"I see. So you'd like me to make a weapon that can withstand your
power, yeah?" Nazarie-san, having heard our story, nodded with a
quiet look on her face.
"Yes. The village chief and the other villagers said you were the only
one that might be capable of that, Nazarie-san."
"Well, true. I mean, not to brag, but my skill outrivals even that of the
ancient dwarf who was given the title of 'Blacksmith God'."
Heh heh, Nazarie-san puffed up her chest.
I then asked her, "Then will you make it?"
"Umu. You are all benefactors of the village. I'll be happy to accept
your request."
"Thank you so much!"
As we all bowed, Nazarie-san frowned, "It's just…" and said, "when it
comes to a weapon that can withstand your power, we'd probably
have to use 'Hihiirokane'."
"Hihiirokane… If I remember correctly, it's the metal alloy which our
Holy Armaments were made of, isn't it?" Arca asked.
Nazarie-san nodded, "Umu, correct. It's a legendary super metal
that's said to be 'impossible to produce' at the present age."
"Can you make such a thing, Exa?" Zana asked me.
"No, there's no way I can… But if it's the main material, Adamantia, I
once made it fall down into the sea from the mountain in Magrid."
At that time, I had no power apart from "Immortality" skill, so I had
quite a hard time dealing with it.
Ophir exclaimed, "That's amazin'. That's the man I acknowledge for
ya. Still, ya did great to be able to move somethin' that big, didn't
cha?"
"Well, it was really difficult. But I think I'd be able to take care of it a
little easier now." I said.
"Fumu fumu," Nazarie-san nodded and said, "then this would be
quite simple. The shell of Adamantia is indispensable for the
production of Hihiirokane. Hence, I'd like you to go pick it up and
bring it over. Wholly, of course."
""""""Huh?"""""" We all went wide-eyed.
Did that mean we had to carry that stupidly huge shell over here?
As we were frozen and speechless, Nazarie-san looked at us with
half-closed eyes and said, "What are you getting shocked about?
Isn't it a matter of course? Hihiirokane is a super metal that comes
about as a result of transmutation of the shell of Adamantia that's
condensed to the limit from being enveloped by an unimaginably hot
flame. Therefore, I'm not going to be able to create Hihiirokane if you
don't bring it over whole." Nazarie-san shrugged her shoulders, and
we all nodded in understanding.
But if such a hot flame was required, it would be impossible for a
normal human to create it.
I wondered how the ancient sage created it.
"So in other words, if we have that 'unimaginably hot flame', we don't
have to bother to carry the shell over, right?" Arca asked.
"But of course. Rather, without it, I won't be able to create
Hihiirokane even if you bring the shell over. Well, that's the one
biggest problem we have at the moment…" Nazarie-san fell into
thought with a troubled expression on her face.
But the girls all looked at each other and nodded.
"—Then there is no problem." Magmell said.
"Huh?" Nazarie-san tilted her head.
"Yeah, that's right. After all, our husband is loved by the god of fire
herself." Ophir said.
Zana agreed, "Indeed. Rather, he's more like her incarnation
already."
Tirna nodded, "Mm. I'm sure Exa can definitely make Hihiirokane."
"Well, that's obvious," said Arca.
With that said, everyone turned to me with expectations in their eyes.
"...Yeah, leave it to me!" So I clenched my fist and replied
powerfully.
◇ ◇
However, we still had one problem, that was we didn't know where
that Adamantia currently was.
According to Nazarie-san, it preferred relatively hot places, but no
such habitat came to our mind.
"Fumu, then why don't we go to the volcanic island where you made
it fall into the sea before? Maybe it's still staying close by it, right?"
Arca suggested.
"You've got a point. Well, I was thinking of seeing Igniver-sama
someday too, so heading for Magrid may be a good idea.
"However," I looked at the girls and said, "there's a chance that
another weird guy would come attacking again, so I'd like some of
you to stay here and protect the villagers."
Just then.
"All right, I understand. —Then everyone, please watch over the
village while we are away," Magmell said in a really natural manner,
looking at the other girls with half-closed eyes.
"Oi, hold on. Who says you're going?"
"Fufu. I mean, you are all better at close quarter combat than I am.
It's appropriate in terms of distribution of force, don't you think?"
"Make sense, but still… kh." Arca looked as if she had chewed a
bitter worm.
Tirna then raised her hand and said, "—Here. I can explore
undersea."
"""—!?""" Arca, Ophir, and Zana went wide-eyed.
In terms of the number of people, those who wanted to go reached
the majority, it seemed.
However.
"B-but don't we need someone who is capable of using healing
magic here? I mean, injury is bound to occur when a battle breaks
out, and looking from the perspective of long-range attack, I think the
one who should be changing place with Magmell is me."
"—What!?"
Zana put up a last stand, and this time Magmell made a surprised
and startled expression.
Certainly, if something happened, Magmell's healing magic would be
indispensable.
In that case…
"—!?"
Shake shake shake shake, Magmell shook her head, seemingly
about to burst into tears.
But I put my hand on her shoulder and said apologetically to her, "…
Sorry, Magmell. Your power is needed here."
"I… understand…" At that moment, Magmell slumped her shoulders.
Uhh, I felt really bad…
Just then.
""—I can do long-range attack, too!""
"..."
No, you two should give up already, okay?