"A dagger?"
"Yeah. If we shape these Silver Lion claws a bit, they can be made into daggers. And for the grip... let's see, if we powder Silver Lion bone and refine it into the metal, it'll come out considerably sturdier than normal."
At Pamidor's words, Rei turned his gaze to the Silver Lion claws.
He had given some away, but he still had over ten claws on hand.
Normally, if someone talked about making claws into daggers, there wouldn't be enough blade length even to consider it.
But in this case, they were claws from the massive Silver Lion. They were more than large enough to serve as daggers.
"Well, Asimov is busy with the Sleipnir boots, so I can only borrow his help for the bare minimum. That's why it'll be a dagger that makes the most of the material itself... how about it?"
"Yeah... let me think about it."
Looking at the Silver Lion claws, Rei considered what he should do.
In Rei's fighting style, he rarely used daggers.
With the Misty Ring, he could produce a weapon in his hand at a moment's notice whenever necessary.
And since he also carried a mithril knife, he had no trouble with dismantling work. ...Of course, when dismantling normally, he just used a cheap knife he'd bought somewhere.
Plus, Rei had the Eye of Nebula, a Magic Item that could create arrowheads just by channeling magical power through it, which was perfectly serviceable as a weapon at close range.
Considering all of that, a dagger made from Silver Lion claws wasn't strictly necessary.
Moreover, since Asimov was busy, what Pamidor was offering to make was a purely physical dagger, not a Magic Item.
Thinking about all that...
"Alright. I'll take you up on it."
Rei told him.
With the skilled Pamidor making a dagger from Silver Lion claws, it would undoubtedly become a fine weapon.
If so, having one wouldn't hurt, and since Rei had the Misty Ring, it wouldn't take up space either.
That was why he decided it was definitely worth having one made.
"Great!"
At Rei's words, Pamidor shouted, his face full of joy.
Given Pamidor's ferocious appearance, to anyone who knew nothing about him, that smile would look like a bandit's... no, a great bandit boss's—someone who had found his prey and was grinning fiercely.
Having watched his friend Asimov create Magic Items from Silver Lion materials, Pamidor had clearly been envious.
Pamidor was not an Alchemist, but that didn't mean he couldn't make weapons or armor from monster materials.
...Of course, they wouldn't be Magic Items like what an Alchemist such as Asimov would make, but as pure weapons, Pamidor had the confidence to produce first-rate... perhaps even better-than-first-rate work.
"However. I can't have you make several all at once. Make one first. If it turns out well, I'll order a few more."
It wasn't exactly the way to address a skilled Blacksmith—perhaps the finest in Gilm at present—but Pamidor nodded without any particular sign of offense at Rei's words.
Of course, Pamidor as he was now, rejoicing at being able to craft with Silver Lion materials, radiated such intensity that most people would believe it if told he was radiating killing intent in all directions.
He was simply overjoyed at being able to use materials from an S-Rank monster.
(Ah, come to think of it, I'll be forming a party with Byune too, so maybe I should give this dagger to her.)
Rei, Marina, Vihera, and Byune were set to officially form a party once spring arrived and the handover to Worker was complete.
But within that party, Byune alone simply couldn't match the other three in skill.
Of course, that didn't mean Byune was bad at what she did when considered normally.
She didn't possess any standout abilities, but in terms of the roles required of a thief—disarming traps and reconnaissance—Byune wasn't quite first-rate, but she still reached a perfectly passing grade.
The problem was the other three... or rather, three people and one creature.
Everyone other than Byune possessed truly first-rate abilities, so Byune inevitably paled in comparison.
Whether she understood this herself, Byune was working hard—not wanting to hold anyone back—getting combat training from Vihera, reading books at the library to deepen her knowledge, buying practice locks sold for thief training and picking them open... she was giving it her all.
Even so, combat power wasn't something that could be raised overnight.
Well, at this point she had enough skill to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your run-of-the-mill senior bandit, but she fell far short of Rei and the others.
The quickest way to boost the capabilities of someone with low combat power was to upgrade their weapon to something with higher performance.
Of course, if one repeatedly did that and came to rely solely on weapon performance, improvement in their own combat skills would stagnate.
(I remember reading somewhere that Japanese swords, for instance, would chip or break quickly if someone without technique used them. Byune would never use a Japanese sword, of course, but in terms of combat technique, the same principle applies.)
Such concerns weren't entirely absent, but considering Byune's personality, Rei didn't think she would neglect her combat skills and lean entirely on her weapon's performance.
"When will the dagger be ready?"
"Hm? You've suddenly gotten eager."
"No, I'm forming a party come spring, and one of the members is Byune. Her weapon is a dagger, so I'm thinking of having her use one made from these Silver Lion claws."
"A party!? You, Rei!?"
"Yeah... you don't have to be that surprised."
Rei muttered that at Pamidor, who looked genuinely shocked from the bottom of his heart, but thinking about it, it was only natural.
Rei had always operated solo, and now someone like that was saying he'd form a party.
Of course, in Rei's case, it wasn't that he had avoided forming a party by choice.
The reason Rei hadn't formed one until now was simply due to his own circumstances.
The same went for Set's feeding costs, but the secret that Set and Death Scythe—both created through Beast Magic—could absorb Magic Stones was something that should be hidden as much as possible.
But among the members forming the party, both Marina and Vihera knew Rei's secrets.
Only Byune hadn't been informed of anything yet, but with people like Marina and Vihera who knew the circumstances, they could somehow manage to keep it under wraps.
(Well, Byune tends to dismiss conversations with just "yeah," so I don't think telling her the secret would be a problem... but her position is the issue.)
Currently, Byune was acting alongside Rei's group... or more precisely, with Vihera, but that was only for now.
In the future, she was supposed to return to the Labyrinth City Exil and live there.
If that happened, she naturally couldn't carelessly speak of Rei's secrets.
There was magic for silencing someone, but Rei would prefer not to use such magic on Byune if possible.
"No, I'm just surprised. Still... Rei, of all people. No, it's deeply moving."
Looking at Rei, Pamidor spoke with what appeared to be genuinely heartfelt emotion.
For Pamidor, Rei was a special existence in many ways.
Still in his mid-teens, he had a Gryphon as a Tamed Monster, was equipped with several powerful Magic Items the likes of which Pamidor had never seen, and possessed enough strength to fight on even footing with... no, to gain the upper hand against A-Rank adventurers.
Rei possessed power incongruent with his appearance, and precisely because he had always operated solo, the news that he was forming a party naturally stirred up all kinds of feelings in Pamidor.
He would never say it out loud, but Pamidor thought of Rei as a son... no, that was a bit too close in age, so more like a much younger brother.
That was why the words "forming a party," coming from Rei's mouth, were received with joy.
Adventurers originally formed parties and acted together as the norm.
There were some like Rei who operated solo, but if asked which was more common, there were far more who formed parties.
Especially here in the frontier, going solo was fraught with difficulties.
"I never expected you to be this happy about it. ...No, really."
Rei tilted his head at Pamidor's unexpectedly delighted and surprised reaction.
He never thought it would bring this much joy...
"Well, from my perspective, Rei, you've always seemed reckless in various ways. Thinking about it that way, if you're forming a party safely, I can watch over you with peace of mind. We owe you a lot, too."
Those words were by no means a deflection.
In fact, today he was gaining a significant benefit—being able to craft daggers from Silver Lion claws and bones.
"For now, leaving the party matter aside, I'm counting on you for the dagger."
"Yeah, leave it to me!"
Pamidor replied with a smile that could only be described as fierce, unable to hide his joy at being able to freely use Silver Lion materials.
His eyes were already fixed on the forge at the back of the room.
Judging that staying any longer would only get in Pamidor's way, Rei handed over slightly more claws and bones than planned and left the shop.
"Gruu?"
Are we done already? Set purred, having been playing in the snow beside the shop with Pamidor's son, Kumito.
"Yeah. Let's go."
"Eh? You're leaving already?"
Kumito, who had been playing with Set, murmured with disappointment.
His honest feeling was probably that he wanted to play with Set a little longer.
"Yeah, sorry. I was thinking I'd let Set play with you more, but there's no need to stay here forever... well, actually, I suppose there isn't?"
There was nothing Rei urgently needed to do right now.
That was why he judged it would be no problem to let Set and Kumito keep playing here.
"Eh!? Then I can keep playing with Set!?"
At Rei's words, Kumito beamed with a full smile.
Kumito had his fair share of opportunities to play with Set.
The party held before was one such occasion, but it also wasn't rare to encounter Set on the main road.
But... the reason Kumito was so insistent on playing with Set now was probably because he was the only one here.
When encountering and playing with Set in a place like the main road, there were naturally other children besides Kumito, and sometimes even adults.
Compared to that, right now Kumito had Set all to himself.
In other words, Kumito could monopolize Set.
Kumito was usually a quiet child, but there was no way he would let such a perfect opportunity slip by.
That was surely why he broke into a full smile at Rei's words.
"Yeah... Set, I'm counting on you for a bit. I'm going to take a walk around and see if I can find something tasty."
"Gurururuu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry.
Leave Kumito to me—in exchange, bring back something delicious.
Pushed along by Set's cry conveying exactly that, Rei departed from in front of the forge.
"Alright, let's play more!"
"Gurururuu!"
Set cried out at Kumito's words, and the boy and the creature began playing in the snow once more.
"Huh. This is tasty. Gamelion meat?"
"Yes. The filling in this bread is Gamelion meat and vegetables stir-fried together, then wrapped up and baked."
"Uses quite a bit of spice too."
"Yes... it's a bit of a struggle to make, to be honest. But when it's cold, eating spicy food really warms you up."
Spicy filling wrapped in bread and baked.
What crossed Rei's mind at those words was curry bread.
Of course, there was no such thing as curry in this world.
There might be somewhere in Elgin, but at the very least, Rei hadn't eaten curry since coming to this world.
Since Rei liked curry, the absence of it was regrettable.
(Including Takumu, several Japanese people have come to this world in the past. They could have at least spread curry around.)
Japanese curry, Indian curry, Thai curry, European curry... all sorts of curries passed through Rei's mind.
Of course, Rei had only eaten authentic curry at proper curry restaurants a handful of times.
Even if he were served something claimed to be authentic Indian or Thai curry, he wouldn't be able to tell whether it was genuine or not.
(Or maybe it's closer to piroshki? But it's got spice to it... Anyway, this should work as a treat for Set.)
Satisfied with the bread's flavor, Rei produced several Gold Coins... and bought as many as he could.