Chapter 20: The First Iron Weapons

Posted bytheredsargeantJuly 27, 2020Posted inFun Territory Defense

My preference is for which have a large number of decorative features.

　The hilt should be easy to grip, the flange should be straight, and the blade should be flexible and double-edged….

　I think the density of the metal is important.
I need to take the particles, gather them, and then condense them.

　I heard gasps from around me, but I ignored them.
Right now, all I could afford to think about was the sword.
My art teacher always praised me for my ability.
Demonstrate that ability, imagine every detail with complete clarity.

”….Good.”

　The resulting product was well made, even though the process itself was fairly fast.
The speed did not come from laziness, instead, it came from mastery.

　The proof of this is the exaggeratedly magnificent sword in my hand.
The length is about sixty centimeters and the width of the blade is about fifteen centimeters at the base.
The ornaments are cool too.

　I smirked as I presented the dagger to Ksara.

“You’ll be the first customer I’ve ever had.
To commemorate such a momentous event, I made sure to put extra work into the decorations.”

　As I told him that, Ksara received the sword with a trembling hand and raised it to the heavens for some reason.

”Whoa, whoa, whoa!

What the… I’m scared.

　I don’t know he was doing, but I don’t want to be disturbed by him while I am making his sword.

　Gently, I distanced myself from Ksara.
I then touched a chunk of iron that was lined up on the ground.
The next step is to simply lengthen it and give it a fancy design.
Swords were not complex to visualize.

　The lump of metal begins stretching like clay until it suddenly condenses at once into the shape of a sword.
I made it to be one meter in length so that Ksara could comfortably wield it.

　I can hear Ksara’s voice behind me, making an odd screeching sound, but I completely ignore him.

　Shut up, Master Van is making a longsword right now.

　Even though I was having some superfluous thoughts, the image of the sword in my mind was not broken and the magic power flowed evenly.
If I am able to perfect my technique even further, I might even be able to hum a song without negatively influencing the product.

”…Okay, done.
This sword looks pretty good.”

　I said this as I held up a beautiful yet powerful longsword.
The length of the hilt is close to thirty centimeters, large enough for two-handed use without being cumbersome for single-handed use.
The length of the blade is seventy centimeters, having a straight edge.
The thickness of the sword is about fifteen centimeters at its base.

　It appeared both powerful and sharp.
That was only to be expected, considering my high grades in my art classes.

　Extremely pleased with myself, I handed the longsword over to Ksara.

　Then, while carefully holding the dagger, Ksara dexterously received the longsword with both hands.

”Ohoho!”

　Strange noises were let out.
The deranged man even started what looked like a tribal dance, jumping up and down on the spot.

　He produced so much noise that the villagers came out of their homes to find out what was causing such a terrible sound.

　Ksara was so insanely happy that Orto and his comrades began to look at Van with an avaricious look in their eyes.

“Van, Master Van! Give me a sword! I want a long sword like the one that dolt Ksara has!”

“I want a dagger! One which pierces well!”

　The adventurers suddenly began to become rabidly excited.
Gee, are these swords really that impressive?

　I smiled gently and said to Orto and his adventurer friends.

“They will cost you three to five gold coins.
Maybe ten for larger weapons.”

“The price has gone up!”

“The price shot up in a second! What’s going on!”

　I tried to double the price, but it seemed to have riled up my potential customers.
Was it too high?

　As I was thinking that, Pluriel looked at Ksara’s sword with her eyebrows tightly creased.

”Three gold coins…….that’s a bit harsh.
I had a dagger I wanted you to make.”

　My conscience hurts as Pluriel mutters with an air of regret.
I’m an idiot for making a girl sad.

　As a result, I unconsiously called out to Pluriel myself.

”……..I can’t help it.
I’ll make it for you for a single gold coin as a service.
Just this once, okay?”

　Pretending to be a tsundere, I tell her that while turning away.
Then Pluriel blinks her eyes and looks at me.

“Are you sure? Really?”

“Just this once.”

　Pluriel smiled happily as I answered affirmatively.
Then Orto, who had heard her get such a sweet deal, came up to me with a happy look on his face.

”Are you sure! Just one gold coin this time?!”

“For Mr.
Orto, it will be three gold pieces.
Oh, you will need five gold coins for a long sword.
Seven gold pieces for anything bigger.”

“Nonsense! Except for one of the prices, none of them have gotten any cheaper!”

　Stop being so noisy, it won’t bring the prices down.

“Does a great sword sound good? I’ll make it right away.”

　When I make the order for him, with a mischievous smile, Orto quickly waves his hands.

“Wait, wait, okay! Well, I’ll take the long sword then! I’ll take the long sword!”

“Alrighty then, five gold pieces.”

“Gulp.”

　Orto handed me five gold coins in tears.
You have them.
That’s great, Orto.
You’ve become someone who easily throws away millions of yen.
You’ve embarked on a heart-stopping adventure featuring monetary ruin.

　Later, other adventurers made up their minds and also submitted orders.

　In total, the adventurers paid 20 golden coins for their new weapons.

　”Thank you for your purchase.
Considering that you paid me so well for the swords, I will send over some furniture to your home, free of charge.”

　”Hmm? Come to think of it, although you made us pay a lot for our swords, you made our house and furniture for free.”

　”If anything, I think you’re over-serving us.”

　By evening, the outer defensive wall is mostly complete, even sporting a small moat around its border.

　However, no bandits came.
Well, their time of appearance was always variable anyway.

“In this situation, we have the leeway to start building defensive equipment.”

　As I muttered that, Till looked around the village.

”You have built so many houses in the blink of an eye.
But, Van-sama? Doesn’t your magic ever run out?”

“I do get tired.
When I do, I stop using my magic for the rest of the day.”

“I thought that we would be building things all day long…”

　Till gives me a puzzled look, but I just shake my head.
Most of the villagers’ houses are incredibly simple, with only two or three rooms and a toilet.
One day I will rebuild it if get access to a lot of stones, but for now, this should be enough.
(T.N.
Note: Not sure why he needs stones specifically.
Maybe for aesthetics?)

　Even so, the villagers were incredibly thankful for the homes.
They even bowed to us when we walked out and gave us crops and other assorted goods.

　Mm, I appreciate the sentiment but this isn’t exactly what I want.
Please give me money rather than your homemade sundries.

　The village houses were made in sets of four, and out into a grid pattern.
Larger streets occupied spaces in between individual grids for ease of movement and to decrease the time needed to mobilize troops within the village.

　If one looked at the village from the sky, they would find that the residential area looked like a giant square.
In the central block is the lord’s mansion.
Neighboring this block are Dee’s and the village chief’s blocks.
As Orto’s group will often need to go in and out of the village, their block was very close to the gate.

　Right now we a surplus of housing, but I think it would be a good idea to increase the number of residences in the future.

　With residential concerns taken care of, I now need to focus on raising funds, gathering materials, and making defense equipment.

　For now, I will focus on making personal equipment, such as swords and shields.
However, I also need to keep the making of larger defensive equipment in mind.

　I need manpower, but there are only a few qualified individuals in the village.

　Seeing that there wasn’t enough manpower to make a more sophisticated weapon, I had no choice but to make a simple ballista.
The string is made of monster skin instead of rubber, and the front is shaped like a crossbow, with a platform to hold a large arrow.

　The front of the ballista is equipped with a large shield made from woodblock material, which prevents enemies from attacking it and allows it to shoot its destructive, spear-like arrows with impunity.

　Incidentally, I used a lever in order to reduce the draw weight, but it was still hard to draw.

　I’ve built eight such ballistae around the village for now.
They can aim up and down, left and right, but can’t look back into the village.

　I’ve set arrows in all of them, so they can be used as soon as the enemy comes.

”Although this is nice, I still need to strengthen our defenses.”

　I’m not one to let my guard down.