38 Blacksmith study

"Hey, old man. You said you made a sword earlier. Show it to me."

"Hmm? Oh, sure."

It didn't take long after Rimuru finished talking with the 'Great Sage.' Kaijin, at Rimuru's request, picked up the sword nearby. Handing it to Garm, who then held it with both hands and presented it towards Rimuru to get a better view of the sword.

"This is splendid craftsmanship! Even an amateur like me can tell the masterful skill of yours!"

"Hmm... Kaijin, by using magic ore, does this sword grow or change over time?"

"You know a lot. That's right. I use magical steel as the core. The specialty of a weapon made with magical steel is that it grows according to the user's image."

"What!? That's amazing!"

Kaijin responded to my query while hammering the metal. It was something I learned from Seiga-san at the Sealed Cave before coming to Dwargon, but coming from the blacksmith Kaijin, I had no doubts. Of course, it's not that I doubted Seiga, but...

"I wish the old man could visit the village..."

"Haha, it'd be nice if the situation were different."

Kaijin responded apologetically to Rimuru's heartfelt words. I wondered if Kaijin was alright with going to a place where goblins, considered quite weak creatures, live in abundance. Even if goblins are weak, normal humans might not want much involvement. Well, Kaijin isn't strictly a human; he's a dwarf, so his perspective might differ. Perhaps living in Dwargon, there's no prejudice against monsters.

"Anyway, can I borrow that sword for a bit?"

"What?"

For some inexplicable reason, right after Kaijin spoke, Rimuru suddenly said that. And just as I let out a dumbfounded voice, Rimuru transformed her body, clinging to the sword.

"What... whoa! Hey, what the...!?"

"Rimuru-dana!?"

"Wait a sec..."

Kaijin and Kaidou... No, everyone present was surprised by Rimuru's actions. Clinging to the sword, Rimuru announced to us, flustered, and then fell silent again.

Anxious that something might happen to the sword, Kaijin and others stared at Rimuru with great concern. In the next moment, a sword almost identical to the one Kaijin made emerged from Rimuru's body and loudly dropped onto the floor.

"Huh?"

"Wha... what!?"

Starting with that one, a new sword after another was spat out from Rimuru, lined up on the floor, creating an incomprehensible sight. After spitting out all of them, Rimuru moved in front of the lined-up swords, looking somewhat triumphant.

"The Magic Steel Longswords, twenty in total, are done!"

"What?!"

Seeing the total of twenty swords lined up on the floor, Kaijin exclaimed. While Garm and others were speechless, I somehow managed to regain composure and asked Rimuru.

"Rimuru, what did you do...!?"

"I used the magic steel lump stored inside 'Devourer' to ask the 'Great Sage' to make copies of the swords for me."

Rimuru casually replied to my amazed inquiry. She said it casually, but isn't this incredibly amazing? What normally takes two weeks to do was finished in an instant. 'Great Sage' can do something like this... Of course, it might be due to the skill of 'Devourer.' However, my 'Item Creation,' a skill of the 'Escapist,' seems dull compared to this.

"A copy... of my craftsmanship!?"

"If you want, you can test if it's a proper copy. All the performance should be exactly the same."

Astounded by Rimuru's words, Kaijin checked each of the swords lined up on the floor one by one. Once he finished checking, Kaijin nodded quietly and turned to Rimuru.

"Seeing is believing, but I can't deliver something half-baked. Hey, just to be sure, would you mind testing it with a few swings?"

"If that's proof, I can do that as much as you want."

"Alright, let's head to the nearby wastelands. Rumors say magical beasts have started appearing there. Testing their sharpness would be perfect."

"When you say nearby, you mean within Dwargon? Are there monsters in the city?"

"Yeah, it's a wasteland near the outskirts of Central. It might have been caused by leaked magical elements from nearby mines or creatures infiltrating from somewhere, but recently, there have been sightings of magical beasts."

With a sigh, Kaijin replied. At the mine where we met Garm and the others, there was a B-rank Armorsaurus occurring. Judging from the reactions of the people there, it seemed rare for creatures of that caliber to appear, but if they were of a lower rank, they might be more commonly seen. Therefore, it wouldn't be strange for monsters to be around a mine with magical elements. At least, seeing that Kaijin wasn't in a rush, the creatures there might be weaker than the Armorsaurus.

But even if it's away from the main streets, isn't it scary to have monsters appearing in the city? Well, during the daytime commotion caused by the Armorsaurus, the extermination squad arrived relatively quickly, didn't they? They're probably used to these kinds of situations. There should also be a guild here, and with skilled adventurers and the security team led by Kaidou, it might not be that big of an issue.

"So, what should we do, Rimuru-dana?"

"Okay! Hey, Act, what about you?"

"Me? Uh... no, I'll wait here."

In response to Rimuru's inquiry, I hesitated a bit before answering. Rimuru is there, so there shouldn't be a need for Kaijin's protection, and it probably won't take much time.

"I see. Then wait here for a bit; we'll finish up and be right back."

"Well then, I'll head back around here. See you later, guys!"

Saying so, Rimuru and Kaijin left the workshop with twenty swords. Following them, Kaidou also returned to work. With the three gone, only Garm and his brothers, relieved that they had finished their work one way or another, remained in the workshop.

"Oh, right. Are magical beasts different from monsters?"

"Hm? Magical beasts? There aren't particularly defining features that set them apart from monsters. It's generally considered that creatures altered by bathing in magical elements become magical beasts. Well, anything other than humanoid... beasts or insects, those kinds of creature-like forms are often referred to as magical beasts."

"The Armorsaurus that Act defeated during the day is also called a magical beast. Well, it's not something you need to worry too much about. Ultimately, it's not different from being a monster."

"Wow!"

While waiting for Rimuru and the others to return, I asked about the magical beasts that caught my interest, and Garm and his brothers answered me. Still, I couldn't quite understand what Mild was saying.

"I see... so Evil Mukade and Giant Bats are also magical beasts. Slimes aren't either, so they're monsters...? ...It's confusing; maybe it's better to just call them all monsters when referring to them."

"Oh, right! Act, wanted you to teach him blacksmithing."

During a moment when I was worried about something inconsequential, Garm suddenly reminded me. Startled by Rimuru's overwhelming power and having forgotten about it, I suddenly remembered that it was my original intention, so I hastily nodded.

"Ah, yes, yes! It's about a weapon... a spear, but I wanted to try making it with my own skill. And also some clothes."

"A spear and clothes... Alright, leave it to me. I finished work earlier than expected. As a thank you for helping during the day, I'll teach you anything you want to know."

"Yay! Thank you so much! ...But, um, it's not about becoming an apprentice; it's just that I'd like to learn the basics in as short a time as possible... Actually, I'm keeping someone waiting."

Though I was actually the one being made to wait, I told Garm and the others that way for now. It would be ideal to take time to learn blacksmithing, but I'm already under Seiga training, so I can't stay too long in Dwargon.

"If that's the case, is it okay? I mean, I have a useful skill too. Well, I can't do something like Rimuru earlier, but if I could at least learn the basics... Ah, I'm aware I'm saying ridiculous things, but..."

It's as if they were being asked to quickly teach their skills. I think it's something that could understandably cause annoyance, but Garm and the others laughed it off as if it didn't bother them much.

"Hahaha, don't worry about it. That's just how skills are."

"Wow! Wow!"

"Well then, shall we get started? Before your companion gets too tired of waiting!"

"Yes, please, and thank you!"

With gratitude once again to Garm and his companions for their willing acceptance, I bowed my head and began learning from the three of them about blacksmithing—the crafting of weapons and clothes.

Their teaching methods were meticulous and easy for a novice like me to understand. Garm's main work is in armor crafting, while Doldo seems to specialize in creating small items like ornaments, and his skills as a weaponsmith don't quite reach Kaijin's level. However, whether it's because both of them are exceptional blacksmiths, as Kaidou mentioned, or because they've worked under Kaijin, they were incredibly knowledgeable about weapon crafting.

By the way, Mild apparently excels in construction-related work, and in the end, I didn't learn anything from him. I couldn't understand his words either. I felt somewhat sorry.

Thus, I started learning the basics of blacksmithing and clothing construction from them. About two hours had passed since we began when Rimuru and Kaijin returned from testing the swords. The moment they came back, Rimuru, with a delighted expression, eagerly said something unexpected to me.

"Hey, Act! Let's go to a shop with beautiful ladies!"

"Huh?"