And you think that's why you were challenged?

　Grandpa Smith said in a dumbfounded tone.

　I felt bad for accepting it without consulting the village chief and Marika, but when I talked to them about it after the fact, they approved it too easily.

"There's no problem if you leave it to Dariel-kun.
"I'm sure Dariel will take good care of him.

　And.
　It's painful to see the amount of trust that family has in me crushed.

'Either way, I thought it would be better to crush them once and for all.
Is that why you came to me?　To get this?

　Grandpa Smith looks happy.

"Good!　Just done!　The masterpiece of my life!　Take it!

　He held out the weapon to me.

'I didn't think I'd get a chance to try it out as soon as it was finished!　You are truly a consummate user!

　That's fine, but.........
　Um, this weapon handed to me by Grandpa Smith here..........

　Are you sure it's your best work?

　It's a bit, um, weird...?

?

　Then he came to the dueling grounds.
　Not only the dueling fitbitans, but also the Campbell Street forces he was bringing with him. Many people had gathered there, including Marika, the village chief, and other people from Lax Village officials.

''Well done. Looks like you're ready to lose.''

　The adventurer Fitbitan waited arrogantly.

'You're very confident,'
''No wonder; I'm a B-level adventurer, and there's no way in hell I'm going to fall behind the D-level in the unlikely event that I'm behind.

　You've forced them to play a betting game under the belief that they would never lose.
　It's still the same as before.

''The guild's adventurer grade........ Is that the basis for your confidence?''
'That's not all!　We, the Campbell's, have finally succeeded in developing mithril weapons on our own. Even in terms of weapon performance, they can no longer be beaten by you!

　The sword that Fitbitan thrusts at.
　Steel that shines whiter than silver. That is the characteristic of mithril.

　The brilliance of the blade is indeed like mithril, but....

"The shine is dull...?

　The dullness is so severe that it's not even close to normal steel.

'How do you think...?　Huh?
'Well, it's on the level of being well-formed. It doesn't make use of any of Mithril's strengths.

　Grandpa Smith, who is standing in line next to me, says.

'But mithril is better than iron and copper as a mere steel. It's lighter and sturdier, so its performance will be better.
I understand.
As far as the performance of my masterpiece is concerned, it's a decent match. Just give him a little twist.

　You say that lightly.
　Whether you can twist it lightly or not, it would be a courtesy to your opponent to be cautious.

　Even with this new weapon.

"Did you also bring a mithril weapon to the table? Okay. Crush it, and the blacksmiths will have more influence than the Campbells.

　In addition to the sword, Fitbitan also had a small shield at the ready.
　Sword in his right hand and shield in his left.
　This is the style.

''It's a generalist-type style with both slash (slash) and guard (defend) aptitude.

　Grandpa Smith explains.

'One-handed sword and a buckler. It's as balanced offensive and defensive as it looks. Most consistent and tricky to do with a tern, you know?
The trickier it is, the better for you to experiment with new weapons, right?

　I also took out my weapon and held it up.

　Blacksmith Smith's masterpiece. Now it's time to unveil it.

What?

　The fitbitan looked at my gain, my enemy, and wondered.
　His brow wrinkled and his eyes narrowed as he firmly checked the weapon in my hand, and this time he laughed.

'What's that?　What's that?

　The fitbitan's expression turned completely relieved and seemed to belittle me even more.
　That's how discouraged he was by the weapon I had.

　What I was holding was a knife.

　And it had an extremely short blade.

　This knife was the new weapon that master swordsman Smith was proud to call his lifetime masterpiece.

''Hahahahahahaha!　Hahahahahaha!　Interesting!

　Fitbitan feels like a complete winner.

'Just when I thought I knew what the pompous old man had made, I didn't realize it was just one shoddy swing of a knife like that!　It's a total cop-out to be alarmed!　I was totally fooled!
....
No, you're the one who's been duped, aren't you, Dariel?　Are you going to cry?　To my own pity, going into a duel with a toy like that!　You can switch to a more decent weapon if you want!

　He flickers the cutting edge of his sword to show the difference between the two sides' blade lengths.

''I guess I've already won this one. If the poor riffraff had asked for help from the start, they could have had a little help.......　The profits of the Mithril Mine will be monopolized by our Campbell Street!
"The only ones who will be fooled...

　I say.
　I grab the knife in my hand and aim it at the enemy.

"I'm just getting started. You're going to be fooled, and you're going to be surprised. For life.
What are you nuts?　I'm just disgusted with you, redneck stupidity.

　Humph.

　There was a sound of slicing air.
　It was the sound of me drawing my knife.

　The fitbitan didn't respond.
　Of course it didn't. We were so far away from each other that not only my knife, but also his one-handed sword, had no reach at all.
　Even if I drew it out from such a distance, 'What's the futile move? And I have to twist my head.

　In fact, Fitbitan did.

''What nonsense........?　You don't even know how to fight...?
'I cut you down.
What?
Your shield.

　As soon as he pointed out, the Fitbitan's biting shield broke in half and fell to the ground.
　Off his arm.

　Fitbitan's eyes widened in surprise.

What the hell?　How did it happen?　My shield!　When was it slashed?

　He hadn't realized that his armor had been cut down until the results showed.

I'm sure that the shield is made of mithril too, right?　If you can cut both sides of that, that means it's as powerful as it gets.
"You didn't mean to...?　Did you cut him down?　With a knife that short?　Isn't the distance between us not enough?

　The distance between me and the Fitbitan is just barely enough for me to reach it, even if I pierced it with my spear.

　The knife will jump over that distance.

　It's no wonder I'm confused.

''See, I'm being tricked. You have no idea what's going on, do you?
''Shut up!''

　Fitbitan slashed at me with only his remaining one-handed sword.
　Since he didn't know what the enemy was doing, he must have decided that it would be foolish to fall behind. He would continue to hold the initiative by going on the offensive.

　That policy is the right one.
　If it's correct, though, whether or not they can win is a different matter.

"Ugyaaah!

　The Fitbitan collapsed before the cutting edge could reach us or not.
　It was as if he stumbled over something with great force.

''Ouch!　Ouch!　What the hell........?

　A hole had been drilled into Fitbitan's right thigh.
　It was as if a sharp blade had been thrust into him.

''Such a wound........?　When in the world........?　Was it you?　Did you do this to me!

　I don't know if the pain has left me with any room to breathe, and I'm staring at you with a look of an evil demon.

"Is that your true nature?

　The ugly nature that glues the condescending gentleman's demeanor to the inside of him, but looks down on everyone and everything.

　I thrust the tip of my knife at it.
　As if to aim at the fitbitan.

　A moment later, the knife extends.
　The blade of the knife stretches dozens of times its original length. And at a tremendous speed.

　The tip of the extended knife pierces the opponent's body, the left shoulder area.

"Hee!

　And then he returns to his original position with the same tremendous speed as when he was extended.
　And then he stretches out again, stabs into the opponent's body, and returns. He stretches out again, stabs, and returns.
　The process is repeated.

Aaaaaaaaah!

　Fitbitan screamed at the holes in his body one after another.

Don't worry," he said. I just poked it in with a needle.

　My first stab was a deep stab because I wasn't used to the movement of this weapon.

　This is the secret of this weapon.
　It reacts to the user's aura and expands and contracts.

　This amazing weapon was made possible by the skill and research of Grandpa Smith, a master craftsman.