“Just the biscuits and gravy.” Ichiro supplied. “And two eggs.”
“Of course, hun. I’ll be right back.” She tapped the table, leaning over a bit as she turned to go. Ichiro stared. Her dirndl style dress was low cut, and the girl knew how to show it off.
How did every man in town not have a crush on her, Ichiro wondered? Well, maybe they did. He was confused and in love. Could he ask her out on a date? She did flirt with him a little bit. Should he bring her flowers? How did dating around here work anyway? She flirted with everyone, to be honest. Did that mean she was single?
Ichiro had been exploring around the town the past few days. Working for Rozzo. He was paying him enough to live off of. Enough for now. In his spare time he was trying to figure out the written language, which meant going around town and translating signs. He had sort of given up on trying to hide his magic book.
People commented on the book, recognizing it’s value, but somehow it didn’t make him a target for thieves. Dishonest people knew that these kind of magic objects were usually bound to their owners, and someone with his obvious resources no doubt had ways to safeguard their coins too. Ichiro just knew that he was tired of hiding it. He couldn’t live his life hiding something he needed reference all the time.
He couldn’t live his life picking herbs for a dirty old man either. Eventually he knew that he would try to join the Adventurer’s guild. He hadn’t built up the courage to do it yet. For some reason it seemed like a big step to take. It represented an unknown amount of danger. And he was worried about what real fantasy world adventurers would think of him. He wanted to walk into the Tumas militia barracks holding a sword, not as a fanboy begging to be taken seriously.
“There you go!” Tulip plopped his breakfast down on the table. “Anything else?”
Ichiro nodded. There was suddenly a lump in his throat. “Just a date for tonight…” He croaked out.
She laughed his proposal off. “We’re serving beef pie tonight! See you then.”
Tulip turned to the door as more customers walked in. Two confident looking men, swords belted to their waists, swaggered towards an empty table. They had the wide black and white checkered sashes around their waists that identified them as adventurers. Tulip put her hand on one of their shoulders when she greeted them and Ichiro was jealous of her attention.
Ichiro finished his breakfast quickly, trying not to watch the other men being affectionate with the beautiful waitress. One of them grabbed her gently around the waist before she cheerfully escaped. His feelings swirled and his resolve to find a sword reasserted itself.
There was a friendly blacksmith at the edge of town that he had passed several times on his errands for Rozzo. Ichiro found the man working on some horseshoes. He admired the craftsmanship going into the work. It looked effortless as the man shaped the hot metal. Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.
“Hi Erik! Is that sword for sale?” There was a basic, unadorned sword stuffed in a barrel with some other tools and steel rods.
The blacksmith stopped his tapping to talk. “Oh, that. I’m not a sword smith. It’s kind of just a practice piece, not something to sell.”
“I can’t afford the fancy ones down at the Merchant’s guild.”
The blacksmith shook his head. “Hmm. No, still. It wouldn’t feel good about it.”
“It looks good to me, what’s wrong with it? It’s a little plain but that doesn’t make it worse at stabbing monsters. I actually think that sword looks deadly, you know, it has a kind of no nonsense attitude.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“A no nonsense attitude huh? You know, I’d like to become a sword smith one day and I can tell you that making a sword is way more difficult than you think. There’s a lot more to it than just what it looks like, or it’s attitude, haha.”
Ichiro grabbed the sword out of the barrel and examined it closely. He did a few mock cuts and thrusts with it.
“It seems to have a good balance to me. I’m not an expert swordsman, but I’ve definitely seen worse out there.” One of Randy’s friends had collected swords, so this was very true. They had all played around with historic replicas and fantasy swords bought from the internet.
The blacksmith brightened up at Ichiro’s praise. “Thanks, I appreciate it. Most people try to discourage me. The problem though is in the steel. The expertly crafted weight and balance of it doesn’t matter if it bends or breaks in battle!”
“It’s not springy enough. I see.” Ichiro smacked the flat of the blade with the heel of his palm. It didn’t flex at all.
“I thought I could figure out how to make sword steel myself, but I’m stumped.”
Ichiro didn’t know how to make sword steel either… but he pulled out his book. He tried interrogating it about swords, steel, and other related topics. Minutes passed as the blacksmith finished the set of horse shoes he was making.
“Magic book?”
“It’s a book of knowledge. I was trying to find a recipe for sword steel.”
“Wow, can it do that?”
“Maybe not. I’m still trying.” Ichiro was getting frustrated. He was about to give up actually, but he wanted to help the blacksmith, who had all the tools and skills but just lacked one tiny little crucial piece of information. Why wouldn’t the book give it to him? Was that too much to ask?
Was it too much to ask? Was it? Ichiro had the idea to use [Identification] on the book itself.
This is a pseudo intelligent magic book that belongs to you…
There is no record of the origin of this magic book…
The book is only pseudo intelligent, and it does not have or need a name. Or want one…
The purpose of the book has been recorded. First, to help direct future divine appeals towards the ascendant known as KORG. Second, to provide assistance and general information concerning the Rosette Kingdom to it’s owner…
‘General information’ has been interpreted to mean: facts that are not unknown, hidden, secret, or terribly obscure. The process of creating sword steel, for example, is a trade secret and cannot be found in these pages…
“I don’t think I’ve heard of a book of knowledge before. And I thought you were an herbalist?”
“No, I’m not actually an herbalist.” Ichiro’s mood was sour. “I’m just broke and can identify things. And it turns out, this book isn’t a real book of knowledge. It’s a book of common knowledge. Which isn’t nearly as good!”
“Well, I’m sure that [Identification] is valuable, so cheer up.”
“Did you need anything identified?”
The blacksmith looked around. “No. But, I’ll tell you what. I’ve got a sword in the house that someone left here for sharpening, must be two years ago. I’ll sell that one to you.”
“I don’t think I can really afford it.”
“I asked around. Guy just vanished— probly fell down a mineshaft or something.” The smith then disappeared into the house despite Ichiro’s objections. The sword he returned with was nothing special but clearly worth more coin than Ichiro had, and it also had a nice scabbard and even a belt with it.
“I only have about twenty-five silver.”
“I’ve thought about selling it for awhile, but the merchant’s they’re bastards you know. I don’t have a resellers license, and if I sold it to them they wouldn’t even give me much more than that. If you can keep it quiet, it’s a deal.”
Ichiro nodded slowly. It seemed to good to be true, but the blacksmith was a nice guy. He’d talked to him a few times, enough to trust him. Ichiro handed over the silver, leaving himself with only a half moon and a few mites. But he only had eyes for the blade. “It’s not cursed is it?” He joked, to break the tension only he felt.
“You’re the one with a book of knowledge. And [Identification].”
“Right, right right.”
This is your longsword, an old blade of decent craftsmanship. It is shorter than average, probably because it’s tip was damaged at some point an had to be ground down. It is made of vale steel (a secret recipe btw), but does not have a maker’s stamp which is an oddity.
“Thankyou so much. I really appreciate this.” Ichiro remembered to thank Erik, as he put the sword through some more of his mock cuts and thrusts. It felt very good in his hand. Looking at it's details close up he really liked the sense of history he felt. Every little scratch and ding had a story to tell.
“Hey, Ichiro, that’s what friends are for, right? And maybe next time you can help me out with something?”
It was an obvious reminder that Ichiro owed him a favor, and he understood that. His magic book made him seem like he might be more important than he thought he was, which made Ichiro a little uncomfortable. This act of generosity had been a calculated investment. But the blacksmith’s words didn’t have a negative impact at all. Ichiro smiled genuinely for the first time since he’d been isekai’d.
“That’s what friends are for.”