Arc 6: The Almighty Mithril

“Hold on, we’re not here to preach or something. We’re here to find good weapons and armor. We have money to pay, I think,” I explained.

“Is that so? Then come in and browse, I’ll just be at my forge. My shop specializes in taking in requests that’s why my door wasn’t open.”

We entered the building and saw a typical shop with a large door going to a forge. There were tables lined with high-quality weapons and armor on display cases at the front of the shop. There were some various armors on stands with intricate poses. Beyond the door was a workshop containing a large forge and tools.

The little girl went to her forge and started smithing as we browsed through her displays. I picked up a sword from a case and examined it. Compared to the old sword, this weapon was very sharp and well-balanced and it was overall sturdy. I could also feel a hint of enchantment, giving the sword a magical property. It was also blessed by some kind of force that I’m not familiar with.

“This sword...other than magical enchantment, what did you do with it?” I asked the little girl by the forge.

“I see you noticed the enchantments I put on it. I put a lot of effort into the runes placed in that sword,” She said as she dumped a hot unfinished sword onto a barrel of water. Steam rose from it and invaded the room slightly. “But what do you mean that I did something with it?”

“Well, I feel like this sword is somehow connected to a greater plane, for lack of words to better describe it,” I explained.

“What? What do you mean by that? How can you tell it’s also enhanced with spirit magic? That’s impossible without doing a ritual! What did you do to it?” She angrily approached me.

“Nothing. I just touched it.”

“Stop lying! Nobody can touch it and just somehow feel spirit enhancement!” She continued. “In fact, from the start, I thought all your equipment was strange!”

“What do you mean strange?” Uno came by holding a mace. He was casually using it to massage his arms.

“I’ve been working with metal for years and I’ve been called one of the top metallurgists in the continent but I simply can’t tell what metal your armors are made from. I dismissed it at first because I thought I was tired and couldn’t remember but looking closely now, I really can’t tell! Spit it out, who are you, people? Answer quickly before I call the guards!” She shouted at us.

“Ah, well, young girl..” Uno was about to answer before I dragged him to me.

“Hold on, Uno. We are over a thousand years old. We’ve experienced contact with all sorts of races. What if she’s just a halfling?” I whispered to him.

“I don’t know, Boss. How does this relate to her screaming that there are some very suspicious people in her shop?” Whispered whispered back.

“I don’t know, one wrong move and you could get us killed! We should try to appeal to her for our sake. I’ll handle this,” I answered as I turned toward the girl.

“Oh Great One, please accept this,” I said as I threw a fat sack of coins in front of her.

“Bribery and sweet nothings won’t work on me, you know,” She quickly retorted as she shook her hand.

I turned with teary eyes towards Uno as he face palmed. “Alright, look here, young girl. We’ve come from a very, very far place. We just wanted to figure out how inferior the equipment of this land compared to ours,” He explained as he slammed his short sword against the mace he was holding earlier.

Contrary to what she expected, the head of the mace shattered and the short sword remained intact. He brought his sword closer to her face and she noticed his intentions - There was no dent on the short sword.

“But...how? That was made from the best materials I could get my hands on!” She said with wide eyes and shock.

“The key point here is that the best materials you could get your hands on are crap. That’s the truth. We’ve come from a far place and we’re way stronger than the people in this continent. So obviously being able to tell spirit enhancement in a sword is a piece of cake for us.” Uno snickered.

Nice lying, Uno! I’m so happy I had someone I could count on. To be honest, the short sword Uno was using was made from the same material as the metal plated on us.

Heavenium, the metal gifted from the Gods, or whatever nonsense people called it back in the day. It was the strongest and lightest material ever found. There was no record of any heavenium-made weapons being broken or dented except for the case when Uno’s sword broke from Fatebinder.

Although all my companions have heavenium plated onto their skeletal structure, not everyone has heavenium gear. Only the top lieutenants are equipped with such expensive gear. The good thing was that the dagger my companion lost wasn’t made from it so there was no rush to find it immediately.

“Sigh, what horrible weapons. In compensation for the mace, make us a dagger and a greatsword from this metal. Whatever left-over metal remains, you can keep it,” Uno said as he took out a large lump of metal from his bag. He placed it on the table nearest to the girl. He probably intended to have a greatsword made first to replace the sword that got destroyed by Fatebinder decades ago.

“What the...This is Mithril! These things are extremely rare!” She commented.

“Eh?” Uno was stunned. Well, me too. Back in the days, mithril was pretty much everywhere. I remember there was a kingdom that used mithril as toilet paper because of how soft it was and how it was just growing everywhere.

Yes, grow. Mithril in this world was grown from a type of tree which sucked nutrients and metal from the ground, creating a fruit made of pure mithril. Because of its strong properties, a few thousand years ago, everyone was growing mithril trees everywhere until it became a problem that everyone considered it as a type of invasive tree.

What happened to cause mithril to be so rare? Now that she mentioned it, I couldn’t recall seeing any mithril trees around. Was that why the guards were wearing such horrible equipment? The best equipment I’ve seen so far was steel.

We kept silent as she ran her hand around the lump of metal. “I’ve only felt it once...when the elves of Dorma allowed me to feel mithril in their treasury many years ago...but I still remember it to this day. This is Mithril! In your land, does everyone have mithril? Are those equipment of mithril? I need to know!” Her eyes as red as her hair started sparkling as she jumped me.

“Hold on, too many questions. Many of those we cannot answer. More importantly, can you craft with it?” Uno asked.

“No, I can’t. My forge isn’t equipped with such...but I know a place that has a forge that could craft any metal, even mithril,” She explained.

This just piqued my interest greatly. I had a feeling I knew who. A certain race who were short, bearded, and very drunk at all times, and were metal experts.

“The dwarves of Azkator!” She exclaimed.

Very well, the next place we’ll visit would be the dwarves!

“But it’s a bit far...and I don’t think I could just simply pack up and leave. Plus, I need to find some guards to accompany me…” She started muttering to herself.

“Wait. Before you decide anything, we would also like to head towards the dwarven city,” I told her.

“You’re coming with me? That’ll be much better! You could explain to the dwarves how you got these. And perhaps I can know more of your land better.” She was frantically drooling already.

“When will you head out?” I asked her. We just came to Aon, but Uno kept insisting we should leave soon. However, there were still a few more spots I would like to see.

Although the city was big, being undead, we didn’t get tired, so we spent the majority of the time traveling from one spot to another touring non-stop, but there were still a lot of places I would like to see. Just two days wasn’t enough to satiate my taste for touring!

“I need time, will two to three weeks work for you? I’ll wait for you guys here. I need to finish my work and write a letter to the Grand Cardinal,” She answered.

“Excellent! We will meet again in four weeks, then!”

“Four weeks? I guess I don’t mind preparing for an extra week. It could also give me more breathing time.” She said, “What’s your name? Since we’ll be traveling, it’ll be good to know your name.”

“Well, my name...” I got interrupted before I finished.

“Hey, Boss. I’d like this dagger. Is that fine?” My dagger-less companion came out to me with a sheathed dagger.

“He’s with you, right? You can keep the dagger as thanks. My name’s Asha of Follis,” She said as she held her hand out.

I shook her hand and the only thought I had was how grateful I was that having glorified toilet papers led us to having another city to explore.