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Chapter 51 - Chapter 50 - Hammond’s Hammer (1)

"Let's go! Let's go!" Esper said as she bounced along the street.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Soren asked, chuckling in disbelief.

"Not a clue! What's the plan, Cutie?"

"What's with that? I'm going to buy a ring and a new axe."

"Bleh…"

"We can look at other places on the way. I have a decent amount of money with me today." He said in an attempt to lift Esper's mood.

"Are you getting married or something?"

Soren's steps halted.

"What are you going on about?"

"Well, you want a ring, right?"

"...Not for that, I just want one that I can wear."

Esper's head perked back up.

"Can I choose?"

If she were a beastkin, Soren assumed that her tail would be wagging.

"Sure, why not, as long as it's not awful."

"Then come with me!" She grabbed his arm, linking them together and began bouncing once more towards their new destination.

•••✦ ♡ ✦•••

"How is it?"

"It's beautiful." He said as he looked down at his hand.

The ring Esper had picked out was a thin black ring with a red gemstone sitting in the middle.

It perfectly matched Soren's appearance, while not looking too gaudy, which he appreciated; however, the problem was…

"But it's too expensive…"

The ring cost a total of four gold coins, far too much to warrant spending on something with no purpose besides deception.

"Want me to buy it?"

Then a strange suggestion came from the woman beside him, causing Soren to frown.

"What are you going on about? Why would you?"

"Well… I'm loaded?"

It was a sentence that caused memories to surface in his mind for a split second.

– I'm loaded, aren't I?

Those words were often used by Aria back in his past life.

Because of what Esper said, Soren's frown disappeared, but he still couldn't agree easily.

"We just met today. It's too much."

"Then take it as a gift?"

"It's not my birthday, though…?"

"Ugh… Then, as a celebration of us becoming friends!"

"Pfft." Soren couldn't hold his laughter at the cheesy words that Esper said so easily.

"Heyyyy! Don't laugh! I'm trying to be nice here!"

"Okay, okay, my bad. You win."

Grab

Esper grabbed the ring from Soren's palm and ran over to the counter with a faint blush as Soren stood there.

He felt bad about accepting such an expensive gift from a person he had just met, but he wasn't the type of person to turn something down when the gift giver themself was so eager.

"Here ya go!"

"Thank you, Esper."

"Whatever, don't be so stiff."

"What do you mean?"

"Just call me Essy."

"You're so weird."

It was a thought that was meant to remain in his head, but he had accidentally let it slip.

"Wha- How?!"

In response to his words, she lightly punched his side with an expression that made her look offended, so Soren rushed to explain himself.

"Not in a bad way. You're just very sociable. I've never met anyone like you before."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily…?"

"Mmm… Okay then! Now wear this!"

She pulled a box out of a paper bag and opened it towards Soren, causing another sigh to be released from his mouth.

"This is exactly what I mean…" He muttered to himself.

It was a scene that could have easily caused misunderstandings, but Soren didn't bother pointing it out under the intense gaze of the gyaru before him, and slipped the beautiful ring onto the ring finger of his left hand.

Ordinarily, he would have been hesitant to place a ring there, worrying about what people would think or assume given the meaning behind it.

Still, realistically, he had no other option, as whenever he fought, he held his axe in his right hand and used his left exclusively for magic; if he wore the ring on his right hand, it would likely get damaged or scratched by his axe.

"Told you! It looks so good!"

"Yeah, it does. Thanks, Essy."

"No probs! Where to next, Cutie?"

"You know you can call me Ren if you'd prefer."

"Hmm… Nah! I like Cutie more."

"Alright then, next I need to buy an axe."

"Righty'o! Let's go!"

She once again linked arms with Soren and bounced forward to their next destination.

••✦ ♡ ✦•••

"Sorry… I'm not much help here." Esper said dejectedly.

Soren shrugged in response and patted her shoulder. 

He had expected this, given that Esper was an arcane studies student, and he was the only one weird enough to fight the way he did in that department.

After wandering through the workshop district for some time, Soren recognised the name of a store and started pulling Esper towards it.

"Let's go here."

"Okay~"

The store's name was [Hammond's Hammer]. 

It was a common store used by veterans of TKS in the early game, thanks to its excellent cost-to-benefit ratio, to the point where some people even utilised it in the increasingly difficult mid-game.

Standing before the door, Soren acknowledged a sign outside the door, asking customers to knock twice before raising their hand.

Knock knock

Click

A thin rectangular shutter was pulled open, and the eyes of a middle-aged man appeared.

"What d'ya want, kid?"

"I'm looking to buy a new axe and I noticed this store."

The old man snorted, his gaze falling on Soren and Esper's linked arms, a faint sneer twisting his mouth.

"Th' stuff I make ain't meant to be used by noble brats, playing around like you."

Soren blinked, confused for a moment before realising where the man's eyes had lingered.

He quickly pulled his arm free, trying to brush off the comment.

"Hey, that's not fair, you don't even know me, and you're judging my entire life based on the fact that I'm spending time with a friend."

The old man didn't respond, just stared with that same dull contempt that seemed to say, "I've already made up my mind."

The words spoken by the man reminded him of something he had read in a letter, which he had seen when he saw the original Soren's memories.

– I hope this choice doesn't hurt you and that you continue to enjoy playing around as you have been…

As those words seeped into his head, a flicker of anger flared up uncontrollably.

He was fine being called weak, as it was a fact, but being spoken down to by someone who had no idea the life he lived agitated him.

"Hey, Cutie? Why don't we just go somewhere else?"

Esper's light tone had vanished; her brows furrowed.

She was angry too, but her voice only fanned the flames rising in Soren's chest.

Soren realised that, once again, reality was different from his game knowledge, and he wasn't in the mood to ruin an entire day by arguing with a boomer.

He let out a breath, forcing words out through gritted teeth.

"...Fine, let's go."

Just as he turned to walk away, however…

"Look, kid," the blacksmith said dismissively. "I've met plenty of people like you. Think you're all big and strong, but the second you actually see real combat, you break down."

Soren's feet froze in place as he grit his teeth in an attempt to calm himself down.

If the words that reminded him of Sofia's letter had made the original Soren's anger rise, the anger he was feeling right now was definitely his own.

"Now screw off."

That was the last push.

"Oi, old man."

The voice that came from Soren's mouth didn't sound like him.

It was low and cold, a tone that Soren hadn't used in a long time.

The old man scoffed.

"Look at this kid, set off by a few words, guess they were true, huh?"

Bang!

Soren's foot slammed into the door.

It barely budged, but the sound reverberated down the street.

"Old man," Soren hissed, "shut the fuck up about things you don't know."

Wooonggg—!

A faint magic circle flickered to life in his left hand.

He had no intention of actually casting the spell, but the energy spilling off it was enough to make a few onlookers step back.

"You have no fucking clue how I've lived." Soren snapped. "A noble? What a fucking joke. I'm basically disowned. I'm playing around? I almost died not long ago. Am I not allowed to take a break?"

He was shouting now.

"I've never seen a real battle? Pfft… Did I break down? Maybe, but does that give you any fucking right to talk to me like that?"

Soren unleashed his torrent of rage-filled words towards the old man, showing no concern for the crowd that was beginning to form nearby.

The old man said nothing, his face pale.

"You're a craftsman, aren't you?"

THUD!

His foot kicked the door once more.

"I asked you a question."

In response to Soren's intimidation, the man nodded stiffly.

"Then what about you?"

Soren's words caused the man to look at him questioningly.

A small laugh escaped from Soren's lips as he smirked.

"Who are you to talk? You sit in a stuffy, cramped room all day, hammering metal until it looks pretty enough for someone else to swing around, then you throw it to the first guy who walks in for as much money as you can snatch from their gullible pockets." 

Soren smiled as he looked down at the old man who had long lost his bravado. 

"If it weren't for people like me, you wouldn't even have a business."

The old man's eyes widened, his bravado long gone.

"And by the way…"

Soren raised his left hand, the ring on his finger glimmering faintly as he opened his inventory.

Whoosh!

A large, two-handed axe suddenly appeared out of nowhere and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

Even in the crowd surrounding them, people, both craftsmen and adventurers alike, recognised the axe on the floor before the boy.

"I wasn't just here to buy."

He looked the old man dead in the eye.

"This was my sister's. I was here to get it appraised."

He turned his back.

"But I guess I came to the wrong place."

Soren knew; he knew how much artisans valued rare relics found in dungeons.

This was the finishing blow he had thought of to get back at the old man, to scratch his pride by making him realise that he had blown the chance to see a high-tier dungeon weapon up close.

"W-Wait!"

The old man's voice cracked, but Soren didn't stop.

The axe vanished back into his inventory, leaving only silence and the small whispers of the nearby crowd.

Clatter

Click

The door to the store swung open, and Esper's eyes widened at the appearance of the old man who appeared from the door.

"A dwarf…!" She muttered, her face full of surprise.

'This was why I wanted to come here…'

In the world of Ivansia, dwarves were a rarely seen race, appearing only very occasionally, as they had built their kingdom underground, on the opposite side of the continent from the demon realm.

Even in TKS, there were only a total of four dwarves seen across the entire game, and one of them was the old man standing in the doorway with an anxious expression.

Dwarves are natural-born craftsmen, with skills that far surpass any other race in jobs that require dexterity. 

This is why owning a dwarven weapon was seen as an achievement amongst adventurers.

This was also why Soren was so disappointed.

Because this world was no longer a game, he had assumed that he could keep using this dwarven blacksmith even as the world progressed into the later stages of the story, as he wouldn't have a limited store and could even be commissioned.

"Let's go," He said to Esper, turning to leave the workshop district.

He wasn't desperate for a weapon, and he had long since lost interest in attempting to buy one today.

He also felt bad for dragging Esper along and making her witness his outburst. 

He was thinking that he would treat her to a meal or something to make up for it.

"Wait! I'm sorry!"

The old man's voice was heard, but Soren willingly ignored it and began walking. 

But for some reason, Esper remained stuck in place, her eyes glued to the dwarf.

"Essy?"

"Cutie… Look at him." She pointed to the old man. "Doesn't he look genuinely sorry?"

Soren's eyes followed her finger, and he took in the old man's appearance.

His eyes were filled with anxiety as he continuously glanced around at his surroundings, and his back was hunched, showing that he had lost his confidence.

Seeing that Soren scoffed.

"So what? You heard what he said."

"...I did, and I was annoyed too, but he's a dwarf, right?"

Esper's words, while simple, did make Soren waver.

"Where else would you find a dwarf like this?" Then she turned to face Soren, a mischievous grin on her face. "Plus, now he owes you, right? He spoke down to both a Count and a Duke."

Her words caused Soren to grin in return.

"I see what you mean."

In a world of status, nothing was more important than a noble's pride. 

If a commoner were found speaking ill of a noble without good reason, then it would be easy for that commoner and their whole family to have their entire lineage cut out.

'Of course, that's not what Essy's suggesting.'

Although Soren hadn't spent long with Esper, he could tell she wasn't the type of person to abuse her authority; instead, Esper was likely suggesting that they could use this fact to make the dwarf owe them a favour.

In a way, it was blackmail.

But Soren wasn't against it; he wasn't a righteous hero like Alex was. 

All Soren cared about was whether he and those close to him were happy.

The dwarf had caused Soren to feel anger that he hadn't felt in a long, long time, and putting the dwarf in their debt would give Soren a good reason to keep coming back.

Soren turned towards the old man, his face a mirror of Esper's mischievous grin, seeing that the old man broke out in a cold sweat.

"Hey, old man."

•••✦ ♡ ✦•••

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▶ ù̷̥͇̹̽́o̶̜̊l̷̡̔͂̅S̸̥͕̬̔̐́̉̀ͅ ̴̤̝͎̅͐̓̓͝i̸̢̳͙̮͚̽̂ṉ̴̡̧̧͋̅̐e̶̩̓̾̆̀̃g̸̗͌̉̓̑̚r̵̠̠͎̱̟͛̾̚M̵̢̙̣̒͑͂͐g̶̛̪͛̍̀ ȍ̶̠̘̬̳̩͍̣̩̒͗̿̉̀͝f̷̟͊́̉͋̑͑̽̈̕̚͘͘ ̵̛̠̗̞̠̌̀̏͛̈́̒͆̄̄̕ͅͅḮ̴̪͎̙̮̲̳͌̄̒̇̉͆̒͂̊́̓̉s̶̺̭̗͓̯̭̮̜̭͎͍͕͓̏̉̈́̅͌͗̔̏͌̀͋͋̉͜͜a̵̧̘͇̤̻͖̠̮͋͂́̓̓͒͠a̶̦͙̜̜̜͉̝̜̺̓̏͌c̸̰͚͍̺̮͚͚̳̮̥̠͗̀̓̔̐͝ ̴̛̝̥͉̟̓̈́̇͜͝a̷̡̳̮̰̯͍͉̩̮͓͍̥̟͆͐͑͜͜n̴̬̫͇̫̜̘̤̼̾̇̎̏̈͊̀͘͜͜d̶̡͖̤͕̮̯̫̑̇͋̂͒̎͝͠ ̵̢̜͈͔̮̗̝̠̠͚͑̏͜S̶͉͔̬͔̯̊̎͐̔̔͝o̶͖̭̩͂̄̌̍̐͗̅͜͝r̷̡͓̥̦͕̹̯̬̽̾̽͗͂̃̉̽̋̊͛̐̒͝ë̵͇̘̺̮͉̥͈̌̇̋̆̑̕n̷͈̘͚͍̞̹̰̱͈͉̼̘̹͆̑̒̌:̴̻̹͉̌̈́ ̵͖̝̽̂̋̍͌10%̸͉̓͑̈̅͗ ◀

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————「❤︎」————

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