Today was the first rainy day in a while, so I decided to spend it entertaining myself with Redhead Shorty, the blacksmith, the chef sisters, and the alchemist. We usually slept together at night, but we were often busy with various tasks in the morning and afternoon, so we hadn’t had much time to spend together recently.
Since acquiring the Monster-Eater Warrior job class, Redhead Shorty’s progress had been remarkable. Before, she had been on par skill-wise but lagged behind in physical strength. Now, she was catching up and steadily growing stronger. Recently, she had been adorably insistent about it, constantly saying, “Train with me, let’s spar a little!”
It was utterly charming, like a cute puppy eagerly seeking attention, a miniature dachshund wagging its tail. Maybe others saw her as more of a powerful Doberman due to how quickly she was growing, but to me, she was just endearing.
So, in the morning, I sparred with Redhead Shorty for a bit. We trained hard, sweating and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
After quickly washing off the sweat from training, I headed to the blacksmith’s workshop. Lately, she had been engrossed in creating a variety of alloys by mixing mithril with other metals, with the help of elven artisans Kille and Arue. Test pieces, like knives and short swords, were scattered around the workshop.
Kille and Arue were the two female elves who had attacked us in the past, when they’d served as bodyguards. To keep things simple, I’ll refer to them collectively as “the bodyguard elves” since they often operated together.
Mithril is a special metal that only elves can forge, so it requires their expertise, and among the captured elves, only the bodyguard elves possess the requisite knowledge. It turns out that they came from noble families. The technique for producing mithril isn’t common knowledge among all elves; it’s a skill passed down within certain families specializing in blacksmithing. Ordinary elves can’t produce it, but the families of the two bodyguard elves had rigorously trained them in both combat and mithril production.
Incidentally, my newly repaired and improved halberd was made from these alloys.
Given that there were only two of the bodyguard elves, mass production of mithril wasn’t feasible, but it was fortunate that they could forge any at all. When I tried to learn the production method myself, I found it far too complex to replicate. It was sheer luck to have captured elves who knew the process.
I joined the blacksmith and the bodyguard elves as they discussed new projects and inquired about the development of the rapid-fire crossbow, or repeating crossbow, I had requested earlier. While the repeating crossbow sacrifices some power and range due to the smaller bolts it uses, increasing the number of ranged attacks is the priority.
The prototype had been completed, so I brought it over to the training goblins for a test. The results were promising; it was a functional and effective weapon. Satisfied with its performance, I requested that we begin mass production. I also asked the bodyguard elves to incorporate the mithril they had produced into my left silver arm—the Legendary-class Artifact known as Silver Arm Airgetlám—and use the arm itself to create more items for me. By extracting ingots from my fingertips, new metal could be produced and crafted into my exclusive gear.
“I’m on it!” the blacksmith said, smiling brightly and puffing out her chest with pride. She looked so cute that I couldn’t help but steal a kiss.
We then spent some time exchanging various ideas for new creations, including defense mechanisms for the base.
As evening approached, I headed over to visit the chef sisters.
Recently, the sisters had unlocked a new job class: Head Chef. They were diligently overseeing the goblins engaged in preparing food. Given the total number of members in our horde, starting the cooking early in the day was essential to ensure dinner was ready on time; the kitchen had basically turned into a battlefield.
Fortunately, we had various cooking utensils, both looted and crafted by the blacksmith, but we were still short on manpower—I mean goblinpower. So, I joined in, swiftly chopping ingredients. Despite my appearance, I was quite capable in the kitchen.
Once the meal preparation was complete, I joined the chef sisters in experimenting with recipes. Our long-term goal was to recreate dishes from my previous world—so far, we had managed to make something similar to potato chips. Though the ingredients were vastly different, I was pretty confident that, with the sisters’ expertise, we would eventually achieve our culinary ambitions. The pursuit of good food is always a worthy endeavor.
After a delicious dinner, I headed to the alchemist’s place. Lately, she had been focusing on creating original magic items using black bones from the Black Skeletons, but she hadn’t shared the results yet. This time, I intended to find out, and surprisingly, she revealed everything without hesitation.
The real surprise came after that, when the alchemist handed me a set of crude black stakes, presumably also carved from Black Skeleton bones. Each stake was about twenty centimeters long, as hard as iron, and seemed almost unbreakable. Their special ability was to immobilize anyone they pierced for a certain duration. Impressed, I complimented the alchemist on her work.
“These are the first items I created after unlocking the Magic Item Creator job class,” she said. “Treat them as you would treat me.”
Her words, combined with the rare bit of playfulness peeking through her usually cool demeanor, were absolutely charming. We shared a tender moment before, as usual, someone interrupted us. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.