Shutout to Zuyau Wu, Oleg Shayko, and Ryan Cesario for becoming my Patron~ Thank you for your support!
Tempest was a beautiful city. The buildings were built in an efficient and simple style, yet it had its own charm. No useless ornament could be seen in the building, everything was built for the purpose of making it work.
But what's more beautiful was the people. From what Ludwig laid his eyes upon as well as his knowledge about the story, Tempest was what many nations wanted to be back in his past world. No matter what colour they are and no matter how different they looked the denizens of Tempest blended in perfectly. No segregation was seen anywhere.
If he had to point out one flaw though…
"Ugh…" Kushina grimaced. "Lud, why is this meat so tough."
The redhead's voice slithered into his ears, loud enough only for him to hear.
Yes… The food.
He couldn't really remember when Tempest would start to develop Japanese food in the canon. To be honest, the current timeline oh where they stood right now, a time when Tempest was rapidly scaling and developing wasn't really shown in the Manga and Anime.
But for whatever reason or an obvious reason, the current food in Tempest wasn't as developed as the other sectors. Or he hoped, hadn't. Else, he wouldn't be able to get the ingredients he wanted while Tempest's problem about their gold didn't circulate back to their city would become worse and worse.
Ludwig looked at the skewer in his hand. Before, he was just eating it with anticipation of eating food from another world, so he didn't bother to scrutinize it. But the second bite would be different.
Judging by appearance alone, it was not promising at all. Whoever made it would be booted from the kitchen the moment they put the plate in front of their head chef. The pieces were uneven. Some too small, burned at the edges; others thick and gray in the middle. The glaze had pooled and hardened in spots. Whoever had made it hadn't tasted it once.
Ludwig took another bite. Then, his ability which had been translated into Extra Skill by the Voice of The World came alive.
The crust cracked dry against his teeth before giving way to a stringy chew that fought him with every pull. The spice blend hit next, too much cumin, not enough salt, a heavy hand of something sweet that didn't belong. Beneath it, the meat's natural, too natural of flavor was ever so present, buried haphazardly under a confusion of seasonings that never found harmony.
"It's still a good effort." Ludwig chuckled at Kushina, meat already swallowed. "Maybe it's just the way they liked it?"
Kushina snorted. Loud enough that Claire, Cless, and Rimuru looked at her. "Haven't you seen those from here that go to the restaurant? They liked your food, so it didn't make sense that this is how they liked their meat."
Everyone aside from Rimuru chuckled at her words. The slime in human skin was smiling wryly. From how he reacted, which was not as loud as normally and not as defensive, it seemed like Kushina's assessment was correct.
"We'll talk about that later. In a more private setting." Rimuru said, his tone was full of finality. "For now, let's go to the next place."
Rimuru once again took the lead, and the rest of them fell a pace behind him. Every so often, some denizens would stop and greet Rimuru, getting a wave or a smile from him. But from time to time, Ludwig would also get a nod of acknowledgement from the denizens. And those were people who often came to his restaurant.
A turn and a few straight walks later, Rimuru finally stopped. In front of them was a building of sandy color, the same as almost every building in Tempest. But what gave the identity of the building away was the sign hanging beside the doors as well as the big chimney spewing smoke from it.
"A forge?" Claire's voice went up as she saw the sign.
Rimuru nodded before looking at each of them with a grin. "The best forge in Tempest."
Following Rimuru's steps, they finally entered the forge. Just like any other forge he had visited except for one particular forge manned by a Half Minotaur. The air was blazing. His skin was being pricked by unforgiving hot air filled with magicules.
Then, he heard it. Someone was doing something he was really familiar with deeper inside the room. That rhythmic hammering, sound of steel molding another hot steel to the crafter intention. Steady and disciplined.
It reminded him of a certain Half Minotaur that helped him build his restaurant.
Rimuru lifted a hand. "Hey, Kurobe! Visitors!"
The hammering stopped.
A shadow moved behind the veil of heat distortion. Then footsteps, heavy and practiced, drew closer until a tall Kijin stepped out from the inner forge. Black hair tied back. Skin darkened by sun and flame. Muscles that screamed "I wrestle steel for breakfast."
From a pair of horns protruding from his forehead, it was clear he's not human even though he looked exactly like one.
"Rimuru-sama." He wiped his brow with a towel and bowed with practiced politeness. Then his eyes shifted to Ludwig's group. "Honored guests. Welcome. I am Kurobe, Tempest's chief smith."
Claire nodded, a spark of appreciation in her eyes. "Chief, huh? Knowing RImuru, it seems like you earned it."
Kurobe chuckled, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck. "I do my best to uphold everyone's expectations."
Ludwig stepped forward a bit, eyes scanning the racks full of weapons as well as the sharp things hanging on the wall.
He could feel magicules dancing on some of it, while the majority was mundane, just a plain weapon that the magicules didn't find fun to play in.
At that moment, his Half Minotaur friend's voice echoed in memory:
'The customers of yours… Will they bring metals with them? If so, bring me some. Something like iron and silver is fine. I want to see what other worlds have to offer.'
Ludwig cleared his throat lightly. "Mind if I ask something?"
Kurobe turned toward him. "Of course."
"What metals do you have here? I'm looking for… unusual varieties. Things unique to your world."
Kurobe's eyes lit up. "Ah. A collector? Or a smith yourself?"
"Friend of one, actually." Ludwig replied casually. "He's got a bit of an obsession."
"I understand that well." Kurobe said with sudden solemnity. "A good smith obsesses over material more than his own lifespan."
Rimuru coughed. "Yeah, he's not joking."
Kurobe motioned them deeper inside. The temperature climbed, but so did the glow of the surrounding metal. He gestured at several organized shelves.
"These are the basics. Iron. Steel. Dwarven-made alloys. And…" Kurobe took out a box from the shelf before opening it with care. "Magic Ore."
Ludwig stepped closer to the box that held the Magic Ore. Magicules were dancing on it. It's like a venue for a party. And more and more magicules drifted into it, making the party merrier.
"How much for these?" Ludwig asked as he pointed at the Magic Ore.
Kurobe blinked. "You want it?"
"If possible. But not only this. Everything you have."
Rimuru scratched his cheek. "Uh… Ludwig, you do know magic metals are kinda expensive, right…?"
"I know." Ludwig replied simply before a smirk appeared on his face. "But I'm sure your smith here is open for trade."
Kurobe looked at him. Now, curiosity was palpable on his face. But as if remembering something, he looked at RImuru.
"Uh, sureee… if you want." Rimuru chuckled.
Ludwig smirked. Then, he waved his hands. However, before even what he wanted to achieve materialized, he stopped.
He had forgotten about it because it was the most natural thing to do when he's with the Hero Party. But for them, it would be the first time, right?
"Uh… Guys, don't be too surprised, yeah?" He continued to wave his hand after saying his piece.
A crack of void opened inside the forge. Some gasps could be heard from his back. But one particular child was looking at it with shining eyes.
"B-beautiful…" Cless' voice echoed.
Ludwig looked at the little girl. She's the first one to ever call it beautiful. Maybe it had something to do with her ability to paint the present? Because from what he heard from Imelda, scrying was just another application of space and time magic.
"You think so, Cless?" Ludwig asked.
"Eung." She nodded. She was full of certainty and no falsehood.
His smile went wider. With a light voice he said. "Let's enter then. I promise what's inside is more beautiful."
The little girl practically jumped from Claire to him. With her hand on his, they went inside.
The blazing wall of heat subsided in an instant. A stretch of white nothingness appeared in front of him. And everywhere. A square box made of Mana could be seen.
"WOOOOOOW! WE ARE FLYING!" Cless laughed.
But except for her, the other's reaction was more subdued.
"T-this place… did you make it yourself?" Rimuru stuttered.
Claire, Kushina, and Kurobe, on the other hand, were looking around the place. Their mouths hung open.
Ludwig turned around, Cless still clinging to his hand. "Welcome to my Storage Dimension. Everything here is mine, even the dimension would bend to my will."
His voice carried pride and smugness. How couldn't he not? In the whole Ortus, he was the only one who could make something like this without an anchor. But what he prided so much on was the size.
No matter how big, his dimension would be able to store them. Even if he wanted to store a planet, he could. Of course, the mana needed to open a gate as big as a planet would be simply unimaginable.
"Since we are currently on tour on Tempest, I will not give you a tour of this place." He started. "But…"
The dimension shifted just before he could finish thinking about it. The space folded, the box made of mana twirl and whirl. In the next moment, numerous boxes of glowing blue appeared in front of him.
Without even looking at the content, he already knew. Metals. From mundane to extraordinary. From Ortus to the Demon Realm.
But before he could announce it to Kurobe and others, Ludwig couldn't help but to move his head to the side.
Something which was not metal was also there. But unlike others which were floating in stillness, it was shooting mana out, as if it was desperate to be noticed.
Ludwig willed the box containing it to appear before him. Like a subject, it obeyed. Even feeding him with information about what it contained.
A crystal of shifting colours. Translucent, even his space and time ability wasn't able to look what was inside. But his feelings were telling him otherwise. Something was there. And after laying dormant in his storage, it wanted to get out now.
But he knew better than to just let it out. Appearance could be deceiving afterall. So first, he let the memories sealed in the mana box to enter his mind first. Sylvaris Sacred Grove. Found on the way to harvest the Celestium—a powerful ore so extremely rare it was guarded tightly by the elves.
If it's from there, I doubt it was anything dangerous. Ludwig murmured to himself.
After thinking so, Ludwig let the mana enveloping the crystal to fade. The crystal floated, and a heartbeat later a mana so pure shot out from it.
Ludwig shuddered. It was indeed pure. But at the same time, it also carried a tint of something primordial. Old, and powerful. He finally realized why the crystal decided to wake up at this very moment. Someone here had a similar mana to it.
Not him, not Claire, not Kushina, and not Rimuru and Kurobe.
It was Cless.
The little one was a diviner. Even though she currently could only see the present, once her talents bloomed, he was sure her eyes could peered through the thread of fate.
Add it seemed, whatever was inside also had been looking for someone who had the same hobby as it.
Or maybe… Just maybe… It had foreseen this very moment.
Leave a review, ratings, a comment, or gib me your powerstone please~
And to those who want to read 50 chapters ahead, be my Patron at https://www.p*treon.com/c/imjustaboy_/membership
Or just search Imjustaboy_ in the search bar. Thankiess!