Published at 20th of November 2020 09:24:53 PM
Chapter 21.2: 21.2
Translator: SFBaka
“Welcome!”
A middle-aged man was manning the shop counter .
“We want to purchase some armor, sir . Oh, and we were told to show you this as well . ”
I handed over the introduction letter . The shop clerk gave it a quick scan .
“Well now, I guess I really have to give the best service to Master’s saviors . What kind of armor are you looking for, by the way?”
“Well, we haven’t really decided yet . But I’d like to get something that wouldn’t restrict my movements much, if possible . So armor made of metals won’t do, I guess . ”
“Right, right . Metal armors are generally heavy and would limit your range of motion to certain extents . We’ll have to get you a set of leather armor then . We have some good quality ones right over there . ”
We were guided to the leather armor section .
“There’s a lot of different kinds . ”
The prices ranged from 3000 to 30,000 guineas and up .
The designs didn’t differ by much, but there was quite a difference in prices .
“What’s different between them?”
“It’s the materials they are made of . The cheap ones are made from orc hide . The more expensive ones are made out of wyvern hide . ”
“So the more expensive ones are higher in quality?”
“Yes, that is the case . The properties of the materials used are quite different . The ones made out of orc hide are no different from your usual leather shaped into armor . But these ones made from wyvern hides serve as magic tools as well . ”
Our gazes were led to a black-colored leather armor placed at the back of the store .
“A magic tool, huh?” Interesting .
“Yes . The common masses generally do not know this, but wyverns and dragons actually use magic in order to fly freely in the sky . I also do not know the exact details, but it’s a fact that wyverns are creatures that make use of magic to attain flight . It was also recently discovered that a wyvern’s hide would harden via magic whenever it receives a strong enough blow . ”
“So they made use of that property to make this armor huh . This slot in the chest should be for equipping a magic stone, right? I guess the magic stone would supply the magic needed to harden the armor . ”
“Yes . Do have a look . This part that covers the arm feels quite soft to the touch, right?”
I tried touching it, and it was indeed soft .
“But if you give it a blow like so…”
The shop clerk gave it a good whack using a wooden sword placed nearby . It did sound like the sword hit a hard surface .
Man, that was amazing! So the leather would automatically harden almost instantaneously huh! I tried touching it again, and it was back to being soft and pliable .
“How long does it take for the armor to harden?”
“It would generally take about one or two seconds . ”
“That’s amazing . But how tough is it?”
“It can easily take blows from a wooden sword . It can also defend from arrows . It also offers a certain amount of protection from spear thrusts . Gray Hound bites would similarly pose no problems . In other words, any attacks ineffective against wyverns would be similarly ineffective against the armor as well . ”
I haven’t seen a wyvern yet, but, judging from the description, it seems to be quite a high-level monster .
“It seems perfect so far . ”
“Well, not exactly . It’s actually vulnerable to slashing attacks . It’s certainly tougher than most leather armors, but it falls short compared to metal ones . Aside from slashes, it also cannot defend from ballista shots . But that should be expected . In short, any attacks effective against wyverns are effective against it as well . ”
“I see . Does it have any other drawbacks?”
“It uses magic so magic stones are a must . It doesn’t use up magic if it’s not hit with a sufficient amount of force, but once it does take an attack, it uses up quite a bit of magic . The amount of magic that gets used up depends on the strength of the impact . For example, what it’s equipped with right now is a magic stone taken from a Gray Hound . With this level of magic stone, it would run out of power after one hundred blows . ”
“That’s quite the consumption rate . ”
So the armor would turn ineffective once it takes one hundred blows from a wooden sword huh .
“Yes, that’s correct . But this would improve if you supply it with better quality magic stones . ”
“Can we swap out magic stones immediately once they’re used up?”
“Yes, you definitely can . You just need to slide the magic stone like so and you can easily remove it . You can slide a new one in the same way . There would generally be no problems swapping them out in the middle of battle . ”
“How can you tell if the magic has run out?”
“You can only check by looking at the color of the magic stone . ”
“The magic stone would turn transparent once the magic energy stored inside it has run out . ”
Cleria gave a timely follow-up .
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“So, how much is it?”
According to the price tag, it’s 35,000 guineas .
“Un, I’ll give you a special twenty percent discount and sell it for 28,000 guineas then . ”
“Great . I’ll buy it . ”
We have a lot of money anyway . It would be best to buy some high-quality armor .
“I want to put it on right away though . Would that be fine?”
“Oi, oi . We still have to make some fine adjustments to armor of this level . It’ll take two days at most . ”
“So it’s like that . That’s a bit of a problem though . ”
I won’t be able to use it for the adventurer’s guild test, then .
“Is there something wrong?”
“I was hoping to use it when I register at the adventurer’s guild later . ”
“You! You’re telling me you actually aren’t an adventurer yet!?”
“Yeah . But I’m quite confident in my skills, so you don’t have to worry about me . ”
“Well, I guess . But that was still quite a surprise . I see . So you’ll need armor for the ranking test, huh?”
“Ranking test?”
“Do you not know? It would not be appropriate for people with sufficient skills like you to be assigned a basic rank, so a test for determining the most proper starting rank according to your abilities is necessary . But, well, even if you get full marks, you’ll still need to start from C rank though . ”
“I see . So that’s what the test is for . ”
“I can lend you some second-hand leather armor if you want . I’ll lend it to you until we finish the adjustments to the armor you bought . But the quality’s not that good though . ”
“That’s fine . How much is it?”
“It’s alright . I’ll lend it out for free . Consider it as extra service . ”
“I see . Thanks a lot for doing this . Right then . Here’s the gold . ”
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I brought all the gold coins just in case . I took out two gold coins and eight large silvers from the bag and gave it to the shopkeep .
“Oh, you sure are one wealthy fellow . Thank you for your patronage . That reminds me, I haven’t introduced myself yet . The name’s Zaluke . ”
“My name’s Alan . This lady here is Ria . ”
“I’ve been curious since a while ago . Is it just me, or is the armor that lady is wearing really made of mythril?”
“Yes, this armor in fact is made of mythril . ”
“Truly!?”
The shopkeep became flustered and went up to Cleria in order to check out her armor . Cleria was surprised by his sudden actions .
“Ah! I’m truly sorry . I have a nasty habit of forgetting myself whenever I see some excellent equipment y’see . It’s indeed made out of mythril . And from the looks of it, the forger is one heck of a master in the craft . ”
“However… Could you come this way first, dear customer . ”
The shopkeep grabbed my arm and dragged me to the side .
“Oi, is that lady a **?”
There’s that unknown word again . Well, I can already make a rough guess about what it means though .
“She might be . I’m not clear about her circumstances either though . ”
“I see . So there seem to be some special circumstances . But walking around wearing that is kinda bad y’know . You can tell at first glance that her armor’s made of mythril . That wouldn’t be a problem if she were in the company of a large number of guards . But you’ll most likely be targeted if it were just you folks and her walking about . ”
“Is it really that valuable?”
“It sure is! Let’s see . In this shop, selling it for 40,000 Guineas is still considered cheap . ”
“It costs that much!?”
“Yeah . And that design is exquisite . It seems based on the armor ordinary knights and adventurers wear, but the design philosophy is completely different . The one that little lady is wearing is an armor fit for royal knights . In the eyes of others, it’s completely obvious that she’s a ** . ”
I checked out the metal armor sets being sold at the shop .
“It doesn’t look all that different to me though . ”
“It’s completely different!”
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“Ria, can you come over here for a sec?”
I moved my gaze back and forth between Cleria’s armor and the metal armor sets in the store, but I still couldn’t spot the difference .
“But they really look the same to me . Aren’t they?”
“They’re absolutely, positively different, I tell ya!”
Zaluke replied enthusiastically .
“Just look at this line here . This doesn’t appear in the other armor sets, correct? And take a gander at this section here . It’s of a completely different design . This section too . Ah, and this one as well…”
Well, now that I’ve taken a closer look, it does seem kinda different . Maybe . I think .
“Uh, hey, is it possible to modify this armor so it wouldn’t look like mythril?”
“Hm? Ah, well, if we darkened the color a bit, it should be able to fool the untrained eye . ”
“Can you make it so the design would look like that of an ordinary adventurer’s armor?”
“I can do that . But it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this armor a fine work of art . Are you sure you want to do something like that to it?”
“We don’t really mind . Right, Ria?”
“It’s fine with me . ”
“Please modify it so people wouldn’t be able to recognize it as mythril . The design should look like what normal adventurers use . Please be sure to modify it thoroughly . How much would it cost and how long would it take to modify the armor?”
“Ah, that’s such a waste… Well, I’d need three days . It’ll cost you 5,000 guineas . ”
It’s unexpectedly cheap . I took out another five large silvers from the bag and handed them over .
“Well then, we’ll leave Ria’s armor to you once we’re done with our business at the adventurer’s guild . I’ll pick up mine after three days as well . ”
“Understood . I’ll need to take your measurements . Please come over here for a bit . ”
The shopkeep proceeded with taking my measurements and adjusted the armor he’s going to lend me accordingly . It took about one hour .
“The adventurer’s guild is already open, right?”
“Yes, they’re usually already open by daybreak . ”
I, Cleria and Willie finally headed towards the adventurer’s guild .