MTLNOVEL Chapter 23: [23]
The next few days were...normal. Extremely normal. Things seemed to fall into a routine of sorts. I got up, went into the Dungeon with Lili for around ten hours or so, then Eina would give me lessons.
Apparently, she figured since I agreed to it once, then I was agreeing to it for all time. Then I went home to Hestia. Calling it a routine might be a bit much since it was only two days, but I noticed a pattern the week I've been here.
There was a distinct lack of anything from Asshole the Second. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was expecting...something. To find him standing at the end of a dark alley, a note telling me to leave a dead drop of money at a location, or just...something. Something other than a stunning lack of nothing.
"I shouldn't think about that," I decided, walking towards Welfs workshop. Maybe this was a good thing? Maybe it meant that he didn't care at all? I don't think they were friends in the anime because I recall Asshole the First getting screwed over, then running face-first into a swarm of killer ants. For all I knew, I was completely overthinking it and nothing was going to happen at all.
Maybe it wasn't a mistake to not murder him. Maybe I made the right choice...or...he just hasn't screwed me over yet.
As I walked outside the city, waving at some guards playing a card game as I did. To my relief, as I approached his workshop, I saw smoke drifting up from the chimney. I wouldn't be left standing outside his door waiting for him to wake up, or wasted time walking in and out of the Dungeon.
If I was getting blackmailed or something, then I needed to be prepared. I think Hestia suspected I was stressed about something, or that I was going to the seventh floor, trying to complete those quests while I still could. I hadn't said anything about it yet, using the excuse of that I could be just overthinking things so I could be worrying her about nothing, but that excuse sounded hollow to myself.
I didn't want her to know that I killed someone. And I didn't particularly regret it beyond the trouble it might have brought me. I don't know how she would react to that, but I couldn't imagine that going over well. At all.
I knocked at Welf's door, taking a step back. Over the days, my Sense stat increased and I was noticing the effects. I heard Welf curse underneath his breath, a loud clanging sound, followed by another curse. It took about a minute, but the door slid open to reveal an exhausted-looking Welf, his eyes bloodshot with dark bags hanging underneath. He blinked at me, then his eyes went wide.
"Is it night already?! Sorry, I was just putting some finishing touches on your armor, I must have lost track of time," Welf babbled, gesturing for me to enter his home. I ducked my head to step inside, looking over the messy interior. The forge was still hot, raising the temperature until it was sweltering hot, while tools laid around an anvil, a greasy rag stained with soot laying ontop what looked like my armor.
"It's not night, I'm just early. I wanted to check in on my armor," I explained, turning to look at a devilish Welf. His short red hair stuck up at all angles, a white rag keeping sweat out of his eyes. He blinked slowly at me, then stuck his head outside to look at that dark sky.
"What time is it?" He asked, looking back at me with an uncomprehending expression.
"Around four-thirty," I answered, trying really hard not to walk over to my armor. It had to be my armor. It was a shin guard that I doubt would fit anyone else in this world. A smoky black color and certainly looked like heavy armor.
"...What? Like, in the morning?" Welf asked, still confused.
"Yeah," I replied, looking back at him with just as much confusion now. What was so hard to understand about that?
"What are you doing up at four-thirty in the morning?" Welf questioned, looking at me like I grew a second head. That started singing.
"I'm an early bird," I defended, sounding indignant. "And you're up too, so I don't know why you're complaining."
"Yeah, but I stayed up all night. There's a difference," Welf pointed, crossing his arms as if he made an irrefutable argument. I huffed, rolling my eyes as I grinned goodnaturedly. It was hardly the first time I heard this argument, but it was usually from my roommate.
"Well, I'm here now. Is my armor ready?" I asked, giving a not so subtle glance at the armor across the room. Welf nodded, running a hand through his hair, uncaring of the soot he left behind. Taking that as permission, I walked over and picked it up. It was, well, heavy armor. It was fairly thick, nearly half an inch of solid black steel -- altogether it would probably weigh about 20 pounds or so, or 10 to each leg.
Before Lili and using her and her bag as training equipment, I would have commented that it seemed too light. Now I knew better. 10 pounds on each leg would be easy to ignore at first, but when time passed, and you were exhausted, those 10 pounds would feel like 100.
"I was just polishing them off. Looks like I got the color right," Welf said, gesturing to my black armor.
"They look great. Can I try them on?" I asked, going to do so anyway no matter what he said. After 5 days, I finally had leg armor.
"Sure, let me know if you feel any pinching or anything like that," Welf said, leaving the door open as he moved to help me put it on. I was thankful for that. I had no idea where to start. Welf knelt down, starting at the shin that he clasped on. "I put some chainmail to protect the back of your knee -- figured you were at more of a risk getting hamstrung than most adventurers."
"Thanks," I said, flexing my thigh a little against the constraining thick metal strapped to it. Welf let me test its limits, and to my surprise, I had full range of motion. "It fits great," I told him, trying to bring my knee to my chest. A bit of chainmail dangled off the back end, also blackened, to be tucked into the shin guards that would encase my legs.
"Great, now for the bottom half," Welf said, attaching the shin guard. The design was simple, the front pushed forward in a small peek, a line of red going upwards until the knee where the shin guard tapered off into a point. It flushed well with the thigh portion, the red line tracing up it at an edge. Eventually, I would have to commission a chest piece to match.
Once both leg pieces were on, I continued to test them. It might be because of my growing strength stat, but I barely felt them. That could change after about eight hours of fighting, but for now, they felt great. "And you said they could stand up to killer ants?"
"They will. Given your build, I made the armor a little thicker than normal for some extra protection. It won't feel great when one of them bites down on you, but the armor will hold. But, that's a long way off, you know?" Welf said, giving me a humoring smile- ah. Right. The last time we spoke, I was stuck on the first floor.
"Actually, I've been going to that floor for a couple of days now. Lili, my supporter, recommended that I don't go past it until I got some leg armor," I told him, untying a pouch full of valis from my belt to pass it over to him. Welf blinked, giving me an odd look that prompted me to explain. "Those rabbit things are the biggest problem for me since they're so small, and they like trying to hamstring me."
Fighting goblins and kobolds was bad enough, but those rabbits with a horn on their heads were a flat out nightmare to deal with. Not only were they the size of a rabbit, but they were so quick too. You didn't know one was there until it headbutted the back of your knee, that horn only stopping when it hit bone. I thought the killer ants would be the biggest threat on the seventh floor, but it was easily the rabbits. And, not gonna lie, that made me feel really dumb.
"Seriously?" Welf asked, not believing me.
"Hm. Speaking of which, I actually had some questions," I said, gesturing to my swords at my hip. "I've been having some trouble cutting through the exoskeleton with these. Do you think you could give them a look over?"
"Er," Welf started, seeming to struggle with the fact that I was planning to head to the 7th floor in less than a week. Then he shook his head, with a shrug of his shoulders, dismissing the issue. "Yeah, I can do that. Had 'em over." I did and Welf looked like he swallowed an entire lemon tree when he pulled them from their sheaths.
"Have done any maintenance on these?" He asked, an accusation in his tone. He scanned the battered blades, covered in scratches, the edges nicked and blunted. They saw some pretty hard use in the few days that I had them. "At all?"
"Well," I trailed off, giving a shrug. "No?"
Welf stared at me, looking personally affronted. "How long have you had these? You've only been an adventurer for a week, right? Did you get these second-hand?" He pressed, sheathing the swords as he pinned a mild glare on me. I was glad he put the swords away, at least that way he was less likely to use them on me.
"I got the eastern one second-hand," I told him to hopefully divert some of his irritation to a now-dead adventurer. "And, well, I spend about fifteen hours in the Dungeon on most days. Wear and tear builds-up, you know?" I defended weakly, unwilling to tell him that the reason I hadn't used the sharpening stone I bought was because I was making Hestia cum her brains out. That, and I've never sharpened anything in my entire life before.
An explosive sigh escaped Welf, "maintenance is supposed to take care of that." He pointed out, "these aren't too far gone that I can't save them but it's going to take some time."
I frowned at that, my gaze drifting over the weapons that lined the walls. It wasn't like I hadn't seen this coming. "In that case, are any of those for sale? I've been meaning to buy something with more reach. And a hilt I can fit both hands on," I requested, eyeing a long broadsword with a hook towards the tip.
"That one is a commission," Welf said, dashing my hopes. It looked cool too. A proper fantasy sword that would go well with my armor. "But...yeah, I have a couple of swords that fit the bill," he said before giving me a sideways glance as he walked across his workshop. "They're not magic swords," he added, compelled to point that out.
"Still don't want one," I told him bluntly. "I mean, maybe once I reach the mid-floors I would want one, but on the upper floors, I'd probably kill everyone and everything on them with one of your magic swords. Myself included. And I like living."
Welf's gaze lingered on me, as if he could see if I was lying, then a small huff escaped him. "You really couldn't care less about them?"
"Not a bit. I'm sure you have your reasons for not making them," I told him, knowing that he didn't make them out of stubborn pride. "So I'm not going to ask. If I really need a magic sword for some reason, I'll just buy one somewhere."
Welf turned away to enter his room, but I saw a slight smile on his lips. If I had a relationship manager then I'm sure I scored some major points with him. He returned a few minutes later with a bundle of swords, one of them I recognized as his sword from the anime. All of them were broadswords, the longest among them nearly 5 feet.
Naturally, I zeroed in on it. The hilt was wrapped in white cloth that left a long bit of it to hang free at the pommel. There wasn't a crossguard, just a solid bar that the sword seemed to emerge from. The blade itself started off thick at the bottom, then jutted inwards about a half-inch before continuing to stretch upwards the remainder of the straight blade. Towards the tip of it, it jutted outwards a half-inch, giving it a nice fantasy feel to it.
"Ohhh," I muttered in delight, picking it up to feel its weight. It was surprisingly light too, somewhere around 6 pounds or so, but it felt lighter because of the balance. I grabbed it with both hands, seeing that the hilt was long enough for me to fit both of them. "It's perfect."
"Heh, you'll make me blush," Welf said, a grin on his face. "It costs about eight thousand valis-" I was already digging into the spare pouch of gold I had hanging off my hip in case I had to buy another sword. 'And, you have to learn how to take care of it. Seriously, if I see that sword all banged up like your other ones, I'm gonna cry."
I nodded, accepting the condition as I handed over the money. I had a nice nesting egg building up since the only things I was buying was potions. Without those extra costs, even splitting the spoils evenly with Lili, and I did make sure that they were even, my savings were back around 50 thousand. Half of which was set aside for emergencies.
"That sounds fair to me. I just use a whetstone on it, right?" I asked, managing to tear my eyes from my new awesome sword to look at Welf. He closed his eyes slowly, visibly swallowing some probably mean words about my ignorance before letting out a soft breath.
"You know what? Maybe we should just meet up sometime and I'll show you how to take care of your equipment," he offered, trying to sound patient but not quite managing it. I was going to blame that on the lack of sleep. Judging from how pale he was and the dark bags under his eyes, it wasn't his first one.
I nodded, "I usually leave the Dungeon around five, but I can head out a little early whenever you're free."
Welf returned my nod, stifling a yawn. "We can do it tomorrow since I need to get some sleep. I'll meet you at the Guildhall at five?"
"See you then," I said, stepping out of his workshop with a wave goodbye. As soon as he closed the door behind him, I gave my new sword a test swing. It swished through the air, the sound it made was a song to my ears. With it, I had a reach that could only be matched by spear users. Maybe not even then with my massive arms.
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A/N— I'll try to post daily. Powerstones and comments would help, it would mean alot and give me the motivation to continue the story. In fact two chapters a day wouldn't be impossible either.
I'll post an extra chapter every 500ps power stones, no limit!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
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