NBAA Vol. 5 Chapter 2 Part 3
Reito communicated with Airis to decide his next destination.
『Colonel Airis, do you copy?』
『 What’s up, doc… Actually, I’m not gonna take that joke any further.』
『You said I should look for that special material, but where is it?』
『Move to the center of town. There’s a blacksmith who specializes in holy swords, so we can get our hands on “Orichalcum” and “Adamantite.』
『Those are some really fantasy-sounding metal names…』
Reito ended communications and decided to smoothly get everyone to advance to the center. He looked out for the two remaining Battle Golem as he slipped through the ruin city.
“Alright, Ullr, if any enemies approach, let me know.”
“Woof!!”
“Suramin and Hitomin… Hmm? Where did they go? Are you hiding in Kotomin’s clothes? Come on out!!”
“Those are mine,” Kotomin blushed as she hid her breasts.
“The slimes are over here,” Gonzo shouted out to Reito.
“Purupuru?”
The slimes were sitting on Gonzo’s shoulders. Reito held out both his hands, and Hitomin jumped into them. Suramin moved onto Kotomin’s head.
“You were sticking to Gon-chan’s back. You really like him, huh?” Reito commented.
“Yup. You guys used to run away from him!”
Dain tilted his head in confusion, “Huh, that’s weird. They always liked me.”
“It’s because you’re nothing to be afraid of.”
“What does that mean!? Are you telling me the slimes were making light of me!?”
“Purupuru (don’t worry about the small things).”
Reito and crew left the building and headed toward the center.
Even if an enemy were to approach, between Ullr’s sense of smell and the slimes’ perception abilities, they should be able to notice them. Reito also had some perception skills, but it would require too much physical and mental stamina to use them all the time.
Reito started talking to the slimes, “You guys really help us a lot. Ahh, that’s right. If Suramin eats a magic gem, you’ll split up, right? If I keep giving you magic gems, it’ll become a slime harem, right?”
“That sounds fun,” Kotomin commented.
“Purupuru.”
Kotomin seemed excited about it, but the two slimes shook their bodies in disagreement. It seemed like they wanted all the attention for themself, and they repeatedly slapped their owner’s cheeks. Hitomin had originally split off from Suramin. Their color and personality have come to differ, and they’ve both really come into their own.
Reito played with his pets as they moved. They arrived at the foundry.
“I feel like there’s something inside, so I’m going to check it out,” Reito said before Dain glared at the building before them.
“This is a foundry?”
“Maybe for dwarves. It’s in poor shape, though,” Gonzo muttered as he gazed at it.
The building was half-destroyed, and there was evidence there had once been a fire. Reito picked up a hammer from the ground, but the handle was weak and broke.
“The holy swords were made here…”
“What did you say, Reito?”
“Nothing.”
Kotomin overheard Reito’s mumbling, but he just shook his head.
Although it had once been used to manufacture holy swords and sacred treasures, it was clear that the place was no longer used as a foundry as there was not a shadow in sight.
Reito and crew split up and made a thorough investigation of the site.
“Woof!!”
“Oh, did you find something, Ullr?”
Ullr called Reito over and was tapping on the floor with his front paws. A stone plank was wedged into the floor. Apparently, it was covering something.
Reito was thinking about breaking the stone plank when Gonzo came with a pickaxe.
“Reito, let me handle it. I found a pickaxe lying around over there.”
“Wow, thanks.”
Gonzo raised the pickaxe and aimed for the stone plank before giving it a strong swing.
The tip of the pickaxe dug into the stone plank and cracked. After striking it a few times, the stone plank finally fell apart, revealing the earth’s surface below.
“Hey, it’s the earth. Let me handle this.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I’ll use ‘Earth Block’ to dig up whatever’s buried underneath.”
Reito moved the stone fragments out of the way and used Earth Block on the ground to start digging up the dirt.
A golden box emerged from the ground. It was about five centimeters big and was locked.
Reito used “High-Speed Shape Change” to unlock it.
“Alright, it’s open.”
“Wow!” Gonzo was impressed.
“You’re lucky to have alchemy skills…” Dain commented.
“What’s inside?” asked Kotomin.
He opened the box to find a beautiful crystal ball that gave off a pale light.
Dain was surprised, “No way! Is that Orichalcum!? The legendary metal…!!”
“Nice work Reito!! If we sell this, we’ll be able to have fun for the rest of our lives!! We are about to be a really wealthy group of friends,” Dain was happy because Orichalcum was a scarce material, but Reito didn’t plan to sell it.”
“But Dain, wouldn’t it be a waste to sell it?”
“What are you talking about!? We would be so rich!?”
Gonzo put his hand on Dain’s shoulder.
“Dain, this is Reito’s finding.”
“B-, But! I know, but…”
“For now, I’ll hold on to it. We can decide if we sell it later,” Reito said and put the Orichalcum using his storage magic.
He started searching for the Adamantite next. He could have grasped the exact location by simply communicating with Airis. Still, he thought there may be other rare materials here, so he decided to take his time with the search.
Dain suddenly shouted.
“Gonzo! Bring that pickaxe here!”
“Why?”
“Just hurry up… Woah!?”
Dain took the pickaxe from Gonzo, but it was way heavier than he realized. He managed to get a grip on it.
He looked at the handle of the pickaxe and looked at the handle of it.
“I can’t believe it… This handle is made from the branch of the World Tree!! This will give me enough money to pay back my debts!!”
“The world tree… that’s that super magic-resistant kind of lumber, right?”
The world tree was famous for its superior quality. The hilt of Reito’s Extermination Blade was also made from it.
His friends were busy gathering materials from the site and showing them to Dain.
“Dain, what’s this? I thought it was a mirror, but it has a handle on the other side.”
“That’s a reflective shield!? It’s made of ‘Reflection Stone.’”
The Reflection Sword was the name of the weapon Reito had used in the past. It has the ability to repel magic attacks. If it was made of the same material, the reflection shield should be able to do the same.
“What is this big mallet?”
Kotomin brought a massive silver hammer over to him.
“That’s not a mallet. That’s a big hammer!! I believe it was a tool used by the dwarves… I’m not sure what it’s made out of.”
“I don’t need it!”
“Wait! You don’t need to throw it away!?”
Kotomin tossed the big hammer away.
“Woof!!”
“Purupuru.”
“Oh, Ullr, you found something… What is that?”
Ullr brought over another big hammer the same shape as Kotomin’s, except this one had a golden color. Reito thought it might be made out of real gold, but it was too light for that. It could be held in one hand. He picked up the silver hammer Kotomin threw away, which was also light.
Reito showed the golden hammer to Dain. He looked puzzled.
“What is that? I don’t know what material it’s made of. It’s hammer-shaped, so I would imagine it was a dwarf tool.”
“Right. Thank you. There seem to be a lot of things lying around… It’s a treasure pile!” Reito muttered before Airis chimed in.
『 It’s the reason the Battle Golem are guarding the ruins. The Baltros Empire tried to steal the materials from this facility several times, but the Battle Golem held them back.』
“I see…”
If the empire had tried to collect the materials, there was no doubt the big hammer he held was quite the precious tool. But he didn’t know what it was made of, and no one in his crew could wield such a hammer.
Reito thought about ways to use the hammer before talking to Gonzo.
“Gon-chan, you said that fighters have a weapon that accompanies their fist-fighting, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true. It’s a weapon called ‘boxing.’ Why?”
Gonzo was a boxer, and as a part of his training, he had never used a weapon besides his club. Reito figured it would be better if he had a weapon in fights like the ones they had with the Battle Golem. Hence, he decided to use his alchemy skills to forge a weapon for Gonzo.
“Alright, I’m gonna make you a new weapon.”
“What? How?”
“Just you watch.”
Reito brought the gold and silver hammers over to Gonzo. He compared Gonzo’s hands to the big hammers and formed an image for his new weapon.
“Gon-chan, I’m sorry, but could you hold your hands out?”
“Like this?
“Yeah, yeah. That’s good!” Reito put the golden hammer in Gonzo’s right hand.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Shhh!! I’m concentrating… Hand power!”
“Hey, that’s my line… I’m gonna get you for that. Hmph!” Kotomin complained, nibbling on Reito’s ear.
“Hey… I’m weak there.”
Reito was interrupted by Kotomin, but he didn’t break concentration as he used high-speed shape change to change his hammer’s shape.
“How about this… No, how about this then!”
“What is…”
The metal coiled around Gonzo’s arms began to harden and formed a weapon that was like a glove. The joints on the wrist and fingers were designed to be easy to move. He made a matching one for the opposite hand with the silver hammer.
“Wow… This is cool.”
Gonzo looked at his new glove weapons.
Dain and Kotomin were surprised.
“Did you just convert a hammer into another weapon…”
“Nice job Reito… In short, nice Reito.”
“Why would you shorten it? I’m gonna bite your ears!!”
“No… I’m not ready for that.”
Gonzo put his fists together. The two metals collided, and a sharp metallic sound rang out.
“Nnghh!!”
“Wow, cool!!”
“Reito, I want to try out these bad boys. Can you make something with your ice magic?”
“Ice Block got it.”
Reito used an ice block to form a three-meter-tall Golem statue.
Gonzo got in stance and then punched through the statue.
“Fist Strike!!”
He was able to easily punch through the statue’s upper body.
“Woah!?”
“Mrow! That surprised me!”
Gonzo used his left hand to continue punching.
“Repeat Strikes!!”
“Woah, now!?”
The ice statue was blown into smithereens after the repeated blows.
Reito and crew unwittingly applauded after seeing his punches. Reito checked that he didn’t have any bruises on his fists. He looked satisfied as he nodded.
“This is awesome. Usually, when I am boxing, I end up bruising my fists… with these weapons, I’ll be alright.”
“I’m glad you enjoy them.”
“But… How do I take them off?”
Gonzo tried to pull off the globes.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Let me make them possible to pull off by yourself.”
Reito made the adjustment so they could be taken off and put on at any time. He hoped Gonzo could use them in the next battle.
“This really is a treasure pile out here. I bet there are more items.”
“True!! Let’s keep looking!!”
“Dain, do you want to bring the pickaxe…?”
Dain carried the pickaxe with him as he excitedly explored the forge. Reito and crew also searched for materials.