Chapter 14

Equipment Problem

Even if the brightness of Nod’s guild card in the chest changes to a stone one, Nod’s daily life is still the same as usual .

In other words, it is money making stuff .

Two months have passed since the death battle with Rock Wolf (ihe massacre) . Nod is safely spending his days as a Stone Adventurer .

If there is a request for subjugation in the east, he will goes there, and if there is a request for collection in the west, he will goes there . Half of the commission fee is paid to the household, and the rest is saved . The money he saved is mainly intended to be a save keeping money, but recently he felt that there is a shortage of hard leather armor, so he is thinking about renewing the equipment soon .

“Well, good idea I guess . we’ll be taking a rank-up quest in the not too distant future . Isn’t it better to have it prepared early?”

In response to Nod’s consultation, Erza who is his partner says so .

She was enjoying a meal after the request was finished at a guild tavern .

She hangs her rich vermilion hair, scrapes her hair dexterously into the stew for dinner, and eats the food that she brought to her mouth .

Her attire is tough adventurer who likes to relax at the end of work . She wears a black, glossy, sturdy armor with armor plates .

That armor is  the Kuroiwa Wolf Armor made from Armored Wolf’s fur, the Rock Wolf’s leader who they fought in a rank-up quest where Nod and Erza were promoted to the stone adventurer  two months ago .

The Rock Wolf armor is basically a lightly gray armor, while the armor worn by Erza looks so good that it can be mistaken for forged black iron .

The Armored Wolf Armor was just as strong as the metal armor compared to the armor of the Rock Wolf armor, which was comparable to the leather armor . Nevertheless, it is as light as hard leather armor .

Nod see Erza’s black shining armor and regretted selling a little Armored Wolf material to her .

Erza smiled with a good smile, and put a spear in her hand once on the tableware and shook her chest to show the armor at Nod .

Erza’s vermilion hair had a gentle curve .

“So what do you actually want to do?”

After finishing the meal, Erza asks for ale again .

Nod expressed his thoughts on it .

“After all, I need to save money . I want to avoid buying armor . ”

“When it comes to it . The “custom made” one”

There are two way to buy armor .

One is to purchase armor that has already been completed at the armor shop . The other way is to order the custom armor you want to make .

The former is an armor called “shop sale” and the latter is an armor called custom-made . Normally, armor sold in stores is cheaper when purchased, but there was a way to get the armor even more cheaper .

That is the method commonly called “custom made” .

Simply put, you can bring in the materials of the armor you want to make, and the blacksmith creates armor for the material for free .

However, it is the same armor as store sales that you can make cheaply with this method-the point is the armor that the shop owner is accustomed to making, and you can add your own order or make it by bringing in unusual materials Then, the cost of creation increases . However, in the first place, rare materials are not sold to stores, so there is no difference from placing a full order .

The Armored Wolf’s fur and its armor, which is the material of Erza’s Kuroiwa Wolf Armor  are rare, but the method of production is the same as that of ordinary Rock Wolf armor .

Erza likes to use light armor to suit her style of battle, but it was somewhat cheaper than buying armor for the whole body with a slight increase in payment .

Nod told his thoughts to Erza, who sing after a meal .

“I think I’m going to make scale armor”

“Scale armor? No, but that’s metal … digging one right?”

In response to Erza’s reaction, Nod prefaced with “No,” and continues his explanation .

Erza imagined metal armor . This armor is made of a small piece of metal sewn on a piece of fabric and is called scale armor because the piece of metal that looks like a scale .

But what Nod is trying to make is scale armor . There is only one difference between the two who call them exactly the same . The material is a piece of metal or a real scale .

The first thing to imagine about armor made of scales is armor made of dragon scales, but they are a different one called Dragon Mail . The next thing to consider is a dragon scale armor made of Wyvern and Lesser Dragon scales, which is certainly a type of scale armor, but is distinct from the dragon scale .

That said, Nod explained to Erza, but unfortunately she doesn’t seem to be interested in these stories .

Speaking of ale as if she is not interested, she pointed her amazed gaze toward Nod and prompted him to continue .

“So,” Nod continued talking .

Nod is trying to make a scale armor using a lower level monster material .

The material is mainly reptile and fish monsters, so it can be made by Nod that is subordinate adventurers .

Nevertheless, the scales of monsters can be processed to be as strong as metals .

If you wear a scale armor on a chainmail, you will have (relatively) cheap and long-lasting equipment .

That’s why Nod told Erza .

That knowledge was learned when he consulted with the owner of the armor store . Nod is really interested and happy to hear about the material and the armor, but unfortunately Erza doen’t seem to know its charm .

As he explained so far, Elsa put a hand on the wooden desk table after she had finished drinking, and raised her hand with her palm up, just asking for something .

“If you already have a plan, you know what you need to do . ”

The gesture was to teach the material .

Nod nodded, took a book of notebook adventurer from his pocket, opens a page and handed it to Elsa .

Turn Elsa’s light and uplifting face to look into the contents of the notebook .

There is

Water fish scales

Snake bast

Snake scales

Viper scales

Fish dragon scale (metal can be substituted)

It was written like that .

§

“Hmm …”

Elsa who reads it sighing with annoying voice .

“Isn’t it hard to collect everything?”

That was what Nod is thinking .

Water fish scales and viper skins are still readily available .

Fish dragon scales are difficult to obtain, but it is said that this is an additional armor that can be attached to important parts and can be substituted with metal . If you don’t get it, it costs money but if you can get it . (In that case, it does not meet the purpose of obtaining armor cheaply)

But the rest of the material, the large snake skin and the large snake scales, is important .

Serpent is a monster that is considered to be quite tough among the prey of Stone Adventurer . It is a monster that does not fight in groups, but is said to be stronger than a group of Rock Wolf alone .

What is more troublesome is that the serpent lives in the back of a difficult place called a swamp .

Another feature is that swamps with tall grass are difficult to see far away, and heavy wet adventurers can be caught in wet marshes .

The serpent moves while scooping the ground .

However, the key to the scale armor’s armor is the bast (*means tough leather here) and the scales of this serpent .

The dragon scale is used for the breast plate that is additionally attached to the scale armor, and the snake serpent material is used for the scale armor that makes up the main body of the armor .

At the same time, he asked if the scales of water fish and viper scales, which are relatively easy to obtain, were not enough, but they seemed to provide only the same defense as hard leather armor . Those parts are used because fine scales are required in places such as the lining and joints that do not hinder movement, and the main armor part that receives attacks from the front also needs tough materials .

There is no scout at the Nod and Elsa party .

Although he is trying to acquire the scout skills little by little, it is a rudimentary skill that is not as good as his main skill .

Fighting a serpent in that situation is just awkward .

“Well, why not save money and buy a new store armor?”

Elsa knows that Nod lacks money (but rather wants to save money), but she nevertheless suggested it .

The performance is slightly lower than the scale armor, but because the armor is now selling higher-grade armor than the leather armor . That armor would be able to be used even at the request for a Crystal Adventurer .

It is faster to solve the trouble with money than to do the troublesome subjugation .

The problem is that if the trouble was solved with money, the necessary budget would be more than tripled .

Eventually, that day Nod went home, deferring the question of what to do with the armor .

§

At  a later date .

“Hey,  Nod”

Even today, there is a presence calling out to Nod who goes to the adventurer’s guild early in the morning to accept the request .

In response, if you look at the owner of the voice, he sees someone after a long time .

“It’s been a long time, Genius!”

It is Genius .

Nod, Genius and his companions are friends who fought with goblins on a long-term collection request for medicinal herbs, and their friendship continued thereafter .

“Did you see it recently? The expedition?”

“Oh, I received a long-term request again . ”

Genius and his party all promoted to Stone Adventurers . When they were a normal plate adventurer, they received several requests together, but since I is promoted, he could not meet with them .

Genius party were in the western part of the kingdom .

It was said that he took a subjugation request and a collection request .

“… Are you alone today?”

Oh, they seem to have errands . Their activity is suspended for half a month .

It’s unusual, but around Genius who laughed saying that, there was no shadow of party friends who were always together .

Genius has a history of coming to the capital city to become an adventurer to raise a flag with the childhood friends in the countryside .

They were childhood friends and long-time acquaintances with each other, and they were typical adventurer parties fighting in breathtaking collaboration .

However, they do not always act with them .

Even if you are a party member, each has their own activities .

Some adventurers belong to different union guilds, or some have the means to earn something as a side job .

In some cases, the activity as an adventurer is the side job .

Besides, the activity as an adventurer is very tiring .

In life-threatening battles and risk-taking activities, the spirit is easily exhausted more than the body . It is not uncommon to postpone activities for a while, especially after taking a long-term request .

Rather, it is rare for adventurers who ask for a request again with a short rest after a request regardless of short-term or long-term one .

Nod is that rare category and is asking request almost every day while Erza, his partner is on vacation .

Since he takes the minimum necessary rest (his parent’s house is also in the capital), it is only necessary to make a frightened face from Erza, but it is not recommended in nature .

Of course, if you have enough money for Nod, you won’t be ridiculous .

According to the story of Genius, Recess began to practice as a priestess in a temple in the capital city in order to hone her recovery magic in earnest .

It seems that it will take one month, and it is said that the vacation was organized according to the schedule .

Apparently Gaegos, the spear user, will be devoted to training to improve his skills . Alumina, the archer, has returned to everyone’s home for his brother’s wedding, and Shino, the scout seems to be on vacation in the capital .

Genius was originally planning to train to improve his sword skills,

“It ’s just training doesn’t fit my style and I want to do some request .

He said that he called out because he saw Nod .

Nod that was listening to the story asked what kind of request it received .

“I haven’t decided yet, but I actually have something I want in the swamp … I was planning to do it with another party . ”

And then .

So, if it is like that, Nod decided to talk about his circumstances: armor making . Why don’t they get the swamp request together?

“I see … If Shino is here, I can avoid the unexpected mess from the Serpent . ”

Genius heard Nod’s proposal and asked him .

“So what is your business again?”

“Oh … yeah, that …”

Genius face’s became cramped, but he confess it with a shy expression .

“I want crystal flowers … the pink one . ”