Chapter 34 (1/2)

Journey

One month has pa.s.sed since the fight with the Cordova army.

Ria and the rest of her group were heading to the city nearest the Dark Labyrinth, Jaeburg.

They’d left the village half a month after the fight ended. Fortunately, none of the injured villagers died. It could be called a complete victory.

Although the village chief still looked anxious, they knew they couldn’t stay there forever. So after a month of not receiving any news, something was probably being dealt with in Cordova. The person responsible was dead.

The journey couldn’t be called safe.

Bandits were in the mountainous area, a.s.sailing them despite the h.e.l.lhound. Of course, they only had strength to the point where the one h.e.l.lhound could take them out.

They lacked the fighting strength to attack the four mages that were also in the party. Ria mercilessly beheaded the bandits that were pleading for their lives.

Apart from Ria killing the pleading bandits in the fight, there was nothing for Serge and Maal to do at all.

“Ojou, it’s fine even if you don’t dirty your hands you know?”

Though when Carlos said that, Ria gave a wry smile.

“To dirty your own hands, I think that’s the fate of n.o.bility.”

“That’s…”

“Besides, Carlos.”

This time, Ria spoke with a real smile.

“For me, it seems I like to kill people.”

Carlos was speechless.

“Don’t worry. When I kill, I won’t kill anyone other than those who deserve death.”

When he realized she was speaking seriously, Carlos felt cold sweat on his back.

Ria doted on her literal cat, Maal.

Fearing that her comrades would be hurt, Ria fought alone.

Angry at the slave hunters, Ria tried to help even after knowing the danger.

That is, she liked killing people.

She probably wanted to keep it to herself. However, Carlos wouldn’t consent to it and talked to Lulu.

Needless to say, Lulu had known Ria the longest of them. And therefore could be said to be the closest to Ria’s true nature.

After thinking for a while, Lulu sighed.

“You probably don’t need to be concerned about Ria. Besides, she would absolutely never raise her hand against a harmless person.”

“Concerned, is it?”

“You too, weren’t you reluctant to kill them after losing their will to fight even though they were bandits?”

That certainly was the case, Carlos scratched his head.

Though it had become a bit of a good story, honestly, the reason why Ria killed those people was much simpler.

She was trying out her new blade.

“Muu… the blade was chipped just from being tested… Not good enough.”

As for what Ria tried out, it was what she created by picturing and making a katana from an even older period than Nagasone Kotetsu.

She didn’t particularly know much of the manufacturing process of the old katanas from her previous life. To begin with, even the refinement method of the iron was a complete mystery.

Though the time period was different from Nagasone Kotetstu’s, the katana actually felt like an extension of her hand, it was properly created.

“So, do you have any hints?”

This time, Ria wasn’t consulting Carlos or Lulu, but Serge.

“No, though they were in things like games and manga, I don’t know much about katanas.”

Though he knew he was being seriously consulted, he was a bit troubled.

“Usually, materials used for weapons production is oricalchum or mithril.”

Oricalchum and mithril were both magic metals. The genesis magic Ria had couldn’t produce those materials.

“How about adamant.i.te?”

“In this world, that’s just an alloy of iron.”

“Umm, vermilionite?” [1]

“Still a bit softer than mithril. It’s fine if it’s imbued with magic though.”

“Nothing else is coming to mind… There were things like t.i.tanium and tungsten in our last lives though…”

“A katana be made out of a t.i.tanium and iron alloy in the first place.”

“That so? I thought they could only be made out of iron.”

Unexpectedly, even Serge didn’t know that, but that might be ordinary. Even among swordsmen, apart from the sword’s quality, few were particular about the materials used.

“Well yeah, basically, j.a.panese swords could be made from steel. This steel is carbon steel, harder than iron. The carbon content changes the hardness—”

“Ah, hold up! I won’t get it even if you speak technical things.”