Archer was still mentally exhausted, even a whole twenty four hours after he created Lumiose.
The several hours he had spent maintaining twelve separate bodies while using [Concurrent Consciousness] to split his thoughts into ten, while at the same time performing all of the calculations and spells needed to create the blade's enchantments and channeling an irresponsible amount of Mana, had been taxing on the spiritual level. The sword's inability to sleep hadn't felt this bad since the month he had spent waiting in the ground, before he had met Fran.
The exhaustion only felt worse when he used his [Body Split] the following day in order to once again go and visit the Blacksmith's Guild. He needed to replenish his stock of Mithirl, silver, copper, Magic Stones, and basic spell components he would be needing. Hopefully the local market still had a few stashed away somewhere.
With the introduction of the [Concurrent Consciousness] ability, Archer had been able to press his [Doppelganger Synthesis SP] skill even further than before, supporting eleven extra bodies at once. But that also meant a longer cooldown. They would need to wait five days before Archer would be able to use the skill again, and he didn't feel like wasting the time.
He had two main objectives on his agenda. The first was to get the materials needed to create a scabbard in order to hide Lumiose's true nature. Unlike other weapons which could be charged with his own Mana, Lumiose could only gather Mana from moonlight and the slow passage of time, meaning that he couldn't just store it away inside of the Dimensional Storage. But Archer hadn't felt like wasting the room on the blade to add an Appraisal Blocker, so he would need to add it to the scabbard.
Since Fran was so insistent on using Archer first and foremost, Art would be the one to carry the second sword, once the scabbard was complete. Hopefully this wouldn't cause problems, as while Art could make good use out of the blade's basic Skills, its Special Skill held a restriction on it, put in place by the Moonlight Goddess, making it so that only Archer's wielder could make use of the special attack, a fifty foot long blade made of the Mana gathered from the moon's light.
Archer wondered if the Goddess in question was laughing or crying about Fran's stubbornness.
The second thing that Archer wanted to do was create a convenient and comfortable method for long distance transportation, as while surfing on top of Archer was fun for a while, it wasn't something that was practical for multiple day long trips, especially with both Fran and Art on him.
To this end, Archer had saved one of the two Kipine Magic Stones in order to be used as a material.
While the weapon wielding Kipines hadn't had the most interesting basic Skill, having only the sword and shield skills they needed in order to perform their job, they did have the Innate Skill, [Flight], and were strong enough to have a high likelihood of transferring said skill when used. Archer's plan, to create a sort of flying motorcycle for the two to ride on.
He was giving up around 300 Magic Stone Points in order to do so, but at this point, that was barely a quarter of a rank, and could easily be replaced when they found a market with a greater supply of Magic Stones.
Hunting themselves was becoming more and more inefficient as a method for Ranking Up. Unless they found a place with an incredibly high density of Demonic Beasts, such as a Dungeon, purchasing Magic Stones seemed to be the way to go, meanwhile, hunting should be focused solely on helping Fran and Art to level up.
For Archer, a giant mass of weak Magic Stones would do, but the girls would require powerful enemies if they were to continue to grow. So the sooner they could get to the Crystal Cage Forest, the better.
"Goodmorning Merlin. More of the same?" The salesgirl of an expensive wine store asked, already pulling out the crate of wine.
"Afraid so." Archer said, scratching his head as he pulled out a purse to pay for the strong drinks.
"You sure do go through a lot of this stuff, though you don't look like a guy with a drinking problem."
"That's because I don't drink it myself. I use it at the Blacksmith's Guild. Those dwarves won't give you the time of day if you don't have a strong enough drink to offer them." Archer said as he finished his purchase. Dwarves were a good source of information, as they didn't have a filter for their mouths. They would answer any question you asked, once they had a drink in their hands.
It was only his willingness to buy them drinks that stopped the dwarves of the Blacksmith's Guild from hating Archer's guts. Some of them ended up suspecting him of being a spy, but none of them really cared enough to do anything about it anyways.
Leaving with the liquor tucked away in his [Dimensional Storage], Archer headed for the Guild hall. It was already getting late into the afternoon, so it was likely that there would be people there willing to tell him anything he wanted to know.
But as he approached the building, one of the smiths came out to stop him. "Merlin, you need to go. You can't be here right now." Gumm said, holding up his hands as if to shoo Archer away. The dwarf's eyes were shifting about as he glanced over his shoulder.
"What's the matter?" Archer said, immediately shifting on guard himself, his hands going to Kuroko and Shiroko, which were dangling from his hips.
"What's the matter!? The matter is that trouble has come looking for you! You should go home! Better yet, you should skip town!" The man hissed, as if afraid to be overheard.
However, his warning's fell on deaf ears as Archer heard something breaking inside, accompanied by a shout from Caroline. "Let go of me!"
Archer side stepped Gumm before the dwarf could stop him and entered the Guild to find a group of five men and women at the front desk, with one of them, a man in very shiny knight's armor that just screamed 'shoot me', was grabbing on to Caroline's wrist as she tried to shake him off, to no avail.
Tension was high in the room as every dwarf in there glared daggers and the intruders, most of them shaking with indignant rage, but not a single one was brave enough or strong enough to stand up to them.
"Come on Miss, all I want to know is where I can find the blacksmith who made these weapons. I don't want to be rough with a girl like you." The man said with a princely smile, seemingly unaware of the girl's struggles to get away from him.
The moment that Archer saw the man and the weapons that hung about him, he immediately knew who he was, even without the use of [Appraisal], and had to fight down the urge to kill the man that very instant. He half projected a sword to fight through the man's head before stopping himself, less out of a concern for the man's life, then out of worry about the consequences his death would have for others.
It would have been hard to have not heard of him when asking among the dwarves as there wasn't a single Blacksmith who didn't spit on his name. A disgusting noble bastard who used his 'Lady Killer' title in order to sleep his way into an undeserved A-rank Adventurer title. A man who traveled the country, basically mugging Blacksmiths and other Adventurers in order to steal their magic swords. A man who had used his father's Marquis rank in order to get away with extortion, assault, robbery, and even rape.
Celldio Lesspus.
Name: Celldio Lesspus.
Age: 30
Species: Human
Job: Magic Sword Knight
Status: Normal
Level: 40/99
HP: 409 MP: 398 STR: 207 VIT: 199
AGI: 167 INT: 201 MGC: 190 DEX: 167
Skills: Intimidation: Lv3, Chant Shortening: Lv3, Riding: Lv7, Fear Resistance: Lv4, Sword Techniques: Lv7, Sword Arts: LvMax, Divine Sword Arts: Lv2, Extortion: Lv6, Command: Lv4, Purification Magic: Lv2, Mental Harm Resistance: Lv5, Elemental Blade: Lv6, Magic Detection: Lv3, Connoisseur: Lv8, Charm: Lv4, Vigour Manipulation, Curse Nullification
Unique Skills: Weapon Control
Titles: Orc Killer, Lady Killer, Viscount, Extortionist, Elixir Addict, A Ranked Adventurer
Equipment: Pegasus Sword, Basilisk Sword, Holy Silver Armour of Light, Hexagonal Deer King's Mantle, Dimensional Ring, Pendant of Life
He was trying to use a charm based skill on her, but Caroline had near immunity to such skills.
"I already told you that I don't know where Merlin is. No one here knows because it isn't our job to know. He comes around when he wants to do business and leaves once he's done, just like everyone else. Now let go!" Caroline growled.
"You don't even know the address in which the man works? That seems rather suspicious to me." One of Celldio's men, a rogue of some kind, said. "And she is harboring such a shady character."
"Huh, he does sound shady, doesn't he?" Celldio said with a frown. "You know, you shouldn't involve yourself with people like that. It could get you into trouble."
"And you should learn the meaning of no, you brain damaged asshole!" Caroline shouted at the man. Eyes narrowed as she had just insulted a Viscount, though the noble himself just started to shake his head.
"If you are going to insist on helping such a bad person, I'm going to have to punish you." Celldio said sadly, a whip appearing out of his Dimensional Ring. "But remember, I'm only going to punish you out of love."
Archer couldn't help it. The moment he saw the whip and read its history, seeing all the women this sick fuck had used it on, and understood what he meant to do to Caroline… Killing intent came boiled up out of him.
The drama in front of him ended in an instant as the five 'Adventurers' stopped what they were doing to whirl around to face the overwhelming killing intent. Caroline stumbled back as her hand was released. She looked over at him, her eyes widening in shock. "Merlin, when did you...?"
"Did your mothers never teach you that isn't how you are supposed to treat a lady?" Archer said as casually walked forward, letting the killing intent die down. "If you wanted to see me, you should have just left a message, or picked a table, instead of trying to shake down the receptionist."
"So then, you are the elusive Merlin." A second swordsmen in the party said, seeming on guard from having sensed Archer's killing intent. Archer barely spared the man a glance. While he appeared to be titled a Rank-B Adventurer, the man's stats were only at the C-rank. Same went for all of them.
The only exception being Celldio himself, who's stats barely managed to inch their way into what Archer would call the B-rank range. Strangely though, his stats were all pretty evenly distributed, the same way as if one had leveled up without doing any focused training. Perhaps the result of performance enhancing drugs. It would certainly explain the 'Elixir Addict' title.
Even so, he was a good deal weaker and less skilled than Fran and Art. Archer was fairly sure that if the girls ever got into a fight with him and his party, the two would completely annihilate them.
"I leave for three days to work on a pet project and suddenly people are calling me 'elusive'. I even left a note. How long of a vacation should I take if I want you all to just assume I was dead?" Archer chuckled. "Yes. I am Merlin. Now, if you have business with me, speak up. Otherwise, you should get out of everyone's hair. Despite appearances, we are all actually quite busy and don't have time to waste on the likes of you."
"How dare you take up such a tone in the presence of our Lord, you damned peasant!" The knight snapped, though Celldio didn't see to hear any of it. He was just staring at Archer, or rather the blades at Archer's waste.
Seeming to come out of some kind of trance, the man grinned wide and just walked straight up to Archer with his guard down. Archer's hand twitched as he fought against the knee jerk response to lob off the man's stupid head. Something about his slick blond hair and shiny armor simply pissed Archer off, and the fact that the man was a bonafide rapist and ran around claiming that all magic swords rightfully belonged to him, didn't help manners.
He was like Gilgamesh, only with somehow even less self awareness.
"You are the Blacksmith they call Merlin, are you not?" Celldio asked.
"I already said that I am. Are you hard of hearing as well as being generally brain damaged?" Archer deadpanned, causing some of the dwarves to wolf whistle and laugh, though many just looked on in stunned silence, surprised at the lip Archer was willing to show an A-rank Adventurer and Noblemen.
"Huh? There's no need to be so rude."
"You just assaulted a woman. Apologize to her, and I might consider changing my tone." Archer said.
"Assault? What are you talking about? I haven't assaulted anyone." Celldio said, seeming surprised, as if he didn't remember his actions for just a minute before.
"How dare you put up such false..." The swordsman started, but no one heard him continue.
"[Silence]." Archer said, quickly putting down an area of silence over the knight, shutting him up. "How dare I, how dare I, how dare I. I don't have the patience to put up with idiots and broken records today. Just tell me what you're here for and be gone."
"Right." Celldio said, before holding out his hand. "Give me your magic swords."
"...No."
"What? Why not?"
"Because, while I might not be as uptight about who I sell to as Gallus is, I am morally opposed to giving weapons to the mentally impaired." Archer said with a shake of the head.
"Don't you know who I am?" Celldio said, seemingly frustrated, more than offended. "I'm Celldio Lesspus, an A-rank Adventurer."
"And that matters why?"
"Look, you know just how amazing those swords are, right? So, giving it to a hero like me is basically the same thing as doing the whole world a favour."
"You, a Hero? Don't make me laugh. I would call you a delusional dreamer, but that would be an insult to everyone who had ever dreamed of being a Hero." Archer's mouth twitched, and his eyes had no humor in them. "But I suppose I can't just turn you away empty handed after you've come to see me. So I will give you a weapon worthy of a man like you."
Celldio perked up, seeming to believe that Archer was going to give him Kuroko and Shiroko, or something of that level.
Fat chance.
Reaching into his [Dimensional Storage] Archer retrieved a plan steel spoon from within, before tapping into the Mana Pools inside of Kuroko and Shiroko in order to cast [Smithing Magic] and [Alteration] in order to enchant the spoon.
Name: Magical Spoon of Return
ATK: 10 Mana: 1/1
Skills: Return, Auto-Equip
"Here you go." Archer said, forcing it into the man's hand. "Now, try not to hurt yourself with it."
It took a moment for everyone to realize what Archer had just given the man, and when they did, the dwarves burst out laughing.
"Do you think this is a joke?" Celldio said, finally seeming a little bit upset as he tossed the spoon to the side.
"You wanted a magic item, so I gave you a magic spoon." Archer said with a chuckle. "Also, I wouldn't have thrown it like that if I were you."
"Huh?" Celldio said, moments before the spoon came rocketing back to smack him in the temple, dazing the stalwart Adventurer, who stumbled to the side.
The force exerted by the 'return' effect was proportional to the MGC of the person it was equipped to, and with Celldio descent MGC and the low mass of the spoon, it was a fairly high speed projectile, and with the 'return' made to return to the thrower's head rather than their hands, Celldio ended up taking quite the hit to the head before he even knew what was happening.
Even with its low ATK, the spoon still left a welt on the side of the man's head as the defensive enchantments of his armor didn't recognize the spoon as an attack, as it was using Celldio's own magic signature.
However, it wasn't over yet, as Celldio was still not holding the spoon and didn't have the presence of mind to just unequip it.
He turned his head just in time to see the spoon coming straight for him, and rather than shielding his face, the idiot widened his eyes.
"Ahh!" Celldio screamed bloody murder as the spoon lodged itself in the man's eye.
Archer smiled as the man dropped to the ground in pain, his teammates momentarily shocked before they rushed forward in order to help him. The knight was the one to remove the dreaded spoon from his companions eye as their hunter fumbled with a top tier health potion.
Archer had to admit he was impressed by the potency of the potion as the man's eye began to mend itself.
"How dare you attack the lord like that!" The knight shouted, as Archer had stopped paying attention to the silencing spell. "I will see you hang for this!"
"Oh yes, please go and inform the City Knights that the big bad blacksmith beat up on your poor little A-rank Adventurer with a spoon." Archer chuckled. "I'm hoping that every bard in the country starts singing heroic tales about the great Celldio's battle against the Evil Spoon."
The knight was starting to turn a shade of purple as he drew his sword and started to approach Archer.
Normally, Archer would have reacted to this immediately, but there was no need. After all, he had discarded the spoon.
*Bong!*
The man stumbled about in shock as the spoon jumped from the ground and slammed against his helmet. While not moving as fast as before, since the knight had lower MGC, it was still fast enough to rattle the man's helmet with each hit.
"Ah!" The man shouted as he started trying to swot the spoon out of the air with his sword, calling on his companions for help.
Archer took this moment to walk past the group of 'Adventurers' as they struggled to deal with a single spoon and walked towards the front desk.
"You alright?" Archer asked a dazed Caroline.
The receptionist stared at him with an open mouth before sighing. "You just love to cause headaches, don't you."
"I can't really deny that." Archer admitted with a shrug. He could sense the mage of the party trying to cast a fire spell, targeting his back. He projected two dozen more copies of the 'Magical Spoon of Return' and fired them, without turning to look, causing her to yelp in surprise and stopping her cast. As they made contact with her, the rogue and the hunter's bodies, they auto-equipped, locking onto their targets. Now all of Celldio's companions had spoons attacking them, while the A-ranker himself was trying to protect his mage from attacks as she tried to cast magic to fix things. "I've got a few things I'd like to order. Mind if I leave the list here and come to pick them up tomorrow?"
"Sure. Fine. Whatever, just don't be surprised when the entire city guard shows up to arrest you." Caroline said with a sigh.
"Doubt it. Even if the guy is an A-rank Adventurer and a Viscount, I'm a Magic Blacksmith Second Class. So long as I don't kill them, I don't think the local Lord would try to arrest me. Too many eye witnesses to testify as to what happened, isn't that right!?" Archer asked the room, receiving cheers from the dwarves as they laughed and threw normal spoons at the startled and confused Adventurers.
"Actually, you've been promoted again. You're now a Magic Blacksmith First Class. Congratulations." Caroline reported.
"Really? I figured I'd have to wait until after I showed the Guild Master this before that happened." Archer said, before withdrawing Lumiose from him [Dimensional Storage].
All the dwarves went silent as their eyes went from the Adventurers to the sword. "Godblade." The whisper passed through the room, with so many of them saying it that it could be heard over the noise of the Adventurers were making, and for once, Archer didn't correct them. Not yet, anyways.
Caroline seemed slightly less shocked by the blade. Probably because her skill had already informed her that Archer had reached the max level of [Magic Blacksmithing].
"A Godblade." Celldio said, his entire attention moving to the long sword, leaving the mage to fend for herself, which she did by falling to the ground and covering her head with her hands. "Give it to me!"
The A-rank Adventurer rushed Archer, but his movements were too obvious and the Servant managed to brush off his hands with minimal force, resulting in him crashing into the front desk. Archer had been expecting this reaction, banking on it even, but he hadn't expected the amount of desperation in the man's voice.
"You can't even handle a magic spoon and you think you got what it takes to wield Lumiose?" Archer said, teasing the man by waving the sword back and forth, watching his eyes following it.
"I am the Hero. The Godblade should be mine." The man said, his eyes unfocused.
"Is that so." Archer said before making a show of snapping his fingers, causing the traced spoons to disappear and the last one to glow red as broken with [Lava Magic]. "If you think you are worthy, then prove it."
The Adventurers looked over at him, surprised as the assult ended. "I, Merlin the Blacksmith, challenge you and your party to an official duel. Win, and Lumiose is yours. Lose, and I will take one piece of your equipment."
"Merlin!" Caroline shouted in shock as the dwarves erupted in protest.
But Archer was only looking at Celldio. The foolish pretend A-ranker grinned. "Of course! I accept your challenge! Let it be an official duel to prove that I am the chosen one!"
Archer could only smirk as the fool walked to his long overdo judgment.
I know it is confusing, but Magic Stones and Mana Crystals are not the same thing.
Magic Stones are the crystals inside of Demonic Beasts.
Mana Crystals are crystallized deposits of mana within the earth.
Archer absorbs Magic Stones, not Mana Crystals.
(Fate/Stay Night X Seven Deadly Sins): The Sword's Sin of Falsehood: Merlin was intrigued when she stumbled upon a man whose very existence was lies. His body was lies. His power was lies. His dreams were lies. He was a broken warrior, who claimed to not give a damn about the fate of the world. Angels, Demons, Humans, all of their lives were worthless in the grand scheme of things, and he couldn't be bothered to save any of them. ...Natural, that was a lie as well.