We arrived at the forge, and Gajeel had already opened the shop. We called out to him, and he walked out from the behind.
"Oh, you're here."
"Store owner, how's the metal ring for the tire?"
"It's almost done being polished. Come take a look."
We followed him into his forging room. Gajeel was carefully grinding the iron ring with several types of sandpaper, smoothing out every part of its surface.
While he worked on the metal ring, I picked up the rubber-like tire tread he had finished measuring yesterday. It felt elastic, with no cracks on the surface. It wasn't as good as the rubber tires from my past life, but for this world, it was already impressive.
"All right."
Gajeel finally finished polishing. I reached out to take the metal ring and ran my fingers across it. Very smooth.
Then I stood the ring upright on the floor and gave it a gentle push. It rolled straight ahead without wobbling, then fell after a few meters.
"Ohhh~"
"It worked. Next, let's put the tire on."
I stretched the tire skin over the metal ring. It was tight, but that was good—it meant it wouldn't come off easily. It did make the tire heavier, though.
I lifted the tire and let go. It hit the floor, bounced a few times, then rolled to a stop.
"Looks like it's done. Store owner, you probably don't need me for the next part, right?"
"Oh, once the first bicycle is complete, I'll still need you to demonstrate how to use it."
"How long will that take?"
"Come back in two days. It'll be done by then."
"Okay."
As Lina and I turned to leave the forging room, a thought struck me, and I looked back at Gajeel.
"Right, store owner—how much does a sword cost here?"
"You two want buy? Pick any you like. I won't charge you."
"Why not?"
Why wasn't he charging? Wouldn't that be a loss?
"Because you've shown me a lot of interesting things."
Just for that reason? He was a surprisingly generous person. But it wasn't that much—we only showed him storage magic and the bicycle.
Still, since he said so, I'd accept the kindness.
"All right. Thank you, store owner."
Lina and I went to choose our swords. I picked one that matched my height. A sword was the most basic weapon—I wanted to learn swordsmanship first before moving on to other weapons.
(…Honestly, it's because swordsmen in the historical dramas from my previous world always looked cool.)
Lina chose a rapier-like thin sword—lightweight, meant more for thrusting than slashing, like fencing. A weapon that relied on finesse and speed.
(Lina should handle that well.)
I drew my sword from its sheath and examined the blade. It didn't feel like it was crafted by a skilled blacksmith. The quality was bad—the forging fundamentals were lacking. It might even break after a few strikes.
That explained why Gajeel's shop had no customers. But he should be a professional blacksmith… so why were the swords like this?
(Wait. How do I even know the quality of a sword? This is the first time I've ever touched a real one.)
I had never seen a real sword before. I had no prior knowledge. I wouldn't be able to tell apart a master's work from a beginner's.
So why did I know this sword was poorly made?
Memories—no, information—began appearing in my head. Knowledge about metallurgy, forging methods, material quality… all surfacing rapidly.
A chill shot through me.
These weren't my memories.
Where did they come from?
My head suddenly throbbed. I grabbed it and looked toward Lina, wondering if she had experienced something similar.
But she probably wouldn't have the answer.
"K-Karen? What's wrong? Why are you holding your head?"
"I'm fine. Did you finish choosing your sword?"
"Yeah."
We put the swords into the storage hole, left the forge, and headed toward our quest location—the forest to the northeast.
"Great boulder, crash down and shatter all before you. Rock Cannon"
We were now outside the town. Since I had given my bicycle to Gajeel, we had no choice but to walk to our destination. To achieve non-verbal magic as soon as possible, I kept chanting magics over and over while we traveled.
To avoid causing a commotion, we were only using the power of a one-year-old.
I only have one magic element, but since my actual age is ridiculously high, I need to chant way more than normal. So I started with the spells that are easy to say.
Lina has dual-element magic. She may be young, but because she can use two different elements, the number of chants she needs is almost the same as mine.
When we finally reached the entrance of the forest, Lina and I gathered some firewood nearby. Then we took out our cooking tools and ingredients to prepare lunch.
We had rice, cabbage, beef, and eggs. I picked up a knife and shredded the cabbage, then sliced the beef into thin pieces—easy to eat and quick to cook.
After that, I built three simple stoves: one for cooking rice, one for pan-frying the beef, and the last for stir-frying the shredded cabbage.
I planned to make rice bowls. All the ingredients layered in a single bowl—rice at the bottom, beef slices arranged around the rim, and cabbage piled neatly in the center.
Finally, I cracked a fresh egg on top. The round, golden yolk sat like a jewel on the bed of cabbage, slowly turning half-cooked from the rising steam.
We made a total of six bowls and stored them all inside Lina's storage hole. After cleaning up our utensils and tools—
"Lina, let's go."
"Mm."
We took out the weapons we had just received and stepped into the forest.