<h4>Volume 4 Chapter 9.1</h4>


    Trantor: Reflet


    Editor: Weasalopes


    「I hear that they arrived here in Stiren yesterday. How are things going right now?」


    「Yes sir, they have been here since four days ago. Until yesterday they were staying at the Grand Forre, and then subsequently moved to their new workshop rental base on the outskirts of town.」


    「Hm……」


    The king’s office in Stiren Castle. After just about finishing his work for the day, the king asked the prime minister, who answered without pause.


    「I see, so they were able to stay at Grand Forre. Perhaps they really are bigshots.」


    「Yes, it would appear thus.」


    「And after that?」


    「They are not currently doing anything of importance.」


    The king slightly furrowed his brow at that. They had done so splendidly in Crest Cave, so it just sounded in fishy and diforting to hear they were doing nothing.


    「Really? They did not even get involved in the martial arts tournament?」


    「After they found their base, the group just did a few things and now they’re doing nothing.」


    The king asked a followup, to which the minister dered confidently there was nothing going on. Just as he had said, the team was truly doing nothing of note other than getting excited about the tournament underway.


    「I see. So they are not doing anything suspicious.」


    「It depends on what you deem to be suspicious, but right now they are not currently defying thew or doing anything that would appear to be uncouth. Then again, they haven’t done anything particrly noteworthy outside of Crest Cave, so I think perhaps we do not have much of a pretext to interfere other than that.」


    「Hm. Then it seems that we should observe for a bit.」


    Hearing that Hiroshi’s group was behaving, the king figured that was that. In regards to Aragod Mine and Crest Cave by extension as well as from what he heard from Fane/Darl consultants, Hiroshi’s group was not the type to spearhead their own ambitions at the expense of others. Although he knew this to be true, the king had not actually seen them directly and they appeared to overesteem their own abilities, so he could not lower his guard.


    「Ah, yes. What kind of situation is Crest Cave currently in?」


    「The third furnace and fourth furnace, I have heard are operating smoothly. It isn’t quite enough to make up for how much steel production has fallen, but once the fifth and so on arepleted in an orderly manner, we anticipate within three years that we will be able to switchpletely from steel to magic steel manufacturing.」


    「Hm……」


    The manufacturing rate of magic steel products seemed to have been going up steadily. Arge part of this was due to dwarves possessing the ability to refine magic steel with the right amount of mana, plus there were a lot of them. As a result, as long as they solved theck of mana then it wouldn’t be hard to upgrade crafting.


    「Oh yeah, on that note, I heard that the trash did something unnecessary. Any new developments?」


    「Yes. We have already identified and apprehended the one who gave him the official documents. They appear to be attempting to talk their way out of this, but doubtless will be confessing to their crime by the tournament.」


    「I see. So what kind of person is this that they almost had everything taken away from them on false charges?」


    「I hear they are among the top five craftsmen of Crest Cave, capable of making simple finished goods. Unfortunately, their mana as a dwarf is exceptionally low, so despite having amazing skill, they don’t appear to be capable of refining or processing magic steel ore, but since they were provided with a new furnace in the name of experimentation, I hear they are creating never-before seen quality in magic steel products.」


    「All right then……」


    At that point, the Forre king seemed to catch on to the mechanism of the incident, a mixture of anger and exasperation on his face.


    「Regardless of the reason, I think that someone has been underestimating me, Gouto, by working such injustice in my country with all of these craftsmen and expecting to get away with it. Do you not agree?」


    「Most certainly.」


    Sensing immediately what the king wanted, the minister deeply bowed his head before anything was even said. Of course, the king’s anger was shared with the minister, or in fact, shared with everyone involved. The problem was far more than being stupid. Whoever this was did harm to upright, skilled craftsmen despite being in a position to send out official documents and without considering the consequences.


    「Now then, there is only so much time remaining until the deadline for the tournament. Ensure that you continue monitoring those adventurers to see what actions they will take.」


    「Understood.」


    After making a detour in their conversation to discuss taking out the “trash”, the Forre king returned to the original point at hand. The higher ups could do nothing but wait a bit longer for Hiroshi and friends to make a real move in Stiren.


    「The deadline for the tournament is tomorrow. What will we do?」


    「I ain’t got a reason to participate, mate」


    One week after arriving in Stiren. Not realizing they were being monitored by the Forre king, the group had finally gotten around to discussing their future course of n concerning the tournament. But since Hiroshi immediately cut down the suggestion, the group had no reason to participate in such a shy event , especially not being actual martial artists themselves.


    「Or does one of ya wanna get in?」


    「Pass」


    「Me neither, I guess?」


    「I pass too」


    All the girls immediately refused Hiroshi’s question. One on onebat was more of a drag than anything else, plus the prizes weren’t anything particrly appealing. Even without prize money, there were plenty of ways to rack up money, so they would much rather pass on fighting with opponents who could very well kill them, or, if they killed the opponent in the process someone might hold a grudge on them, etc.


    Then again, Stiren’s tournament arena did have life protective functions built in that nullified attacks that went beyond a certain amount of damage (as long as the attacks weren’t extra skills like Titanic Roar or Gale sh that busted through defense), meaning that the receiver of the attack would only be rendered unfit to battle. Therefore, normal matches would never bring about casualties.


    「Bro, if ya wanna go at it we ain’t stoppin’ ya.」


    「You think I actually want to?」


    「Nope」


    「That’s what I thought. Plus in 8 or 9 cases out of 10 I would win by holding back using oxide circle at the outset of the battle. That’s no fun at all, my guy.」


    Hiroshi and the others found themselves agreeing with Tatsuya. Oxide Circle was naturally good against regr people, and even though the time it took to take them down via oxygen deprivation couldn’t be changed, it was extremely easy to hold back enough to render thematose without leaving any after-effects.


    「But you know, it’s such a convenient spell and yet I never actually heard about Oxide Circle until I saw you using it.」


    「You can’t use it until proficiency of 75 or above, plus it doesn’t have much of an effect on dungeon monsters or behemoth-ss field bosses. It’s honestly not too surprising why those on the front lines going through dungeons don’t use it.」


    「Ah, okay, so it’s one of those technicalities.」