“Huh?”
Was he really this excited?
This guy must have misunderstood something.
“No...”
“I understand completely, Master.”
“For the vampire race to be able to serve you is our greatest honor.”
“I will make sure every single vampire understands your greatness!”
“Rorona knows of Master’s kindness better than anyone.”
“I believe my poor, despicably enslaved companions will also be able to understand your greatness.”
“The vampires will become the sharpest sword in Master's hand. Rorona is willing to guarantee the loyalty of those companions.”
Rorona spoke endlessly, his face filled with pure adoration.
Wait, I just wanted you to take your race to grow and level up freely so you could feed back EXP to me.
“Hold on. The vampires you rescue will, of course, be led by you.”
“Master, you're actually entrusting such a heavy responsibility to Rorona!”
“Rorona will definitely cultivate their loyalty and will never let Master down!”
“Educating them on your behalf is my duty.”
Rorona got down on one knee and saluted like a knight.
Meanwhile, Li Xiuman stood there as dazed as an astonished princess—pah, king!
“...”
“Just as you said. As expected of my first Kin, you actually read my mind so accurately.”
Li Xiuman forced himself to reply.
It felt like he had accidentally dug a massive hole for himself.
Who knew how many vampires Rorona would rescue? If those vampires became his subordinates and worked for him...
This was actually a bit tempting. He would instantly become a big boss in an alternate world.
However, things were not that simple.
Where would these vampires live?
What would they usually eat?
What kind of work would they do in their spare time?
Would he need to pay them wages?
None of these were simple matters.
He had only just saved up a small fortune; at this rate, it might all go down the drain in one go.
Normally, Rorona should be the one worrying about these things.
Then Rorona would actively hunt monsters, farm gold, and support the vampires himself.
That way, he could receive a massive amount of shared EXP from Rorona's monster hunting.
That was the proper way to do it!
But if he said he wouldn't rescue them now, how could that do?
Li Xiuman was, after all, a respectable figure—well, he had a skull, but no face... In short, he was a decent person... a decent skeleton.
If a decent skeleton like him went back on his word as a master, what kind of impression would that leave in Rorona's heart?
Therefore, even if he had dug a hole, he had to jump in with his eyes closed.
He was already calculating his assets in his head.
First, in terms of liquid assets like gold coins, he had about... three hundred.
He also had shares in the Reby Merchant Association.
“...It seems I must find a way to make money.”
Li Xiuman thought of the Reby Merchant Association.
Then he thought of his noble identity as a transmigrator.
Soap—an item that had kept who knew how many transmigrators fed and clothed.
It surely wouldn't mind feeding one more.
Let the natives of this magical world feel the impact of modern science!
He had Rorona buy the ingredients for making soap: animal fat and seashells.
At the same time, he burned some plants for wood ash.
Then, he successfully created soap.
And then... it flopped.
Because in this magical world, more widespread magical cleaning technologies had already been established.
Household magic items used for cleaning were far more practical than soap...
Let this native of a scientific world feel the shock of modern magic.
Ultimately, Li Xiuman decided that using his identity as a transmigrator to gain an easy advantage was not the way of a gentleman.
He was a decent skeleton who disdained using such shortcuts.
His noble character made him resolve to earn money through the methods of the magical world.
Adhering to the rules of others.
This was Li Xiuman's respect for this alternate world.
He obediently began reading books related to Tier 2 Magic.
Study, study, study.
Night, day, night, day.
Being deeply engrossed in knowledge always made him lose track of time.
Before he knew it, his entire heart and soul were fully immersed.
“Master!”
“The time has come. It's time to collect your equipment.”
There was a knock on the basement door, and Rorona's voice echoed from outside.
“...Is it already that time?”
Li Xiuman slipped a bookmark into the page he was reading and closed the magic book.
Then, looking at the cluttered desk and the various drafts of magic circle drawings, he spoke to Number Zero.
“Tidy up. Make sure not to mix them up.”
Number Zero nodded and carefully gathered the messy books on the desk.
Pushing open the basement door, Li Xiuman changed his clothes, left the house, and headed toward the blacksmith workshop.
“Master Skeleton, you're here~”
“This is your steel armor, Bound Flame. Take a look and see if you're satisfied.”
Terub of the blacksmith workshop waved at his apprentice, who quickly brought out a breastplate.
With just a single glance, Li Xiuman fell in love with it.
The breastplate was not as bulky as a Heavy Warrior's armor; it was a slightly heavy light armor design.
At the center of the chest, one could see the raised patterns of the lizardman king's horn.
The horn had been ground and forged flat and curved, starting from the center of the chest and spreading toward both shoulders before wrapping around to the back.
Around the abdomen, pitch-black lamellae forged from magic steel overlapped, arranged, integrated, and inlaid onto a base of soft fire crocodile skin.
The entire armor set used fire crocodile skin as its base, blending hardness and softness seamlessly.
It exuded a sense of low-key luxury.
Li Xiuman decided to use Appraisal on it.
[Bound Flame] Magic Item (Green Quality): An excellent breastplate crafted with a fire lizardman king's horn on a base of fire crocodile skin. Renders Tier 1 Fire Magic null; grants a 30% reduction to low-tier elemental damage, a 5% reduction to overall elemental damage, and a minor boost to Fire Magic.
Green Quality.
But its effects were top-tier for defensive gear of Green Quality.
Sure enough, Blue Quality magic items were not that easy to come by.
Currently, Li Xiuman only had the earring gifted by Ilu and his wand.
That wand had no special features; it had reached Blue Quality purely on its sheer hardness.
Li Xiuman suspected that the blacksmith who forged the wand had accidentally stumbled upon some miraculous ratio, creating an unprecedentedly hard alloy.
“Master Skeleton, how is it?”
Terub asked cautiously.
“I'm very satisfied.”
Li Xiuman took the heavy armor named Bound Flame.
“What about the remaining two sets of leather armor?”
“Right here. These hides were of very high quality, so the leather armor crafted from them turned out excellent as well.”
Terub handed over two sets of dark red leather armor.
Though they were just ordinary Common-tier leather armor, their durability was far superior to the ones Li Xiuman had previously worn out.
Furthermore, because they were crafted from fire crocodile and Firewing Beast hides, they possessed built-in fire resistance.
They were perfect for exploring the dungeons of White Bear City.
“My lord, there are also these.”
“I made these gloves and straps from the leftover scraps.”
Terub handed over a pair of gloves and straps.
Li Xiuman casually accepted them, placing them together with the leather armor, and said,
“Hope we'll have another opportunity to cooperate.”
“The pleasure is all mine!”
Hearing Li Xiuman's words, Terub's face lit up with joy.
After all, this was a major customer.
White Bear City was only so big; adventurers either threw in their lot with the major merchant associations or aligned themselves with the great nobles.
Their spoils of war usually belonged to the associations or the nobles, leaving very little for them to distribute themselves.
As a blacksmith, Terub naturally wanted to establish a good relationship with a strong, independent adventurer like Li Xiuman.
Rate on N.U.
