Sword of Gluttony Queen - Chapter 7 - Mani The Smithing Master

Chapter 7 : Mani The Smithing Master

After I escaped from 《Den of the Battle Rat》, I walked into the forest and drank the water from the river. I then proceeded to wash my dirty clothes and hung them on the tree.

Not too long after that, I put on my semi-dried clothes and then stopped by a certain village close to the 《Den of the Battle Rat》.

According to the villagers, Morgan and Gilbert visited this place three days ago.

It seems that they’d stopped by this place on their way back too.

The fellow who talked to me was extremely surprised since Gilbert had told them 『The guy who came with us was killed by the Battle Rats』.

How dare you say that, Gilbert!

Though I really wanted to spread the news of what he did to me, I would keep my silence for the time being.

Since I was rather short on cash, I asked the villagers if they would buy the Battle Bone of Gilbert’s spare magical vessel for 20,000 Temis.

Though I could sell it for a higher price in the city, I had no other option right now.

It seems this village has no artisan who could make a magical vessel.

I mean, if they were telling the truth, then the Battle Bone was useless.

So, it would take quite some time for them to convert this Battle Bone into money.

But seeing my situation, I guess they obliged and bought the Battle Bone.

Moreover, I felt slightly invigorated when I managed to sell Gilbert’s weapon for a low price.

But, I decided to sell the magical core after I arrived in the city.

I managed to secure food and clothing with the money I earned from selling the Battle Bone.

I also bought another cloth from the villagers to wrap Beelzebub’s Magical Core with .

Since I was alone and without any luggage, I decided to return on foot instead of by coach.

I should be able to arrive at my base, Romburgh City in which a certain adventurer’s guild is located.

When I returned, my first goal was to visit my best friend, Mani, who lived deep in the slums of Romburgh.

Mani’s family was a family of blacksmiths for a few generations now, and her grandfather, Gawain, was regarded as the legendary blacksmith of the city.

「I might’ve made her a little anxious. I do have acquaintances in the adventurer’s guild, but I guess their reaction when they hear that I died in the labyrinth would only be, “Aaah, so he died huh?”.」

I spoke to Beelzebub’s Magical Core that was hidden in the cloth while looking around at my surroundings.

『So that means that only the blacksmith girl of the slums will be worrying about your death. I think you’re just not very charming. I want to visit a place that has a little bit more flowers though.』[TL : Flower=woman]

How rude!

But considering those words came from the Archdevil Beelzebub… I guess she was talking rather kindly to me.

I mean, the devils appeared in the stories were only those cruel and irresponsible fellows who think that humans were nothing but their playthings.

As for what I am to her, I guess I will exercise my right to remain silent. [P/R: anything you say can and WILL be used against you]

Or not, she might have her own agenda since she couldn’t move by herself.

『Well, it’s still better here compared to the place where I last ended up. To be more precise, I’m rather curious about this close friend of yours. But, the current me has no body, feet, orhands. I’ll be extremely lonely if you cast me aside for too long, you know? 』

Perhaps… after ending up in that place for over hundreds of years, she missed having a conversation partner.

『But then, why did a family who had such a legendary figure end up living in the slums? 』

「The legendary blacksmith, Gawain, was a gambling addict.」

By Mani’s father’s generation, their family had lost their vast wealth and made a living as a poor blacksmith in the slums.

『He ruined his family due to greed huh. Well, such things aren’t that rare.』

Though Mani seemed to possess her own magical vessel for smithing, the best she could do was maintenance since she couldn’t even prepare smithing materials for crafting.

Although she’s a blacksmith, I think she is more suited to dive into a labyrinth as a “Miner” because she understands and can use alchemy and mineralogy.

Honestly speaking, Mani, who has these special abilities, wouldn’t experience a life of hardship like unemployment or get her skills valued at an even lower than market price, like in my case.

But her current life, so far hadn’t been that much different from mine. Owing to her skills, she just didn’t get treated as harshly as I.

「We’ve arrived」

There was a plank that said『Closed』hanging on the door of Mani’s smithy.

Since I could hear sounds coming from within, it seems that she wasn’t away right now.

I rang the bell next to the door.

「… My apologies, even though you took your time to visit this place, we will be closed for a while. Currently, I am not in the state where I can swing my ham—-」

I heard Mani’s voice from inside.

「It’s me, Dean. Can I come in? 」

「Di— DEAN! ? YOU’RE STILL ALIVE! 」

The doors swung open with vigor and out came a girl, wearing a red bandana over her black bobbed hair.

When the girl shifted her goggles onto her forehead, one could see her big cat-like eyes flicker.

Her name is Mani. She is18 years old, one year older than me.

I went into her workshop and told her about what really happened inside the 《Den of the Battle Rat》.

「… To think that a huge number of Battle Rats appeared at such a low level! I somehow found a narrow tunnel and jumped into it. I then did my best to survive for a few days before barely managing to leave the 《Den of the Battle Rat》. The days there were a pure nightmare.」

「Thank…. Goodness! I tried to confirm your situation from the adventurer’s guild since you didn’t show up in my store at all. When they told me about your death, I thought, I thought that you really were dead you know, Dean.」 [TL : Mani is using Boku which is rather manly for a girl]

Mani heaved a deep sigh of relief.

A torrent of tears suddenly gushed out from her eyes.

She smiled wryly and wiped her tears away with her hands.

「… Other than that, there’s another piece of bad news. When I escaped from the 《Den of the Battle Rat》, I ended up leaving behind the 《Poor’s Blade of Popo》 which you worked so hard to temper for me..」

The Battle Bone and Magical Core of that magic sword was something that I barely managed to gather but, the cost of her work, and other materials such as metals were covered by Mani.

「Don’t mind it, we’re talking about your life after all. Such a thing can’t measure up to your life. But then, you must be troubled now that you don’t have a magical sword… Right?」

Yes, indeed, even that 《Poor’s Blade Popo》 took around 60,000 Temis for the Magical Core and Battle Bone. It would be over 100,000 Temis if I had to include the other materials.

It wasn’t an amount that I could easily prepare seeing as I lost both my mana lamp and harvesting tool, and on top of that I couldn’t get the remuneration from Gilbert.

It’s not like I can’t be a porter without a magical sword and although buying another mana lamp and harvest tool was simple, the treatment I receive as a porter without a magical sword would be worse than usual.

「In fact…. There’s something else I want to tell you about. The reason I managed to leave the《Den of the Battle Rat》 is because someone helped me.」

I then unwrapped the cloth thereby revealing Beelzebub’s Magical Core to Mani.

「Is this…. a magical core? It’s really beautiful, right. But, it doesn’t seem to be a normal magical core may I… touch it for a bit? 」

Mani outstretched her arm, and as she touched it…

『Hou, I thought that you wouldn’t tell anyone about me.』

Beelzebub’s Magical Core spoke into our minds.

Eyes wide open, Mani’s hand twitched to a halt.