kscans

Chapter 20 - What Captures the Heart

A week had passed since Hayato met the butler, Relic, and Ash's sister, Ren.

And all that time, Hayato had been racking his brain.

He was struggling to decide which "ornament that captures the heart" to choose, the condition for Relic's assistance.

In a normal game, you could just prepare a lot of plausible-looking items and hand them over one by one. If one didn't work, you'd just give them another. In other words, you could just keep trying until you got the right answer.

But in this case, the other party was a high-performance AI. There was a high probability that handing over the wrong item would nullify the promise itself. And Hayato's pride as a craftsman would not allow him to make multiple attempts.

What Hayato was aiming for was, of course, a single, decisive blow. To provide what the other party desired in a single offering.

With the next Clan War approaching, he didn't really have time for this, but he had some items left over from the last Clan War, so he had a little leeway.

Therefore, for the past week, Hayato had been carefully considering which item to give.

(It's probably not just about it being expensive. It's not about good performance, or having a special effect. Relic-san said he liked beautiful things. Even if it has no effect, as long as it's beautiful, it should be fine. But the standard of that beauty is... I did make a whole range of items when I was leveling up my Crafting Skill. I'll have to remember one from that and make it. But leveling up production skills was hell. Honestly, I don't want to remember it.)

Hayato's hell. It referred to how grueling it was to get a skill to 100.

Basically, skills increase in value by being used repeatedly. If you want to raise your sword skill, you fight with a sword. If you want to raise your magic skill, you use magic. By using the skill, a check for skill increase is performed, and if the check is successful, the skill goes up.

However, for all skills, that check becomes stricter after level 90. The probability of an increase is said to be less than 0.1%, meaning it might go up once per thousand uses, or it might not. Other than that, there is also a difficulty check for skill increase, and you need to challenge yourself with a difficulty appropriate for your skill level.

Combat skills could be said to be the easier ones. The probability is low, but the skills will naturally go up if you keep fighting. Even with a probability of less than 0.1%, you just have to fight monsters. Of course, if you only fight weak monsters, you'll fail the difficulty check and it won't go up at all.

And production skills go up by creating something. You don't have to fight monsters, but you have to gather materials and make things over and over again. If you're repeatedly making things with few materials, it's not that much trouble. But things with few materials have a low difficulty, and the skill will only go up to a certain value. Therefore, you have to create items that match your skill level.

After skill level 90, that becomes strict. Items that match that skill level require many materials, and they are also hard to come by. Gathering many materials or rare materials costs money, and the success rate of creation is low. It could be said that raising a production skill to 100 takes a considerable amount of effort and money.

In Hayato's case, his clan members gathered the materials for him, so it didn't cost him that much money, but it was still a considerable struggle.

(The price of materials is high, and it's not like the things you make will sell for more than the price of the materials. And if you fail in the creation, the materials themselves are lost. It's more than just a loss. It's absolutely impossible to do solo.)

This was one of the reasons Hayato wouldn't let go of his production skills. The total of all skills was capped at 1000. You had to manage within that limit. He couldn't just change the production skills he had worked so hard to raise into combat skills.

(Well, the hard part is in the past. Now, thanks to that, I can earn money without fighting monsters, and I can get strong NPCs to join me. I'll clear Relic-san's challenge and have him play an active role in the next Clan War.)

With that in mind, Hayato narrowed down his options for what to make.

"Master, are you still agonizing over this? You should just make a whole bunch of things and hand them over. One of them is bound to be a hit."

Esha entered Hayato's room on the second floor of the fortress without knocking.

"This is a battle of taste. I want to hand over just one and have Relic-san be satisfied."

"You have a troublesome personality. Your goal is to get the sword back, so you don't have time to be saying things like that."

"That's true, but... Hey, out of these, which one do you think is the most beautiful?"

Hayato placed several candidates on the table. They were all items that required a relatively high skill level.

"How were you able to make something with such high performance, in terms of materials... Ah, Ney-san and the others, I see."

The materials for crafting were provided by his former Kokuryu clan members, Ney and the others. They had brought them over, saying that for some reason they couldn't make things well even with the materials, so they were giving them all to Hayato. And they had arranged to bring him things that could be used as materials on a regular basis in the future. In exchange, they had asked him to make their equipment later, a proposal Hayato had gladly accepted.

"Having girls provide you with materials... That's not evil, that's being a freeloader. Or a scoundrel."

"You're not wrong, but could you rephrase that?"

Despite their exchange, Esha picked up the items on the table and looked at them. She examined each one, but her reaction was not good.

"None of these are beautiful. To begin with, they're no good because you can't eat them."

"I was a fool to ask you, Esha."

"I am joking. But actually, seeing these reminded me of something."

Esha's story was about Relic's days as a thief.

During his time as a thief, Relic would send a calling card and then steal an item, and Esha remembered his tendencies.

"Simple things?"

"I think it was mostly small rings and bracelets. The mansions Relic broke into apparently had some pretty expensive things, but it seems he didn't even glance at them. Also, he apparently went out of his way to steal things from cases that were magically set to sound an alarm. I heard there were things that weren't in cases, but he didn't touch those."

"Could it be something like this? It's just a plain, simple ring, but it is five-star."

It had no effect and didn't increase any stats. It was really just a ring. But it used some fairly rare materials, and it was an item with a high enough difficulty to raise the skill to 100.

"I think it's pretty, but I can't say for sure. In the first place, why do you have a ring with no effect? I don't think a ring with no effect is useful for anything. And you can't eat it."

"That's true. This is the thing that was made right when my Crafting Skill hit 100. So I'm keeping it as a memento."

Every time Hayato looked at it, he remembered the joy he felt when his Crafting Skill hit 100. Even if it was of no use, he couldn't sell it or throw it away.

"Ah, so it's a memento."

"Still, I can't give this one away. I'll have to make another one until I get a five-star. Alright, I'll bet on Esha's information."

"Is that so? Well, if you succeed, please thank me not with words, but with food. I am afraid of manju. And I am also afraid of hot tea."

"It'd be nice if you changed it up once in a while, you know? Well, whatever, I'm going to start working, so later..."

"Ah, that's right, I remembered why I came here. I'm returning this."

What Esha handed to Hayato was a box that would spring a poison needle trap when opened. It was a box Hayato had made when he was leveling up his Woodworking Skill. It wasn't a memento or anything special.

"Why did you open it?"

"I thought there might be something delicious hidden inside. Also, please give me an antidote potion. My HP is getting dangerously low."

"You forgot that reason, huh..."

Hayato, exasperated with Esha, handed her an antidote potion. Afterward, he crafted a five-star ring and headed for the Butler Guild.

At the Butler Guild, he called for Relic and was shown to the same reception room as before.

A few minutes later, Relic appeared in the reception room.

"Hayato-sama. I apologize for the wait."

"No, no, I'm the one making the unreasonable request. I've brought the promised item today."

"Actually, I have been looking forward to this all week. May I see what you have prepared right away?"

"Yes, here it is."

Hayato placed the simple ring on his palm and showed it to Relic. Relic said, "Allow me," and took the ring in his hand to look at it.

(Relic-san is so serious he even took out a monocle. The item itself is five-star, but I wonder.)

After looking at the ring, Relic returned it to Hayato.

"It is a splendid piece that accurately captures my tastes."

"Then..."

"However, it is not enough to capture my heart. It is a fine item, but I do not wish to steal it. This ring is a failure. Oh, and feel free to challenge me as many times as you like. I shall look forward to your next attempt."

(So it was no good. But, he wants to steal it? Does he mean I have to make him want to steal it? Come to think of it, I think Esha said something... That's right, she said he didn't steal things that weren't in cases. Does that mean I have to put it in a state where it's not easy to steal? Then...)

Hayato placed his memento ring in the box that activated the poison needle trap. He handed that to Relic.

"This is a different ring from the last one, but I've put it inside a trapped box. How about this? Wouldn't this make you want to steal it, Relic-san?"

Relic looked a little surprised, but he quickly smiled.

"Wonderful. I was planning to help you even if you didn't get the right answer, but to find it so quickly. Yes, there is nothing that captures my heart more than something that is protected. From today's hint, I thought it would take you a few more tries, but you have done splendidly, Hayato-sama."

"No, no, it was just a coincidence. Then, about the upcoming Clan War, may I ask for your assistance?"

"Yes, of course. I shall steal that sword for you without fail."

Hadato and Relic exchanged a firm handshake.

(Esha probably knew the answer. I'll have to prepare the highest quality manju and tea for her when I get back.)

With that thought, Hayato left the Butler Guild.