10 Years After – 220
Gathering Materials
Lord Gerberga had offered us 5 of his feathers.
Thanks to that, we only needed the very tips of Grulf’s nails.
“Grulf, would you mind giving us just a little bit of your nails?”
“…Grrr…”
Grulf very hesitantly put out his front paws.
“Thank you.”
And so I carefully used magic in order to clip off the ends of his nails.
—Snap!
As Grulf’s nails were very hard, there was a loud sound every time a piece came off.
While it didn’t hurt, Grulf was so surprised that he yelped.
And so I asked him, just in case.
“Grulf. Did that hurt?”
“…Grr.”
Grulf’s ears flattened on his head apologetically and his tail sagged.
It hadn’t hurt at all then. He was embarrassed that he has been scared by the sound.
Still, the nail clipping was very loud. So I couldn’t blame him for being surprised.
“I’ll try to finish this as soon as possible.”
“Groof.”
And so I continued to clip Grulf’s nails.
Grulf flinched every single time.
While he was still a puppy, he was huge, and so were his nails.
So the tips that I removed were half the size of my little finger.
And there were 20 of them, which was more than enough for us.
“Dewclaws seem to grow faster than the others.”
I said, and Kathe laughed.
“Grulf is a wolf, so they are all dewclaws.”
“That’s true. Or at least, they would be for a dog.”
I said, and then finished clipping his nails.
“Grulf, you did good!”
“Very brave.”
“Brilliant!”
“Good boy!”
“Cluck-cluck!”
I praised him, and then Kathe, Mors, Luchila and Lord Gerberga joined in.
Grulf looked happy and wagged his tail.
“Groof-groof!”
And then he walked around the room. He was checking to see how his nails felt.
“How is it? Are you okay? Does it feel strange?”
“Groof!”
Grulf barked. Then he put his paws on my shoulders and licked my face.
I petted him on the head.
Grulf seemed to be fine. That was a relief.
Now we had the materials.
And so I put Grulf’s nails and Lord Gerberga’s wings out on the desk.
Next to them, I put down the magic stones I had taken out of my bag.
They were very expensive stones acquired after killing strong monsters.
And then next to them, Kathe put her orichalcum and mithril ingots.
Mors looked at them and said,
“I think we should be able to make very good magic tools with all of this.”
“Yes. I’m so excited!”
And so we got to work.
These would be tools that could create barriers that kept out the dark ones.
It would have to have a wide enough range to surround a mansion. And then it had to be strong enough to keep out dark wraiths.
Luchila, who had joined us later on, asked me,
“What’s the strongest enemy that this barrier can keep out?”
“Hmm. It can keep out dark wraiths. Also, people who have been Charmed or are thralls.”
“What about vampires?”
“Lessers would be difficult. But maybe it could handle goblins…”
Luchila looked surprised by this.
Koko wa Ore ni Makasete Saki ni Ike to Itte kara 10 Nen ga Tattara Densetsu ni Natteita
