During the lunch break at school, I was eating the bento Ayame had gone out of her way to prepare and deliver early in the morning when Mizuno-san approached me.
「You’re looking for a blacksmithing assistant?」
Out of nowhere, Mizuno-san made this puzzling statement.
To become a blacksmith, one needs the blacksmithing skill. Taking on an apprentice doesn’t automatically make them a blacksmith. Moreover, Mizuno-san’s work is highly specialized, requiring not just the blacksmithing skill but also the magic tool crafting skill.
This skill is exceedingly rare, and while we’re always on the lookout for people with the same ability, finding freelance blacksmiths isn’t easy.
There is a junior in Hime’s university who possesses the blacksmithing skill, but apparently, he doesn’t plan to work until after graduation.
Surely Mizuno-san is aware of all this.
「Mizuno-san, you must be exhausted. I’ll let Hime know that magic tool deliveries will be delayed, so take a week off and rest.」
「No, I am tired, but that’s not it. This morning, I reached level 35 and unlocked a skill called Finishing.」
「Finishing?」
I’ve never heard of such a skill. Is it something related to completing tasks?
Awakened blacksmiths tend to learn unusual skills.
「…Hmm, Finishing is actually a fairly common skill among blacksmiths. Even some elven blacksmiths have it.」
Tuna, who had naturally tagged along, commented as she ate a curry bun.
When you think of blacksmiths, you usually think of dwarves rather than elves. But since Tuna’s world was an elven one, there were no dwarves. Naturally, that meant blacksmiths were elves as well.
「What kind of skill is Finishing?」
「…As the name implies, it’s a skill for putting the final touches on something.」
I see. No, I don’t see.
What does that have to do with needing an assistant?
「You see, there are crafting skills that don’t require someone to be a blacksmith.」
Even I can make medicines thanks to my Basic Concoction skill.
「One of the more common skills among those is called Imitation. It allows a person to recreate something they’ve seen, exactly as it is. However, when it comes to weapons, the quality is inferior to the original, and for magic tools, the magical effects don’t activate.」
「That sounds pretty useless… Wait, does Finishing mean—」
「Yes. With the Finishing skill, you can enhance those imitations, raising weapons to the same quality as the originals and enabling magic tools to exhibit their effects.」
Now it made sense.
In other words, Mizuno-san could hire someone with the Imitation skill, delegate the tedious work to them, and focus solely on the finishing touches herself.
Given the strain Mizuno-san has been under, this sounded like an excellent idea.
「Have you told Hime about this?」
「No. Technically, on paper, I’m listed as an executive of Tenka Musou, but in reality, I’m employed personally by you, Ichino-kun, right? So I thought I’d consult with you first.」
Come to think of it, that’s true.
For Mizuno-san to succeed as a blacksmith, I had to personally supply her with experience potions.
Her salary was initially meant to come out of my personal funds as well—though she quickly started earning on her own.
「I understand the plan. But we can’t just hire anyone with the Imitation skill. Crafting magic tools requires expensive materials. We need someone with a clear background, and we have to be wary of industrial spies. Would it be alright to leave the recruitment to Akashi-san?」
If Hime and Akashi-san handle it, they’ll thoroughly vet the candidate, even checking beyond what’s visible on the surface, ensuring we hire someone trustworthy.
「Yes, that would be a big help for me, too. The workplace will likely be the factory next to my house, so it’d be a problem if we hire someone suspicious.」
Hopefully, this will improve Mizuno-san’s harsh work environment.
Just as I was thinking that, Tuna suddenly dropped her curry bun.
I turned to her, wondering what was going on, only to see her reaching into empty air and pulling out a crystal ball.
「Ichino-kun, is that…」
「It’s the Crystal Ball of Guidance. Normally, it’s displayed on the household shrine, but Tuna keeps it in her item box when we’re at school so we’ll know immediately if it reacts to something.」
「You can still notice it even when it’s in the item box?」
「Apparently, when the Crystal Ball of Guidance activates, it releases a flow of magic power, so you can sense it even while it’s stored.」
As I explained, Tuna handed the Crystal Ball of Guidance to me.
The ball, which usually reflected nothing, now clearly displayed something.
「Is this… a pond?」
It seemed Mizuno-san could see it, too.
Sure enough, a pond was visible.
「This must be the pond next to the former Kusaka Amusement Park Dungeon—no, it was renamed the Ishikiri Dungeon, wasn’t it? Probably the one beside it.」
The image shifted.
Now it showed Danpon eating a Dojima Roll.
This was the PD Danpon. Yesterday, I bought a Dojima Roll as a gift for it.
It’s said that there’s one Danpon for each dungeon, but today, at this very moment, the only Danpon eating a Dojima Roll must be the one from the PD.
The scene changed again, this time showing an altar.
Was it the altar on the 23rd floor? No, there were no murals, so it must be the altar on the 33rd floor.
「The Ishikiri Dungeon was opened to the public in September, right? Aoki-kun mentioned going there. It’s convenient since it’s close to home, but he said cycling up that hellish slope is a real struggle—」
The Ishikiri Dungeon was a place I had been meaning to visit for certain reasons, and I had promised Shizuka-san to go to the 33rd floor together.
By now, we were already capable of defeating the enemies on the 31st floor.
It was about time to challenge the 33rd floor.
「…Hm?」
The crystal ball’s image vanished.
However, just before it disappeared, I thought I saw a shadow—a human figure.
It was only for an instant, so it might have been my imagination, but wasn’t that Suzuhara?
I heard he’s gone missing, but why did his figure appear in the crystal ball?
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