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Chapter 37 - Heroic Shield, the Wall of Despair (3)

-Bartender: What? Are you really in a different world right now?

“I am. That’s why I didn’t receive your messages. I would never deliberately ignore…”

-Bartender: Look at you sucking up.

Two days after joining Orde, Kang Shin-hyuk was in the temporary accommodations given to him, whispering to Claire. She had initially tried to contact him by phone, but her messages hadn’t gone through. She started to worry when he didn’t respond and tried to contact him through the Hero Universe instead.

-Bartender: I suppose when you’re a VIP, you get to experience such novelties. I wish I could help out.

“Can an outsider even help?”

-Some dimensional quests allow other members of the Hero Universe to accompany you.

“You can help out next time.”

-Bartender: Well, that’s not important right now. You’re in a different world- are you really okay?

Kang Shin-hyuk was touched by Claire’s words of concern and couldn’t help himself from responding energetically.

“I am. The level of the forces around here is much lower than in our world. I was also told they only handed out quests that could be solved.”

-Bartender: Why are you freely giving out that information? Well, that sounds suspicious, anyway. It’s a good system for us, but…I really don’t like it for some reason.”

“It’s alright. I wanted to check this out with my own eyes, anyway.” He responded somewhat firmly to her, who was worried about him. Although the reason he had received the dimensional quest was to activate the My Room function, he probably would’ve accepted it anyway even if he didn’t need to. He couldn’t get the conversation between Anvil and Mirang out of his head, and he wanted to see the armor that Anvil had made himself. Most importantly, he didn’t want to see the Heroic Shield being used for the wrong purpose. It was something only he could do, as the one who had accepted Anvil as his past life.

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“This is my job.”

-Bartender: …Okay?

“Yeah.” He had a slightly mischievous smile on his face as he continued in a playful tone.

“And there’s no reason not to do it. It will increase my synchronization rate, and time moves much faster here. If I don’t do it, I’ll die with a lot of work left.”

-Bartender: If you didn’t say that, you would’ve looked cool.

Claire noticed he was trying to reassure her, but she decided not to point it out.

-Bartender: So, what are you doing now?

“Now, I’m…”

-Klang! Klang! Klang!

Kang Shin-hyuk stopped his hand that was swinging the hammer and let out a sigh. Embers scatted and danced around him in the air like fireflies.

“I’m working with iron.” He was making a javelin with a simple stove and anvil. Among the weapons that the soldiers could use to attack the enemies high up on the wall with their abilities, the only one that fit the bill that could be mass-produced in a short amount of time was the javelin. It could be manufactured simply, and it would be enough to break through armor with ease.

“It’s a javelin. Can you really break through the fort with this simple weapon?” Milan Van Orde expressed his concerns upon hearing Kang Shin-hyuk’s idea. It was an ancient weapon used since the dawn of civilization, and it had a shorter range than a bow. But Kang Shin-hyuk was convinced that the ones he made were fundamentally different. His confidence had only grown by making that artifact. It didn’t matter if these ones didn’t become artifacts; a well-made javelin would surely be just as destructive and far-reaching as a bow. Maybe even more. That was the difference of a weapon made by a blacksmith with metallurgy.

‘And on top of that…’ Kang Shin-hyuk was working much faster now that his metallurgic skill had risen to the D rank. It was like the connection between his thoughts and actions while working had become more natural, and his movements were more efficient. He had already succeeded in making more than twenty javelins in the two days since his arrival.

All of the javelins he made were of steel, the metal that was distributed in large quantities throughout the world. He was able to buy it at a reasonable price (about 1Hp per 10kg) on the trading board. Given the value of HP, though, he thought it should be cheaper. Of course, when he considered it, one of the administrator’s bonuses was enough for him to buy at least 100kg of the material. As a bonus to that, he had enough to give to Onyx so that he wouldn’t try to eat the completed javelins.

“Anvil, are you still working?”

“Yes. Good morning.” Kang Shin-hyuk had just finished the twenty-third javelin when Zeke greeted him. He was staring at the javelin Shin-hyuk was holding with an unsure expression.

“To be honest, I’m not sure about this. Can you really hit the guys in the fort with this stick?”

“Yes. I was actually thinking I should try out a demonstration.”

“Testing it?” Kang Shin-hyuk picked up the javelin he just finished and motioned for Zeke to go outside. The one-meter long javelins were piled up outside of the barracks near the soldiers. It felt like a bit of a waste of iron to use it now, but he had plenty of resources to make more.

“Anvil.”

“Okay, I’ll go ahead and demonstrate it all to you.” Seeing that Milan’s voice wasn’t very welcoming, he was quick to show off the power of the javelins.

“Are there any birds around here?”

“Yes. Up until recently, our archers would shoot them down for food. With that and the Water Orb, our group…”

“Alright, that’s okay. Stop.” Kang Shin-hyuk spoke up, unwillingly to listen to an extended story. Glancing upward, he could indeed see several birds flitting across the sky.

“There are so many…”

“Anvil, you really do act like someone from a different world.” Milan responded in a bleak voice.

“Our world has declined because of a terrible monster. Those winged ones, however, are able to evade it and are still thriving.”

“A monster?”

“Well…” Some of the soldiers who were listening groaned as Milan explained the situation bleakly.

“It is a monster that hides in the ground, waiting to snatch at unsuspecting prey and draw them underground. It will also deceive people and mislead them. If you see something that looks suspicious, it’s better to avoid it.”

“…I will remember that.” Kang Shin-hyuk nodded seriously at his words and readied himself to throw the javelin. It was a weapon that was easy to master, the form for throwing one simple as can be. But despite that simple method of use, its effect was truly dramatic.

-Quek!

The spear rushed through the air, piercing a large bird hundreds of meters up. The bird fell to the ground, spear sticking out of it, and a soldier ran over to collect it.

“He really got it…it’s dead!”

“No, how did he…”

“It’s really dead!”

“That…it doesn’t look like an ordinary javelin!” While the soldiers were admiring and cheering him on, mostly out of a desire to share in the bird’s meat, Milan suspiciously looked at the javelin he had collected.

“I wouldn’t have bothered with it if I were intending to make a normal javelin. Do you believe me now?”

“Alright. If all of our soldiers…or even a quarter of them were armed with these, there is a possibility we could overthrow the citadel.” The number of Orde soldiers was not so great in the first place, numbering only in the hundreds. He said this world was declining, but he had to wonder how many people there would be if all of them were gathered in a crowd.

“Then we can get it back…the Water Orb…!”

“Why was it stolen in the first place?” Kang Shin-hyuk decided this would be a good time to finally approach the subject. Milan turned his head away as if to avoid his gaze.

“…We…originally relied on that fortress.”

“But they betrayed you. They stole the orb and banished you?”

“Yes. We were protecting civilians, but they said they had no intention of protecting those who couldn’t fight. I…couldn’t agree with that.” Shin-hyuk regretted making him talk about it and wordlessly handed him the javelin.

“I’ve shown you how to throw so, so start training your soldiers with it. You can acquire food in the process. Oh, and have some of your men help me make more.”

“Alright. One more thing…it is shameful for me to ask, but…do you have any water to spare?” They said they were robbed of an orb that could make water, after all. Fortunately, that was something that could be acquired at a meager price on the trading board.

“Alright, then let’s barter.”

“Barter? I don’t know if we have anything of use to you.”

“You do.” Kang Shin-hyuk was staring at Milan’s metallic blue armor. It wasn’t steel or any other armor he knew. It was a metal unique to this world.

‘I can’t pass up an opportunity to acquire new metals for cheap.’ Of course, he had no intention of taking their armor or weapons. That would be counter-productive given the fight they were preparing for. But if they could receive much-needed water in exchange for metal, no doubt they would agree instantly.

“Ho, you want my body?”

“What?! No! I’m sorry, I’m interested in that metal.” Kang Shin-hyuk quickly cleared the misunderstanding, and Milan sighed with a relieved expression.

“It is Brenite, a specialty from the old continent. It’s light and sharpens well, making for great arrowheads. Unfortunately, it’s not particularly hard, so it’s not great for a full-fledged weapon.”

“Light and sharp, and great for arrowheads? That’s perfect.”

“It’s perfect…? Ah….” Milan, somewhat belated, realized what Shin-hyuk was thinking. He could only laugh.

A week later, the Orde units were armed with steel javelins that had Brenite tips. Of course, Kang Shin-hyuk had been working with the new metal non-stop.