We’ll Make Armor Too
After the fine adjustments I had requested were finished and I received my dagger, Dad took me to an armor shop.
“Hey there, welco… oh? Alke? Oh, Vio’s here too. What brings you two in?”
I knew it was an armor shop because the sign out front had a shield and armor drawn on it, and inside it looked exactly how I imagined, armor displayed on wooden mannequins made from crossed poles, shields propped against the walls, and so on.
The one who greeted us was Mr. Aran, the Muscle-Squirrel teacher. So this shop belonged to him.
“Hello, Muscle-Squirrel Teacher. Today we came to… huh? Wait a second. Are we making armor?”
Come to think of it, hadn’t we said I didn’t need armor because I had barrier armor?
When I looked up at Dad in confusion, Mr. Aran staggered a bit. Oops, sorry about that.
“Haha, she ain’t got the size for proper armor yet, so we ain’t plannin’ on makin’ any. Aran, though, I’d like ya to make a sword belt for Vio’s dagger.”
“Oh right, you were having weapons made at Giren’s place, weren’t you? Let me see.”
I took the whip and dagger out of the bag, still in their box, and showed them to Mr. Aran.
He inspected them closely while muttering things like, “That’s tiny.” Well, when Dad or Mr. Aran held them in their big hands, they really did look like toy weapons.
“Isn’t this whip awfully short? Though I suppose with how small Vio is, maybe that’s about right…”
“Oh, this whip becomes a belt as it is.”
Oh right, that’s true. I had brought the whip along in the box with the dagger, but this one could actually be worn.
When I wrapped the whip around my waist after getting it back from Mr. Aran, it fit perfectly. The magic stone in the grip worked like a button, so all I had to do was lightly wrap the tip of the whip around and it fastened.
“Huh. In that case you can carry it around all the time, and the short length makes sense.
Then I’ll need to make a sword belt that won’t interfere with removing that belt. Got any preferences?”
“Well… if it’s on the side it’ll get in the way when I walk, so I’d like to store it behind me if possible.”
I showed him the motion of drawing a sword from behind my back, and he seemed to understand.
He said he’d make it so it would also be easy to remove when sitting down. Much appreciated.
“So you’re really not making any armor at all? Even if Alke’s following her around, wouldn’t it be better if she had at least a little defense?”
“Yeah, we’re plannin’ to make some boots, but armor’d just weigh her down. Right now she’s trainin’ mainly in magic and martial arts, so it’s better if she can move light on her feet.
Once she grows a bit more, ’bout the time of her baptism, we’ll probably start goin’ to tougher places, so that’s when we’ll add more armor.”
Huh? He’s not mentioning the barrier armor?
Well, he did say it was rare. And when he told Kathe’s parents during the sparring session, it was because they were Gold rank adventurers, so even if he tried to hide it they’d probably notice anyway.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Mr. Aran, but apparently it was better if as few people as possible knew about it.
Mr. Aran assumed we would either keep training in the forest until my baptism or gain experience in a low-level dungeon, so he seemed satisfied with the explanation that I didn’t need armor yet.
I had said I didn’t need things like armor, but since I’d be active outside, we decided he would make something like a coat… or maybe a cloak.
The cloaks he showed me for adults looked like tents, but apparently they were used for more than just warmth. You could wrap yourself in one to sleep during camping, or use it like a cloth bundle to carry materials.
Come to think of it, when I first met Professor Doua, the elf, he had been wearing a cloak too. Was it something like this?
They were apparently made from monster hides, so they were resistant to blades and considered essential armor for adventurers.
Good ones were even waterproof and could hold water so you could carry it around.
Though since I had water creation magic, I probably wouldn’t need to use it that way.
◆◇◆◇◆◇
After leaving Mr. Aran’s armor shop, we headed to Ms. Milina’s shoe shop.
All the shoes I wore for everyday use were made by Ms. Milina, and they were incredibly comfortable.
“Oh my~ Vio! It’s been a while.
Are you looking for new shoes? What kind would you like? You’ve been training too, haven’t you? Maybe something easy to run in? Oh, what should we do?”
The moment we entered the shop, Ms. Milina noticed me and hurried over, then scooped me up in her arms.
Ms. Milina was a rabbit beastkin. She wasn’t particularly large, but I was so small that quite a few adults preferred picking me up like this instead of crouching down to talk.
“Ah, Milina, today I was hopin’ you’d make some adventurer boots for Vio.”
“Oh? If you’re specifying adventurer boots, does that mean they’re for activities outside the village?
Wait… what’s little Vio’s adventurer rank now?”
“Well… I’m Bronze rank, and I’ve saved up ninety-three points.”
More points had been added at the end of last week, so I only needed seven more. My goal was to reach Copper rank by the end of this month.
“What!? That means you’re only seven points away from Copper rank! Alke, aren’t you being a little too strict?”
“Whoa now, hold on a sec. Vio’s just quick ’cause she’s real good at gatherin’ herbs. The Wind season’s comin’ up soon, right? Once outsiders start showin’ up, it’ll be safer if we keep a bit of distance.
So once she hits Copper rank, I’m thinkin’ we’ll start subjugation trainin’ out in the forest.”
When Ms. Milina heard my rank, she put me down on a chair and immediately started pressing Dad for answers. Well, herb gathering did become easier once you got the hang of it, and it was a good way to earn points. Kathe had earned a bunch all at once too, and Nachi and Run had told me their points were building up steadily as well.
Dad looked flustered under Ms. Milina’s intensity, but once he explained the reason, she seemed to accept it.
“Well, if that’s the case, I suppose it can’t be helped.
Then Vio, let’s make some sturdy, easy-to-walk-in boots. I’ll tell Lilium about it too, so please have her make you some clothes that are easy to move around in outside.
Oh my, this is getting exciting. Maybe short boots instead of long ones… no, let’s make both. Alke, that’s fine, right?”
What!? Two pairs of shoes? I’m still growing, so I might outgrow them quickly. That feels like such a waste.
I tried to decline politely, but adventurer shoes apparently had a mechanism that allowed some size adjustment. If they made them a little bigger, even someone growing like me could wear them for about two years.
The shoes I used now for everyday wear didn’t have anything like that.
“Dad, is that really okay?”
“Hm? You worried ’bout the price of the shoes?
You hardly ever asks for nothin’, so you ain’t gotta hold back. For adventurers, weapons and boots are important. That’s not somethin’ you skimp on.
You’ve been takin’ good care of the shoes and clothes you’ve already got, haven’t ya? If you treat these the same way and make ’em last, that’s more than enough for me.”
Even though they were made with special materials and probably cost quite a lot, Dad told me not to worry.
The weapons, the sword belt, the cloak… we had come this far without me even asking the prices.
I was earning money from herbs, but no one was charging me anything. The only thing I could do was take good care of the things people bought for me and use them as long as possible.
But Dad always seemed especially happy about that.
Ms. Milina said she would work together with Ms. Lilium to design clothes and shoes suited for adventuring.
Please take care of it!
READ CHAPTERS 94-127 IN ADVANCE ON PATREON (8$ TIER)
What do you think about this chapter?
