Chapter 53 53: Speechless

Morning in Orario came a little earlier than in other worlds.

When Drake, who had fought through the entire night, yawned and stepped out of the workshop, he heard a deafening commotion coming from outside.

"Master! You're finally back!"

Lili, who had been waiting by the door, heard the door open behind her and immediately rushed over in a panic.

"What's going on outside?"

Drake took the wet towel Lili handed him and wiped the bloodstains from his body as he asked.

Normally, there should not be so many customers this early in the morning.

Though, in truth, even without asking, Drake already knew.

It was definitely related to the alias he had just received.

Sure enough, after hearing Drake's question, Lili said with some difficulty,

"There are a lot of adventurers outside demanding to see you. They say they specifically came to see what treasures the shop of the Heroic Smith has."

"Hmm… They're faster than I expected."

Drake thoughtfully walked downstairs and found that Hestia had already changed into her work clothes, but her cheeks were puffed up angrily.

"That's not the kind of expression you should use to greet customers."

"Drake? When did you get here… Forget it. I noticed that some of the people outside seem suspicious."

Like a cat that had seen a mouse, Hestia gnashed her teeth.

"There are several members of the Loki Familia in the crowd. I'm sure that flat-chested goddess instigated them to come make trouble!"

This sentence coming from Hestia's mouth was completely unsurprising.

Drake had heard that she and Loki had never gotten along even back in Tenkai. Most likely, it was because of the difference in their figures.

"It's harmless… Anyone who comes is a customer."

Drake did not care at all. His shop was meant to sell things in the first place.

Which Familia the customers belonged to did not matter.

However, the petite goddess clearly did not see it that way.

"What if they make some unreasonable demands?" Hestia asked worriedly.

"Lady Goddess, don't think so badly of others."

"That's true… But they're from Loki Familia, so being suspicious is reasonable, right?"

"What kind of grudge do you have against Loki, exactly…?"

Shaking his head, Drake pulled open the door latch and pushed the door open, letting the outside light shine into the shop.

"Look! Adventurer's Home finally opened!"

"Is that black-haired boy the rumored Heroic Smith?"

"I heard he's the once-in-a-thousand-years genius blacksmith of the Hephaestus Familia!"

"There might even be magic swords for sale in this shop… Hurry, let's go inside!"

Like opening the floodgates of a dam, the adventurers surged in like a tide.

Most of them squeezed into the shop and began examining the goods on the shelves.

A small portion were very curious about Drake and wanted to come forward to talk.

"Sorry, but I have something to do later. Please don't waste everyone's time."

Drake glanced at the wall clock in the shop.

Because the Black Bullet world's time was synchronized with Orario's, there was no need to deliberately calculate the time ratio.

In another hour, he would need to return to Tendo Civil Security Corporation and prepare to register as a Civil Security officer.

So he would not waste too much time in the shop.

He had only wanted to come by and check the situation.

As for these customers who suddenly showed up… that was purely unexpected.

"Um…"

A short-haired boy who looked somewhat inexperienced scratched his head and said shyly,

"We'd like to ask you to custom-make some equipment for us. Is that possible?"

"Oh?"

Drake looked the short-haired boy over and vaguely recognized him.

Together with the somewhat familiar figures beside him, the boy's identity was obvious.

"Did Loki send you here?"

"Ah? How did you—"

"Cough. Raul, don't say anything unnecessary."

A black-haired girl with cat ears lightly coughed from the side, interrupting her companion.

Then she looked at Drake and explained concisely,

"We are from the Loki Familia, yes. But we only came here because someone recommended this shop."

"We just finished an expedition recently, and our weapons and supplies urgently need to be replenished. That's why we came to take a look."

"Of course, if you refuse, we can go find another equipment shop."

Although the cat person girl spoke casually, Drake knew that if he refused, rumors like "the Heroic Smith is famous in name only" might start spreading.

"Sure. Custom equipment, right?"

Drake swept his gaze over the surrounding members of the Loki Familia, and a rough idea already formed in his mind.

Familia main forces above Lv.5, such as the Sword Princess, Nine Hell, Braver, and Elgarm, had not come.

Those who came were mostly the team's mid-level backbone below Lv.4, along with some lower-level rookies.

It seemed Loki also knew not to bully him too much.

Of course, it was also possible that she could not order around those proud top-class adventurers.

After all, Ais and the others had no interest in playing house with Loki.

"Introduce yourselves first. For example, what weapons you specialize in."

"We'll start with you."

Drake stretched out his hand and pointed at the short-haired boy who had spoken first.

"Ah? M-me?"

The short-haired boy in light armor scratched his head.

"My name is Raul Nord, Lv.4. I'm good with one-handed swords and bows…"

Hearing the boy's self-introduction, the surrounding adventurers immediately broke into noisy discussion.

He looked somewhat lacking in confidence, yet he was actually a high-class adventurer!

"Just say what weapon you're good at. This isn't a matchmaking interview."

Drake rummaged through his inventory, then pretended to reach under the counter for something. In reality, he pulled out a short bow made of bone.

The style of this short bow was exactly the same as the Desert Scourge and Sahara Slicers.

Clearly, it was also one of the trophies dropped by the Desert Scourge.

"This bow is called the Barinade. It can convert ordinary arrows into two consecutive high-speed fin arrows."

Drake casually nocked a wooden arrow and fired it at the humanoid target inside the shop in front of everyone.

Two sharp whistling sounds flashed past in an instant.

Two arrows with fin-shaped tails appeared on the target out of nowhere.

However, one of them gradually faded and disappeared as time passed.

"By the way, high-speed fin arrows have another characteristic."

Drake walked over and pulled the arrow from the target.

"They don't drop. Even a beginner like me, who barely knows how to use a bow, can hit wherever I aim."

"If you're satisfied with this bow… five million valis. Thank you for your patronage."

The boy named Raul opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He had indeed been called over by Loki to put some pressure on Drake under the excuse of requesting custom equipment for high-class Familia members.

But he had not expected Drake to actually take out a weapon that made his heart race!

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