Chapter 19

Chapter 19 :  Greave of a Legendary Ancient Adventurer

“Completion of the request objective, a total of 10kg of Resonance Stones, has been confirmed! Everyone truly worked hard. As promised, I will pay your compensation.”

After finishing the request and stopping by the Adventurer Guild to submit the Resonance Stones, the receptionist greeted us with a smile.

Razbel did not forget to take the Radgit ears out of the materials bag and submit them.

“Ah, and we happened to catch some Radgits....”

“R-Radgits?! Radgits appeared in the Resonance Stone Cave?!”

When the receptionist slammed the table with a BANG! and stood up, the adventurers in the lobby all looked back at once.

She looked Razbel over from head to toe, as though checking whether her arms and legs were properly attached, and said,

“You managed to come back alive... Radgits must have been very difficult for beginner adventurers to handle... Ms. Razbel’s party has grown a great deal too!”

“No, all the Radgits were handled by Mr. Doran here. I am embarrassed to say that we only received his help.”

“Huh? Th-this person?”

The receptionist looked at Doran with round eyes.

Was he not the beginner who had only just completed his adventurer registration earlier?

Though he had somehow managed to defeat a Goblin Shaman, his Level was so low that massacring a swarm of Radgits alone should have been impossible....

And for some reason, he seemed to smell a little strange too.

“Could you perhaps tell me how you defeated them, Mr. Doran?”

“Pardon? W-why?”

“When beginners encounter Radgits in a cave, there tend to be many casualties. If you know a useful way to deal with them, it could reduce the damage suffered by other adventurers.”

“That is, hmm....”

After getting naked, smearing mud and filth all over his body, imitating the Monsters to make them lower their guard, then defeating them.

‘How am I supposed to say that...?’

“That is right! Mr. Doran suddenly started stripping off his clothes—mmph!!”

“...I was just a little lucky. I had experience defeating Radgits before.”

When Doran covered Razbel’s mouth and glossed it over, the receptionist answered in a daze.

“I-I see... Once again, you all worked very hard! Radgits have been designated as harmful Monsters, so we will pay an additional reward of five copper coins for each right ear you cut off.”

“As much as five copper coins each...?”

“Yes. Harmful Monsters have increased sharply recently, so the bounty has gone up. Strangely enough, even unfamiliar monsters have begun appearing around Verastin....”

‘It really seems there is not much time left until the Dungeon fully opens.’

At most, two weeks. Or perhaps even less than a week.

Razbel’s party received the reward pouch and widened their eyes.

“Look at this! It is pretty heavy! With this much, we can put it toward buying new equipment!”

“I know... I wish there were only Resonance Stone requests from now on! Ah, of course, on the condition that we do not run into any Radgits.”

“.......”

Doran also checked the payment inside his pouch.

‘Let us see how much it is... Roughly a little over four shillings.’

It was not bad for a first request.

He had secured the Resonance Stones that had been his original goal, and he had also earned money to put toward his immediate living expenses.

Catching the Radgits had been especially profitable.

However....

‘...A person’s life is worth a few cheap coins.’

Even if this was a peaceful period before the Great Disaster arrived, that aspect was truly like Velheim.

As he stored the reward away with a self-mocking smile, the receptionist said with a smile,

“Oh, right. I almost forgot this... If everyone submits your adventurer badges, I will stamp them for you.”

“...A stamp?”

“Ah, since this was your first request at our guild, Mr. Doran, you would not know... Here, we stamp your badge when you complete a request above a certain Difficulty! If you subjugate a powerful Monster, there is also a dedicated kill mark!”

“Aha... I understand.”

In other words, it could be used to encourage a sense of achievement among adventurers and as an indicator of trust.

The more stamps were on an adventurer badge, the more guild requests the person had carried out.

‘I had forgotten because that was information I only used back when I was a Newbie.’

At some point, my very existence itself had been no different from an identification certificate.

After receiving a stamp on his adventurer badge with a heated seal and leaving the guild, Razbel’s party chatted excitedly.

“On such a pleasant day, we cannot leave out a celebratory drink! Do you not all agree?!”

“Mr. Doran, we are thinking of having a drink at the tavern now. Would you like to come with us? We would really like you to come too, Mr. Doran...!”

“.......”

Razbel’s party looked at him with expectant eyes, but Doran politely bowed his head and answered,

“Thank you very much for inviting me, but I have something scheduled, so I think I must go. I apologize.”

“Ah, no...! It is not as though we can force you to stay....”

“...Well, I plan to remain in this city for some time, so we will be able to meet again if the opportunity arises.”

“R-right?! If we meet next time, may we greet you as someone we know?”

“Of course. Rather, I would be sad if all of you forgot me.”

I went through the trouble of bringing them out alive. They should not ignore me.

Moreover, since I inevitably had many enemies because of my origin, even such small connections might someday be useful.

When Doran smiled and gave a polite nod, Razbel’s party brightened and waved their hands.

***

After buying herbs and several other materials, I returned to the inn where I had stayed the day before, and the innkeeper’s daughter welcomed me happily.

“Ah! The handsome older brother is here! Did your adventurer registration go well?”

“Yes. Is the mistress perhaps not here?”

“Yes! She went to Windmill Hill to mill the wheat for tomorrow morning! She said she would be back a little late today....”

“Is that so? That is a problem... I need a pot and a basin....”

“I will lend them to you! Usually, I have to take copper coins for it... but I will let you use them for free, older brother! ...It is a secret from Mom!”

“Thank you. Then let me see....”

I took a candy from my pocket and placed it in the little girl’s hand.

“Here, take it. It is molasses candy I bought from the shop up front. ...It is a secret from your mother, all right?”

“C-can I really accept this?”

“Of course. But only if you promise to brush your teeth well before bed.”

After patting the little girl’s head as she nodded so hard I worried her neck might break, I took the basin and pot and went out to the inn’s backyard, where few people came and went.

There was one reason I had come here after going through the trouble of preparing several materials.

“At last... the time has come to Awaken this Greave.”

DING―!

[Old Greave]

｢An object made by combining metal with old leather.｣

｢It is so filthy and shabby that your Charm may decrease if you go around wearing this Greave!｣

｢Perhaps it is your imagination, but it even seems to give off a strange smell!｣

It was an ordinary junk item whose equipment description alone made one frown.

Even if it was sold to a junk dealer, it was doubtful whether I could recover even the value of the metal. However, this item’s true worth was revealed when certain conditions were met.

But to do that, I first had to remove the rust from the metal surface.

‘It has been a while since I did alchemy....’

Alchemy.

Usually, when games referred to alchemy, it amounted to nothing more than combining recipes to synthesize items, but Velheim’s alchemy system was on another level.

Thanks to a chemical engine close to reality, there had even been a deranged player who made rockets with sugar and fertilizer and went around bombing Monster dens.

‘Now that I think about it, Velheim really seems to have been full of lunatics!’

Perhaps this, too, had contributed to the Reincarnators’ reputation being at its worst.

I poured vinegar obtained from a brewery’s trash bin and rock salt into the pot at a ratio of three to one, then heated it.

After stirring it with a twig so the salt dissolved well, I turned off the fire when it began to feel slightly hot and poured it into the basin.

If I soaked the Greave in this solution, the vinegar would decompose the rust, and the salt would generate chloride compounds, making the rust on the metal surface easy to remove.

In other words, it used an oxidation-reduction reaction.

“Now the rust removal should happen naturally....”

I finely crushed the Resonance Stones I had secretly diverted instead of submitting them to the guild and threw the powder into the basin.

This would allow the Resonance Stones to clear the blocked mana circuits and let the Greave display its original ability.

This was the true reason I had taken the Resonance Stone quest.

When roughly thirty minutes had passed, the seemingly eternal rust on the Greave began to fall away, and a gradually gleaming metal surface started to appear.

As the Greave slowly regained its former luster, I sprinkled shell powder onto a cloth instead of sandpaper and polished every corner with it.

Then the hidden string of text began to shine faintly.

“...It is complete.”

DING―!

[Greave of the Landless Adventurer]

｢A Greave used by Haruk, a renowned adventurer of the Ancient Kingdom, during his apprentice days. It looks ordinary, but its iron was refined by a Dwarf, and a Dryad placed magic upon it.｣

｢It increases the wearer’s Agility by 3. An exclusive skill can be used.｣

｢You have obtained information about Haruk, an adventurer from the Ancient Kingdom era!｣

｢Information about Haruk has not yet spread widely through the world, so you are not affected by his fame. Even if you talk about this discovery at a tavern, you will receive astonishingly no attention whatsoever.｣

I put the completed Greave on my calf.

It still looked somewhat old, and its durability was not very good either, but this Greave had one hidden gimmick.

‘...There is no one here, right?’

After confirming that there were no eyes watching nearby, I quietly opened my mouth.

“Leap Forward.”

The moment I recited the activation phrase, my body shot forward abruptly, as if pushed by a gust of wind.

It was such absurd propulsion that I only barely stopped after colliding with the wall.

I waved at the innkeeper’s daughter, who had poked her head out, to say that nothing had happened, then wiped away my nosebleed and muttered to myself,

“I-I should not use this in narrow places... I need to get used to it.”

Still, if I used it well, it would certainly be extremely useful.

I could suddenly accelerate during battle to escape a crisis, or close the distance in an instant and stab a vital point.

In Velheim, where lives were decided by even small variables, the more methods like this one had, the better.

And one more thing to keep in mind.

‘...There are still things in this world I do not know!’

The existence of Reincarnators, which had not been present during the game.

The variables that arose because of them, the intentions of the gods who summoned me here, the countless disasters that would occur before long, and so on.

And....

“Why does a magic item I made long ago exist here...?”

The crystal ball Razbel’s party had taken out in the cave.

It had happened so long ago that I did not remember clearly, but it looked far too similar to the item I had made.

Had the Artifacts I created in the game also been implemented here?

Or was someone who knew my past deeds imitating me?

It might simply have been a mere misconception, but....

“Damn it... I do not know. Why do only ghost stories pop out the deeper I dig...?”

I held my head, which had begun to throb, and stood up.

I wanted nothing more than to rest immediately, but in order to respond to the crisis that would someday come, I had to become stronger.

In this world, laziness was the same as death.

After practicing the technique a few more times in the backyard, I returned to the inn and went to sleep.

After daybreak, I spent my time hunting Monsters outside the city walls.

Then, a few days later.

A message came from Malton through the guild.

[Doran, I have news that you may like.

...Have you perhaps heard the rumor that a Dungeon has been discovered nearby?]