Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 5 - Ch 2.18

Because for all that I know there might be a rule that states that you will not be able to create the next item on the list unless you create many Daggers first. Maybe that is why some of the Dwarves who become Master Smiths have to make Misangas for almost two years instead of a year?

Well, whatever the reason is, we need to follow it and make sure that we are going to do so as best as we can.

Okay, I think we can start now.

Yes! I promise to do everything in my power to meet masters expectations!

Before dinner, I handed the two Kobold Knives, a branch and a piece of hide to Sherry, telling her that she can start the fusion whenever she would be ready. Without further ado, Sherry activated the Item Fusion Skill and immediately after her hands started glowing with a bright light, and with each passing second the light grew brighter and brighter, until it became almost blinding, in a way that I almost could not see the surroundings around me or discern if Sherry was standing still or doing something else, but I think that I could barely see that she was picking up the materials from the table where they were placed one after the other.

I do not know why it is taking so long this time, but one thing was abundantly clear to me: the difficulty of creating a Dagger is definitely way bigger than the difficulty of creating a Misanga. But then the light has finally subsided after the long moment, and what was revealed to my eyes was the following thing:

Dagger, one-handed weapon

Skill: None

The fusion of a Dagger was done, and no materials were left. There was only the newly-created dagger, complete with its leather sheathe.

Ohhhh, well would you look at that, Sherry. Another successful fusion!

Yes! I did it! I did it, master!

Sherry seemed to be overjoyed at the fact that she was able to successfully create a Dagger, and it did not look like there was anything wrong with her either. But since we can never be too careful with that, I might as well ask her about it to confirm her condition.

Are you feeling okay, Sherry? You did not run out of MP just now, did you?

No, master, I feel completely fine. Actually, I feel like I could easily create one more Dagger if I wanted to.

It is okay Sherry, there is no need for you to overdo it, especially since the fusion of that Dagger must have been more taxing than the creation of a Misanga if even someone like me who knows next to nothing about fusing items could have noticed that it was taking longer than usual.

That is right. It definitely took more time than to create a Misanga, however even though I was told that making a Dagger requires a lot more effort than making something as simple as a Misanga and that the first time when I will manage to create one is going to feel especially tiring for me, I do not feel tired at all. In fact, it is exactly like I said just now: I think I could definitely make more Daggers, and it still would not be enough to make me feel spent and have difficulties standing from the supposed exhaustion, which I am not feeling at all right now. This makes me think that maybe everything that I knew up until now was a complete lie.

A lie? How so?

That line that left Sherrys mouth just now was an incredibly curious one, so I inquired about it further.

I was always being told that the creation of a Dagger is going to be more tiring to me then the creation of a Misanga, and that in order to even think about creating a Dagger in the first place I would have to create Misangas in the mornings and in the evenings for a very long time, but now I can see that this is completely not true, because I do not feel tired at all, and I did not have to spent an excruciatingly long amount of time creating Misangas in order become ready to create a Dagger. Nr right now, all of this is leading me to believe that the ones who were teaching me about the ways to become a Master Smith and what I would be doing once I finally become one have lied to me, and I cannot comprehend why would they ever do that to me when I never said or did anything at all for them to give them a reason for giving me false information, so why did they do something like that to me when I clearly did not deserve it?

Sherrys distrust towards the people who taught her about the way of the Master Smith seems to be increasing at an alarming rate. I only hope that this distrust of hers is not going to be turned into something genuinely dangerous, because at this point in time she looks like she would be ready to throw any and all caution to the wind if it meant the ability to have an opportunity to meet those who were teaching her about Master Smithing and give them a piece of her brutally honest mind. But I am the only person who knows that all of these accusations of hers are completely baseless and untrue.

The ease of her ability to create the Dagger even though she was convinced that without training she will not be able to do it comes from a combined number of external factors, like her MP being much higher than that of other Master Smiths of the same age as her because her Level as a Master Smith has already exceeded theirs due to all the farming in the Labyrinths that we did and my EXP accelerating Bonus Skills, as well as the shared effects of my Hero Job, so it is no surprise that she id feeling different from all the other Master Smiths that she knew thus far in her life.

I think it may vary from person to person, so in my opinion those scholars of yours who were telling you all these facts about Master Smiths were not wrong per se, because they were simply stating the general facts, not the ones suited for each individual, but that is just my personal opinion on the matter. If it is easier for you to digest in such a way, then just think about it as a testament to how extraordinarily amazing Master Smith you really are, Sherry.

Thank you very much, master. It might be just as you say. But whatever the case may be, it does not change the fact that I succeeded in creating a Dagger, which are said to be difficult to make, which in turn makes mass production of them quite problematic, but exactly because of that the prices when you want to sell them should be quite high. And judging from what I heard when the other Master Smiths were making Daggers, the process of their creation is really supposed to be quite tiring, so if a number of Master Smiths were saying exactly the same thing, than I think it has to be true, but then it makes it all the stranger that I do not feel tired at all. That is quite a mystery indeed.

The selling price of Daggers is quite high you say? Then if at all possible, could you try making more of them from now on so that we could try to sell them for a profit?

I change the subject into something much safer in order to distract Sherry from thinking about it too much. She is an intellectual type of person after all, so I do not want her to overthink certain things that might compromise me and my abilities if she ever decided to keep investigating the issues that are on her mind right now. The less time she has to dwell on these matters, the better.

Yes. I will do my best in trying to make them if that is what master wishes of me.

Great, I will be counting on you with this matter then. So, what comes next on the Master Smiths to-do list after a Dagger?

Next in order should be the equipment made out of hide, or to be more precise, leather.

The equipment made out of leather? So, armor and accessories then and other things like that?

Yes. Leather Mittens, Leather Helmets, Leather Boots and any equipment that requires at least one piece of animal hide in order to make it.