"But if you're not connected, do you really have to make amends?"

  "I suppose it would be morally inconsistent of me to feel the need to do so now, since any of the weapons I've made could have been used to hurt or kill countless people. But yes, I do. Your uncle is a frightening man. I wouldn't wish to cross him."

  "My uncle?"

  I didn't have an uncle, at least not in this world. The men who were once my uncles had all died a very, very long time ago.

  So I was trying to ask who he was talking about, but he didn't seem to get the hint.

  He just nodded. "Yes. As I said last time, my only price is that you tell people who made the weapon, in whatever manner you see fit."

  "Wasn't it if they ask?"

  "Well... as long as people can find out, I don't care about the means. You're not obliged to personally answer every random passerby."

  I wasn't totally sure what he meant, but maybe there was some way to make the information accessible to people's phones.

  Well, of course there was in principle, but I wondered if the Azure Dragons had something I could use. Since the phone I had was ultimately theirs, it seemed like they ought to at least know how that's done.

  "In any case, this is yours now. It will repair itself when fed mana. It has no dramatic properties or surprises."

  I took the weapon from him.

  It was a bit lighter than I'd expected, but not by much.

  As a cut-and-thrust blade, its center of balance was close to the hilt, but the metal also just felt light, somewhere between common steel and titanium.

  It made me wonder how durable the blade could actually be...

  But it was probably still more durable than the bronze sword I hand cast a few weeks prior.

  "Thanks," I replied, feeling oddly awkward.

  He had made this weapon exclusively for me. Guessing by its size, length, weight, and even the handle, it was all specifically made for me to wield.

  It was only, as far as I could tell, because I was a dungeon boss.

  Which I'd only become because I'd helped the last dungeon boss, Kazzim, die.

  I couldn't say that I was happy to receive it for a reason like that. It was a glum sequence of events.

  'But I doubt he'd have been all that bothered, if he could know.'

  I'd unfortunately only met Kazzim long after he should have died naturally, when an overly stretched life and countless years of isolation had strained his mind...

  And he was technically the villain of this world, having plunged it into an immortal madness, before slaying all of his kin to spare them from his curse...

  But I didn't think he had particularly bad intentions.

  It was a bit absurd for an usurper like me to be rewarded for that.

  I wasn't sure if there was anybody left to complain about it though, aside from Lilac. I still hadn't told her the full story. She still needed to heal.

  Maybe someday, she could judge my actions.

  Although, if there was ever a time where she was capable of doing so, I would no longer need to protect her. It would be up to her to do what she will.

  So even though it was all absurd...

  'Maybe I should just accept this strange role that's been forced upon me.'

  It didn't seem like I had much of a choice in the first place, but it didn't seem particularly bad for me.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  ***

  "Do the Azure Dragons have a page?" I asked Suon, who was there in Van's stead.

  "Huh, a page?"

  I nodded, holding up the guild phone in hopes it would indicate what I meant.

  "Oh. Sure, I guess? Actually, I'm not sure. I think we do? Why, what's up?"

  "I have to mention who made my sword somewhere that people can find," I explained.

  "I see. To be honest, I've never really thought about it, but I'll let Van know. It sounds like something the guild's attorney can arrange?"

  'Wow, you need an attorney to do that?'

  Although I wondered at the strange mechanisms that allowed the Empire's citizens to transfer information and even converse at great distances, they weren't altogether new to me.

  Most technologically enlightened societies master such things.

  So what was curious wasn't the technology itself, though I was curious about it all the same, but that an attorney was necessary.

  Then again, successful businesses in prosperous countries often used attorneys whenever communication was involved, to ensure there were no breaches of law.

  So perhaps I should have asked if there was a way for me to make personal announcements, not as an honorary guild member, but just as me.

  Na?s.

  But he already had his own phone out, and before I could get a word in, he proudly exclaimed, "I've let him know! It shouldn't be too hard to do."

  Although it might be useful to make announcements and stuff... I no longer needed to, and couldn't think of any reason I would in the near future...

  So I dropped the idea.

  "Thanks, Suon."

  "Ah! You remembered my name!"

  I blinked at him.

  "I remember everyone's name...?"

  "You... do?"

  I nodded, but for some reason, he didn't seem very convinced. He gave me an oddly thoughtful and doubtful look.

  But it didn't matter if he believed me, so I just shrugged it off.

  ***

  When I returned home after recharging my phone batteries at the kiosk outside the Lost, I hurriedly looked for some mana shards to try and see if I could use them to repair the sword.

  Of course, it wasn't actually damaged.

  But it didn't do anything, nor could I really use the shard-powered charger I'd gotten for my phone with it.

  "How does this work, anyway...?"

  "What is it, a sword?" Savi asked, as I puzzled over my new weapon.

  I nodded.

  "I don't think you can... charge a sword with that."

  "I don't think so either, but he said it'll repair itself when it's fed mana."

  "Huh... oh! Wait, where did you get one of those?"

  "A guy named Ran made it for me."

  "A guy named... right. Of course you know legendary swordsmiths too. You're pen pals with the demon king himself."

  I wasn't sure what a pen pal was, so even though I later looked it up, at the time, I could only echo, "Pen pals?"

  "Don't worry about it. Unfortunately... he might have overestimated you, or at least... figured you'd grow into it eventually."

  "What do you mean?"

  Savi explained, "You need a Skill to supply a sword like that with mana. There are a myriad of odd Skills that could do it, so it's not exactly difficult. Most A ranks eventually learn one or another, I'd guess... but there's no guarantee."

  Of course, there was never a guarantee when it came to Skills.

  Someone could seem promising, and then abruptly stop growing.

  Others could seem totally inept, and then suddenly become A or even S ranks, as if overnight.

  Although it seemed to reward people's efforts, it was just a bit off kilter. That is, it wasn't that effort was rewarded, but that one could usually find effort leading up to the reward in question.

  For example, I had put in effort to advance Beginner, and it worked.

  But I'd also been putting in a lot of effort trying to learn Scan, arguably much more effort from my perspective, but that had so far not worked.

  "But even if you don't get one," Savi continued, "You could always just pay someone else to do it for you."

  "Is it expensive?" I wondered out loud.

  "Well... I guess it'd be a bit expensive for your budget, but it isn't like you'd need to do it often. Since it's you we're talking about, you'd probably be able to keep it maintained for a long time before you'd have to go to them."

  I was a bit doubtful of that though.

  Maintenance could preserve a sword, but each use would still degrade it over time.

  Although I hadn't needed to hunt in a dungeon for a while now, thanks to tutoring Savi, if I ever did, I thought I should continue using my other weapons until I could ensure its repair.

  'Though I guess I could add it to the insurance plan...'

  Not the weapon as a whole, since there was no way to replace it, but just the cost of doing repairs.

  In between gardening, pottery, brick molding, and the myriad of other household chores, I spent the next few days figuring out how much it'd cost to get it recharged.

  It was hard to be sure without actually doing it, since it was a bespoke weapon.

  Depending on how efficient it was, the materials, and a bunch of other factors, the price could be anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000.

  But it wasn't like you had to pay for a full charge. While some services only offered that, others let you pay in terms of the mana actually used.

  They had Skills that let them draw from mana crystals, so they simply added a service fee for their own time and energy. It was still expensive though.

  I could alter my insurance plan pretty freely, since it was run by the guild, so I decided to raise it to the full 660,000 to cover everything, at least while I was earning nearly a tenth of that each week.

  It'd raise my monthly payment to 6600, but that was just over a tenth of what I made each week.

  So it was affordable for now.

  If I never used it, it doubled as a way of showing my thanks to the Azure Dragons for helping me out all the time.

  And even if I had to lower it again later, the money I paid in went towards a balance. It wasn't just a fee.

  It was a really amazing service that was only possible since the guild set it up as a bonus for their members, rather than as something they'd intended to ever make a profit.

  That all said, I didn't visit any other dungeons for a while.

  Although doing so might have increased my chances of gaining a Skill, since it was believed that the dungeon was a factor in that...

  It wasn't like I was in a rush.