After that, the Accessory Merchant somehow ended up joining our trading caravan.
He was paying his fare, so I couldn't exactly complain, but I couldn't figure out why he was tagging along.
For whatever reason, the whole bandit incident had apparently won him over big time. The guy revealed his true identity and insisted on lecturing me all the way until he disembarked.
Apparently, his original purpose for joining up had been to memorize the faces of traders operating in this area and put the fear of God into them. Basically an assassin for the Merchant Guild.
Then he'd spotted potential in me and wanted to hone it or something...
On top of that, the Accessory Merchant apparently held considerable power within the Guild, and was famous for never doing things like taking on students or teaching anyone—though he was pleasant on the surface. I heard all this later from a merchant acquaintance who complained to me about it.
The first thing he taught me was how to source materials used for infusing gems and the like. He connected me with an acquaintance of his who ran a mining operation.
Next came the process of shaping precious metals into accessories. Apparently intricate designs were all the rage right now. Drawing was one thing I actually knew a bit about from my otaku days, so I managed to cobble together something that looked roughly right, and he approved of it.
He also sold me the tools for shaping at a discount.
These were magical instruments unique to this world—the fuel was a kind of magic stone that resembled coal.
The Shield was reacting to them as expected, but the cost was steep enough that I couldn't let it absorb them.
There were several tools: what you'd call a polishing lathe in my world, and things like blowtorches. I used these to make accessories.
For harder metals like iron, apparently it was standard practice to commission molds at a smelting forge and bring them along. Well, at that point, my Crafting skill kicked in with its bonus.
Now for the main event.
Magic Power Infusion.
This required being able to use magic.
While I was frowning at a magic tome, unable to cast anything, the Accessory Merchant approached me.
"Can't the Hero use magic?"
"Right. My subordinates told me to harmonize my magic power with the enchantment, but I don't really understand what magic power even feels like."
"Ahh, I see... so that's how it is."
The Accessory Merchant pulled a small, transparent shard from somewhere inside his clothes and handed it to me.
"What's this?"
"A fragment of a rare mineral. It's quite expensive."
"Oh... neat."
"You can read the characters, yes?"
"More or less... the simple ones, at least."
After nearly a month of exposure to this world's writing and studying seriously, I'd started to pick it up.
I still couldn't read anything with complicated phrasing, but I could manage the basics now.
"Then all that's left is learning the magic itself. As long as you can sense magic power, that's sufficient."
Hmm... easier said than done.
Thinking that, I rolled the fragment between my fingers.
The shard began to glow faintly.
It was... how to describe it. A sensation like a second hand I'd never known I possessed was beginning to move.
As if I'd suddenly been made aware of an organ I'd had all along without ever knowing it was there.
Like a bird that had never known flight discovering the beating of its wings for the first time...
"This feels... weird."
"Normally you can sense magic power without an aid like this, but since you seem to have grown up completely unaware of it, I thought we'd try this. Looks like it worked."
"I see..."
I opened a decoded concept in the magic tome I'd been studying and recited the incantation.
Aligning the second arm called magic power with my own arm, I focused my consciousness.
The words began to glow. This was a magic inscribed only on me, readable by me alone.
"I, the Shield Hero who stands as the root of all strength, issue this command! Once more, decipher the principle and guard this soul!"
"Fast Guard!"
A target marker appeared in my vision. I tried selecting myself as the target.
A soft glow settled over me.
Checking my status, I confirmed the expected increase.
"Oh..."
"It seems you've learned it. Now then, I'll teach you Magic Power Infusion."
The Accessory Merchant brushed right past my moment of excitement and launched into his lecture.
I'd just learned something cool, and he brushed it off like it was nothing... that stung a little.
And so, following the Accessory Merchant's guidance, I learned Magic Power Infusion.
It was the process of channeling magic power into a shaped gem, controlling the direction of the force inherent within it.
At first I struggled, but now that I could use magic—and with the Shield's bonus on top of that—after a few attempts I could produce passable results.
For more complex work, you could even blend the power of multiple gems together, or draw magic power from other sources like potions and infuse it into the gem.
"Well, that covers the basics. The rest you'll have to learn on your own and put to use in your business."
With that, the Accessory Merchant climbed down from the carriage.
And just like that, I'd picked up crafting techniques in addition to potion brewing.
I needed crafting-grade minerals, so I made my way to the town where the recommended mine was located.
"Oh... so you're referred by that person, huh?"
A muscular man who looked like a coal miner eyed me suspiciously, but when I showed him the Accessory Merchant's letter of introduction, his surprise was palpable.
"It's definitely his writing. An introduction from someone that money-grubbing... I have to wonder..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
According to the miner, the Accessory Merchant was known far and wide as an extreme cheapskate.
He'd been skeptical of anyone showing up with a letter of introduction from such a miser, but once he confirmed it was genuine, he was impressed.
"Still, if it's his introduction, we can work something out. How much do you want to buy? And I'll give you some flexibility since you've got the letter."
"Actually, mind if I do some mining myself? If I do the work, it'd be cheaper, right?"
"Huh? Oh, well... in that case, I could practically give it to you for free..."
I'd been curious about the Mining skill.
I left the trading to
The clanging of the pickaxe against stone echoed through the cavern. Honestly, it was loud.
The air felt heavy and stifling.
But this was another world, after all—crystals jutted out from the walls, casting a soft glow.
"As long as nothing catastrophic happens, you should be safe anywhere in this cave. But the risk of collapse isn't zero, so do be careful."
That tracked.
From the miner's description, he'd pointed me toward the sturdiest section among several caves.
Slowly, I raised the pickaxe.
A cross-shaped glowing point appeared on the wall.
What was this? Just hit it here?
"Hah!"
With a solid swing, I brought the pickaxe down.
With a heavy crack, the wall fractured.
The cracks spread rapidly, and the rock crumbled away.
"Whoa!"
This wall was absurdly brittle.
"Huh?"
The miner was staring at me, slack-jawed.
"One swing on that hard bedrock...?"
...So it was supposed to be hard?
Thanks to the Mining skill, the wall collapsed with every swing, and before I knew it, raw gemstones were tumbling out everywhere.
Still, some walls were clearly beyond my skill level—no matter how many times I hit them, nothing came loose.
"I'll take this much."
"Y-yes."
I stuffed the rough gemstones into a bag and left the mine in short order.
Incidentally, near the mine itself, I could harvest rough gemstones just by digging into the ground with a hoe, like tilling a field.
Turns out, this area had a tendency to produce them quite easily.
The problem was that gemstones near the surface tended to be of poor magical quality.
According to knowledge from my world, in places famous for gemstone mining, you could apparently dig up gems just like turning up soil in a field—scattered all over the place.
That was probably because this was another world. The truly high-quality stones were buried deep underground.
Ruby Bracelet complete!
Quality: Good → High Quality Since the base material was already excellent, the trial product turned out to be quite the piece.
I also infused it with magic while I was at it.
Ruby Bracelet (Fire Resistance +) Quality: High Quality → Normal Ugh... the magic infusion tanked the quality significantly.
In this way, I began branching out into accessories, and my trading journey carried on.
Incidentally, crafting accessories inside a carriage was extremely difficult—I could only manage it in the evenings before rest.
And what's more... whether rough stones or finished goods, the Shield's tree and level weren't high enough to absorb them for any meaningful evolution.
So I was purely in the selling business.
By the way, the bracelet from earlier sold for eighty Silver Coins after two days of crafting time. Making the base bracelet was what took the longest.
Gemstones in this world seemed to be worth less than in my world.
The value lay in how trendy and innovative the design was—a somewhat contradictory notion.
Apparently, that was the current boom. Even other worlds had their fads.
Though it seemed the truly expensive gems were types I'd never heard of.
Still, considering the crafting time, the profit margin was a bit marginal.
That said, I was earning decent money. Might not be a bad idea to start properly upgrading my equipment soon.
New shield conditions unlocked.
Iron Ore Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: Smithing Skill +2 Copper Ore Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: Smithing Skill +1 Silver Ore Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: 2% Damage Cut from Demon-type Attacks Lead Ore Shield Ability locked... Equipment Bonus: Defense +1 Just leave it to the old man at the Weapon Shop, and the relevant skills pop up. Not everything had to be done by hand.
The Lead Ore Shield seemed to have something swapped out in its abilities.
I probably wouldn't use that one.
And so, the days of peddling continued—one day, we happened to stop by a southern town.
Through a reliable source... an introduction from the Accessory Merchant, I heard that a certain region was looking for a large quantity of Herbicide.
Apparently, the only thing fast enough to meet the deadline was a Divine Bird—something on Filo's level.
We weren't death merchants, but when that kind of money was on the table, we didn't hesitate. We rushed toward the village reported to be southwest of our location.