CH 78

After that, several adventurers tried to do the same, some succeeded and shed tears, others failed and shed tears

“…what’s this?”

I couldn’t help but wonder.

…No, I know. That is an enhancement scroll, and they are probably enhancing their equipment.

But when a scene like this actually unfolds in front of your eyes, you feel… unsure of what to say.

Hans-san was right after all.

“Young man. Have you also come to strengthen your equipment?” (Voice)

As I was looking at the adventurers, I heard a voice from the other side, and when I turned around, there was an old man of about seventy years old looking at me.

He was dressed in a white and blue robe, with a long blue hat on his head like a chef’s hat, and a metal staff with intricate geometric patterns in his hand.

Somehow, I thought he might be a priest or a deacon of some kind of religion.

Since I was entering the premises without permission, I thought it would be a bad idea to be rude, so I decided to reply politely.

“No, I just came here because there was some noise, and I was surprised to see… such a situation.”

When I said that, the old man smiled and said, “Yes, I heard you don’t need to explain.”

I wondered if he was a clergyman. The softness of the older man’s manners eased my tension.

I thought I should ask him about some things I had been wondering about since my nerves were eased after I had become overly cautious. So I asked him,

“Um, this place is… No, why were they here?”

When I asked, he looked me square in the eye and then looked at the adventurers.

Then he speaks.

“Hmm… A long time ago, a man told a group of adventurers that if they were blessed by the gods, they could successfully strengthen their armaments. In fact, the man succeeded in strengthening many armaments… No, I should say that… his influence has led many to visit the church and asked our priests for a blessing, but the reality is not that sweet… Receiving blessings does not mean that the enhancement will be successful… and soon a tragedy has occurred.” (Old Man)

The old man says this and looks at me.

And continued his story,

“A person who resented the priest attacked the church, and we suffered a lot of damage… Then the church prohibited the priests from giving blessings unnecessarily and enhancing the arms within the church… The result is this.” (Old Man)

The old man looked at the adventurers again.

Silence reigned for a while.

A little further away, the cries of joy and sorrow of the adventurers could still be heard.

“God… why did God make something like this…” (Old Man)

I couldn’t see the expression on the old man’s face as he whispered this.

If that man I met at that place is God. If he is the God here…

The answer is–

I woke up in my usual room at the inn, did my regular purification, and headed for the dungeon.

I look back and think about all the things that happened yesterday.

The first big store I went to. And the blacksmith shop in the back alley. The church at the end of the street. I had planned to look around a lot more, but I didn’t get too many of the places I had planned. I was actually going to try to find a market or a bookstore, but I got tired after going to the church, so I just bought more everyday items and went back to the inn.

Even so, I think I got a lot out of it.

First of all, I was able to learn about magic and attribute arms. This was a new goal for me. Also, the blacksmith told me that if I’m going to use it recklessly, I should switch to mithril or a higher rank metal armor. They are simply tougher than iron. I decided to put aside the Magic and Attribute Arms for now and consider buying mithril weapons first.

And the conversation at the church. …… What can I say? To put it bluntly, after seeing that, the eagerness to enhance my arms cooled down a bit. No matter how great the weapon is, no matter how much mithril it’s made of, if you fail to strengthen it, it’s over. The equipment would burn up and vanish in the light. Even if you don’t think about it, it’s quite a risky idea if you think about it in general.

If you want to strengthen your equipment in a stable manner, you have to prepare at least two pieces of equipment of the same level, and be prepared that one of them may disappear.

But even then, it should not be easy. If a piece of equipment disappears, it means that it loses all its value. In other words, all the time and money you spent to acquire the equipment will disappear, and the profit you made by selling the equipment will also disappear.

If you don’t have the presence of mind to think that there is nothing you can do even if the equipment disappears, even if you have a spare, your mind won’t be able to bear it.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I have the strength of mind to do that now

…But, aside from that, there is something that was born within me.

God’s blessing, arms enhancement, and a successful man… I feel like the dots about some images are about to connect and form lines, but I’m still missing some more dots and I can’t form connections without those dots. The dots that are left unconnected are stuck in my head. They remain there, pleading for something.

But I couldn’t draw the lines to figure out what it was.