The Workshop in Minegarde

Returning to Minegarde City, it was already the dusk of a few days later.

The three of them went straight to the Hunter Gathering Hall-for hunters who had just completed a quest, settling it was always the top priority.

Standing at the quest counter were still Tiji and Machi.

Seeing Gordon and the others walk over, Tiji and Machi froze visibly, and immediately after, the latter, acting as the senior, suddenly pressed the back of Tiji's neck, forcing her down into a deep bow alongside her toward Gordon while shouting out loud:

"This quest was our oversight, we are deeply sorry, Mr. Gordon!"

Tiji seemed to recall something rather unpleasant, her eye rims turning red. She sniffed, aggrievedly apologizing as well: "I didn't pay attention, I'm sorry."

At first, Gordon didn't quite react, bewilderedly helping the two receptionists up. Only after hearing Machi's explanation did he understand the reason behind it all.

The day before, just after they left, the Chairwoman-who had learned of the quest's flawed intelligence from Amos-severely punished the staff responsible for intelligence gathering and quest verification.

Although Tiji, who processed Gordon's quest registration, was not the main person responsible, she still received a thorough scolding from the Chairwoman.

As the receptionist in charge of registering quests, she was supposed to be the final checkpoint for reviewing quest intelligence, yet this fellow not only failed to spot the hidden danger within the quest, but even enthusiastically recommended it to Gordon.

If Machi hadn't covered up the matter of her "introducing the quest with cat-petting as the reward," the Chairwoman, who was in a fit of rage at the time, might have fired her on the spot.

The few of them chatted a bit more.

When Tiji and Machi learned from Hayata that they had truly encountered the King Shakalaka in the hunting grounds, and that if not for Amos intervening in time, Gordon would almost have been done for, the two receptionists were even more alarmed and pale with fright.

Tiji, who originally still felt a little wronged in her heart, was engulfed by a sense of guilt.

She once again earnestly bowed to Gordon, and with a rare, serious attitude solemnly promised that she would carefully check every single quest document from then on.

The process of settling the quest was not complicated; just a few minutes later, Gordon received the reward of 4,300z.

According to Gordon's thoughts, in this quest Amos had taught him a lot and even saved his life, so giving away all four thousand and some zenny of the reward would have been entirely deserved.

However, Amos's attitude was quite resolute. Before the quest began, he had already stated that he and Hayata would not accept any reward for this trip.

In fact, Gordon also understood that, to put it bluntly, Amos was repaying the favor from when Gordon had previously saved Pine and Hayata.

Unable to out-persist the other party, Gordon ultimately accepted the money, but he then proposed that he would treat them to a big meal to celebrate the successful completion of the quest.

This time Amos did not refuse again. Using his discount clearance to order dishes, the three people and one cat ate a land-and-sea feast costing over a thousand zenny, which could also be considered a successful conclusion to this cooperation.

After exchanging contact addresses, Gordon said his goodbyes to Amos and Hayata.

He was not planning to trouble the master and disciple too frequently; after all, they also had their own training plans, and trailing behind them like a tail all day long was no good for anyone.

After the farewells, Gordon and Porkchop returned to their small room.

After hanging their weapons and armor on the corresponding racks, Gordon heavily collapsed onto the not-too-large bed, and Porkchop bounced up as well.

The youth and the cat stretched together and let out lazy yawns.

The small cabin, which they had only stayed in for one night and still felt somewhat unfamiliar, now held a few more traces of the warmth of home.

"Sniff sniff, Gordon, you need to go take a bath meow, if this goes on the bedsheets are going to stink meow."

"Heh, you're right. Let's go to the bathhouse to soak in the hot springs and steam in the sauna to relax."

"No meow! The water there is piping hot meow!"

"No one is allowed to come out until we've soaked for a full half hour!"

"Refused meow!"

The next morning, following the routine of washing up, exercising, and eating breakfast, Gordon didn't run off to take on new quests directly like a quest maniac.

Balancing tension and relaxation, combining work and rest, was the long-term way to go.

Today, Gordon planned to run over to the nearby Blacksmith Workshop to take a look. Since he was preparing to operate in Minegarde City for a while, this place was always unavoidable.

Porkchop, who occasionally wanted to be lazy, was left behind by Gordon at the Hunter Gathering Hall. There, one could usually see plenty of Palicos not currently out on quests, and the little fellow might even make a few like-minded friends.

The Workshop was also located in the trade circulation district, close to the riverside, only a two- or three-minute walk from the Hunter Gathering Hall.

As the most prestigious workshop in Minegarde City, its scale was much larger than the blacksmith shop in Kokoto Village. Four chimneys, each easily two or three stories high, puffed out blue smoke without a moment's pause, visible from far away and looking very imposing.

Near the Workshop, fully armed hunters were everywhere-Gordon himself was the same; he had ultimately developed this bizarre habit of wearing armor as everyday clothes.

The timing of Gordon's arrival was quite good. It was still relatively early, and there weren't many customers inside the workshop, allowing him to directly meet the boss of this establishment.

The workshop boss was an elderly male Wyverian.

Described in human appearance, he was around sixty years old. His frame was relatively large, and though the muscles that were once full and bulging had somewhat atrophied, he still gave an impression of being vigorous in his old age, nowhere near the level of senility of the Village Chief.

When Gordon arrived before him, he was stuffing a piece of seasoned chewing tobacco into his mouth and chewing it slowly.

Gordon had heard that sailors were extremely fond of such chewing tobacco, and this workshop boss indeed gave off the hard-boiled vibe of an old sailor.

"Hello."

As the junior, Gordon greeted him politely, and the boss nodded at him with an attitude that could not be considered overly enthusiastic, yet not cold either.

"Hello, young man. Just arrived in Minegarde?"

The workshop boss greeted him, his gaze sweeping traceably over the defensive gear on Gordon's body and the weapon on his back-this was the habit of a craftsman.

"Yeah, arrived just a few days ago," Gordon replied with a smile.

"Forging? Reinforcing? Repairing? Want to craft something? Without being modest, our family's craftsmanship is the best in all of Mine City." The boss had a straightforward personality; after a brief exchange of polite pleasantries, he got straight to the point.

Gordon nodded. He truly wasn't just wandering around idly.

Earlier, after clashing blades with the King Shakalaka, one of the grab hooks on the Buster Sword had been deformed by the impact and could no longer retract into the blade body; it had to be repaired to avoid affecting the next hunt.

He took the Buster Sword down from his back and placed it horizontally before the workshop boss.

Without needing much explanation from him, the boss had already picked up a small hammer and began inspecting it on his own initiative with taps and knocks.

Speaking of the Buster Sword, the workshop boss was far too familiar with it.

Its power was decent, its materials were easy to obtain, and among ten Great Sword users, at least half had used this kind of great sword. As for its internal structure, he was naturally completely clear about it.

A moment later, he lifted the Buster Sword and manipulated it gently a few times. The grab hook popped out flexibly and then retracted, causing the workshop boss to nod involuntarily: "The workmanship is not bad."

As a master blacksmith, being worthy of a "not bad" from him was already a fairly high evaluation.