Chapter 412: Hero´s missing 1
After breakfast, we decided what to do until the arrival of the gauntlet group and Apple, which could be today or tomorrow and since Jeanne was free today, we decided to do some blacksmithing work together. Well, it’s not that today is a special free day. Selenium, who can’t move around much, takes care of Peter, so Jeanne doesn’t have to do anything except breast-feeding him.
“Recently, I’ve been feeding him baby food as well. The aunties who come to cook and the baron’s wife say to let him eat it”
“Is there really that much to choose from?”
“I thought Celesta would have recipes for ogre and beastmen, but it seems like there’s a wide range even in a town full of humans. Oh, come to think of it, the cherry blossom clan’s elder sister is also here”
“……Christie?”
“Of course not, Christie doesn’t have any kids. If she did, she’d have a son”
“Yeah, that’s right”
In the case of a female slave with a child, whether or not that would be a son is aside.
“So, Smithson-san will be holed up in the blacksmith shop today?”
“No, I don’t know what……I haven’t decided what to make”
I returned a wry smile to Neia’s confirmation. It’s not even about training to make something. Sometimes if you don’t hit the iron, your work intuition will be bad, so it’s a practice to prevent that.
“That’s right. You should cook something for older sister”
“Hmm?”
“No, I had armor made before……”
“You can’t wear armor here. If you are going to fight something that comes out of nowhere and you are too slow, Maia, Laila and the 100-man commander will take you away”
“Well, that’s true, but……I’m not……”
“Hair ornaments, brooches and other ornaments are Andy’s forte”
“That kind of gorgeous thing doesn’t suit me”
“It doesn’t matter, just make something that suits you. Don’t underestimate Andy”
No, if it’s a crafted piece, it’s not a hammering piece and Jeanne doesn’t have much of a role in it anymore. ……But hey, it’s kind of interesting.
“Okay, then let’s go to Jackie-san”
I hit my knees and stood up.
“Ho. If you need anything, call me anytime”
Laila sends me off with a light cup. She doesn’t follow me, probably because she’s concerned that the presence of dragons tends to make the place more formal, even though everyone knows they’re harmless.
When I asked Jackie-san about it, he lent me his workshop, as he always does, with two words.
“I’m a little busy myself, so I can’t lend you the kiln all the time”
“I’m just going to work on it”
With the melting of the snow, the blacksmith’s business increased sharply, harnesses and wagon fittings for the resumed traffic and farming implements. In a small town like Polka, many jobs are brought to the blacksmith that would be done by other professionals in other large cities. ……In a town with an excess of blacksmiths, such as the royal city, there are even some workshops that only strike swords, only make armor, or only make iron spatulas for cooking. In addition to general iron hammering in this town, there is no doubt that Jackie-san is a much more respectable craftsman than he himself is humble. Beside him like that, I also work steadily.
“What do you make, Bocchan?”
“Well, maybe a hair clip……do you have any fine decorative stones left?”
“Emm……how about something like this then. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that will fit your needs”
Jackie-san pulled out of a box of knick-knacks a red stone from Afilm with a pattern reminiscent of dragon scales……showing through it. The value of the stone as a jewel is not so high, but some decades ago, it was popular to put it on armor, cuirasses, sword brims and sheaths as a 「Stone that gives blessings to warriors」. But,
“Hmmm, a bit rugged, don’t you think?”
What I want to give to Neia is not to wish her good fortune or to make her a great warrior.
“I think it’s just the right size”
“Neiah wants it to be less ornate. I’m fine with something more detailed”
“How about this one then? It’s a piece of lian jade”
“Hee”
A sky-blue gemstone produced in the mountain state of Lian, which is adjacent to Renfangas. The crystals are not linear like normal gemstones, which is a feature. The larger ones are worth a lot of money, but the smaller ones are typical of the type of precious stones that are sold at scrap value.
“This size looks just right. ……I’ll pay you for it. How much?”
“What, it’s not a big deal. If I remember correctly, it’s the one that was attached to the handle of a scrap weapon that Master Smithson ordered from an acquaintance in the capital a long time ago. Originally, there was only a fragment, so it was attached as it was, but I removed it with the thought of using it for something”
“Hee……I’ll take it then. Thank you”
Jackie-san is very generous. I’m sure it’s not much more than ten gold coins, but……I should give something back to him before I make things worse by being too loose with him.
“Andy, are you going to make it?”
“Yeah. Well, that’s right……it’s kind of a barrette”
Let’s keep it compact and simple, with a piece of jewelry as the centerpiece. You can’t use anything too special for the base metal. In fact, it would be very easy to use silver or silver-plated silver in terms of processing difficulty, but it takes time to procure it……well, you can think of it in terms of making a sturdy piece to suit the powerful Neia. The pieces should be designed to look beautiful with as little loss as possible. ……The original pieces are broken into eighths, like the eighths of a fruit, so I wonder how to design them. Do I make it look like a half moon? No, it’s a blue stone, so I could design it to look like a puddle or something. But it’s a little too slanted to be a half-moon……so it might look like a bird’s wing that’s about to spread out.
“Huh huh……♪”
With the right amount of materials to worry about and the goal of decorating the girl in front of me, I begin to hum as I begin my crafting.
“S, Smithson-san’s hand movements are amazing…….”
“Andy’s dexterity isn’t half bad. It is common knowledge in Celesta that dwarves are the best craftsmen, but Andy is as good as any dwarf”
Jeanne is saying some terrible things, but I, who enjoy making things, don’t even bother to comment on each one. Forming the clasp, shaping the whole thing, focusing on the shape of the gemstone, I bring the hair clip closer to a single sculptural drawing. Polishing and shining, rounding off the sharp edges, subtly applying a strength-enhancing engraved crest, and then, just as I’m thinking, my gut grumbles. What’s that?
“……I just had dinner”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hmm?”
When I suddenly noticed, in the corner of the workshop, Jackie-san with Sara-chan on his lap was stuffing her cheeks with a sandwich. Jeanne thrusts her hand out from the side of the work desk, she leans over and glares at me with an exasperated face, while Neia smiles wryly at us.
“……O, Oh?”
“It’s already noon. If you don’t go eat soon, the tavern owner will be wondering if you don’t want to have food”
“I, I see”
The time passed in an instant. Especially for Neia, it must have been hard to endure when they started eating next to her. I have done something wrong.
“Neia. I’m sorry. Shall we go eat quickly?”
“N, No, well, I’m interested to see how great Smithson-san is when he’s really……emm, really……great”
“No, well, I just tend to get carried away when I’m doing something I love”
I wrapped the hair clip I made in a cloth, put it in my pocket and urged them to go to the bar.
“Older sister, I heard that Andy wants to make you his female slave. You have had sex with Andy yet, right?”
“Emm……that’s right”
The three of us sat side by side behind the counter at the bar and all of us ate the fried food that came with our lunch set. The other men had already finished their lunch break and Jeanne’s open and honest lines went unheeded.
“I think Andy’s manliness in bed is impressive enough”
“That’s……b, but I don’t know enough about other men to know if Smithson-san is particularly great or not”
“It’s not like I know either”
Mogumogumogu.
“But it’s easy to understand because you’re mellowing that much. Andy is amazing. Even if it’s just in terms of energy”
“……I’m sure you’re right”
“There’s a lot of other great things about him, too. What makes you so suspicious?”
“Suspicious……eh?”
Seeing Neia blinking her eyes, Jeanne gave her a dubious look.
“Sorry, I have a feeling that you can’t trust Andy. If you allow yourself to have sex with him, you’ll understand most of Andy. He’s such an amazing man that older sister Laila would take a step back and protect his back”
“No, that’s because they take good care of each other”
I shove it on the way out. I’ve been getting a lot of strange attention lately and it’s making me itchy. I mean, it has nothing to do with the 「Greatness」of me being good at craftsmanship.
“Andy’s greatness is his ability to focus on things. He never loses sight of what’s really important and he’s determined to find what he can do and do it no matter what. That’s what older sister Laila calls 『Justice』”
“……Is that so?”
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
Eh? ……Does Jeanne understand things better than I do?
“If it’s just that I can move my hands dexterously, I can’t lose to Andy. But I can’t do the same because Andy doesn’t have the ability to concentrate. ……It’s not just me. If only because they are strong, powerful, or smart, they are all more powerful than Andy. It’s no coincidence that they call Andy their master. They all know that Andy sees things better than anyone else and tells them what to do”
“No, it’s usually Dianne or Laila”
“It’s not where they’re going, they’re just calculating how to walk, how to fly, where to rest and get there. Andy decides where to go”
“……I guess”
“The first trip with Selenium, Anzeros and the 100-man commander may not have been like that. But the fact that he was able to make a deal with the elves, save the holy beast, kill the old bonaparte without killing him, decided to help the elves on this trip because they are in trouble, thought about saving the whole cat beast colony and thought about what to do with this girl, all of it was Andy”
Then Jeanne looked up at Neia.
“Don’t you dare underestimate Andy. There are only one or two things that happen by chance. That’s certainly true when Andy first got his powers. But that’s not all. Andy doesn’t have the power, the wisdom, or the family background, but he has enough to make everyone think, 「I’ll just give him a ride later」. So what are you doubting?”
“I’m……”
“……No, that’s not right”
Jeanne let out a small sigh.
“……Older sister just forgot the whole 『That』 in Andy somewhere. It’s zero, so you can’t understand it, I’m sure”
“……!?”
……What? Even though Jeanne was arguing in front of me, I listened to the whole thing, but I didn’t quite understand the impact it had on Neia. I’m sure Neia could have understood it herself. I’m a completely different person than Neia. ……No. Different. Is that so? Neia herself may have thought she 「Had it」 even though she was different. Is the shock the true nature of the fact that she can’t refute the fact that she was told by Jeanne that she 「doesn’t have it」? Only strong, only clever, only great and only courageous enough to stand up to her enemies. That is all the 「Brave」person that Neia Grans can imagine. Jeanne saw through that before it was logical. From the expression on Neia’s own face, which was so close to me but did not understand me, I saw that the 「Justice」 that Laila sought and the 「Will」 that Dianne believed in were entirely absent.
It was a shock that made Neia stiffen. For a while, Neia’s eyes remained vacant and she froze, not noticing the fried food she had dropped on the counter.
“Eh, Ah……”
“Neia. Hey, Neia”
“Ha, e, eh……wh, what is it?”
“No, I’m just worried about……what’s wrong”
“N, No, that…….”
Neia smiled weakly and hid her expression with her hat.
“……That’s right, isn’t it? You have enough connections to save 30,000 Kalwin citizens, you have the will to get to Kalwin……and you have the righteousness to save it”
“Neia”
“For me……if I were not a hero of Kalwin, if I were in the opposite position to Smithson-san, I……surely could not do anything. I would not try to do anything. ……So I’d be like”
“Hey, what are you putting yourself through……?”
“Ah, no……a, ahaha”
“Neia”
I’m seriously worried about Neia, who lets out a dry laugh as she hides her face.
“Jeanne, you’re going too far”
“……I don’t think I’ve ever gone too far”
“Hey”
“No, Jeanne-san’s words…that’s right. I……certainly don’t have anything like you……”
“It’s different”
“I am”
Neia squeezes out.
“……I take so much for granted that I can’t imagine anything more than the obvious. I live for Kalwin, I die for Kalwin and it’s so obvious that I don’t even know if it’s right or not……. I don’t know how many times you, Sir Buster, and Queen Flare have told me to 『Find happiness other than fighting』, but I couldn’t imagine a single one of those things in the end. What is happiness? ……I can’t imagine it. ……The pleasures of friendship and the taste of food are only momentary experiences in the end. I’m going to die like Faria, how could there be any other way to live……?”
“You’re talking in your sleep”
The alt voice sharply interrupts Neia’s words as she continues to somewhat morbidly expostulate. The voice came from the entrance of the tavern. The woman standing there against the backlight clanked her iron staff and slowly entered the tavern.
“Sleep……talking……”
“It’s not continuous. That past and you yourself. You’ve already stepped into a different life, and you’re still dozing in the fantasies of the past”
“That’s right. Al-chan’s words are persuasive”
“Wait a minute. Tetes-chan, that’s a boomerang. Tetes-chan, you are in the middle of your second life, so look at it objectively”
“Naris, me too”
And then the women following behind. Finally, Apple, who came in looking a little pale, raised her hand with a troubled look on her face.
“……I’m home, Andy-san”