Visit at Kaijin's Shop 2

When we entered, we found the three brothers staring at the hunk of magisteel on the table, sighing to themselves as they turned it over in their hands, scrutinizing every surface. The chunk I'd taken out was about the size of a fist. Was it that rare They sure acted that way.

"What are you talking about?" Kaijin exclaimed when I asked about it.

And according to his explanation—

Magic ore was a raw material that was refined to make magisteel. Even the base ore could rival gold in value, for a simple reason: It was both rare and useful for a variety of applications.

It all came down to the magicules that seemed to form nearly everything in this world-something that Earth seemed to do just fine without but that played a huge role over here.

On rare occasions, when a monster was defeated, it would drop an entire chunk of magicules, referred to as "magic stone." This was a sort of portable energy source, and it served as the fuel for something called 'spirit engineering." an invention exclusive to this world. Magic stones

came in levels of purity, and the purer ones were used as cores inside assorted products. Even ornaments could harness this energy for special effects. The resulting clothing and accessories could boost the wearer's abilities, grant them additional effects, and do any number of other things.

Now, the main difference between plain old ore and magical ore was that the latter could be obtained only in areas where higher-level monsters lurked. It required the combination of regular ore, a large concentration of magicules, and eons of time for the ore to absorb the magic and make the transformation-a sort of geological mutation.

Of course, any place with a lot of magic also tended to have a lot of monsters. Not the run-of-the-mill kind adventurers could kill for pocket change—you wouldn't find any magic ore around them. You'd have to travel to places with at least B-ranked monsters in them.

As a tangent, Kaijin finally gave me a full

description of how the ranking system worked for monsters.

"Ohhh!" I said. "So I'd be, like, a B or so, maybe?"

"""""..."""""

I imagined everyone was thinking the same thing. Except for Gobta, who was a little slow. Let's leave him alone for now.

Regardless, the point was that magic ore didn't just pop up out of nowhere. What's more, the magisteel extracted from it took up 3, maybe 5 percent of its total mass. Even a fist-sized chunk of that steel was worth at least twenty times its weight in gold.

It also appeared that prices, in general, averaged out to near the same as they did in my old world. Gold was used as currency because it was worth a lot, just like back home. As a result, all the countries had adopted gold as a currency standard.

I kept the fact that I had a huge store of these magisteel hunks in my inventory a secret. Honestly, it was getting a little frightening. No way they could've known, but...what if they had? Or was that just my paranoid, lower-middle-class upbringing coming out?

Now, on to the real issue.

Magisteel was rare, certainly, but that wasn't what made it so valuable. That lay in how readily adaptable it was to serving as a conduit for magical force.

One could control magitters through the power of imagination, to some extent. My Magic Sense skill worked that way, but even Control Water worked by manipulating the ambient magic around me. Most monster skills harnessed it one way or another as well. I didn't know that much about magic spells, really, but I figured they worked on the same premise.

So what happened if a weapon was made of material infused with vast amounts of magic? Amazingly, it became a weapon that could mature!

How classic! Aw, man, now I want one! I almost said so out loud before stopping myself just in time. I mean, think about it-a sword that gradually molded itself to your ideal shape based on what you wanted from it. Depending on your own magical force, you might even be able to transform it midbattle! And since it was so compatible with magic, it'd help boost your skills, too.

Basically, unless you were really handy with a weapon, you were always going to be better off with a magically infused one. But what if— although this would take a lot of skill and money—you made a blade of pure magisteel and inserted a magic stone into it? Could you make, like, flame swords and blizzard swords and stuff?

My creative juices started flowing. My heart sang, demanding Kaijin make one right this minute. But I would have to be patient. The next magic stone I get my hand on, though..... For sure.

After that quick lesson, Kaijin buckled down and went to work. I watched him as his would-be young apprentice. Gobta was probably sleeping somewhere, besides...

Swords, of course, came in a wide array of shapes and sizes. I, of course, pictured a Japanese-style katana as the strongest one out there-but even katanas came in all kinds of shapes. That was what made me so curious about the kind of sword he'd make.

Ten hours later,

he was finished. It looked, to me, like a plain old longsword. And whoa, that was a lot of magisteel left. And here I was worried whether a fist-sized lump would be enough for even one. Turned out Kaijin couldn't even guess how much it'd cost to use 100 percent magisteel on everything. I suppose not. No wonder nobody's come up with a flame sword or a blizzard sword or even a thunder sword. It'd cost too much. Makes sense.

Instead, magisteel formed only the core of the weapon, and the rest of the blade was crafted from regular steel instead. That core was all it needed for its magic to work its way into the steel, eventually merging itself with the whole sword. That, he said, was why a weapon grew stronger as it was used over time. The blade would never rust or lose its shape it could just use ambient magitters to regenerate itself.

Oddly enough, though, even these magic swords had their life spans. If they were bent too far or otherwise warped beyond recognition, the magic would leak out, leading to rapid weathering.

Kaijin showed me his freshly forged sword as he spoke. It was all so interesting to me. I took the weapon in hand as I marveled over it-all right, not in hand, but close enough. It was simple in make, straight as an arrow. No bells or whistles. It wasnt meant strictly for slicing like a katana, but the blade seemed suited to slashing.

But this was just a base. Over time, I supposed, the sword would adapt itself to whatever its user wanted from it. No wonder the forger kept things simple.

Okay.

So Kaijin and his team had crafted this lovely sword for me, as promised. Now it was my turn.

"Right!" I said. "Time for me to pull a little secret work for you. I'm sorry, but would you all mind leaving me alone here for now?"

There was no way I could let them see this. It would be too hard to explain, for one thing.

"Well, you have everything you need here, I

suppose. But are you sure? I would be glad to help."

"I'll be fine, thank you! Just promise me you won't peek into this room for the next three days. Swear it!"

"All right. I'll trust you and wait..."

With that, Kaijin and his men left. Gobta, too, for some stupid reason. What goes through his mind, day in and day out, that keeps him alive? I've got to wring it out of him someday.

So our recipe today's for a longsword. Couldn't be simpler! First, take this completed sample...and absorb it up! Next, take the rest of the ingredients lined up here.....and absorb them up, too! an

Notice. Analysis target: "longsword." Successful. Creating copy... Successful.

Repeat nineteen times. Bon appétit!

Easy, wasn't it? Kids, don't try this at home!

And with that ridiculous mental commentary, I set to work.

Yikes... Each copy was taking, like, ten seconds. 190 seconds-three minutes and change-and I had nineteen swords scattered around the room. It had been maybe five minutes since l shoked Kaijin and the rest out of the room.

I mean, I figured I could do it, but it was just so easy! And people spent entire lifetimes crafting stuff like this. I started to feel as if I had done something shamelessly rude to them. This Predator skill is such a cheat code.

So now what? I told them not to open the door for three days. Am I supposed to just hole up in here until then? No... I can't just sit here like the blob that I am. Maybe I should come clean...

So I did. I threw the door open and stepped

outside. The four dwarves immediately stood up, giving me worried looks. Gobta was...sleeping.

God, five minutes? Yep. That was when I decided I had to do something about him.

"Wh-what is it? Did something happen?"

"Are you short on something?"

"Or...or it didn't work, then?"

"Yeah, um..well, actually." I sized up the dwarves, whose eyes were laden with self-torment. They hurt to look at.

But l just couldn't resist. I had to put on an act.

Why did I have to be so mean to people all the time? Not even my transmigration in this world had cured me of that habit.

"...Ha-ha! Just kidding! They're all done, actually!"

"""""...Whaaaattttt?!"""""

Guess I can't blame them.

""""....Cheers!!""

We were at a kind of dwarven nightclub, holding a rather anticlimactic wrap-up party. The weapons were safely in the king's hands, and it was time to celebrate. I mean, I told them they didn't have to....

"Aw, come on! There's lots of beautiful ladies in there!"

"Yeah, yeah! Young ones, and older, too, if you like a little weathering on 'em! It's the perfect place any gentleman especially like you Heiry!"

"Yes....yessss! a handsome looking young man!"

"C'mon, Heiry! We can't go out without the big guy himself!"

It was four against one, so l had no choice.

Never a dull moment, huh?

The place was called the Night Butterfly.

Were the hosts realy butterflies, then?They'd better not turn out to be moths!

....Not that I really cared. I was a gentleman. I'd try anything once, I thought as we strolled in.

"Ooh, welcome!"

"""""Welcome, sirs!""""""

Phwoaarrrr!! The place was lined up and down with babes! Whoaaa! Their ears were so long, too! Is it hot in here, or is it just those elves? Dang!

Ohhhh my Godddddd, and their clothes are so thin! It's like l can almost see through...but I can't... Dammit, and I got Magic Sense going at max force, too!They've got the boundaries of their clothing down pat, don't they? Is this meant to be some kind of...challenge? Nnnngh!!

"Oooh, look at you, cutie!"

"Aww, I saw him first!!"

Eeep! Boing! Boing!

Th-there it is!!

My entire body is jiggling! And I can feel

something soft jiggling against my back, too! Is this paradise, or what?!

"...Umm... I guess all that squirming means you're enjoying this, huh?"

Agh! Oh, no. I didn't mean to...

"Huh...? N...no, not that much."

Guess I shouldn't have expected the world, then. Nobody believes in me after all. But so be it. What do I care? I'm perched in the lap of a real-life elf! I can't believe this is actually happening!!

Ahh, I feel so bad for my dear, departed friend down there! If only he were still around! l'd be bouncing off the walls!

However, while we were enjoying ourselves....

"Well! If it isn't Kaijin! Goodness me, what are you doing, bringing this vulgar monster into a high-class establishment like this?"

Who's that guy? Looking to start a fight, it

sounded like. Things quickly fell silent around us. Even the girls sneered at this visitor—they must not have liked him too much, although they were polite enough to keep the scoffs very discreet.

By dwarf standards, this one was quite tall and thin in stature, making him..well, an average human in size.

"Hey! Boss! You guys allowin' monsters in here these days?"

"N-no," an older female manager called out, "but it's just a little slime, so.."

"Uhh? It's still a monster! Ain't it? You sayin' a slime's not a monster anymore?!"

They can say that I am a slime because I transformed like a slime so that this elf girls bib boobs will be rubbed in me if they want to lift me.

"l... No, sir, but..." The manager stuttered noncommittally, trying to calm the man down, but the boor wasn't even paying attention. Clearly, he was after us.

"Oh, great," one of the girls sighed. "That's Vester, the minister."

Speak of the devil! Well, I'll be... He did seem like the kinda guy who refuses to let go of a grudge. I could see it on his face.

"Y'know what best suits a monster?" Vester

bellowed. "This!" Then he emptied the contents of his water glass Over me.

I wasn't exactly a fan of that kind of provocation, but I kept myself in check. This was a government minister- couldn't let my short temper get Kaijin or the manager of this place in trouble. Wouldn't want them banned from the premises. Just sit tight, let it pass, and-

"Hey... You think you can just pick on us all you want?!"

With an audible kick at the table, Kaijin stood up.

"You think you can run around and make fun of my guest, Vester? You think I'm not gonna mind that? You think?!"

....Um? Hey, Kaijin, this is a top government official and stuff, isnt it? You sure you're on good footing here?

Vester, to his credit, was just as startled and stepped back.

I boinged back a bit in surprise, too, Cushioned amply by the chest of the elf behind me.

....Not on purpose! I swear!

"How...how dare you speak to me like that, you..!" Vester sputtered, still in shock.

"Will you shut up already?!" Kaijin shouted,

accentuating his point by launching a punch at the minister's face. A few moments later, he asked me, "Hey, Heiry, you were lookin' for someone to help you, right? Would I be good enough, maybe?"

Good enough? More than. But..really? I supposed he'd quite literally just punched a one-way ticket out of the Dwarven Kingdom. Now he was making a verbal request.

"That's what I've been wanting to hear. Itll be great working with you, Kaijin!"

It would be. We could hammer out the details later. If Kaijin was willing to come over, I was more than willing to invite him. We didn't need no fancy contract! We do what we want, when we want!

Kaijin and I sealed the deal with an emphatic nod.