Chapter 32

We pull the cart loaded with goods, me and Rike. Sermya, who is guarding us, doesn’t pull the cart but walks alongside us on foot. It’s heavy, but thanks to the wheels, we can maintain a decent speed.

I’m a bit worried about the wheels getting stuck in the forest, but from the feel of the soil when we dug it up before, it wasn’t too soft, so it should be fine. In the worst case, we might need Sermya to push, but I don’t think it will come to that.

I think the chances of being attacked are higher with a cart that clearly has something valuable on it compared to just three people walking together. So far, Sermya hasn’t reacted to anything, so I think no one was around, but the risk is definitely higher if someone is. However, with Sermya, a tiger beast person armed with a custom-made bow, and me, even if we’re not as capable, I don’t think a little trouble will be a big issue. Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I’ll talk to Sermya about this and ask her to be more cautious on the way back. In the end, nothing happened on the road that day, but it’s better to be prepared. In the future, we’ll be more careful on the way back. The saying goes, “The way there is fine, but the way back is scary.”

After entering the forest, as expected, the wheels didn’t sink deeply and get stuck. I was a bit worried about whether the cart could pass between the trees, but in the Black Forest, it was fine. The cart isn’t that wide, after all.

Still, it wasn’t as easy as the well-maintained road, and we had to work a bit harder to move it.

“Maybe we should improve the path a bit.”

“But boss, if we do that, it will make it much easier for someone to come to us alone.”

“You’re right.”

That was supposed to be a deal where we only accept custom orders from those who have the strength to come to us. If we make a path and say, “Just follow the path to get here,” it wouldn’t have much meaning. It would be like sending someone to the tofu shop. Maybe I made a mistake there.

Anyway, we managed to get home without any major issues. It would be great if it’s always like this, but sometimes problems do arise. We need to be prepared to minimize them when they do.

We unloaded the cart and moved the goods into the house and workshop. The salt and wine were easy, but moving the iron ore and charcoal took quite a bit of time, even with three of us. It ended up being almost a full day’s work. I should think of something to make it easier to unload the cart, like tilting it to move the goods.

For dinner that day, we had a slightly lavish meal of barley porridge, dried bear meat, and root vegetables cooked with the wine (and water) we bought. The bear meat had lost its gamey flavor and was well-received by Sermya and Rike, so I might do this more often.

The next day, Rike and I started making the raw materials for weapons, which are steel plates, while Sermya said she would go hunting for birds or rabbits. She didn’t say deer, so she probably plans to help us again tomorrow. We have enough meat in stock anyway.

Before making the weapons, I compared the quality of the iron ore we bought with what we already had. Even with the use of cheats, the old stock seemed slightly better, but not by much.

“What do you think, Rike? It doesn’t seem much different to me.”

I handed the two samples to Rike.

“You’re right. I think they are almost the same quality. Whoever selected this has a good eye.”

“Then let’s use the new stock first.”

“Understood, boss.”

I put magic fire into the magic-powered steel furnace and added charcoal and finely crushed iron ore. Using another magic to send air, I repeated the process several times. This would produce steel. With a normal furnace or tatara, you’d need to break the furnace each time to extract the steel, but with this magic furnace, there’s no slag, and the furnace doesn’t need to be broken. The steel just floats and can be extracted. I feel a bit guilty using such a cheat, but I’m taking advantage of it. The furnace is of a decent size, so it can produce a good amount of steel when fully loaded.

“Alright, let’s get started.”

“Understood, boss.”

We heated the steel to a certain size, took it out, and hammered it on the anvil to make it into a plate. It’s a somewhat labor-intensive process.

After the first plate was made, Rike and I inspected it.

“Not bad.”

“Agreed. It even seems better than what we have.”

“Really? If you say so, it must be. Let’s keep going.”

“Sure!”

We continued making steel plates until evening when Sermya returned.

“I’m back.”

“Hey, welcome back. Rike, let’s call it a day since we’re done with the plates.”

“Understood, boss.”

We quickly tidied up the workshop and went to Sermya.

“What did you catch today?”

“Rabbits today.”

They were the rabbits with grass-like ears. She caught three, but they weren’t very big, so it didn’t take long to prepare them. The amount of meat was just right for the three of us. So, we had another lavish dinner. We had unleavened bread, a soup with root vegetables and salted deer meat (leftovers from Rike and my lunch), and rabbit steaks with wine sauce.

“Wow, rabbits are delicious!”

“Right? They’re hard to catch, but we got lucky today.”

“This rabbit is really good.”

We enjoyed the unexpectedly delicious rabbit and ended the day.

The next day, after fetching water and having breakfast, we started making short swords and long swords. Suddenly, Sermya, who was helping us, stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

I called out to Sermya, who was a bit tense.

“Someone’s coming.”

Just as she looked at the door leading outside, it was knocked on loudly.

“Camilo sent me! I want you to forge a sword!”

I stood up and went to open the door.