Chapter 655

Reason for the Request
As a bonus for making Mourou’s armor, I also crafted amulets for the adventurers assisting him.
These weren’t anywhere near the level of complete protection, but they offered decent defense, and even if a curse broke through, they should be able to recover with potions.
Anything beyond that isn’t my responsibility.
And this job isn’t one where my name even appears.

I did make Mourou’s armor properly, but the amulets for the other adventurers were made from leftover leather scraps.

“I see. So their resistance isn’t guaranteed to be perfect.”

“Yes. I do think it’s reasonably strong, but I don’t know what kind of enemy you’ll face.”

“No, that’s more than enough. I’m grateful.”

That wrapped up the job…
Ah—no, there was something I’d forgotten to ask after seeing the reward.

“Why did the previous armor craftsman run away?”

Yes, thatMourou point.
If even the master of the Trade Guild came to me personally with this request, the previous craftsman must have been quite well-known.
And yet he fled.
Why?

“Ah, that. Most likely he realized he couldn’t make armor that met my requirements.”

“He was that unskilled?”

“No. Up until now, he handled all my equipment without issue. His enchantment abilities were solid too. But this time, I demanded exceptionally high-level curse nullification. He accepted the commission anyway, decided it was beyond him, took the advance payment, and ran.”

“An advance… how much was it?”

“About fifty million. A painful loss, but once he’s fled, nothing can be done. They’re handling that separately, and I needed to request someone else for what I required.”

I see, that’s how the request ended up coming to me.
I’ve made a fair number of armor pieces over these four years.
When it comes to custom armor, I’ve even made sets for Copper Adventurers.
Naturally, I received payment worthy of that work.

Or rather, Alizée handled everything—material arrangements, negotiations, all of it.
Apparently she thought negotiating with a Copper Adventurer was impossible for me.
Honestly, she was probably right.

“Well, this time, the loss will more than pay for itself once I take down the monster they want to put up for auction. It’s not far from here anyway, and I should make it in time.”

“So it lives that close?”

“It’s a migratory monster. Each season, it changes hunting grounds in search of food. This time its hunting ground happens to be near the city, so they requested both the subjugation and the taxidermy.”

Hmm, sounds like a pretty tough monster.
But Mourou didn’t look worried at all.
He must be confident.

I’ve heard that becoming a Gold Adventurer requires a lot of troublesome formalities, so many adventurers stop at Silver even if they have the ability.
Mourou may be one of those.

Better not poke too deeply into the monster itself.

As for why the Catastie Trade Guild requested me specifically, that was simple.
If Mourou’s taxidermy didn’t arrive, the auction would have a massive gap in its lineup.
And from the Adventurer Guild’s side, they also wanted the monster eliminated quickly.
Considering both circumstances, they wanted Mourou equipped as fast as possible, and by coincidence they learned I was heading this way, so they came to me.

It really was a coincidence.

That Snow Crystal Fairy originally should have been something they auctioned too.
But they handed it over to me to prioritize Mourou’s commission.
Yeah… they must have been in quite a pinch.

What do you think about this chapter?