Chapter 96

After making a decent number of knives, I finished the day. From here on, there’s the task of retrieving the game that Sermia and Diana have hunted, but essentially, it marks the beginning of a two-day holiday. My mood can't help but rise.

As I cheerfully tidied up the workshop, Sermia and Diana returned. When I asked about today’s results, they said it was a "fairly large deer." If it’s big, then the tendons and such could be useful. When I mentioned this to Sermia, she replied,

"Sure. I’ve been thinking about letting Diana use a bow soon, so can I ask you to make one next time?"

I am a blacksmith, but as you can tell from my ability to make sheaths, I can also make bows. Of course, using my cheat, I can't make them as high-quality as the special-grade items I forge.

"Sure, I’ll think about making one during the next break."

In this world, composite bows made from animal horns and bones are apparently already in use, but they take a lot of time to make. So if I do make one, it will be a simple wooden bow. Whether I try laminating or not is another matter.

I had been thinking that Diana would need a bow if she’s going to go hunting, so this is a timely request. Since the start of the Apoitakara project might be delayed, it might be good to check the characteristics of the bow beforehand.

"Thanks, Eizou."

"Thank you from me too. Thanks a lot."

"No problem. I don’t make bows often, but it’s also a learning experience."

"Master, you can make anything, from weapons to cooking and furniture, right?"

Rike, who had finished tidying up his own workspace, joined the conversation.

"Yeah, I guess. I’ve tried a lot of things, so I can make a lot of things."

I replied to Rike, but this is mostly a lie. The cheat ability I received prioritized blacksmithing, but among the other points (or something like that) I could get, the ones prioritized were the language of this world, production, and combat.

Considering that the combat ability I received allows me to defeat a bear or even go toe-to-toe with what is probably the best mercenary of the current generation, even though I’m not specialized, I still have a decent level of general production skills. In other words, compared to ordinary people, I can make things that are significantly better. In terms of my blacksmithing, I can make items that are just a step below the high-end models. The scope of what "production" means is quite broad, and it seems to apply to almost anything related to "making" things.

So, I can make a lot of things, but I haven’t actually tried a lot of things. The reason my cooking is delicious is also thanks to my cheat.

However, to put it another way, I can’t match the experts in any field. I can hold my own against Helen in a straightforward fight, but if she were to target my life specifically, I would eventually be defeated, just like in a prolonged battle.

Incidentally, regarding my language ability, so far I can only speak the "common language" used by various races in this world, so I don’t know how far it applies. At least, I can’t communicate with wolves, but there might be a chance to understand something more meaningful, like the Western dialect of lizardmen, if it exists.

In any case, using my cheat ability, I need to make fishing rods and hooks before the next break, in preparation for the fishing the day after tomorrow.

The next day, the four of us retrieved the deer. It was quite large. Among the ones we’ve had so far, it’s one of the biggest, so I can expect a fair amount of tendon. After separating the meat, skin, and bones, I can use the tendons by unraveling them into threads and twisting them together. Sermia knows how to do this, so I’ll leave it to her.

As usual, we quickly disassembled the deer, separating the meat, skin, and bones. The bones aren’t entirely useless, but they’re not worth the effort to process, so we discard them. Sermia knows how to process the skin and tendons, so I’ll leave that to her. The others will focus on preserving the meat. Of course, we set aside the portion we’ll eat before it spoils. For today’s lunch, we simply grilled the meat, but even without any special preparation, it was delicious.

After lunch, we prepared the fishing rods and hooks for the next day. We won’t make the thread again; we’ll use the finest thread we have. We searched the forest for branches suitable for the rods. Although I’m an old man, I used to be a boy, so I have the skill of finding "good-looking branches." Whether such a skill actually exists is unknown, but boys are good at finding such things. Since we still have the rod from last time, I gathered about two "good-looking branches" and shaped them with a knife. The key is to process them so they look good. Of course, I used my cheat to ensure there were no mistakes.

After the rods were done, it was time to make the hooks. I usually make swords and knives, but this kind of detailed work requires more concentration. Perhaps the benefit of being 30 years younger is that I don’t have presbyopia yet. Maybe my vision is also enhanced, just like my strength. I remember hearing that focusing on close objects involves the muscles of the eye in my previous world.

The rhythmic sound of Rike’s knife-making practice mixed with the small "tink-tink" sounds of my work, creating a unique atmosphere in the workshop. It might sound like someone is playing the hi-hat, but without a melody, it’s not quite music. Still, it’s not a bad session.

There are moments when I wonder if using my cheat for such tasks is right, but considering that the quality of the hooks could affect the fishing results, I can’t help but use it. I put in the necessary effort for work and go all out for hobbies.

Thus, I completed seven fishing hooks (including spares) using all the skills I have, and waited for the fishing day to come.