The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me-Novel

Chapter 61: Black Meteoric Iron Shortsword and Solo

The next day.

I met with Rifreya in the morning and we headed to the blacksmith.

“Today I am really just going to go get my weapon, you know? We have been diving into the dungeon the whole time lately, so wouldn’t it be better for you to get a nice deserved break? The plan is to dive again tomorrow for 3 days consecutively after all.” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, I will have my weapon checked today, so once I am done with that, I will return to the inn to rest.” (Rifreya)

Is apparently how it is.

Well, I don’t know what’s the actual frequency of breaks in this world for explorers, so I can’t really say much here.

According to Grapefull, the most common pattern is to explore 1 day and rest 1 day. It is a job that strains your body, so that might be the best frequency.

Though, in my case, I have my circumstances. If Rifreya finds it rough, then I will change it, but I want to keep this pace for now.

“Ooh, it is ready.”

When we arrived at the smithy, the old man immediately brought out the freshly made shortsword.

The old man is brusque, but he is fast and careful in his work.

“I don’t think there’s any problem, but please confirm it. The scabbard and handle are made from black sakura wood, and the scabbard has a leather strap wrapped around to prevent it from sliding. If you don’t like it, you can change the wrapping string in whichever way you like.”

The shortsword that the old man made had both a black scabbard and handle.

I showed him my dark abilities, so he must have matched them.

It is probably also because my attire is black as well.

The appearance is that of a short sword, but it has decent weight to it, to the point that it made me uneasy if I will actually be able to use it for a second there. Maybe because I asked for a thick and rustic blade, or it might be that he judged I could utilize this in the sword swinging test.

“Hikaru, Hikaru, please show me the blade already.” (Rifreya)

“Got it. I am kinda nervous here…” (Hikaru)

I take out the shortsword from its sheath.

I was expecting a white blade, but…

“O-Oooh…black…!” (Hikaru)

“It fits you perfectly, Hikaru!” (Rifreya)

To my surprise, even the blade was black.

As expected of an isekai. To think there would be black blades…

“I made it with black meteoric iron. That metal is actually not popular, so I had an excess of it. But it fits you nicely, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, I like it a lot, but…meteoric iron? It falls from the sky?” (Hikaru)

“You could say that. It is a pretty special metal, but it is not like they come in fixed amounts, and there’s not much use to them aside from making them into daggers or shortswords. Also, there’s a lot of customers that don’t like black blades, so I was wondering what to do. That metal is said to be loved by the Night Goddess. It should have good compatibility with your Spirit Abilities.”

“Hikaru, the Great Dark Spirit-sama is the Goddess. The Fire, Earth, and Light Great Spirit-samas are Gods, and the familiars of the Sun God. The Water, Wind, and Dark Great Spirit-samas are Goddesses, and the familiars of the Moon God. Amongst them, the Great Dark Spirit-sama is said to be the closest to the Moon God.” (Rifreya)

So there was a division like that.

Well, Great Spirits do exist and you can communicate with them, so it must be true.

A world where Gods are real feels outlandish for someone like me who has come from modern Japan.

I don’t know if she is telling me a fairy tale here, or telling me an actual fact.

“The Great Dark Spirit-sama is also called the Night Goddess after all. Thanks to that, she rarely appears in front of people.”

“If I remember correctly, she only has natural churches. I want to go see the Dark Great Church of Milliestas at least once.” (Rifreya)

“It seems the priests are desperately searching for the Great Dark Spirit-sama though. She probably is the opposite of the Great Light Spirit-sama in that she only appears at night. I feel like it would be impossible to find her with only the moonlight.”

“It is said that finding even the Great Light Spirit-sama is difficult after all. I think they will only be finding natural churches as it has always been.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya and the old man began talking about Great Spirits.

The two might unexpectedly be Great Spirit otakus. There’s a lot of words I haven’t heard before.

I leave the two talking, and I begin to check my shortsword.

My honest opinion here is that something resembling a japanese sword was unexpectedly made. It was made as I ordered, so you could say it is natural it turned out this way. A black scabbard and a black wrapping. The pommel is ring-shaped, and if I fasten a string to it, I might be able to avoid dropping it.

The blade is around 35 cm long, and the handle that can be held with both hands must be around 25 cm; 60 cm overall. The blade is pretty heavy, but maybe because the handle is long, I don’t feel the weight much.

It really is heavy, but there’s no problem when swinging it or stabbing.

At the very least, with my current fighting style, there’s no back and forth in my battles, so being able to do accurate strikes is essential.

“Nice… It is really nice…” (Hikaru)

Most of all, I like that it looks cool.

It may be a shortsword, but it is a world where japanese swords don’t exist, so I thought of the possibility that my request wouldn’t transmit properly, but it is 7 cm in width and the thickness is 2 cm which was like half on its way to be a blunt weapon was far above my expectations, and it spoke fluently about this being a weapon used against monsters.

So cool…!

“Looks like you have taken a liking to it. These moments really do make it worth being a blacksmith.”

“It is rare to see Hikaru smiling like that, so I think he is really happy.” (Rifreya)

It seems the two were watching me at some point in time. It is a bit embarrassing.

I return the shortsword back to its sheath.

“Thank you very much. It is really good. I have been going around using an unreliable dagger this whole time, so I finally feel as if I am one step into being competent.” (Hikaru)

“Ye got it. An explorer and their weapon have an unbreakable relationship after all. Think of it as your new partner and take good care of it. Do you know how to maintain it?”

“You smear it with oil, right?” (Hikaru)

“Right, if it gets dirty, use a cloth to wipe away the old oil, and smear it lightly with new oil. Since you will be using it in the dungeon, it will rarely get dirty, so there’s no need to be bothered about it that much though.”

I see. The monsters in the dungeon don’t leave corpses, so there won’t be blood, fluids, or pieces of meat sticking to it.

You could even say the chances of the sweat and blood of the user sticking to it are higher.

Hearing about the maintenance method, I pay the remaining 20 silver coins.

I was given cloth and oil for free, and I hung my shortsword on my waist.

“Now, Rifreya, as I said yesterday, I have some business today, so this is it for today. I will come pick you up tomorrow morning.” (Hikaru)

“Eh, aah, yeah. See you tomorrow, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

The face of Rifreya was saying she wanted to hang out more, but I really have business today.

I won’t say that back figure of hers doesn’t sway me, but I shook off that temptation and began walking.

I take a long turn through a back alley to the guild.

I had them issue an entrance permit for the dungeon, buy a number of potions, and enter the dungeon alone.

The method to gain viewers.

I have said this many times already, but the best method is for me to risk my life.

The viewers wish for my death after all.