By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 17

Chapter 3 Episode 17: The Dinome Magic Item Workshop

Two days later, I reached the gate to Keleban without being attacked once along the way.

“Excuse me, but do you know where the Dinome Magic Item Workshop is?” I asked the gate guard. “I believe it’s supposed to be around here.”

“Head east,” the guard answered. “Go straight down this road until you reach 24th Street, and then... Sorry, the roads around there are pretty convoluted. It’s hard to describe the exact directions in words.”

“It’s fine, you told me enough. Thank you.”

“Take care, then. Oh, actually, that carriage could take you there in a jiffy!”

I thanked the guard for the help, then walked up to the carriage he pointed out. It had no hood or seats, so it looked like a big cart for transporting goods. Nobody was in it but the coachman either, so I wasn’t sure this was the right carriage.

“Excuse me, how much would a trip to 24th Street cost?” I asked.

“24th? Two small bronze coins,” the coachman said.

“Here you are, then.”

“Get in the back. I was just about to leave.”

Once I boarded, the coachman got the carriage moving. I watched the streets slowly scroll by around me and listened to the hustle and bustle of the townsfolk. There were a lot of people on my last visit too, but now the crowds seemed even bigger.

“So where’d you come from, kid?” the coachman asked.

“Gimul,” I replied.

“Pretty nearby, eh? You here to do some sightseeing alone?”

“I’m an adventurer, but when I finish the request I’m here for, I’d love to see the sights. There’s a special market opening soon, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, tomorrow. It’s the magic item market this time.”

“Is there more than one big market event?”

“What, are you not from around here? Everyone in Gimul, hell, everyone in the whole region knows about the markets. There’s six of them a year. The main product changes every time, but it’s always held in the central square. There’s always all sorts of food carts and stuff that open up around it too. They don’t feel so special after you’ve lived here a few years, what with them creeping up on you every two months. They bring a lot of profit for us, though.”

The carriage stopped to let tons of new passengers flood inside. We were packed together pretty tight.

“Hm? Hold onto something, folks!” The coachman shouted. “Might be a little bumpy ahead!”

The passengers grabbed onto the rim of the carriage. I followed suit, but I had no idea what was going on. Before I could figure it out, a smaller cart slowly drove by from ahead and to the right. It was full of barrels, and the driver was a fairly old man. Young men in other carriages yelled obscenities as they drove around him to pass by.

“Cripes, that’s dangerous,” our coachman muttered as he furrowed his brow. I had to admit that even to an amateur eye, the young men seemed somewhat aggressive with how they passed the old man. With that said, he was definitely slow and potentially obstructive. I didn’t know exactly who the coachman was referring to as dangerous.

The other passengers started to get antsy as we approached the next stop and a middle-aged woman with the build of a sumo wrestler was there. She asked to be taken to 24th Street and got on the carriage. Everyone was dismayed by this, but especially me, because she tripped over and fell on me as she boarded. She apologized, but I told her I wasn’t especially hurt. Then she sat right next to me, and the cramped carriage felt even more cramped.

■ ■ ■

The woman was nice enough to guide me to the Dinome Magic Item Workshop after we got off the carriage. I might never have found it otherwise, so I was glad I asked. I took my luggage and the job posting out of my Item Box, then walked through the door and saw a portly woman sitting at the counter. It would have been hard to call the store especially large. If I were to compare it to something, it was like a little shop you would find at a platform at a train station.

“Welcome!” the woman said. “Oh? What an adorable visitor we have. I’ve never seen you before. Are you an errand boy? You can get lamps or coals here, if those are what you need.” She pointed to a shelf beneath the counter. It carried small magic items that were presumably merchandise. But unfortunately, I wasn’t a customer.

“I’m an adventurer, actually, and I’m here to deliver something,” I said. “Can you sign for this, please?”

“One moment, please,” she answered. “Dad!”

“What?! Give me a sec!” someone shouted from elsewhere in the store.

“You’ll have to give him a moment. He’ll be here soon,” the woman explained.

A few minutes later, a bearded man appeared. “What do you want?” he asked.

“He delivered something,” the woman said. “It’s for you, so you should probably be the one to take it.”

“He delivered something?” the man repeated. “Oh, the parts? And here I thought they wouldn’t make it in time.” He signed the job posting and gave it back to me. Now I just had to report back to the guild.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll be going, then.”

“Wait,” the man said. “You brought this from Gimul, right? If you’re not in a hurry, how about staying for a cup of tea? We’ve only got cheap stuff, if that’s all right with you. Hey, can you make the tea?”

“Coming right up,” the woman said. The man who actually made the offer returned to the back of the store, leaving his daughter to do the job. I didn’t want to let her work go to waste, so I stayed. When she finished the tea, I stood at one end of the counter to drink it. Strangely, it smelled like coffee.

“How do you like it?” she asked.

“It’s delicious,” I responded.

“That’s great. This tea is sort of uncommon, so I wasn’t too sure about it.”

“It reminds me of something I’ve drank before. Is it made from roasted beans? Or the roots of a flower?”

“It’s made from the roots of a dante flower, apparently. I don’t know much about it, but it’s supposed to be good for you,” she said. That meant it was probably dandelion coffee, which brought back some memories. I used to drink this all the time back at the office, although with some extra touches.

“Where can you buy this?” I asked.

“You must really like it, huh? The old man who runs the drug store in the neighborhood always shares some with us, but he just makes it as a hobby. It’s not for sale, I don’t think.”

I knew what they called the flower now, so I could just get a hold of some and make the coffee myself. From what I remembered of dandelion coffee on Earth, you were supposed to wash the roots and let them dry, then roast and boil them. It wasn’t that hard.

“Thanks so much for this,” I said when my cup was empty.

“No problem. Are you leaving already?” the woman asked.

“Yes, I have to find an inn for tonight. Thanks again, though,” I said and turned to leave the store. But just as I put my hand on the doorknob, someone opened the door from outside. We both froze in place to avoid bumping into each other. That was when I saw who it was and froze up even more. It was none other than Serge.

“Hello, Serge, what a coincidence,” I said. “I knew you were in town for the magic item market, but still.”

“Indeed,” Serge agreed. “Why are you here?”

“I delivered something for the adventurer’s guild. It was urgent, so I had to be a bit hasty.”

“Interesting. I’ve been going from place to place to say hello. I’m quite close with this workshop.”

The man from before returned to the front counter. “Serge! You’re finally here?” he said.

“Oh! Long time no see, Dinome,” Serge said.

“It’s only been a couple months. Well, I’m glad to see you’re doing OK. Do you know that kid?” the man asked and gave me a curious look.

“I’m Ryoma Takebayashi,” I said. “Serge has done a lot for me.”

“Oh, no, you’ve done a lot for me,” Serge said. “He’s as young as he looks, but he makes you want to stay on good terms with him. He’s interested in magic items too, apparently.”

“Is that right?” the bearded man said. “Surprised to hear Serge here give you such high praise. I’m Dinome. You can have a look inside, if you’re interested.”

“Can I?” I asked.

“Sure you can, that’s why I’m offering. I was going to show Serge either way.”

Before I could say anything else, Dinome headed to the back of the store. Serge followed along like he was used to this. I bowed to Dinome’s daughter, then tagged along.

The back room was larger than I could have imagined from the store itself. There were four vehicles that just looked like boxes with wheels stuck on. Presumably these were magimobiles. I saw assorted parts and work tables off to the edges of the room as well. On the opposite side of the room, there was a big door that must have been for accepting supply shipments, and a fairly large window as well. The room was bright and felt spacious.

“Don’t go around touching everything, but feel free to look,” Dinome said. “Serge, come with me.” Serge did as asked, and I didn’t know what else I should do, so I followed Serge. He was being told about the magimobiles.

“So this is the latest model?” Serge asked. “It doesn’t look that different.”

“Maybe not on the outside, but it’s got more power and a lighter frame,” Dinome explained. “Still doesn’t solve the big issue, though.”

“It can’t carry goods?”

“It can as long as they’re light. We’re in a bit of an awkward position. Make the frame any lighter, and we’ll have to worry about durability. It’s not worth sacrificing safety.”

“Yes, that’s the problem. Races will always have collisions.”

The subject of magimobile races came up a few times, so I thought they might be planning to enter one. Like maybe Dinome was the mechanic and Serge was the sponsor, something like that. I was able to follow the conversation at first, but eventually they started activating magic items and getting into deep, fanatical discussions. When they started talking about the number of revolutions the power source could do, I snuck off somewhere else.

I looked all around the workshop, but to be honest, I didn’t know what I was looking at for the most part. I eventually found something a bit more normal. Amidst all the box-shaped magimobiles, there was what appeared to be an ordinary carriage. The one difference was that there was no way to tie a horse to this carriage, but there was a place for a coachman. It didn’t seem to be a magimobile, but I thought it might be some other sort of magic item. I wanted to know more, so I waited for a chance to interrupt Dinome and Serge’s conversation.

“Dinome, what kind of magic item is that?” I asked.

“That? Nothing magic about it, that’s just a carriage. A neighbor asked me to fix it,” Dinome said.

That made sense to me, but Serge was cocking his head. “Strange that you’d be willing to repair a regular carriage,” he said.

“Yeah, well, you know,” Dinome mumbled.

Before I could ask what he meant, Serge lowered his voice and told me. “He’s softened up a lot since his grandchild was born a few years ago, but he always refused to touch anything but magic items in the past. If someone had a broken carriage, he’d tell them to go to a specialist for that.”

“To tell you the truth, I wanted some money. It’s for my grandkid,” Dinome said, his face turning red.

“Are you buying him a gift? Then let me assist with that,” Serge offered.

“Sorry, but no, it’s tuition money.”

“For the academy in the capital?”

“Right. As for why, well, let me tell you,” Dinome said proudly, clearly eager to talk about this. “My grandkid might be a genius! He’s still only four years old, but he comes over to hear us talk about work a lot, you know. My youngest disciple likes to act like a big brother and just explain every little thing to him. He hardly knows a thing himself, but anyway, take a look at this!”

Dinome could hardly contain his excitement as he took a few gears out of a drawer in a work table. He picked up one of them, set it on his palm, and let magical energy flow inside. It began to rotate like the gear Serge gave me the other day. Compared to that one, though, this spun extremely slowly and periodically stopped before starting again.

“Judging by the conversation thus far, I’m guessing your grandchild made this,” I said.

“You got it, kid!” Dinome said. “Isn’t it something? Not good enough to sell, but remember, he’s only four.”

“So he’s good for his age?”

“You bet! I’ve carried him on my back while I worked when he was a baby, so maybe he learned from that at some point, but it was still a big surprise.”

“I can’t use enchanting magic, so I’m a bit jealous.”

You could never get a word in with people like this, but they were easy enough to deal with as long as you made it clear that you were listening. I followed that rule of thumb that I learned on Earth, ultimately listening to him brag about his grandchild for a while longer.