The conversation wasn't exactly moving along…
Character introductions are tricky — skip them and the story bloats; include them and the pacing tanks.
I really envy authors who can juggle that balance!
Ugh… why am I so busy…
The dwarf named
Seriously — the Eastern Empire might actually make a move? Yeah, right! As if that could ever happen!
That was his honest take on the matter.
For starters, the last three hundred years had been nothing but peace.
The Empire was a prosperous nation — why on earth would they go out of their way to invade?!
That was something he simply couldn't wrap his head around.
Well, for people whose livelihood was forging weapons and armor, war breaking out would be a massive business opportunity…
But still! Why did the work have to multiply like this out of nowhere?! That was the raw truth of how he felt.
On top of that, there was another problem gnawing at him…
That damn minister!!! He mentally beat the minister to a pulp while wracking his brain.
What to do… He sighed heavily and thought it over.
The deadline was fast approaching.
Turning it down would destroy his reputation.
"I couldn't do it" wasn't an excuse that would fly.
Right now, he was waiting to hear back from an acquaintance, but depending on how that turned out, he'd be completely out of options.
Kaijin was a reasonably well-known weaponsmith, but even he had his limits.
Right — without materials, you couldn't forge a single thing!
And then, just as he was waiting, the contact he'd been hoping for finally arrived.
"Sorry… I wanted to get in touch yesterday, but things were pretty hectic on our end!"
With that, three men walked in.
They were three dwarven brothers who had been running a mining operation.
The eldest, Garum — a skilled armor smith.
The second son, Dold — famous among dwarves for his unmatched craftsmanship.
The third son, Mild — a quiet man, but remarkably adept at virtually anything. Well-versed in architecture and the arts alike. A genius in his own right.
Each of them was talented enough to run his own shop, no question about it. The problem was, they were all hopelessly inept when it came to the practicalities of making a living.
Outside their respective fields of expertise, they had been dealt a pretty bad hand.
And because of that — maybe even more so — they didn't have the temperament for networking or running a business. They'd been used and tossed around by everyone around them.
Then, on top of everything, the shop they'd trusted someone to manage got stolen. A fellow apprentice, jealous of their talent, set a trap. They turned down a commission from the King and earned the grudge of the entire kingdom…
When things had finally become truly hopeless, they showed up at the door of Kaijin — their childhood friend and the one they'd always looked up to as an older brother.
I wish you'd come to me sooner! he thought — but it was too late for that.
He decided to take them in at his shop and hire them.
The thing was, there was no work for them to do.
Kaijin ran an armory shop, but weapons were the only things he forged himself — everything else was sourced from elsewhere.
He did have them help out with weapon production, but…
If he suddenly stopped purchasing armor and other goods from his usual suppliers because these three could make them, it would invite all sorts of trouble.
Until the brothers got settled in, he needed to keep business running as usual.
So instead, he put them in charge of directing laborers to collect ore and raw materials.
When he heard what the brothers had been through, it turned out monsters had appeared at the mining site.
Kaijin held his head in his hands.
This should have been a moment to celebrate the brothers' safe return. Fortunately, they'd escaped without injury! Thinking that, he said: "Well, I'm just glad you're all in one piece! Good thing you managed to get away. No injuries — that's what matters!"
That was the right mindset. As long as they were physically fine, they could just go collect more ore.
A friend's safety was worth far more than anything else! That's what he believed…
But then the three brothers exchanged awkward glances.
"Well… it's not like we actually escaped."
"Indeed. Honestly, what happened yesterday still feels unreal…"
"…………"
And so, Kaijin listened to the full account.
They had survived a brush with death thanks to medicine they received from a mysterious slime!
Normally, anyone would laugh that off as absurd. But these three weren't the type to lie.
They simply didn't have the guile for it.
Which meant it was the truth…
But if monsters had shown up at the site where someone had just been attacked, hiring new laborers was out of the question.
The workers they'd employed up until yesterday had already quit and fled overnight.
The brothers themselves seemed pretty banged up too, so he couldn't exactly blame them.
Normally, this was exactly when you'd put in a request with the Free Guild, but that wasn't an option either.
He'd submitted a collection request ages ago, but hadn't heard back.
Other workshops had put in requests too, so the flow of goods had ground to a halt.
Hiring a security escort would cost a fortune, and those guys would only work the hours covered by the contract.
If you hired guards, all they did was guard — nothing more.
And a party strong enough to take down a Rank B- threat…
No good. Forget breaking even — he'd go bankrupt.
Tch! Why did such a powerful monster have to show up in the shallow mining zones?!
Kaijin let out a deep, heavy sigh.
What to do…?
The deadline was running out… Should he force himself and go collect the materials personally?
No good ideas came to mind.
Time was slipping away regardless…
The four of them stared at each other, lost in thought.
It was right then that a peculiar group showed up.
"Hey! Big bro, you in?"
Speaking in that casual tone, the captain — or rather,
They'd grown close enough during their conversations to call each other by name.
And Kaijin had learned that this very shop was run by Kaidou's own older brother.
It was a compact place that practically screamed "run by a stubborn old man."
"Sorry to intrude~!"
"How's it going!"
Rimuru and company followed Kaidou inside.
The moment they entered, multiple pairs of eyes locked onto them.
" " "Ah!!!" " "
The trio from yesterday cried out in surprise, staring right at them.
They looked like they were doing alright, all things considered. Though for some reason, their expressions were anything but cheerful…
And just as expected, there was a gruff-looking old man who could have given any town construction foreman a run for his money.
The owner of the shop. To be blunt, he looked nothing like Kaidou.
"What's this? You lot know each other?"
"Kaijin! This is the slime! The one who saved us yesterday!"
"Right, right! And the captain turned out to be your brother!"
"………"
"Oh…! So you're the slime they were just telling me about? You saved these three yesterday — I owe you my thanks!"
"Oh, no, no! It was something, but also maybe not that much? Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Giving Rimuru a compliment was like handing a rocket its fuel — once he got going, there was no coming back down.
The old man reined things in slightly as he asked: "So, what brings you here today?"
The group moved to the back of the shop and settled in.
Kaidou gave a brief rundown of the situation.
Rimuru added a few details of his own, and the conversation flowed smoothly.
Still, that third brother Mild — the quiet dwarf — would it kill the guy to say something? And how did they even communicate with him before? Baffling.
"I get the picture. But sorry — I don't think I can help much. Turns out, I've got my own commission from a certain country…"
Leaving out the details, the old man explained what was going on, glossing over the sensitive parts.
Apparently, some country had gotten spooked that a certain idiot might start a war, and in a preemptive panic, they'd placed orders for weapons and armor.
It was the same kind of rush that had caused the shortage of medicine and supplies yesterday.
"So here's the thing. I managed to get 200 steel spears ready with all-nighters…
But the 20 swords — the key items — not a single one is done. I've got no materials…"
The old man groaned, venting his frustration.
"So why not just refuse? Tell 'em you can't do it?"
Kaidou asked the most logical question.
"You idiot! That's exactly what I said at first! But then that scumbag Vester said something like…"
"'Surely a craftsman as renowned as Kaijin can manage a task this simple?'"
"The nerve of that bastard — and he said it right in front of the King! Could you believe that?!"
He was practically fuming as he recounted the story.
As it turned out, the third brother Mild had once refused a commission from Minister Vester to build him a house.
Vester had held a grudge ever since, making their lives miserable until Mild was effectively driven out of the country.
Kaijin had taken them in — and this was clearly nothing but petty vindictiveness.
And if he had to guess, Vester had probably bought up the raw materials to make sure Kaijin couldn't fulfill the order.
"Is the material you need different from what goes into the spears?"
"Ah, yeah. The swords require a special ore called Magic Ore. The spears were just plain steel."
He tossed off the answer like it was nothing.
Even a master craftsman was just a regular man without the right materials.
He must have been frustrated beyond words.
As for the minister — was he perhaps sitting back and waiting for Kaijin to come crawling to him for help?
"Get this — forging a single blade takes an entire day. Even with an assembly line, it'd take two weeks to churn out twenty…"
The deadline? Rimuru almost asked, then stopped himself.
He didn't need to. The old man's expression said it all.
"The deadline is the end of this week. They have to be delivered to the King on Monday morning. The kingdom awarded the contract and distributed the work among various smiths — if we fail, we could have our smithing licenses revoked…"
So basically, five days left. And since today was already a wash, more like four?
This was getting serious? And he — Rimuru — wasn't even involved, so why was he even here?
This didn't make any sense…
Wait, hang on — Magic Ore? Didn't he happen to have some of that? Well, not that it mattered…
He had no idea what they were thinking, but every single one of them was staring at him.
Being stared at by a bunch of men wasn't exactly flattering!
No, not like that (though that was important too…) — the real problem was that look in their eyes. The "surely you can do something about this, right?" look.
What did these people think a slime was?!
Well, he had no choice.
This was his chance to do them an absolutely massive favor… and then get them to help with the Goblin Village revitalization project!
"Ahaha. Ha ha ha! Ahahahahaha!"
"Hey, hey — don't go having a downer conversation on me, old man! How about this?"
THUD! Rimuru slammed an extracted ore onto the crafting table in front of him.
Then he threw himself back into the sofa with a dramatic lean! (Or at least, it felt that way!)
"W-Wait a second! H-Holy—! Is that— isn't that Magic Ore?! And the purity is impossibly high!!!"
Heh. The thing was, it wasn't technically Magic Ore.
It had already been processed. It was a
"Hey, old man, are your eyes decorative or what?"
If his appraisal skills were so poor that he couldn't tell the difference, maybe he wasn't that useful after all.
Rimuru would sell him some materials and be done with it — that'd be the extent of their relationship.
"What…? No way… You're not telling me… this whole chunk is Magisteel?!"
The old man had figured it out after all! But his shock was nothing compared to Rimuru's surprise at his reaction.
"C-Could you sell this to me? Of course, I'll pay whatever you ask!"
Heh heh heh. Hook, line, and sinker.
"Now then, what should I do~?"
"Damn! Name your price! I'll do anything!"
"That's what I wanted to hear! You've heard our situation, right? I need you to find someone you know — maybe a friend — who can come over and provide technical training."
"That's it? That's all you want?"
"Hmph. For us, our absolute top priorities are food, clothing, and shelter. Clothes and housing come first. After that, I'll need help sourcing fabric going forward, and maybe some arms and armor too."
"If that's all you need, consider it done!"
And so, Rimuru handed over the Magisteel Ingot to the old man — Kaijin — and sealed the deal.
The finer details would be worked out after the work was finished.
Judging by his reaction, Rimuru figured he could have driven an even harder bargain. But there was such a thing as being too greedy.
After all… that was always where things went wrong for him!
He had learned his lesson.
That evening, everyone shared dinner, and then Kaidou headed home.
That guy was supposed to be the head of the security guard, yet he'd been slacking since noon — nice life he had.
Well, it was for Rimuru's sake, so he couldn't complain.
The three dwarf brothers were profusely grateful.
The old man had been worried that the kingdom's grudge was their fault.
"Why don't you three come with us?" Rimuru suggested.
They stared blankly for a moment, then huddled up to discuss it among themselves.
They'd probably come to some kind of conclusion soon.
Time to get down to business.
"Old man — four days left. Even counting today, that's about four and a half. Is it possible to finish?"
"…Honestly, I don't think so. But I've got no choice — I have to try!"
So he'd been running on sheer willpower all along…
But Rimuru knew better. When something was impossible, it was impossible.
It was only doable when all the right elements were in place.
Fine then — if he was going to help, he'd see it through to the end!
"Got it. I've got a plan! For starters, tomorrow, focus all your effort on forging a single blade to the highest possible quality!"
"Excuse me? You're not even a blacksmith. What could you possibly do?"
"That's a secret. Trust me! If you don't trust me, that's fine — do whatever you want. But your commission will probably fail, though!"
"…So I can trust you? And if you fail, I'm not paying you for the Magisteel. Mind you, I won't be in any shape to pay anyway if things go south!
But if you keep your word… I swear I'll keep mine! I'll bring you the finest craftsman there is!!!"
The deal was struck!
And promises were made to be kept!
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