kscans

Chapter 53 - The Broken Magic Sword

The day after the Demon Lord Lunaria's visit, Hayato was in his room, gazing at a broken magic sword.

The sword's name was Arondight. It was a sword that could be said to symbolize the Demon Country, and it was the counterpart to the Excalibur held by the Hero.

According to what Esha heard from Lunaria, Lunaria had broken Arondight by neglecting to check its durability. Apparently, if it broke, the Demon Country would be in big trouble.

Everyone would be mad if they found out. She wanted to fix it before they knew. But if she fixed it in the Demon Country, they would find out. So, the human country it was. But she didn't know anyone in the human country. That's right, Esha-chan would know. Let's ask her for help.

That was the reason she had come all this way.

(She didn't even know Esha was working at a shop, and was apparently thrilled when she heard this shop could fix it. A blessing in disguise, I guess. But the reason being she doesn't want to get scolded... Isn't the Demon Lord supposed to be important?)

According to Esha, Lunaria was well-loved in the Demon Country, but her personality and other factors had turned her into a Demon Lord with very little confidence.

When he asked how Esha knew such information, she said she had an acquaintance in the Demon Country who had told her. That acquaintance was apparently a former clan member.

That piqued his interest as well, but he didn't have time to ask about it now. The important thing now was to repair this sword quickly.

Even though it was broken, it was a sword that symbolized the Demon Country. What would happen if it was discovered that he possessed it? He didn't know for sure, but he couldn't imagine it would be a pleasant situation.

(She should have brought it when she came to have it fixed, but instead she leaves it here with the manufacturing method for Arondight...)

He didn't know if she trusted him or if she just wasn't thinking, but Lunaria had entrusted the broken Arondight to Esha and returned to the Demon Country.

He regretted not being there himself, but it was already too late, so he was thinking about returning it as soon as possible.

He had taken on an extra job despite having to prepare for the Clan War, but he decided there was no point in worrying about it and immediately began to check the items needed to fix it.

Crafting Arondight required a fair number of items. First, the broken Arondight, and a large amount of Adamantite. In addition, it required gems such as an Abyssal Diamond, a Blood Ruby, a Deep Sea Sapphire, and a Jungle Emerald.

He already had the gems. The rings, bracelets, and other equipment made using these gems had quite good effects, so he always kept them in stock. Some of them had the effect of raising skills. Hayato had several such pieces of equipment himself.

(The problem is the Adamantite. It uses so much that if I bought it at auction, it would cost a fortune. I could afford it, but if the clan's shared money decreases too much, the real-world prize money will also decrease, so I want to avoid using it if possible.)

The clan's shared in-game currency affected the real-world prize money they received for winning a Clan War. Reducing the in-game currency was directly linked to reducing the prize money, so Hayato wanted to reduce it as little as possible.

The answer that led to was to mine it himself. Hayato contacted Ash and the others, asking them to accompany him to a mine where Adamantite could be excavated.

He explained the situation to Ash and the others who had come to the base. He didn't know if they would accept the story of having to fix a sword for the Demon Lord, but he couldn't keep it a secret, so he told them everything.

He thought he would get some complaints, but that wasn't the case.

"The current Demon Lord? I hear she's a pacifist, so it should be fine, right?"

"I heard she's super beautiful! I wanted to meet her too! I wonder what kind of dolls she likes!?"

"Hah, so there really is a Demon Lord. More importantly, Siegfried and the others are getting along great! We might have babies next year!"

"You're interesting, Hayato-kun. To think you'd attract even the Demon Lord, albeit by chance. No, perhaps Esha-kun is the interesting one here?"

Hayato felt so let down that he wondered what all his worrying had been for.

He could sort of understand Ash and the others. They were dragons, after all. The Hero and the Demon Lord might not matter to them. Maris was also an animal lover, so she probably wasn't interested in other things.

But he was surprised that even Diite, a sister, spoke so nonchalantly about it. The Demon Lord and God seemed to be at odds, and the church blessed the Hero. If anything, they were in a hostile relationship.

He didn't know the specifics, but he had thought that the Demon Lord was planning to rule the world or destroy humanity, which was why he had tried to proceed as secretly as possible.

When he told her that, Diite laughed a little.

"I see. But that doesn't matter. There are probably many people who would scheme something using the banners of the Demon Lord or the Hero, but the individuals themselves probably don't think anything of it."

"Is that how it is?"

"That's how it is. In the first place, you misunderstand God, Hayato-kun. God is just managing everything. He is neither on the Demon Lord's side nor the Hero's side. It would be better to say he manages both. He wouldn't take sides with either. It's just an image that he's on the Hero's side, but that's just something the people belonging to the church are doing on their own."

The reason the church blessed the Hero was because they were just doing it on their own. He didn't know why Diite had that information, but he understood that the Hero was being used by the church.

He wondered if that was alright, but he convinced himself that it was probably just part of the game's setting.

But if that was the case, then the story changed.

It was the question of whether it was alright to let the Demon Lord into the clan. NPCs belonging to the church might dislike them, but it seemed like there would be a greater effect than that.

He didn't know how strong she was, but she was undoubtedly strong. If they could get her into the clan, it would be a considerable boost in strength.

"I want to ask everyone, what would you do if I said I was going to let the Demon Lord into the clan?"

Everyone answered Hayato's question with, "It should be fine, right?"

(So all my worrying was for nothing... I should ask Relic-san and Mist-san just in case. Especially Mist-san, she was a member of the former clan management committee. She should be able to judge if it's good or bad. Well, I don't know if the Demon Lord will actually become our ally, but I'd like to ask if possible. Fortunately, there's one more spot left in the clan.)

The clan had ten slots. Currently, there were nine members: Hayato, Esha, Ash, Ren, Relic, Mist, Maris, Lancelot, and Diite.

The empty slot had been used for Ash's mercenary members until now, but if the Demon Lord Lunaria were to join, it would be exactly ten. As far as Hayato knew, it could be called the strongest clan.

He hadn't decided on the conditions for fixing Arondight. He was supposed to receive a decent amount of money, but he was also supposed to receive something extra. That was a condition Esha had negotiated, or rather, made on her own, and Lunaria had apparently agreed to it.

With that expectation in mind, Hayato moved with everyone to a place where Adamantite could be mined.

The place Hayato and the others came to was called Roda Mine. Deep within this mine was a place where Adamantite could be excavated. Of course, it wasn't a guarantee that it could be dug up; it was influenced by a skill called Ore Knowledge. Hayato's Ore Knowledge skill was 100. It was an auxiliary skill for the Crafting Skill, so he couldn't afford not to raise it.

"Um, well then, sorry, but I'll have to ask you to be my guards. Also, I'll have you all mine this time, so please bear with me."

"Hayato, you need Ore Knowledge for mining, right? I don't have that skill, so I can't mine Adamantite. At best, I can get iron."

"Well, I have a trick up my sleeve for that. Could you take a look at this?"

Hayato showed a Bracelet to Ash and the others. It was a Bracelet that raised the Ore Knowledge skill by 20.

Although it raised it by 20, it was a piece of equipment that only raised the base skill value and the total up to 50, so it wouldn't raise a character with an Ore Knowledge skill of 80 to 100. It was a piece of equipment that would be of great benefit to a character with a skill of 30 or less, but few players would probably use it now. This time, it was for people with a skill of 0.

"With this, you can mine Adamantite, so please do your best. I have enough for everyone, so don't worry."

"You managed to gather enough for everyone... Could it be that you did something similar back in your Kokuryu days?"

"That's right. There are no monsters spawning deep inside here, so everyone wore this and we all dug together. The probability is low, but you can get a decent amount."

Everyone gave him a slightly exasperated look, but Hayato prided himself on it being a good method when considering efficiency. Besides, he needed a considerable amount this time. He wanted to gather the specified amount in one go and return if possible.

"Alright, let's go. I'm sorry for always making you be my guards, but I'll make something delicious when we get back, so please bear with me."

Ren and Maris high-fived each other and then trudged deeper into the mine. Hayato and the others followed so as not to be left behind.