HTACS 72

Chapter 72

The next day, a visitor came from outside Zefflin.

“Are you His Highness Prince Wolfram von Lohengrin?”

“That’s right, but who are you?”

“It’s an honor to meet you. I am Cotton of the Trista family.”

The man who introduced himself as Cotton handed me a bundle of documents.

The documents were densely filled with the names and prices of ores.

From ordinary stones to Scorching Stones, Thunder Ores, and all sorts of ores. Even already-refined metals were included.

The prices… were lower than I expected. About twice what I paid in the game?

Considering that ores are quite difficult to mine in this world, at this price, they’re practically giving them away. Since the sword I carried out when I was kicked out sold for ten times the game price, a purchase price of twice the original is a huge favor.

Hmm. If I’d known, I would have learned armor or weapon crafting—but soon I shrugged. Unlike Handy Work, blacksmithing requires hammering metal. With Wolfram’s stamina and strength, it’s impossible.

Normally, I’d wait a bit longer to buy ores, but right now I need them immediately.

“Hmm. I’ll write a purchase order right now. It’s troublesome to go back and forth to Zefflin multiple times.”

Zefflin allows students running shops to order ‘external’ goods under special contracts.

But even so, customs is strict and inspections are rigorous, so going back and forth even once is quite a hassle.

So it’s more convenient to order in bulk at once, and I decided to order the metals I needed right now.

Let’s see—light metals with high mana conductivity, and conversely, metals that are just sturdy. …And let’s see.

“I’d like to order these.”

“Understood. I’ll bring the items.”

With that, Cotton bowed and withdrew.

Now then, this time I need to find someone who can do metal processing and… blacksmithing work.

“That’s actually not difficult—they’re quite visibly walking around.”

—

The next day, the three chicks came.

“Ah! Senior! Donuts, please! Donuts!”

“Hello, Wolfram Senior. Do you have donuts?”

The yellow chick and the green chick immediately started asking for donuts, and only the pink chick greeted me properly with a gentle smile.

“Hello, Senior.”

“Hmm. You came as promised.”

“…Yes! Because it’s a promise!”

Mille-feuille beamed as she said that. I roughly shoved donuts into the other two chicks’ mouths and began speaking with Mille-feuille alone.

“I see. It was a promise.”

“Yes, Senior. Hehe. A promise between the two of us.”

Mille-feuille stood with her hands slightly behind her back, leaning forward a little, looking up at me with a gentle smile.

Watching that pink chick, I nodded. This was how my younger siblings at the orphanage felt.

Everyone except Eve feels like a cute younger sibling—so why is my real sister so repulsive and fierce? I pondered the mystery of bloodlines as I stared at the chick.

“Yes. Then let’s fulfill that promise. About how to deal with Gale Strike.”

“Yes!”

“Before that, Mille-feuille von Sabre. I’d like one promise from you.”

“Yes! I’ll make any promise! Anything you say! I feel like I could even keep a lifelong promise!”

“……”

What kind of promise do you think I’m going to make?

Anyway, it’s not that big of a deal.

“Don’t betray me.”

“…Pardon?”

“That’s all. Can you keep it?”

At my words, Mille-feuille became a dazed chick, then nodded with the best possible expression.

“I won’t betray you for life.”

“Then that’s enough.”

“Ah, ah… You believe me?”

“Then is it a lie?”

“Ah, no!”

“Then that’s enough.”

Why make it complicated—I just wanted to hear a clear answer.

“Now, let me explain the plan. Let’s see. Gale Strike is a child of the Strike family, and true to their name, they excel at heavy sword attacks. Slow but heavy.”

“Y-yes…”

“The basic tactic is the same. Use half-berserk to finish it in a short decisive battle.”

“I see. The same tactic as last time…”

“The reason is simple. To defeat a second-ranked student comparable to the grade top with your stats that don’t even reach the first-year average, you must absolutely raise your stats.”

“Yes. That’s right. …Because I’m lacking.”

“Correct. You’re lacking.”

“……Yesss.”

Mille-feuille nodded with unsteady eyes.

“So you need to decide your path one step faster than others. The direction of your life, that is.”

“Path? L-life direction?”

Why did her face suddenly turn bright red?

The pink chick was becoming a red chick, but I didn’t pay it much mind and continued.

“Yes. Which department you’ll choose when you become a second-year. What equipment you’ll use to earn your Zefflin diploma.”

“Ah, aha. That’s what you meant. ………Hmm. I think it’ll be the Knight Department. Since I have no aptitude for mana.”

“Right. And what about the skill or equipment you’ll focus on until your fourth year?”

“……Ah.”

“Low stats mean you need to choose and focus that much faster.”

If you lack talent, you must choose and focus.

“W-well, actually, I’ve thought about it.”

“Is that so?”

Unexpected.

She’d thought that deeply about her own path?

“Yes. I thought magic would be difficult with my low base stats. And since my stats are low overall… I felt anything I tried would be mediocre, so I really agonized over it.”

“Go on.”

“That’s why I want to take the straightforward approach. A combination of one-handed sword and shield to balance offense and defense. I thought that in times like this, relying on shallow tricks would just collapse…”

“……Ha.”

“U-uh, is that bad?”

Bad? It was the most perfect answer I could have hoped for.

“Excellent. Mille-feuille von Sabre.”

“…P-pardon?”

“This is enough to make me feel that Zefflin’s stat system is flawed. Because ‘Intelligence’ isn’t included in the stats. It’s a smart choice.”

Zefflin’s—or rather, D/Z SAGA’s—stats are only five: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Mana, Willpower. Nowhere is there an ‘Intelligence’ stat. But it clearly exists.

And in my opinion… this chick has quite high intelligence.

Not resorting to shallow tricks, recognizing her shortcomings, and taking the straightforward approach. It’s hard to say it’s the best, but it’s a choice that matches the chick’s straight conviction.

“Good. Then let’s add just one more thing.”

“Just one?”

“With your stats, you’ll get tired holding a shield and might drop your sword. You know that, right?”

“Y-yes…”

“So let’s decide on just one combat method you can use in such life-or-death situations.”

“Ah, aha… Yes! I’ll follow you, Senior!”

“Good. Then let’s start training now.”

“U-uh… Senior, you’re going to teach me personally?”

“Hm?”

“I see… Just the two of us, training. Ehe… Hehe… Just the two of us.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

“……Pardon?”

It’s about time. I heard the wheels of the Wolfs Rail outside the convenience store, the carriage door opened, and with a *clack clack*—she appeared.

“Wolfram, I’m here!”

“Hmm. You came.”

“Yes! It’s a request from Wolfram, so of course I had to come!”

“…U-uh, Senior Ayla?”

“Peep-peep, long time no see! You’re still cute!”

Ayla smiled and smoothly approached me… and then placed her hand on Mille-feuille’s shoulder.

“So, now I’m to teach Peep-peep, right?”

“Hmm. I’ll leave it to you.”

“…U-uh, Senior Ayla is going to teach me?”

“That’s right! Wolfram specially asked me to take charge of Peep-peep’s special training!”

“Hmm. So, you two work well together.”

“Y-yes… I see. So it’s Senior Ayla, not Senior Wolfram.”

Mille-feuille made the face of a displaced independence fighter again.

Didn’t Ayla and Nephti teach her last time too when she fought Kelterus?

Is training really that tough?

“Now, let’s go.”

“…Yesss.”

With that, Ayla kidnapped the chick and disappeared.

The remaining two chicks, who had finished their donuts and were staring blankly, spoke up.

“Yogurt! Mille-feuille got kidnapped?!”

“I-I saw it too. Isn’t that Senior Ayla Trista, the third-year top student?”

“M-Mille-feuille… What do we do? Should we rescue her?”

“Are you confident? I… I don’t think I can rescue Mille-feuille.”

“Did he give us such delicious donuts from the start to fatten us up and eat us…?”

“Vanilla, did you gain weight?”

“About 2 kilos… You?”

“……No comment.”

“Ah, that’s cheating!”

They’re really noisy.

“Hey, you two chicks. …No, the yellow chick. Yes, you. The dwarf. Come here.”

“I-I think Yogurt would fetch a higher price than me, Senior!”

“Come on, Vanilla. Senior Wolfram is calling you. Senior Wolfram, can I offer Vanilla as a sacrifice and go back?”

“No. You stay and listen too. This concerns that pink chick.”

At that, the two colorful chicks, who had just been half-jokingly worrying about the kidnapped pink one, approached with serious expressions.

“Is it for Mille-feuille?”

“Yes. To be precise—yellow chick. …Vanilla.”

“Y-yess!”

Vanilla stiffened with tension.

If raised, these chicks can reach 3-tier, but that’s only for combat—especially Vanilla, who could even aim for upper 2-tier depending on her trait.

That trait is ‘Blacksmith.’

Vanilla.

To be precise, ‘Vanilla, third daughter of the Fire Clan Elder.’

Among the very early companions, she’s one of the few with outstanding talent specifically for blacksmithing.

Of course, she falls short of those with titles like “God’s Hands” or “White Smith,” but she’s worth raising all the way to the late game.

“You have blacksmithing skills, don’t you?”

“Hmm? Blacksmithing? Yes, well, I’m a dwarf, after all. I used to swing a hammer a bit before enrolling, I suppose?”

“Then, can you make one piece of equipment for Mille-feuille? I’ll supply the ores.”

“……For Mille-feuille?”

“Yes. I’ll design the blueprint myself.”

“Understood! I’m a dwarf who can give it my all for a friend!”

The yellow chick smiled brightly and nodded.

“Then since it’s for a friend, you won’t charge for the crafting, right?”

“…Huh?”

—

Having received ores and blueprints from Wolfram von Lohengrin, Vanilla immediately rented a workshop and holed up inside.

“Wow. He thought of all this. What a fun senior.”

Vanilla tied her hair tightly into a ponytail, dressed a bit roughly, and gripped her blacksmith’s hammer.

Soon, the hammer began to heat up.

This is the trait of the dwarves—and specifically, the Fire Clan.

Normally, a human blacksmith would need a furnace and bellows, but she can heat her hammer with her own power and use it to strike and shape metal.

This alone is tremendous talent for a blacksmith, and she could establish a position within her clan—but instead of living that way among the dwarf elders back home, she aimed for Zefflin with ‘Youth!’ ‘Friendship!’ ‘Actually having fun!’ as her goals.

And Vanilla, who hadn’t held a hammer in a while, picked it up again for her friend.

“What a fun piece of equipment. Hmm… Maybe making it will be enjoyable too!”

If she’d been told to just make swords and armor, she might have hesitated—but this actually looked fun.

And more than anything, Wolfram’s words stirred her heart.

‘Senior. This might be more valuable equipment than you think? Can you just hand over a blueprint like this?’

‘It’s nothing special.’

‘I might even patent this, you know?’

‘Mille-feuille said she wouldn’t betray me. What about you?’

‘…I don’t have any intention of betraying anyone either.’

‘Then that’s enough. Make it for your friend.’

‘…Yes.’

He’s more fun than I thought, makes delicious food, and is a good person.

Vanilla knew that Mille-feuille had feelings for him, but she had only thought of Wolfram von Lohengrin as “that fairly good-looking senior who makes tasty donuts.” Now she revised her evaluation upward.

“I hope Mille-feuille and Senior work out.”

Hehehe. Laughing like that, Vanilla raised her hammer.

*Clang. Clang, clang.* The rhythmic hammering sounded—and after three strikes, Vanilla looked at the blueprint again and tilted her head as if something had occurred to her.

“…Come to think of it,”

The item in the blueprint was a gauntlet.

“Didn’t he say this is for Mille-feuille?”

And if it can strike someone’s head—

A gauntlet thick enough that Mille-feuille would call it *’KWAANG!’*