Davey ended up staying in the Lyndis Empire for two more days. He was a little concerned by Princess Aeria, but he thought things would be fine after having told the royal palace that he was going back. Also, he knew that the emperor loved his daughter too much to let her just become involved with him like that.

Yulis and Illyna did not accompany Davey on the way back. They were usually with Davey all day and night because time spent was entertaining or because he often showed them cool things, but they still had their respective work to do. Illyna had told Davey that there was something she needed to take care of at her empire, and Yulis had said that he had to attend a meeting at the wizard tower. Davey didn’t hide his joy to be away from them once they revealed that they wouldn’t be able to return for a while.

Davey was only bugged by being at the empire with Princess Aeria, but he was sure that they wouldn’t run into each other. This was because Davey had left the palace at an appropriate time, and the nasty emperor was crazy about his daughter and would never leave her alone.

Having returned to the Heins Territory for two weeks, Davey spent his time doing absolutely nothing. He was just about to start working again when Elder Goulda, the eighth elder of the Yellowstone Tribe and the one who was helping out at the territory, came to him at the perfect time.

“Wise Teacher, your requested things are here. We had a hard time because there were so many things. Chuckle,” Goulda said humorously with a chuckle.

Davey could see that there were quite a lot of boxes piled up in the large empty field. He asked, “There’s more than I thought. You moved the boxes all by yourselves?”

“Well, we dwarves are nothing without our strength. Of course, the territory’s substitute manager gave us more manpower because there’s so much to move.”

Davey’s second business was not a stable source of income even though it yielded some profit, offering some assistance to the territory’s earnings. With this business, it was difficult to expect a huge gain in a short amount of time.

“Haha, they were on such a roll that it looks like they overdid themselves.”

“It really is a lot.”

“Actually, the Blackstone Tribe also sent some over. They say that they cannot allow themselves to just steal skills and techniques without any sort of repayment,” Goulda said. Then, he opened a black box and pulled out a shining silver sword. “It’s blue steel.”

Blue steel was made with the forgotten alloy method Davey had taught the dwarves. It was made by combining normal steel and Percal Steel, which was a commonly found metal in the Tionis Continent.

“Haha… There’s nothing good about this metal, except for the fact that it has an extremely low conductivity for heat. It can withstand high temperatures, but…”

“But the elasticity increases depending on how it is handled.”

The material was difficult to refine.

There were a variety of things in the boxes: swords, spears, arrowheads, daggers, shields, and even armor. It seemed like the dwarves had scraped together any war equipment they could find. Davey could clearly see that they had put their souls into crafting the weaponry; they were seemingly showing him their burning enthusiasm. Although, the alloy itself was a little lacking; perhaps it was because they hadn’t mastered the technique yet. This meant that everything in the boxes were failures.

‘Well, failures have their own unique feel to them, too, I guess.’

However, anything that was ‘dwarf-made’ held great value in the continent. Davey was confident that these weapons would sell if he were to put them up for sale at double their market prices.

‘Dwarf-made’ products were the best in the world, and it was obvious that mercenaries who were insane about their equipment and knights who were eager to climb up the ranks would be doing anything to buy them with their own money. However, those people weren’t Davey’s main target audience.

Davey was leeching off the dwarves in a way, but he had given them half of the metal and they needed practice in crafting and refining the new alloy. Both he and the dwarves had no problem with this attractive proposition that would benefit both parties.

It seemed like Davey had already offered more than enough, but he still invested more. Even if the dwarves were to become comfortable with blue steel in the future, the free trade of their crafted equipment would be able to expand in the Heins Territory; this was how boldly and greatly the dwarves repaid their debts.

“I think you could start a war somewhere with this much equipment, don’t you think?” Goulda asked.

“You’re right.”

Among metal products, weapons were the most lucrative ones. However, Davey didn’t ask for such a large amount only to earn some money.

“But humans are oppressing war as far as I’ve heard. Are they going to sell?” Goulda asked.

‘Why wouldn’t they? There is supply because there is demand… The military didn’t disappear because there was no war.’

Davey went on to explain. “They are just avoiding war; it’s not forbidden. Furthermore, other countries do not have the means to intervene recklessly, especially in a civil war.”

Goulda yawned as if this was too complicated for him. “Well… It doesn’t change the fact that these are still failures. But still, selling failed works…”

“Well, try to think of it in a good way. It’s true that your failed works are far better than ordinary ones.”

Clang!! Goulda struck down on the sword made with blue steel with another sword made of hard steel. With a dense sound, the steel blade chipped.

“Chuckle… I didn’t know that a sword would chip like this when striking it with a failed weapon. Those grandpops are probably elated.”

The blade made of hard steel had chipped, but the blue steel blade was completely unchanged. Even this casual demonstration alone showed the difference between works made by ordinary people and those made by dwarves. It was clear that the quality was good enough for it to be sold at a fairly high price that no one would be opposed to.

‘Taking the money and also achieving my goals…’ 

Davey’s attitude toward business was simple: low risk, high return.

-You run your business so easily…

‘I have to get the most out of it when I can.’

It would be helpful in the long run if Davey earned and saved diligently. As he had lived in a materialistic society before, he couldn’t avoid the feeling that he was very focused on money.

Now, the only thing left was to actualize the theory using the Remaining Spark: the reorganization of the physical body. It was like chiseling away on solidified elemental and devil mana, and holy power, which meant…

“Forced metamorphosis.”

-But isn’t this theory too dangerous to execute?

“That’s why I need a spare life. And it’s my magic teacher who created this theory, not me.”

The theory could lead to death regardless of success or failure. However, if Davey had a definite way of coming back to life, it would certainly be effective. He also knew of a place that was best equipped for this; a place that was swarming with transcendental beings he could use the Remaining Spark on, and where it would be fine even if he lost control of his powers and did something.

‘What good timing.’

-Illyna would be absolutely against it if she learns about this.

In fact, anyone in their right mind would be against this. However, Davey wasn’t one to give up just because of others’ opinions.

“Rinne.”

Rinne, who was sitting in a tree and looking at the birds, jumped off the branch and landed softly. “Did you call Rinne, Sir Davey?”

“Let’s go to the knight order.”

“Rinne too?”

“Yes.”

Right now, Davey was going to overload his body using the remains of a transcendental being, which could instantly kill a few Swordmasters with its mere appearance. Ultimately, metamorphosis was the destruction and rebuilding of the body, and Davey was going to make that happen by his will.

* * *

The headquarters of the Alpha Reinforcements, the knight order of the Last Wisp responsible for the central continent’s northern region, was usually very quiet. The view of the silent and mystical forest located under the permafrost was absolutely magnificent.

“Illyna!”

“You’re finally back!”

The trainees, who were sitting together in the auditorium and chattering with snacks, greeted the tired Illyna who walked in.

Illyna always made sure she maintained a certain image when she was outside; she never broke her outer persona of the cold and frosty ice princess, but she didn’t use that fake personality in the knight order. She was rather honest, especially in front of her friends.

“Ugh… I’m tired,” Illyna grumbled.

“Oh, Your Highness. Did something happen?” Alyssa Patrick, a girl from the Pallan Empire who thought of Davey as her role model, asked.

“Something about an arranged marriage came up, so I had to take care of it.” Illyna sighed.

Illyna found Alyssa a little difficult; she thought she would be less uncomfortable with Alyssa if Alyssa wasn’t the daughter of a noble family of the Pallan Empire, or if she wasn’t a Roaming Knight like herself.

Normally, royalty could not escape the shackles of arranged marriages, but Illyna had enough influence to not be forced into it. She could do something about it. It was unfortunate that royalty had to go through this, but she was slowly gaining her own strength bit by bit.

“True… Nobility and royalty could never be free from arranged marriages.” Heg, who had a large physique, murmured while crunching on a baguette.

Shayir, Heg’s partner, patted Illyna on the back and asked, “Are you okay? What about Davey?”

“Ah, right. Where is Prince Davey, Your Highness?”

“I’ve trained with you guys for years, but Davey is more important to you than me?”

“Oh, is it wrong for me to look for my role model?”

“…”

Illyna thought, ‘Of course’, and squinted at Alyssa.

“That’s right. We have yet to even repay Sir Davey. Saintess Daphne, the first saintess, wouldn’t want this either.” Lucia Shelman, the former priest, had eyes that sparkled as much as Alyssa’s. She had managed to stay alive because of Davey’s help during an earlier accident.

“Did anything happen? I don’t see Sio Howl.”

“Sio has a personal assignment with Treve. I heard that they would join us when the test begins.”

“I hear that he is on a special assignment related to transcendental beings.”

“Hm…”

“Treve does have unique abilities.”

The Special Ones were important even as trainees, and among them, illusionists were extremely effective. As such, none of the trainees found it strange for Sio and Treve to travel to places for other assignments.

“Sio is amazing, too. He was called to the headquarters time and time again after that day, but he didn't complain about it one bit.”

“Unlike Lucia over here.”

“Hmph… I–I can’t help it! I was really tired of it!” Lucia Shelman complained.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Everyone answered insincerely.

“Don’t you know Sio is nothing without his pride?”

Heg chuckled when the twin sisters criticized Sio.

“That’s true. Anyways, I wonder if I’ll pass this test…”

“I’m so envious of Treve… He becomes an official member if he just doesn’t fail this test, right?”

“Well, he does have a rare set of abilities.”

“If I fail again this time… It’s going to be my second time…” Fildyr, the Holy Knight, grumbled.

Lucia declared confidently, “Don’t worry, Fildyr. We will certainly get in; I bet on the name of Lady Daphne.”

“I’m even more worried because of you.”

“Ow ow ow! It hurts!”

Everyone laughed as Lucia and Fildyr bickered.

“Now that I think of it, Illyna shouldn’t be worried at all.”

“Yeah, since she has Davey.”

“Illyna is also outstanding, but…”

Everyone had heard from Sio Howl and Lucia Shelman that Davey’s powers were beyond common sense. His strength put Illyna on the high ground.

Illyna had heard about what happened from Davey himself, but the others could only predict the rest of the situation from Sio and Lucia’s testimonies. Although, she didn’t find it odd that the trainees thought that way since the entire incident was too ridiculous to be rationalized with common sense.