Chapter 4: The Hidden Boss Enjoys Sightseeing
The Kingdom of Lemlaesta was a small kingdom roughly one-eighth the size of Valschein in terms of its land and population. The principality was graced with a small coastline, and its borders touched three other kingdoms. One of those three was the Kingdom of Valschein, and the other two were large states with power and influence equivalent to that of Valschein’s.
Luck and circumstance favored Lemlaesta in its ability to survive as a free state, encircled as it was by higher-ranking kingdoms. In the past, when other large kingdoms (including Valschein) had tried to launch attacks on Lemlaesta in turn, the other surrounding nations didn’t sit idly by and watch it happen. Because of that, Lemlaesta had become a de facto buffer zone between all three of the larger kingdoms, which is how it had survived to this day without being invaded. This explained the military aspect of their continued independence.
The Lemlaestans had also worked hard to build a strong economy. Naturally, it wasn’t as robust as those of the surrounding larger and more resource-heavy kingdoms, but considering the size of the population, it was perhaps one of the fastest developing nations in the area.
Magical instruments from Lemlaesta were famous all across the continent. The magical light fixtures in Dolkness Manor were all made in Lemlaesta, and many other useful artifacts that we used every day were all mostly Lemlaestan as well.
Not only did Lemlaesta sell many magical instruments to the general public, both within and without its borders, their research and development on new advances in magical items was also quite extensive. They were known for reverse engineering magical instruments sourced from dungeons, which were hard to come by, and were often able to reproduce them and move them into mass production.
I’d done a bit of research on Lemlaesta’s magical industry while I was at the Academy, but once I found out that they hadn’t done any research on reproducing monster-summoning flutes, I lost all interest.
With all that said, now I found myself in that very same magi-technologically advanced kingdom. Carriages moving on their own, train-like vehicles traveling through clear tubes, a small aircraft zooming through the sky, and people dressed in strange, colorful full-body suits...was not what I saw.
To be honest, I couldn’t even tell I was in a foreign kingdom. The architecture, the clothes people wore, and even the language people spoke were all the same as in Valschein.
This is so disappointing. This is as disappointing as when I visited a university town in my past life.
Contrary to my expectation of a city full of near-future technology that the phrase “university town” evoked, all that I’d encountered there were residential neighborhoods filled with perfectly normal gardens and unnecessarily large research facilities, which all just looked like regular university buildings from the outside.
Though I will admit that the particle accelerator I got to see was pretty cool. It consisted of a ring-shaped tube underground paired with large pieces of observational equipment. They made small particles collide so that they could observe the effects, so that was something, at least.
My point was that the Royal Capital of Lemlaesta was the same sort of disappointing townscape. It looked much nicer than my hometown in Dolkness County, but it wasn’t as grand as the Royal Capital in Valschein.
I’d been so excited about the prospect of sightseeing in a foreign kingdom, but I hadn’t flown on a plane to get here, and I spoke the local language, so it didn’t feel like I’d left my home kingdom at all.
Considering the fact that I illegally entered the kingdom without a passport, that makes things a little more exciting, but...not by that much. This world doesn’t have passports anyway.
Since this was a kingdom known for its magi-technology, I wanted to visit a magical-instrument shop. I was really regretting my lack of money. I decided to give up on buying souvenirs and just enjoy window-shopping.
Magical instruments required maintenance, so there were shops dealing specifically with such products in every kingdom. Large trading companies had resident magical-instrument specialists, but generally, establishments were just stand-alone shops that dealt only with magical instruments.
Lemlaesta was no different, and I was easily able to find a magical-instrument shop. The sign showed that it specialized in magi-technology, and there was even a piece of paper taped to the door that read, “We repair lights.” Since they had gone out of their way to post such a message, getting lights repaired was probably the service with the highest demand.
As expected of the kingdom famous for magical-instrument production. I guess magical-instrument lights are pretty widespread.
I was surprised to see that the shop was quite small. It felt like a local electronics shop, but what I actually wanted to visit was a big-box electronics retailer.
I guess I’ll have to go to a large trading company that mainly deals in magical instruments if I want that. But those kinds of places usually check for identification when you enter... This small store will have to do if I want to avoid people asking awkward questions about my identity.
Admittedly, these thoughts were incredibly rude to the shop owners, but they were still top of mind as I headed inside.
An elderly woman was minding the store. Every last hair on her head was white, but she was sitting perfectly straight at a desk in the back of the store, and her excellent posture made her appear more youthful than she was. She turned and lowered her glasses to regard me.
“Welcome.”
“Hello,” I responded politely.
The woman immediately readjusted her glasses and went back to work. She appeared to be taking a magical instrument apart. She pinched the tiny parts between her fingers and held them at a distance to inspect them.
I began looking at the magical instruments haphazardly placed around the store. There were no prices or product descriptions, so I couldn’t guess the purpose of many of the items.
I guess this is a small business focused on one-on-one sales after all. It’s not a very good place to window-shop.
“You should leave if you’re not going to buy anything,” the owner said, keeping her eyes on her work.
“I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Yeah, I should leave. There’s nothing I’m looking to buy, and I probably won’t ever buy something here. If I’m not a customer, I’m just in the way.
I bowed my head and turned to leave, but something caught my eye and stopped me in my tracks.
“What is it?” the proprietor asked, a little brusquely. “If there’s something you need, just say it.”
“Um, could I hold this?” I asked, pointing at an item.
The elderly woman looked over to see what I was referring to before nodding her approval. “Be careful, it’s heavy...”
The item that caught my attention was a cylinder propped against the wall in a corner of the shop. It was an elongated metal tube, with a hole on just one end of it. It had a wooden handle, and there was even a protruding tab of metal that looked like a trigger.
This is definitely a gun. Things are getting exciting.
The magical instrument looked similar to a musket rifle, but the barrel was quite wide, and the muzzle was about the diameter of a gold piece. It wasn’t as large as a cannon or anything like that, but if a regular human were to shoot this gun, they’d probably get hurt by the kickback.
I grabbed the handle with my right hand and supported the barrel with my left. Then, I positioned the stock on my shoulder, and my shooting stance was complete.
“Bang,” I muttered.
I had a little bit of experience with using guns. In the past, I had carried out special operations to completion while wearing a skull mask, and I’d even once parachuted onto a deserted island and fought until I was the last one standing. (Of course, this was all in video games.)
“Rat tat tat tat... Hmm. There’s no way this is fully automatic,” I grumbled. “I don’t like single-shot weapons.”
The only single-shot weapon I can accept is a shotgun.
I didn’t see a magazine or any loading mechanism, so I figured this was a muzzle-loading gun. After each time you shot it, you would have to reload it with gunpowder and a bullet through the opening in the muzzle.
Hm... Bolt-action rifles where you pull on a lever are cool, but loading a matchlock-style weapon isn’t that exciting. If you can only shoot one bullet at a time, this would realistically be best for a sniper.
I grasped the rifle tightly and pressed my cheek against the body, locking onto my target.
“Distance is nine hundred meters. No wind... Fire.”
One shot, one kill... I’m too old for this. What am I doing? This wannabe musket would be better off being used as an iron tube to swing around... Oh, I should just imagine using this in melee combat. If you add a bayonet to this, it would be really cool.
I was almost able to calm down and remember to act my age, but my passion for bayonets was stronger.
“Ready, aim... Fire!”
You greet the oncoming enemy with a barrage of gunfire, and then use the bayonet tip of the gun in close combat. What an exciting development.
There was no place in my imagination for unrefined arguments about the benefits of having a proper sword separate from a gun, or that having different units for shooters and swordsmen would be better because each discipline requires different skills. Guns that could transform into swords were also cool, but the way that adding a knife to the tip of the muzzle ruined the straight lines and elegant form of a gun was amazing—I loved that. Bayonets were awesome.
“Taking them out with a bang after stabbing them would also be pretty nice...” I tried moving my body into the appropriate positions to land such a thrilling mortal blow. This revealed that such a technique would require different skills from swordsmanship, which I found very interesting.
And so there I was, mumbling to myself and playing in the store.
This probably isn’t a gun, though, I pointed out to my excitable brain.
Perhaps it was because of the existence of magic, but technology using gunpowder wasn’t highly developed in this world. Gunpowder itself existed, and there were basic bombs similar to the thunder crash bombs used in the Mongol invasions of Japan, but their use wasn’t widespread. Apparently the cost of manufacturing gunpowder was so high that it was just better to raise mages.
But what would this be if it isn’t a gun? I thought, looking back at the woman, who was giving me quite a dubious look. I’m sorry. I was being too weird. I’m really embarrassed. I want to jump into a void and run away.
I was going to apologize for my strange behavior, but before I could open my mouth, the woman pointed at the item in my hands and asked, “Do you know what that is...?”
“I don’t,” I admitted.
“Huh?! Say it louder.”
“I don’t,” I said louder than before, so that she’d be sure to hear me even if her hearing wasn’t great.
The elderly woman stood up and came closer to me, moving with brisk confidence. She was much taller than I’d expected her to be.
“One more time,” she demanded.
“What?”
“Hold that up again.”
I did as she asked and again held up the gun-like object.
What’s going on? I can’t imagine this is the proper way to hold it.
“Huh...” she observed. “So you choose that stance despite not knowing anything? Pretty impressive.”
“How do you use this?” I asked.
She asked a question of her own instead of answering mine. “How do you think it’s used?”
“Does something shoot out of the tip of it?”
“Of course. It’s a projectile launcher that you hold like that... It works essentially like an archer’s arrow, but stronger.”
So it was a gun after all.
I see. This is a magical-instrument shop, so this must be a gun that uses a magic stone or something in place of gunpowder to operate. I guess in this world, even if you don’t have the skills or resources to build artillery, you can still make a magical instrument that’s as close as possible in function to a gun.
If this was a gun, I wasn’t sure why it was just collecting dust in a small shop like this. It seemed like its use should be more widespread, and if Lemlaesta had been developing these as weapons in secret, it shouldn’t have been haphazardly left out where anyone could see it.
“It’s my first time seeing one,” I said. “If it’s stronger than a bow, why isn’t it more common?”
“Because it’s a piece of trash with no practical application.”
“Huh? I thought you said that it’s stronger than a bow.”
“In potency, yes, but just one shot uses up a first-class magic stone. That’s one stone per shot. This world is full of mages who can consecutively cast spells of a matching potency. Because of that, it’s essentially a piece of impractical garbage that wouldn’t even be useful as a clothesline pole.”
I didn’t realize its energy conversion efficiency was so bad. But hearing about it makes me want to understand the details of how it works. Since it uses up such a valuable magic stone, I probably can’t give it a test shot, but I do want to hear more about it.
“Does the bullet, um, I mean... Does something shoot out of this hole?”
“Pure magical energy. Though I doubt you know what that means in terms of magical theory.”
“I do,” I assured her. “Wouldn’t you lose potency if you shoot out pure magical energy?”
She blinked in astonishment. “Huh? Can you use magic?”
“Just a little bit of fire magic...” I couldn’t go around admitting that I was a dark magic user, so I decided to go with fire.
I don’t understand why it would shoot pure magical energy. What a waste of power! The decrease in potency would be so profound that it would be totally useless.
“You can shoot pure magical energy out of your body, can’t you?” the proprietor asked me.
I nodded. “I can, but it’s incredibly inefficient. It’s standard practice for magic users to convert it into elemental magical energy and shoot out a fireball or something like that instead.”
“That’s how most people use magic. If you just shoot out magical energy with no elemental focus, it’ll simply dissipate in the air. Even if someone used all the mana they had, it would only produce enough magical energy to move a cotton ball.”
“That’s true...”
I’ve heard that there are people who have used that very same magical energy, which can only move a cotton ball, to travel above the atmosphere. I won’t bring it up, though, since it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
“That’s why magical instruments also convert their fuel into elemental magical energy before starting a fire or providing light.” The elderly woman sighed. “Piercy would be so much more useful if he could shoot out something like a fireball.”
“Piercy?” I echoed, tilting my head in confusion. It was a word I’d never heard before.
The woman cackled as she explained, “He piercys through enemies. It’s like a nickname for this magical instrument. What do you think? Pretty apt, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it sure is...”
Whoever named it is a weirdo. I know it’s an experimental weapon, but why would you name it something so ridiculous?
“I know!” she went on eagerly. “So you see, Piercy wants to shoot fireballs, but category one interferes with category four.”
“Category one?” Now she’d lost me completely. “What is that?”
“Oh, sorry. I felt like I was talking to my old work buddies and got a bit carried away. You seem to be able to use magic, but I forgot you’re a novice when it comes to magical instruments. How do I explain this...” She considered for a moment, and then she continued. “The various kinds of powers that magical instruments can tap into are split up into different categories. In this case, one category of power would have to create a projectile, either elemental or physical, and the other would propel that projectile. So in order to shoot out a ball of fire, you have to use two categories that aren’t compatible. It’s impossible to create an item that will make the arrow while also shooting it.”
“I see,” I mused. “So because it can’t go through the process of making an arrow, it just shoots out pure magical energy.”
“Exactly.” The woman nodded.
Wait, if the artifact can’t make its own arrow, can’t you just add one? If you were to just load the magical instrument with something like a lead bullet, then it should only have to use one category of power to shoot the bullet. If you make a fire-type explosion occur in an enclosed spot, like the muzzle of this object, it would serve the same function as gunpowder. The energy efficiency should be pretty decent too. I think the person who invented this thing wanted the magical instrument to handle every step of the process, but if you just solve part of the issue with physical items... Wait, maybe I shouldn’t say anything. Is this one of those plot points where you bring in technology from an otherworld and it changes the course of history?
It was possible that someone well-versed in magi-technology would be able to tell my idea was impossible, but it was equally possible that they could recreate it just by hearing it. This felt like a rare case of me bringing technological concepts from my previous life in a potentially dangerous way, so I decided to keep my mouth shut.
“Thank you for explaining everything to me,” I said instead. “You’re very knowledgeable on Piercy.”
“Well, I am the one that made him.”
I’m really glad I didn’t mention anything about guns.
I was surprised to find out that this woman made magical instruments herself. I’d assumed this was a simple shop that just sold affordable magical instruments to the general public and handled repairs. I’d thought she was cold at first, but she seemed to be very happy to talk.
“Now I’m just the owner of this shabby little shop,” she said jovially. “I used to be a researcher at the First Armory.”
“The First Armory...?”
If I recalled correctly, armories were basically factories that made military supplies. It was a concept with which I wasn’t very familiar, and I imagined that the same would apply to the general public, but the woman seemed shocked that I didn’t know what this “First Armory” was.
“It’s the First. The good-for-nothing First.”
“Um... I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with the name.”
“I’m talking about the First Armory,” she repeated, “the very one that broke almost all the windows of the aristocrats’ estates. I’m sure you remember the incident; it was pretty recent. It was right after I retired, so... Right, actually, that was ten years ago.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but it seemed to be infamous in Lemlaesta. The only image this conjured to mind was a band of delinquents smashing in windows, so I decided to ask for details.
“I’m from the countryside,” I fibbed unrepentantly, “and I just recently moved to the Royal Capital. Could you tell me more about the First Armory?”
“Huh, I thought you were from here since you’re pretty polished. The First Armory of Lemlaesta is a research institution run by the kingdom. There’s the First Armory and the Second Armory. First in the red, Second in the black.” She spoke this last as one would repeat a common mantra.
The meaning was lost on me. “It’s in the red?”
“Yup. The First Armory obtains dungeon-made magical instruments, which are rare, to conduct research upon. On top of that, the experimental materials are expensive, and the process uses up tons of large magic stones... No matter how much budget they have, it’s never enough.”
“Research does sound expensive,” I remarked.
“Well, the Second Armory sells the products of both the First Armory’s research and their own, and also exports them to other kingdoms, so they pretty much drive Lemlaesta’s economy.”
Do you even need the First Armory?
I believed a government-run research facility didn’t have to produce revenue, but if one armory was throwing money down the drain while the other one was profiting, I didn’t see a problem with getting rid of the former. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell a former researcher of the First Armory that it was unnecessary to her face, but she seemed to gather what I was thinking.
“You’re probably thinking that the First is unnecessary, right?” she said with a fearless smile. “You’re not a very expressive girl, but I can tell that much.”
“I was thinking no such thing,” I lied.
“It’s fine. Everyone thinks that when they first hear about the situation. Even some of the nobility in Lemlaesta think the First Armory should be shut down.” In other words, it seemed that there were lots of other people who felt the First Armory was unnecessary.
Reflexively, I judged it to be a redundant organization; was there really such a difference when both institutions were researching magical instruments? Even if the Second Armory was the one profiting, surely running it required the same kind of funds as the First did.
Then it dawned on me. “The two research facilities aren’t doing the same things, are they?”
“Heh heh, that’s right.” The proprietor beamed at me. “You knew how to hold Piercy, and now you’ve reasoned your way through this. You’re pretty sharp.”
Piercy... Oh, right. Piercy through enemies, I recalled as I looked at the uniquely named wannabe gun. Speaking of Piercy, if she invented it, that means it was created as a research project of the First Armory. It does seem like it would be hard to profit off of something like this as it is now. If research progressed and they were able to mass-produce them, it would probably make a fortune, though. Not only that, but the person who’d profit off of it most wouldn’t be the inventor but the person who made it practical to use, even though she’s the one who contributed the most to its development...
“I see, it’s because the First Armory makes these types of things. Things that require a lot of skill but aren’t really something that can be mass-produced and sold.”
“Wow, I’m impressed that you were able to figure that out on your own...” she said admiringly. “Just as you say, the First Armory aims to develop technologically advanced magical instruments, without concern for things like whether or not they are marketable. The Second Armory uses techniques developed through that research to produce items with a demand.”
“Isn’t that unfair? The Second is just stealing the First’s research.”
She shrugged. “That might be so, but no one in the First Armory thinks that.”
“Why not?”
Just as I’d thought, the values and goals of the First and Second Armories were completely different. The former was never concerned with generating a monetary profit, while the latter had been after money from the very start, which meant that the Second Armory would end up getting all the praise from outside observers. Despite the situation seeming far from ideal, the woman claimed that the First Armory researchers weren’t particularly unhappy with this state of affairs.
This elderly woman had somehow managed to invent something as close as you could get to a gun in a world that rarely used gunpowder, and now she stood before me, giving me the biggest smile I’d seen today. “I mean, isn’t it way more fun to just think about magical instruments and research them?” she asked with relish. “The aristocrats who fund our work say they’re investing in the future, but I couldn’t care less about that. Research is fun in and of itself, that’s all there is to it.”
The woman was a researcher through and through. Perhaps it was only people like her that could become a researcher of magical instruments in a kingdom as magi-technologically advanced as this one. Investing in the future sounded cool, but she seemed to have no interest in it whatsoever.
After our conversation, the woman seemed to be in a good mood, and she offered me some tea, but I felt it would be strange if I were to accept her invitation but never remove my hat, so I regretfully declined.
It’s too bad, I wanted to hear more about magical instruments. Though, there’s one more thing I want to ask about before I leave. What was that window smashing thing she was talking about before, when she was explaining what the First Armory was?
“What was that incident with the windows in estates being broken that you mentioned?”
“Oh, that. My apprentice was a really loud kid,” she explained, “and that’s definitely why my ears don’t hear so well these days... You see, we were doing a test run for a magical instrument that my apprentice developed, but we were doing it too close to the aristocratic quarter, so we ended up breaking most of the windows.”
“What...” I shook my head in disbelief. “Why did you decide to test it in the middle of the Royal Capital?”
She shrugged. “It was close to the lab.”
“Oh, I see. Can I ask what kind of magical instrument it was?”
“The kiddo said it was an acoustic weapon. It produced a sound with enough volume to break glass, which could be used to take down an enemy’s soldiers.”
“Wouldn’t that take out your allies too?”
“Yup,” she said with a nod. “It had no directionality, so it would blast this booming sound in every direction. Because the ones using the device would be closer to it, your own army would actually feel the brunt of its force. That experiment busted my apprentice’s eardrums.”
They had tested the item out while leaving a problem unsolved that even a novice like me noticed. I hadn’t realized that people working at the First Armory were that crazy.
Now that I think about it, this lady is also pretty crazy for trying to launch a long-range attack only using pure magical energy. That explains a lot if those are the kind of people that work there. I see that I need to be wary of magical-instrument researchers, especially those from the First Armory—not that I think I’ll ever run into them, though, so maybe this is unnecessary caution.
“Was your apprentice all right?” I asked curiously.
“The kid healed up right away. My apprentice was, if nothing else, a passionate researcher and a healthy young person. The only thing that changed was that the kid got a lot louder after that.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“That kiddo hasn’t come by recently, though. The last time we spoke, my apprentice was saying something about recreating a several-hundred-year-old magical instrument or something like that. Probably just at the critical part of research. The kid even found someone who could use it, so no news is probably good news.”
“A several-hundred-year-old item...” My interest was piqued. “That sounds incredible.”
“Right? It makes me want to come out of retirement.”
I felt like I’d learned a lot from the proprietor of this store. We had ended up talking for some time. I put the wannabe rifle back in the place where I found it and got ready to head out.
“Thank you very much for everything today,” I said politely. “I hope your apprentice’s research goes well.”
“Thank you. I haven’t gotten to have a nice chat like this in a while. Apologies in advance if you get mixed up in the kiddo’s research. My apprentice is the type to go out and destroy windows, so...”
“Of course, I’ll be careful.”
“I hope you’ll come by again.”
I didn’t actually have any intention of coming by again, but I politely said goodbye to the woman anyway. It would be difficult to come all the way here once I returned home, and it was unlikely that I’d get mixed up in her apprentice’s experiments. I decided to treasure this wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime meeting deep in my heart as I left the small magical-instrument shop forever.
Visiting that shop was really fun. I didn’t have anything else I really wanted to see, so I aimlessly wandered around the area. It was similar to the countless walks I took around the Royal Capital in Valschein.
I usually would go out of my way to explore dangerous-looking areas, but I wanted to avoid getting into any trouble here. I didn’t enter any strange alleyways, and so I kept wandering while I looked for something fun.
What caught my eye next was a blacksmith’s shop. Judging by what I could see from the outside, it seemed to be a shop that was more focused on weapons than items for daily use.
The first thing you do when you reach a new town is head to the weapon shop. I almost forgot the basics of gaming. I should live a proper life and remember to do the little things like this. Also, I wonder why weapon shops suddenly increase the variety of weapons they have the closer you get to the boss battle, I thought as I pushed open the thick wooden door to the shop.
It had been a while since I’d visited a weapon shop. A lot of things had happened in my past, and I’d ended up banned from all the weapon shops in the Royal Capital of Valschein.
“Hello,” I called out as I entered the shop. There didn’t seem to be anyone present other than me—there didn’t even seem to be anyone manning the store.
I looked around, but the store seemed kind of lackluster. There were swords, spears, and pieces of armor lining the shelves, but everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. They didn’t seem to carry very many products either. There were empty spaces on the shelves and walls that stood out.
I wonder if this store’s not that popular.
Just as that somewhat judgmental thought was crossing my mind, someone appeared from the back of the store. It was a man with a large build and a buzz cut.
Now that’s a boss man if I’ve ever seen one.
“What do you want?!” the man snapped, looking me up and down. He sounded incredibly displeased. “This is no place for women or children!”
“Are you talking to me...?” I wondered.
“Who else would I be talking to?”
I suddenly remembered how I had been told something similar the first time I stepped foot in a weapon shop.
Recently they just say things like, “I’m begging you, please leave,” or, “Don’t ever come here again, you harbinger of destruction!” so this is really refreshing by comparison.
“I see, so that was directed at me.”
“It was!” the blacksmith bellowed. “Now go home and do some embroidery or something!”
This is where I would usually egg the shopkeeper on by saying something like, “I couldn’t even do embroidery if my needles were as dull as your blades,” which would make the blacksmith get mad and yell, “Are you calling the swords I forge dull?!” Then I would say, “They’d break if I swung them,” which would lead to the blacksmith saying, “Let’s see you try it, then!” and so on and so forth... At the end of it all, I’d get kicked out of the store by the crying blacksmith.
If I were to let things progress as usual this time, however, I would surely gather unwanted attention... It was already bad enough that I was a young woman with black hair, but if you added on the fact that I was ridiculously strong, it would be obvious that I was the dreaded Yumiella.
It’s not like there’s anything I want here anyway. I should just leave.
“I apologize. I just came in because I was curious to see what was here. I guess it wasn’t a place for someone like me,” I said, bowing my head politely.
The man’s eyes widened with surprise. “You’re pretty weird...”
“What? Is there something strange about me?”
“Usually if I yell at someone like you to leave, they either get scared and run away or lecture me for treating them condescendingly because they’re a woman... This is the first time someone’s responded so calmly.”
I didn’t think acting like a well-mannered lady would come back to bite me like this. How do I respond here?
As I searched for the right words, the man gestured towards a sword with his chin.
“If you’re that calm, that must mean you can wield a weapon. Go on, give it a swing.”
“Well, if you insist...” I said with a nod. It would’ve seemed strange to turn him down, so I had no other choice.
Just as he told me to, I grabbed the sword that was leaning against the wall. I held it with both hands to make it appear as if I found it heavier than I actually did. It was a typical double-edged, one-handed sword, which had probably been designed to be wielded with a shield in the other hand. It was incredibly light and felt quite brittle.
I glanced over at the man, and he was staring at me with a serious look.
I have to swing this, don’t I? But even if I only swing it once, it’s going to make it obvious that I know how to wield a sword. I need to find an excuse to get me out of this.
The man suddenly let out a boisterous laugh. “I thought you might know your way around a sword, but I guess you’re a complete amateur after all. You wouldn’t even be able to slice through a stationary target if you hold it like that.”
Stay calm. Keep your cool. You already know that you’re not all that skilled when it comes to swordsmanship, Yumiella. It’s fine. I’m strong, and I’m perfectly effective in a fight if I just use a hard, heavy iron rod to knock someone out. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I consider swords to be similar to clubs. I’m totally not hurt by him laughing at me.
Despite my internal pep talk, I was slightly irritated, which led to me gripping the sword a little too tightly.
“Oh,” I said, crestfallen.
The hilt of the sword was completely crushed, and it snapped right off. The naked blade tang fell to the ground, and it clanged as it hit the floor.
“Whoa?!” cried the blacksmith. “You all right there? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, but your product...”
“Sorry! It was a crude, mass-produced sword, but this one seems to have been particularly defective. Darn, how did it even break like this...?”
I’m in the clear. I definitely thought I’d be caught. I guess it’s not that easy for people to figure out who I am.
The man reached his hand out to me, so I gave him the remnant of metal that used to be the hilt. The man stared at the piece while tilting his head in confusion.
“Was the iron I forged too weak...?” he wondered, turning the scrap over in his hands. “No, that’s not possible. Maybe there was a weak spot that all the pressure built up in... No, that’s not it either.”
It seemed like the possibility of me being ridiculously strong hadn’t crossed his mind. I felt bad for making him perplexed like this.
In contrast to the somber storefront, the shopkeeper seemed incredibly passionate, which surprised me.
He continued mumbling to himself while comparing the broken sword to his other items, and then he suddenly noticed that I was standing there, unsure what to do.
“Sorry, that must’ve surprised you. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this too... I didn’t think that the sword I forged was so brittle...” He sighed. “Maybe my skills need a refresh after they made me forge too many mass-produced items? But this is one of the pieces I crafted before all that...”
“Please don’t worry about me. Um, may I ask what you mean by being made to forge mass-produced weapons?” I asked, curious to see if it had anything to do with the strange lineup of products in his shop.
The man answered right away. “Most of what I make these days are official weapons for the royal army. I make all the parts of their standard equipment—their swords, their spears, and even their armor. I have no idea what they’re planning with all these new soldiers.”
“I would imagine it’s profitable to get large orders from the monarchy.”
He shook his head. “It’s boring to make things according to certain specifications. Because I’ve spent all my time doing that, this is the state my shop’s been left in,” he said sadly, scanning his dusty store.
I see, so that’s what’s going on. Even if he’s making a ton of them, they’re still handmade items from an artisan. I’m sure it takes a lot of time just to prepare one set of equipment.
“I didn’t know that was going on. I’m sorry to be intruding. You must be busy.”
“It’s fine. Be careful on your way home,” he said in a listless tone before returning his attention to the broken sword.
It doesn’t feel right to leave him like this... This man might be scary-looking, but he’s actually pretty nice. I’d hate for him to start doubting his own skills because of me. It’s a durable sword that wouldn’t have broken if a regular person used it normally. Still, I can’t tell him who I am... But, no, well...
After some hesitation, I made up my mind.
“Um, what will you be doing with that broken weapon?”
“This? I’m going to research it thoroughly. Us blacksmiths are responsible for the lives of swordsmen. I can’t ever have something like this happen again.”
“There’s no need for research,” I assured him. “This was a perfectly durable sword, it’s just brittle in my hands specifically.”
“What do you mean...?” He looked confused, and then his eyes widened in alarm. “Hey, be careful!”
The sword had been split into two pieces: the hilt and the blade. I was reaching down to grab the blade still on the ground, and that was what made him yell out of shock. It would be dangerous if he tried to take it from me and ended up hurting himself, so I quickly squeezed the blade.
The metal crumpled in my hand before snapping into shards—I’d crushed a steel blade with my bare hands right before the blacksmith’s eyes.
“This is what I mean. It’s not the blade; it’s me. Don’t worry, I think a weapon just like this should be able to cut through midtier monsters with no problem.”
The owner of the weapon shop stood completely stunned, and I took that as my cue to flee the scene. I quickly opened the heavy doors, slipped out, shut them gently behind me, and then scampered away.
Okay then, now the legend of the woman who goes around destroying items in weapon shops has crossed the border. Does anyone really think that mere borders can confine my powers...? I mean, that sounds cool and all, but if I really think about it, I’m basically just an unhinged person who isn’t satisfied with just ruining weapons in her own kingdom. Man, I was planning to avoid leaving any traces of Yumiella here. I hope it’ll be fine since he didn’t see my hair.
I kept up a brisk pace for a few minutes and then slowed, figuring I’d gotten far enough. I adjusted my hat to make sure I hid my face and resumed sightseeing.
“What a normal town...” I sighed.
It was so, so normal. Just now, I was approaching a market selling groceries. There were various stalls lining both sides of the street, selling normal things like grains and vegetables.
It was all very peaceful. My initial impressions of the Kingdom of Lemlaesta had been heavily influenced by the time they attacked Patrick’s home, so it felt like kind of a letdown. Still, it was a nice place.
Even if we were in different kingdoms, the people living in both were essentially the same.
I feel like I could live a more peaceful life here than in Valschein. It seems like there isn’t as much bias towards black hair here either.
If I hadn’t met Patrick at the Academy, I likely would’ve fled the kingdom. There was an alternate timeline where this could’ve been my home.
“No, no! I want it, I want it!”
I heard a voice that reminded me of myself in the past. I looked over to see a boy whining in front of a stall. The stall seemed to be selling some kind of candy. The boy’s mother was dragging him away while he kicked and screamed.
“I’m not buying you any,” she said. “We’re going now!”
“No!”
Perhaps this was a regular occurrence, because the mother seemed completely done with him. The boy was resisting with everything he had, but there was nothing he could do to prevent being dragged along the ground.
I kept watching them from the corner of my eye. The mother finally got fed up and let go of the boy’s hand.
“I’m leaving you here, then!” she said before storming off. The boy’s eyes were swollen from crying, and he gritted his teeth as he stood there.
Wow, what a tough kid. If it were me, I would’ve run to my mom in a panic. Well, I didn’t really throw tantrums like that as a kid. The time I did it in front of Patrick a few months ago was the first time I’d ever thrown one. Am I maybe becoming more immature with age...? No way. That’s not possible...right?
I was on the edge of my seat, watching this little psychodrama play out between the parent and child. The mother turned back. She obviously wasn’t going to actually leave him behind like she’d said she would.
Is she going to break and buy the candy? Or will she just keep dragging him? I wonder which is the correct choice here, developmentally speaking. I might be in a similar situation one day too... Oh, obviously as the mom, though. So, how do you handle this little one, my unknowing mentor?
“If you don’t listen, Yumiella is going to come get you.”
“No! I don’t want Yumiella!” The boy, who I thought had already been screaming as loudly as he possibly could, began bawling at an even higher decibel. His strong stance from earlier disappeared and he immediately ran at full speed towards his mother. “Is Yumiella coming? I don’t want Yumiella to come!”
“Yumiella won’t come if you’re a good boy,” his mother promised.
The boy buried his face in his mother’s skirt as he sniffled between sobs.
Yumiella’s right here, kid.
As I watched them hold hands and walk off, I understood then that my fantasies of living here peacefully were asinine.
I, Yumiella Dolkness, am treated like a boogeyman in the neighboring kingdom!
There were many people who turned their heads upon hearing the name “Yumiella,” and I thought I even heard a young girl scream, “Eek! Yumiella?!” I should head back, I thought with an internal sigh.
Completely dispirited, I decided to return to my temporary home.
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