Journey

One month has passed 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, assailing them despite the Hellhound. Of course, they only had strength to the point where the one Hellhound 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 nobility."

"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 adamantite?"

"In this world, that's just an alloy of iron."

"Umm, vermilionite?"

"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 titanium and tungsten in our last lives though…"

"A katana be made out of a titanium 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, Japanese 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."

Serge's expertise only went into magic, and now that he had magic, it was hard for him to study systematically. Referencing the magic book he got in the labyrinth, he would ask Lulu and Ria things he didn't know, covering over the scientific knowledge of his previous life.

As expected of someone who loved games, books, and anime in their previous life, even though he knew the charm of Japanese swords, he didn't know much about them.

"I should be able to make make something like carbon based iron, titanium, and chromium…"

Grumbling, Ria returned to making katanas.

 

 

The journey continued smoothly.

Being attacked by demons daily and repelling them each time, their levels increased.

As for whose increased the most, that would be Maal who was skilled in spirit magic.

The enemy was cut up by wind magic, pierced by earth magic, burned by fire magic, and frozen by ice magic.

Fuzzier than the usual organized magics, it was easy to use. Though it was called spirit magic, it was definitely different from magic, and would have been better called a spirit technique.

Serge also became skilled in magic.

Though he originally specialized in space-time and fire magic, he studied physical magic and magic theory from Lulu. His other skills' levels also increased. His Gift of being naturally talented in magic was baring fruits.

"At this rate, there'll be nothing left for me to teach you."

That could also be said for Lulu, her support magic was more effective and progressed faster. Actual experience from combat surpassed everything.

The warriors that made up the front line also had their levels increase. Especially Carlos, becoming familiar with the cursed sword, he could stare at his blade absent-mindedly, becoming closer to the likes of Ria.

Since the warhammer that Gig had been using so far had become light, he had Ria create something that was heavier.

"I didn't think about it when you got it, but genesis magic is convenient."

Even when they fought Cordova's army at the village, they would have been at a handicap if it hadn't been for the large amount of spears. During this journey as well, she'd created many original katanas.

If it wasn't too large, made of magic, or contain complex mechanisms it could be produced.

She replaced the plain coach's axle with one made of metal, attaching a spring turned out to be a big success. Despite being called weapon creation, it seemed to be able to easily make metallic objects accurately.

Even so, Serge said he hadn't realized.

By the way, it took a lot of magical power to produce precious metals. It seemed that the rarer the metal, the more magical power needed to create it. Also for things other than metal like string and leather it took a large amount.

"Even so, we don't need to worry about money anymore. Hey, wouldn't it be a commotion if we don't hide it?"

Though Serge said that, Ria didn't think much about something like that. There were things like mithril and orichalcum, more valuable than gold, that she couldn't create.

When she tried to make gold coins as an experiment, she was easily able to make Casalia's solid gold coins. Even without knowing its composition, she could make it much more easily than katanas.

"If we accumulate money like this, couldn't you get a good katana?"

"If it could be solved with money, I would've done so from the start. There're few blacksmiths that make katanas to begin with."

Casalia's sword was basically a western-style sword. Though they had curved swords too, there were few that could be called katanas.

Even if they had money, there were things they couldn't buy.

"Speaking of katanas in this world, I wonder if there's a country that uses a lot of them?"

Serge didn't know about things like that. Ria had looked into it in the past, but despaired.

"The southern areas mainly. It's something that came over from other continents. Their current katanas aren't actually katanas, but curved swords."

It was said that most of Krasli Kingdom's were handed down from the far east areas. Curved swords had their own good points of course, and to some extent the technology extended into the continent, but its origin was still the southern part of the continent.

"Maybe you could ask a dwarf…"

There were dwarf villages in mountainous regions. Particularly the mountainous regions near Casalia, due to the high quality of ores, there were many dwarves living there.

The dwarves' technology in metallurgy was disproportionate to the other races'. Much of the weapon treasures of Casalia's royal family came from the dwarves' hands.

Despite that, Ria's favorite cross spear wasn't a treasure made by dwarfs, but something she got from extorting her royal father.

There was a dwarf town nearby, but they would have to double back. It was a little troublesome.

"The dwarf city will be after the dark labyrinth. Before that, maybe we should head to Maal's hometown…?"

Saying that, Ria felt a bit lonely. The end of the journey would mean parting with Maal. At the very least, Ria would keep her promise.

"I think it's fine to wait until a bit later…"

Maal spoke from the driver's seat. Serge was sitting next to her as he spoke with Ria.

"I will keep my promise. I won't break it even if the other person says it's fine."

Despite being bought as a slave, in these several months Maal hadn't felt like she was a slave. Even if she was teased, it was like an older sister doing so to a younger sister, you wouldn't think of them as a vassal and princess.

"Ah, I see it."

Serge spoke, cutting into the conversation.

After following the mountain pass' road, at the foot of the steep mountain and on the side of the dark labyrinth was the last town.

Jaeburg. The road's final stop. It had a population of approximately twenty thousand people with the majority depending on the labyrinth to make a living.

You would usually need to come to this city inside a caravan. Small groups heading all the way there like Ria's would be filled with very competent people.

"For now, how about looking for an inn to take a bath?"

The group smiled wryly with Ria's standard question.