Kuro no Maou

Chapter 169 Mordred Weapon Company (1)

We entered the weapon shop with the giant board [Modred Weapon company – Academy district branch].

The reason why I chose this store was because it greatly stood out even in this neighbourhood.

In the first place, if I wanted a high class weapon, I’ll have to go to the upper strata in any case.

If I had to buy just normal weapons, then it doesn’t matter where I buy it from.

And without much expectations, hoping only to get at least some swords for my magic sword arts, I passed through the giant wooden door.

The inside of the store seemed to be bustling with people. A big muscled man was testing a battle hammer, goblins were comparing daggers and knives, and a nervous looking magician elf was being troubled in deciding over the staff and wand in his hand.

Further inside the store, a sharp-styled golem was swinging around a large sword and a storekeeper was trying to stop him somehow.

It was noisy yet get off an energetic atmosphere which seemed suitable for an adventurer’s weapon shop.

For the time being, let’s look for a replacement for my [Black ballista Replica] and also find some long swords in reasonable price.

Lily and Fiona have gone to check out magic item accessories. It’ll be nice if they find something good.

“yup, I have no idea what’s good or bad about these ones……”(kurono)

I haven’t searched all over the shop but I did go through the wands and swords corner and decided that it’d be better to ask the shopkeeper for advice and moved towards the counter.

“Welcome! What are you looking for today?”

A normal looking man, much more amicable than that witch old hag, greeted me.

On his apron, a pirate-like skull emblem was printed along with the words [Mordred Weapon Company].

No matter how much you guys are dealing with arms and deadly weapons, isn’t that logo a bit too straight?

But I don’t have any reason to mind that so I quickly conveyed my need.

“Do you have a wand that specialises in black magic?”

“Well, that’s a rare type of magic you use. Unfortunately, we only deal with major common weapons here so minor demand weapons like that aren’t available here. You could have one order-made at the head branch but considering your rank, that’d be difficult you see?”

Of course I didn’t have any appraisal skills so I have no choice but to depend on the shopkeeper.

Fiona had a much better eye for this than me but apparently she’s not knowledgeable about black magic either so she couldn’t really help.

Guess I have no choice, I’ll have to use black magic without a wand like old times. I should be able to take down enemies like Salamander for now somehow.

“Then forget about the wand. I need 10 long swords but can they be prepared in around 100,000 klans?”

I did mention the price because they might be having some costly top class swords here as well but for some reason the shopkeeper looked at me with a pitiful warm gaze and spoke.

“Dear customer, this might be none of my business but you should fight against being a gofer from the start, you know?”

Eh, What? Gofer? What the hell?

“Well, it happens a lot when an apprentice magician catches an strong upperclassman’s eye and gets turned into a Gofer for him but being underestimated like that all the time is not good really—“

It seems once again a misunderstanding is being created.

First it was a noble brat, this time it’s a weak 1st year magician.

My face definitely doesn’t give that feeling so was it a mistake for me to buy that apprentice robe?

“Um, those swords are all for my use so it’s fine.”(kurono)

I did try to fix his misunderstanding but going by the man’s eyes, I don’t think he believed me.

Well it’s obvious. An apprentice magician has no use for 10 swords after all, normally speaking.

“Anyway, if 1 sword is to cost 10,000 klan, then only the lowest level of swords can be prepared, but is that fine?”

With blackening I can turn even blunt swords to sharp ones so even though low class, new swords should be able to work against at least low level monsters.

Well, I still have the [Hararetsu] so it’s not really a prob—-

“Ah.”

I remembered now.

That’s right, I can use cursed weapons. It’s been a long time since I went to buy something so I had completely forgotten about this.

I should be able to get a pretty good weapon with 100,000 at least.

“Excuse me, do you keep Cursed Weapons?”

I tried asking but,

“Cursed weapons?”

The man started looking at me even more with sympathetic eyes.

“I understand that you’re frustrated as a gofer but you’ll end your life with those, you know?”

I was warned.

Oh, I give up! I didn’t expect having a low rank as such a big problem……

While I was thinking of how to make him bring out the cursed weapons,

“Ou, I’m here old man!”

A third person’s voice came.

“Ah, Jouto-sama! Welcome again!”

The shopkeeper, as if he had forgotten about me, went to that man called Jouto and started talking politely.

This man called Jouto was werecat, and was also a swordsman considering that his equipment looked like Nino.

But unlike the now dead swordsman of Irz, this one had a face like a Siamese cat and had eyes that seemed to possess a confidence in his own strength and was looking at the shopkeeper with eyes that looked at a lower ranked person.

On his chest,a silver guild card was hanging as a proof of his strength.

A rank 3 adventurer, a rank high enough to gain preference over a lower ranked person like me.

Well, I don’t feel good about this though.

“—–Please wait a second, I’ll bring it here in a moment.”

The old man, probably to bring a sword, left the counter.

I stood there silently as a spectator.

Then, that werecat, while folding his arms as if bored, turned to look towards me.

“…….fuh.”

Giving a snort, he looked away after losing interest.

Well sure you have the higher rank but that attitude really is pissing me off. Even Nino who came to pick a quarrel with me at the very first meeting gave a better impression.

As his image overlapped with my friend’s, displeasure arose in me towards his disgusting attitude.

But I’m not short tempered enough to pick a fight over just that. After all, Spada is filled with adventurers. I probably won’t even meet him ever again.

While I was thinking that, the shopkeeper returned.

With a giant sword wrapped in cloth.

“Here, please take a look!”

Proud of it, the man gave the sword to Jouto.

Jouto he easily took the sword and removed the cloth wrapped around it.

“Oh, could this be—–“(jouto)

A curious gaze filled his eyes.

But, I was even more surprised than him.

“Yes, it just arrived yesterday, [Fang Sword – Evil Eater]!”

On the large blade that looked like a single fang of a monster, countless scars of going through various battles could be seen. The grip also seemed aged and I had definitely seen it being swung around countless times beside me. No doubt, this is Vulcan’s sword.

“Is it real?”(jouto)

“Yes, we already appraised it as a proof. Should I bring out the certificate if you want?”

Jouto smiled and refused.

“The Fang Sword, even if second-hand, would usually be kept by the head branch but this one was an extremely used one so it was sent here.”

“Nice, right at the time when I could rise up to rank 4, I got this. This must be detiny.”(jouto)

The shopkeeper continued his ‘sales talk’ as Jouto seemed to be captivated by the sword.

“Since it has the effect of ‘eating’ magical energy, it doesn’t have any effects like Hardening, Lightening, or Sharpening-like enhancement magic but the raw materials used are top class! Even without such magic, its hardness is great and is light yet sharp which is incomparable to a steel sword. On top of it, since it absorbs magical energy, it regenerates and fixes itself even if it gets slightly chipped. As expected of a blade made from a rank 5 Chaos Eater, its performance is incredible!”

“Yeah, I can swing this easily with just this much weight. It’s size is a bit of a problem but if it’s me, I’ll soon get used to it!”(jouto)

“Yes, I’m sure of it!”

The man agreed and satisfied, Jouto asked him.

“What happened to its previous master? You should know if you appraised it right?”(jouto)

“Yes, of course. It was a Werewolf man and he was quite the veteran as well it seems.”

So it really is Vulcan’s sword.

But why is this sword here? It should be at the highway—–Oh I see, it must have been recovered by the Spada army and must have been sold to this weapon company.

The weapons of strong adventurers are more valuable than precious gems sometimes, they wouldn’t leave it there like that.

But, I could only feel vexed seeing Vulcan’s sword being sold off like this in front of me.

“Heh, to have fallen even with such a sword, he must not have been that amazing.”(jouto)

No matter what the reason, this is a fair trade. It’s being sold to a fucking irritating werecat but I decided to stay quiet.

But, it’s becoming even more irritating now that he’s insulting my comrade.

After some hesitation, I decided to say something but,

“C’mon, Jouto hurry up!”

“Oh, sorry, I’ll be there in a sec!”

After hearing the voice of a female party member, Jouto returned the sword to the man and turned.

“Prepare a sheath for it. I’ll come back later and pay it lump-sum with gold.”(jouto)

As the shopkeeper thanked him from behind, Jouto quickly left.

It might have been good that it ended without me causing any trouble but my feelings haven’t settled down yet properly.

“I’m sorry, I made you wait.”

With a smile that didn’t seem very sorry, the man returned to me.

He must have been happy after selling a high quality item.

“So, I believe I asked you to show me cursed weapons.”(kurono)

I wasn’t feeling really good right now so my words might have been a bit prickly.

“haa, I can’t really recommend cursed weapons. I can’t bring them out unless they’re reliable like the adventurer that just came. Also, even if a cursed weapon is sold at lower cost, 100,000 still son’t be enough.”

“Then, how much will it cost?”

“1 million at least.”

I see.

When I bought the [Basilisk’s Bone (needle)] it didn’t even cost half of that amount but I guess in a big store like this, storage risk would be low so the incentive of getting it out of their hands as fast as possible won’t work here either.

Or maybe, the items might be simply that good.

But nevertheless, I don’t have a million klan on me right now so I won’t be able to buy——-no, wait, even if I don’t have money I do have something worth millions.

“Do you purchase weapons here as well?”(kurono)

“Yes we do, you have something to sell?”

As he agreed, I brought out a silver shining sword from within my shadow underneath me, it was the divine [Mithril Sword].

“I’ll get a million for this right?”(kurono)

“Wha—-“

The man’s eyes widened with surprise and he looked between the sword and my face repeatedly.

He thought I was a gofer and an apprentice magician so it must be too much for him to think that I would be possessing such a high quality item. Considering the cost, I couldn’t have normally bought that.

Well, it’s a fact that I did technically steal it.

“So? If you can prepare money to buy this, you can show me your cursed weapons as well right?”(kurono)

“Ah, no, but, appraisal also has…….”

Maybe he really didn’t want to show an apprentice cursed weapons, the man seemed to be at a loss.

No, if he’s still hesitating now, it might be better to simply rake up some money and raise my rank to buy the weapons but,

“Are you interested in Cursed Weapons, Apprentice Magician-kun?”

Once again, a third voice came in between.

Who is this time? Thinking that, I turned and

“….!?!”

A giant death god was standing there.

But soon I remembered Mossan, and figured out that this man, with a body even bigger than me, must be of the skeleton race.

Death god, is what I said but only his black robe fit that image. His whole body was thickly covered with golden ornaments and he had a long staff with multi coloured precious gems inlaid in it that gave off a rainbow-coloured light. That image was truly that of a [Lich].

His nouveau riche king-like overdressed up figure really fit the high ranked undead class, Lich.

In his empty eye sockets, purple flames shined as a proof of his magical existence.

Although I was surprised by him, I didn’t get overwhelmed and looked towards this skeleton’s face.

For the time being, I decided to ask him who he was but,

“Mo, President Mordred!! Why have you come here!?!”

The man revealed his identity already.

I see, so this man is the top position of this company.

Well then, why does such an amazing person have something to do with me who is nothing but an apprentice magician?……

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-Author’s note – The Spada army didn’t just loot their items etc. they also gave the dead ones a proper burial as well. (T/N: figured I should Tl this as well since it was slightly relevant.)