Chapter 113.2

113 Part 2

The Divine Energy skill had pushed Haruki from the door of heaven to the abyss of despair.

Physical level is added to basic abilities.

On the other hand, skill level is multiplied by basic abilities.

Haruki had assumed these to be true, but the “shining mask incident” had proven his assumptions in an unexpected way.

Leaving that aside…

After a few minutes, Haruki finally stopped crying and took out some of the items he got in Asahikawa from his magic bag.

First was a piece of lumber.

With a diameter of 10 cm and a length of about 1 meter, it was one of the materials he had obtained from the Dungeon Lord.

The sale price wouldn’t be too good, thanks to other adventurers dedicating themselves to only hunting materials.

Wood could be used for various purposes.

If it could be used for something, it would be better to just use it rather than selling it off as a raw material at a low price.

With that in mind, Haruki kept everything for himself.

“I’d like you to process this, how about it?”

“Hmm? Ah, these are from the Dungeon Lord, aren’t they!?”

To Haruki, it just looked like a tree branch, but Akane quickly saw its true identity.

As expected from the great company Ichibishi’s top clerk.

“This could be processed into a lot of different things, but what would you want to make out of this? I think it would be a waste to use it to make furniture.”

Her words probably refer to Asahikawa’s specialty, Asahikawa Furniture.

But, if he had wanted to make furniture, he would have gotten the wood processed in Asahikawa instead of asking Akane.

“Well, I’d like to make a new scabbard for my Magic Sword.”

After he said that, he placed his Magic Sword on the counter.

The Magic Sword had been growing through repeated battles.

The blade had warped and grown longer since he first purchased it.

He had tried everything, but after the fight with the lower god, it had grown so much that it wouldn’t fit into the scabbard anymore.

“I guess you could use this to make a new scabbard. But won’t the sword keep growing?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you shouldn’t make a new scabbard, you should keep it drawn as it is now, don’t you think?”

“Just keep it drawn?”

“Yes. You could use a holder that hooks the sword’s handle and guard, so you can keep using it even if the blade grows.”

“Hmmm.”

Haruki scratched his chin.

A scabbard would be indeed useless if the blade were to continue to grow.

The Magic Sword’s blade wasn’t scratched, so he wouldn’t need a scabbard to protect it.

However, if left hanging with its blade uncovered, Haruki’s surroundings could end up being damaged whenever he moved.

It wouldn’t be completely safe to carry it around.

— Though carrying it around without a scabbard would certainly look cool, but…

“Hmm. I think I’ll go with the scabbard after all.”

“But why?”

“Because it looks cool!”

“Huuh…”

Akane sighed in shock after hearing Haruki’s words.

The Magic Sword had curved in such a way that it resembled a wakizashi.

If he didn’t get a new scabbard, he wouldn’t be able to use the most powerful type of slashing attack — Iai!

A move that slashes through monsters, splitting them in half at the same time as the sword is drawn.

Then, the sword is to be sheathed instantly afterwards.

[So strong! I couldn’t see the blade at all!?]

[What’s that swordsman’s name?]

[I don’t know his real name, but I’ve heard he goes by…]

How many times had Haruki had these wild delusions of him being praised for his strong presence?

To be able to perform an iai was one of Haruki’s wildest fantasies.

He couldn’t just give up on getting a new scabbard.

“Ah, well. I can’t say I understand why, but I’ll do it.”

Akane nodded, not entirely sure of what was going on Haruki’s mind.

Murmuring something like “Really now, all men are just big boys”, Akane carefully measured the Magic Sword.

They’d decided to make the scabbard several sizes bigger than the Magic Sword, in order to allow for it to keep growing.

“I think making just a regular scabbard would be a bit boring, so I was thinking about basing it on the middle-class, what do you think?”

“Are there middle-class scabbards?”

“Of course. It’s very rare for a weapon drop to come with its scabbard already.”

“Ah, I see.”

Few weapons that appeared in the dungeons had scabbards of their own.

In that case, Ichibishi must have manufactured several scabbards to hold these weapons.

So it would be natural to make a scabbard according to the weapon’s grade.

“So there’s a lot of adventurers having scabbards made for their weapons.”

“I see. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes, yes, leave it to me.”

After filling out the order form, Haruki took out the remaining materials.

“What’s this?”

“Hmm?”

Looking at the materials, wrinkles appeared between Akane’s eyebrows.

The first next thing that Haruki took out was Esta’s carapace.

Unlike cicadas or snakes’ sheddings, Esta’s was considerably hard.

When tapped on lightly, it would make a high-pitched sound, like hitting iron.

“Where did you get this?”

“Esta shed his old carapace.”

“Shedding, huh…?”

Akane looked suspiciously at Haruki, unsure about whether to believe him or not.

Haruki shook his head. He wasn’t lying.

“So he shed his carapace, huh?”

“Uh-huh. So, can you buy this? I mean, can this be processed into something?”

“Well, if I were to buy this…”

Akane took out a magnifying glass to look carefully at Esta’s shell.

“50,000 yen.”

“Huuuh–!?”

Taken by surprise, Haruki’s exclamation got stuck in his throat.

He hadn’t imagined that Esta’s shell, which he had thought to be worth about as much a cicada’s shell, would sum up to as much as 50,000 yen.

“It’s really expensive, huh.”

“Yeah. A monster similar to this one appears in other dungeons. It’s called Death Bug, and its carapace is very similar to this one. This carapace is a bit cheaper than one taken from a Death Bug, but I don’t think you’re losing out on too much here.”

“Oh-”

Esta was a rare species of Centipede.

It wouldn’t be too surprising that some other dungeon had the same high-ranking species of Centipede like Esta.

Haruki didn’t know that it was called a Death Bug.

“You could make armor out of this, but because of its size, you can make a small chest piece with it. It’s going to be stronger than a Centipede chest piece, though. What will you do?”

“Then, let’s use it to make a piece of armor for Karen.”

Karen had been vulnerable during the battle with the lower god.

Attacks made by throwing one’s sword tend to be slower than slashing.

Haruki was sure that if it had been him, he would have been able to avoid it.

However, Karen couldn’t dodge it.

She was used to fighting in the rear guard, so her ability to dodge was worse than Haruki’s.

That’s why training Karen to avoid attacks would be a bit of a bad idea.

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

Things that you are good at are easy to improve with practice, but things that you are not good at are hard to get better at even if you practice.

Therefore, it was more efficient to quickly compensate her weak points with armor.

Karen was wearing a Centipede armor at the moment.

This was a bit lacking in defense considering her current situation.

Haruki was equipped with high-quality scale armor, so he didn’t have to upgrade his armor for the time being.

For that reason, it was best to upgrade Karen’s armor instead.

Haruki and Karen had already discussed that on their way back to K-Town.

“Alright, then I’ll use this to make armor for Karen. Can I choose what kind of armor it will be?”

“Sure thing.”

Akane, who sometimes would take Karen to explore in the dungeon, should have the best understanding of the kind of armor Karen needed.

Haruki nodded without hesitation.

Lastly, Haruki took out the materials that had been torn to pieces.

— What happened?

After taking a look at the materials, Akane froze.