Chapter 60 - 58: Forging Upgrade, William II

Chapter 60: Chapter 58: Forging Upgrade, William II

After a moment of thought, Roy quickly made a decision.

’Increase my Forging Skill Level!’

Although he had yet to encounter any Wizards in this world, his intuition told him that a higher-level Forging Skill would make it easier for him to create Demonized Items in the future.

Besides, once he mastered the Forging Skill, he could craft any weapon he wanted to his own specifications.

For example, he could use the bones of the Mutated Four-armed Demon Ape to craft a Bone Sword and Bone Armor that fit his own aesthetic.

Having made his decision, he patiently waited for his dinner.

Before long, a server from the inn brought his dinner over.

After tipping the server a Silver Coin, he began to eat the meal before him.

Based on looks alone, the dinner in front of him wasn’t much better than what he ate at Ice Wolf Castle.

But the taste was better by a long shot.

Judging from what he knew of prices in the Royal Capital, this meal probably cost no less than 50 Silver Coins.

As a family representative summoned for duty, the Royal Family would cover all of his normal expenses within the Royal Capital. To put it simply, his room and board were covered.

As for everything else—like visiting brothels, gambling at casinos, bidding at auction houses, hosting banquets, or buying equipment and Royal Capital specialties—he would have to pay out of his own pocket.

While Roy was savoring his dinner, Allen arrived in the main hall.

Seeing that he was eating, Allen didn’t hesitate and walked straight over to sit down in front of him.

Before Roy could speak, Allen frowned and said, "When you sparred with Miria this afternoon, it wasn’t as simple as just releasing some killing intent, was it?"

Roy put down his knife and fork, took a sip of the wine before him, and slowly said, "Hasn’t she recovered yet?"

"No!" Allen shook his head.

He then continued, "I’ve never seen her so terrified. If I hadn’t witnessed your spar with her this afternoon, just looking at her current state, I would’ve suspected you’d raped her."

Roy frowned, a look of exasperation on his face. "If you don’t know how to describe something, you could just... not."

"I didn’t expect her to turn out like this either. She should be fine in a few days."

’I said that, but I’m not certain if Miria will actually recover in a few days.’

After all, Miria was the first person he had ever used Dragon Mighty on.

"I hope so."

"Anyway, let’s not talk about that. I’m going to see the organization’s director in the Royal Capital later. Do you want to come with me?" Allen continued.

"You’re not accepting any missions, so why are you going to see the director?" Roy asked in return.

Allen didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned and scanned their surroundings.

After confirming that no one else in the hall was paying attention to them, he whispered in a voice only they could hear, "I’m planning to exchange for military supplies."

"Miria and I had originally planned to see the Royal Capital director this morning to exchange some Contribution Points for military supplies."

"But we didn’t expect to run into you in the hall, and then..."

’Exchange for military supplies?’

Roy thought for a moment, then said, "I can understand why Miria would want to exchange for military supplies, but you’re different from her."

"Miria is Baron Snow Fox, while you’re just one of Baron Giant Monster’s sons."

"Unless you’ve already had a showdown with Lord Charles, even if you get the supplies, you won’t be able to send them back to the Giant Monster Domain."

As soon as he finished speaking, Allen replied.

"Of course, I considered all that. So, I discussed it with Miria, and she agreed to let me send the supplies to the Snow Fox Domain first."

Roy sized up Allen for a few seconds, then slowly said, "Sending them over is easy, but getting them back might not be. Do you really trust her that much?"

"I was the one who recommended her to join the Second Son Brotherhood. More importantly... I’m stronger than her!"

Allen looked at Roy with a confident expression.

"I only have 100 Contribution Points. I can’t exchange them for anything, so I won’t go with you," Roy said slowly.

"Alright, then. You can continue with your meal."

With that, Allen stood up, walked toward the inn’s entrance, and disappeared from Roy’s sight.

Not long after Allen left, Roy, having finished his dinner, returned to his room.

He rested on the living room sofa for a moment, then entered Chaos Square. He went to a junk pile and took out the tools and materials needed for Forging.

Then, he carried these tools and materials to another corner and began to set up his own open-air forge.

Soon, he had the forge set up.

Material selection, heating, forging, quenching, tempering, polishing, assembly, and sharpening.

After recalling the steps for forging a Long Sword, Roy didn’t hesitate and immediately began for the night.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG...

The sounds of hammering echoed endlessly within Chaos Square.

What he planned to forge tonight was a standard-pattern Cross Sword. The material he used wasn’t a precious metal like Refined Gold or Mithril, but ordinary Fine Steel.

[Forging Skill Level +3]

[Forging Skill Level +4]

[Forging Skill Level +2]

[Forging Skill Level +5]

...

Unlike Alchemy, where Skill Level only appeared after the refinement process was complete, the Skill Proficiency Panel would occasionally display messages about his Forging Skill Level increasing during the Forging process.

Although the increase was small each time, the rate of improvement wasn’t slow.

When the morning sun bathed the Royal Capital in light, five Cross Swords of varying quality lay before Roy.

These five Cross Swords had increased his Forging Skill Level by more than 200 points.

He played with the five Cross Swords for a moment, then sighed in resignation.

Compared to the Cross Swords used by common soldiers, the quality of these five swords, which he had spent over ten hours forging through the night, wasn’t bad.

But compared to the Cross Sword he normally used, these five were nothing but shoddy products.

Although he hadn’t managed to forge the high-quality Cross Sword he wanted, he wasn’t particularly disappointed.

This was his first time Forging since his skill had reached the introductory level. Achieving this quality was already pretty good.

He stuffed the five Cross Swords into a nearby chest, and with a thought, returned to his room at the inn.

...

「Six days later, in the morning.」

「Royal Palace Square.」

On the vast square, over three thousand fully-armed Official Knights on warhorses, hailing from various Vassal families, were arranged in seven square formations.

In addition to the summoned Knights, Knights belonging to the Royal Family formed another five formations on the square.

Roy, Baron Giant Monster, Allen, and Miria were lined up in a column within one of the Vassal formations.

Their assignments had already been issued.

Baron Giant Monster, who had brought six Official Knights with him, unsurprisingly became a squad leader within the Vassal forces.

Roy and Miria were also assigned to Baron Giant Monster’s squad.

Besides them, an Official Knight from Gel County named Hans Lusby was also assigned to the squad.

The structure of the Vassal forces was simple. From highest to lowest rank, it was legion, division, hundred-man company, and squad.

Ten Official Knights formed a basic squad.

Ten squads formed a hundred-man company.

Five hundred-man companies formed a division.

All units had a unit number.

Take Baron Giant Monster’s squad, for example.

The squad’s number was 346.

To break it down, this designated it as the 6th squad of the 4th hundred-man company within the 3rd division.

Positioned behind Baron Giant Monster, a bored Roy scanned his surroundings.

Miria was behind him.

And behind Miria was Hans Lusby.

As for Allen, he was behind Hans Lusby.

Other than Allen, Miria, and the others he knew, Roy didn’t recognize anyone around him.

The area he was in was mainly composed of squads formed by Official Knights from Gel County.

If he hadn’t reported to the Royal Capital with Baron Giant Monster, the staff from the Ministry of Military Affairs would have assigned him to a squad from Yorkshire, since the Ice Wolf Domain is located there.

「A few minutes later.」

King William II, dressed in a white robe with gold trim and wearing a crown, arrived at the square with the Eldest Prince, the Minister of Military Affairs, the Minister of Finance, and others, and ascended the high platform at the front.

William II wasn’t very old; he was only fifty-three this year.

Perhaps due to being overworked, he already had a good amount of white hair, and his face was lined with noticeable wrinkles.

Sixteen years ago, less than half a year after William II had ascended the throne, the first Tulip War broke out.

In other words, the Tulip Domain was lost under his rule.

After ascending the platform, William II began a passionate, stirring speech under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

Roy had no interest in William II’s speech. He opened the Skill Proficiency Panel, which only he could see, and glanced at his Forging Skill.

[Forging: Tier Two (137/2000)]

...