kscans

Chapter 215 - The Artisans 1. The Ornament Artisan (Part 1)

"Kudol-san, thank you for your help today."

"Sure. It's just me today, but we're not going anywhere dangerous. It should be fine."

"The carriage seems to be ready. Shall we go?"

""Yes.""

The day after the thankfully troublesome matter of the blessing was settled, Yuri, along with Adon and Kudol, was on his way to visit an Ornament Artisan. Yuri's purpose was to get ideas for making the fittings for his "Mottled Blade Sword," but in fact, Adon had originally planned to visit the artisan, and Yuri had just tagged along. Adon's business, which also involved Yuri, was about the binding of the notebooks. The idea of a cloth binding instead of a leather one had come up, but since it was a notebook, it would be frequently taken out and handled. Therefore, it was expected that the edges and corners would fray, whether the binding was leather or cloth. Yuri, based on his knowledge from his past life, had advised that it would be best to place metal fittings on the areas likely to fray beforehand. Adon, seeing the logic in this, was about to go consult with the artisan when he realized that this would be the perfect person for Yuri to consult with as well.

This Ornament Artisan was a true craftsman who didn't pry into unnecessary matters. On top of that, he worked on a wide range of things, from accessories and furniture decorative metalwork to horse tack decorations and sword fittings. He was a model figure for Yuri, who advocated for being a jack of all trades. If he also had a deep knowledge of design, then not meeting him was not an option.

Kudol's accompaniment was solely for the purpose of managing Yuri. After all, due to his past record, Yuri was not allowed to act alone. There was no telling what he would dig up if left to his own devices. Moreover, the Grand Market was starting the day after tomorrow. Dona and Old Man Audel would likely accompany him, but with just them, there was no guarantee that the "Destroyer" incident from before wouldn't happen again. In that case, someone suitable should be assigned as a guard. And so, the choice fell on the "Lucky Footsteps." But if the guard period was for the duration of the Grand Market, having all five of them as guards would just be cumbersome. And so, it was decided that one or two members of the "Lucky Footsteps" would be on guard duty, while the rest would take a break. This was not the result of the members plotting to find time to see the Grand Market for themselves. Probably.

As an aside, on this day, Old Man Audel and Dona went out sightseeing as usual, but their guard was Nagara.



While Adon was consulting with his favorite Ornament Artisan, a man named Yagu, about the metal fittings for the notebook, Yuri and Kudol were looking around the workshop so as not to be in the way. It seemed to be Kudol's first time visiting such a place as well, and he was looking around with interest.

In this world, the mass production of metal fittings such as hinges was not common. There just wasn't that much demand. Therefore, decorative metalwork was also basically made to order, but craftsmen would sometimes prepare samples in advance. They were looking at such things with interest, but naturally, their attention was focused on the decorations for arms and armor.

"Yuri, look at this."

"Wow, what is this?"

Lined up before them were the arm part of a suit of armor brandishing a morning star, though smaller in size, the upper body of what appeared to be a lion made of bronze, what looked like an eagle with its wings spread, and a skull with a snake wrapped around it. In short, it was a miscellaneous collection of incomprehensible things. However, it seemed they were also some kind of decoration, as they all had something like a base attached to them.

"They're helmet ornaments. The kind you attach later."

"Helmet ornaments?"

The only helmets Yuri knew were the miniature ones displayed on Children's Day in his past life in Japan. Still, he remembered that there were a variety of eccentric ones, decorations in the shape of deer antlers, a sun, or the character for "love." These were probably the same kind of thing.

"It's the job of the nobles to stand out on the battlefield. So they stick these things on and sit around looking important in a conspicuous place. They would never do something so vulgar as to get lost in the chaos of a melee."

I see, Yuri understood. The head of a noble house or his heir couldn't be easily killed, but at the same time, they had to make it known that they had gone to war. So, they needed to wear these conspicuous decorations and stay in the main camp.

"In that case, are these over here for the same purpose?"

"Hmm? Oh, these are probably decorations for the torso of the armor. They're probably attached later too."

He had thought that decorations for armor and helmets were attached from the beginning, but it seems that in this world, they are like options that are added later.

"No, there are many that are attached from the start. But those tend to be quite expensive. There's no difference in standing out on the battlefield if you just attach these things to a ready made suit of armor."

"I see. But how do they attach them?"

Just as Yuri was wondering if they welded them on, a voice came from behind him.

"Usually with a magic tool."