"Oh, you're both here. I've been waiting."
The one who called out to Rei and Pamidor was the alchemist Asimov.
Rei had been on his way to continue his research on making Goblin meat palatable when Pamidor came to fetch him.
The spear was finally complete, and he was told to come pick it up.
A fair amount of time had passed since Rei had first requested the weapon.
It was finally finished after he provided the magic sword that Noise had wielded, the hammer carried by the Cyclops rare species, and — upon returning from the Dark Elf settlement — World Tree branches, sap, and leaves received as a reward from Marina, along with various other smaller materials.
Asimov had clearly poured everything into completing the spear; dark circles shadowed his eyes.
...Yet he still brimmed with enthusiasm, no doubt because the spear he had spent so much time and effort on was finally done.
Under normal circumstances, the first-rate materials Rei had provided would have been more than sufficient on their own.
Materials that, if sold, could fund a life of leisure for years... no, even decades.
The World Tree materials were especially rare, and among them were not only branches but also leaves and sap.
These were not things one could normally obtain by any stretch of the imagination.
Even merchants who traded with the Dark Elf settlement would find them difficult to acquire.
Having been granted the opportunity to work with such a collection of rare materials, even Asimov — whose personality could fairly be described as eccentric — had every reason to give it his all.
Even so, the various rare materials Rei had brought weren't something Asimov could easily master, which was why the project had taken as long as it had.
Pamidor, who had been working alongside Asimov on crafting Rei's new spear, had grown worried about Asimov's near-sleepless state and had been visiting daily to check on him while bringing food... yet Asimov still ended up looking like an Undead.
"Hey. Are you sure you're okay? You look even worse than when I checked on you yesterday. Shouldn't you get some more sleep?"
"I'm fine. Once I hand the spear over to Rei, I'll hibernate for about three days."
"No, you're human. You can't hibernate. Besides, it's summer already."
Pamidor spoke with a hint of exasperation, but his face still looked like the boss of a bandit syndicate. To anyone watching from the outside, it would seem like he was threatening a sickly man.
(Should I call them a well-matched pair or a mismatched pair... well, there's no doubt they make a good duo, at least.)
As Rei nodded to himself watching their exchange, Asimov seemed to sense his gaze and spoke in a displeased tone.
"Come on, come inside. I'll show you my greatest masterpiece."
Rei and Pamidor followed Asimov into the house.
But even from behind, Asimov's gait was unsteady, and just watching him looked dangerously precarious.
"Hey, are you really okay?"
"You can say that all you want... I've been warning him repeatedly, but when he focuses on one thing, he just can't help it..."
Being Asimov's friend and business partner, Pamidor muttered with genuine concern. ...Though from the outside, he still looked like nothing more than a bandit boss scheming something.
"But well, like he said earlier, once this is done he'll sleep soundly for a while. So for now, just focus on receiving your magic spear."
Though worried about Asimov, Pamidor's tone carried strong confidence.
He had left the final touches to Asimov, but during the earlier stage — when the spear was forged — he had been able to declare it one of the finest weapons he had ever made in his entire career. His confidence was only natural.
Gazing at that confident smile, Rei and Pamidor arrived at Asimov's research room.
The first to enter was, naturally, Asimov.
Then, turning a smile toward Rei and Pamidor, he shouted with a voice full of confidence.
"This is my greatest masterpiece, the magic spear... the Twilight Spear!"
Where Asimov pointed, there rested a spear... no, a magic spear.
In terms of shape, it wasn't particularly complex. The shaft had somewhat more carving than a spear sold at an ordinary shop, but even that was only to a modest degree.
As for unusual features, something was also carved into the spearhead.
Normally, doing such a thing to a spearhead would weaken its structural integrity, but the magic spear named the Twilight Spear before Rei was different.
Its appearance wasn't far removed from a spear sold at a typical weapon shop, yet its very presence was on another level entirely.
It possessed a magnetic charm, as though it could steal the eyes of anyone who looked upon it.
It carried that mysterious power over viewers that only a first-rate piece could hold.
However... looking at it, Rei spoke while his gaze remained captivated by the spear.
"Something is... missing?"
"Exactly! That's right!"
Asimov cried out as though Rei had read his mind.
"...Yeah. Just looking at this magic spear, you can tell it's a supreme piece, but you can also tell that something is still missing."
Pamidor must have shared the same impression, for he murmured while gazing at the Twilight Spear... then glared at Asimov with his vicious expression.
"Hey, Asimov. What's going on? You didn't make a magic item of this caliber into something half-finished, did you?"
If he had, he would never be forgiven — Pamidor clenched his fists with that implicit threat. To him, Asimov smiled and spoke with absolute confidence.
"Calm down, Pamidor. You think I'd cut corners with such exquisite materials right in front of me?"
Under normal circumstances, one might expect Asimov to cower before Pamidor's attitude, but he seemed to have absolute confidence in the Twilight Spear and didn't appear bothered in the slightest.
Judging from Asimov's demeanor, Pamidor must have decided there was more to the story. He prompted Asimov to continue with a look.
"As you two have noticed, the Twilight Spear isn't complete yet as it is. ...Now hold on, I'm not finished explaining."
Rei tried to interject at the words "not complete," but Asimov cut him off and continued his explanation.
Perhaps because he was explaining a magic item he himself had created, Asimov was more talkative than usual as he turned his gaze toward Rei.
"The final finishing touch for the Twilight Spear... is for you to pour your magic into it."
"...My magic? Like when activating a magic item?"
"Yes. By familiarizing the Twilight Spear with your magic, it will achieve its true completion."
At those words, delivered with a beaming smile, Rei felt Pamidor's gaze on him but quietly stepped before the Twilight Spear... and reached out his hand.
"By the way, the magic spear's pale green color right now is because I used World Tree leaves and sap."
"...It's like bread."
For some reason, Asimov's words reminded Rei of the image of kneading vegetable juice into bread or noodle dough.
Perhaps finding Rei's comment far funnier than expected, not only Asimov but even Pamidor struggled to hold back laughter.
Once the urge to laugh had subsided, Rei channeled magic into the Twilight Spear he was touching... and it pulsed with a heavy thud, just like when Rei had first entered the Dark Elf settlement.
The difference from before was that Asimov and Pamidor didn't sense that pulse.
Only Rei, holding the Twilight Spear, could feel the pulsation.
However... the next change was something even Asimov and Pamidor could clearly confirm with their own eyes.
Because the Twilight Spear in Rei's grasp was gradually turning red.
Twilight... true to that word, which evoked the lingering glow of sunset just after sundown, the spear was dyed red, then vermilion, then crimson by Rei's magic.
Yes, as if befitting Rei's alias, Crimson.
When the color of the Twilight Spear had completely changed, what remained was a weapon with red as its base color overall. Due to the influence of the World Tree materials used in its creation, green vine-like patterns emerged on the spear's shaft, as though vines were entwined around it, and similar green vine patterns also rose to the surface on the spearhead, as if overwriting the decorations that had been there initially.
"This is..."
The sense of something lacking that Rei had felt when he first saw the Twilight Spear — that feeling was now completely gone.
Rei understood that this was the moment the magic spear called the Twilight Spear was truly completed in every sense.
"It's complete."
As if confirming Rei's thoughts, Asimov murmured.
What floated across his face was a satisfied smile.
The smile of someone convinced that his work had been finished in the most perfect form possible.
Indeed, Asimov's conviction was by no means misplaced.
The magic spear in Rei's hands was, without a doubt, a first-rate magic item.
"...What are this magic spear's abilities?"
At Rei's brief, businesslike question, Asimov spoke with a satisfied smile.
"First of all, anyone wounded by this spear will heal more slowly. It doesn't make healing impossible — it just makes wounds harder to heal — so recovery is still possible with high-rank Recovery Magic or high-quality potions. This effect comes from the hammer you brought."
"Didn't that hammer grant its wielder a Regeneration Ability? This is the exact opposite of not healing the opponent's wounds, isn't it?"
"Everything has two sides. A good effect, when reversed, becomes a bad one. Well, that's the gist of it."
Rei didn't understand the precise methodology, but he could certainly grasp the advantage of slowing an opponent's healing.
"That's a pretty significant advantage in a prolonged battle. ...So, specifically, how much slower does healing become?"
"That part isn't consistent. It varies depending on how much magic you poured into the Twilight Spear, how much magical resistance the opponent has, as well as other factors like both parties' physical condition and the location of the battle."
"...An inconsistent effect makes it somewhat harder to use. I guess I should just consider myself lucky whenever the effect is significant. ...What else?"
Rei asked with the certainty that there were still more abilities, and Asimov continued his explanation.
"Rei, you basically use spears as throwing weapons, right?"
"Yeah."
"And thrown spears are generally disposable... but the Twilight Spear is different. After throwing it and hitting an enemy, it returns to its user."
"That's... quite a convenient feature."
Spear throwing — one of Rei's signature long-range attacks.
As Asimov had noted, spears were fundamentally disposable.
But if what he just said was true, even after throwing this spear, it would immediately return to his hand.
At Rei's comment about its convenience, Asimov smiled... but then spoke in a cautionary tone.
"However, there's one thing I want you to be careful about. As you can already feel just holding it, the Twilight Spear is powerful. ...You could even say too powerful. The effect of hindering enemy wound recovery activates even when the spear is thrown."
"In other words, depending on the time and situation, the disposable spears I've been using until now might actually be better than the Twilight Spear?"
"That's right. You'll have to get used to it and figure out that balance yourself through practice."
"...In that case, I'd like to try it out a little first... What about the backyard of this house?"
"It's not wide enough for spear throwing. I'll come with you, so if you want to test it out, it'd be better to use the Guild's training ground."
Hearing those words, Rei's party headed straight for the Guild.
...With Asimov, dark circles still around his eyes, accompanying them.
When Rei arrived at the Guild's training ground, he naturally drew attention from those around him.
(If Set were here, he'd probably draw even more attention.)
The image of his partner, currently on a separate mission playing with the children, briefly crossed Rei's mind.
Though in truth, the one currently drawing all the stares was Pamidor.
"Hey, there's a guy with an incredibly villainous face over there."
"...Whoa, you're right. But if nobody's reacting, he's probably not actually a villain, right?"
"What, you guys don't know? That's Pamidor, one of the most skilled blacksmiths in Gilm."
"A blacksmith!? ...Whoa. That doesn't suit him at all."
Amidst such conversations being exchanged, Rei, Asimov, and Pamidor moved to an empty area and began their preparations.
The target they set up was a dummy used for archery practice.
Starting at an initial distance of about ten meters from the dummy, Rei retrieved the Twilight Spear from the Misty Ring.
A mururmur rippled through the onlookers as they caught sight of the Twilight Spear.
It was only natural. Even those without the ability to detect magic could understand, just by looking at it, that it was a top-tier magic item — it possessed what could only be called a certain presence, a certain caliber.
Still, it was reasonably well known that Rei collected magic items for practical combat use, just as he collected magic stones. And given that a skilled adventurer like Rei possessed a magic item of this caliber, people simply accepted it as unsurprising.
Under those gazes... Rei threw the Twilight Spear, now charged with magic.
With a sound like it was cleaving through the air, it flew straight toward the target... annihilated the dummy's head, vanished from sight, and in the next instant, was back in Rei's hand.