Volume 3, Chapter 18 – Twilight of Eternal Frost

After a small sigh, Yisi quickly arrived in front of the weapon shop. Pulling her hood down a little, she pushed open the wooden door, which had a bell attached to it.

Inside the shop, there was only one white-haired old man wearing a monocle. The old man didn’t seem to care that a customer had entered. He just lifted his eyes to glance at Yisi before continuing to lean over and read a parchment filled with text.

Yisi was naturally happy with this. She preferred to choose items freely rather than being hounded by a salesperson in a mall—she was the type of person who easily overlooked other options once a sales pitch started.

The feeling of being forced to become a part of someone else’s sales performance was truly awful.

With dissatisfaction about her past, Yisi began to survey the weapon shop located in the Noble District. Besides the counter visible right upon entry, the walls were covered with all sorts of weapons. In the center of the room stood many mannequins dressed in armor and magic robes. The thick metallic smell was momentarily suffocating.

“Compared to standard-issue weapons, the strangely shaped ones are in the majority.”

A gigantic cross, a weapon connecting a meteor hammer ¹ chinnese ver of morning star hammer and a sickle with a chain, a poleaxe with multiple blades—looking like an axe with a glitched model—a triangular shield made of three blades, and a parasol covered in sharp claws. No matter which one she looked at, they all seemed incredibly difficult to use.

“Especially the gigantic cross. It’s one thing for it to appear in a game, but to see it in reality… anyone who uses this weapon must be a madman. If you’re looking for destructive power, a two-handed hammer is simpler and, at the very least, more agile than this thing.”

Skipping over the weapons that looked awkward at a glance, Yisi came to a wall hung with normal weapons. Of course, “normal” was relative. Ordinary weapons would retain the original color of their materials, whereas the weapons on this wall came in practically every color.

“‘Sword of Final Ruin’, ‘Eternal Flash’, ‘World Destroyer’… what kind of dramatic, teenaged blacksmith made these? Even for magic weapons, these names are too ridiculous.”

Muttering to herself, Yisi bent down, pushed her silver bangs out of her eyes, and read the descriptions below these magic weapons.

“‘Sword of Final Ruin’: Injecting magic power will cause the magic within the blade to become chaotic. When it reaches a certain point, the blade will explode, achieving a one-hit kill… What about the user? Wouldn’t the user be blown up too?”

Such a foolish weapon wouldn’t even appear in a game. Yisi immediately rejected it and moved on to the next item, a staff decorated with gold plates called ‘Eternal Flash’.

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“At night, it emits a light equivalent to a torch, which will never be extinguished… Although it’s a bit better than the last one, you’d become a target if you were on a mission at night. NG. ² no go/no good… easier word: skip “

“‘World Destroyer’: To wield this sword, one must place a curse upon oneself. This sword will continuously devour the user’s life until they perish… This one is no good either.”

After looking through them, Yisi didn’t find a single usable weapon. And there was another key problem—none of these weapons were marked with a price.

Yisi walked directly to the white-haired old man at the counter.

“Excuse me—” Right, I’m Vampire Viel now. Yisi cleared her throat and changed her tone. “How come you don’t have a single decent weapon here.”

“Hm?”

The old man finally looked up, then waved his hand impatiently.

“The magic weapons on that wall are my masterpieces, for display only. If you want to buy a weapon, come back tomorrow. I have important business today and no time for customers.”

“Important business?”

Yisi discreetly glanced at the parchment the old man was studying, and her expression turned strange.

“The important business you’re talking about… couldn’t be this, could it? ‘Mana is the source of all magic. Everything related to magic requires mana to be driven. Alchemy, as a part of the materialization of mana…'”

At Yisi’s words, the old man’s eyes slowly lit up. In the end, he even excitedly reached out to grab Yisi’s arm, which Yisi dodged.

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However, the old man’s voice was still filled with excitement, to the point of trembling slightly.

“You… you can read what’s written on this?”

“Yes, though there’s a bit of a story behind it.”

Much of the text on the parchment was illegible due to age, but from the parts that were still clear, she could tell that the writing belonged to the J-province language from before the Republican Era, which she happened to have studied.

If she hadn’t met Tiffany, she would have been shocked to find Earth’s language in another world. But for her now, it was only a little surprising. If she wasn’t mistaken, this should be part of some MMORPG’s setting collection. The opening sentence was as cliché as “Once upon a time” in a fairy tale.

“To think I’d meet someone who can decipher the relics of the gods… This must be the grace of the gods! I can finally create a weapon that will change the landscape of war!”

“If I may ask, could you tell me where you obtained this piece of paper?”

Feeling that getting entangled with the old man would be troublesome, Yisi changed the subject.

“I got this from an underground auction. It’s said to be a rubbing of the Church’s Original Scripture. Only the Pope can read the Original Scripture, so this rubbing is extremely rare.”

“I see.”

Combined with the goddess’s illusion on the Holy Revelation Crest before, she was becoming more and more interested in this Church.

But interest aside, she had proper business to attend to this time.

Yisi placed one hand on the counter and with the other, took out a magic core and a staff from her pocket. The magic core was from a level 40 monster in “Ragnarøk,” and the staff was the artifact ‘Twilight of Eternal Frost’.

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“Before buying any weapons, I’d like you to appraise two items.”

“S-Such a large magic core! Could it be—could it be from a monster that has reached the heroic domain, that has set foot on the limits of humanity?”

“Just tell me its value. You’ll be well compensated.”

Yisi could clearly see the old man gulping, his fingers trembling uncontrollably as he made a motion to take the magic core.

“Did this come from a dragon? Or a frost giant from the north? I once heard that the Norta Empire in the south had an ancient phantom beast that slaughtered several cities. Could this be the magic core of that beast? You slew an ancient phantom beast!?”

“Calm down,” Yisi held up a finger, stopping the old man’s exclamation. “In other words, this is a treasure-level item, is that right?”

“More than a treasure! It’s absolutely a national treasure! If His Majesty the King knew that you slew an ancient phantom beast, he would surely recruit you as a pivotal figure. Why would a great person like you come to my—Eek!”

When the old man’s gaze fell on the Twilight of Eternal Frost in Yisi’s hand, it was as if a crowing rooster had suddenly had its neck squeezed. A groan that sounded completely inhuman escaped his throat.

“What’s wrong?”

If Yisi had to describe it, the old man now seemed possessed, his wide-open eyes looking as if they were about to roll out of their sockets.

Suddenly, the old man spread his arms and looked up at the ceiling.

“Too perfect! It’s too perfect!!! What a marvelous weapon! Even without touching it, I know that this is the most perfect, most powerful, most gorgeous, and most noble weapon in the world! If the Church’s holy relic, the Scepter of Heavenly Punishment, is the king, then this staff is the queen that stands above all other weapons, at the absolute pinnacle!”

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The queen?

A small sense of pride welled up in Yisi’s heart. Even in “Ragnarøk,” only a hundred players owned the Twilight of Eternal Frost. It was a rare, growable weapon, and its grade stood at the very top of all magic weapons.

“My lord, could you let me touch it? No, a staff that holds such powerful magic would only kill an outsider who touches it with a backlash. Just let me look at it from a close distance. Could you please place it on the counter and let me have a look? I’m willing to use all my gold coins—no, whatever I have, you can take it at any time!”

The old man grabbed handful after handful of coins from his drawer. Yisi resisted the urge to make a pained expression and snorted coldly with a voice laced with anger.

“I don’t need money. I want weapons and equipment. Bring out the best weapons and magic robes you have here. I will buy them at a normal price.”

She had expected the old man to excitedly run to his storage, but the result was completely different from what Yisi had imagined.

The old man frowned with difficulty, constantly pinching his chin.

“This… although I’d very much like to help you, powerful weapons have their own souls. Seeing you use other weapons, this staff would surely grow disgusted. If you don’t want to be rejected by your staff, it would be better to take back your words. Moreover, bringing out the weapons I’ve forged would only bring shame upon them in the presence of your weapon. As a blacksmith, I cannot do something that would disgrace my creations…”

Tsk.

If it were just for her own sake, she could have fearlessly said, “Don’t worry about that, just bring them all out.” But if it involved a blacksmith’s principles, it was better to stop. Seeing one’s own work being humiliated would never be a pleasant experience for anyone.

As if afraid Yisi would leave, while she was thinking, the old man quickly pulled several books from the shelf behind him and pushed them in front of Yisi.

“However, I can give you the forging experience I’ve summarized throughout my life. If you are in urgent need of ordinary weapons, my lord, I think it will be of great help to you.”