74 Delivery & Acquisition




 After parting ways with Helen, we headed straight for Camilo's store. The number of products to be distributed has increased by one, but the procedure itself remains the same. After pulling the cart into the warehouse and greeting the warehouse keeper, we went upstairs to the business meeting room.
 After waiting for a while, Camilo and the manager came in.
Hello. How are you doing?
So-so. The business is starting to grow because we have more credibility now that we are affiliated with the Count's family.
Oh, good for you.
 I don't know how it was for Marius, but at least it seems to be working out well for Camilo.
Is that the usual one you brought today?
I brought the usual and about five halberds.
Halberds? Why?
I want you to sell them to the Count for the city guards.
Oh, I see.
Will it work?
It'll be fine. I've got other places to go. I'll buy it myself.
That'd be great.
 We have a deal. Camilo and I don't think Marius will buy it, but if he doesn't, we'll find someone who will.
"And now, what about me?
 Camilo lowered his voice a little.
You said you wanted some unusual ore.
Yeah. Did you find it?
Well, yeah. I haven't gotten it yet, but my lord tells me there's some Apoitakara in the capital that came from the north. If you want it, I'll take it.
 In the previous world, apoitakara was a legendary metal that was said to be the same as hihiirokane, but in this world, apoitakara was a metal that was harder than iron produced in the north and glowed a dull blue even after processing. In this world, apoitakara is harder than iron produced in the north and glows a dull blue after processing. It's not as hard as heliocane, but it's rare enough.
"Good. Can you hold that for me?
"Okay. If it's too late, I'm sorry.
It's good enough for me that you found it. So, what's it worth?
Three gold pieces.
Well, that's quite a price to pay, isn't it?
 I can buy it with the money I got from Helen's sword and the bounty from the Amur riots the other day, but it's not something an ordinary blacksmith can afford.
But there is a way to get it for two gold coins.
I don't want any trouble.
No, it won't be that much trouble. I have a request from another source, the Count, to get some silver mithril and turn it into fine rapiers.
"I see, so that's the processing fee.
That's right.
 A gold coin for the processing fee without the cost of raw materials is not a bad deal. You'll even get a chance to handle mithril.
Is it all right if I put my workshop's stamp in an inconspicuous place?
Yeah, that's no problem.
All right, I'll do it.
Okay, that's it.
 Camilo looked at the guard, who nodded and left the room. The rest of the day was spent talking about the city and what was going on in other cities, and when the loading of the luggage was finished, we also left the room, picked up the cart from the warehouse and headed home. On the way back, there was a different guard standing guard, so we just barked at him and passed by.

 I was more nervous on the way home than on the way there. They were loaded with mithril. There were four of them, and two of their guards were skilled, but it was impossible to tell them not to be nervous about expensive materials. If they find out that there are expensive materials, even small ones, they may try to make a fortune. I try to keep things as usual.
 I heard the occasional rustling of bushes, but Samija said they were all "wind or small animals," and I was relieved that nothing happened until we entered the forest. To be honest, I felt more comfortable in the forest, where the only thing to watch out for was bears, than on the streets, where I had to be wary of thieves.

 In the end, I arrived home without any problems. As usual, I had Samija and Deanna bring in the food, and me and Rike got the ironstone, charcoal, and mithril. Mithril has a silvery glow, but it doesn't look much different from other metals. I've heard that it can be made to glow lighter if processed properly, but that's not the case at the moment. At any rate, I just carried it in today.

 The next day, I'm worried about the mithril, but I have to make enough sheet metal for a week first, so I deal with that first. The four of us split up the work, and we were able to replenish quite a few.

 The next day, we finally started forging mithril. Forging mithril is not something that happens very often, so Rike was half helping, half observing, while Samija and Diana were observing.

 After grasping the mithril with a tool, he raises the temperature in the fire pit. Ordinary silver would melt when it reached the temperature at which iron could be processed, but mithril showed no such signs. When you find that the temperature has reached the point where it can be processed by cheating, you strike it with a hammer on the anvil. A clear sound, different from that of iron, like that of striking glass, echoes in the forge. Ordinary steel can be deformed to some extent by this blow, but mithril is unexpectedly difficult to deform.
This is tricky.
"Is it difficult even with your hammer?
Yeah. Almost no change. I should have taken a little more money for processing.


 I blurted it out and the three of them chuckled. Listening to them, I hit the fire four or five times, but it's already below the temperature I can process it at. I plunge it into the fire again.
"This is going to take a lot of work.
"It's mithril. It's not something an ordinary blacksmith can handle.
That's true, but...
 Considering the fact that I've been processing steel so far, this kind of difficulty is quite frustrating.
 Even so, I had no choice but to process it steadily. I hammered down again on the mithril I had taken from the fireplace.