Chapter 522: Craftsmen’s Village 2
The techniques demonstrated by the craftsmen were quite interesting. As a technique, it was not very different from crest engraving. The tools and styles used were slightly different, but according to Tetes’ analysis, they are interchangeable if you refine the main points. In terms of content, it is like a mille-feuille of engraved crests. An engraved crest that diffuses the force received from a single point is close to the basics, but on its own, even if a considerable area and density are used, the reduction rate is not significant. The efficiency is increased by using a multi-layered system. Through repeated concentration and diffusion, the tolerance is raised by a dozen or more engraved crests. Furthermore, in the process, a loss of power is deliberately caused. Instead of passing it straightforwardly to the next engraved crest, some of the damage is deliberately broken in order to turn the damage into the material itself. The principle is similar to that of purification in a labyrinth by creating stagnation of qi in a particular place and expelling it in the form of monsters. They accumulate small breaks in different places one by one, so that the damage is evenly taken by the whole body and as a result, the whole armor efficiently breaks and takes the place of the shoulders before a single blow passes from the front to the back. The suit armor here is to stick dozens of such armor pieces over the entire body. The time and effort required to make it is enormous, but this is not wasteful. By replacing the armor only in the broken parts, it can restore the comfort and defense of a new suit with minimal waiting time.
“……That’s awesome. Your ideas, they’re really awesome”
“Really? No, we don’t know why they make them this way. I’ve been told to make it this way for a long time, so I’m just doing what I’ve been told. But if you hit it with this, it makes the armor stronger, doesn’t it?”
Apparently, they have no knowledge of the principles of the crest engraving, but only know the effects of the finished product, which they made as they had been told by previous generations. ……No, I couldn’t understand it either, unless I had Tetes making sure I got the shape of the line right. To be honest, this is almost impossible to make in the outside world. I mean, I can’t put this much effort into one knight. It would probably take me two days to engrave the crest on one piece of armor and adjust it properly. I would have to connect dozens of pieces of it, maybe even a hundred, to complete it. If the armor is designed to cover the entire body without gaps, it has to be custom-made and because the armor is designed to break, spares have to be constantly prepared and reapplied.
To have five people’s armor in perfect condition at all times would require one or two villages to be in full operation. From the very foundations, it is not a job that can be done by one or two craftsmen.
“Have you found out how they are made?”
Neia, freed from the craftsmen, asks. I nodded.
“I understand the principle. But honestly, the only country that can do it is this one”
“So much……”
“It’s a bit too much work. Only in this country can hundreds of skilled men support the equipment of a few…….”
Or maybe in a country of dwarves who are natural blacksmiths, you could do that. But it’s probably only here that you can foolishly continue to make what you inherited from your ancestors day in and day out. Normally you try to make things a bit easier. What would happen if they neglected something? What happens if they change it? They can’t even check that. That’s why they’ve been able to continue to pass it down.
“So, I’m not allowed to tamper with the armor?”
“Yeah, but wait a minute, I want to be part of the design”
“Oh, of course. Neia-sama, could you take off your armor?”
Ah……y, yes”
By the time Neia had removed her armor at a nearby house and brought it back, High Priest Duke was ready to go home.
“It’s getting late. Can’t you continue tomorrow and go back today?”
“Oh, sorry, can I stay here for a bit today?”
“……You’re really into it, aren’t you?”
“I’m a craftsman myself”
“A……craftsman?”
The high priest looks doubtful. I never said I wanted to be a blacksmith.
“You’re a craftsman and you’re like that……well, maybe that’s what happened……”
The high priest muddles his words with a complicated expression, as if he cannot bypass the term dragon rider.
“The high priest should take the other children and go home. Just leave Neia here with me”
“But……”
“Maia, you will escort the two of them”
Leave Tetes and Apple to Maia. No, Tetes is by no means weak, though. As for my own protection, Neia would be perfect. The high priest seemed lost for a while after that. But eventually gave up and took the three of them back home.
———————
I tinkered with Neia’s armor and increased it in the form of adding armor plates in the areas where it would be particularly bad to take damage. Without dinner, I continued to work on the furnace and before I knew it, it was around midnight.
“Excuse me……what are you doing?”
And then Leyla, the silver dragon, comes to visit me. When the villagers who had been fiddling with their armor with me realized this, they rushed to get down flat.
“Heheeee”
……It’s comical, but this is such a place, such a partner, you know?
“As you can see, I’m adjusting Neia’s armor”
“Leave it to the craftsmen. It’s not something you, a dragon rider, should be doing yourself”
“!?”
The villagers looked up at me as I continued to work, ignoring Leyla and their eyes peeled back.
“Dragon rider……are you such a great person?”
“I’m not that great. I’m just a handkerchief craftsman at the moment”
There’s no reason to even mention foreign countries, so I answer while looking down at my hands. Or rather, do they understand the meaning of dragon rider? I wonder if Rainer explained that part.
“Dragon riders are dragon riders, right?”
“That’s your logic, Leyla. It’s just that I am something else too”
For dragons, it may be a value that a dragon rider is someone who can stand above them and that they should use the rest of them as their jaws. However, in her words, she believes that there is no reason to be forced to do this.
“So, what can I do for you? As you can see, I’m working on something”
“……Why don’t we go and talk outside?
“You and me?”
Not Rainer. Not Neia. Not Maia?I ask with my eyes. I’m a complete outsider here, to be frank. I have the will not to give Neia away at the drop of a hat and that may be an obstacle for the dragons who can’t touch the dragon riders, but that’s all. Even that is not much of an obstacle if Rainer is willing to do it. I ask her, in no uncertain terms, what she wants to talk about with me personally.
“Yes. Me and you personally”
“……Wait a bit. I’ll listen when I’ve finished here”
While the rest of the villagers are flattened and trembling, I keep the work up to a point.
“I kind of thought you were going to say something soon”
“For what reason?”
“I just had a hunch. I just couldn’t figure out what you guys wanted to do with me yet. I thought it would be about time if you were going to try something”
I walked a little way out of the crack in the cliffs where the craftsmen village is located and walked around to where I could get some moonlight and check on Leyla. Neia wanted to escort me, but I refused. Dragons are supposed to be rarely wrong in their code. I dared to trust them and by showing that I was willing to listen with my own body, I thought I had encouraged them to stand firm. Yes, I did. Because she emphasized that she was an individual, she wanted to talk to me from a slightly different standpoint from Rainer. I was calculating in my own roguish way that if I could successfully establish that 「Accomplice」 position, it would give me an advantage.
“So what’s the story, Leyla?”
“……You’ve got the skills, after all”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about all of a sudden”
“There’s nothing powerful about your back, though. It makes sense that you’ve become a dragon rider”
Leyla says something that I don’t know if she’s complimenting me or being rude.
“You don’t underestimate the dragons. It is admirable that you can have that attitude towards me, whom you do not know well, while understanding that that blue girl alone will never be a match for me alone”
“I thought you asked for me. Silver dragon”
Her kind doesn’t answer what is asked of them and she urges me to move on somewhat hastily. There’s no point in hearing her evaluation of me.
“……What do you think of our Lord……Rainer Exeliza?”
“No matter what you say. I don’t know him well and have no way of evaluating him”
“……I guess. That’s also true. We don’t know it very well either”
“Eh?”
“We do know for sure that Shario and Corti recognised him. Those girls are not stupid either. I became his subordinate in the form of believing in my sisters. ……But that one is too blind to his true intentions”
“……Even though you signed a contract with him?”
“Yes. Many of the dragons who did not sign the contract also say they do not understand him. Still, he is my rider, so I obey, but……you came”
“?”
“Those at the palace are having a hard time deciding on an attitude. We have made a pact that when two justices collide, we will not be complicit in it, but……before that happens, we will come to your aid. Some people are starting to think that it might be a good idea to do so”
“……That’s all well and good, but what’s the point of you, Rainer’s dragon, talking about it?”
“…………”
Leyla looks in the direction of the royal palace.
“I hope you are interested in me enough to condemn me for that”
……I see. In other words, does that mean she can’t read Rainer that much? I find it easier to understand that than Rainer. I don’t know how many years it’s been, but even after a certain amount of years, it’s still hard to understand and I’m a newcomer. Are the silver dragons, who continue to be perplexed in a situation where they can’t be said to be hostile or not, planning to force Rainer to react by contacting me? And Leyla also has her own thoughts about Rainer, who still won’t let her inside, is that it?
“Then, could you help me cross with those dragons? We’re also having trouble with situations that don’t make sense”
“……I understand. Wait for a while”
Leyla jumps and disappears somewhere.
I stood there for a while, looking up at the brilliant moon and waiting. Then.
“Sorry to keep you waiting”
I look back and see a group of a few silver-haired people.
“We are the silver dragons of the Crystal Palace. Our countrymen were rude to you the other day”
An old man in the front of the group got down on one knee and bowed his head, while a few others behind him followed suit. Now……I managed to get this far, but I don’t know what to do.