Three evenings after the joint training with the Order and the Holy Grave, Mina and I arrived at the residential district north of Feel.
Rex, Rosemary, and Muse’s swords were finally finished, and we brought them as belated wedding gifts.
The others wanted to come too, but considering Rex’s personality, I thought a large group would be too much. Moreover, if Mana, Yuri, or Rika were present, they wouldn’t know how to react, so we declined their offer this time.
Instead, we asked them to pick up the Fortress Whale we’d dismantled at the Crafter’s Guild and check on the status of the metal ships.
“This is Rex’s house.”
“Yes. I lived here until I got engaged to Yamato. Unfortunately, you can’t see Veil Lake from here, but it faces the main street and the guard post is close, so we can act quickly if anything happens.”
The house was very practical, just like the meticulous Rex.
Rex’s house was about twice the size of a normal residential house. It wasn’t quite a mansion, but it was reasonably spacious. According to Mina, it had seven private rooms, a living room with a kitchen, and a large storage room in the basement.
This house was rented, but she also mentioned that they hadn’t originally planned to rent a place like this. They were told to buy or rent a suitably sized house as the Order’s Master, and this was the house they ended up with. When Rex first came to Feel as the Order’s Master, he was alone. After Mina registered with the Order’s Guild and came to Feel, they lived together as siblings. However, as it became too much for them to manage, they hired a C-rank Butler to help with cleaning and other chores. The Butler’s Guild was also happy to send someone on a short-term assignment to the Order’s Master’s residence.
“Who is it? Mina? Yamato too? Is everything alright?”
When Mina rang the magic knocker, Rosemary answered the door.
“Good evening. Sorry to bother you at this hour.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine. I’m off duty today, and Rex and Muse are also back from work.”
Yes, we had already confirmed that at the Order’s Guild. We had asked Lyra and Lucas to check their schedules. If all three of them had been off, we could have come earlier, but Rex is an A-rank Order, and Rosemary and Muse are P-rank Orders, so it’s rare for all three to have time off at the same time, maybe once a month. Apparently, they took their wedding day off, but it hasn’t been a month yet, so it seems unlikely they could take time off again soon.
“We’re here from Wing Crest today to offer our congratulations on your wedding.”
“Thank you, but you didn’t have to go to so much trouble.”
“We couldn’t not. If Mina is our sister-in-law, then you are too.”
“Thank you. It’s rude to stand outside talking, so please come in.”
“Then, we’ll be intruding.”
Rosemary led us into the living room, where Rex and Muse were in the middle of a conversation. I overheard a bit, and it seemed they were discussing the results of the training we had with them the other day.
“Mina, and Yamato too. Welcome.”
“Good evening. Sorry to bother you at this hour.”
“It’s fine for you two, but what brings you here today?”
Rex and Muse interrupted their conversation and welcomed us as we entered the living room. While it wasn’t unusual for Mina to visit, it was my first time, so they seemed a bit surprised.
“As I told Rosemary earlier, we’ve brought a wedding gift from us at Wing Crest.”
After being offered seats, I got straight to the point. The reason we came here today was to give them this. I took out three one-handed straight swords from my storage and placed them on the table.
“This is…?”
“Swords? They have rather flashy decorations, but are these for us?”
“Yes. They’re designed to match the Arc Order’s Coat and Platinum Order’s Coat, but I believe they can be used without any problems.”
For Rex, it was a one-handed straight sword with a silver blade seemingly covered by golden light extending from the guard. For Rosemary and Muse, it was a one-handed straight sword with a silver blade and a soft, ribbon-like design on the guard. Rosemary’s sword had a softer feel, while Muse’s had a more dignified appearance. Of course, they were sheathed, as we couldn’t just hand them over bare, but the design of the guards was immediately recognizable.
“I believe you’re using jade silver swords with your newly updated equipment, but these are made of lapis lazuli silver. While the usability won’t change drastically, they should be easier to handle.”
Comparing the prototype jade alloy sword and the lapis lazuli silver sword – pale green, the difference was immediately apparent. Well, the prototype was a mere prototype, and it wasn’t made using Japanese sword-making techniques, so it was only natural. Although Talos forged these swords, they were mainly prototypes to test the usability of jade silver, and he himself said they were second-rate as weapons. Still, I’ve found them very useful.
“L-Lapis lazuli silver? Could it be an alloy comparable to Divine Metal?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The existence of lapis lazuli silver is top secret, but Guild Masters are aware of it. Mikasa, the Trader’s Master, wanted to publicize it, but as soon as she learned of its specific performance, she immediately retracted her statement. Because of its poor magic efficiency, even Ed and Marina, who are Fairy Halves, can only make about five per day. Talos, who is on the lower end of magic power for an Elf, unfortunately couldn’t make any. Fina couldn’t make any either, but her magic power has increased since her level rose during our recent journey, so she can now manage to make one. If I and Flam can also make it, I think we can increase the number a bit. I was promoted to a B-rank Crafter, but Flam isn’t confident yet and remains at C-rank, so it will be a while before we actually start producing them.
“Y-You used such an alloy for us?”
“Of course, since you are your brother and sister-in-law. For an Order, a sword is like their life, so I believe it’s best to use the best possible item.”
Before the alloy was perfected, magic silver swords were the mainstream at the Order’s Guild. However, although magic silver has higher magic efficiency than Divine Metal, its magic strength and hardness are only slightly better than iron. For high-class users, the excessively high magic transmission rate causes the magic silver itself to degrade rapidly. Gold iron has sufficient magic strength and hardness, but its magic transmission rate is too low, forcing users to forcefully channel their magic, which leads to early magic fatigue.
Therefore, even the best-case scenario for high-class individuals was to replace their weapons every few months, and in some cases, less than a month. This was the same for Hunters, and it wasn’t uncommon for weapons to break during battles with monsters, leading to serious injuries. Thus, keeping a large stock of spare weapons in storage was common knowledge even among the high-class. Divine Metal would not have such problems, but on the Philia Continent, it is only obtainable rarely from labyrinths, making it virtually impossible to acquire. Thus, it is no exaggeration to say it was a life-or-death issue.
However, when I proposed the alloy, and Ed completed the jade silver and blue-gray iron, that problem can be considered solved. While jade silver and blue-gray iron are not on par with Divine Metal, they both possess superior performance compared to magic silver and gold iron, and have been proven to withstand the magic power of not only high-class but also ancient-class individuals. Moreover, since jade silver is an alloy of magic silver and crystal silver, Amister, where both are produced, can now prepare an alloy with performance close to Divine Metal on their own.
This led to a complete overhaul of the equipment at the Order’s Guild. The armor was designed by Marina, following the numerous requests from female Orders, but the swords, shields, spears, bows, and other weapons are minor modifications of the previous models. This is because individuals are permitted to prepare their own weapons, and if they want a design that they like and matches the new Order’s Coat, it becomes a completely custom order, which is mostly only possible for S-rank Orders or higher.
As a side note, the reward Lyra requested when we inquired about Rex and the others’ schedules was a custom-made, one-handed jade silver sword. While Helios Orb doesn’t have privacy laws, as someone from a world where personal information handling is strictly regulated, I felt her request was understandable and agreed. We settled on the idea that she would decide the design herself, and I would pay the fees charged by the Crafter’s Guild. While Lucas is earnest, Lyra has a past record of trying to cheat on lodging fees, so I did set a limit on the amount.
“This… is an amazing design.”
“Indeed. My and Muse’s swords have slight differences in detail, but they seem to be fundamentally the same.”
“I apologize. I actually considered making them in different designs, but I didn’t have any better designs in stock, so I just changed the details slightly.”
“No, it’s perfectly fine. We are both P-rank Orders, and Rex’s wife. This actually makes us feel more connected.”
Rosemary nodded at Muse’s words, and I was also happy to hear that.
“My brother’s sword is quite flashy, but he tried to design it in a way that wouldn’t disgrace the name of a Sky Knight.”
“Hearing you say that, I don’t have any words. Of course, it’s a great sword, and I don’t mean to imply otherwise.”
All three of them smiled as they drew their swords from their sheaths, and I was glad they seemed happy. Not only the guard decorations but even the blades were flashy.
“Thank you. For us, as Orders, this is the best wedding gift.”
“We are grateful for being gifted such magnificent swords.”
“Thank you, Yamato, Mina. Please also send our regards to everyone at Wing Crest.”
Of course, I will. Especially to Ed and the others. And we have to give them this too.
“Also, this is from Mina and me.”
With that, Mina took out five large chunks of meat from her storage.
“Meat?”
“Yes. It’s meat from a Gold Dragoon, Disaster Dragoon, Fortress Whale, Ignis Bird, and Abyss Taurus.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! W-What is this lineup!”
Muse immediately retorted at the names of the high-ranked monsters Mina mentioned.
“Except for the Abyss Taurus, these are monsters we defeated in the Solpreza Labyrinth. Of course, we’ll be offering some to His Majesty, but we thought we’d give these as a celebratory gift.”
Mina replied with a smile, leaving Rex speechless.
The higher the rank of a monster that can be eaten, the more delicious it is. Monsters that cannot be eaten remain inedible regardless of rank, but these, being a dragon, whale, bird, and bull, are all edible. Therefore, the P-C Rank Monster Abyss Taurus, being a super-premium ingredient, was well-received at Amagi Castle. However, Fortress Whales are M-I Rank, Ignis Birds are M-C Rank, Gold Dragoons are A-R Rank, and Disaster Dragoons are A-I Rank monsters. Virtually no one has ever eaten them. Not only the Crafter’s Guild but also the Trader’s Guild have inquired if we could sell even a small amount. Of course, we’ve sent assorted Dragoon meat as souvenirs to the Provincial Governors and Guild Masters. I’ve sent some to Rex as well, but since those were souvenirs and this is a wedding gift, I hope they’ll accept it without hesitation. Even with the souvenirs, it’s quite a large amount, but since all three can use storage, there’s no need to worry about the meat spoiling, which is a great advantage.
By the way, demi-humans are not edible. I thought Orcs might be edible, but Antlions are insect demi-humans, and while Amazons, Sirens, and Valkyries look no different from humans, I didn’t feel like eating them. So, I was genuinely relieved to hear they are not edible.
“I understand. We will gratefully accept them.”
Although Rex seemed like he had something else to say, he seemed to have decided it was useless and accepted them with a wry smile. Rosemary and Muse had similar expressions.
After a bit of small talk, we decided to take our leave. We weren’t so rude as to overstay at a newlywed’s home, and we had to hurry back to meet everyone else waiting at the Crafter’s Guild. We’ve already completed several Gate Crystals and Gate Stones, but they’re prioritized for those traveling separately from me, so they haven’t reached Hunters or Crafters yet. Currently, only Yuri, Rika, and Apricot have them. Since Rika’s mansion has a Gate Stone installed, we’ll have to hunt Winger Drakes again. While Feather Drakes are common, we’ve hunted a lot of Winger Drakes in Mylight, and considering their rarity, it’s possible there aren’t any left.
Next time we go to Float, I think we should explore the Ideal Mountain Range or even extend our trip to the Solpreza Labyrinth. The Solpreza Labyrinth has many Drakes, and more importantly, it’s shallow, so it’s a definite decision to record the Gate Crystal there. I think it would be good to re-donate the Gold Dragoon’s magic stone, which I received as a reward from His Majesty, Dragon King Folias. Also, if we record Draconia, we can invite Lidia, Ludia, and Athena’s families to the wedding reception, so I should discuss that with everyone.
