After waking up in the morning.
I ate breakfast with Serin and Ember, then immediately moved to the forge.
After that, Serin headed straight to the hunting ground.
I used the monster materials Serin had brought me to make equipment.
Lately, this had become something of a routine.
Thanks to Serin, my level rose on its own, and I could make equipment to my heart’s content with the materials she obtained for me.
Nothing could have been better.
But today was different.
After making a few items to clear my head and listing them on the Exchange.
“Ember, to my room.”
Are you stopping already?
“I have other plans today.”
I returned to my studio apartment.
Then, for the first time in a while, I prepared to go out.
I took my identification card, and my bankbook too.
As I was doing that.
“Master, are you going out?”
I heard Serin’s voice.
I had learned this recently.
Serin could move between the forge and reality even if I did not open or close the forge.
No, was that slightly different?
Rather than being able to move freely through reality, it was more that she could move directly to where I was.
Even now, it seemed that after finishing her hunt and returning, she had not seen me in the forge, so she had come to the place where I was, my studio apartment.
“Yes, I have somewhere to go. Ah, come to think of it, this is the first time I have properly gone out since you arrived, Serin.”
I had all my food delivered.
Water and daily necessities were all ordered for delivery as well.
At most, I only went down to the first floor when I had to throw away trash, disposed of it quickly, and came back up. Even by my own standards, it had been a long time since I had gone out.
However.
“I will go with you.”
Serin said something I had not expected.
“You too, Serin?”
“I have taken on the role of a Hunter, but more than that, I bear the responsibility of protecting you, Master. I cannot send you outside alone.”
Going out together.
It was not a bad thing.
Just as she said, if Serin came with me, I would be safe no matter what happened outside.
Though I did wonder whether anything dangerous would happen during a brief outing.
However.
“Hmm, you do not have any clothes.”
Clothes were the problem.
Although it was armor I had made for her, her outfit fundamentally did not suit ordinary outdoor wear.
Unless someone was a cosplayer, no one walked around in northern hunter’s clothing.
I wondered whether I should have her wear my clothes, but that seemed awkward in its own way.
While I was worrying over it.
“You do not need to worry about that.”
Serin, who had been standing perfectly well in front of me.
WHOOSH!
“Whoa?”
Suddenly disappeared.
No, to be precise, she sank downward.
Startled, I looked around, but as expected, I could not see her anywhere. As I stood there in surprise.
“Master, I am in your shadow.”
“My shadow?”
It was true.
Her voice was coming from my shadow.
“It is one of the abilities I regained as my level rose. It is a stealth technique that allows me to hide in shadows, so I can cover you without being noticed.”
“Oh, you can do that too?”
“It is thanks to you, Master.”
“Thanks to me?”
“If not for the equipment you made for me, Master, I would not have regained my abilities this quickly.”
“Haha, I am glad you like it.”
A shadow stealth technique.
As expected, the stats and skills I had checked for her had been weakened to match her level.
Her true skill was likely beyond anything I could imagine.
She had not received an S-grade evaluation as my assistant for nothing.
With that, her problem was solved too.
“Shall we go?”
I opened the door and went outside.
Although I had gone down to the first floor before, it had been quite a while since I had gone out properly like this.
The destination was not very far, so I decided to walk there.
As I was doing so.
“Master, where are you going?”
I heard Serin’s question.
Perhaps because rush hour had passed, there were no people around, so I was able to answer her without worrying about my surroundings.
“To the bank!”
“The bank?”
“It is a place where people deposit or borrow money.”
“Why are you going there?”
“To repay my loan!”
“A loan? You borrowed money?”
“Yes. It was a jeonse deposit loan. I borrowed money so I could rent a home. ……Now that I say it like that, it sounds a little strange. Borrowing money in order to borrow something.”
That was right.
Today’s outing was to repay my jeonse deposit loan.
As a result of working hard to make and sell items until now.
I could finally repay my loan!
Honestly, there was no need to repay it right away, but since having a loan kept weighing on my mind, I planned to pay it off immediately.
In truth, I did not need to visit the bank in person.
What age were we living in?
With a few taps on my smartphone, something like repaying debt would be simple.
And yet, the reason I chose the bank was!
……In truth, it was nothing special.
It was simply.
‘It feels too disappointing to do it online.’
The jeonse deposit loan I had made up my mind to take out.
I had Awakened as a Blacksmith, worked hard to earn money, and was about to repay that loan.
If it ended with a simple chime on my smartphone, it would feel too empty.
That was why I had come to the bank in person.
A bank I had not visited in a long time.
I took a number, and not long after.
“What brings you here today?”
At the bank teller’s question.
“I came to repay my loan!”
I answered proudly.
Well, of course.
It was a big deal to me, but to the bank teller, it was a routine matter.
“Do you happen to have our bank’s app? You can do this more quickly through the app. Would you like me to help guide you?”
Naturally, she recommended using the app.
“I have not downloaded the app, so could you just process it here?”
“Ah, of course. I will take care of it right away. Still, if you download the app, there are many convenient features…….”
I asked her to handle it for me directly.
I did feel sorry for making it inconvenient for her, but still, this was a meaningful moment for me.
There was something I wanted to hear at least once.
“Your full repayment has been completed. You have worked hard, sir.”
Those words.
“Thank you!”
I had repaid it.
The first loan of my life.
I had fully repaid the jeonse deposit loan that I once had no idea when I would ever be able to pay off.
And I had done it one week after Awakening as a Blacksmith.
Even after that, there was still money left in my bank account.
I could not describe how proud I felt.
Since I was in such a good mood.
“Serin, shall we eat out…….”
I thought about eating out before going back.
“……No, I suppose that will not work.”
In order to eat out, Serin would have to come out of my shadow.
I could not think of any normal restaurant where she could sit down in her current outfit.
So instead of eating out.
“Ma’am, could I have some tteokbokki?”
“How much do you want?”
“Two servings? No, please give me three servings. Three servings of sundae blood sausage too, with offal mixed in, and two of each kind of fried snack. I will have some fish cake too.”
“Oh my, that will be too much. Eat a little at a time first. I will give you plenty.”
“I eat quite a lot.”
I stopped by a street snack stall.
Thankfully, there was no one around.
I thought that with this kind of place, Serin might be able to eat too, and fortunately.
“Serin, do you think you can eat?”
“If you drop it down, I will catch and eat it myself.”
“……Catch and eat it? That makes me feel too bad.”
“That is more convenient.”
“All right, for now.”
It seemed Serin could eat food even while hiding in my shadow.
Just in case, I carefully lowered a plate of sundae blood sausage while avoiding the old woman’s gaze.
SLIDE—.
The sundae blood sausage sank into the shadow.
It was a fascinating sight.
Not long after.
SLIP—.
An empty plate rose back up.
“How is it?”
“It is delicious……! In particular, the flavor of this offal is similar to the dishes made from monsters I hunted long ago.”
“Try the tteokbokki and fried snacks too. Ah, the sundae blood sausage and fried snacks are delicious if you dip them in the tteokbokki sauce.”
“S-Spicy……!”
“Tteokbokki is not that spicy.”
“To eat such spicy food so calmly! You are remarkable, Master!”
It was modest, but we were able to have a rather satisfying meal.
As we ate, the old woman even gave us extra food, saying it was nice to see me eating so well.
Later, when all the fried snacks ran out, she fried a new batch for us.
When I dipped the freshly fried snacks into the tteokbokki sauce and ate them, my eyes widened on their own.
The fried gimbap in particular was unbelievably delicious.
Around the time the meal was coming to an end.
The old woman, who had been smiling warmly.
“Oh my goodness!”
Looked behind me and cried out in surprise.
I wondered what was going on and turned my head as well.
CRACKLE!
Beyond us, in a small children’s park.
Right beside the playground, a strange phenomenon was occurring.
A rift formed in the air, and the crack began to widen little by little.
It was my first time seeing it in person, but it was a phenomenon no one living in this era could fail to know.
“A Gate?”
A calamity that had suddenly appeared in the world one day.
A door to another world that widened over time and spewed out monsters if it was not cleared.
It was a Gate.
“Young man, hurry and come inside! It is dangerous! No, what am I thinking? This is not the time to lock the door. We have to run! Were we supposed to run to the nearest subway station?”
It was only natural for the old woman to panic.
Well, Gates did not immediately spew out monsters.
Even so, it was undoubtedly a dangerous phenomenon.
Usually, in a situation like this, the standard response was to evacuate to a shelter depending on the distance from the Gate, or lock the doors and hide.
While my eyes were drawn to the sight of a Gate forming for the first time, I was about to follow the evacuation manual and escape with the old woman.
“Master, may I handle it?”
“Can you?”
“It is a risk factor that may harm you, Master, so if you permit it, I will clear it immediately. Its level does not seem very high either.”
I heard Serin’s voice.
She wanted to clear the Gate herself.
I felt a little uneasy, but honestly, considering what I had seen from her so far, I could not imagine her failing to clear a Gate.
Also, the old woman at the snack stall seemed to have bad knees, making it difficult for her to evacuate.
“Hmm, then please do. Do not overdo it.”
“Yes, Master.”
I nodded at Serin’s words.
At that instant.
FLASH!
Serin surged up from the shadow and ran toward the park like a streak of light.
Then, almost as soon as the Gate finished forming, she entered it.
Her speed and stealth technique were so remarkable that no one seemed to notice her existence at all.
“Oh my, young man. I cannot walk. I will stay here and lock the door, so you should run at least.”
“It will be resolved soon. Let us lock the door together and wait inside for a little while.”
“Oh dear, there is no guild? Whatever it is, in this area, so the Awakened will come late too…….”
“Do not worry, ma’am.”
And so, I waited briefly inside the snack stall with the anxious old woman.
Normally, running away would have been the right choice, but I trusted Serin.
If she was as she had been in the hunting ground, then most Gates would not be able to stop her.
Sure enough, not long after.
BOOM—.
A heavy noise came from the Gate.
SHHH—.
[ E-grade Gate, ‘Headlong Rush’, has been cleared. ][ The Gate’s door is closing. ]
Along with the system message, the Gate began to fade.
Not only that, but the Gate itself was slowly collapsing.
A moment later.
“Master.”
“Is it already over?”
Serin’s voice came from my shadow.
I had been watching the Gate continuously in my own way.
Yet I had not even noticed that she had come out.
“Yes.”
To think she had cleared the Gate this quickly.
As if proving that her words were true, the Gate rapidly collapsed.
Then.
“Master, what should I do with the spoils?”
“The spoils?”
“I was able to obtain a small number of items, materials from butchering the boss monster, and a ‘Mana Stone.’”
An unexpected time for settling the spoils had arrived.