Editor:Oscuras

The next day.

I’ve gathered a bit of information regarding Merwin last night.

For the time being, I’ve grasped the place where that b.a.s.t.a.r.d lives.

Its only a matter of timing about when I’m gonna go there.

For now I put it on hold, theres some important business I got to do for today.

Because today is the day when the result of the adventurer examination comes out.

Coincidentally it was the same day that I need to meet that old man.

Today I need to pay my visit to both the Blacksmith and the Guild.

I’ll go to the blacksmith first.

It makes me excited slightly,wondering how the item turns out to be.

The sword which I use now is good enough, could not ask for more than this.

When I go outside it’s crowded with people as usual.

But the whole town seems to be more lively than yesterday was.

「 Say Iori. Is it not somewhat noisier today?  」(Elfi)

「 Yeah. Probably something happened?  」(Iori)

Before long I’ve come to grasp the source of commotions.

「  Extra, Extra!  」  a  shout could be heard as a newspaper is being distributed in the middle of the town.

As the subject of the commotion that was made by people who walked in the town entered my ears.

「 Oi, is this article seriously true? The Kingdom Labyrinth of Hades has successfully been subjugated  」

「 Oh! A while ago, it seems that the Kingdom has formally announced it. Moreover I heard that the corpse of the Earth Demon Lord is being displayed magnificiently in the royal capital  」

「 It’s a Cave Dragon, right? It should be several times bigger than the common ones  」

I see.

Finally the Kingdom, announced the subjugation of the labyrinth to the public.

It was about time the news reached this place.

「 The one who took down the Earth Demon Lord is the Kingdom most powerful mage “The Great Mage” Luser Gilban!  」

「 It’s a legend who fought the Maou force together with “Hero Amatsu”, right? Its been a long time since I’ve heard his name, I thought his ability has declined by now 」

「 Probably with this the other countries will start to move and subjugate the other Labyrinths.

For the Federation, it was about time for the guild to send the adventurers to subjugate the labyrinth, right? 」

「 It looks like we’re gonna follow after the Kingdom, huh  」

“The Great Mage”, hah?

It seems like that Luser was really important to the Kingdom.

Even after he caused such blunder he has been given an achievement more than the punishment that he should deserve, huh.

I wonder if that right arm that he just lost will be considered a wound of honor, heh.

「 That man really did some meritorious deed? It is slightly unpleasant. Although this is just a slightly violation but finally the time has come  」

It’s surely not interesting.

Nevertheless, in the end the only thing that waits for that man is only regret, despair and death.

You should cling tightly to those false merits to the utmost right now.

Then after ten minutes we finally arrived at the blacksmith.

「  Welcome-nya~!  」(Nyamel)

In the same way as before, Nyamel came to greet us right after we entered the shop.

「 Ah! The customer who helped me back then!  」(Nyamel)

Right after she saw my face, poof, a smile appeared on her face as she rushed over to me.

With her flapping cat ears she looks more like a dog rather than a cat.

「 Thank you very much for yesterday-nya. I thought that I was gonna die when I got surrounded yesterday-nya  」(Nyamel)

「 Speaking of the cat beastman, weren’t they fast with their feet? You should just ignore and flee from those bunch  」(Elfi)

「 Huh? Is there something wrong with your head oh miss customer?  」(Nyamel)

「 There’s nothing wrong with my HEAD!  」(Elfi)

When Elfi is complaining about Nyamel, someone has come out from the inner part of the shop.

「 Oh, Isn’t it my little sister’s benefactor?  」(Misha)

It’s not that old man but Misha the adventurer.

「  Is Misha-san working at this shop too?  」(Iori)

「 Its just Nyamel who works at this shop and I just occasionally help out a bit, ya see. Generally I do adventurer jobs and I accidentally dropped by the shop today because of my job 」(Misha)

「I  see……Has it been a long time since you’ve become an adventurer?  」(Iori)

I can guess it just by looking at Misha’s refined movement.

Agility is the cat beastman characteristic and those agile can be seen through from their fights.

「 Actually I’ve just started being an adventurer a few years ago. Well, by becoming an adventurer I’ve done quite an amount of fight  」(Misha)

「 You insolent one!  」is said by Elfi who gets in trouble with Nyamel and while Misha saw those scenes she narrowed her eyes while muttering.

「 Before I’ve come to this town I’ve been living in the cat beastman village. It was nearby the Empire, but it was dragged into the war between humans and Mazoku. Unfortunately the village was attacked by the Mazoku. Therefore, for the sake of protecting everyone it can’t be helped that I needed to learn how to fight  」(Misha)

「……As usual, the Maou forces don’t discriminate, huh  」(Iori)

Except the people from their own kind, they really are ruthless toward other races.

Although Ortegia didn’t restore yet, the Maou forces begin to move in various place.

Although there are no full-scale wars, but the small scale skirmishes occur frequently.

The village of Misha would be swallowed in it, too.

「……In the end, we couldn’t live there anymore and had no choice but to run away from there. As both me and Nyamel kept wandering around looking for somewhere to start our new lifes, both of us finally arrived in the Federation  」(Misha)

「 Thereupon you’ve decided to become an adventurer, right?  」(Iori)

「 No, actually, during those time I didn’t know my way around or what to do after arriving to this town. However, this store old man picked up both of us and teached us various things. He even provided us a place to live  」(Misha)

「 He…… surely such a kind man  」(Iori)

「  Yeah, I’m really grateful toward him  」(Misha)

What was that old man really up to by using these cat beastman?

For a moment I had such thoughts in my mind and I breath a sigh to forget.

While having some conversation with Misha the door that connects to the inner side of the shop opened and the mentioned old man appeared form it.

There was a sword in the grasp of his hand.

It’s a sword which was made from a demon stone that includes high concentration of magic from the body of the Earth Demon Lord.

From its blade that seemed to emit radiance, moreover I can feel the presence of magic concentration drifting around it.

「 I’ve push myself to the limit creating this one. Take it  」

As I received the sword I can feel its weight being transmitted to my hand.

However it’s neither too heavy nor too light and is the proper weight for me to handle it.

The moment when I grip the sword I can felt the magical power flowing into me, that make me become light.

「  Did you notice that, it’s a magic bestowal item  ー the magic sword. You can feel the effect just by grasping it  」

In addition to its peerless sharpness it has high magical power conductivity.

In addition to it, the sword manifests its power in the state where I “stand firmly on the ground”

「”The Magical Power Protection” and “Body Reinforcement”. Moreover it has the ability to draw power from the ground/earth, that will restore user magical power little by little  」

「  Hou~, isn’t it quite a good sword? 」(Elfi)

Unnoticed by me, the curious Elfi who came to my side said those word.

Certainly the sword came out more splendid than I imagined it would be.

It isn’t strange for a normal shop to be able to build a mansion if being provided with a considerable amount of money.

「 Amazing-nya……」(Nyamel)

「 It’s to the extent I want one for myself too  」(Misha)

Both Nyamel and Misha faces show some astonishment right after both of them saw the sword.

「 How much is the charge for you smithing this?  」(Iori)

Just by creating only this.

It isn’t strange if it will cost me a considerable amount of money.

Regarding the money itself, I might be able to pay it off because I stole a considerable amount of money from the Kingdom.

However, when my hand was about to reach my pouch the old man stopped my hand.

「 I don’t need it. I have no intention to put a price on that sword because I won’t charge you anything for it  」

「……But that  」(Iori)

「 Besides I’ve heard that our idiot was under your care once and this is my thanks for that.

Just receive it already  」

Like that, the old man pointed at Nyamel using his jaw.

And in response to that Nyamel bowed her head to me.

「 Please just accept it as my grat.i.tude to you 」

「……I understand  」(Iori)

「 Because its not just some mere cheap stuff. Then its been decided that we’re gonna use the money that should be used for the sword to buy some sweets with it 」(Elfi)

「  No thanks  」(Iori)

After I bowed my head to the old man I put the sword on my waist belt.

I can feel considerable weight from it.

「 It’s a sword which contains the power of earth. You may call it “Long Sword of Jade” 」

Long Sword of Jade.

It has a sharper blade than that treasure sword which has been broken during my fight with the Earth Demon Lord.

Still, I don’t want to expense this one as a bullet for my “Magic Break”

「 Which reminds me that both of you are gonna get your test results, right? If you’re going to the Guild, is it okay for me to tag along? Because there’s something that I need to do  」(Misha)

「  Sure, why not  」(Iori)

I’ve just obtained a really good weapon.

Anyway my next destination should be the adventurer registration.

Finally I will be able to step into the labyrinth after I’m done with the registration.

Apart from that, there’s a place where I have one more business I need to finish.

「……Oi!」

It’s when I expressed my thanks and was about to got out of the store.

When I was going to follow behind Elfi and Misha who went out first I was stopped by the old man.

「  The Demon Crystal that you brought contained quite an amount of magical power in it. I’m sure that it is not some ordinary cave dragon right 」

「  Err well  」(Iori)

「  There was an announcement made today, that the Kingdom labyrinth has been subjugated. From what I know the defeated Earth Demon Lord was……a cave dragon  」

「  ー  That’s?  」(Iori)

While I was trying to play dumb the old man sent his sharp gaze to look through me.

I don’t want to harm you since you made a weapon for me.

But if you’re trying to get in my way than you leave me no  ー.

「  Nay, just forget about it  」

But the old man shook his head and did not pursued further.

「 Leaving that aside I want to say my thanks once more. Regarding the one who I consider as my grandchild  」

「……When both of them just arrived in the Federation you took care of both of them didn’t you

and why did you do that? 」(Iori)

Although it’s some irrelevant story to me.

But it piqued my interest as to why did this old man did that.

「……It’s been around 30 years ago if I’m not mistaken. It’s during those time when the war between humans and Mazoku was at its worst. Even this Federation was under attack by the Maou forces. Well during those time I was helped by someone  」

「  Someone……?  」(Iori)

With a cheris.h.i.+ng expression the old man told me.

「 Yeah. Its probably someone you might refer as “Hero” now days. He risked his life in order to protect a stranger like me. ……That time I asked him “why did you helped me?”」

「……So what did that man replied to you?  」(Iori)

「”I helped you because I wanted to do so” Is what he replied to me  」

Then, the old man told me.

「 When I saw both of them in trouble back then, I helped them because I just felt like I wanted to do so. That’s all  」

「――――  」(Iori)

「……Well its probably that I just wanted to find someone to replace my resigned shop a.s.sistant  」

By turning his back to me the old man told me that as if he’s trying to make fun of me.

「  Could you tell me your name?  」(Iori)

「  It’s Zoorutsu  」

After saying that, the old man went back into the inner part of the store.

As for me who was left, I opened the door and left the shop.

It was some unfamiliar name to me.

However, I felt like I have a memory in which I once said such thing.

「  Whats with……”I helped you because I want to do so”, hah  」(Iori)

……Absurd.

However for some reason,why did I felt some hesitation.

Nevertheless, with this, it was a good story in itself.