「Galbas-! That knife is made from magic steel ain’t it-!」

Viro raised his voice when he saw the knife that Galbas brought. Magic steel....? The moment I thought that, a fragmentary information flowed into my head from that woman’s “knowledge”. Magic steel was a metal that was refined from magic iron. Magic iron was an iron that turned black from staying in a place with thick magic particles for long. It was extremely hard and the price was extremely expensive. ....The information was lacking. That woman’s interest toward weapon was only limited to their price, so in a sense this was only natural I guess.

「That’s right. It’s a “garbage” that I made when I was young.」

Garbas scowled while calling the pitch black knife that apparently he made himself as? 『garbage』.

「At that time I planned to create something good, but I got carried away and mistakenly thought that I would be able to create something good if the material is high class. In the end what came out from it is this thing.」

Galbas looked at the black knife with a look as though he had bitten something sour. Then he lightly waved the knife.

「This thing is only sharp but lacking in “might”. I made it while only fixated at appearance without even considering what this knife is gonna cut. But, it’s light with how thin it is and it’s tough because it’s made from magic steel, so it can repel blood clot to some degree. This weapon is just right for a brat like ye.」

「........」

The length of the blade was around 30 cm with width around 3 or 4 cm. It was a straight sword with single edge that was growing narrower to the tip. This black knife was certainly made from a tough material that was the magic steel, even so I got the feeling that it wasn’t suited to inflict damage by cutting open hard object or tough muscle. Even so for the current me who had weak physical strength and fought with the style of attacking only the opponent’s weak point, this weapon really felt just right.

「What the hell do you mean with 『magic steel weapon』 that is just right for a kid huh....? Leaving that aside, it’s really unusual that you are giving your own work for a kid.」

「Who said that I’m giving it for free! Oi, ash smeared. I’m selling ye this garbage for one gold coin! Pay me back before I croaked! Now, let’s do this. Ash smeared, ye help out too! Go draw water from the well at the backyard!」

Galbas one-sidedly said that with rapid talking before walking to the hearth with loud stomping. He said to pay him before he died....I thought that a dwarf’s lifespan could reach until around 300 years though. While I was thinking of that in a daze, Viro approached me without any sound and secretly told me.

「Something like magic steel knife is priced five gold coins at the very least. Even if this knife is an early work of Galbas and a badly done one in his perspective, its price should still be more than twenty gold coins. Well, I don’t know what make that eccentric old man take a liking to you but, just take the knife thankfully.」

「....Yes.」

I ran away from the orphanage after deciding to oppose my fate. There wasn’t just that old hag of the orphanage and that woman who tried to replace me, this world was also filled with many horrible adults in the slum quarters who would target me for what little money I had even though I was just a child. Even so, there were also people like Feld, the grandpa in the general store, Viro, and Galbas who would give something to a street urchin like me who didn’t have anything.

Fundamentally I wouldn’t open up myself to other people. There were also adults who would sacrifice children in order to protect their own livelihood, like the citizens of that town that pretended to not see the abuse on the orphans.

That was why I wanted to become strong. In order to repel the malice of other people.

That was why....I was thinking to treasure this encounter and repaid this favor as much as possible when I became strong.

After that I drew water from the well at the backyard, carried the charcoal for the hearth, and when I was free I took lesson from Viro about the martial art that was used by scout. Viro got bored at the middle and went to a bar, but I stayed behind in that place and helped Galbas while practicing short sword and darkness sorcery.

When it was midnight, Viro returned back with alcohol and food that he bought from the bar. I ran out of stamina and fell asleep before I noticed. When I woke up at the morning on the dirt floor of the smithy, Galbas handed the black knife that he had adjusted to me.

「Ash smeared. This is your weapon.」

Originally it was a light knife for an adult to use with one hand, but its handle had been modified so that even a kid could grab it with both hands.

「If one day the grip doesn’t fit ye anymore, come here with alcohol-. And bring money properly too next time-! Gahhahah!!」

「Yes. I’ll come again. Absolutely....」

The black knife was slightly longer than Feld’s knife but the blade was thin and it was surprisingly light. It was slightly too big for the current me, but the handle fit into my grip nicely. It seemed that Viro’s silver colored short sword had also been fixed, so after receving that, we left behind the smith of the sharp tongued and eccentric dwarf....who was also slightly soft on kid.

Before leaving, Galbas also said──『If ye ever go to the capital, try going to the armor shop that my little bro opens. He is an oddball but if ye tell him that I’m the one telling you to go there, he might give you some discount』.

After an eccentric it was an oddball next..... I didn’t know whether I’d ever have the chance to go to the capital, but I wondered what kind of armor would be created by an oddball dwarf.

.

「Then Aria. Prepare to leave this town. I’ll train you a lot while we move.」

「Yes.」

We went to the main street and began to prepare to leave this town for real. But, where would we go? It seemed that monsters were living at the north of this town, so would we go there to train to face monster?

I ran away from the orphanage and lived in the forest, but I never went to a proper trip. But if wasn’t mistaken, half a day should be enough to arrive at the northern part where monsters came out.

「Then first let’s head to Count Taurus’s territory. We aren’t going to use carriage so keep that in mind.」

「We aren’t going to north?」

When I asked that question, Viro stroked his stubble that had grown longer than yesterday and grinned.

「Do you think we’re going to hunt monster in a ruin just like a proper adventurer? Even I can hunt monster by myself to some degree, and even you should be able to hunt monster at goblin’s level. But, at your level it’s still too early for you to go to monster’s inhabitant. It will be just a waste of my time if you die easily right? I’ll drill some degree of skills for scouting into you before that.」

「....Roger.」

There was truth to what he said. Monsters would come out in a deep forest even in this country. But those were weak monsters like goblin or kobold. Even the strongest would be demon wolf or hobgoblin at most.

Goblin was an ugly monster with low intelligence and small build like human child. In a very loose definition, it seemed that goblin was also a type of 『demi human』, but they were also called 『beast demi human』 by some to differentiate them from intelligent demi human like elf or dwarf. Well, calling goblin like that was insulting to the beastmen, so in the end they were classified as 『monster』.

According to Viro’s explanation, it seemed that goblin’s combat strength was around 30 until 50. It was a combat strength that equaled to an armed ordinary person. Even goblin that was called as the weakest monster had higher combat strength than me who had obtained short sword skill, so I felt just a little bit dejected. Viro taught me the meaning of combat strength when he saw me like that.

「Combat skill at level 1 doesn’t really affect your combat strength. The obvious difference will only show up from level 2 and above. But, don’t overly trust the 『overall combat strength』 that you see in appraisal. Your combat strength is low because you’re still a kid and your status is low. Bluntly speaking, even the adults that you can find anywhere has higher combat strength than you, but if you fight them, you will be able to influence the battle to be in your advantage. Skill is also important in battle, but the most important thing is the “experience” to control the skill and the “wisdom” to make use of it. Just think of combat strength as simply a rough estimate in the end.」

「Understood.」

Combat strength was just a rough estimate. But as expected, it would be better to run away if there was a difference of ten times in combat strength.

The combat strength of adult in town was around 40. In order to have a rough estimate, I asked Viro to be allowed to appraise him.

.

▼ Viro?? Race : Human??– Rank 4

【Magic Power : 170/190】【Stamina : 278/310】

【Overall Combat Strength : 900 (During Body Strengthening : 1094)】

.

He was strong just as I thought. He had combat strength that was undeniably twenty times of mine, so my decision to immediately run away before this wasn’t wrong, but I understood that even running away was difficult with this much difference in combat strength between us.

I used the front gate for the first time when leaving the town. I entered illegally until now, but when I showed the tag of adventurer guild, the guard only checked it slightly before easily allowing me to pass.

But I was able to come and leave using the tag of rank 1 only at this town where I registered. If I remembered right, we would need to pass several noble territories until we arrived at Count Taurus’s territory. A free folk like me would need to pay the expensive amount of one silver coin every time I wanted to enter a large town, but it seemed that Viro didn’t plan to stop by in town much.

「If we are just passing a noble’s territory, we should be able to pass using my tag with you acting as my companion. If not then a party that consist of members of different rank won’t be able to go to an expedition. As expected that way won’t work to enter a town with rampart, but even though we are going to mainly use the main highway, I’m planning to stay at the inn of small village or town along the mountain road. Well, most of the time we are going to camp out though, but you won’t have any problem with that right?」

「Of course.」

When I heard that we were going to head south, I was wary thinking that we were going to pass that town where the orphanage was located, but that town was more at the southeast rather than at south. It didn’t seem like it was connected with the main highway.

In this Baron Horace’s territory, there were only two towns with rampart where they would charge a silver coin to enter, the town we just left and an inn town that was nearby the territory of another noble. Even to reach that inn town, with our legs we would arrive there at evening if we left in the morning. But Viro said that we would head directly to another noble’s territory without stopping by there.

But, would our food supply be alright if we went through that kind of forced march? It would be fine if we could hunt animal in the forest, but our journey would slow down if we had to take time doing that and my training would also get delayed.

「You don’t need to worry about food.」

Viro said that and lightly tapped the bag that he carried on his back. Its appearance was a bit ragged, but it looked tough and made from an expensive looking leather. But its size wasn’t that different from the bag that I was carrying.

「That bag doesn’t seem to have much in it.」

「Aa, you don’t know? This bag has space sorcery applied to it. The inside can be filled with five times the amount then its appearance suggest, and the weight is also reduced. This thing is outrageously expensive just so you know.」

「Space sorcery....」

The moment I muttered that, the lesson from that woman’s teacher surfaced from the “knowledge”.

Space sorcery was a type of darkness sorcery. It seemed that by interfering with space, you could do things like changing the weight of object or increasing the capacity of the inside of a bag like what Viro had. However, the sorcery wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Doing anything practical with it would need very high level sorcery, like the 【teleportation】 that I recalled just now. You would need at least level 4 or above to do something like space expansion. You would need level 6 to do something like teleportation that sent human to jump to somewhere.

I had asked Viro to teach me the spell of darkness sorcery Noise, but I still didn’t see any sign of being able to activate the sorcery successfully. What did I do wrong..... I got the feeling that most likely it was because my image about “darkness” was wrong.

Space sorcery. Illusion sorcery. Sorceries that didn’t seem like they were related with darkness if you thought about it normally were classified as “darkness sorcery”. I got the feeling that this fact would become the key.

.

Just as Viro declared at the start, the rampart of the inn town came into view when it was nearing sunset, but we only circled around the rampart outside and entered the next viscount territory. This viscount territory was smaller than the previous Baron Horace’s territory, but the big village and other places there that we stopped by on the way looked like they were more prosperous compared to the small town where my orphanage was located.

Like that three days passed since we left the town we originally departed from. After we left from the village that we stopped by at, I was told to defeat three goblins that showed up while we walked. I defeated them one by one. Seeing that Viro stroked his stubble while making a masculine smile that was mixed with exasperation.

「Guess there is no problem if you can fight this well. Aria. That village’s chief said that there are mountain bandits in this area. We’re going to hunt those bandits tonight for your training.」

「........」

Another sudden real battle training huh....as I thought, this man wasn’t soft with kid.