Chapter 149 – Bear-san Goes To The Capital’s Smithy
The next morning, we ate breakfast and bade farewell to Shia, who was going to the academy, and Eleanora-san, who was going to work at the castle.
「Fina-chan, come again, okay?」
「I will, Shia-sama.」
「You two can always come to play, okay? There are some places at the castle I didn’t get to show to Fina, so I will make sure to take you there without anyone bothering us next time, okay?」
「…Okay.」
Fina answered with a troubled expression.
The King must have really done some bad things to her, huh. Poor thing…
If I ever took Fina to the castle again, I had to protect her.
Shia and Eleanora-san were about to leave, so we departed too.
We weren’t headed to Crimonia, though, but to Gazar-san’s smithy.
「Big Sis Yuna, we’re not going back?」
Fina asked me when she noticed we weren’t headed towards the Bear House.
「I plan on making use of Gold-san’s letter before going back, so we’re headed to Gazar-san’s smithy.」
Well, I could have went back without going there, but I had something to ask him and give him a souvenir. Also, I wanted to have a few mithril knives made.
Fina held my Bear Hand as we walked. I had left her at the mansion for a while, so she might have been lonely. I should let her do what she wanted. Also, it wasn’t like I had a reason to shake her off.
We arrived at Gazar-san’s smithy, still hand in hand.
「Excuse me. Gazar-san, are you here?」
I called out when we entered the shop, and he came out from the back.
「What… I was thinking who it was, but it was you, the one wearing those strange clothes.」
「Good morning.」
「Why have you come so early in the morning?」
「To tell you that the mine has been cleared, I guess? It won’t take long for the ores to start coming again.」
「You aren’t telling me that you were the one who took care of it?」
「I helped.」
I then gave him a brief report of what had happened.
「I see, thank you for telling me. A Mithril Golem, though? I don’t believe it…」
「Well, I defeated it and took its mithril, so could I ask you to make a mithril knife for me?」
「You could just ask Gold to do it, right?」
「I plan on asking him too. Making mithril weapons takes time, right?」
「You’re right, processing mithril is difficult and is not done overnight.」
「I want to have four knives made, so I planned on asking Gold-san and you to make two each.」
「I understand your reasoning, but you live at Crimonia, right? If you don’t plan on coming back here anytime soon, it might be easier to just ask Gold to make all of them.」
「It’s fine since I have a way of coming here quickly.」
「If you will really be coming back here to receive them, it is fine by me.」
「Thank you. I will take out the Mithril Golem now, okay?」
I took out the crumbled Mithril Golem from the Bear Box, and it just barely fit into the shop.
「So, this is the Mithril Golem, huh…」
Gazar-san approached the golem and examined it with a serious face, paying close attention to where the cuts were.
「What’s with this fake?」
「Fake?」
I tilted my head when I heard his unexpected words.
「That’s right. It is a Mithril Golem but at the same time it isn’t one.」
「…?」
I didn’t understand what he was saying at all.
「Here and also here. You can see that the color is different below the surface, right?」
He said while pointing at the cuts with his thick finger. He was right, the color behind the cuts was indeed different.
「The interior is iron. Only the exterior is mithril.」
「Really!?」
「Yep. You can ask Gold when you return to Crimonia if you don’t believe me.」