87: Unexpected stuff happens. Can't be helped.

Chapter Four begins.

This was the frontier—land of monstrous beasts, a place of despair.

…that's what it should've been. But the city, protected by a massive, sprawling wall, was surprisingly advanced.

That I helped make it that way? That’s my proudest achievement.

So, let’s talk about the time just after we rescued the lizardfolk village and brought them along, right after the negotiations ended.

Basically, it’s before Zaid’s swamp-clearing squad even set out.

Alright then. Enjoy the story, everyone.

Well, that’s what I’d say.

◆

That day, as usual, I was waved off by the maid Ryuko and headed to the production guild.

“Huh. No matter how many times I see it, it’s still impressive.”

The production guild’s been getting preferential treatment from Kyle ever since me and Leifan showed up. Can’t say it’s not deserved.

Location, architecture—everything about it is top-tier.

The guild’s been getting steady support from guilds across the kingdom lately—running smooth as ever.

Inside the guild, a girl at the counter called out to me.

“Good morning, Craft-san.”

“Hey. You settled in at Goldendown yet?”

“Yes! They said the route here cut through a region haunted by vicious monsters, and I was shaking the whole time on the carriage, but when I arrived… it felt like I’d stepped into a golden land!”

The new guild member grinned as she answered. That’s exactly what we wanted.

“The food’s great, the room’s private, the pay’s high, they hand out stamina potions, and honestly? I don’t wanna go home anymore!”

“Haha, well then, that’s perfect.”

I smiled along, pulled along by her energy, and followed her toward the basement—off-limits to anyone but staff.

A massive basement, thickly plastered with alchemical reinforcement stone.

Walking down the corridor, I pushed open a sturdy door—beyond it, a chamber filled with colossal forging furnaces and bellows.

Scorching red heat blasted from the furnace, glowing fiercely.

Of course, the climate control was perfectly engineered.

Leifan, who’d been preparing the furnace, snapped his head around the moment he noticed me.

“Craft! You’re late! Everything’s ready!”

“Yeah! Fast work!”

Leifan practically bounced over, as if he’d been waiting with barely-contained impatience.

“Naturally! We’re finally making orichalcum, aren’t we!?”

“Yeah… this whole thing’s been brutal, honestly…”

Me and Leifan had poured everything into crafting this orichalcum, and only through the whisper of the sigil had we learned it was an alloy of mithril and adamantite.

And we’d been running ourselves ragged building a new smelter all this time, because the old one couldn’t handle forging those two materials.

Yesterday, for the first time ever, we finally finished the unprecedented giant smelter.

Guess why we didn’t start yesterday—apparently, it takes a full day just to heat up the furnace.

Closer look, and Leifan’s got faint shadows under his eyes.

He’s probably downed a stamina potion, but those don’t erase sleep.

“You okay, Leifan?”

“Obviously! I’m too pumped to sleep!”

Leifan’s eyes, veins slightly raised, gleam with wild energy.

Kinda scary.

“Calm down. The smelter’s not going anywhere. Neither’s the ingot.”

“Temperature’s gonna run away!”

Huh? It actually does?

Then we should probably get started right now.

"Then let's get started. Stuff we need to prepare..."

"All ready! Just waiting on Craft-kun now!"

Leifan, way too pumped up.

Right. All the alchemical reagents needed for the alloy were neatly laid out beside her.

"Where should I stand?"

"On the other side of this table. When we pull the molten metal out, I’ll need you to use magic. Even at this distance, it’ll be hot—watch yourself."

"Yeah... already feeling the heat, even before we’ve started. Not as strong as a priest’s, but I’ll cast Heat Resistance anyway."

Even with the mark of the Twilight Alchemist, magic outside the magic-user or alchemy schools was severely limited.

Still, being able to use a support spell at all was impressive.

What you need for refining orichalcum is a high-performance furnace, a skilled blacksmith’s hands, a dozen special alchemical reagents, or, of course, mithril and adamantite.

And one more thing—something vital—is required.

That is...

"Can't believe I actually have to use alchemical magic just to mix two metals together..."

"Yeah. No one’s ever managed it before, that’s for sure."

There are plenty of blacksmiths out there with better hands than Leifan. Famous ones, even—masters of their craft.

Some of them probably touched orichalcum, learned its methods of working.

But refining it?

That’s likely impossible.

Unless you’ve got the mark of the Twilight Alchemist, who knew mithril, adamantite, and orichalcum all at once, you’ll never hear that whisper.

I gently trace the mark on my left hand.

Following the whisper of the crest, I managed to prepare this much. So there’s no doubt in what I’m about to do.

Good work, Leifan! Get it started!

Yeah! Let's go!

When mithril and adamantite—magical metals—were mixed with special alchemical reagents and tossed into the furnace, a blinding light flared from the core.

...Yeah... yeah. Slowly... mixing... together!

"Ah!"

Red-hot metal oozed out from the groove extending from the furnace.

This is...

"This is orichalcum."

No, Craft. You’re the one who’s going to transmute into orichalcum now!

I swallowed hard, watching the molten metal slowly pool.

Crimson metal seeped slowly into a container built of heat-resistant bricks.

The container was already packed tight with the necessary alchemical sigils.

I stayed ready to cast at any moment, waiting for Leifan’s signal.

Time dragged on, slow and sticky.

Still not yet? Not yet?

“…Craft, now!”

“Got it! ‘Alchemy: Orichalcum Synthesis’!!!”

A twisted, bizarre sigil rose into the air, wrapping around the container.

The intricate spellwork flared, dancing with light—just activating it was a chore.

A sudden, deep pull ripped through my body, like my magic was being torn out.

Shit!

I kept my left hand raised over the sigil, fumbled for the test-tube potion bottle, yanked it free, and downed the mana potion in one go.

I felt maybe seventy percent of my magic return—but even that massive surge vanished in an instant, draining straight into the mark.

I forced it, downing ten mana potions in a row, keeping the magic going by sheer will.

How’s that, huh?!

The magic array, soaked in massive magic, finally activated completely, bathing the entire basement in light.

“Kyaa!”

“Blinding!?”

My eyes swam from the intense magical glow. When my vision cleared, there it was...

“……”

“……”

The ingot-shaped heat-resistant brick container was shattered.

“……”

“……”

And for some reason...

“Hey, Craft?”

“…Ah, yeah?”

“I didn’t hear that (・・・・・), did I?”

There were ten orichalcum ingots lined up neatly.

Well, better than none, right?

“That’s not the point!?”

I finally got to enjoy Leifan’s usual snark after all this time.

…Well then. All this orichalcum...

Heh heh heh.

Looks like I can finally do everything I’ve ever wanted to try.

You listening!? Craft-kun!?

I wasn’t listening—I was too busy brainstorming what I wanted to make!

“Craft-kun! Kneel!”

“Yes!”

I dropped to my knees cheerfully, but my head was still full of plans for what I wanted to build.

“This… probably won’t work.”

Leifan let out a long, heavy sigh for some reason.

Starting today, manga adaptation begins on “Manga UP!”

First chapter fully released!

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