As the Spirit Kings leave, we are left in a daze. Ana is still sitting on the ground.
“To see the Spirit Kings, and two of them at that…,” Ana says as she bows her head in prayer. “But to think that both of them are favorites of the Spirit King. No wonder they both have a similar aura. Oh, if those two were to work together, it would be quite interesting!”
With a mischievous smile, Ana stands up.
“Um, we were all caught up with the Spirit Kings, but why did they want to show me something?” Riin asks, refocusing on the topic at hand.
“Oh, that’s right! I made some great alloy! Come on, let me show you, Daisy!” Ana prompts me, and I take out an ingot from my favorite pocket. During the construction of the atelier, I spent a lot of money to add a space magic spell for increased capacity and a time-stopping spell to this pocket. So, even an ingot can be easily stored, and no matter how much I put in, I don’t feel the weight of the contents.
Riin, who receives the Gardinium ingot from me, widens her eyes.
“Grandma, this is an amazing item. It contains the power of the guardian, but mixed with silver… Could we make a national treasure with this?”
“Well, the Gardinium is mixed with silver and the ‘Spirit King’s Guardian Stone’ that I received from the green Spirit King. I think it would be good to make it into an accessory that you wouldn’t take off,” I reply, adding that it was also confirmed through appraisal that the power would not decrease even if it were divided.
“I see, I understand. So a pendant, a bracelet, or… no, a ring. If we put it on the non-dominant hand, it won’t get in the way. We can make quite a few of them. How many do you want, Daisy?”
“Oh, right. I promised Marc and Leticia. I want some for my family too… Then, it’s better to offer them to His Majesty’s family as well,” I suggest, listing the targets in the order that came to mind. “I want to give some to my grandfather and Ana’s exile group too. And I want one for myself as well. Although the country protects us, it’s always better to be prepared. We don’t want to be caught off guard if the Schwarzburg Empire ever tries to attack us.”
Schwarzburg is a country that lies between the country where Ana and the others escaped from and our country. We need to be prepared for them.
“That makes fourteen in total. But wait, if there are too many powerful equipment, wouldn’t it fall into the wrong hands eventually?” I express my hesitation about making such powerful equipment.
“Hehehe,” Riin chuckles confidently. “That’s where Riin’s ‘special’ talent comes in.”
Ana also smiles knowingly.
“Well, I think that’s enough. This is just a bangle without any enchantments, right?”
“Hmm? Enchantments?”
With those words, Riin picked up a bangle that had been carelessly left on a work table in the workshop and brought it over. Tracing her finger over the inside of the bangle, she muttered something under her breath.
“Can you see these characters?” she asked.
“I see something that looks like characters, but I’ve never seen these before,” replied Daisy.
After Riin traced her finger over the bangle, mysterious characters had been engraved on the inside.
“I imbued the ancient script of the Dwarf Kingdom with ancient magic from that time. By the way, the meaning is ‘It will not work on those with wicked hearts.’ Furthermore, I should be the only one who understands this ancient imbuing magic, so it’s almost impossible to undo. To undo it, you need to understand both the ancient script and the ancient magic imbuing it, just like me,” Riin explained, giving a wink.
“Riin, that’s an amazing power!” Daisy exclaimed, clenching her fists in admiration.
Looking at Ryin with sparkling eyes full of respect, she was promptly patted on the head and told to stop because it was embarrassing.
“Well then, let’s make a ring out of this ingot. When it’s finished, I’ll take it to Granny’s place, so wait a bit,” Ryin said.
With the plan settled, Daisy and Ana went back home.
A month later, on a certain day, the door to Daisy’s atelier opened with the sound of the doorbell, and Ana and Ryin came to visit.
“Hey there, Daisy! Sorry it took so long, I got carried away with the details. The ring you wanted is finished,” Ryin said, wiping sweat from her forehead, probably due to the early summer heat.
“Welcome, Ryin and Ana! Let’s talk in the living room upstairs, shall we? Things are things, after all,” Daisy said, pointing the way up the stairs.
Daisy stopped by the kitchen and put three trays of cold cherry fruit water, which was being offered at the bakery that day, on a tray before heading up the stairs.
“Please have a seat. It’s getting hot outside, so please drink if you’d like,” she said, placing three glasses on the table. Daisy, Ryin, and Ana sat down in chairs and pulled the glasses towards them.
“Ah, this is refreshing!” Ryin exclaimed, downing about half the glass at once.
“So, let’s get to the main point,” Ryin said, taking out the rings she had made from her waist bag, as planned. There were a total of fourteen rings, with a vine-like plant carved around the circumference, creating an elegant and beautiful design.
“They automatically adjust to fit the finger you want to wear them on,” Ryin added as an explanation.
【Ring of Protection】
Classification: Accessory
Quality: Highest grade
Details: Prevents all abnormal conditions. Gradually restores the wearer’s stamina over time. A special imbuing technique ensures that it will not be effective if worn by someone with malicious intent.
Feeling: I hope it can be worn by good people!
“This is another amazing item you’ve made, Ryin,” Daisy said.
“I thought it would be good for them to understand the appraisal, so I told them the results I saw in the appraisal. ‘Wow, this is amazing! Marc and Letia will definitely want this. We should contact them,’ Ana seemed very satisfied with the quality of the item.
‘Hey Ana, wouldn’t it be unfair for other adventurers if we only let those two buy it?’ I asked Ana a question that had been bothering me.
‘Oh, Daisy, you don’t know much about those two, do you? They are like guardians of this country,’ Riin explained instead.
Adventurers are classified from S to F based on their strength, with S rank being the highest. There are only three S rank adventurers in the world, and they usually receive special requests from important people in various countries and adventurer guild headquarters to complete difficult quests, and their whereabouts are often unknown to the public.
Letia and Marc are the next A-rank adventurers and are in a guardian-like position in this country, as they are called upon by the king, lords, and the adventurer guild to defeat magical beasts that cannot be defeated in the region. Of course, they also have personal freedom to act as they please.
Hmm, so those two are guardians of the country? I was a little bothered by that, wondering if my father was weaker than those two. Given my admiration for my father, I think it’s natural to be bothered by that.
‘So, are those two stronger than the knights or magicians of the country?’ I asked Riin with a slightly pursed lip.
‘Rather than who’s stronger, I think it’s more about who’s better suited for the job. There are also compatibility issues depending on the opponent. I’ve heard that the top people in the knight and magician corps have the strength equivalent to A rank,’ Riin explained, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
‘By the way, what about the money? We only made it from the gem the Spirit King gave us and the silver ingot Ana had, so it’s almost like we made it for free,’ I said, crossing my arms and tilting my head.
‘We’ll present it to the king’s family, but as for our own share and their share, since we made it together, we don’t need to charge anything special…although, it might seem like we’re trying to take advantage of bringing in the materials to get our own share, so that might be a bit cheeky,’ Riin said, shaking her head quickly.
‘Ana is my mentor, and Riin is someone who will become my partner from now on. And as for their grandfather, they are all important people to me, so there’s no problem! Besides, if something happened and Letia and Marc were kidnapped by the previous country, they might be used for war or something, and that would be terrible,’ I said, and also, I could see the value of turning this ingot into an accessory because of Riin’s special granting magic.
‘And then there’s Marc and Letia,’ I hesitated to put a price on it, feeling like it was strange to only charge those two, and besides, they were guardians of the country, even though their position was different, like my father, who was also protecting the country.
‘I have an idea. You know how sometimes we have to go collect materials, right? How about we give them an unlimited free escort request at that time? Their nomination fees are also quite expensive!’ ‘Riin, you’re so smart!’”
I tightly clasped Riin’s hand.
‘Alright, let’s both try wearing it!’ I and Riin and Ana tried to put on the ring on our left middle fingers without really thinking about it.
Suddenly, the backside of the ring shone with a brilliant green and yellow light! (Déjà vu)
‘Daisy, the ring is made from the gem that I gave you. How about wearing it on your left ring finger as a symbol of our oath?’ ‘Yeah, Riin! We are wearing the Spirit King’s protective rings, so it should be on the left ring finger. It’s a symbol of our promise!’ The voices of the nobles who had made a fuss a month ago could be heard from behind.
…The left ring finger, that’s the finger where father and mother wear matching rings, right? Why should I wear a ring on that finger?
‘Seereiou-sama~!!’ Riin stood up and faced the two Spirit Kings.
‘Isn’t it like an engagement or wedding ring?’ Riin was furious and turned bright red. She’s quite bold even with the Spirit Kings.
‘…Daisy, would you wear it on my behalf on your left ring finger?’ ‘…I’m not sure what you mean.’ It seemed like something really important according to Riin’s words, so I smiled and tilted my head, pretending to not understand.
‘…Riin.’ ‘…Denied.’ This was an immediate response.
And then, heartlessly, the three of us happily put on the ring on our left middle fingers in front of the Spirit Kings.
‘…Then, I’ll just engrave it as a symbol of my love!’ The two of them declared, and the Spirit Kings touched the rings on our middle fingers and chanted something. Then, a green stone was granted to me, and a yellow stone was granted to Riin.
The two of them disappeared, looking satisfied.
[Green Spirit King’s Protective Ring]
Classification: Accessory (for Daisy only)
Quality: Ultra-High Grade
Details: Prevents all status abnormalities. Gradually restores the wearer’s health over time. Special granting magic prevents the effects from being activated when worn by someone with malicious intent. Furthermore, the power of the gem automatically deploys physical and magical barriers when attacked.
Feelings? Daisy belongs to me! By the Green Spirit King
[Earth Spirit King’s Protective Ring]
Classification: Accessory (for Riin only)
Quality: Ultra-High Grade
Details: Prevents all status abnormalities. Gradually restores the wearer’s health over time. Special granting magic prevents the effects from being activated when worn by someone with malicious intent. Furthermore, the power of the gem automatically deploys physical and magical barriers when attacked.
Feelings: Riin belongs to me! ~By the Earth Spirit King
…This turned out to be an incredible evolution. And the Spirit Kings seem to have taken over the message field like they own it. After all, there’s a question mark attached.
I wonder if I should tell Riin about this message too."
