Level Eater

After that, Tatsurou hid his suspicions away somewhere in his heart.

The two changed to their nightwear and prepared to sleep.

However, as it was still too early for them, they passed the time by having silly but sometimes interesting conversations as they cuddled together on top of the bed.[1]

Soon enough, they fell asleep, marking the end of their first polar night in this world.

It was about 10 in the morning when Tatsurou finally opened his eyes.

Though they went to bed early, they ended up having a lengthy conversation which kept them way past their usual sleep time.

It’s not like we got anything important to do today, he thought as he squinted his eyes, finally seeing the sun again after more than a day.

Later, after watching Ai’s sleeping face for some time, he gave her a light peck on the cheek before waking her up with Life magic.

Once she was awake, the two changed their clothes and left the inn after some flirting.

“Yeah. It’s the last face,” Tatsurou replied. “It’s beautiful by itself, but there’s also that time when the bottom of the lake reflected the moonlight and just yesterday, the lake itself was glowing. I wonder what we’re gonna see next.”

“Me too. But when you think that there is only one face left, it feels kinda sad, doesn’t it?”

“Well, that’s that.”

Finishing their conversation, the pair decided to grab their breakfast not from the inn but from one of the food carts in the plaza.

Once they’ve reached the plaza, they discussed on where to eat. 

Should we go to the same place as yesterday?

In the end, they decided against it and chose to enter a new store with ‘Fresh Meat’ written on the signboard.

When they walked in, the shopkeeper greeted the two as if they were the shop’s regulars and took their order in delight.

The store stayed true to its sign as the pair had their fill of its menu, leaving it with satisfied smiles. 

“We might have just found our go-to food stall,” said Ai.

“Maybe. They serve a lot for cheap and it even tastes good to boot! If this was in Japan, I’d have gone there every day.”

“Fufu. So you say.”

As they talked about their breakfast, the two headed towards the smithy.

“You here old man?” Tatsurou asked loudly.

“This place ain’t the plaza, kid.”

“He’s awake? Wow…”

“He really is awake!”

The first impression they had of him was still deeply ingrained in their minds, making them think he was a sleepyhead through and through.

Seeing them surprised at what should have been an ordinary sight, the blacksmith sighed. “You two, do you think I just lay around somewhere snoring all day?”

“Kinda.” “Yes.”

“Didn’t even need to think huh? I always do things that I got to do you fools!”

““Really?””

“Yeah. What d’you think? I’m great, aren’t I?”

““Sure…””

“Hey! Where’s your respect and appreciation! Even though I’m this old, my heart made of glass could still easily break you know!”

““You say…””

“Can I cry outside for a minute?”

““Nope.””

“You two… you’re that close, huh?”

An old man’s heart is a delicate thing… he grumbled.

However the two didn’t come here to act out a comedy skit with him.

Without wasting a single second more, Ai dived right into the  topic.

“So… where’s the goods?”

“Goods? If you’re asking about yesterday’s talk, then I got them upstairs.”

“Then shall we take a closer look?”

Unable to understand Ai’s underground smuggler slang, the blacksmith turned to Tatsurou and asked, “Hey kid, what’s wrong with your girl here?”

“Please don’t mind her. She’s just going with the flow,” Tatsurou, who was finding it too troublesome to explain, just left it as that.

The old man, taking it as ‘it’s fine, nothing special,’ muttered, “alright…” and led them upstairs.

The second floor seemed to be the smithy’s warehouse.

On one side, swords and spears were laid for show while the other partitions displayed various items.

“Wow! you got this much… Why not start a business with them?”

“I already did, you brat!”

“Oh… right, right.”

“Hey… I might cry for real next time, y’know? I’ll scream everything out at you!”

Hearing him cry out exasperated, the two met eyes and mutually understood, let’s keep it down for now.

“So where is it?”

“Swords are popular so I have some of them. There they are,” the smith said, pointing at a table.

Their eyes followed and saw three swords resting atop the table in the middle of the room.

“Eh? Just swords?”

“Why… Ain’t you a swordster?”[2]

“Eh? Not really, no.”

“HA? Why were you using a sword then?”

Seeing a giant question mark appear in the middle of the two, Tatsurou cut into their conversation.

“I know it’s not my place to say anything but we have some circumstances. Can you show us some other weapons as well?”

“What circumstances are… Well, it’s none of my business.”

Though there was still some confusion left on his face, the blacksmith got to work and took out the different types of weapons he had in store. Not understanding what just happened, Ai tilted her head and sent Tatsurou a telepathic message.

{What’s with him earlier?}

{Did you already forget that we’re kind of oddballs in this world?}

{Oh… I guess so…}

If the people of this world tried to do as they did, spending SP on various skills, they would run out of SP at some point and be nothing but a half-baked replica or not even at that level at all. 

And for that exact reason, it was common knowledge for one to only take up a single profession and put their all into it.

Hence, hearing that Ai had just broken a sword, the smith assumed that she was a swordster and thus the misunderstanding.

Realising that, Ai gazed towards the smith’s swords of choice.

“Old man, can I take a look at these now?”

“Huh? You do that. Just don’t break ‘em okay?”

“Got it!”

Having obtained his permission, the two of them started going over the swords.

First up was the one on the left. It had a similar color to a pure iron sword but had a smoother texture to it instead. Wielding it, Ai found it lighter than her previous sword, to the point where even Tatsurou could swing it around.

Next was the one on the right. This one had a solid white color from the hilt to the tip of its two-meter blade. It was a greatsword much heavier than Ai’s previous sword, giving her the impression that it was more durable.

And lastly, the sword in the center.

“It looks kinda amazing, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Looks more like an ornament than a weapon, really.”

From the hilt to the blade, everything was made from a material closely resembling an emerald – a gemstone gleaming with green light.

It was a double-edged sword with a blade measuring one meter long. Picking it up, Ai felt that its weight lay somewhere between the other two swords.

“It feels great on the hand. I could get used to this…”

“Looks overpriced, though.”

“Oh, did that catch your eye, kid?” The blacksmith said upon seeing her with the sword in hand. He then slowly walked over with various weapons in a push cart.

Placing them all on top of the table, he let out an exhausted sigh before finally looking at the two again.

“What do you mean by that? Is this some kind of bad apple?”

“You could call it that but that’s mostly because of the price. That and the sword is a real deal even if you compare it to what any other smith in town could offer.”

“Price? How much are we talking about?”

“Hundred mil, twenty grand. Nothing less.”

“What?” “Wow…”

Tatsurou and Ai were stunned. 

Never had they expected it to be that expensive. They thought that it’d be in the ten-thousands at best. 

“That’s pretty much the only reason it wouldn’t sell. But I tell you, this thing is made of pure holy verde. Nothing’s better than that when it comes to handling Ki,” the smith explained. “Doesn’t matter how much of a Ki monster you are li’l girl, this thing won’t crack!”

“Sounds great. Can I try using Ki on it then?”

“Go ahead but please, don’t dump in all of your Ki at once! That thing is the most expensive one out of my old man’s legacy so treat it like a princess.”

Nodding at his words, Ai began to gather the Ki in her body. While she did so, Tatsurou asked the blacksmith, “So… did your father make that one?”

“My father is one of them, to be exact,” he replied.

When the blacksmith said that, Ai was already done with gathering her Ki and was directing it into the sword. The sword shined from green to blue, blue to purple, then to red, to silver,  white and finally, an ever-changing color.

“Wow…” “Beautiful…”

“Oi oi… Are you for real? I haven’t heard of this sword being able to do that multi-color thing…” The blacksmith muttered. “No wonder your iron sword turned into scrap.”

As they all expressed their personal thoughts, Ai started to slowly withdraw her Ki from the sword. Losing its energy, the sword reverted back to the previous colors one by one until it was finally green again.

“So, yeah, looks like I can go all out if it’s with this,” she remarked.

“Alright. It’s a bit expensive but let’s take it anyway,” Tatsurou agreed.

“Take it… can you even pay that much?”

“If you can keep it here by tomorrow, we can somehow pay for it then.”

The smith was wide-mouthed in shock.

After recovering from his daze, he openly frolicked like a child.

 “REALLY? YOU BUYING THAT THING?! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!”

“Wow… We really broke him this time huh?”

“Well, even though it’s an inheritance, he just exchanged something that’s basically rotting in his storeroom into a large amount of money. It’s kinda gross but let him have  it for now.”

“I guess so. Let’s take a look at the other stuff in the meantime.”

Leaving the smith behind, they started to view the other weapons he took out from the store.

Sadly, none of them had the same impact as the gemstone sword, being the equivalent of dirt in comparison.

As Ai scoured through the pile of equipment, she found something that caught her eye.

“Is this a whip?” she asked.

“Looks like it, but it feels like it isn’t…”

The object of interest Ai held in her hands was a black grip attached to one meter of pure white wire, thick enough to securely tie the hands of a macho man.[3]

As they were observing it, the blacksmith finally returned to reality and explained, “Oh, that’s a whip with a thrown weapon attached on the tip. You need both skills to be able to perfectly use that thing. I’m not even sure how to make that thing work.” He then continued with, “don’t even know why my old man made that so don’t ask me.”

“Hmm… Isn’t it a bit too short for a thrown weapon?”

“I know right. If the enemy was just a meter away, punching and short blades would be a much faster option.”

Seeing them dubious of his words, the smith told them about the weapon’s special trait. 

“If you put Ki into that thing, it’ll get thinner and longer. I’ll let you handle it for a bit, so why not try it out?”

“Okay!”

Ai’s eyes gleamed as she answered without a second thought.

TL Notes: 

[1] Remember that a day here is 26 hours. My body clock’s gonna be broken if I was here. (as if it isn’t already…)

[2] I read online that job +ster used to be a job title for females back in the days, so, yep… 

[3] So a rope?

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