Eleven: The thing about playful mischief being dangerous, you know

"Truth be told, it's not some complicated matter. But what I'm about to say... it's a bit hard to bring up myself."

"I see you and Persia as equals. I'd rather you hear it from me."

"...Got it."

After a breath, Persia began speaking.

"See, even inside the Marquis's own court, there's power struggles. Like internal conflict. I just couldn't help but think—what happens if something this potent gets brought into that kind of place? Could easily become a spark in the fire. The military'd kill for it, I'm sure."

"Aaah."

"I see."

Just looking at Kyle and his brother Zaid, you could tell exactly how they'd react.

"Hmm. I'll hold off for now. Besides, I can't set the price alone."

"Yeah. I agree. That sounds best."

Got it. But if you change your mind, just say so. I’m not trying to hold out on you or anything.

“Better hold off on reporting for now, just to be safe.”

“Yeah. That sounds best.”

Deciding on a course of action seemed to ease Persia’s tension.

“Now, I’ll be back to guarding Kyle and Maina. What about the two of you?”

“I’m… gonna push my schedule up a bit. I’ll start on the village fence.”

“Could be a good idea. I’ll go talk to Jitarou again.”

“Why’s that?”

“Jitarou’s a good hunter. Different from adventurers. I wanna know why he got hurt so easily by goblins.”

“Hmm. I see. I’ll leave that to you.”

“Right. Then.”

With that, each of them returned to their tasks.

◆

“Hey, Jitarou. How’s it going?”

“Ah, Craft! Thanks to you, I’m in top form! I’m ready to head out hunting any time now!”

“No, no. Don’t do that.”

I let out a dry chuckle at Jitarou flexing his muscles at me.

“Anyway, I’ve got a question. Why’d a hunter like you end up with such a nasty wound from goblins?”

“Ah, that? Simple. My self-defense sword—my machete—was dull to begin with, and then it just snapped clean in half from old age.”

“What? Can I see it?”

“Left it in the repair storage shed.”

“Huh. Sorry to bother you. Just don’t push yourself too hard, alright?”

“Nah. Carrying loads? Piece of cake. That’s the end of my work outside.”

Looks like the bleeding’s stopped, at least.

“When you’re done, go home and rest.”

“Got it, boss!”

I nod at his cheerful reply, then head toward the warehouse.

It’s the village’s central storage—everyone’s shared belongings are kept there.

In the frontier village, everyone’s tied together—no one’s above the rest.

In one corner of the warehouse. A spot where broken knives and weapons are left.

Leifan fixes them when he’s got time and puts them back.

I found a broken kukri blade among them.

“This one?” “Identify”…… Hmm. Well, that’s a mess.”

The result that popped into my head was worse than I’d expected.

Lowest quality.

Blade’s falling apart.

The iron’s so bad, even if Leifan reforged it, there’d be limits.

“Hmph.”

I crossed my arms, scoured my alchemy knowledge for something useful, and two solutions popped up.

Good thing the materials—magic stones included—are all stocked in the warehouse.

“Alright, let’s try it.”

I headed back to my room and got straight to work, forging what I needed.

◆

“Leifan, got a sec?”

After dinner, I was lighting a small stove when Leifan called out to me.

“What? Craft? You need something?”

“Going to forge something?”

“Yeah. Gonna melt down that broken iron thing and shape it again.”

“Perfect timing. Got something I want you to test.”

“Test?”

“Yeah. Here.”

He held out a bowl’s worth of oil.

“What’s this?”

“Alchemical hardening forge oil… Hardforging Oil.”

“Wait—what?!”

“You know about it?”

“Sure, if you’ve been doing blacksmithing.”

“Not something common, is it?”

“Not really! Only alchemists with the mark can make it. So it doesn’t show up often.”

“Ah, I see. The mark teaches you how to use it—mix it in during forging, and the strength goes up. Lucky I had a magic stone on hand.”

“That’s why. So, can I try it?”

“Please do.”

Can make the medicine, but can't hammer the iron.

Leifan tossed the iron into the furnace with practiced ease, sprinkling oil over it as it began to melt.

"...Yeah. No weird reaction."

"What do you mean 'weird'?"

"You know, like when Jitarou got hurt."

"Oh yeah. That was overkill. Smoke was pouring out."

That one really startled me.

"Right. Keep going."

For hours, Leifan worked carefully, shaping the metal.

His movements were flawless—nothing like a child at all.

No, not a child.

"Just need to cool it overnight. Check it tomorrow."

"Got it. Thanks."

"Lucky it didn't blow up."

"Like that'd ever happen..."

He muttered the reply, still tilting his head, wondering if it really had been impossible.

◆

"Damn, this one's good!"

Jitarou swinging his machete back and forth. Could be dangerous, really.

Near the village, Jitarou was happily hacking at branches at the forest’s edge.

“Gimme a sec… yeah. No chipping at all. Feels even harder than I thought.”

“It’s not just hard—there’s real iron resilience here, you know!”

“Yeah, that’s right. If it were just hard, it’d snap like glass.”

Jitarou slammed the machete into a thick branch again and again, grinning as it split clean through.

“Alright, next one.”

“Wait—this isn’t the end?”

“No, got one more. Jitarou, rub this on the blade.”

I pulled out a small bottle of oil.

Not the same hard-forging oil, that’s for sure.

“Rust inhibitor?”

“Just try it.”

“Okey-dokey.”

I rubbed oil onto the blade with a rag, then swung the machete down at a thick branch just like before.

"Huh?"

"Wait—?"

Jitarou’s swung cleaver sliced through the branch like it wasn’t even there—no resistance, just a clean cut. It plunged straight into the ground.

"Whoa!"

"Whoa! That was close!"

"A-are you okay!?"

Jitarou nearly fell over, having put all his strength into the swing.

"Hey, I'm fine! More surprised than anything."

"S-sorry. Didn’t think it’d go that far."

"Wait—this isn’t sharpening oil, is it?"

"Damn, Guildmaster."

"Don’t flatter me, Craft."

"Y-yes, sorry."

He apologized without hesitation.

Yeah. I finally get why the old Guildmaster from my hometown was always so nervous around Leifan.

Leifan’s smile? Terrifying.

"This oil? It's sharpening oil—sharpening oil, they call it. You rub it on blades."

"Should've checked it first."

"Sorry. Wanted to surprise you."

"Surprised me plenty."

"Me too. Glad you're not hurt."

"Haha. Next time, explain it first."

"Alright. I promise."

Still, you wouldn't think a thick branch would just… slice clean through like air.

"No way, not at first. But once you get used to it, it's no problem. Hell, this stuff’s amazing!"

"Good. Glad it works."

"Works? This’d have the woodcutters cheering. They’d go wild."

"How long does it last?"

"Day or more if used normally. Maybe half a day for a woodcutter."

"Even in this little bottle, we could coat every tool in the village and still have enough for a week."

"Just rub it on."

"Can we get more of this?"

"We’ve still got magic stones, so we’ll be fine for now, but we’ll need to hunt monsters soon or we’ll run out. Got to use it on other things too."

"We’ll talk about that later, all of us together."

"Right."

"Ah-ha! With this, goblins aren’t scary at all!"

Yeah, unless some miracle happens and goblins show up wearing enchanted armor, one hit’ll do it.

Even a weapon made of wood with fur on it would tear like paper.

"Alright. Let’s have Jitarou test it out for a while. If it’s good, we’ll start using it on other weapons and farming tools."

"Sounds good."

"Leave it to me!"

Later.

When Sharpness Oil became widespread, Alphard screamed.

"What kind of edge is this?!"

"Unbelievable... It’s almost like a magic sword."

The wooden dummy used for practice lay in perfect, gruesome pieces.

...Using it for practice feels like a waste of a doll.

Yeah, I guess.

You're going too far, Craft.

It wasn't on purpose, I tell you!

Farming and logging got way more efficient—cheers and applause were a whole other story.

Alchemy, handy \(^o^)/