Visit at Kaijin's shop

That was how they wound up entrusting their shop to someone who stole it from them, falling into the trap of an apprentice jealous of their natural talent, getting bullied by the government after they botched a ministerial request... In the end, with nowhere else to go, they turned to Kaijin, an old friend and practically a fourth brother to them in their youth. He wished they had called on him sooner, but that was neither here nor there they needed someplace to lie low, and he could use some help around the shop.

The only problem was that Kaijin had no work for them. He was a merchant dealing in battle gear, and he already had steady connections for all his merchandise except the weapons. Those he made himself, and he figured he could keep the trio busy making the rest of his lineup...but he couldn't have them start immediately. Telling his armor and accessory contacts out of the blue that their services were no longer needed would lead to easily avoidable trouble. Until things settled down a little, he would have to continue with business as usual.

Instead, with few other options available, Kaijin was having them direct a team of laborers as they mined for ore and other materials. The brothers had arrived in Kaijin's shop with a wild story about a monster. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. He rubbed his forehead.

"Well, at least you're all fine," he told them. "Glad you got away before you were hurt at all!"

And he was. If they weren't injured, they could go right back to ore collecting. His friends' safety was naturally important, but...still.

The three bothers gave each other awkward looks.

"Well.we didn't get away, exactly."

"No. In fact, we can still hardly believe what happened to us yesterday!"

"...."

They moved on with the story—a tale of a mysterious man who provided them life-saving medicine. It seemed like a bunch of ridiculous ravings, but these people weren't ones to make up stories. They didn't have the talent for it.

So did the whole affair really happen Perhaps it didn't matter. It was true enough, he knew, that people had been attacked in the mines. And that meant no mining for a while. The workmen he had hired all quit yesterday and headed for the hills the moment the monster news broke. And why wouldn't they? Their brethren were injured, no doubt.

Now would be the perfect time to call on the services of the Free Guild, but that was probably equally impossible. He had filed a mining request long ago, to deafening silence. He knew he wasn't the only one, either. A shortage was starting to rear its ugly head.

Hiring guild members as mine guards wouldn't accomplish much, either. They weren't cheap, and even then, they didn't lift a finger beyond what the guild paid them for. Guild guards did just that- guard-and nothing else. And if this was the kind of monster that could take out a B-minus-graded adventurer...

It was hopeless! There was no way to turn a profit. In fact, this would bankrupt him. Bah Why did such a powerful monster have to show up in such a damned shallow part of the mine?!

Kaijin let out a deep sigh. Now what? There wasn't much time left. Maybe he'd have to just go down there and grab the ore himself. No better ideas were springing to mind. All that filled it right now was the passing ticktock of his destiny.

The four of them exchanged glances, all at a complete loss. That was right about when a set of rather odd-looking customers showed up.

"You! You in there?!" shouted the captain—Kaido, as it happened.

As we had conversed, we'd grown friendlier and friendlier with each other. We were on a first- name basis now, and it turned out his older brother was in charge of the shop we were visiting.

It was a cozy place, the kind where you'd expect the owner to be a gruff old man behind the Counter.

"Hello!"

"Excuse us," I said as I followed Kaido in. The moment we entered, we felt several dubious gazes upon us.

''''"Ah!!'''''

The three miners who had thanked me for saving them yesterday lifted their eyebrows high. They looked right as rain, but their expressions weren't exactly jubilant.

Just as expected, the man behind them was a perfect image of the grizzled, grouchy old civil- works guys I once had to deal with. He was the proprietor, no doubt. Didn't look much like Kaido.

"Whadda you want? You know these guys?"

"Kaijin, this is it! The man! The one who saved us..."

"Yeah! It sure is! And you're our boss's brother, aren't you, Captain?"

"...."

"Oh-ho! The man, you say? We were just talking about you! Thanks for getting these guys out of a bad way yesterday."

"Oh, no, it was nothing... Okay, it was something, but, ah, you know. Ha-ha-ha-ha!"

It should be against the law to compliment me. I always let it go to my head, until I finally float up into outer space. I probably wouldn't be coming back down for a while.

"So," the old guy said, rearing back a bit, "what brings you here today?"

I decided to go into full detail. We all piled into seats situated deeper inside, and Kaido was kind enough to provide a quick recap for me. I added a few choice details, and things moved along at a good pace.

That younger one, though.. Mildo, was it? I wish he'd say something. Like, how's he managed to stay in conversations by saying nothing at all? It floored me.

"All right," the old guy answered. "l understand. But what do you want? I can't do anything for you. I've got a job from a certain country l gotta deal with, too. None of this leaves the room, but..."

Then it was his turn to talk, deliberately leaving out some of the finer details, as it was all classified. Basically, a number of countries were sending out orders for weapons and armor, spooked that a certain "idiot nation" might be trying to hatch a war on them all. It connected to why the guard was out of medicine yesterday, asbwell as the lack of raw materials plaguing the shops.

"So," he continued, tapping at his head, "I

managed to pull an all-nighter to get an order for two hundred steel spears squared away...but I gotta come up with twenty swords, too, and I ain't even got one yet. There's just no material!"

"Why don't you just say you can't fill the order?" Kaido asked.

"Fool! You think I didn't, at first? But that damned minister Vester told me, 'So you're saying the great Kaijin, renowned across the entire kingdom, can't even fill a simple order like this one? Is that it? In front of the king himself, no less! Can you believe that damned idiot?!"

In between the cursing and the screaming, I learned that Mildo, the taciturn third brother, had denied a request from Vester to build a house for him. The minister had taken it personally, badgering him about it to the point that Mildo had had to go into exile with Kaijin. Sounded like a stupid grudge to have.

So is this guy maybe buying up all the kingdom's raw materials so the shops can't sell anything? It sounds plausible to me.

"What's the difference between lances and

SWords?" I asked.

"l need special ore for the swords," the old guy spat out. "Magic ore. The spears are just simple steel spikes."

Without the right materials to work with, even a master artisan is merely a man. It must have been incredibly frustrating. The minister must've been waiting for him to show up, hat in hand, begging for mercy.

"And that's not the half of it. It takes a full day to complete even one of those swords. Even if I built an assembly line and streamlined everything I could, it'd still take me two weeks to make twenty...."

I thought to ask about the deadline but stopped. I could read the answer in his face anyway.

"I have until the end of this week." He groaned. "First thing next week, I'm l charged with delivering them to the king. It's a task for the kingdom, and every shop has been asked to do the same. If I can't, they could strip my artisan's license from me. "

So five days left, it sounded like. And it seemed doubtful that much work would happen today, so four, basically? What a tough situation... Wait, why am I here? None of this has anything to do with me.

And...um, hang on, did he say "magic ore"? I have Some of that, don't I? Not that it matters..

The next time I looked up, I realized that everyone was looking at me. I don't like all these dudes staring at me, you know! Who do they think a monster is, anyway?

Whatever. Time to fling a few serious favors around. They better help me get that goblin village going later!

"Heh-heh-heh... Ha-ha-ha-ha! Haaaaaaah-hah- hah-hah!! Whata trivial issue! Old man... You think you could use this?"

Then, with a small thud, I hand-delivered a

quantity of extracted ore on top of the work desk in front of me, it comes from my inventory. Then I hopped on the sofa, lay back, and put my legs up (or felt like I did).

"...Wait. Whoaaa! That's magic ore!! And, my God, look at how pure it is!!" Heh. Not magic ore, man. Already processed it for ya. That's a hunk of pure magisteel! "C'mon, old man, your eyes giving out on you?" I asked. If they couldn't even see what this metal was, they couldn't have been worth much.

I'll sell the materials to you, but that's it. I'm

running a business here, sort of.

"What...? No... It can't be! This entire piece is magisteel?!" He finally noticed. His shock surprised me a bit.

"You... You'll let me have this? I mean, I'll pay the going On rare occasions, when a monster was defprice for it, of course!"

Heh-heh-heh. Gotcha!

"Oooh, about that..."

"Nggh, what do you want? I'll do anything I can for this!"

"Now that's what I wanted to hear! You heard what me and my team are up to, right? I need your help finding someone who'll travel to the village and give us some technical guidance."

"What? Is that all you need?"

"Pfft. I need some connections to clothing and weapon suppliers, too. And armor."

"If that's all it is, then of course!"

And so old man Kaijin and I forged a verbal contract for the hunk of magisteel. We agreed to iron out the details after his work was done. Judging by his reaction, I probably could've wrung him for a little more, but no point being too greedy. Whenever I tried that, it always blew up in my face. Even I learn from my mistakes Sometimes.

Kaido took his leave after we all finished with dinner. Guess the captain of the border guard can afford to skip work all afternoon. Nice of him to bring me here, though.

The three dwarf brothers took turns thanking me profusely yet again. They felta bit out of place, no doubt, and at fault for the government's toying around with Kaijin.

"So why not come along with us?" l asked. Their jaws dropped. Then they started discussing it with each other. To me, that sounded like the best thing for their predicament.

The next day...

Even though he had all the materials he needed, that deadline still looked impossible to me. Time to come out with it. You've got four days left, Kaijin. You think you can finish it up?"

"...No, to be honest. But I gotta!"

I didn't think a can-do attitude was going to help much. What I did know was that if something was impossible, it was simply impossible. It didn't become doable until all the right elements were in place.

...Sheesh. I already got my foot in the door. Might as well go all in.

"Well, I think I've got an idea. For starters, could you make just one sword for me? The best quality you can manage."

"What? But you're a complete amateur. What could you do?"

"I can't tell you. But you gotta believe me! If you don't, then go ahead. Keep going. You'll probably lose your license, but.."

"...So l can trust you? Because if l can't, you better not expect payment for that magisteel. I won't be able to take care of myself, much less cover you... You keep your promise, though, I swear I'll keep mine. I'll give you the best swordsmith this kingdom has!"

We have a deal. And promises are made to be kept.

Off we went into the workshop. I owed Kaijin one for letting me rest in his spare apprentice's chamber anyway, so I wanted to hold up my end of the bargain.