WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 36: Loot (5)

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However, Gerik knew full well how exceptional armor made by Grimdal performed in battle, so he reassured him by describing how Bruno had stood like an iron wall.

"Taken down by a mage's spell...?"

After hearing Gerik's account of the battle, Grimdal inspected Bruno's equipment again, looking for traces of magic.

Most of the damage had been caused by Rat Men. The only magical trace was from Magic Missile, the lowest-grade offensive spell, on the tower shield.

"Ah, to be exact, he wasn't hit directly by an offensive spell."

Gerik explained that Bruno had been caught by the Grease spell while climbing the stairs, tumbled down them, and died. He assured Grimdal again that the equipment was not to blame.

"Whew... I see."

Perhaps relieved that the owner of his equipment had not died because of his own shortcomings, Grimdal nodded and seemed to let go of his guilt.

Seeing that, Gerik cautiously asked about the price of the spoils he had brought.

"So... how much will you pay for it?"

Gerik had already made a sizable sum, but more money was always better. He had no intention of wasting even the smallest opportunity to earn more.

"Hm... The chain mail is too badly damaged to be reused..."

As Gerik had expected, Bruno's chain mail was so badly damaged that it was worth little more than scrap.

Grimdal also drove down the price of the shortsword, longbow, and spear, saying the raw materials were not worth much and the quality of the items themselves was ordinary.

"What? Seventeen silver coins for all of it?! Isn't that far too little?!"

Bruno's party's equipment had never been cheap, so Gerik had come to the smithy expecting at least seventy or eighty silver coins.

The offered amount was absurdly lower than he had expected, leaving him flustered.

"That's how used goods work. Weapons and shields are consumables in the end. You never know when a well-used weapon will break, so they sell for only a little more than the value of the raw materials."

"Still..."

"To be honest, only the tower shield and bastard sword I made are worth selling secondhand. I'll just melt the rest down as scrap. My conscience won't allow me to make a few coins by reselling defective goods."

Grimdal suggested that if Gerik truly wanted more money, he should try dealing with a merchant caravan visiting Stonecreek instead of trading with him.

"...I'll just sell it."

Gerik had forty gold coins in hand between the bill of exchange and the cash from the workshop. He had no desire to go through extra trouble for a few more coins, so he accepted Grimdal's offer.

'My standards have risen because I recently came into a large sum. Seventeen silver coins isn't a small amount. I should be satisfied with this.'

Before this windfall, Gerik had owned a little over twenty silver coins. In that situation, an income of seventeen silver coins was by no means small.

So he stopped Grimdal before he could hand over the payment for the equipment and brought up the other reason he had come.

"Grimdal. Forget the money for now... Could you make custom equipment for me?"

"Hm? Ah, are you planning to buy new equipment with the money from selling the used gear?"

Seeing Gerik's young age and shabby appearance, Grimdal seemed to have mistaken him for someone trying to buy new equipment with the proceeds from selling old gear.

Gerik corrected the misunderstanding and said he wanted equipment of a far higher quality.

"...How much more can you spend?"

Grimdal still wore an expression that seemed to say, How much could you possibly afford?

Gerik gave up on trying to persuade him with words and showed him the bill of exchange Ruben had given him that day.

"What... This is a bill of exchange officially guaranteed by the Adventurers’ Guild?!"

"Whew... I made a fortune on this extermination job."

Grimdal had clearly never imagined that a novice adventurer could pull out a bill of exchange worth thirty gold coins. Genuine shock crossed his face.

"What in the world did you do?!"

"It's complicated."

Had Gerik brought cash, Grimdal might have suspected theft. But this was a bill of exchange bearing the Adventurers’ Guild's official seal of guarantee.

Since Gerik only brushed off the question and showed no sign of explaining further, Grimdal did not ask about the source of the money again.

"...Then how much are you looking to invest, and what level of equipment would you like made?"

His attitude changed at once. Having half-spoken down to Gerik moments ago, Grimdal now spoke politely after seeing the huge sum offered for the commission.

The sudden change left Gerik a little dumbfounded, but that was not what mattered. He explained what he wanted.

"I want equipment I can keep using. I also want the best quality possible for the amount I showed you."

"Oh...?!"

Grimdal's eyes widened at Gerik's declaration that he would invest all thirty gold coins into equipment.

Most adventurers who obtained that much money retired and lived comfortably. Gerik's plan to invest it in equipment truly impressed him.

"If possible, I want to invest everything in armor that protects my whole body."

Working with Bruno had made Gerik keenly realize how formidable armor could be on the battlefield.

He believed he could make up for his lacking offense to some degree with Slash, so he decided to boldly invest all thirty gold coins into armor.

"An excellent idea! But... what do you mean by equipment you can keep using? Do you mean something easy to repair? Or maintain?"

Grimdal had heard of excellent armor, but never armor described that way, so he looked puzzled.

Gerik explained that he had passed sixteen and would soon turn seventeen.

"Ah, you're worried your body will grow because you haven't finished growing yet?"

"Yes. And I intend to get bigger too."

It would be a greater waste than anything else if armor made with such a huge investment became unwearable due to physical growth. Grimdal understood Gerik's concern.

"That certainly makes sense. I'll take that into account as much as possible when I make it."

Grimdal then asked about Gerik's usual combat style and what position he preferred.

"I usually stand on the second line and focus on close-range attacks. I'm fairly good with sword strikes, if I do say so myself."

"Hmm... Really? Your body hasn't fully matured yet. Can you manage that?"

As an experienced blacksmith, Grimdal had understood Gerik's limits the moment he saw him. Even after hearing him, he looked doubtful.

"Really? Then I'll show you."

Rather than argue back and forth, Gerik stepped back, drew his longsword, and raised it into the air. Before the baffled Grimdal, he used Slash several times in succession.

"...A skill?"

Amazingly, Grimdal seemed to recognize at a glance what Gerik had done. Impressed by his discerning eye, Gerik nodded.

"Yes. I've learned a skill beyond my station. That's why I can handle the role of a damage dealer on the second line."

"This is surprising... Skills are things one can barely hope to learn even at the very end of Copper Plate. Are you perhaps from a knightly family?"

"Haha... That's not important, so let's leave it there. Ah, and given my fighting style and physical build, it would be difficult for me to wear armor that's too heavy."

One advantage of being an adventurer was that Gerik had neither the need nor the obligation to correct another person's assumptions.

Grimdal, who dealt with adventurers all the time, naturally understood that unspoken rule and did not press further.

"Hmm... Taking everything you've said together... Plate armor would probably be too much for you just yet."

After considering Gerik's wishes, Grimdal offered two options.

If Gerik wanted maximum mobility, he recommended specially treated studded leather armor. If he wanted solid protection with decent mobility, he recommended brigandine.

"...What's brigandine?"

Gerik had seen Kagosh, the Half-orc Warrior in studded leather armor, die horribly the day before, so he had doubts about that armor's protection.

Then a type of armor he had never heard of came up, piquing his interest.

"Brigandine is armor made with cloth or leather as its base, with metal plates tightly set inside. Studded leather armor also has rivets set into the leather, but brigandine uses more metal plates. It's more advanced in terms of craftsmanship too."

The two armors had similar concepts, but differed greatly in how much metal they used. Grimdal told him that brigandine was normally almost twice as heavy as studded leather armor.

"And about one-third lighter than chain mail."

"Ah, so it must protect less than chain mail because it's lighter?"

"Not quite."

Grimdal explained that chain mail was excellent armor, but had the weakness of being vulnerable to thrusts. To make up for that, people wore thick padded cloth armor such as a gambeson underneath.

"Since it's made by weaving chains together, it's difficult to repair in the field too."

Brigandine, on the other hand, was easy to patch up in an emergency out in the field. It also had no particular defensive weakness around the upper body, making it balanced armor favored by experienced adventurers.

"The downside is... chain mail hangs down like a skirt and offers some protection to the lower body, while brigandine only protects the upper body. So you'll need thick leggings to protect your legs."

The more Gerik listened to Grimdal's explanation, the more he felt that brigandine-style armor suited him well.

"Can it be altered if my body gets bigger?"

Grimdal said he could fold spare leather into the back of the armor, then unfold it later to increase the size as Gerik grew.

"I'm Grimdal! An ordinary blacksmith couldn't even dream of it, but I can do it!"

Having finally decided to have brigandine-style armor made, Gerik gritted his teeth, placed the bill of exchange in Grimdal's hand, and spoke.

"Good! Make armor worthy of these gold coins. Use the best materials you can without holding back, and make armor lighter and sturdier than ordinary brigandine."

Grimdal looked fondly at the novice's bold request. But, oddly, he tried to dissuade Gerik.

"Investing a large sum into armor is certainly an excellent idea. Money only matters when you're alive, after all. But if it were me, I'd invest around twenty gold coins in armor and use the remaining ten to make a weapon."

Grimdal said twenty gold coins would be enough to make armor for both the upper and lower body that even veteran adventurers would find satisfactory.

"But I can make up for my lacking offense to some extent with Slash."

When Gerik asked as if he could not understand, Grimdal stressed that this was exactly why he needed an even better weapon.

"Listening to your battle experience, I could tell that because your body hasn't fully matured, you tend to tire as a fight drags on. If you wear armor twice as heavy as what you have now, that problem will become even worse."

To compensate for that, Grimdal said he intended to make both the armor and sword using Red Iron, a special steel from the Redridge Mountains.

"Red Iron produced in the Redridge Mountains is lighter than ordinary steel, but harder and sharper. A weapon made from it will make your Slash even stronger."

Footnotes:

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