to be able to do anything on my own to a certain extent.
Have you ever studied under someone?”

“…I-I haven’t.
Or if I really had to say, maybe the adventurers I formed parties with up until now?”

I thought so.
Liliella-san had never had a proper teacher, so she hadn’t learned any basic knowledge or techniques.

If you became strong by teaching yourself, the basics would get left out.

And the adventurers that taught her probably didn’t know she hadn’t learned the basics yet.

But since she was still able to become B-Rank like that, Liliella-san certainly had talent.

“I see, all right then! Then I’ll teach you all the necessary techniques and knowledge!”

“Eh!? How’d you come to that conclusion from our conversation!?”

“You can’t use body strengthening magic or healing magic, can you?”

“No I can’t, I mean, I do use a sword.”

“If you want to become a proper adventurer, you’ll have to be able to use magic to a certain extent even if you’re a sword-user! I actually know an F-Rank adventurer who’s a sword-user but can also use body strengthening magic!”

Speaking of which, I wonder how Jairo-kun and co.
are doing?

“A magic swordsman even though they’re F-Rank!?”

Liliella-san made a surprised face.

Mhm, she must have been feeling a sense of crisis at having come this far without having been taught that by someone.

“Please rest assured, I’ll also help you become stronger!”

“You will? …No but… hmm.”

Saying so, Liliella-san put her hand on her chin and fell deep in thought.

“I really am just holding him back as I am now… but if I learn how to fight…”

Then, after having muttered to herself for a while, Liliella-san seemed to have made her mind up on something and looked up at me.

“All right.
Rex-san, I’ll listen to your teachings.
No wait, please teach me how to fight!”

“Yes, happily!”

And like that, not only had we formed a party, but had also established a tentative master-disciple relationship.

◆ ◆

And then Liliella-san made a splendid debut with her new weapon.

“You seem to have gotten the hang of using it now.”

“Yeah, it’s amazingly light and frighteningly sharp.
And with the spear art you taught me, I feel like I’m an expert now.”

Liliella-san replied shyly.

Her shy face is also cute.

“Ahaha, all I did was teach you something one of my acquaintances taught me.”

“That acquaintance of yours must be some ridiculous person too, then.
Do these spear arts belong to some school?”

“I think it was something like the Dragon Emperor Style Air Spearmanship?”

“What? That’s a weird name.”

“Ahaha, it is a bit over-the-top isn’t it.”

“Over-the-top?”

Liliella-san tilted her head in confusion.

“Now then, you’ve tried out your new weapon, so let’s go further in, shall we.”

Saying so, I pointed into the forest.

“Right, with your barrier magic, we don’t need to bother with the entrance.”

Since Liliella-san had agreed, we decided to go further into the forest.

“Yeah, let’s go then.
Destination: The Forest of Magic Beasts’ centre!”

“Yaaay!!”

Liliella-san answered enthusiastically.

“…Hm? Centre?”

Or not, now she was puzzled.

“Yes, we’re going to the centre of the Forest of Magic Beasts.”

“I see, we’re going to the centre.”

“Yeah, making roads to each of the towns and villages near the forest is way more convenient if we start from the centre.”

“I see… wait, why are you only just telling me thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!!”

Liliella-san’s unreasonable shout echoed back at us from the forest.