Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 106

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 106
“I was active in Harundel, the great city of the Harundel Marquessate, far away from here, and came to this place. I heard there was a war, so I thought I might make some coin…… but it was already over.”
“It’s over. Completely one-sided too.”
Marent chuckled and drained his cup.
“That Black Mage, whatever they call him the Maker Baron, shook the castle in a single day. They say he commands Undead in units of ten thousand? The world really does turn in terrifying ways.”
“Ha. Indeed. It is a frightening world, isn’t it?”
That very Black Mage was calmly agreeing from right before him. From the shadows, Tay felt Ase’s exasperation.
And so one casual conversation flowed into another.
Talk of mercenary rates. War rumors. Even idle chatter about some territorial lord’s daughter being pretty.
And after several rounds of drinks had made their way around, Marent’s tongue loosened, and his past began to spill out.
It turned out Marent had once been a knight.
He had served faithfully under a lord for more than a decade, but lost a leg during territorial warfare, or so he said.
And in exchange for that sacrifice, what he received was not a medal, but a termination notice.
A knight without legs was not needed.
With that single phrase, more than a decade of service was cleanly erased.
Industrial accident with no compensation, only forced resignation. What a charmingly medieval labor environment this was!
“My knightly rank didn’t disappear, you understand. I’m still very much a knight. It’s just…….”
Marent tapped his prosthetic leg.
“If a man with one leg missing goes around boasting about being a knight, all he’ll get is ridicule. Better to live as a mercenary and be at peace with it.”
In other words, a Wandering Knight and a Gold-badge Mercenary both.
A life in which he carried the rank and pride of knighthood while earning his bread through the mercenary trade.
Tay nodded at those words.
Indeed, such cases were not uncommon.
War was daily life in this world, so knights who lost limbs were as common as dust. And those abandoned knights mostly drifted into the mercenary world like Marent.
Real skill, but crippled bodies made them bargains.
And then, suddenly.
Lightning flashed inside Tay’s mind.
‘Wait. Just wait a moment.’
What if he gave new legs to the Gold-badge Mercenaries?
Not just ordinary wooden prosthetics.
Using his Madness Engineer Ability, what if he created limbs indistinguishable from the real thing and attached them?
And through that, recruited all these genuine talents rolling around at bargain prices?!
‘This is…… a brilliant idea, isn’t it?’
Think about it.
Healthy Gold-badge Mercenaries and knights command their asking price. Everywhere, people line up to recruit them.
But those who lost their limbs? Their skill remains unchanged, but their market value plummets. No one will hire them!
But Tay could restore those lost limbs. Only Tay in this entire world could!
Undervalued Quality Stock.
There are countless Undervalued Quality Stocks listed on the market, yet only one capitalist could afford them—Tay alone. It was a monopoly!
And the debt of gratitude for restoring their limbs was something that couldn’t be quantified in coin. Loyalty came as part of the package!
‘Let’s do it immediately.’
The decision came fast. Tay was a man of quick choices.
“This has been enjoyable. Marent. I hope to see you again in the future.”
“Hmm? Leaving already? Well. If fate wills it, we’ll meet again.”
Marent coolly raised his hand at the sudden farewell. It was a mercenary’s straightforward parting.
Tay settled his tab and left the tavern.
The night breeze was crisp. And Tay’s step was lighter than it had ever been.
“Travel really is fortunate. Luck like this comes rolling in.”
Ase spoke softly from the shadows.
—Contractor. Your eyes were gleaming when you looked at that man’s leg just now. Don’t tell me you’re planning something with that leg?
“I’m going to give him a new one.”
—Creating and attaching a human leg. You entertain such ideas without hesitation. You really are more of a demon than I am sometimes.
“Take it as a compliment.”
“This time, it is one.”
A business venture certified even by a demon.
* * *
The prosthetic limb business.
Once the decision was made, execution followed quickly.
Upon returning to the Lord’s Castle, Tay shut himself in the Workshop and immediately began pulling recipes using his Madness Engineer Ability, just as before.
‘Design Drawing by Madness-Tinged Imagination.’
Skill activated.
-Consuming accumulated Madness.
-Extracting design drawing.
This time, the direction of imagination was clear.
Prosthetic arms and legs to replace what was lost—indistinguishable from the real thing.
Of course, having a clear direction didn’t guarantee clear results. It never did.
This was a Gacha, after all.
The system, as always, spat out design drawings on a whim within the bounds of imagination alone.
So what Tay could do remained, as always, only one thing.
“Please let it be good! Please let it be good! Please let something good come ouuuuut!”
The same prayer-ritual repeated once more—rubbing both hands together and bowing to empty air in desperation.
And so, after pouring madness into it and running through several draws,
-[Design Drawing: Sometimes Lonely Limbs] has been acquired.
He’d pulled it at last.
Tay got straight to work. Materials? They lay piled like mountains in the warehouse, as they always did.
“Crafting by Madness-Tinged Hands!”
-Using Crafting by Madness-Tinged Hands.
Flesh crept and gathered. Bone planted itself like a spine, muscle wound tight as thread, and smooth skin slid across the top in a whisper.
Squelch. Writhe. Splurt.
No matter how many times he watched, the crafting process never quite sat right with him, but Madness Accumulation dutifully swallowed the psychological damage today as it always did, gulp after gulp.
-Confirming creation of [Sometimes Lonely Limbs].
-Sufficient materials exist in the vicinity.
-Madness blesses you.
-Critical success in crafting!
Flash!
Light bloomed, and it appeared on the workbench.
Two arms and two legs of human proportion.
And yet, there was no telling them apart from real human limbs. The grain of the skin, the fine hairs, even the fingernails and toenails—it looked as though someone had simply severed a living person’s limbs and placed them there.
[Sometimes Lonely Limbs]
Quality: Supreme
Grade: Unique
Prosthetic arms and legs crafted by the fusion of Black Magic and Madness Engineer Ability.
To all appearances, they resemble actual living limbs.
Yet they are, strictly speaking, a form of Undead—closer to Parasites.
The wearer will perceive them as their own limbs in every way.
However, the limbs occasionally run away and hide.
Should you fail to find them, they will be lost forever.
Function: Perfect Prosthetics
Function: Goes missing once every six months
‘Hmm. This one’s also not quite sane in the end. But… I suppose this is the best I can manage.’
Tay read the item description twice.
He read it again and again, yet the words remained the same.
The limbs. They ran away.
They slipped away behind their owner’s back and hid themselves in some corner. And if you couldn’t find them, that was goodbye forever.
What in the world was a pair of limbs that ran away?
It wasn’t even like a rebellious adolescent child!
The name itself—’Sometimes Lonely Limbs’—said it all. They grew lonely, so they ran away. The Crazy Craftsman’s sense of naming transcended humanity once again.
This was another deeply unhinged and peculiar item.
But.
No problem whatsoever.
If they disappear? He’d simply craft new ones.
Or he could embed Tracking Magic into the arms.
A runaway child was located by GPS, after all.
A runaway event once every half-year was nothing but a cute quirk compared to the performance of “Perfect Prosthetics.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Tay nodded in satisfaction.
Then he immediately called for one of his subordinates and issued an order.
“Put in a request to the Mercenary Office. Hire the Gold-badge Mercenary Marent. The official reason is Lord’s Guard duty.”
This time, he would formally summon that man he’d met yesterday—not as a wanderer, but as a lord.
* * *
A few days later.
Marent arrived at Lord’s Castle with a commission in hand, and the moment he stepped into the Reception Hall, he froze solid.
The lord seated at the head of the table.
That face belonged to the Black Mage he’d clinked glasses with at the Tavern just days ago.
“You… you were the lord…!”
Kai, the Black Mage and former Gold-badge Mercenary—his true identity was none other than Baron Tay himself, who had crushed Gehenna in a single day.
The memory of his own boisterous self rattling on about how “that Baron Tay or whoever is apparently terrifying” flashed before him like scenes from his past life. Right in front of him! Gossiping about him! And with such enthusiasm, no less!
Marent felt cold sweat trickling down his spine as he hastily dropped to one knee.
“I greet you, my lord.”
“Please, be at ease. I enjoyed myself at the Tavern that night.”
“I—I failed to recognize you then, and spoke out of turn…”
“Out of turn? Your analysis of how frighteningly the world turns was quite accurate, actually.”
……
He was teasing. The lord was clearly teasing him now.
After a few more playful exchanges had loosened Marent’s rigid shoulders,
Tay broached the real matter.
“Sir Marent. Would you consider entering my service?”
“…Me, my lord? But as you can see, I no longer have a leg…”
“In compensation, I shall restore the leg you lost.”
Marent’s eyes widened so suddenly they seemed to split open.
His leg. He would restore it?
“Surely… you don’t mean the Church Miracle…?”
Marent asked, his voice trembling.
With good reason. In this world, there was but one known method to restore a lost limb.
The Church Miracle.
A miracle of regeneration that only high-ranking clergy above the rank of Bishop could perform. It was said that with such power, even severed limbs could sprout anew like fresh growth.
The problem was its price.
To receive this miracle, one had to either render extraordinary service to the Church or make an extraordinary donation. By “extraordinary,” they meant a sum equal to several years of revenues from a barony with a population of ten thousand souls.
An amount that required an entire territory to grind away for years—naturally, a sum no mere knight could amass in a lifetime.
The Black Mage Blacksmith
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Automaton G
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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