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.

  “It can’t even keep out lessers?”


  “This isn’t a divine barrier. Dark wraiths are made of magic energy, and it’s easy for a barrier to stop them. But it’s different for enemies made of matter……”


  “I see……”


  Luchila looked quite disappointed by my answer.

  That being said, the beastkin wolves were capable of catching people who were Charmed or other enemies that weren’t dark wraiths.

  So it had the bare minimum required features, as it could catch what they could not.

  “We just need to strengthen the walls of the mansion. Then we can stop most enemies with physical bodies.”


  “Yes! Just like you did in the secret passage in your house, Mister Locke.”


  “Exactly.”


  While we were engrossed in our work, there was a knock on the door.

  “Yes, please come in.”


  “I’m sorry to bother you.”


  It was Shia who had entered.

  “What is it?”


  “I’m really sorry about this but…… But I think you should eat dinner soon.”


  “Oh, it’s already that time then.”


  “No, it’s actually way past that time.”


  In fact, it was already midnight.

  It had been snack time when we finished the first prototype.

  Then we had taken a late lunch and then fought the dark wraith.

  After that, we had repaired the wall and returned to working on the magic tools. The sun had already started to set by then.

  So it wasn’t all that surprising actually.

  While it may not hurt for some of us to miss a meal, it was quite different for Luchila.

  And we needed sleep as well.

  “If you insist. Let’s go eat dinner then.”


  “Yes, you should!”


  “Now that I think of it, I am quite hungry!”


  Kathe wagged her tail happily.

  “While it is true that we should hurry…… Hunger and drowsiness have a way of affecting quality!”


  Mors said with a nod.

  And so we had our dinner, took a bath, and then went to bed.