Helen, Anne, and I headed over to the plate storage area. We grabbed stacks of metal, piling more and more onto our arms until we hit the limits of our strength. Helen was able to carry the most, I was second, and Anne was third by a close margin. The Lightning Strike seemed more slender than me, but her arms were packed with muscle. I knew this, of course, but I always wondered where she stored all her strength—in the past, I’d even asked her.

  “It just depends on how you use your body,” she’d replied.

  I didn’t think that was the only difference between us, but now wasn’t the time to pry further.

  “All right, let’s make ’em!” I announced, rolling my shoulders.

  Everyone else seemed to be in high spirits as their enthusiastic voices rang out, “Okay!”

  We should make these in one go while we’ve got this energy.

  “This is the shape I’m planning on making,” I said, drawing a rough sketch on a sheet of paper. “What do you think?”

  I showed everyone my diagram. The shape I had in mind was an elongated version of the head of a flyswatter. It would be ideal for hitting and smashing, and I felt like any other shape would make it awkward to wield. And since it was purposely designed so that we could crush the troll several times in swift succession, I frankly didn’t care about how it looked. These weapons would probably be useless in any other scenario, so I planned on melting them down after the troll was dead and reusing the metal for plates.

  Rike cocked her head to one side. “Why’s it not shaped like a club or mace?”

  “I did consider making something like that.”

  Clubs and maces were ideal when it came to dealing heavy, crushing blows to an enemy. In this instance, the weapon would have to be long like a spear, and its head would need to be adjusted to deal fatal strikes (like adding terrifying spikes to the end or something). All of this had been up for consideration. But, our objective this time around wasn’t to crush bones or to apply the heaviest impact—it was to squash and destroy the troll’s flesh. Thus, we needed a weapon that could cover the largest surface area possible, and a shape similar to a flyswatter would be perfect for that.

  I explained my thought process to Rike.

  “Got it.” She hit her palm with her fist, a glimmer in her eyes.

  “Also, I think we’ll only be using these clunky weapons one time—we can melt them down after.”

  “We’ll be fine!” Rike insisted, leaning forward.

  It felt reassuring when she was so energetic during times like these, and I was eager to start working while Rike’s infectious optimism was still buzzing inside me.

  “All right, then let’s start!”

  I needed to make three of these odd weapons—one each for Helen, Anne, and myself. I wasn’t really worried about appearance or precision. They just needed to be large and sturdy—that was all. This project also allowed me to use my cheats to their fullest. Though we had a little bit of time, it didn’t mean that we had enough to dawdle. I tried to move around and make everything as fast as possible, but even with my cheats, it took time for me to hammer away at the large plates of steel. Ultimately, I had to borrow Rike’s assistance.

  Rike happily complied with my request, though, saying, “This is all part of my training!” I have to make sure I don’t rely on her too much and take her kindness for granted.

  Time continued to tick by.

  “Boss! You’re so fast!”

  As she complimented me, Rike’s hammer also swung at a rapid pace. She was clanging away on the spots I indicated, but at this speed, I had no time to verbally give her commands. So, I used my hammer to relay instructions, but I had to do so quickly—Rike had to observe my hammer indications and adjust her strike midair as she was swinging down. This was, of course, an extremely difficult task.

  When we made entry-level items, we generally split our focus into two categories: quality (about thirty percent of our focus) and speed (seventy percent). But, for this weapon, it was more like ten percent quality and ninety percent speed. We didn’t have a moment to lose.

  Rike managed to keep up and go all out. When I thanked her later, she replied, “I can’t fight, so this is how I can support you guys.”

  She really is the best apprentice ever. I truly felt this from the bottom of my heart. While we hammered, I had metal sheets heating up in the firebed. Once they were at the ideal temperature, we pounded the sheets and stuck them together, trying to pack as much bulk onto the weapon as we could.

  Once the crushing head was complete, we finished it off by adding a cylindrical hilt and wrapping the hilt with leather to create a grip. One down, two to go. This weapon had been created specifically for this battle, and it would take quite a bit of time to finish forging all three.

  The last was completed in the middle of the night—I forced everyone to go to sleep while I finished it up by myself. As I was wrapping the final weapon’s hilt with leather, the door connecting the forge to the cabin opened. I glanced up and saw Samya’s face peeking through.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “You should be asleep.”

  Tomorrow, she’d be keeping the troll in check with her arrows while Team Smash approached the monster for close combat. Precision and concentration were vital for archers—she should’ve known that being sleep-deprived was her greatest enemy.

  “Eizo,” Samya said as she entered the forge. “Why have you chosen to fight that thing? Have you not considered leaving it alone and asking others for help?”

  I continued wrapping leather around the hilt. My answer was quiet in the nighttime forge. “Firstly, this forest is important for my work—I can’t do my blacksmithing well anywhere else. But above all...”

  “Above all?”

  “This is the home of my family. It’s only natural for me to want to protect that, don’t you think?”

  I gazed at Samya as I said those words. I hadn’t come to the Black Forest of my own volition. However, I’d spent quite a bit of time here, and above all, it was the home of my first family member. I felt it was natural to protect this place and lend my assistance when needed.

  “I see,” Samya replied, looking down. I felt like there was a hint of happiness in her tone, but maybe I was being a bit conceited. “Then I’ll get some rest for tomorrow!”

  With that, she shut the door (a little violently) and was gone.

  “Ha ha ha!” Helen bellowed. “This is great!”

  Before we left, Helen was swinging around the huge weapon in our yard. (Coincidentally, the thing looked like the signature oversized sword of a certain manga character back on Earth.) Maybe I should’ve made it heavier. I didn’t dare vocalize that thought, though; Helen likely had her limits if she wanted to maintain speed. Obviously, if she was able to attack swiftly while lugging around that huge weapon, her strength far exceeded any normal person’s.

  We made our trek back to the cave by ourselves. Once we arrived, Lluisa was waiting for us at the entrance.

  “I’m sorry to make you wait,” I said.

  “Not at all,” Lluisa replied. “The concept of time is more or less lost on me.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  As part of the Dragon of the Land, she must’ve lived in perpetuity—if we were a day late in our quest to defeat the troll, that was probably well within her margin of error.

  Just like last time, Rike, Krul, and Lucy would stay back with our supplies. We unloaded our weapons and other resources from Krul and then began making preparations. This time, we’d packed enough food to last us a day, along with some tools: a portable firebed, some charcoal, a small anvil, and a hammer. These would allow me to repair the crude weapons Rike and I had made yesterday.

  Though we unloaded everything, we wouldn’t bring much inside the cave—just some sparse provisions in case we needed to eat or drink something small to regain our stamina. I also told Rike that she didn’t have to prep the tools for immediate use. Ingredients for a full meal and tools were for emergency situations only (like if we had to camp out overnight), and in an ideal scenario, we wouldn’t use them at all.

  Frankly, I felt that if we got stuff ready, we might jinx ourselves. I wasn’t completely superstitious, but my thought process was akin to wishing for good luck—if I didn’t prepare for the absolute worst-case scenario, then maybe it wouldn’t happen.

  “Well then, good luck,” Lluisa said, as serious as ever.

  We nodded. The cheers of Rike, Krul, and Lucy echoed behind us as we ventured into the cave to battle once more.

  Since we were now prepared for anything that came our way, the troll didn’t stand a chance. The huge beast loomed in front of us, just like during our initial encounter, and by now, it looked completely regenerated. We struck first, firing our arrows. However, it seemed like the troll wasn’t actually in perfect condition, as it struggled to move. It sluggishly made its way toward us but stopped once we let loose the second set of arrows. We weren’t kind enough to give it time to fully recover. Helen was wielding a weapon heavy enough to test the limits of her strength, but she still moved as nimbly as ever.

  “Hmph!” she grunted, swinging down her weapon and crushing the troll’s leg.

  The monster once again howled deafeningly and then lost its balance. Anne and I awkwardly brandished our clunky weapons, but we both still managed to swing down and land our blows.

  “And...hup!” My weapon careened down, making a low vwoom sound.

  Anne and I managed to take down an arm and the remaining leg. Helen’s onslaught still wasn’t over—she swung several more times for good measure. With every loud thud, the troll’s body grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, our attacks smashed the monster to smithereens, and parts of its body were scattered every which way. I think I saw a similar scene once in an anime, but the victim was a robot.

  I was extremely grateful that this monster didn’t spew blood. If we were covered in blood and sludge, it would’ve dealt a blow to our psyche. The screaming was already traumatizing enough.

  Eventually, our smashing crushed the troll to dust, which disappeared into the wind. The only bit left behind was one small lump of flesh. The lump wriggled around, then eventually stopped, melting away without leaving a trace.

  “Lidy!” I called.

  “Right!”

  She immediately lowered her bow and closed her eyes, honing her senses. Samya and Diana slowly approached her side, while the rest of us spaced out evenly around her and scanned our surroundings. Without her confirmation, we still couldn’t let our guards down. I couldn’t detect any enemies, but I wasn’t a pro like Helen—I could only roughly sense foes with my cheats, so I wasn’t sure just how reliable my abilities were.

  For several moments of intense concentration, Lidy didn’t move an inch. Then, she heaved a loud sigh.

  “How is it?” I asked softly.

  “I can’t sense anything,” she replied. “The stagnant magical energy here has completely dissipated too.”

  Which meant...

  “We did it!” Lidy squealed in the loudest voice she could.

  I followed suit and erupted into loud cheering. The troll subjugation was a success, and all of a sudden, I realized that I was somewhat exhausted. Everyone else must’ve felt the same way—I watched Anne fall to the ground and Helen rush to her side. I, too, dropped to the ground, rolling around from sheer elation as happiness filled my heart. I let out a loud, loud sigh of relief, then stood back up.

  “Let’s make our triumphant return!” I declared.

  Chapter 6: Our Small, Triumphant Return

  When a monster born of stagnant magical energy is killed, nothing of its corpse remains. Our fight to the death was fresh in our minds, along with the feeling of victory (though, ultimately, we’d just surrounded the troll and beaten it to bits). We weren’t in the army this time, so there was no grand ceremony to be held. Only Lluisa, Gizelle, and the other fairies would be in the know. Still, the fact that we’d desperately fought to protect this forest remained true.

  We grabbed our torches and started walking to the entrance of the dark cave. All of us were desperate to leave this place as quickly as possible, but we still took a small break on our way out. We weren’t as tired as yesterday when we’d been forced to retreat. However, our previous escape had been fueled by plans to regroup, so there’d been no time to waste feeling tired.

  During our break, we drank some water and ate some of the dried meat we’d brought along as emergency rations.

  “I know it’s a bit too late to say this, but in terms of food and water, my initial planning was kinda lacking,” I admitted.

  Helen nodded. “Yeah, guess so.” She glanced around, maintaining vigilance while she munched on meat. “We should’ve brought enough food, provisions, and repair tools to last us at least a day. But I slacked off there too. Shoulda pointed that out myself. Sorry.”

  “No, I was the one who made the decisions. Next time, we should be better prepared. Or not, I don’t know.”

  Laughter filled the cave. In all honesty, I wasn’t keen on accepting these dangerous missions; the fewer the better. I was just a blacksmith, after all.

  “We really showed off our power this time around,” Anne said with a sigh. “Of course, we didn’t really give the troll a choice in the matter.”

  This battle had been one monster against many of us, and at least in this type of scenario, we’d shown that we could defeat a strong foe without sustaining any major injuries. Since Lluisa now knew about our power, I was a bit anxious to see how she might react to it.

  “If my father knew of a small squad that could defeat that large monster without sustaining so much as a scratch, well, he wouldn’t leave them alone,” Anne confessed.

  As Lluisa had said, we were the strongest group in the Black Forest, certainly the most powerful in this area. I could imagine that the emperor, who juggled so many problems at once, would never let an asset as powerful as us run wild.

  Anne’s expression hardened into resolve. “I would never tell father about us, though.”

  “There isn’t much use worrying about stuff like that now,” I said. “Whatever happens, happens. Worst case, we might have to rely on Camilo or Marius, or even...the margrave.”

  Everyone nodded, and at that, we ended our break. We pressed onward. Judging from the light of our torches, it didn’t seem like too much time had passed, but I had no idea what it was like outside. It was during these moments that I truly realized the importance of portable watches. Back on Earth, my work hadn’t really relied on time—I’d toiled night and day—but I’d bought myself a watch anyway, seeking to make sure that I wasn’t too detached from society. I’d used one of my pay bonuses to buy something nice from the brand that sponsored a racing team, and it’d been convenient to check the time on a whim.

  Eventually, we started to see the light at the end of the cave, indicating that the exit was near. We quickened our pace as the light grew larger and larger, and we soon saw numerous figures. Lluisa, Rike, and the rest of my family were obviously there, but I also saw that Gizelle and the other fairies had gathered around.

  Noticing us, Lluisa stepped forward. “How was it?”

  I’d already planned out my response. “We defeated it, of course.”

  Lluisa smiled broadly. “Thank you! As the master of the Black Forest, you have my utmost gratitude!”

  “We fairies would like to thank you too!” Gizelle exclaimed. Both the dryad and the fairies showered us with applause.

  “Welcome back!” Rike said.

  “Kululu!”

  “Arf! Arf! Arf!”

  As our family members greeted us excitedly, it truly felt like I had returned home. I glanced up at the sky, still surrounded by the applause of the fairies. The sun was already past its apex, but there was still some time before it’d set. We’d gone straight to the cave this time, and using our experience from our first round—combined with Helen and the others’ assistance—we’d been able to defeat the troll quickly. I would’ve surely struggled if I’d had to face the monster alone. I’ve gotta show my family my gratitude.

  When I saw Helen’s armor gleaming under the bright daylight, I noticed that there were numerous small scratches along the surface. It seemed that she’d been dodging all the attacks gracefully...but just barely. Also, since we all had ventured into the cave, every one of our attack squad was covered in dirt. The well would have its chance to shine when we returned home.

  We hadn’t sustained any grave injuries, though we were dirty and exhausted. Even so, our faces were glimmering with triumph. We all lined up in front of Lluisa, which caused everyone to quiet down. I took a step forward and stared Lluisa straight in the eye.

  “Your request has been fulfilled now, correct?” I asked.

  “Yes, of course,” Lluisa replied with a smile.

  “Hooray!” Samya yelled as she high-fived the family members behind me. The fairies once again cheered with joy.

  The dryad was all smiles as she casually added, “And since you fulfilled it, I suppose I must give you a reward.”

  I’d completely forgotten. She was letting me live here despite knowing about my background, and I felt like that was more than enough of a reward. But I couldn’t say so in front of my family. This and that were two separate things, so I decided to obediently receive our payment.

  “First, I’ll bestow upon you a reward that might not be so useful,” Lluisa said with a mischievous wink. She then turned stern and declared solemnly, “I shall give you all the title ‘Black Forest Protector.’”

  I assume that title is the result of our accomplishment. As Lluisa spoke, Gizelle and the other fairies lined up in front of me. I even saw Reeja and Deepika in the mix. The fairies carried a set of dark metallic brooches shaped like heater shields, which were all engraved with a tree motif. Each fairy bowed before pinning the brooches to our chests in turn (though since Helen was wearing her breastplate, she had hers affixed to her shoulder).

  “With this brooch, I’d love to say that you won’t be attacked in the forest, but that’s sadly not the case,” Lluisa explained. “But the fairies and spirits of this forest will make sure to listen to your requests as much as possible, and you will be well respected, even in other forests. If you ever run into dryads or treants from other places, try showing them this brooch.”

 

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