Chapter 134 – Bear-san Tries To Dismantle The Black Tiger
Anzu’s restaurant was doing well now, with plenty of people coming in every day, though it wasn’t as busy as it was the first few days. Was it because other places started selling rice and fish, too? I did hear that some people, who came from Mireera like Anzu and her group, opened their own stores and restaurants. I was quite happy that rice and fish were now popular in Crimonia.
Still, I hoped that Anzu and the others would do their best so that our restaurant wouldn’t lose to the newcomers. Well, I honestly didn’t think that Anzu, who inherited Deiga-san’s cuisine, could lose to others, but then again, life was hard, and you didn’t know when your arrogance could bring about your end.
Although Anzu was modest and never arrogant, I still hoped she would be careful not to bring about her own undoing. I hope that her colleagues and Terumi-san would do something if it was ever about come to pass.
There was nothing I could do to help the restaurant, so I decided to leave it be and focus on what I was planning to do today, instead.
I called Fina to the Bear House; I planned on asking her to dismantle the Black Tiger, so that I could have its beautiful black fur.
It wasn’t like I had forgotten about it, but when I had returned from the guard mission, I had decided to take some time off, and when I had thought it was about time to ask Fina to dismantle it, Anzu had arrived, and I became busy with all sorts of things, like arranging the restaurant and getting everything ready for its opening, so no wonder I had completely forgotten about the Black Tiger.
So, now that I remembered it, I decided to finally have Fina dismantle it.
I thought about this from time to time, but it was really bad to ask a 10-year-old girl to dismantle monsters for me...
This wasn’t something that I, who had asked her to dismantle hundreds of monsters, should be saying out loud, though.
I idled around while waiting for Fina, and she arrived right on time.
「Good morning, Big Sis Yuna.」
「Morning, Fina.」
Her energetic greeting made me smile.
「So, what did you want me to do?」
When I was about to ask Fina to dismantle the Black Tiger yesterday, we were surrounded by people, so I decided not to mention the Black Tiger yet, in fear of the uproar it could bring. I simply told her that I had a task for her, and that she should come to the Bear House this morning.
「I have something I want you to dismantle for me.」
I took Fina to the warehouse I had built next to the Bear House, and brought out the Black Tiger there.
「Big Sis Yuna!?」
Fina let out a surprised voice when she saw the Black Tiger.
I knew it; this was indeed something to be surprised about.
「I killed a Black Tiger on my latest trip, so could I ask you to dismantle it? I will pay you, of course.」
Fina looked at the Black Tiger.
「I don’t mind trying to dismantle it, but it might be impossible for me.」
Fina gave a slightly troubled answer.
「Really?」
Even Fina couldn’t dismantle it?
It was a superior rank monster like the Tiger Wolves, so I thought that she could do it. Did I really not have any other choice other than to bring it to the Adventurer’s Guild?
Fina took out her knife and tried to plant it into the Black Tiger’s stomach.
She groaned, making ‘UuUu’ sounds.
Fina let go of her knife.
「Big Sis Yuna, as I thought, it’s impossible for me.」
「Isn’t this the same thing as the Tiger Wolves?」
「No, that’s not the problem. The iron knife I have won’t be able to dismantle a Black Tiger; its skin is so hard that the knife can’t pierce it.」
That meant the problem wasn’t Fina’s technique, but that she needed a sharper knife, huh.
「You could do it if you had a better knife, right?」
「Maybe. I think it has the same structure as the Tiger wolves.」
「Should we go and buy a knife that can dismantle a Black Tiger, then?」
If you knew what had to be done, things tended to progress smoothly.
So, if there was a need for a knife, we only had to buy it.
「Knives that are able to dismantle Black Tigers are so pricy that I can’t afford them, you know.」
Fina shook her head as if to prove it was impossible.
「I will buy it for you, then. I always have you dismantle things for me, so take it as a thanks for all you have done.」
「But I have already received a lot of things as thanks from you, Big Sis Yuna.」
「Don’t worry about it; let’s just go.」
I put the Black Tiger back inside my Bear Box, took Fina’s hand, and headed to the blacksmith. We went to the place where I had brought a sword with Fina when I had first arrived at this town; a smithy that was managed by a dwarf couple.
When we entered the shop, the wife, Nert-san, greeted us.
「Welcome. Oh, isn’t it Fina and Bear Missy? Why have you come today?」
「We came to buy a dismantling knife.」
「What happened to the knife you bought before?」
「We haven’t come to buy one for me but a new one for Fina.」
「For Fina? But we polished hers just a few days ago, I believe...」
「We need a knife that can cut better than her iron knife.」
I told her that we couldn’t dismantle it with an iron knife.
「What the hell are you trying to dismantle? You won’t tell me that you want to dismantle a dragon, right?」
「I want to dismantle a Black Tiger, but the iron knife that Fina has wasn’t able to cut it.」
「A Black TIger, you say? In that case, iron knife is no good indeed. You need at least a mithril knife to dismantle it.」
Oh right, mithril! When you think of a rare ore from a fantasy world, it had to be mithril.
If I remembered correctly, there were mithril swords in the game, too.
It also existed in this world, huh.
There were only iron sword in this shop, so I couldn’t have known.
「So, could I have two mithril knives?」
I didn’t really plan on using it, but I still asked for one for me, too.
Even if it was really expensive, I wanted one. If they had a mithril sword, I wanted one of those, too!
「I’m sorry, but we don’t have any mithril right now.」
I knew it, it was a rare ore, so it was difficult to get it. I really wanted some no matter what, though...
「Do you have any other knives that could cut the Black Tiger then? The price is not a problem.」
「I’m really sorry, but it’s not just mithril; we lack silver, copper and iron ores, too. So, we sadly don’t have a knife that could dismantle a Black Tiger at the moment.」
「You are short on all ores?」
「That’s right; my husband is only sleeping these days, not doing any work because of the shortage.」
She didn’t lie; I couldn’t hear the omnipresent sound of iron being struck from the back.
「Also, it isn’t just our smithery that is like this; almost all of the shops that use ores are having a shortage.」
Now that she mentioned it, I did remember Terumi-san asking me if I was okay with buying the necessary cooking tools for Anzu and the others even if the price of iron and copper rose when I told her to buy them. I also remembered vaguely answering that those tools were necessary, and that it was okay even if the price was a bit high.
So, this must have been why she was worried, huh.
I didn’t really care when the Black Tiger would be dismantled, but if you asked me if I wanted it, I would have answered positively. It was the bad side of being a gamer.
「Why are you short on iron ore, though?」
I heard of fantasy stories where they gather a lot of iron ore in case of war.
Still, this country wasn’t at war. Well, it might be that I only didn’t know about it.
「I heard that there was a problem at the mine, and that they can’t dig anymore.」
「What is this problem?」
「I don’t know. I think the Commerce Guild should know, though.」
What should I do... Even if I knew the reason, that didn’t mean that I would be able to get a mithril knife.
Would a weapon shop at the capital sell it?
I had a Bear Transfer Gate there, so should I go over and check?
「Thank you. I think I will drop by the capital for a bit.」
「The capital!? Ah, you are the Bear Missy, and you have your Summoned Bears, right? Wait here for a bit, please.」
Nert-san was surprised for a moment, but quickly came to a conclusion. She was a bit off , but I couldn’t really tell her about the transfer gate, so I just nodded.
Nert-san went into the back room, and we soon heard her trying to wake her husband up.
The room was really noisy for a while before calming down again. As I was starting to wonder what was going on, Nert-san returned.
「Thank you for waiting. Here, take this with you.」
She gave me a letter.
「What is this?」
「At the capital, there is a smithy managed by a man named Gazar. You should take a look at his place. If you give him this letter, he might give you a better price.」
「Gazar, you said?」
「He grew up in the same village as we did.」
That meant he was also a dwarf, huh.
「It’s possible that they have ore shortage over there, too, so don’t get your hopes up too much.」
「Okay. Thank you, though.」
I thanked her and took the letter.
After we left the shop, I put my hand on Fina’s head.
「Well then, shall we go to the capital now?」
「Now!?」
「We have the Bear Transfer Gate, so there is no problem.」
「That’s right, but...」
「Is there any problem on your side?」
「Normally, you can’t just go to the capital this casually, you know!」
「Well, good for us, right? Want to go sightseeing around the capital with me?」
We went back to the Bear House and took the Bear Transfer Gate to the capital.
Author’s note:
I’m sorry; this chapter is late because I was writing some side stories.
The book version is now on sale.
I’m really thankful to all of you who brought the book.