Chapter 73

<072. Indeed, Friendship is More Important than Money!>

The next day, a visitor came to Jefrin.

"Are you Prince Wolfram von Loeningen?"

"Yes, but who are you?"

"It's an honor to meet you. I am Cotton of the Tristar family."

The man who introduced himself as Cotton handed me a stack of documents.

The documents were filled with the names and prices of various minerals.

Starting from stones, to blazing stones, thunderstones, and all sorts of minerals, even metals that had already been refined were included.

The prices were... surprisingly cheap. About half the price of what I bought in the game?

Considering how difficult it is to mine minerals in this world, this price is practically giving them away.

When I was expelled, the sword I carried out sold for ten times the price in the game, so a purchase price that's half is incredibly generous.

Hmm. If I had known this, I would have learned armor crafting or weapon making, but I eventually shrugged. Unlike handiwork, blacksmithing requires hammering metal, which is beyond Wolfram's strength and stamina.

I would have waited a bit longer to buy minerals, but I need them right now.

"Hmm. I'll write up an order request right away. It would be troublesome to make multiple trips to Jefrin, after all."

Students who run shops in Jefrin can order items from the 'outside' under special contracts.

However, even with that, customs is strict and the process is rigorous, so even a single trip is quite troublesome.

Therefore, it's more convenient to order in bulk, and I decided to order the metals I need right away.

Let's see. A light metal with fast mana conduction, and a metal that's just tough... and so on.

"I want to order these."

"Yes. I've confirmed. I'll bring the items."

Cotton said this, bowed, and retreated.

Now, I need to find someone who can process metals and... do blacksmithing.

"Actually, that's not hard. There are quite a few of them around."

***

The next day, three chicks came to visit.

"Ah! Senior! Give me a donut! Donut!"

"Hello, Senior Wolfram. Do you have any donuts?"

The yellow and green chicks immediately started looking for donuts, while the pink chick greeted me with a gentle smile.

"Hello, Senior."

"Hmm. You came as promised."

"···Yes! Because it's a promise!"

Smiling, Millefeuille. I casually handed the remaining two chicks their donuts and started a conversation with Millefeuille.

"Right. It was a promise."

"Yes, Senior. Hehe. Our promise."

Millefeuille, slightly crossing her arms behind her back and leaning forward, smiled gently and looked up at me.

Seeing that pink chick, I nodded. It felt like when I was with my younger siblings at the orphanage.

Everyone except Eve feels like a younger sibling and is cute, but why is my real younger sibling so disgusting and fierce? I stared at the chick, feeling the mystery of blood.

"Alright. Let's fulfill the promise. About how to deal with Gale Strike."

"Yes!"

"Before that, Millefeuille von Sabre, I want to make one more promise with you."

"Yes! I'll make any promise! Tell me anything! I can even keep a lifelong promise!"

"······."

What kind of promise do you think I'll make?

Anyway, it's not a big deal.

"Don't betray me."

"···Yes?"

"That's all. Can you keep it?"

At my words, Millefeuille, who had become a flustered chick, soon nodded with an incredibly good expression.

"I won't betray you for my whole life."

"Then it's settled."

"Eh, eh... Do you believe me?"

"Is it a lie?"

"No, no!"

"Then it's settled."

Why make it complicated? I just wanted to hear a clear answer.

"Then I'll explain the strategy now. Gale Strike is a child of the Strike family, and as the name suggests, they excel in using great swords. Slow but powerful."

"Yes, yes... "

"The basic strategy is the same. Use Half Berserk to end the battle quickly."

"Right. The same strategy as last time... "

"The reason is simple. With your stats, which are below the average of first-year students, you need to boost your stats to beat the second-in-command, who is almost as strong as the top student."

"Yes. That's right. ···Because I'm lacking."

"Right. You're lacking."

"······Yes."

Millefeuille nodded with trembling eyes.

"So, you need to decide your path faster than others. The direction of your life, I mean."

"Path? I, I, the direction of my life?"

Why is her face suddenly turning red?

The pink chick was turning into a red chick, and I continued without much concern.

"Right. When you become a second-year, which department will you choose? What weapon will you use to earn your Jefrin diploma?"

"Ah, ah. I see. ············Hmm. I think I'll choose the Knight Department. I don't have a talent for mana."

"Right. What skills or weapons will you focus on until your fourth year?"

"······Ah."

"Low stats mean you need to choose and focus quickly."

If you lack talent, you need to choose and focus.

"Th, that's right. Actually, I've thought about it."

"Really?"

Unexpected.

You've thought about your path so deeply?

"Yes. I thought I wouldn't be good at magic because my base stats are low. My stats are also low, so I thought I'd be mediocre at anything, and I really struggled with it."

"Keep talking."

"Because of that, I decided to take a straightforward approach. I want to balance offense and defense with a combination of a one-handed sword and a shield. I thought relying on shallow tricks would make me collapse... "

"······Hmm."

"U, ah, is it not good?"

Not at all.

Among the answers I expected, this was the most perfect.

"Excellent. Millefeuille von Sabre."

"···Yes, yes?"

"You can feel that Jefrin's status system is flawed. 'Intelligence' is not included in the stats, after all. It's a smart choice."

Jefrin's, or rather D/Z SAGA's, status system only includes Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Mana, and Will. There is no 'Intelligence' status. But it's definitely a status.

And in my opinion... this chick has a pretty high intelligence.

She doesn't think of shallow tricks, recognizes her shortcomings, and takes a straightforward approach. It might not be the best, but it's a choice that suits her straightforward nature.

"Good. Then let's add just one more thing to that."

"Just one?"

"With your stats, you'll get tired from holding a shield and might drop your sword. Understand?"

"Yes, yes... "

"So, let's decide on one combat method to use in such a critical situation."

"Ah, ah... Yes! I'll follow Senior's lead!"

"Right. Then let's start training now."

"Eh, eh... Is Senior going to teach me directly?"

"Hmm?"

"Right... Just the two of us, training. Hehe... Hehe... Just the two of us."

"Unfortunately, that's not the case."

"······Yes?"

She's here. I heard the sound of the Wolf's Rail's wheels outside the convenience store, the carriage door opened, and... she appeared, making a clacking sound.

"Wolfram, I'm here!"

"Hmm. You're here."

"Yes! Of course I had to come for Wolfram's request!"

"···Eh, eh, Senior Ayla?"

"Chick, it's been a while! You're still cute!"

Ayla smiled and approached me, then placed her hand on Millefeuille's shoulder.

"Then, I'll teach the chick now, right?"

"Hmm. I'll leave it to you."

"···Eh, eh? The one teaching me... is Senior Ayla?"

"Of course! Wolfram specially asked me to give the chick special training!"

"Hmm. So, do your best together."

"Yes, yes... So, it's not Senior Wolfram but Senior Ayla."

Millefeuille's face turned into that of a lost independence fighter.

Didn't Ayla or Nefte teach you during the fight with Kelthers last time?

Is training that hard?

"Come on."

"···Yes."

Saying that, Ayla kidnapped the chick and disappeared,

and the voices of the remaining two chicks, who had finished their donuts and were staring blankly at me, could be heard.

"Yogurt! Millefeuille was kidnapped?!"

"I, I saw it too. That, that's Senior Ayla, the top student of the third year, right?"

"M, Millefeuille... What should we do? Should we save her?"

"Are you confident? I... don't have the confidence to save Millefeuille."

"Was giving us such delicious donuts from the beginning to fatten us up and eat us...?"

"Vanilla, are you gaining weight?"

"About 2 kilograms... What about you?"

"······No comment."

"Ah, that's mean!"

They're so noisy.

"You two chicks. No, yellow chick. Yes, you. Dwarf. Come here."

"Compared to me, Yogurt is more valuable, Senior!"

"Vanilla, Wol