My 【Repair】Skill Became an Almighty Cheat Skill, So I Thought I’d Open Up a Weapon Shop

The following day, the hero’s party traveled through the secret passageway the dwarven elder told them about, and they entered the demon king’s castle, where the dark elf king lived.

「Things are still quiet around here, but just a little further and we’ll have to fight. Don’t let your guard down.」

After giving out the leader-like instructions, Falcon muttered some insignificant things under his breath.

「After I defeat the demon king, I’ll take all of his treasure and women. I can’t wait…」

…Although he had the level and abilities of a hero, his personality was full of problems. That was how many people viewed Falcon.

「Alright, let’s go!」

Falcon rallied, unfolding the battle between the demon king’s soldiers and themselves.

The soldiers were made up of mostly dark elves. There were some golems amongst them that looked like the ones from the labyrinth.

The battle was very one-sided at the beginning, but slowly soldiers with better equipment began appearing, along with golems covered in a strange metal coating. It became a fierce battle.

「Dammit, that old geezer! He said the soldiers are at the mines, so there shouldn’t be this many at the castle!」

The hero did not stop marching, despite the unexpected resistance.

The hero’s sword, which was made by a skilled artisan, got chipped countless times during the battle, but the hero used【Repair】every time that happened..

— A flash of worry crossed Noire’s mind there.

Luke of White Wolf Forest would always add material when using【Repair】. He said that otherwise, the weapon will lose its durability.

Seeing as the hero was using【Repair】over and over without doing so, won’t something happen? She thought.

「That’s the king’s throne! Prepare to die, demon king!」

What awaited the hero’s party beyond the door that the hero broke down was a majestic looking dark elf, accompanied by several soldiers.

「Indeed, it is I, the king of demons, Gandalf. I never would’ve thought you could make it past those numbers. I must re-evaluate you all.」

「Stop wasting our time! Hurry up and die!」

「How boring. I suppose there is no other way, if you are so insistent.」

Falcon charged forward. Demon king Gandalf shot a fireball towards him. Noire countered the demon king’s attack with her own offensive magic.

The moment Falcon’s sword clashed against the dark elf soldier’s —

「Wha-…!!」

— The hero’s sword broke in half.

The hero’s party was not the only one who was shocked. The dark elves also stared in surprise at the unexpected situation.

「Shit!」

Falcon pulled out a short sword without a moment’s delay to continue fighting, but now that his main weapon was destroyed, the hero’s party was at a huge disadvantage.

From that point onwards, the situation got worse for them, and finally, they were completely overpowered.

Blanc and Noire used up their mana, while Falcon and Julia were cut and beaten down until they lost consciousness.

–After the death battle, Noire acted like she had passed out and laid on the floor motionless.

Blanc fainted earlier on since she used up too much mana, while Julia was bloodied up on the floor.

The hero also had wounds all over his body. Demon king Gandalf grabbed him by the neck and held his body up high, making him suffer.

「Cough… hack…! Dammit…! All of this was a trap… that asshole… the dwarves tricked us…!」

「Let me inform you that not『all of this』was a trap. All I did was merely remind the dwarves that they are my loyal subjects, and had them prove their loyalty. 」

It was an indirect way of putting it, but the dwarves knew exactly what the king was telling them.

In other words, the request for help was real, but the demon king knew about it before the hero’s party arrived.

In exchange for avoiding punishment, the dwarves had to put up an act to lure the hero’s party into the demon king’s castle.

Falcon shouldn’t have been so greedy after all.

If he did the proper procedures, he would’ve asked for a『Scout』first before charging in. Then, none of this would’ve happened.

Because of his mistake in deciding the priority of actions at such an important place, it brought them this destructive result.

「However, there is still one thing I do not understand.」

「Guh…!」

Demon king Gandalf threw the hero against the floor, and picked up the hero’s broken sword instead.

「This sword should be able to cut through even the most advanced golems, so why did it break as soon as it clashed with Austri’s weapon?」

「Your Majesty, allow me to analyze it.」

「I’ll leave it to you then, Norsri.」

One of the dark elf soldiers activated his skill with the broken sword in his hands, and figured out the issue.

「I understand now. This sword was damaged many times during the fight against the soldiers. It appears that a low level【Repair】was used to fix it, but the durability of the sword finally reached its breaking point the moment it clashed with Austri.」

The moment Falcon heard that, he looked up with his bloodied face.

「Are you shitting me?! You’re telling me I lost because my level was too long?! There’s no way that’s true! Are you saying I wouldn’t have lost if『that guy』was still here?! There’s no way! I won’t accept it!」

「He’s delusion. Take him away.」

The hero was dragged away like he was an object, and was taken out of the throne room.

The hero must have been talking about Luke of White Wolf Forest when he screamed『that guy』.

Luke was a third-rate rank E adventurer who could only use a single skill, but his skill level surpassed that of the hero’s.

Had the hero not abandon Luke back in the labyrinth, Luke would’ve been able to maintain his weapon, and then maybe he would’ve been able to defeat the demon king.

Or perhaps, it was too disadvantageous to bring around a noncombatant, and it may have caused their party to get wiped out even faster.

Noire didn’t know. She had no time to think calmly.

「Well then, we have to punish these people as well. It’s been a while since we used that.」

Demon king Gandalf whispered a spell, and a dark mist began enveloping the surrounding. Noire felt an intense pain across her back.

「Ah, aghhh!!」

「Oh? She’s still conscious. It’s best that you stay obedient if you don’t want to suffer. That curse cannot be removed by the likes of humans.」

Afterwards, the three of them, not including the hero, were imprisoned in an underground jail.

Although they were confined, they were allowed to move around freely and were given food. Those alone were enough to make them suffer.

Noire’s mana, perhaps due to the curse on her back, was healing at about one percent of the usual amount, making it difficult for her to plan their escape.

During this time, Noire was thinking, perhaps the curse only affects the rate of mana recovery.

She didn’t realize it also prevented her from speaking about the incident until much later on…

Some time later, Julia was taken away. Julia had been noisy, demanding to know where the hero was, but nobody would tell her.

Julia never came back.

At some point, just as the two sisters were getting used to their confined life, Blanc was taken away next. Blanc cried and tried to resist, but there was nothing Noire could do.

Blanc never came back either.

Just as Noire felt like her mind was going to break due to solitude, it was finally her turn to be taken away from the jail. Noire did not resist, and was being taken above ground, when suddenly…

A strong quake shook the entire castle.

Panic swept through the castle, and the soldiers who were taking Noire somewhere ran off in fear.

Without a moment to waste, Noire immediately began planning her escape.

Even if she were to escape into the dwarf’s city, soldiers would most likely be dispatched there soon after, so the only thing she could do was to beat her weakened legs with her cane to run towards the barren lands in the underground space.

For some reason, even though she was running away, nobody came after her.

Noire desperately tried to hide herself, not from pursuers, but from the dragons. Eventually, she made it to the door that separated the underground space from the labyrinth.

「…No way.」

When Noire saw the door in the distance, she understood why nobody came after her, and despair washed over her.

The door was a watchpoint, with soldiers guarding all around it.

It was no wonder that nobody was around as she ran.

Ahh, such a simple reason.

If the demons block the only door that leads to the surface, there’s no need to send people to search for a prisoner.

Noire was either going to die wandering through the barren wasteland, get eaten by the dragons, or get captured again.

Either way, Noire’s fate was decided.

「Help me… please… someone, anyone…」

As Noire muttered over and over, Noire retraced her steps back towards the dragon’s lair.

With her limited mana, she could only hide herself with magic for so long.

Even weak magic, like the ones in the wind caused by the dragon’s wings felt it was going to blow her away.

「…That’s…」

The moment before she felt like she was going to lose her mind, Noire noticed something strange at a corner of the underground space.

It was the massive door the hero’s party found before going to the city.

For some reason, not only was it left opened, there was a giant hole beyond it.

She didn’t know why the door was open then. She didn’t know where the hole lead to either. However, she felt that there was nothing else she could rely on at this point.

Noire used the last of her energy to climb up the steep slope before the door.

She climbed and climbed and climbed, only focusing on getting to the top.

At the end of the slope, she landed on even ground, and saw light at the end of the cave.

It’s the surface! Noire ran towards the light, despite having no evidence that the cave actually lead back to the surface.

— She never would’ve thought that the end of the cave was up in a precipitous cliff.

……

Her body hurt badly.

……

She immediately understood that she fell off a cliff.

……

Her broken leg caused so much pain she wanted to vomit.

……

She understood that she was going to die here.

……

「Are you okay?! Sorry, Garnet, wait for me here!」

「Yeah! Go!」

The moment Noire gave up, she noticed somebody running towards her.

She lifted her head with the last of her energy to see who it was, and saw that it was someone she never thought she’d see again.