Chapter 6
"Shall we call it a day here?"
Elena lowered her sword and caught her breath.
Sweat beaded on her forehead and trickled along her jawline.
Footwork, slashing, thrusting, deflecting. After she effortlessly handled all four movements, my inner Eck gave an assessment.
'She learns fast.'
Elena was a genius.
There was no point saying more.
Though her only experience wielding a sword was against wolves and goblins, she handled it with skill that would pass for C-rank.
She wasn't actually on par with C-rank, but her technique might have been comparable.
'So that's why that bastard Darko never taught class and just fooled around.'
In the game, Darko's lessons had never once proceeded properly.
It wasn't that he didn't teach; he couldn't.
He simply had nothing to teach.
I handed Elena a sheet of parchment.
"What's this?"
"It's a quest request. Blade Mantis. They have a habitat in the central forest."
Elena unfolded the parchment. Her eyes widened as she scanned the reward listed on the request.
"Twelve silver coins per one?"
"They're in a different league from wolves and goblins."
I continued, extending my sword.
"A Blade Mantis has blades for arms. It uses both arms like swords, so its fighting style is similar to a swordsman's."
Elena's gaze changed.
She had reacted to the mention of a swordsman's movements.
"Do you think I can win?"
"That depends on you."
"...."
Elena looked at the Blade Mantis drawn on the wanted poster with a frightened expression.
"Don't worry. I'm planning to exploit you, so would I pit you against something you can't beat?"
"...."
She rolled up the wanted poster and tucked it into her clothes.
"But if you let your guard down, be prepared to lose an arm."
"...I understand."
Elena nodded and left.
***
I went to Bordeaux's smithy.
The door was open.
When I stepped through the iron door, the characteristic heat of the smithy struck my face.
"Bordeaux."
"You came."
Bordeaux was sitting before his workbench, working leather.
He ironed the leather with a frying pan topped with a red-hot stone.
I looked over the materials piled beside the workbench.
Red Ogre hide had been cut into suitable sizes and hung on drying racks. The blood had been thoroughly removed from the surface, and the texture of the leather had changed.
The red hue had deepened as though seeping into the hide, making it darker than when it had been alive.
"How's the hide?"
"Can't you tell by looking? Thanks to processing it in time, hardly any of the magic has escaped. It seeped evenly all the way through. I've never seen it come out this fine before. I guess freshly butchered meat really is best grilled right away."
The tendons were soaking in an oil barrel beside the workbench.
"The tendons aren't done yet?"
"You think tendons like these are finished that easily? I spent all night oiling them, drying them, and oiling them again. At least say I worked hard."
"You've worked hard."
Bordeaux complained, but the corners of his mouth lifted beneath his beard.
It seemed being able to handle rare materials had raised his job satisfaction quite a bit.
The log stood propped in one corner. The red energy was still there, but it had faded compared to before processing.
"The log is a bit of a shame. Wood isn't my specialty, so there's a limit to how well I can preserve its power. Something like this would've been better left to an alchemist."
I picked up a piece carved from the log.
The feel of it in my hand carried a faint trace of the Red Moon's remaining energy.
"By the way, are you going to pay?"
"I knew you'd ask, so I prepared it. I won't make life difficult for someone who worked hard all night."
"You still have at least a shred of conscience."
I placed gold coins on his workbench.
"But what are you planning to make with all this? There's enough here to make two sets of armor. Want me to make them?"
"You mean one set for me and one for Elena?"
"Yeah. How good would it look if you wore matching armor?"
Just then, I heard someone at the smithy's door.
Knock, knock.
Bordeaux and I turned our gazes toward the door at the same time.
A man was standing in front of the door.
He wore a neat coat and a longsword at his waist. His clothes were clean. He wasn't the sort of person who would come looking for a back-alley smithy.
"Excuse me. I have a question..."
"Who are you?"
Bordeaux showed his wariness.
But the man didn't answer, his gaze fixed on something.
He approached the red hide hanging on the drying rack and rubbed its surface with a finger.
"This..."
The man's gaze changed.
"It's in excellent condition. Was it processed on Red Day itself?"
"Hey. Where did you learn that it was okay to touch other people's belongings in someone else's smithy without permission?"
Bordeaux slapped his palm against the workbench.
Only then did the man take his hand off the item and straighten his posture.
"My apologies."
He took a rolled parchment from his coat's inner pocket and unrolled it.
A crest was stamped on it.
It was the crest of the local lord's family.
"I've come on the lord's orders. I will be collecting all the red materials here. Prepare them immediately."
Bordeaux clicked his tongue as he looked at the proof of identity the lord's messenger had produced.
"It's real."
"You can tell?"
"You think this is the first time I've seen a noble family's crest? We're completely screwed. Ahem. But how did you know to come here?"
Bordeaux asked.
"I checked the city gate records. It seems an A-rank adventurer went into the forest on Red Day. So I made inquiries at the smithies."
I leaned against the workbench and folded my arms.
"Why now? Usually, even red materials are left alone. Let's ask why."
"Who's that gentleman?"
"He's the adventurer who hunted the red materials."
"Then he must be an A-rank adventurer."
The messenger's gaze shifted.
"The lord's daughter will soon celebrate her birthday. The lord is gathering red materials to have equipment made for her in honor of the occasion."
A birthday present for his daughter.
A reason worthy of a noble.
The scale was entirely different from a commoner's.
"So you're telling us to just hand them over?"
"It is the lord's will."
The messenger extended the proof of identity again.
I looked over the proof of identity.
I scanned the writing.
Though I couldn't read fluently, there were words I recognized here and there.
Eck had memorized at least the words that mattered to him.
At least, the lord's crest was genuine.
But the contents written on the parchment only proved his identity.
"Did the lord really tell you to bring these back?"
"Indeed. The hunting grounds belong to the lord in the first place. Everything born and raised there belongs to the lord. He merely shows mercy by allowing us to leave them alone. If the lord wishes for them, it is only right that you hand them over."
"The lord's property. I'll grant you that. If the lord wants them, we should hand them over."
"Then, without further ado..."
"But you—aren't you insulting the lord?"
The messenger's expression stiffened.
He grew angry in turn.
"How dare you say such outrageous things!"
"You thought we were ignorant bumpkins who wouldn't know? Gathering materials in the hunting grounds is a right the lord has granted us. Only the lord can take that right away."
"That's what I'm telling you. The lord's crest is stamped here. I have come here as the lord's representative."
Bordeaux kept poking me in the thigh with his elbow, trying to stop me.
I shoved him away with my foot.
He was openly trying to take what belonged to me—did he think I'd fall for such an obvious ploy?
Cut the crap.
The fact that this fool had never known any of that until now was laughable.
"Are you going so far as to impersonate the lord? If you want to revoke our rights, bring the lord here himself or bring an order bearing the lord's seal. Not you."
"That's exactly what I'm saying—this is effectively that order!"
My experience on Earth came in handy at times like this.
It let me see the bigger picture.
It was as if I could lay out and examine the thoughts of the upper class—things a commoner wouldn't know—in the palm of my hand.
Taking the circumstances of the era into account, it was easy to infer this man's intentions.
"That proves your identity, doesn't it? How is that the lord's order? How dare you claim to speak for the lord? You rotten bastard!"
"N-no..."
The messenger's eyes wavered.
He took a step backward.
"Did having the lord vouch for your identity make you mistake yourself for the lord?"
I moved past him and slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Why don't you be honest? I doubt our wise lord would have sent you here for no reason. I can't just let your pathetic greed slide, you hear me? Speak while I'm asking nicely."
I tapped his cheek, threatening him.
Eck's experience was useful at times like this.
People looked ready to die from a mere glance.
Even so, when he kept his mouth shut, I accused him.
"Don't tell me the claim that you were collecting materials for the young lady's birthday was a lie too. What an insolent bastard! I'll report you to the lord immediately!"
"N-no, wait! I-it's true that I was collecting materials because the young lady is celebrating her birthday!"
Only then did he open his mouth.
The messenger wasn't a noble. More precisely, he was a commoner acting on the orders of a noble who had received instructions from the lord.
It was common in the back alleys for commoners carrying out nobles' orders to pocket a cut.
"It is true that I was ordered to find out what red materials were available."
"Then asking us to hand them over for free was entirely your own greed, I take it."
"Urgh..."
We talked for a while and became friendly.
Thanks to that, I was able to understand the situation.
'As I thought, it's that event.'
The Red Material Collection Event.
It was too early for me to be certain, but if this was the preparation period, the timing was about right.
***
Around that time.
"Hup!"
Elena's sword shot forward fiercely and slashed diagonally upward at one of the insect's arms.
The insect's blade went flying through the air.
Her blade had slipped through a gap in the insect's joint, which was protected by a hard exoskeleton.
The Blade Mantis, now missing one arm,
lunged at her with its remaining arm.
But Elena twisted her foot and dodged out of the blade's path.
Her sword flashed.
Shhk!
The mantis's remaining arm went flying too.
The Blade Mantis stiffened with shock and pain, and her sword slipped through a gap in the exoskeleton wrapped around its body like a breastplate.
Stab.
Transparent fluid flowed along the blade.
A feeble, scream-like cry spread through the forest.
The mantis collapsed forward as though its knees had buckled.
"Phew... It was more manageable than I expected."
Elena exhaled raggedly and shook the fluid from her sword.
Just as the old man said.
As long as she didn't let her guard down, it was an opponent she could beat.
She dismantled the Blade Mantis and returned to the city.