Although It's The Weakest An Unprofitable Occupation,『Blacksmith』, Has Become The Strongest. ~Realized He Can Make Anything He Wants, The Man Started His Leisurely Life~ Chapter 18

TL: NyX
ED: Onihikage

Enjoy~

Chapter 18 – Adventure Together

It seems I'm officially a furniture craftsman.

Klusan asked her teacher about it and repeated to me what he told her. There is a long and difficult path to becoming a furniture craftsman, etcetera. I lost a lot of time listening to it all.

They told me I could make anything I wanted later and it wouldn't be a problem. However, there was one thing I needed to watch out for: the maker's mark. Specifically, I shouldn't copy an original piece that has such a mark.

It seems that reproducing those and selling them could cause problems. It's not legally punishable, but it would be difficult to remain a craftsman of the guild if I were to do that.

…That was close. There might be something like that among the furniture I've already copied. I have to be careful from now on.

Of course, there seemed to be no problem with remodeling a piece for private use. Klusan told me as much.

Come to think of it, I wonder if Klusan started her sales by now. We already fulfilled the production order.

This time, I'd only recreated products that were already designated for ma.s.s production. Compared to the original, the price wasn't high at all, but I still needed to prepare a significant number of them.

The rest would depend on Klusan's capabilities.

Regarding the contract between me and Klusan, it was only set for one year. This was so that if our relationship had soured by the end of it, we could just let it expire.

For this reason, merchants almost never cancel their contracts. As you could see from the distribution of the rewards, the craftsmen were in a better position.

In the present, I glanced over at Mear-san.

She was pretty disappointing at first, but she'd started doing good work by that point. The tutoring for the other newcomer was also going well. Like Mear-san, she was a pretty girl, and earnestly listened to her instructions.

If I mentor that newbie properly, I could reduce my workload in the future.

Then Oji-san came over to me, guessing at what I was thinking with a whisper.

「Oy, Relius. You're checking out the newcomers, aren't you?」
「…It's not like I'm checking them out, it's just that recently you've only been hiring pretty girls, what's going on?」
「No, it's nothing like that. Well, recently we've been getting quite a lot of applicants. I was just thinking that it would be better to have pretty girls around. Even you can agree with that, right?」
「Well, yeah, but…」

We were men, after all.

Yep, Oji-san nodded with satisfaction.

It might be a good idea to report this to Obsan later.

At the end of the workday, I was cleaning the quiet cafeteria. Mear-san was on late shift that day, so she was there with me.

「…Relius, do you have a minute?」
「What's up, Mear-san?」
「I, uh, I have something to talk to you about. Can you spare some time later?」
「Alright, no problem.」

Mear-san smiled happily when I agreed.

What's this about?

Once we finished cleaning, the workday was over. I changed out of my uniform and left it in my room so I could put it back on for the morning shift.

Mear-san showed up when I was relaxing in the waiting room, having also changed into a simple outfit. She rents a room at this inn, so she can sleep upstairs anytime.

She put some armor down next to her.

Oh yeah, Mear-san was also an adventurer.

The armor was the type that only covers vital areas.

Mear-san looked at me while I tried to check the rank and materials of her equipment with my eyes.

「I'm sorry to bother you.」
「It's not a problem, what did you want to talk about?」
「Oh… um――I saw it the other day, but, is Relius an adventurer!?」

Mear-san finally blurted out the question.

…I forgot I never actually told anyone I'm doing an adventurer thing on the side. Well, Oji-san and Obsan probably already guessed as much.

「How did you notice?」
「When you came back to the inn, I saw you holding a weapon.」
「Oh, that was it.」

Was that what she wanted to talk about?

Mear-san scratched her head in a shy manner.

「So it's true. Uh―m… w-would you like to form a PAAARTYY with me?」
「….. I see, that's what it was.」

Come on, take back that feeling that made my heart skip a beat! I totally thought she was gonna confess, but of course there's no way it would turn out like that.

「Ah! W-well about that… I'm really not that strong, you know.」
「Me neither, I've only fought goblins so far, are you okay with that?」
「It's alright! Let's go together next time!」
「O-okay, I understand. Shall we go when our days off line up?」
「Aah! Yes!」

Mear-san was smiling happily. She looked older and more mature than me, but she kind of acted like a kid just then.

「Well then, until next time… please treat me well…」

She bowed her head with a *pekori*¹, and her dog ears went down together.

…though the ears and tail were shaking happily.

「I will.」

While I watched Mear-san leave, I looked at her equipment again. Apparently, all of it has bad skills.

Muscle Strength Reduction and Agility Reduction… is she wearing those on purpose?

Let's talk about it in detail when we go adventuring.

TLN: ¹ – action of quickly bowing or lowering one's head.