Chapter 28: Everyday Life (3)
HIZFerghus the Weapon Breaker.HRovYww
w95He was one of the representative blacksmith NPCs of Merkarva City, and was the owner of a smithy who crafted weapons.BJnSta2
rCwMhwBy the way, Weapon Breaker was the title he was given because the weapons crafted by him were so strong that they could easily crush other weapons.Lkczgu
dnYHowever, he was notorious in the game for something else.Klm
kmY『Oopsies! My hands slipped!』2gwcHfV
jBzHe was a literal weapon breaker – a blacksmith who broke weapons.DCL
tTxvIt was a very paradoxical phrase, but back in the game, there was always the chance to fail whenever repairing and crafting weapons (except for some weapons).KlO
ULXEven when all the necessary materials were in place, he would waste all those materials or break the weapon when repairing one with a low durability.ZMemM
5uheYThat was in spite of the success chance being higher than 90%.sUgM
qlYdbHis insanely high chance of failure and his infamous line, ‘Oopsies! My hands slipped!’ made him so notorious among the player base that they used to search ‘How to kill Ferghus’.BWy
7yDrpKAlong with his increasing popularity, the publishing company updated a DLC which added a new quest line for Ferghus.51Ay
ezJI“Hmm hmm. Beard is the dream~, dream~, dream~ of men~.”qLhkd
yt0BnJ0A man with a face that seemingly proved the adversities of his life, a black and not-so-long beard and an impressive tanned skin hummed in a low and thick voice.TaGB
CRBz“Hello.”9QLK8
cAKI greeted the middle-aged man after walking across the scorching smithy.AD3Bcf
FrMXkqN“Mhmm, Mr. Korin. Is this really the place Senior Marie told you about?”0fu9
ERYv“It is. Apparently it’s the best smithy in Merkarva City.”UHl
9wYl9PPAlicia followed from behind and glanced around in curiosity. She appeared to be quite unfamiliar with shabby places like this due to being used to the specialized smithies in her dojo.YoSrurs
uUGBpe“You said you’re looking for a place to repair your weapon right? Do you not know how to sharpen your own blade?”mbokL2N
m3MWD“T, the blacksmiths of my family had been taking care of everything…”SaEcqXo
FOwoC5C“You’re quite the sheltered lady aren’t you.”GnkZEz
tpia6“Ugh…”kfWo
lUrc1sShe appeared frustrated for being unable to refute my words.TyniP
x4wlNy“Welcome to my workshop.”UmquCZ4
8pqNjgmFerghus solemnly greeted us with an intentionally stern voice.gr73N
ep5a9sp“We’re here to repair her weapon.”DN7
jNuO98d“H, here you go.”paawaq
9Pm“Haht!”xM1
mT6TQFerghus widened his eyes into circles after seeing the weapon in her hands.Snlf
lAhhThe blade gave off a chilly glare while the handle had a perfect grip.GySB
BGXYL1ZHe must be thinking that it was a good weapon despite looking average.XICgFZc
ggjSThe demon-slaying sword appeared just like a normal single-edged sword on the outside. It showed its true form only when the user was able to reach the ‘Domain’, and that was why it was normal for Ferghus to mistake Alicia’s sword as a normal yet decent sword.lERzAFq
SCghfK“Is it for a repair?”ricKd
lLsk“Yes. I didn’t have time to take care of it these days.”WSz
gg1“Hmm. That’ll be 30 silver coins.”HVzou
iYYZ“Kuhk…”0RKc
Y8FcAfter receiving the payment from Alicia, Ferghus placed the demon-slaying sword on top of the anvil and raised his heavy iron hammer.uT3Rp
XvtIpoVeins protruded out of his thick and muscular arms that had been tempered throughout his 30 years of working as a blacksmith… His eyes glistened in gold and sunlight gathered at the end of his hammer when…N6DNXC
Kdujse“Oopsies!! My hands slippedddd!!!!!!!”MiCUh
8Vm0– Kachang!!nRD
ec8The hammer that Ferghus swung with the force of a mountain destroyed Alicia’s beautiful single-edged sword in one strike.1a7bOXU
v53“GYAAAAAAAAAKKK?!”83jK
NXSC3sAlicia let out a bizarre scream.TFM
72VTRj“Hohoh. Today’s not a good day, it seems. This wasn’t my intention but I ended up failing the repair. My apologies.”41Zjo
3boFeFerghus scratched his head with an awkward look on his face. It was very rare for weapons to break in the hammering process but it did happen sometimes.j6hg
bBmjaK“Can you… repair the sword?”37T
7qQQi“Not if it’s in shatters like this.”gLwjty
HfOXlA“E, even with glue?”eReK
BclVLgz“What do you think?”v2JR
d3a“How can you say that after breaking my sword! Y, you have to take responsibility!”RKd
RWvLShe raised a reasonable complaint but Ferghus scratched his ear while pointing at the wall with his other hand.pAV
akK8KhR『Will not take responsibility for weapons broken mid-repair』ssL
GJ3es“Ah…”SEg95Ht
KiN2“Well, things like this just happen at times. I will refund the repair cost for you.”If2
wBfcrq“Gihyaaaaa…”zJXhCV
H1QIQmAlicia shrieked while pulling her hair out. She looked pitiful trying to bring the shattered pieces back together with her lips mumbling like a goldfish. Her hard work was obviously in vain.LTqHKF
D6EEOtnIt was possible for weapons to break during the repairing process, but the important thing here was that Ferghus had broken the ‘hidden piece’ – demon-slaying sword.sWG
cXDEvYr“Oi. Ferghus.”HKZQply
sbZoS“Hmm? What a rude bloke. Do I know you?”D9M
7fFndI quietly picked up a knife that was rolling around the smithy.Vdv1vqx
dmo436“How dare you play tricks from the get go!”sTBM5i
13H“Hueeek!”kCp0
vZriGVP– Kwajik!5pyPY
Kvs“Mr. Korin!?”SUy
Uj3wqThe knife in my hand dug right in between the gaps of Ferghus’s fingers. His face turned pale upon seeing how close he was to losing his fingers.qHd54
jXnGr“I bet all my money and my hand that there’s a sword underneath that anvil. What are you gonna bet?”FKP
RsXShl“W, what are you doing…!”HD4bUv
HTtoVB“Buddy, this is why you’re losing money.”nYD8
dRH0d4s“Ehhng?”5v95
et6gecIgnoring Alicia, I kicked Ferghus’s anvil to the side and sitting there was the demon-slaying sword in a perfect shape.vOHp
xxEk“W, what is going on?”TkfzT
qNa08“It’s an optical illusion spell. This guy is an unregistered mage. Low Grade, but still.”2YTnhB
3GeThat’s right.sEPy7
FujAfter the update, Ferghus the Weapon Breaker, who was the Number 1 most detested character in the game due to all the complaints of the gamers, obtained a quest line and a backstory.rZF
2I4Tj0『The Truth behind the Weapon Breaker』lgw2
deThAuIt was a quest where the player started to doubt the fact that only the good weapons were being destroyed during Ferghus’s repair and started diving into the truth of the matter.Zp1pE
CSYAfter several investigations, the player receives clues from a book called ‘How to fail at repairs and still earn money’, marches into Ferghus’s secret storeroom and finds enough evidence to sue him.s81
qfFEThat allowed the world to discover the horrendous fact that upon coming across a well-made weapon, Ferghus would pretend to break the weapon using illusionary spells while hiding the real weapon underneath for himself.NU7
CVuyqyWThat was only the beginning, and would mark the start of a quest chain that allowed the player to sue the evil deeds of all the blacksmiths across the continent including Ladybug Kiri* and Hollgrehenn the Broken*.uOx
e7AxRight – unless they were scamming us like that, there was no way these freaking blacksmiths could break so many of those damn weapons!ETq
KOVfOyeOnly then would everything make sense.R6t2v
t9UY“Alicia!”92syIct
DegqY“Yes?!”oMqUDa
7DgcY“Bring me a hammer.”DrOOk
iVIx“What?”H1e0es
Esj8“Uhak?”1Vn4M2
kmW“The only ones who can scam are those who are prepared to lose their hands. Do you not know that?”PyEFac
p6Dh“Aigo! Please don’t kill me! Please spare my life!”vemPGH
korcp“Huhihihi. After you, it’ll be Kiri.”zfzsbO
Mv2“P, please show me mercy! Please forgive me just once!”9k4s
Vxbf3Ig– Kuaaaaaahkkk!PtGj74D
lulr3F3****4hsXb
BvO2SBX“Uahh… I thought you were really going to break his hand.”zPZpKqv
Jipu8gV“Of course not… I’m not that crazy.”7x6
kx7That crazy Park did break his hands but… well, actually, that wouldn’t have been so bad either. Anyway, Ferghus’s fate had been decided already. Even without me, he would naturally be expelled from the scenario when the time comes.5awj
p8eV“How did you know that Mr. Ferghus was a mage and that he used an illusion spell?”3Url0Co
v7qiI couldn’t tell her that it was from the DLC of a game so I made up a random answer. It was actually not that hard to find something odd about this incident.RAn
SPb3p“The demon-slaying sword was made with the Unbreakable Stone, right? I figured the blade might go blunt but the center wouldn’t break.wpPu
fem“Ah…”xhb
qpH8In this era, it was rare to craft magic weapons with one material.evJfc7a
fWRrbaEven back on Earth, we did not use pure iron to make weapons and usually used alloys. Even steel was an alloy made with the combination of iron and carbon, instead of being pure iron.qhl
DrH12In this world, swords were made by mixing iron with magic stones. The one that was used in the demon-slaying sword was the Unbreakable Stone, which was classified as a Unique Grade item.OiAyjp
Yt0It was literally unbreakable, and was a legendary material that was said to be only bendable with the addition of fire mages heating up a concentrated furnace and blacksmiths wearing heat-proof clothing.f1kC9SY
HyGDkTMHow would such a weapon break from one hammer strike of a blacksmith? That was simply impossible.IWs
39uyV“But considering how you were threatening him about crushing his arm, it ended rather peacefully right?”mb4
CXkNEya“C’mon… I’m not a violent person, okay.”pl9QX
rRjKLXt“…”j1g5tj8
v42IHQjAlicia sent me a skeptical gaze in response to my words. If it was someone else instead of me, things would’ve looked a lot rougher for Ferghus.6yWA
8yd“So is he doing the blueprint and weapon crafting for free?”KD6JLs
8ms9qMb“It’s not for ‘free’. I told him to charge the Academy, didn’t I?”Uy4EAv
gsS“Ah~”d0llkC
XncM72I told him to request the necessary materials from the Academy and made him give me all the money that would be given as a payment. The entire payment of 30 gold coins would go through him into my hands.DDqUS7o
pHbOTv“Isn’t this… embezzlement?”2PLZ6se
wu4rv4“We need some bribes to keep the game going, don’t we?”iuXM
OsS“That’s true too.”ZhaR
u0HJ59RAlicia was quite similar to me in this regard. Actually, we made him craft Alicia’s ornaments and necessary tools for free while we were at it, so she wasn’t losing anything either.Njpf
7jV7N0iEven though she was a pure girl, she wasn’t a naive person who would forgive a person for trying to scam her without getting any reimbursement.IV0
1EibP“Mr. Korin. It’s about time we go on patrol.”sznZVk
N9n“I know. It’s 2 o’clock, right?”m77
bOG5RIt was a short mission that gave 20 silver coins, and I chose the same time and date as her on purpose.BJd
zrSEQUI wasn’t 100% sure, but if I remembered correctly, today was probably the day.7QKhzY
KbarAU2****eL8RKw
Qc6d6Alicia was very content with the patrol missions she could get from the mission board. All she had to do was go around the predetermined routes around the city to check if there were any problems.RAe3M
9alccXA guardian personally going on patrol was enough to give peace of mind to the citizens and she could just kill any demonic beasts along the road.wVy9
6UPThe ones near the city were mostly just Grade 4 and Grade 5. There was a verrryyy~ rare chance of coming across a medium-ranked demonic beast but that was as unlikely as being hit by a lightning on a sunny day.hw4K2SY
7sc9Dk5In other words, it was little-to-no work with decent returns. Alicia liked how burdenless it was, and more than anything…Gke9w3C
9X1trrq“Miss Knight! We are done with things on our end.”YYb80R8
kEl“That is amazing, Ms. Knight! There were 10 demonic beasts but they were gone in the blink of an eye!”qP7QHww
eyJI5“Hmm hmm~”FoFVMs2
oNtL26Her ears were fixed on the compliments of the patrolling officers around her. Demonic beasts that they would have had to risk their lives for were being killed with ease so it was natural for them to show admiration and praise.z9n
V6x‘Huhihi…! Everyone in the household said I was bad, but I don’t think I’m that bad!’Ir5kR46
jHtvMBAs an illegitimate child that was hidden in the shadows cast by the brilliant light of her older sister, Alicia had been constantly disregarded at home but here, she was a genius and a hero. It felt amazing to receive praises from other people.PIu
SlUN“Alicia. There was an owlbear on your end, right?”ncKe
meFIr8B“I took care of it with ease!”1pkf
3wwAlicia replied while kicking on the owlbear that was lying down under her feet.m5f
fpG5“Leader~. Please take out the leather and claws later when you have time!”kfsWc
SnK0Mc“Of course Miss!”SO0o
c4seWA“That was remarkable!”kc3
dWpAls“It’s nothing~. It wasn’t much.”rSh6at
yj5dcy“Ohh. So even an owlbear is nothing much to you. As expected of a swordsman from the renowned Arden household!”FIkXw
r7wDXAlicia enjoyed the looks of admiration and praise that she wasn’t able to get at home.k7jfS
KFb『Tch tch. You’re still at the entry level of that skill, huh. Your sister mastered it when she was your age.』OWcHSh
F0N0p『Our Arden household finally has a successor for the Sword Emperor! Miss Lunia Arden is by far the greatest genius of the contemporary times』TiHU72N
TQu『Compared to her, her sister is…』mhufGI
IK26『Shh. She’s an illegitimate child. She’s humble from birth.』1Qp6hLQ
DGNThe fact that she was a Grade 2 Knight despite being 17 years old proved her talent, but she had always been living under the comparative gazes of the surroundings.zee75
OoKGeniuses were always kept in check by greater geniuses. Alicia’s older sister, Lunia Arden, was like the perfect personification of a swordsman, and Alicia had never been the target of attention due to being hidden in her shadows.Y8IdX
Tck“Nice. It’s about time for our job to end. At this rate…”U0yU1r
1CTToday would be another peaceful day with nothing much happening, unless something was to happen all of a sudden.1nV8WpH
NDY– Shiiiieee~vqN9m
TlCqS7– Booom!fqX
nO0BYThat was when a flare gun was shot from the woods. It wasn’t loud nor visible to the naked eye but its special design that allowed only the unique goggles of the security guards to spot it meant that everyone present was able to see it.MQre
WQi“Aht! That’s a signal from the other group! A nest of a demonic beast above Grade 2!”01OPp1b
ys0tVNu“Ah…”noTRJk
0z7p5If there was nothing going on, the patrol mission could end without the guardians defeating a single demonic beast but in emergency situations like this, they were obligated to participate in the fight.sIp5I
Ma1DU“We have the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor on our side!”ykG5
h0GcQw“A nest of a Grade 2 demonic beast is nothing!”muyZy
8iw“Wait…”Pb3TZ
pH3wAZy“Hoh. This is perfect.”2ZJq3x
DmJwmKorin’s quiet mutter at the end was too soft to reach the ears of the dejected Alicia.9c5J
KMnR****GSbvZ
LwcBThe Grade 2 demonic beast’s nest that the other patrol group discovered was a den of wolves with a beowulf in the lead.flEcIKh
WMU7V‘I can easily deal with a beowulf by myself!’zlVCB
kwuE7TVThat was what Alicia thought, but her inexperienced judgment resulted in a critical outcome.B2r5xs
rQ8– Grrrh…M9ke
HzAsxA beastly howl echoed from the top of the head of the large horse. The four thick and long legs of the horse left behind heavy thuds but its stomach was rotten like a drowned animal so much so that it looked like it would tear open at any given moment.JB577
13njy2ySitting on the horse was a headless human carrying a spear.dnfiDi
LhLvWcOThe humanoid monster without a head was so thin that its flesh was almost touching its bones. The strange-looking horseman urged the horse and marched towards Alicia while slashing at the air with its long thick nails.prOoQ8X
h9WJ6– Tap! Tap!osRXYw
QmoQqAs if it had become one with the wind, the demonic beast raced across the ground with soft steps unlike before.ZhH
wTCW9‘It’s coming!’WnT3
JqHIt flailed during its march that made it look more like a mollusk than a vertebrate. It couldn’t even fight against the gust created by its own march as it wobbled its way towards her.wRR
kdbr❰First Sword Style of Arden. Domain Severance❱qBd9m9
r7JIQnThe unpolished battojutsu, which was still the strongest move Alicia could pull off, was swung at the approaching demonic beast.O1un
lRuqgm– Huiik!zSV
leWQ8vHowever, the beast’s movements were far beyond her level of imagination. Like a giant squid, it suddenly blasted its body forward and dodged her attack before trying to wrap itself around her body like a snake.3N1e9V
awCqDZ“Kuhuk…!?”PZuS4
IDNEogIt was both fast and experienced.xW6BQ
4fJIt was at least a Grade 1 demonic beast! She got caught off guard because it was immediately after she dealt with the beowulf, and it wasn’t her fault in her opinion, because no-one would have expected such a monster to be in the forest!laPdCg
aCx“M, Mr. Korin! Please help! Require assistance!”xPxpXCO
wic0Alicia asked for help as soon as she started being pushed back by a little. She was a normal girl who was very distant from the pride of a knight… in a lot of ways.R8vD4
smu“K, Knight Korin is currently in the middle of fighting other demonic beasts!”gq4dzDU
6gHPlvNBut what she heard in response was not Korin’s voice but the voice of the security guards who were fighting against other demonic beasts.111
rSqT“Kiiiiiik…!”UBjLWP
BKTauIn that desperate situation, as the monster’s nails approached her neck and Alicia closed her eyes shut…mWrDDSI
ZdMd– Kajik!5Xcl
1qf6hFSomething splattered with a thud. A hot stream of blood flowed down her cheeks.kmXTF0
ANl1F9“U, uhh?”Mx2B5i
Pu7– Kieeeeeh…!0uft2fO
uR3UwLA resentful voice tickled her ears. Alicia reopened her eyes and saw a gleaming blade that was right next to her face.g3x
2SvmWJg“This sword…”X9U9
lryCHer gaze traveled up the blade and looked at the beholder.VjV
tDrYvThe swordsman with long and jet-black hair had the same cold and intellectual look on her face as always.HS3DM
s6t“As weak, lazy and cocky as ever.”WzbnOC
SrqLunia Arden.M5qBy
7qMShe was the oldest daughter of the renowned Arden family, and was the most likely candidate to become the next successor.anPZHpP
fqtWThe contemporary Sword Master who was believed to be the second coming of the Sword Emperor.0cnmGa
Z1Eh“S, sister.”jjuX3
8EWli0KShe was Lunia Arden; Alicia’s older sister.xtbo
UxXRpMKTranslator’s Note:FKwz1WT
AJTmOFerghus from MabinogizYG
WEsXAEoLady Kiri from Dungeon and FighterSTl444
oh3iOHollgrehenn from RagnarokeEM
Udj46hThose three are the infamous gear upgraders of the three famous RPG games of Korea, which are of course famous for RNG upgrade systems.Cxl3
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