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

After we got out of the ruins, we reported what had happened to the Golden Fang Knights, and then decided to retreat back to the surface soon after.

Dealing with the troubles that happen in the Territory of the Demon King was the knights’ job.

If there was something they needed my help with, I could only make my move once I received an official request from the knights.

To put it in a way that makes me sound bad, I was only『waiting for orders,』but that was the right way to do things this time.

If I were to act out on my own, I would only get in their way.

I was merely an outsider that’s cooperating with them, so I shouldn’t do things on my own without permission.

If a guy who wasn’t in charge was to do something without reporting or consulting it with somebody else first, I could only imagine that the consequences would be awful.

「Sigh… I’m so tired….」

Once I returned to White Wolf Shop, my home and workplace, I set down my luggage and sighed deeply.

It was already late into the evening.

I looked outside and saw that the sky was going to go dark any moment now.

I wanted to rest right away, but there were a few things I had to do first.

First, I had to write a report regarding the collection of mithril.

In this country, those who handle mithril, a prohibited material, are obligated to record and report information like how much they’ve collected and how they’ll be used.

Of course, I was no exception to this.

As I did the paperwork at my work desk, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Garnet was there.

「Hey White Wolf, what do you want to do for dinner?」

「I don’t have the energy to go out… Can you make me something simple?」

「Okay, I’ll just make something I like. Don’t complain about it.」

There was no way I would complain when she was cooking for me.

After I finished writing the report, I stored away the mithril into its dedicated solid container.

The container has various mechanisms in place to prevent theft. The country loaned it to me when I received permission to handle mithril.

Actually, it might be more appropriate to call this thing a safe rather than a container.

「Well then…」

Right as I was about to head over to do my next task, I heard someone knock on the back door.

My visitor was a young lady who I was used to seeing.

「Hey Sakura. It’s getting pretty late, did something happen?」

「I received some deer meat from my client today, so I thought I’d share them with you, Luke-dono.」

「Oh, thanks. Actually, I’m getting dinner prepared for me right now. Hey, Garnet!」

Garnet came over looking annoyed that she had to stop cooking, but looked incredibly satisfied as soon as I handed over the deer meat to her.

「Sorry about this. Hey, since you’re here, how about having dinner with us?」

「I’m sorry, but I already made plans with Silvia.」

「Oh, that’s too bad then. Tell her I said hi.」

「If another opportunity arises, I will take up your offer then.」

After exchanging a short conversation, Garnet took the deer meat and headed back to the kitchen.

Sakura spoke more naturally towards Silvia and Garnet, which she never did with me.

It wasn’t like she was purposely distancing herself away from me, but it appears that she viewed me as 『a respectable person』.

That is to say, the reason behind her polite speech was because I saved her life the first time we met, and because we were more than ten years old apart.

「Actually, Luke-dono, there is another reason I came today…」

「Is it about your hihi’irokane katana?」

「…So you knew.」

Sakura smiled like she was trying to hide her embarrassment.

「I’m not trying to rush you, I was just hoping that you could finish it soon.」

The request I accepted from Sakura was to make a katana out of hihi’irokane, a unique metal from the East.

Even in the place of origin, it was considered a scarce metal that nobody knew how to process. One of the reasons Sakura came to Westland was to find someone who could turn it into a katana.

Right now, I’d say that I was about halfway through the request.

By fusing half of the hihi’irokane with half of a regular katana through 【Synthesis】, I managed to create a katana made up of a hihi’irokane alloy.

Once I establish the 『memory of the katana’s shape』 into the hihi’irokane used, all I have to do was remove the iron leftover from the katana and supplement it with hihi’irokane.

By doing that, the katana will eventually be made up of hihi’irokane only, but… As expected, the memory should be established by now.

「Yeah, you’re right. It should be fine to proceed and finish it up.」

「You mean…!」

「Before I do it though, there’s something I wanted to confirm with you.」

I was only doing this to clear up the situation.

Of course, I wasn’t planning on withdrawing from Sakura’s request after I’d already promised her.

「Nagi gave me a warning. He told me, 『It’s best not to make the hihi’ironkane katana.』」

「…?!」

「Don’t worry, I’m not going to break the agreement we have. But, I was hoping you’d tell me the reason why he would say something like that.」

For a moment, Sakura frowned.

She wasn’t doing it towards me, but to Nagi who wasn’t here.

「…Luke-dono, do you believe that gods exist in this universe?」

「Huh……?」

「Oh, no, I don’t mean it in a weird way, I mean like normally.」

「Normally…?」

I couldn’t understand the meaning behind her vague question, but for now, I tried to think of an answer.

「……Well, you get skills from temples that bless a particular occupation, right? If you were to call the 『something』 that bestows skills onto humans a god, then yeah, they exist, don’t they?」

「In that case, what do you think about them… do you think they have a conscience, like a human?」

「There’s a lot of people who think that, and there are some who believe that gods are nothing more than a clump of supernatural energy. For me… I’ve never seen them before, so I can’t say.」

It was common to hear from the guys who work at the temples say they can hear the god’s voice, and some even claim they’ve met the god there before.

The general view of gods is probably something like, 『There’s probably something out there in some form, but whatever they are, we are thankful of their existence.』

「I see. It’s similar to what we think in the East.」

「But what does that have to do with what Nagi said?」

It felt like our conversation was getting detoured, so I asked for a more concrete explanation.

「I belong to the belief that gods are 『a cluster of supernatural energy,』 while Nagi believes that gods 『are a superior race with their own consciousness. 』」

「So that’s why he’s so wary of you?」

「No… There are other reasons why he’s against my beliefs, but in reality, he is wary of me for a rather pointless reason… 」

Sakura gave off a somewhat bitter smile, as though she just remembered something shameful.

「Not only does my household get bestowed these supernatural skills through training and belief, we are also searching for ways to get those powers to be 『bestowed』 to us directly. Based on Nagi’s stance, he sees us as reckless and that we will receive divine punishment for our actions.」

「……Could it be that you need a pure hihi’irokane katana because it’s a necessary tool for what you’re trying to do?」

Even if I were to make a pure hihi’irokane katana, there’s no guarantee that it could win against a sword made of steel.

It’s possible that mixing it with another metal makes it better.

Since the way to process the hihi’irokane has been lost, they would need to re-examine the process from that point.

In spite of that, Sakura asked for a pure hihi’irokane katana right off the bat, and didn’t even want to inspect it first.

There’s only one logical explanation to that.

She didn’t need the katana to be good, she needed it for a different reason.

「I really can’t hide anything from you, Luke-dono.」

Sakura smiled as she shook her head slightly.

「That’s correct. A hihi’irokane katana is a necessary equipment for the seance ritual. Many generations ago, such a katana was successfully created. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we lost all of the documents related the production of the hihi’irokane katana.」

「I get it now. Nagi thinks that accident was divine punishment, and if I were to help you with your re-attempt to do the ritual, it won’t end well for me… And that’s why he warned me. 」

All of the information I gathered connected into one.

I understood why Sakura wanted the hihi’irokane katana and why Nagi felt the need to warn me.

「For argument’s sake, let’s say I managed to get a pure hihi’irokane katana. It’s like not I will take it to perform the seance ritual right away. I have to finish my travel and training first, then bring the katana back to my hometown. There are also preparations needed that will take a long time to complete. I vow that I am not trying to cause trouble for this country. That’s why…」

「Don’t worry about it. I’ll see this job I took until the very end.」

Sakura probably thought I was going to feel reluctant to finish the job.

She had no need to worry about that.

My question was just to get rid of the doubts I had, and from the very beginning, I had no intentions of voiding the contract.

「If anything does happen, I’ll take responsibility for it. So, once the katana’s done, take it.」

「Responsibility, you say… I feel terribly sorry.」

Sakura looked conflicted.

Right at that timing, we heard Garnet telling us that dinner was ready.

「…Oh. I should get going. Please excuse me then.」

「Take care.」

After sending Sakura off, I headed over to the dining room while thinking about the things I have to do later.

Travis’s request, the Golden Fang Knight’s request, and finally, Sakura’s request.

It felt like I was going to be busy for a while.