This Isn’t My World, And It Pisses Me Off
Chapter 10
Ikari and Madyline made their way down the street as Norman instructed. Ikari spotted it first, a hanging sign in the shape of an anvil. “Well, it’s either the blacksmiths, or a store that sells anvils.” He said, causing the maid to chuckle.
There was a woman outside, hammering away at a glowing piece of iron atop an anvil. “Probably shouldn’t distract her while she’s doing that. Might be dangerous.” “Excuse me.” Madyline walked up to just behind the woman, hands politely crossed in front of her.
Ikari meanwhile was shaking his head in annoyance. The woman stopped hammering, turning around to see who had called out to her. Ikari blinked in surprise and felt his cheeks redden ever so slightly. The smith had incredibly well toned arms, and looked as though she could rip Ikari in two as though he was a piece of paper.
“Yes? How can I help…” She spoke as she saw Madyline, before trailing off as her eyes fell on Ikari. The two stared at each other for a moment, before the smith unhooked a small hammer from her belt, and threw it at Ikari’s face.
“ITAI!” He cried out, falling onto his back almost comically, as the hammer fell onto his stomach.
“Hero Sir!” Madyline exclaimed in shock, running over to the unwilling hero. He gave a small angered grumble of the word name. “Why would you do that?!” She rounded on the smith, whose name she vaguely remembered Norman mentioning.
“Because I can recognise a Hero and I’m damn tired of them making off with my best weapons and armour for free just because they think they have a chance at beating the Demon King!” Eliza exclaimed, hoisting another small hammer from her belt.
“I DON’T WANT ANY OF YOUR DAMN ARMOUR!” Ikari roared, a strange wave emanating from him, causing Eliza and Madyline to freeze and began shaking in fear. Ikari managed to stand, before noticing that they were both still shaking.
“Madyline? What’s wrong?” He asked, a hand resting on the shaking girls shoulder as he bent down to meet her eyes. As soon as they made contact, the maid stilled.
“I-I think you used a Perk, Hero Sir.” She swallowed. Ikari blinked in surprise, before standing and turning to see the blacksmith still shuddering. He reached out and poked her arm, before marvelling at the muscle that lay beneath.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” He apologised, backing away lest Eliza chuck another hammer at him. The woman stared in anger at Ikari, though it quickly simmered down.
“You don’t want any of my stuff?” She asked, her hand leaving her hammer.
“No.” Ikari answered, but due to his self-awareness added a small bit on. “But that’s not because I don’t think your gear is good enough or anything, I just want to improve my own stuff.”
Eliza gave a small huff from her nose, before nodding. “Fine. You can use my equipment. But you’re probably only at level one Smithing. Don’t expect much.” She stepped away, leaning against a pillar that held up the outer roof.
Ikari thanked her and stepped forward, placing his hand on the anvil. A menu popped up, Ikari quickly giving it a once over. “This lets me make, I need to improve.” He removed his hand and looked around. There was a workbench to the side, which he placed decided to try.
[https://imgur.com/rQIHdu8.jpeg]
“That’s more like it.” All of his clothes, save his socks and underwear, were to the side, faded out. He selected one, and underneath it gave a list of items required to improve the clothing.
“Uh, do you have... 4 pieces of leather, 2 iron ingots and 2 ebony ingots?” He turned his attention from the Armour Upgrading UI to Eliza. She nodded, briefly entering her store and returning carrying a few different items.
“Hope you have enough gold.” She said sarcastically. Ikari sighed, knowing she was right.
“Yeah, I know the King’s an asshole who increased taxes.” He stated, getting some enjoyment out of Eliza’s look of surprise. “So I’ve just been leaving more than I needed to pay.” He recalled the price of the meal in the guild hall being only 1 piece of gold.
He wasn’t going to try and figure the exchange rate between the currency here and the currency on Earth, because he didn’t care and it would be pointless.
Ikari reached into his pocket and felt the sack of gold he was given by the King. He didn’t know how much he needed so he just grabbed a handful. “Here.” He held out his hand containing the coin. Eliza held out her own, and her brown eyes widened in shock at the amount of gold.
“That enough?” Ikari asked.
“Y-Yeah it’s enough.” Eliza responded, examining the gold and handing the items to Ikari. As soon as he had them in hand, the faded out options on the menu brightened.
“Oh, awesome.” Ikari smiled, selecting his Hoodie. At the bottom it showed the armour rating of 2 that would be improved to 4. “Uh, Madyline. Can I have the BB potion please?” He turned to the Maid, who already had the orange potion in hand.
“Thank you.” He nodded grabbing it with his free hand. He pulled the cork out with his teeth and drank the whole potion. “Hm. Tastes like Fanta.” He cast replenish and stuck the cork back in.
He handed the potion back and turned to the UI once more. He smiled upon seeing the new armour rating. He selected [IMPROVE], and was instantly blinded. “OH GOD-FUCK!” He exclaimed, throwing his palms over his eyes to get rid of the bright light.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” He asked, his stinging red eyes turning to Eliza. She sighed, shaking her head.
“That’s what happens when someone without a high Smithing Level uses one of the Crafting Stations.” She explained. “The process is instant, which means the metal is heated, molded, cooled and hammered all within a second.”
“With a higher level, it’s like actual Smithing. The benches aren’t necessary for the procedure, they just help.” She felt somewhat sorry for Ikari. The unwilling Hero stalked out from under the roof to stare at the sky.
“HEY! ATO!” He exclaimed, causing both Madyline and Eliza’s eyes to widen in surprise. “YOUR CRAFTING UI IS SHIT!!” With that, he returned to the bench, grumbling about how he had been studying this sort of thing and he should know better.
The two girls gave a short glance to each other, wondering what on Earth Ikari was shouting to the God Of The Afterlife for.
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Ikari went back to the Crafting Bench, upgrading his clothes to a ridiculous percentage and making sure to cover his eyes after hitting the [IMPROVE] button.
He had just finished his trousers when he heard Madyline exclaim. “HERO SIR!” Ikari sighed, turning to instruct the maid to call him by his actual name.
He stopped, seeing Madyline covering her eyes with her hands. Next to her, Eliza looked to the side with a smirk on her face. “Funny thing I forgot to mention about the Armour Bench.” She scratched the side of her cheek.
“When you upgrade an equipped piece of armour, it becomes unequipped in order to improve it.” A small gear began to turn in Ikari’s head, before it clicked into place. He looked down and felt his face turn red as his eyes.
He noticed all of his clothes on the corner of the Armour Bench, and quickly grabbed them while moving behind a massive smelter. “Nice hearts.” Eliza called after him, once he was out of view.
Ikari felt his cheeks redden even more as he slipped his new clothes on. He came out from behind the smelter, wearing his new clothes.
“Oh damn.” Eliza murmured, staring at the upgraded items. Madyline took this as a good sign to lower her hands, and her eyes widened at the sparkling metal that now decorated Ikari’s form.
His t-shirt now had leather straps attached to a metal front that had the same dragon design etched into that the previous one had. His hoodie’s zip was now pure black, and had small sheets of leather and metal at the elbows, as well as at the hood.
His jeans stayed the same colour, but had a patch of metal atop of leather on his knees, along with several other patches spread through it.
“Just the shoes left.” He placed a hand back on the Armour Bench and picked the only other option left.
He felt himself fall slightly, and realised it was the fact that his shoes were no longer on him, which meant there was about an inch of air that he was above. “If I had done the shoes first none of this would have happened.”
He decided to ignore what could have been, and simply slipped his shoes back on once they were finished. The toe was now covered in a light sheet of metal, as well was the heel.
“Uh, how do I check the total armour?” He asked Eliza.
“Total Armour Rating.” She explained, as her own armour screen popped up, giving her an annoyed look on her face as she closed out of it.
Ikari repeated the words, seeing a screen pop up with his new clothes.
[https://imgur.com/19xKFTh.jpeg]
“Total Armour rating is…” He tried to figure out the number. “Thirty Four Quadrillion.”
He could practically hear Eliza’s jaw hitting the floor. “HOW IN THE NAME OF THE GODS DID YOU DO THAT?!” She yelled, grabbing Ikari by the scruff and hoisting him up. The fact that Ikari was quite tall made the feat all the more impressive.
“I’m a good Alchemist!” He exclaimed. Eliza scowled at him, before dropping him on his rump.
“Guess I’m out of a job then.” She grumbled, realising that if Ikari could make something that good with zero prior experience, she would soon find her business crumbling. “You Heroes are always buddy-buddy with the nobles. Probably gave them the recipe.”
“Are you kidding?! I’m not giving those assholes jack!” Ikari exclaimed, annoyed at the very idea.
Eliza whirled around in surprise, looking at Ikari’s expression. Madyline quickly rushed to his side to make sure he wouldn’t say anymore treasonous words.
Ikari gave a quick breath. “I’ll kill the Demon King, then maybe if I have time before getting home, I’ll kick some of these nobles up their backside.” He cracked his knuckles lightly, causing Madyline to flinch away from trying to persuade him.
“Huh.” Eliza said simply. “You might actually have a shot…” She stopped, before dashing into her store, causing Madyline and Ikari to stop bickering.
A moment later she came out, holding in her hands a set of gauntlets made out of a dark metal. “I got these in a while ago. They normally wouldn’t be good for anyone but with your armour rating so high…”
Ikari took the gauntlets as she trailed off.
[https://imgur.com/BFXBIy4.jpeg]
Ikari blinked twice at the description. “Heh.” A smug smirk appeared on his face, thinking of how he was going to make Ato pay for putting him in this world.
He slipped the gauntlets on, but felt no different. He wondered if there was anything he could test it on. His eyes landed on something equivalent to a test dummy. “Hey, how much do anvils cost?” Ikari asked Eliza.
The question caught her by surprise, as she tried to think of the answer. “Bout, twenny gold?” She answered.
“Right. I’ll be sure to give you that then.” He told her, bringing his arm up high and aiming it. Eliza barely had time to yell out a curse, before Ikari punched down.
“HOLY SHIT!!” He exclaimed, seeing the anvil obliterated and a massive hole stretching down into the ground. “I’m guessing that’s going to cost a bit more than twenty, huh?” He chuckled awkwardly.
Both Eliza and Madyline were on their rears, hair blown back and eyes wide in shock. Eliza finally swallowed before speaking. “Yeah. Just a bit more.”
Ikari fished out his sack of gold and began counting to some number, while Eliza helped Madyline up. “Uh, he’s the good guy, right?” She whispered to the maid.
“O-Of course.” Madyline’s blue eyes were wide. “Why would you think otherwise?” She whispered back in an annoyed tone.
“The thing that happened earlier. The shout.” She reminded her of the incident. Madyline nodded. “I know that skill. But it’s only able to be used by those with high Wrath.”
Her words caused Madyline to gulp, her eyes slowly wandering over to Ikari. As quick as the concern appeared, the maid stomped it out. “No.” She whispered, surprising the blacksmith. “Yes, Hero Si- Ikari, is quite, angry.”
It was the understatement of the century, but Eliza allowed her to continue. “But, he is also very kind. He is just a victim of his circumstances.”
“Thirty!” Ikari’s voice broke the whispered conversation. Both Eliza and Madyline looked over to see Ikari smiling widely, holding a massive pile of gold in his hands. “You’d think with all the math I had to do to get this broken, counting would be easy.”
Eliza took the gold, eyes wide as though she had never seen this much wealth in her life. “On one hand, spending frivolously really doesn’t make me like you any more.” Her words caused Ikari to flinch.
“But on the other…” She looked up, brown and red clashing. “Kick the Demon King’s ass.” Her eyes hardened, and Ikari’s turned upwards in a smile.
“Course. I have to get home after all.” He turned with a smile, planning on getting back to the castle, doing some more enchanting, and then heading out to, as Eliza said, kick the Demon King’s ass.
Because he had turned around, he didn’t see Eliza’s sudden grab of Madylines shoulder. The blacksmith looked at her with wide eyes, eyes that Madyline couldn’t meet.
Eliza sighed, before looking after Ikari as he walked away. “When he finds out, he’s going to be filled with Wrath.” She made sure that Madyline was meeting her eyes. “You need to make sure that he doesn’t lose his Kindness.”
The maid nodded with conviction. She feared breaking the Kings laws, more than anything else in the world. But, after seeing what Ikari could do…
“I don’t have to be afraid anymore.” She whispered to herself.
“Reinigen-chan!” Ikari called out, causing both females to jump in surprise and confusion. “C’mon! We have a King to kill.”
His words caused several bystanders, who came out to see what the noise of Ikari’s punch was, to gasp and turn to Madyline. “HE MEANS THE DEMON KING!” She yelled out, quickly running up the street to Ikari.
“Oh!” She topped, running back a short distance and bowing to Eliza. “Thank you for your assistance.” With that said, she darted back up the street, berating Ikari and yelling at him about specifying the Demon King.
Eliza smiled as she watched the interaction, before it fell as her eyes landed on the hole in the street. She stood over it, kicking a pebble down and waiting.
There was no sound of it hitting the bottom. Eliza turned to where she could barely make out Ikari’s clothing among the crowds. “I hope his Kindness is stronger than his Wrath, otherwise, we’re all in trouble.”