I - the wizard, Magnus - was visiting Bazelph, who has a workshop in the royal capital of Rakstad.
　It was soon after I escaped from the ruins of Ramsey.

"Gah-ha-ha, we've been crushed again!

　Bazelph laughed vigorously as he looked at Gladius, torn to shreds by Goz's Adamantite axe. The look in his eyes was very similar to that of a proud father looking at his son who had suffered a wound of honor.

'Can you fix it for me?　I've brought the ancient Aravana purified mithril.
Oh, I'll take care of it. I have no doubt that Gladius's magical resistance will continue to improve with this device.

　The dwarf, who is the best mystic smith in Luxta, smacked his chest with confidence.
　Ever since I started making difficult requests for rare synthetic materials, Bazelfr's skill level has been increasing rapidly.

And it's a gift for you from me, who's always been good to me.
No, no, you have the balls to be so auspicious.
Haha, you're right. Anyway, you might as well just accept it.

　Saying this, I presented Bazelfr with a pair of gloves.
　It's the God Hand that I just acquired from the depths of Ramsey's ruins.

"Just by wearing it, your strength and dexterity increase by 30, making it rank A equipment.
Hmm. Is that great?
Yeah, no way.

　It can't be helped that Bazelfr, who is not familiar with the world's providence (system), doesn't get the idea.
With a 30-status increase, even an advance guard with an excellent increase in Strength or a production worker with an excellent increase in Dexterity would have an increase of 5 levels.
　Especially for a mystic smith like Bazelluff, who tends to focus more on strengthening his skills rather than increasing his status when he levels up, this benefit should be even greater.

''Use this to forge something even better.
Well, in that case, feel free to borrow it.

　That's a very bigoted Bazelfr thing to say, but I didn't like it.

'So?　You have more requests than just fixing Gladius, don't you?
Yeah. I'd like you to forge a weapon out of some of your spare Alavana Refined Mithril.

　And I tell him the request.
　Bazelfr said, "What an extravagant use you are," but it was the only way to defeat the Eight Demon Generals.

"Also, I need you to fix this thing.

　I finally said that.
　Brought, now upper body (?) Pointing to Chocolat, who has become a mere shadow of his former self.

I'm Chocolat. It's a great pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bazelph.

　Lying on her back, Chocolat asked with a cute little tilt of her head.

Mm, I agree. It's just that.........
"Just?
Fixing this thing, fixing Gladius, making weapons... it'll take time.
Then you must make Chocolat's repair a top priority.
"You mustn't do that, Master Magnus.

　I had expected him to be pleased, but I was surprised to hear a negative opinion from him.
　It was a tone of voice that was unusually crisp and clear.

I wish to serve Magnus-sama again as soon as possible, but I can't help him in his fight. In that case, you should put off repairing me. You know that Master Magnus continues his perilous journey to save the world without a break.
'Gahaha!　You've got a good point, this one. I love it!
"Thank you for the compliment, my dear Mr. Bazelfr.

　Chocolat, who was still on his back, reached out a little and shook Bazelfr's hand.

'Not like that, Magnus. I'm going to have to respect his wishes later. I'll take care of it later. I'll fix it myself!
Yes!
All right. If you two say so, I'll leave you to it.
Oh. It's going to take a long time, but we'll see about that.

　Since this eccentric dwarf would go so far as to say this, I decided to seriously wait and look forward to it.

　　　　◇◆◆◆◆.

'I'm glad you asked me to join you, Mr. Magnus, even though it's not a 'holiday' today!

　Aria said, full of smiles.

'No, wasn't that an annoyance on short notice?　Are you okay with leaving the shop keeper?
'No way, sir!　My father also sent me off saying, 'It's a big job' and 'Good luck'. I'm lucky to be with Mr. Magnus until work day.'

　Aria looks really happy, happy, and huddles up to me.
　We were now walking, arm in arm, through downtown Laxtia.
　Our destination is a restaurant. It has private rooms and is often used for business meetings.
　There we were meeting eleven, alabana merchants.

My name is Hashim, the wheat merchant. Please get acquainted.
I'm from Zayb's, also a meat dealer.
My name is Temuji. I'm delighted to have the pleasure of working with the renowned Malum Company of Rakstad.
This is Hodgson from Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale. Our abundance of land in Rakstad has always been the envy of all of us.

　And one by one, the Alabana merchants greeted Aria and sold themselves to her.
　Aria, as expected of her, is also very tactful.
　The purpose of today's meeting was to meet for the first time. But in the future, they planned to conclude a broad and comprehensive business relationship.

　The Malm Chamber of Commerce was doing extensive business domestically, but its trade with foreign countries was weak.
　Alavana, a land-limited country, wanted to buy large quantities of rich agricultural products from the wealthy province of LaCosta.
　That's where the interests of both parties are matched.

'I am ashamed to say that our Alabana has become less and less powerful year by year, and for many years we have been under the thumb of other merchants from other countries...'
But in our country, which is full of deserts, we cannot be self-sufficient even if we stand on our heads. We know it's unfair, but we have to bite our teeth and buy our produce at high prices...
When I heard that Malm Trading Co. would be an equal partner, I flew over.
'Yes, of course, my father Malm and I intend to do so. However, I will be the contact person in charge, is it okay for a little girl like you?
'This is outrageous, Miss Aria!
When it comes to Mr. Magnus's referral, I have nothing to worry about!
"Yes, yes, Master Magnus is our grateful servant...
"And if you are well aware of the good fortune of Her Highness Princess Fara,

　And the Alabana merchants give me a commercial-free smile.
　Yes, they are all traders who had the misfortune of being eaten by the Kaiser Sandworm.

　I had no intention of thanking them, but they were extraordinarily grateful, and wanted me to do something for them.
　So I came up with a plan.
　No need to thank me, I told them, just listen to me. They listened intently. That's how I came to be the intermediary in this negotiation.
　It would be great if we could conclude a trade relationship that benefited Aria, benefited them, and fed the people of Alabana--no one would lose anything, right?
　I won't have much longer left to travel through Aravana, but I'll be sure to have good security along the way. Food, clothing, and civility.


　Our first meeting ended with a great response.
　However, business meetings take a long time to complete.
　It was late in the evening when we dismissed the meeting.

Thank you very much, Mr. Magnus!　I'm going to make a good profit, okay?
Yeah. People's lives will be enriched and the economy will improve - that's my belief. That's why I believe that if the Malm Chamber of Commerce takes the initiative, it will lead to a great business opportunity.
'Of course our Chamber of Commerce will do everything in its power to take advantage of Mr. Magnus' foresight!　The only thing I'm worried about is that........it doesn't seem to benefit Magnus-san at all....... Isn't this a detour in your journey?
'Ha, that's the thing, the Malm Chamber of Commerce's future focus on trade might go around and help me on my journey. That's what I'm thinking.
'Really!　Then I'm going to be more and more enthusiastic.

　Aria joyfully hugs my left arm.

'It's 'work day' today, but the day isn't over yet... right?'

　He looks up at me and begs me to look up.
　That's already so much cuter than I'd like.
　First of all, Aria's pampering skills really help me, as I'm not very good at it.

''Well why don't we go somewhere else?　I'm hungry.
Well, we can't eat a lot of food during a business meeting, can we?
How did you know it was here?
There are so many!　I've been having a lot of fun lately updating my list of restaurants that I'd love to go to with Magnus one day.
Well, we'll have to digest it all the way through.
'You don't have to try so hard. Making a list is already fun just by imagining it, you know?
It's like a planner in my head?
I don't think that's quite right.

　Me and Aria walked through the city at night as we continued to chat about such trivial matters.