Well here is part two of three! Im happy to see that people are still interested in this story despite the long wait, so thanks for that! This part is the smallest of the three, unfortunately given part 3s size and my own laziness I'm delaying 3 and 4 until they're finished, which shouldn't be too long, I hope.
Enjoy the chapter!
I don't own the Overlord(オーバーロードŌbārōdo?) Light novel, manga or anime series created by Kugane Maruyama.
I do not own the Rising of the shield hero (Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari) Light novel, manga or Anime series created by Aneko Yusagi.
Chapter 7
Melromarch, castle town
In the dark, early hours of the morning, the party of two - under the effects of [Mass invisibility] - found themselves walking through Melromarch's castle town, heading to their current objective: a relatively well known blacksmiths shop.
"Do you think he finished it in time?" Asked the beautiful tanuki girl beside him with a curious smile.
"I hope not, it will mean I owe him a lot of money..." the Overlord replied as he continued walking, not bothering to turn to the conversation.
"But we have a lot of money now, can't we spare a little?" She replied with a wry smile.
"Just because we have the money does not mean I want to spend it."
"Then why make a bet in the first place?"
Ainz said nothing more and kept silently walking, leaving the girl with a small, teasing smile as she walked beside him.
When they reached the front of the shop, Ainz stopped and turned to the girl. "I needed to incentivise him. That metal is from my world and is very rare; its properties make it extremely resistant to heat which in turn makes it very hard to forge. I once gave something similar to a dwarf known for being the best blacksmith in the region. Do you want to know what happened to him?"
"What?" She asked the obvious, a little surprised by his question.
"He abandoned his post, taking the ingots I gave him and ran away. Years later, some subordinates of mine found him, mad and raving about how cold it was as the ingots sat in his hand."
"What happened to him? The dwarf?"
"When my subordinate took them out of his hands he attacked them and died not long after."
"Oh, that's... sad." She stated, slumping her shoulders and looking down.
"It was, his Family mourned his loss and the Dwarven nation lost a great Smith."
"And how did you feel about it?"
"Nothing, but pity, mostly. I lost the ability to feel strong emotions long ago." Ainz replied flatly, opening the door of the shop and stepping inside.
"So did you give them to Erhard knowing he would go mad too?" The girl asked with a worried voice, following him in.
"Initially, no. Any worry I had of him suffering the same fate as the dwarve left when he was able to heat the ingots. It meant he met the prerequisites to work the metal." Said Ainz as he dispelled the invisibility.
"Awe, it's great to know you had so much faith in me." The tall man stated with a sarcastic tone, standing behind the wooden counter at the other end of the room.
"Were you able to complete it?" The girl asked with a bright smile, quickly moving past Ainz.
"I was…" the blacksmith nodded, crossing his arms in a displeased fashion. "But it cost me more than I felt it was worth."
"How so?" Asked the Overlord, walking closer to the counter.
"Where do I even start... First, I had to hire a set of flame and wind mages to even be able to create a flame with enough heat to get the damn things hot and malleable. Then take into account their rates, and the fact that my magically enchanted forge started to melt in the process; I'm sure you can see why it cost so much!"
"Why do I suddenly feel like I've just driven myself into economical ruin?" "My apologies for your loss, may I see it?"
"Suzuki, don't be so insensitive." The girl exclaimed with a commanding tone.
"Don't worry about it kid, I was just letting off a bit of steam." Erhard said, relaxing and waving the concern away. He bent down slightly and picked up an item hidden behind a white sheet and placed it down on the flat of the counter. "You know, despite what I said, I'm happy I got to work on this. It's not everyday you get to work with metal from another world."
Ainz nodded. "So, what else did you do to it? I'm sure you didn't just leave it as a piece of metal."
"I'm glad you asked! Because this metal was so strong I was able to place a large number of enhancements on it. Wanna take a look?"
"Of course." The Overlord nodded, uncovering the shield and picking it up with his left hand. "Is it lighter than I expected?"
"Yes, I'll get to that in a minute… as you can see I did as you asked and made its design similar to your armor, specifically your pauldrons, it's dual layered scale design allowed me to add sharp edge to the overhang like a shavers blade; it's sharp enough to cleanly go through lightly armored targets and should be able to cut through most monster hides."
"That's an odd design for a shield…" the girl commented.
"Yeah I know, but I was inspired and couldn't help it."
"Next?" asked Ainz.
"Next are the enchantments. I'll let you appraise it in your own time, for now I'll name the most apparent ones. First I've added {Air Wake} to reduce its weight considerably. The second enchantment is {Growing Power}, it increases the stats of the item in proportion to the stats of the wielder's opponent, to a point. Last but not least is {Durable}. It's similar to Growing power in the sense that its durability grows with the user."
"Those are some interesting effects."Ainz said out loud while, thanking his emotional suppressor for keeping him calm. "Those enchantments are outright broken! If I had them back in Yggdrasil, soloing a raid boss would have been easy."
"Raphtalia could you equip this for a moment, I'd like to test something." Ainz asked, holding the shield out for the girl.
She took the shield and held it close to her chest. "It's so light." she thought then looked at Ainz with determination. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"No, just stay like that. I am going to remove you from the party for a moment then do something you will not like. Be prepared, it will happen quickly." the Overlord replied, quickly moving through his menu.
When he received a notification that Raphtalia had left he looked into her worried eyes. "Are you ready?" He asked. She gave a slow nod not really understanding why he was asking her to prepare, was he going to attack?
Having received confirmation, the Overlord turned his passive [Aura of Despair 1] on momentarily, turning it off just as quickly. It was only an instant but it was enough for the living occupants of the room - and anyone around - to go on edge, like the entire world had suddenly turned into an abyss of pure darkness.
The blacksmith took a step back, his instincts from his days as an adventurer, spurring him into grabbing his Warhammer from a wrack behind the counter. "What the hell was that?" He asked with anger.
Raphtalia on the other hand had begun to shiver behind the shield, eyes closed in fear, her body locked in place and pailed.
Ainz turned to acknowledge the blacksmith. "It was a wave of what you would call killing intent; that would be the easiest thing to compare it to. You said the item' stats would scale off the opponent of the wielder, this was the quickest way of testing it. Now would please be so kind as to let go of the weapon I don't actually want to fight you." He explained, turned back to the girl holding out his arm. A small green magic circle appeared just a few inches from his palm, rotating slowly with an inaudible hum.
Erhard did as suggested, letting go of his prized weapon and moved back to observe the spell that was being cast. Worried for the girl as she had yet to move.
[All Appraisal Magic Item] after the incantation information flooded into the Mind of Ainz giving him a full readout of its stats and abilities.
Yggdrasil Appraisal
Starblade Shield (Hybrid item)
Item class: Legendary (variable)
+40 magic resist (variable)
+50 physical resist (variable)
+80 fire resist (variable)
Special abilities
[Star flash] (Available for Relic class and above) - Releases a flash of heat that scales with the user' magical attack.
[Cutting edge] - Applies a bleeding effect to an opponent that lasts for 10 seconds or until the opponent dies. Scales with physical defence.
Enchantments
{Autonomous repair} - effect unknown
{Self cleaning} - effect unknown
{Air wake} - effect unknown
{Growing power} - effect unknown
{Durable}(variable) - effect unknown
{Defence up} (variable) - effect unknown
{Hp recovery} (small) - effect unknown
{Magic up} (small) - effect unknown
"It's a Legendary class item! Hmm, I feel like I've been insulted somehow, maybe if I used Urru nextime... everything else is… I'm so confused, why does it scale with defence?"
"Is she alright?" asked the blacksmith, still looking at the girl with concern.
"N-no." She whispered almost inaudibly.
Ainz walked over and kneeled down in front of her, placing his left hand upon her shoulder. "I did tell you to prepare." He said unapologetically.
"Prepare for what? I didn't know you were going to do that! I thought you were going to punch it or something?"
"That likely would have killed you…"
"Hmm." She pouted. "Just don't do it to me again!"
"Or me, I'm not working with you again if you do." Erhard threatened with a firm expression, crossing his arms.
"Noted." He said, trying to move on. "So, what has the final cost come to, including the wager?"
"Including the bet?" The blacksmith paused and pondered for a second. "Around two hundred gold pieces."
"Two hundred?!" The duo exclaimed in unison.
"How have you come to that conclusion if you don't mind me asking? It's much more than I expected." asked Ainz as his suppressor triggered.
"My new forge will cost at minimum one hundred and fifty, plus the hours spent working day and night, plus the rates of the mage's and finally the wager itself. It all adds up and if I remember right, one of the conditions you agreed to was, you would pay for forging costs."
Raphtalia looked at Ainz with a judging expression, one that seemed to ask "You didn't?" Unfortunately, he did.
"You are going to pay up right?"
"I always do, though I believe this will take some time to pay off. Instead, would you be willing to accept a trade item worth two hundred gold?" asked the Overlord.
"I doubt you are going to sell me your armor..."
"No," Ainz stated in cold denial. "When I was transported to this world I brought some items with me, I often used them as barter in foreign lands in case my currency wasn't accepted."
"That's smart. But It really depends on what it is and how much it's worth since I'm the one that is going to have to sell the damn thing."
Ainz nodded and reached into his inventory - not bothering to hide it - and pulled out a longsword with a dark blue blade, four brightly glowing runes stretching from one end of the polished green guard to the other. "Perhaps you will find this adequate?" he asked, placing it down on the counter.
"Sure looks fancy… where did you get it?"
"I was given it by the king of my country." He replied with a prideful tone. Technically it wasn't a lie, he often gave some of these same swords to Pandora - as Momon - when he went on long missions to distant places. During these jobs he was ordered to sell or show them to people of power, lending credit to the Sorcerous kingdom as a producer of the Lost art of Runecraft™.
The sword was one of many mass productions, made of adamantite for the blade, oricalcum for the guard and hilt with a platinum pommel and tanned bargast hide for the grip.
They were mostly meant as decorative items, so, while they could be used in real combat they were not meant to be and the runes applied to it reflected their intended purpose. They were all lesser runes. Air for lightness, Stone for durability, Water for cleanliness and Light to give it a glow that would make it seem, to the untrained eye, worth more than it actually was.
"Won't your king be mad if you use that sword for something like this?" asked the girl looking the sword up and down.
Ainz turned his head to address her. "No. I have absolute autonomy with regards to financial decisions like these."
"What was your job? I don't think I've asked you before." Raphtalia inquired, turning her head to regard him with an inquisitive look.
"I am - was an adventurer, I took jobs from the adventures guild or more often than not my King. They took me all over the world, interacting with previously unknown civilizations and the monsters that would actively try to destroy them."
"Does that mean you were like one of the heroes in your world?"
"Not in the way you would use the term 'hero',but yes, something like that."
"Speaking of… I don't want to sound impatient with you two, but I opened up early so we could do this and we're getting close to opening time; suns coming up." Erhard pointed to one of the windows at the other end of the shop.
"Yes, we should hurry, there are other places we need to be." Ainz said, turning his head to the window to acknowledge the smith's point, then back to him and placed the longsword on the counter.
The blacksmith held his hand over the sword and whispered an incantation, a moment later his expression widened briefly then settled into a contemplative look. "This sword is... risky."
Before Ainz could inquire as to his meaning the girl spoke up. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"It's worth a decent amount of what you owe me, but that means I still have to sell it to someone in order to get the money out of it. The people who have that kind of money are either Nobles or high merchants."
"Hmm, I suppose I should have considered that… How long do you believe it will take to find a buyer for the sword?"
"I don't know man, it could take anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks. If I used the fact that it's from another world; that could speed the sale up a bit, though at this price point, not much." the blacksmith explained.
"I see, then if you don't have a problem with it i'll leave the shield here until you find a buyer for the sword. It is only fare, and my current financials are lacking for something like this, I only have ten gold and a handful of silvers to my name."
"Our name..." Raphtalia huffed.
Erhard closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. "It'll be rough, I won't be able to take custom orders until it's sold, but I'll get by."
"Suzuki?" the girl asked, exaggerating his name.
"Yes?" the Overlord returned, wondering where she was taking this.
"Why don't you make him a forge with your magic? I know you can do it." she stated with a smug smirk, like she was daring him to do it.
"I could, but it would only be temporary and its durability would be extremely limited."
"So? It's the least you could do."
Erhard looked at the two with a dumbfounded expression. "What do you mean "make me a forge"?"
Ainz let out an exhausted sigh, dipping his head slightly. "I will have to show you, it seems. Could you guide me to your forge area?"
Erhard looked at the shield hero with a sceptical look, then began to move. "This way." he said, flipping the green curtain over his shoulder.
Ainz and Raphtalia entered the back section of the shop, on the left loose crates of weapons and armor piled on top of one another on either side of a degrading wooden door. On the right was the forge. Its condition was just pitiable, effectively reduced to a solidified pile of molten rock with a smoldering pile of ash at its center.
"Wow." The girl remarked. "Where did you get metal that could do this?" she pointed to the sad pile.
"The lava fields of the Azerlisia Mountains." Ainz replied in a bored tone, the real lore behind the metal was much more interesting. "Star Silver is formed inside the Demon star of Muspelheim. This metal made its way, atom by atom out of the core of the star over the course of billions of years until it eventually clumped together and fell to the hell world below... At Least that's how I think it went."
"Lava fields? Well that explains why it was so damn hard to heat, especially if it was naturally tempered over time." Erhard stated with a thoughtful expression.
"Well, we did actually find different metal down there, but it turned out to be just a more resilient form of Adamantite."
"So what was it you wanted to show me?"
"This." Ainz stepped forward and held out his hand, pointing directly at the destroyed forge. [Silent: Break greater item] thin lines of glowing green began to creep their way around the forge until it shattered like a piece of glass, particles starting to drift off into the ether.
"Whoa… well at least now I don't have to worry about paying someone to remove it-"
"I'm not finished. [Silent: Create greater item]" A bright, shimmering light filled the dark room for a moment and in the place of the destroyed forge was a new one made of thick black stone. "I was unsure of the design you wanted so I simply copied one from my world."
"I see," the blacksmith said slowly. "So… why did you need me to create the shield when you could have just done this?" the blacksmith asked with an agitated tone.
Ainz shook his head. "Items created with magic are much weaker than the real thing, if you require an example..."
"Na, that won't be necessary, I believe you. I just wanted to make sure that was the case, you know, since your metal broke my stuff."
"*Cough* anyway, you should be able to work with some normality until you acquire a new forge. This is only a temporary measure."
"Great! Now that we fixed it, maybe we could take the shield with us, Beloukas said to prepare for a long trip. We might need it. And I want to try using a shield." The girl exclaimed excitedly with bright eyes and a wagging tail.
"No we ar-"
"It's fine, take it, call it a field test." the blacksmith waved dismissively. "You supplied a temporary fix and even if I never see you guys again, I'll make enough money off that sword to be fine in the long run."
"I see, you have my thanks." Ainz replied.
"That's great! Also, don't worry, even if I have to force him, we will come back here."
"That is good to hear." Erhard said, lightly patting the head of the girl. "Just make sure he pays the rest."
"And just like that I'm out of money again. I hope Beloukas has something for me."
"I will!" She exclaimed with a bright smile.
…
Well that's all folks, I'll see you in the next one!
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