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Volume 13 Chapter 4 Part 4

The rights to the selling of the mirrors had been lost, but it was enough that Cassia had bowed her head to me. As I thought before, it wasn’t about the money anymore.

I left the Duke of Hartz’s study and followed Gozer. After a fair bit of walking, we arrived at a certain room.

「This is the armory. 」

「I see. 」

The armory was quite far from the study. I don’t think the Duke would have placed the study on the opposite side of the castle from the bedroom. After all, the Duke is an impatient man. I’m sure the real treasure room is somewhere near the study and bedroom.

Well, since they’re nobles, the castle itself has probably been passed down for generations. It’s possible that the previous head of the family had set up the hidden armory to be located somewhere near the study, but they probably won’t take me to the real treasure vault anyway, so it doesn’t matter. For now, I’ll thoroughly search this one.

The armory was a fairly spacious room, but it’s not packed. To put it bluntly, it’s pretty sparse. I’m sure that’s because a lot of useful items have already been loaned out to members of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy.

On the other hand, the Knight Order might be a good place to work, since the authorities lend out equipment to them… no, no way. It’s probably best to assume that there’s nothing good in the armory after all. It’s sparse anyway.

The only thing that stands out is the plate armor. It looks better than the steel plate mail Vesta is using right now, but is it really all that necessary? Because personally, I didn’t feel like I was getting that much stronger when I was upgrading my own armor. In reality, I don’t think it happens that often; but when you wear good armor and take less damage, it certainly makes it easier to fight the monsters in the Labyrinths.

Reducing damage by around 10% doesn’t change the nature of the fight that much, but of course, if you could cut it by 80 or 90%, it would make things significantly easier, but to get there you would need to significantly strengthen your armor with Skill Crystals.

It’s unlikely that a single set of plate armor would make things that much better. Even if you were to strengthen your armor in various ways and cut the damage you take in half, the impact on the fight would be subtle at best.

It’s common to take twice as much damage as you expected in a fight. Not rarely, but often. And when that happens, all the benefits of strengthening your armor are gone. You’ll probably have some leeway for that beforehand, though. If you think about it calmly, you’ll probably think that you can fight on higher floors, but it’s not something you can immediately feel for yourself. In that sense, it’s difficult to realize that you’ve become stronger because you strengthened your armor.

Of course, in the end, the strength of your armor will have an impact, and strengthening it is essential. In terms of how much of an effect you can feel, it’s not as easy to feel the difference with armor in comparison to weapons, because weapons are more flashy. If we can get hold of a good weapon and increase our speed of annihilating monsters, we should be able to move on to higher floors with confidence.

Well, I don’t think there are any weapons lying around here that are good enough to increase the annihilation speed for us right now. But even if it’s not that good, a good weapon would still be appreciated.

On the other hand, armor might have the advantage of being less conspicuous. If the Party became stronger because of gifts from the Duke of Hartz, it could lower Rutina’s opinion of me, and the motivation of those who might be after me as her parent’s enemy.

Or maybe that’s not going to be the case at all. Worst-case scenario, I can just explain that I stole it from the Duke of Hartz. It all depends on how I say it. I rummage through the items, thinking that if there’s nothing left, I’ll take that plate armor.

Oh. I thought the armory was sparse, but there are actually a lot of swords in one corner. And they’re all Orichalcum swords. A big catch for sure, but why are there so many?

「So you’re eyeing that? 」

I think I only glanced at them briefly, but Gozer came charging in.

「It’s an Orichalcum Sword. 」

「You can tell, right? As expected. 」

「Why are there so many of them here? 」

I knew they were Orichalcum Swords thanks to the Identify Skill, but if there were only one type of sword lying around, it would be interesting.

「They’re useful swords, so I collect them whenever I have the chance, but there aren’t many people who can actually use them. 」

「I see. 」 I wonder if two-handed swords are no good in this world. They’re not popular, are they?

Well, it’s safer to use a one-handed sword and equip a shield. A shield gives you a sense of security in that it protects you from monster attacks. You don’t usually rely on the HP Recovery function of a two-handed sword and fight each other to the death… but normal swords don’t have HP Recovery Skill in it.

Although we do have someone who uses two-handed swords in both hands and fights monsters with them in our Party; but neither of Vesta’s swords allow her to regain HP. I wonder what’s considered「normal」in this world.

「As you know, Orichalcum Swords are strangely heavy, so those who aren’t trained in using them just end up swinging them around without being able to utilize them properly.

「Yes, I know. 」

I didn’t know that at all. I’ve never heard of it. Well, it’s not that I don’t understand why it’s too heavy to use. I suppose that can happen. I don’t really get it, but I’ll pretend like I know. Since Gozer was the one who misunderstood in the first place I won’t ruin his illusion.

「Ah, now that I think of it, there are limited ones here, too!」 Gozer suddenly shouted.

「Limited? 」

「A Limited type that allows even beginners to use them. 」

「I… see? 」

Apparently there are things like that here as well. Their true nature has been exposed. They’re too heavy to use, but if it is a ‘Limited’ type, it seems it can be used even by beginners. How about cutting it in half, or perhaps making it into a small sword for children? In that case, it certainly wouldn’t be heavy.

「The ones stored separately over there are limited. I wonder if it’s okay to take them. I don’t know what His Excellency the Duke thinks about it, but he said you could take two of whatever things you like, so I can’t refuse if you choose to do it… however, I would appreciate it if you didn’t choose them. 」Gozer said as he pointed to a sword that was placed separately.

It’s an Orichalcum Sword. Actually, it’s just an ordinary Orichalcum Sword. It doesn’t seem to be a small sword for children. Even when I Identified it, it simply said that it’s an Orichalcum Sword.

Are they really different? They’re probably different since they’ve taken the trouble to keep them separate. Why can’t I tell what the difference is with Identify?

「No. Well, I don’t intend to choose them. 」

「Thank you for that. 」

「But if you mix them together, it’ll be hard to tell them apart. 」

「If you give it to a beginner, it’ll be easy to tell. 」

Is that how you tell the difference?

If it’s an Limited Orichalcum Sword that’s for beginners, even they will be able to hold it properly, and if it’s an Orichalcum Sword that isn’t suited to beginners, they won’t. In other words, I wonder if it’s impossible to tell the difference once you become an expert.

What a troublesome sword. One that makes even veterans cry. As a test, I try to grip the non-limited Orichalcum Sword. I can hold it without any problems. It’s just a normal sword.

「Hmm… 」

「Ohh! As expected, you must have been trained well. 」

「Hmm… 」 I wonder if that’s how it is.

「Only an Adventurer with a great deal of skill can use an Orichalcum Sword. It’s impressive. 」

「Yeah, I guess it is. 」

I am not just an Adventurer, after all. There must be some kind of auxiliary effect that allows the Hero Job to equip a two-handed sword. I wonder if that’s what it is.