Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~ - Chapter 112 – Can you give me a reply?

It’s already autumn now. I can see it from the tree leaves that are visible outside of my room’s window.

Though I can’t really feel the seasons while I’m within Frontiers.

Well, that’s fine because it’s always comfortable in-game.

In any case, the quest to make the Divine Goblet was cleared yesterday in real time, and about two days ago in-game.

It seems like the dwarf blacksmith finished deciding on the additional rewards, as he sent me a message asking me to go to his workshop.

He also said there would be an additional request, though he didn’t tell the specifics of the rewards of either quest, nor of what the next quest would entail.

I’m surprised that he is giving me an additional request so soon after I finished making the Divine Goblet, but I’d like to do it if possible… After all, the rewards from his quests are great.

I mean, he already gave me Advanced Tool Recipes! I don’t know what the next reward will be, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

It’s still midnight in-game though, so his workshop is closed right now.

I guess I’ll reply to him near lunch time, then go visit his workshop.

And until that point, let’s go make steel gear! I’ve been making them since yesterday, but I have yet to make something with particularly good Options!

Though well, getting two good Options is a lot more luck-dependent than getting a single good Option, so that can’t be helped.

I’d like to put the best items up on priority sales once I make them, but right now I didn’t make anything particularly better than items with single Options, so I think none of my acquaintances will buy the things I made so far, as they will be looking forward to the really sweet items.

Well, maybe they’ll buy the acceptable items in case they don’t have a full steel set yet.

That said, it’s fine even if the items don’t sell out on the priority sales, because steel items still sell instantly on my store even if they have no Options at all!

******

Now that silver equipment is a thing, the leveling speed of the skills of other craft-focused Pioneers should have increased considerably, though the same can’t be said about obtaining tools and facilities.

Unless you can get a monopoly on the market like I got, it will be pretty hard to get enough funds to upgrade one’s facilities.

Not to mention needing a workshop to put all the facilities. No matter how much money one has, it’s never enough.

As for tool recipes, you can’t buy them with money.

Of course, you can try making an original tool recipe or sell the tools you’ve made with a recipe.

In the case of original recipes, they have been discussed a bit on the forums, but nobody has been able to make an original tool with performance equal to or above intermediate-tier yet.

As for selling the tools you already have a recipe for, people don’t do that as they prefer keeping their own advantage over the market, since very few people actually own tool recipes.

I’m one of those people though.

Or rather, everyone in Works has intermediate tools already, as we shared information on how to get them through NPC quests.

However, nobody knows how to get Improved Intermediate Tools nor the Advanced Tools.

I’m the only player with Advanced Tools so far. And I got them out of a special quest.

Also, even if we, in Works, do get a reliable way of obtaining tool recipes, we still won’t share the information without receiving an appropriate reward in return.

It’s very useful for crafters to have proper tools and facilities, but that doesn’t mean it is essential to have them. So even if we’re people of the same clan, we want to make sure we are properly rewarded for our information.

Things in Works are actually pretty competitive.

People on the forums still have that rumor about us being a clan of relatives that share information, facilities and tools freely, but that’s pure nonsense.

But well, as the difficulty level of crafting increases, the necessity of good tools and facilities also increases considerably, so it’s natural that such rumors will start coming from frustrated players that are having a hard time improving.

Or at least I think that’s why it happens. They’re just a bother to me anyways.

In any case, I sent a message to the dwarf blacksmith and quickly received a reply. He said he wanted me to come right away, so let’s go!

******

“I’m sorry for taking this long, but here is your additional reward.” The dwarf told me.

“Thank you!” I replied.

As soon as I arrived at the workshop located at the north gate, the dwarf immediately brought me inside.

Today he wasn’t alone though. For some reason there were several fully armed Pioneers in the workshop.

However, I wasn’t introduced to them, so I only gave them a small nod before turning my attention to the dwarf… I wonder if they will be involved in the next request?

And I’m looking forward to it, because the additional rewards for this one were amazing! I got 30 Skill Points!

It’s incredible! Way too incredible! If there were no people around me, I’d like to sing in joy!

There were people around me though, I’d be too embarrassed to start singing in public, so I held it back.

Then, the dwarf took out a letter with some really fancy seal in it.

What is it? I think there is more than just wax in this seal.

… I have a bad feeling about it.

“Then, Bucket, please read this for your next request.” The dwarf told me.

“Ah, well… What about this seal?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s the official seal of the Zabrina Kingdom. This is a personal request from the king.” The dwarf explained.

“Wait! Hold on! I hadn’t heard about that!” I exclaimed.

“Because I didn’t tell you.

“Don’t worry though, there is no punishment for refusing in case you don’t want to take it.” The dwarf clarified.

“I see…” I muttered.

I think this is a pretty amazing thing, but I also have a really bad feeling about it.

Could those fully armed people not be Pioneers, but instead be knights!?

I didn’t realize it at first because I never saw knights before in Frontiers!

But if I look closely at them, I can notice that they all wear the same type of gear and all feel very dignified.

I’m used to seeing guards, but this is my first time seeing a knight… Or well, I think they’re knights at least, I don’t know for sure.

“By the way, those guys are knights from the Zabrina Kingdom. You’ll understand why they’re here after reading the request.” The dwarf seemed to notice me staring at them, so he clarified.

“I guess they really were knights…” I muttered.

“They’re basically only near the castle or solving incidents, so it’s normal for you to not see them much.” The dwarf explained.

So if you aren’t handling an incident, then you won’t usually see them, I guess? I mean… It’s not like there is a point for player Pioneers to visit the castle.

I guess it can’t be helped that I never saw a knight before then.

Still, there are three major incidents left.

Or well, four if we include the event, but as there is a deadline to that one, it’s safe to assume that the event will be solved after the month ends.

Even if we don’t include it though, the last three incidents are quite problematic, as they all occur in locations that the player Pioneers haven’t even been able to reach yet.

It would probably be impossible to get to the locations of the next incidents without unlocking more areas with woodcutting, but right now everyone is busy with the event and maintaining the currently available areas, so the surroundings of Capital Sabrina didn’t get much progress in terms of unlocking new areas.

Well, let’s not mind that and focus on the letter in front of me.

It had an outrageously fancy seal, but I decided to open it anyways.

However, when I saw what was inside the envelope, everything in front of me turned white.

This wasn’t a metaphor. An incredibly bright light appeared and everything in front of me really turned white.

And before I knew it, I wasn’t in the workshop anymore.

“Welcome, blessed Pioneer. I have a request for you.

“I want you to solve the Incident of the Disappeared National Treasure. Use the Divine Goblet you created to guide the knights.” Suddenly, I heard the Goddess’ voice.

Or rather, I was at the place that the Goddess blessed me at the start of the game right now.

At first I thought this was the inside of the temple, but I think it’s a bit different. It’s probably a special event area made just for scenes with the Goddess.

I feel a bit nostalgic. It’s been about two months since then…

“… Can you give me a reply?” The Goddess asked.

“Oh! Uhn… I’m sorry, but could you be a bit more specific?” I asked her.

I actually didn’t listen to her words because I was too taken aback by the nostalgic scenery…

I mean, I did hear a bit of it, alright!? It was something about solving an incident, but… That alone doesn’t amount to much, does it?

******

“So, will you accept it?” The Goddess asked once again, after explaining things to me in detail.

“Yes. I’ll do it.” I replied.

After I told her that, I was returned to the dwarf’s workshop.

The dwarf didn’t seem particularly surprised by my return from the Goddess’ realm… Could my body have stayed here the whole time? Or did he maybe already know that this would happen in advance?

“Then, let me take it over from here.

“I’m Hayflick, leader of the Second Knight Order of Zabrina. You are?” One of the knights said.

“I’m the Pioneer, Bucket. Please to meet you.” I replied.

I don’t know how many knights are there or what the order numbers mean, but I’m sure they’re all very important people.

His armor seems bigger than the ones of the other knights, probably because he is the leader.

It doesn’t feel bad to look at the others when compared to him though. It’s more like him looking a bit more heroic than the rest or something.

Though his demeanor is soft instead of heroic.

******

Hayflick then explained a bit more about the Incident of the Disappeared National Treasure that the Goddess told me about.

Essentially, the national treasure of the Zabrina Kingdom suddenly disappeared one day, and the Goddess announced that this occurred due to an Incident.

After searching for some time, the knights discovered that they needed to clear a special sealed field area to recover the treasure.

However, a special item is required to break the area’s seal… The Divine Goblet.

Moreover, according to the Goddess, a high-rank Divine Goblet was necessary, and only its creator could use it.

I don’t think this kind of information was on the details of the goblet… I’d like some clarification, development team! I’m a crafter! I can’t fight at all, you know!?

“I want you to rest assured, for we will put our lives on the line to protect you.” Hayflick told me.

“Well, I can’t fight at all, so I’ll be relying on you.” I replied.

“Leave it to us. The second knight order of Zabrina will not disappoint.” Hayflick replied.

I guess they are quite strong? That’s a bit of a relief, but I still can’t help being worried.

I mean, we need to go to an area that the player Pioneers have yet to reach, so it’s definitely filled with really strong monsters.

Ah, it’s scary, but also kinda fun… I wonder if they can sell me the materials of the mobs they defeat?