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

「That’s right, White Wolf, I almost forgot. I’ve got a message for you from Felix.」

Garnet suddenly mentioned while she was putting her armor back on.

I had been wondering if Garnet could put on the entire suit of armor by herself, and from what I could see, she had no trouble doing so.

I wonder if her physique was like that to begin with, or if she’s just skillful at putting it on.

「The date where they decide on the actions you will receive has been confirmed. Felix asked you to come to the guild house tomorrow night, after you close your shop for the day. 」

「…I’d like it if you didn’t forget something so important.」

「I can’t help it, he forced it on me right before I left. That guy’s busy too.」

It’d be a waste of time to retort the little details, so I decided to ask for more information.

「By the way, what does it mean that the agenda has been confirmed? Is he not telling me what was decided tomorrow then?」

「I don’t know much about it myself. I’m telling you exactly what Felix said.」

And just like that, Garnet finished putting on her suit of armor.

With the full-faced helmet covering her face, she turned around to leave the dining room.

「…Oh wait, that was close. There’s something I wanted to ask you, White Wolf. When you heard that the person who you had a grudge ended up ruining himself, how did you feel?」

Unlike the usual casual and rude way of speaking, Garnet spoke with a low tone.

Considering that she was facing her back towards me with a helmet on, I shouldn’t be able to see her expression… Or so I thought.

I was able to imagine, rather clearly for some reason, what kind of face she was making at the moment.

「Getting asked that question again makes me worried about your response… Let’s see, if I were to put it simply, it felt like 『I got something off of my chest』.」

「So, you felt relieved?」

「If you put it simply, then I guess so.」

「But, you know, we don’t know if the hero’s really dead, and you didn’t get to take revenge on him, right? Are you… Ahh, dammit…」

Garnet was about to argue while still facing her back at me, but it sounded like she couldn’t find the right words, and so shook her head trying to get rid of her irritated feelings.

If I had to guess, Garnet probably wanted to ask me this:

Are you satisfied with that?

Of course, it likely wasn’t because she was worried about me.

After she went through the『same situation』, she was probably worried about how she should behave.

In that case, I just have to answer based on that.

「If I ask for too much, it’ll never end, you know? I don’t know if things are completely over, but right now, I’m satisfied with the outcome. Of course, my feelings might be different if the situation were to change.」

「……」

「In my case though, I was the only one who was affected. I kept my feelings to a moderate level because of that.」

While Garnet continued to stay silent, I continued talking, like I was trying to press her for an answer.

「Of course, if the hero had done the same thing to somebody who I cared about, then I wouldn’t have forgiven him for ruining himself due to his own mistakes. I wouldn’t care what other people say, I would’ve taken my revenge on him to my heart’s content.」

「…Hahaha! You’re rather extreme, that’s unexpected. I thought you’d say something like revenge is not good.」

With her back still facing me, I could feel the happiness and relief in her laughter.

It was as if I confirmed something in her mind.

「I’m not exactly a saint, you know. There are people that I hate or envy, and there are things that irritate or annoy me. For example, when I first met you, there were some moments where I wanted to punch you.」

Garnet laughed out loud again at my joking tone, like we were children messing around with each other.

「Ahahahah! That’s good to hear! You wanna go down to the river and have a fist fight?」

「No thanks. There’d be no match as you’d probably beat the hell out of me. Don’t underestimate how weak I am.」

Alright, Garnet sounded like her usual self again.

I didn’t know what kind of past she has, or why she chose to become a knight, but it felt wrong to see her burdened with such a depressing atmosphere.

「… Ahh, I feel better after laughing like that. Well, I’m going back to the inn then. The shop’s fine now, right?」

「I was thinking of treating Silvia and Sakura to a meal for helping out. Do you want to join?」

「Nah, I appreciate the thought though. I’ll just take the【Repair】as payment for the work today.」

Garnet waved her gauntlet-clad hand back at me, and left the shop while humming.

The next day, I closed up my shop and went straight to the guild house, just as Garnet had told me to.

When I told Mareeda working at the reception desk what I was here for, she told me that Felix was already here, and took me to one of the rooms in the back.

「Thank you for taking the time to come here, Luke-dono.」

When I entered the room, I saw Felix and Bradford, dressed in civilian clothing.

I assumed that Bradford was there on standby as a guard, and so the conversation was essentially between Felix and I.

「I heard about the gist of the situation from Garnet…-san. Three days haven’t even passed since we sent out those letters, and yet there are already responses to them. 」

I was a little worried about how I should address Garnet, but I decided to show some respect here.

Since Garnet herself said it was okay to not attach anything to her name, I’ve been talking to her in a rather friendly way. However, since she was a member of the Silver Wings and Felix’s subordinate, I felt that it was better to show my respect for her status here.

I should express myself precisely.

「More specifically, we are at the phase where the date has been decided for the reveal of the actions you will be facing. Unfortunately, I do not know the details.」

「That’s what I heard yesterday too, but what exactly does that entail?」

「Before I explain, please take a look at this.」

When I looked at the sealed letter Felix handed over to me, I gulped.

An emblem with a two-headed dragon. Most people born and raised in Westland should know whose emblem this belonged to.

「This is… The crest of the royal palace.」

「Currently, His Majesty is going around and visiting various areas within the country. In a week’s time, His Majesty is scheduled to pass through the main road down the mountain from Greenhollow.」

I got a sinking feeling that this was going to be a bigger case than I had thought.

「That means…」

「You will be told of the actions you will face by His Majesty himself, a week from today. Inside that envelope is an official letter of summons. 」

I was speechless at the unexpected development.

Certainly, permission to handle the production and sales of mithril-related goods can only be determined in the name of the king.

I can imagine that, along with the king rejecting the cabinet minister’s outrageous claims of me being a criminal, was what the summons was for.

However, I have never imagined even in the slightest that I would be granted an audience with the king.

「Also, there is one more thing… It is completely unrelated, but that person wants you to do it no matter what…」

Felix said and hesitated, his eyes wandering around awkwardly.

「…Actually, a certain noble heard rumors concerning you, Luke-dono. He then made a request for you make a decoration for his mansion.」

「A decoration? A noble asked me?」

「That’s correct. However, that noble is known to be quite strange, and has an interest in getting artists to make him odd things. This is an illustration of the finished product he is requesting, but……」

I opened the second sealed letter that Felix gave me, and once again I was at a loss for words. Of course, it was for a completely different reason than earlier.

「It looks like… A sword that’s been stuck into a stone pedestal.」

「It is exactly as it looks. The noble would like it so that the sword can’t be pulled out no matter what… He wants his visitors to have fun trying to pull it out, from what I understand…」

「Ahh… That’s…」

The tense and serious feelings I had in my chest dissolved like salt in lukewarm water.

What the heck is this? This letter was also from a titled noble, and yet the difference in content between the two of them was frankly, rather cruel. 

「……We don’t mind if you, well, declined……?」

I felt that this was the first time I had ever seen such an ambiguous bitter smile on Felix’s face.