The smug-faced man turned his gaze away from Podro and started walking toward us.
"It's been a while,
Marquis Samons!
"
He deliberately raised his voice on the "Marquis Samons" part, making sure everyone around could hear.
"Well, well! When I spotted Lord Tenma after so long and came over for a look... my, my, you've gotten yourself caught up with quite a nasty crowd. Getting tangled up with nobles — is that your specialty, Lord Tenma?"
Marquis Samons addressed us in a remarkably casual tone, a far cry from how he'd been dealing with Podro moments before.
The onlookers nearby watched the exchange and began whispering among themselves. "Could he be the son of some great noble family?"
As for Podro, he had been completely overwhelmed by the Marquis's words and presence, appearing at a total loss for what to do.
But the Marquis was not about to let such an opening slip by. He turned to face Podro once more, pressing his advantage.
"So then — what of your answer from before? If, as you say, the Minister of Internal Affairs made statements about seizing Lord Tenma's — no, about robbing the nation's citizens of their property — then this is a grave matter! We must notify His Majesty the King immediately and have him reprimand Duke Daraam!"
Marquis Samons delivered these words with exaggerated gestures, making sure his voice carried to everyone around them.
Podro, who had been watching this display, had gone even paler than before and was swaying on his feet. Supported by the men who had accompanied him, he finally managed to speak.
"I-I misspoke, that's all... Th-this matter was entirely my own doing... No — there IS... I mean, the Duke had nothing to do with it... nothing at all..."
Despite his ashen face, Podro spat out the words with an expression of bitter reluctance.
Hearing this, Marquis Samons dropped the jovial act entirely, his expression turning sharp and severe.
"Then you admit that you invoked Duke Daraam's name in an attempt to seize an adventurer's property — his slaves! In the name of Marquis Samons, I shall formally report this to His Majesty the King! That Sub-Viscount Podro Il Kuroido used Duke Daraam's name to try and steal an adventurer's slaves! Until the verdict is handed down, you will remain on your best behavior! And should you attempt to leave the Royal Capital before a ruling is issued, be prepared for the worst — including charges of treason!"
The Marquis raised his voice as though making a formal proclamation to all who could hear.
At the word "treason," Podro's face contorted with shock, then twisted into fury — but he raised no rebuttal. Leaning on the shoulders of his men, he turned and left the scene.
"It's been a while, Marquis Samons. Thank you very much for your help."
Once Podro had vanished from sight and I confirmed there was no one else lurking nearby, I formally greeted the Marquis.
"Not at all, not at all — I should be the one thanking you. By keeping the Reformist Faction in check, you've actually done me a favor."
The Marquis waved his hand dismissively in front of his face as he said this.
"Right. He was hiding nearby, waiting for the right moment to make his move."
My words seemed to ease the Marquis's tension somewhat. He looked away from me, gazing upward at an angle.
"Ah... so you noticed? I'm sorry about that. It was such a rare, perfect opportunity — I thought it would be a waste not to use it..."
The Marquis offered his excuse with a hint of embarrassment, but I really didn't mind at all. If anything, in his position, I would have done the exact same thing.
"No, I don't mind one bit. From the Royalist Faction's perspective, it's only natural. If anything, thanks to you, the Reformist Faction should think twice before causing trouble over Jeanne from now on."
Either way, one headache was definitely gone thanks to what Marquis Samons had done. Podro's standing within the Reformist Faction had surely hit rock bottom — assuming he had any to begin with — and if things went well, he might lose his authority as a noble altogether. Still, I sensed the same kind of smell off him as I did from Regil... a thoroughly petty sort of stench.
Like the saying about a cornered rat biting a cat, a small fry who's lost everything going on a rampage could become quite the nuisance... Coming so close without being noticed because he's too insignificant, then inflicting annoying harassment on you and making you deal with the annoying cleanup afterward — something like that. Was this some kind of flag?
Even as I was entertaining such foolish thoughts, in reality, Podro was more
dangerous than
Regil — his (wicked) mind seemed sharper, so I'd better stay on my guard and warn the others later.
The Marquis seemed to be thinking something similar, muttering, "Half-measure small fry are the worst kind."
"In any case, I'll handle the report to His Majesty... By the way, Lord Tenma, you'll be participating in the tournament, correct?"
"Yes, I'll be entering both the individual and Team Battle divisions... Is something the matter?"
Hearing my words, the Marquis's shoulders drooped.
"You're entering the Team Battle too... Well, my family's knight order is planning to send a team as well, centered around Garibar... I sincerely hope your team doesn't meet ours early on... truly."
It wouldn't look good for the Marquis's knight order to be eliminated early. When I asked him why they were participating, his answer was something I hadn't expected.
"Well, you see, I want to show off Garibar. Our Garibar isn't just some 'brainless Ogre,' you know!"
Not for honor, but to show off his own Familiar — Marquis Samons
is also
quite the "doting parent."
Still, I think that when a Tamer enters a tournament, there's always a desire — big or small — to show off their own Familiar. Honestly, if someone asked me whether I have that side to me too, I couldn't say no.
"Ah, well, Garibar is intelligent, you know. If someone who knows the personality
of Ogres
saw that level of intelligence, they'd think it's abnormal for an Ogre. I was surprised too."
In my book, Ogres are one of the top three brainless Monster species. First are Goblins, second are Orcs, and third are Ogres. Sure, looking at individuals, there are some that aren't all that brainless, but on average as a species, I think most adventurers would agree with me.
That's how brainless Ogres are.
"But I'm sorry, Marquis. When it comes to the talk of this tournament, my Solomon takes the crown."
No matter how rare an "intelligent Ogre" Garibar might be, he can't compete with Solomon, who's a dragon.
"Nooo... At the very least, I hope Garibar gets his turn before Tenma does!"
With a look that said he couldn't argue with that, he began praying toward the sky.
"Oh, that reminds me, Marquis. I recently read one of your books in the Royal Castle's library and learned Summoning Arts."
"Wait, really?! That was an introductory book on summoning magic, but none of my sons could learn from it... I managed to teach my eldest one-on-one, but... you're the first person to have learned from that book alone, Tenma!"
The way the Marquis talked, you'd think that book was defective, but that couldn't be further from the truth. If anything, I'd say it was on the easier side for an introductory text... The real issue is simply that most people don't have an aptitude for summoning magic...
When I told him that, the Marquis's eyes went wide — he hadn't realized it.
Summoning magic has almost no practitioners. Apparently, there aren't even ten users in the current Kingdom, and as far as I know, I'm the only one without Samons blood in my veins. Even throughout history, only about five users outside of the Samons family line have been confirmed.
According to the book, summoning magic was developed by the ancestors of Marquis Samons, and it was for this achievement that the Samons family was granted noble status.
In truth, summoning magic only consists of two types of spells.
The first is
Summon
. This is a spell that calls objects to you — specifically, objects you've marked with an identifier you can personally recognize. Unlike in games or novels, you can't summon magical beasts (inanimate constructs like Golems being the exception).
The second is
Remote Teleportation
. This allows you to send objects to a specific location, or retrieve objects you've marked.
These two share many similarities, but the key differences are: Summon brings things to a location the caster can recognize, while Apport brings them to the caster's immediate vicinity. Summon only brings things toward you, while Apport can also send things away.
At first glance, that might make Summon seem inferior to Apport, but Summon has no size limit as long as the caster has enough Magic Power, whereas Apport can't teleport or send anything too large — roughly the caster's own size is the upper limit.
"If I had a daughter, I'd propose a marriage to Lord Tenma, you know..."
"Even if you did, I'd still have reservations about becoming sworn brothers with Geiri..."
Not just reservations — he would firmly oppose it... mainly
the other side
would...
The Marquis gave a wry smile at my words, but didn't offer any real objection.
"Well then, I should be taking my leave. Thank you again for stepping in this time."
"Not at all, the pleasure was mine... Actually, it just occurred to me — if Lord Tenma keeps this up, aren't we going to attract another idiot noble?"
The Marquis was joking, but based on my experience so far, I couldn't honestly say that wouldn't happen.
After parting ways with the Marquis, we decided to take a stroll around the area... since unauthorized personnel were prohibited from entering the Arena for security and anti-fraud purposes.
As we wandered around the stalls, sampling food here and there and window-shopping, I realized we'd ended up near one of my regular haunts.
"Sorry, but I'm going to go show my face for a bit."
I told everyone I was heading out alone, but they all seemed like they wanted to come along, so we ended up going together.
The shop we headed to together was one that embraced recent trends while still preserving good old traditions, and it happened to be my favorite shop in the Royal Capital.
"Hello~ We were in the area, so we thought we'd drop by."
As I slipped through the shop's door like always, the person who greeted us inside was...
"Well, well! If it isn't Tenma! Come on in!"
Aina and Chris seemed to already know about this place and showed no surprise, but Jeanne, Aura, the three girls, and Primera had only heard it was one of my regular shops, so they were quite taken aback by what they saw inside... Most of all, though, it wasn't the merchandise that caught them off guard. It was
the person handling the merchandise
that really stunned them.
"What's wrong? You girls act like—"
"a woman like me"
"making"
"something like this"
"is somehow unusual?"
As she said this, what she lifted with one hand was a large shield that had to weigh at least thirty kilograms.
The shield was big enough for Jeanne to hide behind completely, yet the woman held it aloft without missing a beat, humming a tune as she made all manner of fine adjustments to it.
The truth was, she was a dwarf. However, she was taller than the typical female dwarf — just over 160 centimeters, which put her in the tall range for a female dwarf — and at first glance she looked like an ordinary human woman.
That said, even if she had been a male dwarf, holding a thirty-kilogram shield in one hand while effortlessly making adjustments was no simple feat, so it was only natural that Jeanne and the others were stunned.
"This should do it... Hey, put this away! Someone's supposed to pick it up first thing tomorrow morning!"
When the woman called toward the back of the room, two female dwarves emerged and carried the shield away.
"So, Tenma. Why are you having women
serve
you like this? And Aina and Chris are here too... Did you go after younger girls just because you were starved for female attention?"
The woman came up to me while wiping away sweat, and took the opportunity to tease Aina and Chris.
Judging by their interaction, the two of them seemed to be on good terms with her.
I introduced Jeanne and the others, and the woman started introducing herself to them in turn.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Kelly. It might be hard to tell, but I'm a genuine dwarf!"
Once the introductions were done, Kelly beckoned me over.
"But Tenma, you've come at the perfect time. One of the things you commissioned was just finished a little while ago."
With that, she led me to a workshop deeper inside the building.
Jeanne and the others followed along uninvited, but Kelly didn't seem to mind and said nothing about it.
"Here — this is what you ordered. I rushed it through on an expedited schedule, but of course I didn't cut a single corner!"
What sat there were two swords... no, calling them swords was generous — they were far too large for that, and the hilt that every normal sword should have was missing, replaced by a round, spherical object attached in its place.
"These are the biggest swords I know of, to be perfectly honest. Any reasonable person wouldn't order swords like this, and no craftsman would build them either... That's just how outlandish these pieces are."
Kelly was beaming with satisfaction.
Each sword was roughly two meters long and fifty centimeters wide, with the thickest point measuring about fifteen centimeters.
Visually, the width stayed nearly the same from base to tip, and the tips weren't pointed — instead, the blades curved in an arc at the end.
Because the width barely changed from base to tip, the ends were made slightly thicker to help generate centrifugal force.
Of course, these aren't swords I'd wield myself.
They're one of my trump cards — the 'Guardian of the Giants'
They are swords designed to be equipped to the 'Guardians of the Giants.'
The Gigants weren't used inside Seigen's dungeon, but I'd been wondering for some time whether I couldn't have them equipped with some kind of weapon. However, their size was a problem, making it impossible to have any made.
Ever since arriving in the Royal Capital, whenever I had free time I would visit weapon shops and blacksmiths, searching for a craftsman who would make what I wanted. But nobody would give me the time of day, and they wouldn't even listen to the details of what I was asking for.
Just as I was starting to think I'd be better off figuring it out on my own rather than relying on such craftsmen, I happened to learn about Kelly and decided to try consulting him.
"That's something I can make, but I have no intention of crafting a weapon that even you yourself can't use!"
That was his response, so I had him actually see a Gigant, helped him understand that the items I was commissioning could indeed be used with them, and he accepted the order.
Ever since then, I've been dropping by from time to time to check on the progress.
In total, I've placed four orders with Kelly. Two of those are swords for the Gigants, and the remaining two are weapons resembling halberds with the shafts shortened like an ōyari.
An ōyari typically refers to a spear with a blade roughly twice the size of a normal spear, similar in category to the renowned great spears of my previous life. However, what I ordered this time was a weapon with a rather unbalanced ratio — a 150 cm blade and only a 100 cm shaft — hardly what you'd normally call an ōyari. If I had to describe it, it would be something like a sword inspired by the ōyari.
In this world, there are actually quite a few people who wield weapons with such unbalanced proportions. That's because, unlike my previous world, this world has magic and other such means.
Even with weapons that would be unwieldy under normal circumstances, people can enhance their physical abilities through magic or items, or cast enchantments on the weapons themselves to make them easier to handle — so all sorts of unusual weapons exist all over the place.
So Kelly didn't question my order at all... If anything, he was enthusiastically eager to make them. That was because the materials used for the weapons were far more noteworthy than their shapes.
"Still, I never thought I'd get to make weapons using Hihiirokane and Mithril, and on top of that Orichalcum, with my own hands."
That's right — in fact, the materials used for the weapons I ordered (except for the Gigant swords) are the top three highest-class materials in a fantasy world, according to Tenma's research, making them outrageously extravagant weapons! (As for the Gigant swords, they are made entirely of demon iron.)
For the Mithril, I used what I already had along with what Kelly had set aside for business purposes. The Hihiirokane and Orichalcum were received as rewards from the royal family.
Those rewards were apparently partial compensation for several things: mainly the treatment costs for the Finance Minister's wife, Lady Mizaria, as well as for helping Tida and Luna, and for having saved the King some time ago.
For reference, Hihiirokane is a metal that is slightly inferior to Orichalcum in terms of hardness but superior as a catalyst for magic power, making it a rare metal that ranks above Mithril in both hardness and catalytic properties.
The reason I ended up using Mithril as well was that the Hihiirokane and Orichalcum alone weren't enough to make two weapons, so I used it to bulk up the materials... Though, when I first discussed things with Kelly, I told him "Fill in whatever's lacking with Mithril"
to compensate,"
and when I said that, Kelly — the wine he had been sipping —
It sprayed right back out of his mouth.
The metal ratios would be Mithril at 30%, Hihiirokane at 40%, and Orichalcum at 30%, but since forging all three together into a single alloy was impossible, I decided to create an alloy from Mithril and Hihiirokane—which could be combined—and use Orichalcum as the weapon's core, with the alloy for everything else.
"The other two are going to be tough to finish in time for the tournament, given the materials... I'm sorry about that."
Kelly bowed his head in apology, but I had never intended to use those weapons in the tournament to begin with, so I told him that and asked him to focus on making them as good as he could.
"Oh, by the way, Tenma... are you planning to use that giant sword in the Team Battle?"
Primera asked tentatively.
She was probably imagining what would happen if an opponent took a hit from that sword, because her face had gone slightly pale.
"No, I definitely can't use that... In fact, I don't plan on using the Gigant itself in the tournament at all. It's purely for the purpose of 'upgrading the Gigant.'"
Since I still can't fully control the Gigant, I figured replacing its hand with a sword would yield better results in my current state—so that's the equipment I had made.
Of course, it could be used in one-on-one fights as well, but I believe the Gigant is most effective against groups—and more specifically, in close-quarters combat—so with only a small Team Battle-sized force, it wouldn't even display half its true value...
Though even half of it would still be overkill against any ordinary opponent, I suppose.
"I forgot! Tenma, let's form a team together!"
Lily blurted out as if the thought had just struck her, but unfortunately, my team was already decided—I had already been registered as the leader—so I couldn't join up with Lily and the others.
When I told them that, Lily and the others looked disappointed.
"In that case, what should we do about the remaining members?"
At Primera's words, Lily and the others groaned. They had been counting on me for one of the remaining slots, so an opening had appeared in their team.
They also seemed to realize they didn't have the strength to win with members missing, and were seriously racking their brains over it.
"If it's conditional, I could step in, maybe?"
The one who reached out to lend them a helping hand was Chris.
"When a member of the Knights participates in the tournament, their regular duties are exempted—
cases.
It's sudden, so I can't say for certain that I'll be able to participate, but... if that's good enough, you can count on me as a member."
At Chris's words, Primera was happier than even Lily and the rest.
"If you would join us, Chris, it would be incredibly reassuring!"
Surprised by just how delighted Primera was, he asked her the reason, and it turned out that Chris was quite the celebrity among female knights, serving as a role model for many of them.
"Almost immediately after becoming a knight, she was appointed to the Royal Guard and further selected as a bodyguard for His Majesty! Chris is the dream and aspiration of every female knight!"
Seeing Primera so excited, Chris shot a smug grin and—
looked this way—
at us.
"But I'm not popular with men, though."
Aina added an unnecessary comment to Chris's remark.
"Hah! But you're the same, Aina!"
"I get approached quite often, you know. By nobles."
"The nobles who approach you are never worth anything, though!"
"Even so, being approached is still better."
The two of them were gradually heating up. I thought they were both pretty much the same, but I kept that to myself, minding my own business.
However, there was someone here who couldn't read the room.
"Isn't not being popular with men and only being approached by weirdos pretty much the same thing...?"
It was Aura who muttered that under her breath. And as luck would have it, both of them had their senses sharpened at that very moment, catching even Aura's quiet voice perfectly.
"Aura, what exactly do you mean by that?"
"Shall we talk outside for a bit?"
"Wh-what—wait a minute!"
The two who had been at each other's throats just moments ago now cornered Aura with flawless teamwork, each tucking one of her arms under their own as they escorted her outside.
"Aina, Chris!"
"T-Tenma, help me..."
"I'm heading back first—take your time!"
At my words, the two nodded without even looking back and walked out of the shop... I could hear Aura's voice calling out to me for help, but I made a point of pretending I hadn't heard a thing.
"Well then, let's head home. Kelly's coming by again, you know."
"Yeah, see you later, Tenma! I'll have the goods ready before the tournament's over!"
After saying our goodbyes to Kelly, we decided to head back to the manor.
On the way, as we passed near the market by the square, one of the shops was drawing an unusual crowd.
"That was supposed to be a fishmonger... what's with all those people?"
From within the crowd, the sound of something metallic being hammered rang out, and each time the noise sounded, cheers and screams rose up.
"Excuse me. What kind of event is this?"
When I called out to a man standing nearby, he answered in an excited tone.
"They're taking on the challenge of gutting a rare fish! And not just any fish—this one's huge, and its scales are supposedly terrifyingly hard. The guy who's been trying keeps failing over and over, so finally the shop owner put out a challenge: 'Anyone confident in their skills, step up!' They've even got bets running on the side."
We pushed our way toward the center of the crowd to catch a glimpse of this so-called "big fish," and—
"Namitaro, huh... no wonder it's so tough..."
The "big fish" lying on the makeshift cutting board was, in a sense, a fellow—" reincarnation fish."
…was a fellow reincarnator.