Tsuyokute New Saga (LN) - Book 2: Chapter 4

Right after leaving the royal palace, Kyle’s group headed for the equipment store. They needed to pick up their repaired weapons and armor, as well as some magic stones and magic medicine.

“Welcome.” Fesbar greeted Kyle’s group before they even walked into the store, as he lowered his head. “I might be a bit late for this, but congratulations on receiving the medal of honor.”

“Ahh, thanks. Didn’t really go around though because of the situation.” Kyle shrugged his shoulders, to which Fesbar showed a wry smile.

“I can only argue that it happened at a bad time…Though, I’m sure that you will achieve something far greater soon enough.” Fesbar said with a brimming smile.

It must be him showing a customer service technique, but it was a smile raising one’s affection for him. That would make sense, since Kyle’s group were exceptionally crucial customers for him. Although the repair of their equipment took its time, it led Fesbar to earn a fair amount again. Not to mention that Kyle not only paid in advance for the repair, but also for the magic stones and magic medicine. As a businessman, Fesbar highly appreciated customers like him.

Of course, it’s not as if Fesbar wasn’t curious about Kyle’s identity. He had served countless other customers so far, but none of them held such wealth, saved the princess, and earned the medal of honor. It’s like he was dealing with the rise of a new hero, and that greatly played into Fesbar’s curiosity.

“Then, let me prepare the objects you have entrusted to us, so please follow me.”

However, investigating a customer’s situation would make him a failure as a businessman. For now, he just focused on pleasing Kyle’s group, and treated this as an important connection. With this thought, he guided Kyle and the others to the room on the second floor.

Kyle accepted the leather armor, and tested its feeling. Urza and Lieze confirmed the amount and variety of the magic stones and medicine. At the same time, Shildonia was busy munching on her sweets.

“So, how is my sword looking?” Seran grabbed his sword that was put into repairs, inspecting the blade.

“There were some minor injuries to consider, but it was well in the range of proper repairs. The person who repaired it mentioned that it seemed like you have been using it for several years. Their eyes opened in shock when I confessed that you had been barely using it for a month.” Fesbar smiled.

“Well, maybe I was abusing it a bit.”

Not like Seran could confess he used this to cut down 30 heavy-armored imperial knights.

“This sword isn’t half bad, but do you happen to have a better one?”

“My deepest apologies, but as for swords available in our shop, this most definitely is of the highest class…” Fesbar responded to Seran’s question with a truly apologetic expression.

The question of ‘Do you have a better one?’ is something he heard on a daily basis. Even though those swords would only be wasted on people with no talent. However, as a businessman, earning money was everything, so naturally he would sell the swords regardless. That being said, he had his own share of thoughts. However, the object wouldn’t lie. Judging from the injuries on the blade of Seran’s sword, it proved all too easily that the sword couldn’t match the owner’s strength.

That being said, it was quite difficult for Fesbar to provide a sword that surpassed his current one. At the same time, he cursed himself for being a businessman that could not supply the demands of his dear customers.

“I see…Then I’ll have to deal with it once the time comes.” Seran put the sword back into the sheath.

This establishment gathered materials of the highest level, so Seran realized that he probably wouldn’t be able to acquire anything better with simple money. With any average sword, it would have probably bent or snapped in two during the previous fight, but it actually managed to hold out until the end, so it most certainly wasn’t a bad sword. However, it was also a fact that if he had a sword on Shildonia’s level, the fight would have been a lot more comfortable.

“Excuse me, but…I may not be able to promise anything, but with my influence and connections I may be able to search for a sword that would be worthy of Seran-sama.”

“I’ll wait without expecting anything then.” Seran commented, and put his sword at his hip.

“We’ll be going to Callan now, but do you happen to know anything?”

After the payment and confirmation had been completed, Kyle asked Fesbar this question. Even in his previous life, Kyle never visited Callan. He had wished to see it at least once, but the Great Invasion happened before that. Callan was known for the production of high quality tools, and quite a fair number of tools in this very establishment had Callan origin. Hence, Kyle had hope that maybe Fesbar knew something.

“About Callan, is it? Well…it is a bit of a complicated location, so to speak. Holding quite the long history, insular, they are known to not involve themselves much with the outside world.” Fesbar’s expression grew a bit cloudy the second Callan came up. “This is just between us, but…The ones currently being the substantial leaders of Callan are a blacksmith guild, and the leader of that guild also acts as the city mayor. Quite a number are affiliated with the blacksmith guild. Certainly, they can be quite confident in their own skill, but that only results in them looking down on others, acting arrogant…This attitude has caused problems before.”

Several years ago, even entering that city was quite a lot of work, so trades weren’t the best, is what Fesbar exclaimed with a bitter smile.

“That being said, since it became a client state of Zilgus, it was forced to change. They must be trying to change their customs, forming connections with the younger world outside, and negotiations with Zilgus. Things must be changing in the right direction.” Fesbar said.

“I see…Thank you. I believe we’ll be stopping by again another time, so I hope you’ll take care of us then.” Kyle gave this gratitude, about to leave the store, followed by Lieze and the others.

“Ah, also.” Fesbar stopped Seran. “Callan and its ancient history has quite a number of anecdotes regarding their tools. You may be able to find a sword befitting your skill, Seran-sama.”

“Hmm…I was going to hunt for some cute girls the second I got there…but maybe I should change my approach this once…” Seran muttered usual nonsense with a serious face, and then asked Fesbar something. “Are you sure about me getting a sword at another place? Your stock will go to waste, right?”

“That just means we weren’t good enough. I will simply recommend something else when that time comes. I pray for your luck at Callan.” Fesbar sent them off with a smile.

***

Two days after their departure from Malad, Kyle and the others were close to reaching Callan. Normally, it would actually take several times that amount, but thanks to Urza’s [Wind Walker] magic, their travels were shortened drastically.

“So that’s Callan, huh…Sure looks like the city in question.”

With Callan visible in the distance, Urza commented with a bit of discontent and admiration mixed in her voice. Right now, they were travelling along a prairie that allowed one to see the horizon, but slowly and steadily, mountains started to pop up in the distance. The tips were covered with a perpetual snow, and the tip of the mountain range pierced the clouds, with the city-state Callan being in the center region of that, cutting a 90° angle difference. It had the flat mountain’s surface at its back, surrounded with walls that made it seem almost like a fortress.

Although it was located in the center of the mountain, the street from the front gate reached all the way up to the summit. This surpassed the foot of the mountain and turned into a hill road, with several luggage horse carriages passing. The entrance seemed fairly new as well.

“I heard it was among the mountains, but that’s like in the dead center, basically mixing in with the other mountains.” Seran let out a follow-up comment, sounding exhausted.

“I wonder how they managed to build a city in the middle of a mountain like that.”

As the more you looked, the more it could fascinate but confuse you, Lieze had her own two cents to comment, seeming somewhat bewildered.

“It’s the opposite, actually. They didn’t build the city inside the mountain, but instead built the mountain where the city existed.”

As everyone had their own share of reactions, Shildonia casually delivered a casual explanation.

“They built…the mountain!?” Lieze’s gaze shot towards Shildonia, then at Callan, and then back at Shildonia.

“Indeed. Don’t you think of it as unnatural that such a mountain range would exist among this endless prairie? That city, back during the days of Zaales, had been the frontier against the demons, but at the same time, they conducted large-scale magic experiments.”

“So that’s why that mountain came into existence?”

“Quite. This entire region harbored a wide assortment and amount of veins offering ores, but we had no proper way of looking for them. That’s why we changed the entire terrain, and brought the veins of ores to surface level. Basically, that mountain is a lump of lucrative veins full of ores. To think they still hadn’t dug out everything even after a thousand years.” Shildonia laughed.

“Ancient magic…sure is amazing.”

“The elder of my village mentioned that there existed great magic to terraform entire terrain, but…to think it truly existed.”

Both Lieze and Urza looked at the mountain in astonishment.

“So, you dug up all the different ores, and made it harder to conquer, raising its defenses…Two birds with one stone, huh. Still, it’s impressive that the Galgan Empire can bring such an impregnable city to its almost downfall.” Seran’s impressions were a bit different from the others.

Simply by looking at Callan once, it was easy to understand how difficult this would be to conquer. It was too small of a path to utilize a large army, and numbers itself weren’t that helpful either. At the same time, you couldn’t use any sieging weapons. Naturally, the inside of the city would be full of armored guards, and the more soldiers one would use, the faster their own numbers would lessen.

“Of course, there’s several reasons. First is the simple difference in military strength, the Empire has a small number of elite units, and even Archmages at their disposal. Adding to that are the peculiar squads the Empire has.” Kyle, who was informed quite a bit about the Galgan Empire, gave an explanation.

“Peculiar, what do you…Wait, what’s that?” Seran commented, when he spotted something flying towards Callan from beyond the mountain.

They resembled birds in a way, but possessed a size completely different from any existing bird. These things now flew in flocks of four, coming from the East.

“Are those…wyverns?” Possessing sharp eyes, Lieze was the first to identify these animals.

Wyverns—they were a monster from the dragon race, often called flight dragons. Unlike dragons however, their knowledge was limited, and they weren’t nearly as strong as your average dragon. However, their abilities in flight were excellent, making them the major representative of monsters flying in the sky.

“There’s people sitting on them…And, that’s the crest of the Galgan Empire.” Just as Urza had stated, the several wyverns had a crest with a golden snake ensnaring a shield on them.

Undoubtedly, this was the Galgan Empire’s coat of arms. And, the people riding on their backs confirmed it.

“…Those are the Flying Dragon Knights the Empire is so proud about. No other corps would fly around on wyverns like that.” Kyle looked up at the sky, furrowing his eyebrows.

“It’s crazy to think they trained wyverns to that extent.” Shildonia spoke with respect in her voice.

It wasn’t anything rare for monsters to be the replacement for horses, but wyverns would generally be a lot more aggressive and wild than your average monster, and they basically did not allow humans to tame them. On a rare occasion, you would see adventurers riding wyverns, but those were the mere exception, and it was regarded as impossible to use them in the military up until recently. However, the ones who succeeded in that was the Galgan Empire. They managed to incorporate the wyverns and their applicability into the army, raising their strength. Their versatility greatly surpassed that of an average soldier, as even a small group of wyvern knights could infiltrate a small, closed-off castle. That is one of the reasons why the Galgan Empire had grown stronger in such a brief time.

“So that’s one of the peculiar squads you mentioned?”

Kyle nodded.

“I see…So, that brings up the question…Why did the highly-regarded flying dragon whatevers come to Callan at such a timing, right.” Watching the wyverns descend inside Callan, Seran asked Kyle for his opinion.

“…Let’s just keep a positive outlook and hope it doesn’t have anything to do with our goal.” Kyle let out a sigh with that comment, and continued making his way towards Callan again.