After Kail and his party left the castle, they walked toward Fesba’s shop in order to receive their armor, weapons, and to replenish their consumables.
“Welcome.”
Fesba welcomed Kail and his party outside of his shop, while deeply bowing his head.
“Also, though it may be late, congratulations on being awarded with medals.”
“Ah, Thanks. Though it hasn’t become that much of a popular topic.”
Kail says that while shrugging his shoulders, Fesba spoke back while smiling wryly.
“Regarding that, it can only be said that the timing was bad….. however, since it’s s Kail and the others, I am certain that you will obtain new achievements soon.”
Fesba said that while smiling, it may be a smile out of politeness, but it still gave people a favorable impression.
In reality to Fesba, Kail and his party are important high class customers.
The repairing of all the equipment this time should have actually taken more time, however, they did the impossible and rushed it.
Naturally, it cost some in order to speed it up, however, including the payment for the job and the order for a large amount of magic potion and magic stones, they received an astronomical amount for it.
And Kail had paid it all up front, it is only natural for a merchant to act so nice towards a customer who can pay so much.
Of course it’s not as if Fesba wasn’t interested in their true identity.
Even though they were unknown until now, they had an unimaginable amount of wealth, saved the princess when she was in danger, and received medals of honor because of it.
It couldn’t be helped that his curiosity got aroused, because it was just like the song about the epic tale of the silver hero.
“Then I shall immediately bring over the repaired items, so please do come in.”
However, to indiscriminately look into a customer’s identity would be a failure as a merchant.
Having obtained a big profit, he found it enough to cherish this important connection, Fesba lead them to the second floor where only special customers come.
Kail equipped the repaired leather armor in order to confirm how it feels.
Urza and Lize were confirming the number of magic stones and magic potions, Sildonia was happily eating the sweets that were brought out.
“Also, what about my sword.”
Seran took out the sword he had sent to be repaired and checked the blade.
“Yes, there were some minor scratches and stuff like that, but it was still within a repairable range.”
Fesba said while laughing.
He had become wide eyed out of surprise when I told him the sword had only been used for less than a single month.
“Well I may have overused it a little bit.”
Of course he couldn’t say that he had cut down thirty imperial knights, armor and all, with it.
“Well this sword isn’t that bad, but don’t you have sword that’s a little better?”
“I apologize, this is the highest class sword we have available inside our shop……..”
Fesba said it as if he was truly sorry.
Isn’t there a better sword, this is what Fesba gets asked by customers on a normal day.
Even if a weapon is picked which doesn’t suit you, you can still just swing it around.
Because he is a merchant, he will sell it to a customer if they pay for it, but when he hears that question, he can’t help but remember the other cases.
However, objects do not tell lies.
The pain on this sword shows that it was not able to keep up with its master’s skills, I am able to clearly understand that.
And it was hard for Fesba to prepare a sword even better than this one, he truly apologized from the bottom of his heart as a merchant, for not being able to sell what his customer truly desires.
“I see…… well I guess I’ll just use this guy for the time being.”
Guess, there’s no other way, seran says that, while sheathing his sword into the scabbard.
Normally, if you ask for a store’s best product, then you’ll be able to obtain it as long as you give the gold, however, Seran understood that there was no sword better than the one he had at the moment.
If it was a normal sword, it would’ve been bend or broken in the middle of that fight, however, since it was able to last, it was at least not a bad sword.
However, it is also true that if Seran possessed a sword like Sildonia, he would have an easier time while fighting.
“Excuse me……. I was not able to give what I had promised, however, through a connection I may be able to find a sword that may be worthy of Seran-sama.”
“I will wait without expecting anything.”
Seran says, while pointing at the sword on his waist.
“We will go to Karan after this, but is there anything you know about it?”
A little while after they had checked everything they had received, Kail asked Fesba a question.
Even in his previous life, Kail hadn’t been to Karan before, he always wanted to visit it at least once, but he was not able to because of the great advance.
Karan produces high quality armor and weapons, even this shop sells armor and weapons made in Karan.
“Things about Karan is it… That place is….. well I’ll just say that it is a difficult place. Having an old history, it has the tradition to be aggressive towards outsiders and keep them outside.
When it came to Karan, Fesba’s face became a little clouded and he continued by saying, this is just a story going around however.
“The one that can be said to have a substantive rule over Karan is the blacksmith guild, the guild leader can be said to serve as the town leader. Those of the blacksmith guild have a lot of confidence in their skills, so they have a lot of pride, in a negative way it can be said that they are arrogant and look down on others…… because of that, a lot of problems have occurred.
Many years ago, it was already hard enough to get into the town itself, so it was hard to do business with them, is what Fesba said while smiling wryly.
“However, since it became a sub state of Jirgs they couldn’t remain unchanged, so it seems they are trying to change the customs they had until now, right now, with the young generation as the center, they are trying to mingle in, especially with Jirgs so they can increase their business.”
It is progressing in a good direction, or so Fesba says.
“I see…… thank you. I think we’re going to come again, so please take care of us again at that time.”
Kail says his thanks and was about the leave with Lize and the others following behind him.
“Ah, also.”
Seran who was about to leave the store got called out by Fesba.
“Karan is an old city with a lot of history in it, they also have a lot of legends concerning armor and weapons. Just maybe they might have a sword worthy of Seran-sama.”
“Hum…….. usually when I arrive at a new town, the first thing I do is look for cute girls, but this time I may bend my traditions a little, and look for a sword…..”
Seran said a boring line with a serious face, however, he noticed Fesba and suddenly noticed something.
“But is it alright, if I go to another place in order to obtain a sword? Won’t it become a waste if you stock up on swords?”
“That just means my business luck wasn’t good. At that time I will make some big profit at another place.”
I pray for your good luck at Karan, is what Fesba said when he saw them off with a smile.
Two days after they had left Marado, Kail and his party were almost close enough in order to see Karan. Normally, it would take many times this number of days to get here, however, thanks to Urza’s [Wind Walker] they were able to shorten the travel time considerably.
“So that’s Karan huh….. It is a city exactly like the rumors say it is.”
When Urza saw Karan with her eyes, she let out a voice that was both amazed and impressed.
This area was a place with plains, so you could see the up to the horizon, but suddenly the scenery changed because of a mountain.
And it was a large one, with a snow covered tip piercing the heavens, and within the middle of that mountain was the city state Karan, carved right into the mountain itself.
With the face of the mountain on the back, it was a city which could be called a fortress, because of the walls surrounding it.
Even though it may be in the middle of a mountain, it’s not as if it was inconvenient by not having a way out, at the front gate there was a long highway with a gentle slope leading all the way down, that road looked as if it continued for a long time and carriages could be seen riding on it.
“I heard that it was in the mountains, but to think it was right in the middle, no, that has totally fused with the mountain hasn’t it.”
Seran lets out a voice as if he had given up.
“I wonder, just how did they build a city right in the middle of a mountain.”
Lize said, mystified by seeing the city which the more you look at it, the stranger it starts to looks.
“Ah, it’s the other way around, They did not build a city in the middle of a mountain, they build a mountain at the place where a city was.”
Sildonia explained it to everyone who was being taken aback, as if it was nothing special.
They made a…… Mountain!?”
Lize involuntarily looks back and forth at Sildonina and Karan.
“Umu, in the first place, isn’t it weird for there to be only a single large mountain on these wide plains? In the first place, that city was something made in Zars’s era, as a front line base and fortress to use against the demon race, it was also used for a large scale magic experiment.”
“And that is that mountain?”
“That’s right, the ground around this area had a lot of high quality veins, but they were too deep, so they were hard to get. Then we thought about raising the ground with the veins in order to obtain them, in other words, that mountain itself is something like a concentrated mass of veins.
It was outside Myself’s calculations that everything still wasn’t dug out after a thousand years, Sildonia said while laughing.
“The magic of the past…… was incredible wasn’t it.”
“Certainly, I have heard from the elders that there is magic that can change the scenery itself…….. but to think it was actually real.”
Both Lize and Urza said, as if they had given up, while looking at the mountain that pierces the heavens.
“And, in order to make it hard to attack, it was hardened at the same time the veins were gathered in order to raise its defensive power huh….. However, the Gargan empire that was on the brink of bringing down the city with a defense like that is amazing.”
Seran’s impression was a little different.
Just by looking at it a little, you’d understand that Karan was impregnable.
The road is too small to deploy a large army, because there aren’t any advantages by fighting it and even large scale siege weapons were useless.
Of course the city has prepared provisions for annual periods, rather, the more of them there are, the sooner they will run out of provisions.
“Of course there are many reasons, they have normal forces, but the Empire also has many special forces and many Great mage units were used. Also, the empire has a special unit which was a big reason.”
Kail who was well informed of the Gargan Empire explained.
“What do you mean say specia- the heck is that?”
Seran finds a shadow that was going towards Karan from the back of the mountain.
The form resembles a bird, but it was a little big to be one and they were moving in a few herds that came flying from the east.
“That is…. maybe a wyvern?”
Lize who has good eyes sees its true identity.
Wyvern, a subspecies of the dragons which is also called a flying dragon.
Compared to a dragon, a wyvern’s intelligence and attack power is comparably low, however, its fighting ability was what it excelled in, it was a typical magic beast that flew through the sky.
“There are people riding on it…… and I think that that is the Gargan empire’s emblem if I’m not wrong.”
Just as Urza said, a flag with a shield with a small golden snake could be seen on the wyvern’s back.
That was without a doubt the Gargan empire’s emblem, and I was able to confirm that people were riding on its back.
“…… It is the empire’s prided flying dragon knight platoon. There is no other group except them that rides on wyverns.
Kail looks up at it again, and wrinkles his eyebrows.
“It’s really amazing that they were able to tame wyverns.”
Sildonia says while being impressed.
It isn’t rare to use magic beasts as mounts, but wyverns couldn’t be compared to normal magic beasts since they had a bad temper and most of the time they don’t like people.
And without making herds, they have a strong sense to have their own turf and it is usually impossible to get wyverns together, except for breeding.
Sometimes an adventurer manages to make one his mount, but that is only an exception, it is said to be impossible to use them for the military.
However, it was the Gargan empire that founded the techniques to tame them, they were able to successfully establish and incorporate a force that could work for the military.
Its mobility surpassed other mounts greatly, normally, after forming a unit, its attack power wouldn’t be that useful, however, being able to raise the force in such a small amount of time was one of the reasons for the empire’s strength.
“Is that one of the special forces you were talking about?”
Kail nodded to Seran’s question.
“I see….. and, the problem is what the empire’s prided ‘flying dragon something’ came for at this timing, right.”
Seeing the wyverns entering the city of Karan, Seran asked Kail, ‘what do you think’?
“…… I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with our objective, is the wishful thinking I have.”
After Kail sighed and said that in a whisper, they started walking toward Karan once again