Everyone uses weapons, but not everyone knows what they’re made of—or how precious the materials used to forge them are. Godfall Iron is ore from beyond the heavens, a premium material for crafting high-grade weapons. And it can’t be bought for a mere gold coin.

Naturally, this shop didn’t have any Godfall Iron. The only person who did was Jiuye.

To some people, Godfall Iron was priceless. To others, it was worth nothing at all. Jiuye had some, but no one who needed it had ever come along, so he’d kept it with him all this time. But now, finally, someone needed it to repair a weapon. One gold coin was a little cheap, sure, but that was a hundred silver coins—a whole ten thousand copper coins! Just think how much beef noodle soup that could buy. That was a lot.

“Wait here a moment. I’ll repair it inside. It’ll take at least ten minutes, half an hour at most.”

Once the woman agreed, Jiuye took the katana and went into the smithy.

The two men were asleep, and Jiuye didn’t want to disturb them. So he used a special alternative method to repair the katana. While he was at it, he also used some other materials to reinforce it even further. It was now at least several times stronger than before.

The woman waited outside. Twenty minutes passed before Jiuye finally came out of the shop.

Jiuye tossed the katana to her from a distance, and she caught it one-handed.

“Give it a try.”

The woman drew the katana and examined it carefully. The very obvious crack from before had vanished without a trace. It was still the same katana, but it felt completely different in her hands. She just couldn’t tell what, exactly, had changed.

She swung the katana a few times, then nodded with satisfaction. After that, she took out two gold coins and handed them to Jiuye.

Jiuye glanced at the coins. As a matter of principle, he meant to accept only one. He tried to refuse the other, but the woman insisted and pressed it into his hand.

Just as the woman was about to leave, Jiuye couldn’t help asking:

“Was it a person or a monster you fought?”

The woman furrowed her brow and hesitated before answering. “A monster.”

“Level 40 or higher?” Jiuye asked.

The woman nodded.

Jiuye pretended he knew nothing and said, “The highest-level monsters around Gran City are only level 20. How could one this high-level show up here?”

The woman glanced around, then leaned closer to Jiuye and spoke in a low voice. “You can tell so much just by looking at this sword. You must have seen plenty. I might as well tell you: I’m an S-Rank Spirit Master from the Spirit-Sealing Shrine. I came to Gran City to hunt down a level 42 monster. It’s hiding in the mountains, but I don’t know where it’s gone. It was the one that damaged my katana.”

If he was going to put on an act, he had to commit. At the woman’s words, Jiuye pretended to jump in surprise.

“What?! A level 42 monster? That’s bad. We’ll have to notify That Lord. I think only That Lord can take it down.”

As he spoke, Jiuye made sure to bring up that so-called ‘That Lord.’

The woman’s expression turned more serious.

“That Lord?”

Jiuye nodded and replied mysteriously, “That’s right. I’ll tell you the truth: the Lord who defeated the Great Demon King back then is in Gran City. Don’t tell anyone.”

Jiuye’s words amused the woman. She didn’t explain any further, just smiled and left.

As he watched the woman slowly walk away, Jiuye’s expression settled back into calm.

“A level 42 monster?” he murmured.

…