Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 25: The Magic Ship in Elendil
Ren stared at the massive hammer Werlich had placed on the floor.
(Was he really planning to attack Ulysses-sama with that?)
That would normally be outrageous, but Ulysses and Werlich showed no restraint around each other.
Ren decided their behavior probably belonged in the broad category of friendly banter and chose not to examine it too closely.
“Oh? You two know each other?” Ulysses asked.
“The good kid carried me close to home. Unlike a certain rotten brat who covered my house in graffiti, he actually knows how to behave.”
“How long ago was that?” Ulysses said. “When my father brought me here as a child?”
“It was impossible to remove! I scrubbed so hard that part of the outer wall broke!”
“Oh dear. Ren Ashton, which of us was at fault?”
“Ulysses-sama.”
Ren answered without hesitation.
Ulysses laughed delightedly.
“I agree.”
Apparently, Ulysses had been a mischievous child. His past was surprisingly different from the dignified figure Ren knew from Legends of the Seven Heroes.
“So what do you want, rotten brat and good kid?” Werlich asked.
“My name is Ren Ashton.”
“Fine, Ren. Why are you here?”
“Work,” Ulysses answered. “And since you already know him, this should proceed more quickly.”
“Work? You know I hate that word more than anything in the world.”
“More than being forbidden to drink?”
“Exactly! That’s why I don’t want to work!”
Ren frowned.
“How does that follow? You just said ‘no drinking’ was the thing you hated most.”
“If I’m going to do good work, I can’t drink.”
(He hates working, but he takes the work itself seriously.)
Werlich was every bit as energetic and contradictory as Ren remembered.
Ren began to wonder just how skilled the dwarf truly was. Ulysses answered the question almost immediately.
“Will you accept a commission? I want Werlich, the smith who forged a Sword King’s blade, to make something for Ren Ashton, to whom I owe a great debt.”
“U-Ulysses-sama… did you say he forged a Sword King’s weapon?”
“You know the woman who serves at the Emperor’s side, don’t you?”
“Of course! She’s extraordinarily powerful. Werlich-san forged her sword?”
“That’s right,” Werlich said.
The Sword Kings were the five strongest swordfighters in the world.
A smith capable of creating a weapon for one of them possessed skill far beyond anything Ren had imagined.
“That is not his only notable achievement,” Ulysses said. “But as I told you, he dislikes work. He has even refused medals so his ability would not become widely known. He prefers to avoid the public eye.”
Ren finally understood why such a master craftsman remained obscure.
“But I still don’t want to work,” Werlich muttered.
Ren remembered the conversation they had during the summer, when he carried the drunken dwarf home.
“Didn’t you promise to forge something for me?”
“I might have said something like that.”
Ren silently clenched a fist in triumph. He had Werlich’s own word.
“I won’t make excuses,” Werlich continued, “but I was rather drunk. Forging for a swordsman as capable as you is a different matter.”
“I don’t remember showing you my swordsmanship.”
“I don’t need to see it. A smith can tell.”
Ren gave Ulysses a troubled look.
“You can trust Werlich’s judgment regarding smithing and swords,” Ulysses said. “But never lend him drinking money. After a few cups, he will forget he borrowed it.”
“Hey! You’re making me sound like a scoundrel!”
“I am pleased you understood me. In any case, I am not asking for a sword. Ren says he does not need one, so I want you to make armor.”
“That changes nothing. If you don’t have material that interests me, I won’t accept the job. A mountain of gold wouldn’t persuade me. I have enough money already, brat. Bring me something worth using.”
“Rare materials cannot always be bought, no matter how much money one possesses. To be honest, mithril would not interest me either.”
“Then give up.”
“Do not misunderstand. We brought the material.”
“You should have said that first. What is it?”
The moment Werlich asked, Edgar closed the workshop door behind them.
“No one is listening,” he reported.
Ulysses nodded.
“I knew you would reject anything insufficiently rare.”
“Then you also know I won’t accept half measures. If the material disappoints me, this conversation ends.”
Ulysses looked to Ren, leaving him to reveal what they possessed.
Ren spoke.
“We have a weathered horn from Asval the Red Dragon.”
Werlich’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open.
“…That changes everything.”
Grinning, he disappeared into the back of the workshop.
The sound of frantic cleaning followed. Then Werlich called out:
“Tell me the details! Legendary material deserves a legendary blacksmith!”
He had accepted the commission.
“If Ulysses brought you here, the horn must be genuine. How much do you have? Are the fragments large?”
“We have almost the entire horn.”
“Oho! What a dream! Then all that remains is to see whether the material will acknowledge Ren.”
“What do you mean by that, Werlich-san?”
“Legendary monster materials aren’t literally conscious. Even so, some reject their intended users and refuse to display their properties. When that happens, the material is worthless as equipment. Researchers have studied the phenomenon for ages, but no one knows its exact cause.”
“I see… but you don’t seem worried.”
“Hmm?”
Ulysses then explained only what Werlich needed to know in order to process the horn while preserving the secret surrounding Asval.
“Ren Ashton defeated Asval and took the horn himself.”
“Oh? Asval returned to life?”
“It is a long story, and I cannot reveal all of it. What matters to you is whether the material will accept him, correct?”
“Correct. Then I won’t ask further. What do you want made? I’ve heard the old stories, and Asval’s horn was enormous. Even after making armor for Ren, an absurd amount will remain.”
“I would like to use all of it somehow,” Ren said.
“So would I,” Ulysses agreed.
Neither wished to keep a massive supply of Asval’s horn indefinitely.
They either had to process it completely or dispose of it so the material could never be discovered. Throwing away something so valuable, however, was unthinkable.
Ren wanted another useful purpose for the remainder.
“Could you make armor or swords for other people?”
“I don’t recommend it, though it may be possible. From what you’ve told me, the horn is unlikely to accept anyone except Ren. For another user, you would be better off mining divine metal orichalcum on the Demon Continent. The best equipment is equipment its owner can actually use.”
Coming from the smith who had forged a Sword King’s weapon, the judgment left Ren and Ulysses no room to argue.
But if they followed that advice, much of the horn would remain unused.
They needed another purpose.
“What about reinforcing a magic ship or magic train?” Werlich suggested. “If Ren also uses the vehicle, the material may respond.”
“I don’t own either one. I couldn’t afford a magic ship in the first place.”
Werlich tilted his head.
“Ren Ashton, you can obtain a magic ship whenever you like.”
Was he judging matters by a marquis’s standards, or did he know about House Clausel’s finances?
Werlich did not sound flippant. He was entirely serious.
“No, I really don’t have that kind of money–“
“Not personally. House Clausel administers Elendil, doesn’t it? Then it should possess one.”
“If it did, wouldn’t the family already be using it?”
“Not necessarily. The Clausel magic ship I know is broken.”
“Broken?”
Ren frowned, while Ulysses looked sharply at Werlich.
The dwarf was neither lying nor joking.
“I doubt Baron Clausel discarded it,” Werlich continued. “It should still be stored in the Hanging Garden. Why not use the remaining horn to restore that ship?”
His long whiskers trembled as a faint smile appeared.
“I see. Lemuria.”
Lemuria as in Wizard101 Lemuria?
How big is this horn again for it to be material to fix a magic ship?
Remember that Asval was a full size dragon. His entire body was resurrected, albeit as an undead. And so, he chopped off an entire horn from the side of Asval’s head. And possibly found the other one that his ancestor chopped off, where it washed up through an underground estuary? Lol.