Chapter 86

"Understood, I will participate in the extermination. ...However, I cannot always be in the Fotoren guild or its vicinity. There is a possibility of going on long trips, and it's difficult to show up at the guild every day."

I don’t want to be tied down for years, waiting for an outbreak that may or may not come.

"But, Kaede, we need you to be around Fotoren for the current information network..."

Tupone countered. It was natural. I also want to minimize the damage, and the guild, being close to a national organization, would feel the urgency more than I do. Just as I was about to make the proposal I had in mind, an objection came from an unexpected direction. It was the guild master, Brava.

"No, we cannot tie down adventurers for such reasons."

"But this is an emergency. There are no other options, and we need Kaede's cooperation..."

"Regardless of the dragon issue, this is a city-wide problem, and it occurs far from Kaede. While his cooperation would be appreciated, we cannot force him to rescue a city hundreds of kilometers away. Kaede is an adventurer, not a knight. You know that, but we have relied on him too much."

Upon hearing this, the meeting fell silent again. I don’t know the guild rules in detail, but Brava’s words are probably correct. No one could counter, and Tupone also looked down in silence. I remembered that freedom is one of the selling points of being an adventurer. I had heard somewhere that adventurers do not receive direct requests from the country or city, even in emergencies, to maintain their freedom. ...However, I am not saying that I will abandon the outbreak location.

"No, I am not always in Fotoren, but if there is an alternative means of communication, that should be fine, right?"

"That’s the problem... Do you have one?"

Brava looked as if to say, "What a common sense thing to say," but then he seemed to realize something and looked at me.

"There is a way to transmit information over long distances, though not omnipotent."

"...An artifact of some sort?"

"No, this."

I took out a pair of two linked anchors. At first, most of the participants looked confused. However, the researchers seemed to have realized the new use of the anchors and their expressions changed to surprise. A couple of them even started to stand up, making their chairs creak, and then sat back down. The others remained confused.

"This is a regular anchor. Normally, the two are linked to show each other's positions, but if one is broken..."

I said this while applying force to the anchor in my hand and shattered one. The color of the other anchor disappeared almost immediately due to the proximity.

"The color change of the other one indicates that something has happened."

It seemed that everyone understood this. Voices rose from the surroundings.

"To use a magic item by breaking it, that’s a pretty impressive idea..."

No one had thought of it before, probably due to preconceived notions about how to use magic items.

"Considering the ancient documents and everything, why is Kaede an adventurer and not a researcher?"

If I weren’t an adventurer, this country would probably have been turned into a high-purity mithril mine by a small dragon by now.

"To crush a magic stone anchor with bare hands...?"

That’s not the issue.

"Anyway, if we leave one of these at the Fotoren guild, I can confirm the situation without returning to the guild."

"Brilliant... However, if you are too far away, the travel time alone... No, that shouldn’t be a problem for Kaede."

"Yes. In two weeks, I can easily make a round trip from one end of the continent to the other. Normally, I don’t exceed the speed of sound, but it can go faster if I don’t consider the surrounding damage."

"The speed of sound... No, that speed is sufficient. We can’t have more damage for the sake of rescue."

"Indeed, this is not an A-rank issue..."

With this, the meeting concluded successfully due to my proposal. When asked if the chamber of commerce could use the anchor communication, I agreed. It would be troublesome to charge for a new use of an existing tool. There are plenty of other ways to make money besides the anchors. Being able to move freely is much more important.

Thus, I became free (except during outbreaks) and my first task was to start making artifacts. I have had enough of combat and didn’t feel like going out again. Making artifacts is a new field and seems quite interesting. Additionally, the magic item department of the Maple Chamber of Commerce, though small, is known for its high technical capabilities. I had already gathered information on this after the meeting, but it was limited to the information from the ancient documents and the basic experiments conducted by the guild. From there, it becomes a matter of corporate secrets, so I need to conduct my own research and development.

So, I went to Catherine and started the experiments. By the way, there are other craftsmen in the chamber, but their skills do not match Catherine’s, so they are treated as assistants for experiments that do not require mass production.

"How much do you understand about artifact creation?"

I asked to gauge how much explanation is needed.

"I know everything about the limited experiments. I don’t remember much of the information from the ancient documents, but I understand the basic structure and the magic items used in the experiments, such as the 'Concentrated Magic Lamp' and 'Azure Flame.'"

The basic structure refers to the names given to several structures that frequently appear in the ancient documents. Artifacts are classified by the number of these structures, such as 1-structure, 2-structure, 3-structure, and so on. Currently, there are successful replication examples up to 2-structure. They are like components in electronic devices. 'Concentrated Magic Lamp' and 'Azure Flame' are the names of 2-structure artifacts that have been successfully replicated. Familiar artifacts like the 'Magic Lamp,' which were replicated before the ancient documents were deciphered, are all 1-structure. Mithril is a 3-digit structure, which is a cumbersome material to count. However, a lot of experiments must have been conducted from the deciphering of the ancient documents to the creation of 2-structure artifacts. Knowing all of this, Catherine must have considered a career change to a researcher.

"Why do you know so much?"

"After the dragon-related work was completed, we magic item craftsmen gathered once to receive an explanation about artifacts."

So, the development and participating organizations of artifacts were already decided by the time I went on the extermination mission. That makes things easier.

"Then, let’s start with 2-structure experiments."

"I have already succeeded with 2-structure. A larger magic stone is needed, but..."

"Among the ones I have, this is the largest."

I said this while taking out a magic stone from the item box that appeared after the first dragon was defeated. It is about 50 cm in diameter. The largest one is the black magic stone from the first dragon, but it gives me a bad feeling, so I won’t use it.

"...That’s a powerful magic stone, but is it from a sub-dragon?"

"It appeared after I defeated a small dragon. This is the largest one I have. Will it work?"

"Such a powerful one... But a magic stone the size of a giant spider’s leg should be fine."

"Got it. Then, let’s try 'Azure Flame.'"

I put the large magic stone back in the item box and took out a 30 cm diameter magic stone.

"Understood."

Catherine took the magic stone and started making the magic item, focusing intently. I don’t understand what she is doing, but it must be a highly advanced technique. After about ten minutes, she was done.

"It’s complete."

Catherine proudly presented the magic stone. When I activated it, a powerful blue flame shot out, different from a regular magic item. Surprised by the unexpected power, I quickly extinguished the flame. It was indoors, but it seems we prevented a fire.

"2-structure with this power..."

"Moreover, the magic stone’s endurance is excellent. The performance makes regular magic items seem silly."

"But increasing the structures reduces the range of applications, right?"

"With a sub-dragon’s magic stone, I think we can go up to 3-structure."

"Using that much for 3-structure seems wasteful. ...So, I have an idea. What if we connect the structures with the magic stones?"

Currently, it seems that the structures can only be placed in a nearly straight line due to the way they are connected and magical interference. Therefore, the number of usable structures depends on the diameter of the magic stone. For a regular complex magic item, if the diameter is doubled, you can make something 8 times more complex. If you want to make a 100-structure artifact, you would need a magic stone about 15 meters in diameter, which doesn’t exist. So, why not connect the magic stones? This is a natural idea.

"This has already been tried and failed."

"Of course, I know. But maybe the method was wrong."

Since it’s a natural idea, the same experiments have already been conducted. However, they simply cut the magic stones (which seemed random to me) and tried to connect them. If it were water instead of magic, most of it would leak out. If we remove the rough edges and make them fit tightly, we might get different results.

"Then, how do you do it?"

"Hmm, let’s try it."

I said this while taking out two magic stones of the same size and started shaping them to have flat surfaces. The magical image is a belt sander. First, I imagined a rough surface and created a rough plane, then gradually refined it. After removing the shavings, I created mirror-like reflective surfaces on both magic stones in about five minutes. I then used magic to press them together.

"Is there anything to fix them in place?"

I rummaged through the item box and found a piece of Desibator wood I had cut long ago. The wood from the monster’s domain becomes brittle over time, but it is durable enough until then. I cut it and used it to forcefully press the magic stones together, ensuring they wouldn’t move.

"Use this to create a 3-structure. Choose a safe one among the ones you understand."

"Understood. Then, 'Azure Concentrated Magic Lamp.'"

Catherine started making the magic item as she did before. She seemed even more focused than when making the 2-structure, but the speed didn’t drop much, and the work was completed in less than ten minutes.

"Then, activate it."

"Understood."

Catherine activated the magic item. If it succeeded, it should emit a blue light with some directionality, like a flashlight (but not a laser). However, no light seemed to be coming out.

"Failed?"

Do we need to polish it more precisely? Or is the handling as a magic item fundamentally wrong? I started thinking about the cause of the failure, but Catherine seemed to be puzzled in a different way.

"It feels like it’s activated..."

She said this while looking at the magic item. She covered it to block out the surrounding light, looked through it, and then shouted.

"It’s a success!"

"What?"

It doesn’t seem to be glowing at all, but when I did the same as Catherine, I could see it faintly glowing blue. However, it was a level of brightness that couldn’t be seen indoors.

"Can this be called a success? The activation might be working, but look at the power."

"The magic stones are connected! No one has ever succeeded before, and it was a long-held wish of magic item craftsmen, on par with artifact replication!"

Connecting magic stones was such an important technique. The experiments might have been sloppy due to the belief that "artifacts are different from magic items, so it’s probably impossible, but we’ll try it just in case." However, it still can’t be practically used as it is.

"...Then, let’s aim to make it practical."

"Yes!"