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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The Fang
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The Fang
[Raktor's Steel Wall]
"Of course! There was a reason this ability was named after a wall."
A wall, once built, serves to protect those inside from external threats until it collapses.
Similarly, once activated, Raktor's Steel Wall had the convenient ability to automatically protect me from external mental attacks.
"A constant, passive effect is just as amazing as the mental defense itself."
If you're suddenly hit with a mental attack like brainwashing, hypnosis, or bewitchment, you just become the caster's puppet, no matter how strong you are.
But since the Steel Wall's ability was always active, it seemed I would never fall so helplessly.
"As long as the Steel Wall is active, I won't fall for that guy in Sephiroth, and I can go get my clothes. This is awesome."
Swordsmanship would take a lifetime of training, but perhaps because this was a supplementary ability, I absorbed all the powers of the second grimoire in less than thirty minutes.
"Shall I move on to the next one? Ah, but before that..."
I took the God-Slaying Beast's fang from my pocket and placed it on the table.
"Agnes."
[Yes?]
"You can change your material, right?"
[Why ask something so obvious?]
"Then can you turn into this material?"
I touched Agnes to the God-Slaying Beast's fang on the table.
[...]
"You can't, can you?"
[Th-this isn't registered with me. It's an incredibly rare...]
"I get it, I get it."
[Ugh...]
Honestly, I hadn't expected anything, so I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I thought it was only natural.
"So it really is this fang."
My first death. The red hidden weapon I used on the Qilin there was definitely made from this God-Slaying Beast's fang.
I might meet the Qilin, or things could get twisted and I might not, but I should probably make it first.
Not the hidden weapon I saw in my death, but something else.
"I can go right now."
I had planned to visit Giranox tomorrow, but unlocking the grimoire's abilities took much less time than I expected, so I headed straight for the workshop.
"Hrmm."
Giranox, unaware of my arrival, was tending to the forge, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"Working hard, I see."
"Grand Prince! Welcome back!"
Giranox approached me, his face smudged with black ash.
"I am. And I brought back a lot of good stuff."
"Huh? Good stuff?"
Thud.
I placed the God-Slaying Beast's fang in front of the bewildered Giranox.
"Wh-what is this?"
Giranox's eyes went wide as he stared at the fang. He seemed to have no idea what it was.
"It's the tooth of a fearsome beast that lived long ago. Think you can work with it?"
"A-a beast? What kind of beast has a tooth like this...?"
At the words 'beast's tooth,' Giranox shuddered.
"Hmm..."
Still, his curiosity piqued, he began to carefully examine the fang.
"May I touch it?"
"Of course."
"Ah..."
As if he'd been waiting, Giranox placed his hand on the tooth. His eyes, as he stroked the fang, were like deep lakes.
"So? Can you make the weapon I want with this?"
"I can't tell just by looking. I'll need some time to examine and test it."
After a brief overall inspection of the fang, Giranox swallowed dryly and spoke.
Giranox has the greatest talent and traits of any human artisan I've ever seen. If he can't do it, I'll have to go ask those stingy dwarves.
"That makes sense. I'll be back in the evening."
"What? This evening is a bit soon."
"Ah, I have to take it back with me. Someone might try to steal it. I'll take it and bring it back tomorrow."
"So it's incredibly valuable. I'll handle it with care."
This was the Marquis's estate, so a direct attack was unlikely, but I couldn't leave it with Giranox just in case.
"I'll be back later."
"Ah, yes!"
Planning to train until evening, I left the workshop and headed for the 4th Training Ground.
"Hmm?"
When I arrived near the 4th Training Ground, I could hear shouts from within.
I rarely ran into anyone at the 4th Training Ground, so I found it strange and went inside.
"It's the Wyvern Knights."
The people inside were the knights of the Wyvern Knights I'd met on the recent expedition. Among them, Rekka, with whom I had a complicated history, caught my eye.
"Grand Prince. Welcome back."
"Greetings."
Rekka and the other knights came over and bowed their heads to me. Compared to the silent nod they'd given me before, this was a huge improvement.
"Yes. I'm back."
Rekka and the knights stood before me, fidgeting as if they desperately needed to use the restroom.
"But don't the Wyvern Knights do their personal training at the 2nd or 3rd Training Grounds?"
"Ah, we just wanted to come see the 4th Training Ground."
"Yes. Just to see."
I had a feeling I knew why they were training at the 4th Training Ground, so I smiled.
"Rekka."
"Yes?"
"Let's have a spar."
As if they never expected to hear the word 'spar' from me, Rekka and the knights stared blankly.
"How about it?"
"Ah, I accept."
Rekka went to the armory and brought back a training sword, while I transformed Agnes into a dull dagger.
"I'm not looking down on you. This dagger is my real weapon."
"Of course, I know."
I'd said it in case he thought I was disrespecting him by using a dagger, but Rekka just nodded with a tense expression.
"Then let's begin."
"I'll make the first move!"
Thump!
Rekka held his training sword upright and charged at me. But I had already slipped to his left and kicked at his side.
Thwack!
"Ugh!"
Rekka barely managed to block my foot by swinging his sword, but the force pushed him back two steps.
"My past actions toward you..."
I spoke calmly while aiming for Rekka's back. Even as I spoke, Rekka didn't let his guard down and remained wary of me.
"I won't shamelessly ask for your forgiveness. Asking for it might only inflict another wound."
Whoosh!
Bang!
"Kuh!"
Rekka blocked the dagger I'd thrown using Straight Shot and let out a stifled groan.
Clang!
I immediately retrieved the dagger after it was knocked into the air from the clash with his training sword.
"Hmm..."
Rekka still hadn't recovered from the impact, so I used the Lesser Dragon's Step to move behind him and aimed the dagger at his neck.
"It's fine if you continue to resent me. But I want to heal the scar on your face. I mean that sincerely."
I pulled the dagger away from his neck and spoke with sincerity.
It wasn't my doing, but since Rekka and the others had approached me first, I wanted to help them with the harm they'd suffered.
"I've lost."
Rekka admitted his defeat, bowing his head to me and remaining that way for a moment.
"I have something to say as well."
"Go on."
Lifting his head, Rekka met my eyes and began to speak.
"Thank you for saving my life on the ship. Things were a bit hectic and I never got to thank you properly, but I wanted to express my sincere gratitude."
"The same goes for us."
"Thank you for saving our lives!"
Rekka bowed his head again, and the other knights with him ran forward and bowed as well.
"It was the right thing to do. There's no need for thanks."
"I had a feeling you'd say that. And please, don't worry about my face. I'm already used to it."
Hearing Rekka's words only made me want to heal his scar even more.
Even if I use holy power to heal the wound, a mark will remain. To erase a scar like that, I'll need a special item.
"Grand Prince. Would you be willing to spar with me as well?"
"Of course."
The one who spoke to me now, Beson, was also someone who had been harmed by Yuren during his time as a knight-in-training. After sparring with Beson, I sparred with the remaining knights, making a silent vow.
I would completely erase the shadow of the delinquent Yuren from the House of Lox.
* * *
"Heh."
When I returned to the workshop in the evening, Giranox was sitting there, staring blankly at the fang, unable to look away. He was even drooling.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, Grand Prince."
Startled, Giranox wiped away his drool and shot up from his seat like a bolt of lightning.
"Still can't figure it out?"
"No. I have."
"What?"
"I've figured out that I can't do it."
"Huh?"
Despite saying he couldn't do it, Giranox wore the most confident expression I had ever seen on his face.
"And I've realized just how incredible this... tooth is. This is not something that can be handled here. Even if it were possible, it would be a great sin against this material. It must be handled by the best craftsman in the best environment."
Giranox was speaking with such fervor that spit flew from his mouth. He looked ready to pounce on me if I told him to just make it here.
"Is it a problem with the firepower?"
"There's a problem with the firepower, and also with my skill."
If even Giranox couldn't handle it, it would be much faster to find a dwarf than to search for a human artisan.
"In my hometown, there's more than enough firepower to handle this material, and there are many great artisans who could forge it."
Just as I was thinking I should go to the place I had in mind, Giranox spoke up.
"Asseong has that many skilled artisans? I thought that place was just..."
"Ah, my hometown isn't Asseong."
Come to think of it, when I first met Giranox, he'd said his master scolded him every day. For someone to scold the highly skilled Giranox, they had to be a renowned master craftsman.
"Then where is your hometown?"
"Have you ever heard of Pimera Mountain?"
"Huh?"
How could I not? It was the very place I had just been thinking of visiting.
There are many dwarven villages, but the closest one to the Krasis Kingdom was the village on Pimera Mountain.
"But that place isn't for humans..."
"It seems you know. That's right. Dwarves live there."
"But only dwarves live there."
"I was abandoned on that mountain when I was a child, and my master raised me."
"Then your master is..."
"Yes. He's a dwarf."
"Ha..."
Giranox said it casually, as if it were nothing. But to me, it was anything but. If Giranox was the disciple of a dwarf, it would make future matters much easier to handle.
Now the mystery was solved. Giranox's master wasn't human, but a dwarf, which was why he'd berated Giranox despite his skill.
"Then why did you come down from the mountain?"
"He told me that now that I was all grown up, I should find my own way in life."
Since Giranox was human, it seemed his master had been considerate, telling him to live among other humans.
"In any case, you didn't leave on bad terms, right?"
"What? Of course not. How could I dare..."
In that case, if I take Giranox with me, I might be able to kill two birds with one stone: make my request to the dwarves more easily and help Giranox grow.
"Alright. Let's go to Pimera Mountain."
"Yes. We have to. This tooth must be handled with the best equipment and by the best craftsman."
Giranox nodded as if it were the only course of action, then went back to staring blankly at the fang.
"By the way, your judgment has gotten much faster than before. In the past, you would have dragged your feet, saying you weren't sure."
"It's hard for me to explain, but after meeting you, Grand Prince, I've come to understand my own abilities and skills to some extent."
"Abilities?"
Giranox nodded, a bright smile on his face.
"Yes. On Pimera Mountain, there were so many outstanding artisans that I was only ever berated, and in Asseong, business was so bad I was depressed. But you, Grand Prince, kept encouraging me, telling me I had talent. Since then, I've started to understand my own abilities and level."
Giranox's satisfied smile showed a confidence that was absent before.
"Don't tell me..."
"Yes?"
[Creator's Eye is activated.]
[Name: Giranox]
[Traits: Demonic Armament Creation, Flame Affinity lv3, Concentration lv3, Precision lv2, Judgment lv1, Emotion lv1]
[Favorability: 74 (Trust)]
[Current Mood: Wants to help in any way possible.]
Judgment and Emotion?
Giranox definitely had four traits. The traits 'Judgment' and 'Emotion' didn't exist before.
"Giranox."
"Yes?"
"So you're saying that because I praised and trusted in your abilities, you've recently come to understand your own skills to some degree?"
"Yes. I think so."
Did a trait appear because of me?
It goes without saying that traits aren't created easily. Most are determined at birth or acquired by reading a grimoire.
If this is true, I might be able to raise my subordinates into incredible beings.
"Ah, by the way, when are we going to Pimera Mountain?"
"Tomorrow."
"What?"
Giranox was so shocked he nearly fainted, thrusting his face toward me.
"But you just got back today."
"Exactly. Tomorrow."
Strike while the iron is hot.