Chapter 9
──After Thor left for the Demon Lord's Territory, at the Rigas ducal estate in the Empire──
"Butler-dono. We've received an inquiry from the palace about repairing a magic sword."
Several days after Thor had been sent to the Demon Lord's Territory.
The butler serving Duke Rigas had received a report from one of his subordinates.
The butler and the captain of the guards were Duke Rigas's trusted retainers.
They had also helped the duke send Thor to the Demon Lord's Territory as a sacrifice.
Recently, the duke had been in a good mood.
His butler, too, had been quite satisfied, but──
"A repair for a magic sword? Did we receive such a request?"
"Have you forgotten? The magic sword to be used by Her Highness the Imperial Princess. We received a request to restore one from the age of heroes, remember?"
"Ah, now I remember. We submitted a repair request through the authorities, didn't we?"
Having finally recalled it, the ducal butler nodded.
In the Empire, alchemists held low status.
Thus, nobles generally avoided dealing with them directly and submitted requests through government offices instead.
The magic sword supposedly used by the Imperial Princess had been sent for repair through the same procedure.
"Understood. I'll look into it."
Saying that, the black-clad ducal butler hurried to the government office.
"What? You're saying it can't be repaired?"
"Yes. We brought it to an alchemist's workshop, but they turned us down."
The head of the government office answered.
"But the document says that the repair is eighty percent complete."
"Well..."
The director looked away awkwardly.
"Actually... one of our employees secretly repaired the magic sword with the 'Alchemy' Skill."
"What?"
"Our department's budget is cut every year, you see. We try to do whatever we can on-site without spending any of the budget. Of course, we received permission from our superiors."
"Understood. Then summon that employee."
"He no longer works here."
"You fool! How could you let someone like that go!? Are you even fit to be in charge of personnel!?"
"N-no... I didn't let him go..."
"Enough! Who was this employee!?"
"Thor Kanan-dono."
The director murmured.
"No, Kanan was his mother's surname, wasn't it? Now that he has returned to the ducal family, would that make him Thor Rigas-sama?"
"..."
"That man was remarkable. He checked every item one by one and performed whatever repairs were necessary."
"W-what did you say? I never received any such report!?"
"If I recall correctly, it was someone from the ducal family who instructed us not to mention his name?"
The director tilted his head, looking genuinely puzzled.
"We were ordered by the ducal family: 'Make sure Thor Rigas's name never comes to light. Make sure his work and its results never catch the duke's or any other noble's attention.' So we couldn't report or record anything about his work."
"Ngh..."
"Thor-sama has returned to the ducal family, hasn't he? Then you could have him repair it..."
"Shut up! Don't meddle in noble affairs!!"
"──Eek!?"
The black-clad butler stamped his foot hard and shouted.
At his furious outburst, the civil-service director's face went deathly pale.
"Don't mention Thor Rigas! That man is taboo even within the ducal family. Do you understand? Never utter his name again!!"
"I-I understand. But what about the magic sword...?"
"I'll commission an alchemist's workshop myself. That will do!"
"As I said, it was already returned once because an alchemist couldn't repair it."
"That must be because you commissioned a low-level workshop."
The ducal butler picked up the magic sword.
It was a silver, gleaming, double-edged sword. Part of the blade was missing, near the guard. The missing section was about the size of a pinky fingernail.
But according to the records, the missing section and the crack had apparently reached all the way to the center of the blade.
(Thor Rigas repaired it this far?)
Then surely there was no reason another alchemist couldn't repair it.
Thor Rigas must have commissioned an inferior alchemist. His aim, of course, was to repair it himself and win the duke's favor. What a foolish thing to do.
Even if he had done such a thing, his fate had already been decided.
Having thought that far, the ducal butler nodded.
He pretended not to notice the cold sweat running down his forehead.
Duke Rigas, the captain of the guards, and he himself had ridiculed Thor Rigas as an incompetent and driven him from the Empire. Thor Rigas had to be incompetent.
If he were competent and possessed some special power──
(Then the duke and the rest of us would be the ones in the wrong!!)
As if to shake off the thought that had arisen unbidden, the ducal butler shook his head.
"Listen carefully. Forget about this magic sword."
The ducal butler said this to the person who had once been Thor Rigas's superior.
"I'll commission the repair of this magic sword, under the authority of the ducal family, from the finest alchemist's workshop in the Imperial Capital. You will forget this sword. Understood? If you value your own skin, never mention Thor Rigas again!!"
With that, the ducal butler rushed outside.
The next day.
The ducal butler visited an alchemist's workshop with the magic sword in hand.
He summoned the workshop master, an alchemist, and placed the magic sword in front of him.
As he did so, the alchemist and everyone else in the workshop bowed deeply.
Naturally. In the Empire, everyone was striving to become 'the strongest.'
Alchemists with barely any fighting ability should prostrate themselves before the name of the House of Duke Rigas.
Thinking that, the butler handed the magic sword to the alchemist, but──
"...You're saying it can't be repaired?"
"My apologies. This is beyond our abilities."
──The workshop master, who was an alchemist, simply shook his head.
"How can that be!? This is the largest workshop in the Imperial Capital!!"
"Repairing a magic sword is difficult. Please look."
The male alchemist placed a silver longsword on the cloth spread across the table.
The longsword had intricate patterns on its hilt and appeared to be glowing faintly.
The alchemist pointed at the blade and said,
"You see the crack here? No, I should say there was one here. The crack itself has been neatly sealed. But there's still a chip in the blade, isn't there?"
"I'm telling you to fix that!"
"Magic swords aren't so simple."
The elderly alchemist sighed.
"With an ordinary sword, a blacksmith might be able to reforge it. But this is a magic sword. The metal that makes up the blade must be imbued with attributes such as 'Fire' or 'Earth.'"
"...Y-yes."
"That is why the Alchemy Skill is necessary for restoration. You must interfere with the metal at its very foundation—the root of it—transmute it so that its attributes match those of the surrounding metal, and fuse it together."
"If you understand that, then do it!"
"There is no alchemist in the Empire who possesses that technique."
"...None?"
"Such alchemists existed in the age of heroes. But they are gone now. Alchemists became little more than blacksmiths' underlings, and the technique for repairing magic swords was lost. Unless we cultivate new talent, the precious items from the age of heroes will simply continue to disappear... When I was young, I often discussed this with my companions."
The alchemist said this, gazing into the distance.
Then he shifted his gaze to the magic sword and said,
"No, I see that someone has already repaired the crack in this magic sword. In that case, why not ask the person who handled it to finish the job?"
"...Uh."
The black-clad butler faltered.
Ignoring him, the alchemist stroked the back of the magic sword's blade with his fingertip.
His expression was entranced.
"This restoration technique is truly remarkable. The documents say there was a crack extending as far as the center of the blade, but it has been repaired so perfectly that I can't even tell where it was. The missing section has been completely joined with the rest. Magnificent..."
With that, the alchemist looked up.
"Please. Could you introduce me to the person who repaired this? I would very much like to ask them to teach me. With this level of skill, the Empire could develop even further──"
"Shut up!"
The butler shouted.
There was no way he could make that introduction. Thor had already left for the Demon Lord's Territory.
He could neither ask Thor to do more work nor call him back.
The duke had said, "He's as good as dead already."
Either demonfolk or demi-humans would kill him in the Demon Lord's Territory, or he would become a casualty when the Empire got into trouble with the Demon Lord's Territory.
"Enough. Fix it. It's only the blade that's chipped, correct?"
"As I said, we cannot restore it properly in the same way."
"Duke Rigas-sama said that as long as it looks fixed, that's all that matters!"
It was true.
The butler had been told by the duke, "I entrusted it to you. Just make it look nice, and that's all that matters."
Besides, this magic sword was needed for a ritual.
It was certain that Her Highness the Imperial Princess would use it, but she would not be hunting magical beasts.
As long as it looked presentable, that should be enough.
"You can repair it on the surface, can't you?"
"You mean it doesn't need to be made complete as a magic sword?"
"That's right."
"However, if we fuse a different material onto only part of it, there may be a problem with its strength──"
"This will be used for a ritual. Very few people can draw out the power of a magic sword from the age of heroes. The sword should not be put under any strain."
The butler stared intently at the elderly alchemist.
"Or are you refusing a commission from the ducal family?"
"...If you insist that strongly, then I will accept."
The alchemist sighed deeply once again.
"However, I require you to put in writing that this commission is only to make it look presentable."
"A statement?"
"We cannot be held responsible."
"...A-all right."
He had no choice.
This magic sword had to be restored by the end of the month.
Repeating that to himself, the ducal butler signed the papers.