“This thing is all covered in dust now since you never came to pick it up, kid.”

The old guy brought a small sword over.

Pekkul Rapier

quality: good

imbued effects: agility up, magic power up, blood clean finish

Oh yeah . . . This must have been the weapon I’d requested for Rishia so long ago.

“Did you come to order something else?”

The rapier seemed just about right for Rishia. Or maybe I should have Eclair use it?

“Support from the castle isn’t going to come so readily anymore. I figured I’d have you put my orders for weapons and gear on hold for now.”

“I guess that’s to be expected. The castle town wasn’t hit that hard, but this has been a major disaster for us and the surrounding countries, too.”

“How’s business been?”

“Having just had a disaster like this, everyone wants a weapon, so they come and buy them here.”

“So business is booming?”

“You could say that. With all the sales, I’m actually a bit worried about stock.”

“That’s booming, alright.”

“Thing is . . . I’m not quite sure how I feel about a bunch of amateurs running around and buying up all of the weapons.”

That couldn’t be helped. Amateurs or not, people would want weapons if they felt like they were in danger. It was that same mindset—just like when there’s a natural disaster people start buying up water and food rations. There had been a battle, so now people wanted weapons. It didn’t seem like there had been any looting as far as I could tell, so the situation could have been worse.

“Is that all for today?”

“Well, there is something . . .”

I was trying to decide whether to have the old guy make a bunch of weapons for the slaves. I had already discussed things with the queen and I knew she could supply some used weapons, but the available resources would make anything more than that tough. I wasn’t sure if we really needed anything more than that, but the fact that they were used meant they would have plenty of issues.

With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and approach the old guy.

“I had the queen give me a territory, and I have a large-scale project in the works.”

It would be useful to have the old guy around to make weapons for the slaves, among other things. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“And what does that have to do with me, kid?”

“You could say I came here as a headhunter, if you catch my drift.”

If the old guy set up shop at the territory, that could be a source of income. I had confidence in his skills and I was sure he’d get plenty of business.

“I’ve already got this shop, you know.”

“I know that. I’m not trying to force you to do anything. I just figured . . . maybe you could take an apprentice or two. Think about it.”