“So? What do you wanna do?” Camilo asked as he crossed his arms.
For the umpteenth time today, I gazed at him, perplexed. “What do you mean?”
He let out a loud sigh. “Will you accept this request?”
“To forge an orichalcum knife?” Camilo nodded, and I grinned back. Even I knew that my smirk was laced with malice. “You think not accepting this request has ever crossed my mind?”
Laughter filled the meeting room. All right then, guess I’ve gotta use some elbow grease for this one.
Camilo sighed heavily. “That’s a relief. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d declined.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied with an exaggerated shrug. “Though I can’t deny that this seems a bit...troublesome.”
He offered a strained smile. “I really do feel bad about pushing things onto you.”
“Hey, I’ll trust you at your word.” I smiled back—though I also had to force it.
Camilo had his position to maintain, and I was more than willing to take on some troublesome matters. While I couldn’t deny that my willingness came from a feeling of friendship, in terms of business, it was also best to have him owe me one here so I could turn to him if needed. Plus, orichalcum! I was genuinely grateful that I could challenge my skills against such a precious item. If my knowledge back on Earth was any sort of metric, under normal circumstances, I would’ve never been able to lay eyes on this metal—it wasn’t so easy to come by in this world either.
To be fair, our house did have a small collection of precious ores, but orichalcum was by far and away the most widely renowned metal (in this world and on Earth), and that just made me excited. The one complaint I had was that, despite its fame, my installed knowledge didn’t provide me with any useful details—orichalcum was something still shrouded in mystery. My cheats don’t tell me exactly how to process a certain metal when I look at it. I was outta luck with meghizium too.
“I’d love to accept, but how much time do I have?” I asked.
My experience back on Earth forced me to become accustomed to unreasonable product delivery time frames (which, honestly, isn’t anything to be proud of). However, if they wanted the orichalcum blade right away, I couldn’t do much there.
“I won’t tell you to bring it back next week, but if possible, I’d like it in a month,” Camilo replied.
Since I had to somehow find a way to process the orichalcum before I could even begin to forge with it, a month was still pushing it. Back on Earth, I’d definitely try to ask for an extension before asking to add a premium as an expedited fee—but my requests were never quite heard, were they?
“All right,” I said. “But I won’t be able to bring you as many wares for our regular order.”
Since I’d be focused on the orichalcum, Rike and the others would be entrusted with making the usual knives for me—I’d be too busy to forge any at all. No matter how powerful my smithing cheats were, I could no longer single-handedly match the speed of my entire family. Obviously, as they worked more in the forge, they all became better smiths. I was definitely happy to see it, but admittedly, I felt a bit lonely too.
“I don’t mind,” Camilo replied. “I’m the one making this unreasonable request. I’ll make do with what I’ve got during that time, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Roger that,” I replied casually.
Camilo offered me a hand, and I shook it, signaling that the deal was struck. He then glanced over at the head clerk, who nodded and left to check on the order I’d brought in. Our meeting went on as usual as we peppered in some casual conversation; I hadn’t been in the city for a while, but I received his “newspaper” in the mail, which provided me with general updates about any significant affairs. For now, we mostly spoke about any new occurrences within the past two weeks. The city was peaceful, more or less, barring the fact that counterfeits of our knives were circulating on the market. Or so he told me. But it seems that right after I received his biweekly paper, a rather large ruin was found within the kingdom. That discovery made the rounds, and numerous pathfinders had flooded the capital, hoping to strike gold.
“Is there a chance that pathfinders might bring in the fake knives and spread them around the capital?” I asked. “Our opponents should’ve realized by now that we’ve discovered their current routine.”
“Hm, nah, I don’t think the pathfinders will be tasked with anything like that,” Camilo replied with a shake of his head. “They can only bring in so many, but if the duke’s faction employs more people, the danger of their scheme being brought to light will only increase.”
“Fair enough.”
Sure, pathfinders traveled around the world, but if most of their belongings were knives, that’d surely raise a few eyebrows. They could bring several knives and still avoid suspicion, but not more than that, so the counterfeiters would need to hire more people to distribute them. People talk, I thought, recalling the adage from Earth about how easy it was to spread rumors. If one in a hundred people loved to gossip, then in a group of one hundred, information would undoubtedly leak.
The reality was that there were probably way more loose lips that could sink ships, only increasing the likelihood of secrets being spilled. Camilo’s guess was that the counterfeiters weren’t willing to cross such a dangerous bridge.
On another note, pathfinders flooding the capital was a genuine business opportunity for many legitimate merchants, and it seemed the order I’d brought in this time around was a huge help for Camilo’s store.
“I actually ran out of stock,” he confessed. “I was biting my nails with fear that I’d miss this business opportunity.”
“So, what now?” I asked.
“We’ll deliver your wares to the capital immediately.”
I could only hope that the percentage of counterfeits circulating the market would decrease with our fresh batch of real stock, but I just had to sit back and endure it all for now. After all, the final blow might be the orichalcum knife that I’d forge, and the mere thought made me clench my hammer-free fists with anxiety.
The head clerk soon returned to tell us that he’d taken inventory of the items we’d brought. It was time for us to go. As I left the room, I turned back to face Camilo.
“Ah, right, about the order. Presuming that I get it done in a month...”
“Yeah?” Camilo replied.
“What’ll I get paid?”
“Ah, yes...”
I just had to ask because I feared future surprises. Personally, I was more than happy to settle on whatever he offered, but things weren’t so easy for me. I can feel my family shooting daggers into me...
“For now, you’ll be getting this many gold coins from the kingdom,” Camilo said, holding up his fingers to indicate a number.
It was a hefty sum. Though I’d be working with orichalcum, I’d receive a handsome amount merely for processing this material. A normal family in this world could easily get by for over a year with the money that I would receive. Camilo had mentioned gold coins from the kingdom; naturally, the empire had its own currency that was valued differently. The empire’s gold coins were larger and possessed higher gold purity, making them a bit more valuable than the kingdom’s coins. Since the orichalcum was coming from the empire, I wouldn’t have questioned it if the money came from them, but it seemed the kingdom had appearances to maintain.
“Well, if I’m already set to get paid that amount, I don’t mind,” I replied.
For a moment, the air of the room turned icy, just as the wind had felt in the middle of winter, before it immediately passed. Jeez, they keep me on my toes. I gathered myself together and gave a casual wave of my hand before I left the room for good.
The orichalcum was carefully stored in a box and placed into Rike’s hands. No one in the city would be able to tell that we had such a precious metal kept tightly in that box, but when we returned home, my family would be free to view the orichalcum as they pleased (at least, until I had to turn it in to Camilo). I couldn’t blame Rike for being so excited about it.
Rike was our coachman, so she would be driving us back to the forest and would be unable to catch even a glimpse of the box while she was doing so. I mean, she could probably occasionally glance back, but still—if she wants to hold on to it for now, I’ll let her.
When we made our way to the backyard, the apprentice spotted us and trotted over with my daughters and Arashi in tow.
“Thanks, as always.” I patted his head and handed him a tip.
“I should be the one thanking you,” he replied.
“Nah, I’m just paying you what you’re owed for your work... Well, I suppose Camilo does that, so this is more like a small allowance for my daughters’ important friend.”
The apprentice clutched the coins close to his chest while Krul and Lucy rubbed their heads against him.
“Oh, you girls are so smart!” I cooed. “You can say goodbye to him now.”
“They really are very intelligent,” the apprentice said. His kind gaze swept over them as he petted their heads. My two daughters cried out with delight.
“I’ll see you next time.”
“I’ll be waiting!”
He waved his hand high in the air. Krul and Lucy joyfully bolted across the yard, dirt under their feet as they raced ahead. Hayate was perched gently atop my shoulder, and I fervently prayed that we could keep experiencing this kind of happiness.
I hitched Krul to the wagon, and we all piled on. She strutted forward with languid steps, though her power was all too apparent as the wagon lurched forward. Our cart now contained a small box—a new addition to our belongings. My mind eagerly wandered to the future that lay dormant within the orichalcum.