“Hey, I’ll leave a few more great swords here.”
It was Yeon-hee who said it, but the swords actually popped out from my space.
“Ooh… Can this unknown material great sword be mass-produced?”
“I can’t really make that many to call it mass production.”
‘If I produce only this all day, I could make more than five a day, but not right now.’
“Is that so… I really want to see the production process.”
“Uh, that might be a bit difficult.”
‘If they find out it’s made from only magic power and mental energy, they might quit being a blacksmith out of self-loathing.’
“Then, would you be willing to supply more of that Kadinite from last time? Ah, I can give a huge discount on the price—”
The blacksmith seemed to have a lot of questions and things he wanted to say.
After some back-and-forth conversation with Yeon-hee, his large eyes sparkled like a child facing a toy.
‘Hmm… Maybe I can trust this person…’
Last time, I moved through a small gate created in the ‘Living Statue of Strength’ dungeon. I had gathered a ton of Kadinite minerals in the desert dungeon, so I had enough materials.
‘If I supply it in advance, I should be able to produce enough weapons…’
It became pointless to try and predict exactly when the Orc Legion Commander would invade. So it would be better to prepare as quickly as possible.
“Shall we make a pact?”
“Ooooh!! Of course!!”
Making a pact practically meant offering the blacksmith an exclusive contract.
The dwarven companions listening nearby also looked excited.
“Well, then, let’s go downstairs—this way.”
I couldn’t help but nod at the blacksmith’s overly polite demeanor towards us.
Once they gain the dwarf’s characteristics, they can become arrogant and self-centered, but even that instinct faded before clients of our caliber.
“Wow—it’s really spacious, isn’t it?”
“Hahaha—we didn’t just choose this remote place for nothing.”
The underground space beneath the forge was quite large, and surprisingly many blacksmiths were diligently hammering away.
‘There seem to be more people than the last time I came. Is it too much manpower for the amount of work?’
It felt like every visit doubled the workforce.
In a way, this was a valuable business partner of ours, but I was a bit worried they might go under like this.
At that moment, as if reading my thoughts, the blacksmith scratched his head and said.
“Hehe… It’s wider than expected, right? I splurged a bit, looking to the future. I took out loans to the bone.”
‘Well, they are dwarves after all. Judging by the way they recklessly blew their load, they must be confident in their operations. It’s not bad for us.’
I entered the warehouse in the far corner of the underground space with the blacksmiths I made the pact with and first showed them 10% of the Kadinite minerals I had.
Boom──!
“───?!!”
It may only be 10%, but the amount was impressive.
And they were shocked once again that such a massive quantity of ore could be stored in my space.
But not everyone in the space had the trait of a particularly large [warehouse], so they soon began inspecting the minerals.
‘It looks like it could be about a ton or so… There’s a bunch of useless rocks stuck to it, so it won’t be even half usable.’
Kadinite is used as a secondary mineral, so with this amount, a good quantity of weapons could be created.
“Hehe—who would have thought this day would come to me… If only I had ‘Eternium’, I’d want for nothing more.”
“Don’t forget about Hellacne’s leather too, brother.”
“Oh, I almost overlooked that. Hehehe.”
The blacksmith’s eyes turned red as he hugged the unprocessed Kadinite tightly.
‘Anyway, they’re all quirky. Dwarves are.’
“How many can we produce roughly? I’d like to have two types of swords and spears made in different sizes.”
“With this, we could manage around five hundred or so. It will depend on how much you put in, though.”
“I see. That’s more than I expected.”
“Since it will be used as a secondary material, it’s feasible. So, what level of quality are you thinking?”
Yeon-hee secretly signaled me, and I quickly replied.
“I want them to be suitable for high-rank hunters to easily use against monsters of the same level or one tier lower.”
“I see. I understand what level you’re looking for.”
Yeon-hee looked curious about how I knew that much, but based on my experience, that would be enough.
‘Except for the Orc Battle Commander and Legion Commander tier, hunters don’t typically get overwhelmed by orcs one-on-one.
Last time we were beaten because our magic power depleted while fending off the orc hordes, and our combat power dropped due to corroded weapons. A quality that is easy enough to replace without regret is more than sufficient.’
No matter how many sorcerers and special classes there are, the majority still consists of melee warriors.
If I empower them, I could surely prepare for the future.
“How long will you need them for? Honestly, even if we pull all our workforce together, it will take more than three months at a minimum. We still have to finish the pre-ordered quantities.”
‘Hmm… The timeframe is too long. I want to make them as quickly as possible.’
“Is it possible to hire additional staff? We can support the labor cost as well.”
“Huh… Really? You planning a coup or something?”
“Excuse me?”
“Haha, just kidding. Still, this is the first time I’ve had an order this big… Just leave it to me. I’ll ask my seniors at ‘Bulkanus’s Castle’ for help… Ugh! Damn it! To be honest, I don’t want to ask those old geezers, but I’ll do my best! Please trust me.”
“Ah, yes. Please.”
Once we left the forge, we took a moment to walk and chat.
I activated [Mimicry] to take on a human form, but with [Stealth] hiding me, it would look like Yeon-hee was talking by herself to others.
“But what are you planning to do with so many Kadinite weapons?”
Yeon-hee vaguely speculated that something would happen in the future, but I had never explained it to her.
Seeing her look at me with subtle eyes, I instinctively sensed it was time to reveal part of my secret.
“Um… Should we step into a café for a moment?”
“Sounds good!”
I chose the most inconspicuous café with nobody around.
“Being in a café with just the two of us feels really strange, hehe—”
“Does it?”
“Yeah… It’s just this mundane feeling, I guess…”
“Mundane… I think I understand a bit what you mean.”
There was still much to do to experience this peaceful everyday life every day.
‘There’s no one to see, so I guess I can drop the stealth.’
I revealed my human form and quietly gazed into her eyes while sipping coffee.
Slurp—
‘······.’
The taste of coffee… was still undetectable. But the aroma was nice.
“Ha…”
“What are you imagining that your face is so red?”
Considering we were the only ones on the second floor of the café, Yeon-hee exhaled lightly.
The intense memory of sharing love in an alley back then was probably still vivid.
“Oh, I wasn’t imagining anything!”
“Really? Come sit next to me.”
I patted the seat beside me and let her sit down, lightly touching her ear.
“Uh… what will people think…?”
But as I continued to touch her, she leaned on me, closing her eyes contentedly.
Seeing her greatly inflated chest made my hand instinctively head that way, but I quickly shook it off and began to speak calmly.
“Everything I’m about to say is an undeniable fact.”
“Okay? Okay!”
I began to talk about my past life, which I had hidden until now.
The life I lived as a hunter.
The invasion of the orc legion that swept across the world.
The countless deaths that occurred during the process of stopping it, and the significant loss of our homeland.
And then, how I ended up dead and returned to life as a skeleton soldier for some unknown reason.
A moment of silence passed.
Yeon-hee slowly rubbed her eyes and then looked at me again, saying.
“······Yeah. That’s really… hard to believe. But I believe you.”
Yeon-hee did not show any extreme reaction to my short story about my past life that lasted over ten minutes. She was more calm than I expected, which caught me a little off guard.
“You must have had a really hard time… Right?”
Although Yeon-hee knew I was once human, she didn’t seem shocked by the fact that I had returned to life.
Perhaps she had somewhat anticipated it?
‘After all… I’ve been hiding too much information. It’s something even my senses can’t explain…’
“The story isn’t over yet.”
“Okay! Tell me everything! I’m listening attentively.”
As I looked at her sparkling large eyes, ready to accept anything I said, I couldn’t help but want to kiss her moist lips.
Smooch—
“Um—ha—”
The sweet lips of Yeon-hee.
Once I started sharing warmth, it became hard to stop, but with superhuman mental strength, I pulled away and continued my story.
“Jo Gi-man is a bad guy.”
“Exactly! That guy really… deceived me and even made a clone that looks like that!”
I didn’t mention that she had saved my life, and she had been killed by the Orc Legion Commander.
Instead, I thought I should gradually tell her about Jo Gi-man.
“He’s not just any bad guy. That guy is… a monster backed by the Evil God.”
“··· Huh? Ah, the Evil God? The two-headed dragon we saw back then?!”
Yeon-hee didn’t ask how I knew that.
She seemed too busy immersing herself in everything I said.
“That’s right. Actually, it was originally supposed to have seven heads. I don’t know why the clone only had two, but anyway, he’s acting as an incarnation of the Evil God known as the ‘Seven-headed Dragon.'”
“Wow… A god… A bad god… so strong and evil…”
Yeon-hee maintained her composure about my return to life, but it seemed hard for her to remain steady upon learning Jo Gi-man’s true identity.
Her eyes widened, and she covered her open mouth with both hands, looking at me.
“Oh my goodness… that explains everything!! From the moment I first met him, something felt off! There was also a strange smell!”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Yeon-hee had intentionally kept her distance from Jo Gi-man, but thinking back, it seems she had a good instinct. Maybe she has some ability to sense people’s tendencies through their aura?
“So Jo Gi-man is allied with the Blue-eyed?”
“··· As far as I know, Jo Gi-man has no connection with the Blue-eyed Organization. No, it appears that they are rather adversarial. But it’s clear he had the power to stop the invading orc legion connected to the Blue-eyed yet chose to ignore it.”
“Many people died, didn’t they? Territories were taken? And he just stood by and watched?”
“That’s the point. When the world was being consumed by the despair of darkness, Jo Gi-man began solving problems one by one, and he started being deified by many people. Ah—! Now that I think about it, by the end, a religion worshiping him even formed—”
Suddenly, while chewing on that memory fragment, something felt ominous.
‘Hmm… It’s not definite yet, but I should keep all possibilities open.’
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