Reborn As The Villain In A Game-Like World-Chapter 32: Date Night

Jack opened the car door and looked at the muddy road. Deciding to protect his shoes, he activated Levitation and floated over toward the entrance of the tavern while fixing his suit.

"Are you sure this is a blacksmith, Melinda?" Jack asked in puzzlement as he looked at the door.

"I’m sure of it," Melinda said as she jumped from the car onto the porch of the building to avoid the mud.

Jack shrugged, and with a flick of his hand, he opened the doors and was greeted with a few empty tables and chairs with a bar at the far end.

"No... this is definitely a tavern," Jack said, gesturing to the room. "And a rather unpopular one at that."

A heavy bang of metal hitting metal resounded through the tavern, silencing him. Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Melinda smirked. "See?" she said, and he could only sigh. He never remembered there being a blacksmith here. Since drinking in the game was purely for role-playing and was often seen as a waste of time by the players, he had never bothered with this place before.

"Yo, Dalon!" Melinda shouted toward the backroom, but she was ignored as the sound of metal clanging against metal continued.

Jack followed Melinda into the backroom, where a burly dwarf was hammering away at a sword placed on an anvil. Despite the extreme heat being emitted from the three forges in the room, not a single drop of sweat could be seen on the dwarf’s face.

Jack looked over the dwarf’s shoulders and inspected his work. "Oh, you’re imbuing that sword with an enhancement rune? Although your version seems overly complicated and would lead to higher mana consumption..." he commented without thinking, causing the dwarf’s hammer to stop mid-swing.

Dalon turned around and eyed Jack with a slightly surprised look. "You know runes, lad?"

Jack just nodded and pointed toward the runic inscriptions on the blade. The runes had been melted into the sword’s structure with mana dust. He calmly ran his finger along a certain line of runes.

"ᚹᛁᚪᛨᛖᚨᛋᛖ ᚢᛋᛖᛨ ᛋᛛᛨᛖᛁᛱᚾᛛ means ’Increase user strength,’ which is a rather long-winded way of just saying ’Enhance.’"

Dalon went silent as he studied the runes he had just inscribed and then shook his head. "I only have C grade in Rune Engraving. Such an efficient rune would be impossible for me."

Jack was confused by the dwarf’s words. "Why would you need a certain grade in a skill to write a different rune?"

"It’s easier to show you, lad," Dalon said. He grabbed a blank sword from a barrel and placed the sword on the anvil. He then grabbed a low-grade beast core and smashed it into dust with his hammer onto the blank sword. He then closed his eyes and placed his hand over the sword.

"ᛨᚢᛁᛖ ᛖᛁᛱᛨᚨᛳᛖ (Rune Engrave)." He activated his spell, and the mana around him fluctuated, causing his hands to emit a soft blue glow. He then muttered while concentrating, "ᚹᛁᚪᛨᛖᚨᛋᛖ ᚢᛋᛖᛨ ᛋᛛᛨᛖᛁᛱᚾᛛ (Increase user strength)." The blue glow intensified, and the crushed mana dust started to form into runic words, automatically melding with the metal.

Jack watched with interest, as he had never acquired the runic engraving skill in any of his previous play-throughs; crafting classes weren’t really his thing. He favoured mage- or assassin-type characters.

’When this was a game, this is how runic engraving must have been done. I guess it makes sense, since when this was a game, I couldn’t read the runic language. It’s only now that I can understand it as English for some reason.’

Dalon finished his spell and took a deep breath. His mana was empty after engraving the rune into the sword. "Ya see? To answer your question, I can only engrave runes that are imprinted into my mind, as the spell does the whole process without my input. Also, it takes most of my mana just to engrave a single blasted sword. Which is why I sell them at higher prices," he said as he shakily put the sword in a barrel filled with engraved weapons. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"May I give it a try?" Jack asked, and the dwarf hesitated. Although he didn’t care too much, the materials to make a sword certainly weren’t cheap, but after pondering for a bit, he nodded.

Jack moved to the side and grabbed a blank sword. Dalon caught sight of Melinda, who had been hidden behind Jack until now, and his beady eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh lass, it’s you!"

"Hi, Dalon." Melinda waved back toward the talkative dwarf.

"Is this here yer boyfriend?" Dalon asked with a chuckle, and Melinda just blushed without responding.

Jack walked back toward the anvil with a sword. However, the sword was floating next to him, and he had his hands firmly in his pockets. The sword rested on the anvil, and then a mana stone floated above. It exploded into pieces as Jack surged his own psychic mana into the stone, causing it to shatter. Jack then activated Automatic Writing, and the dust particles spread along the sword’s surface.

"What the..." Dalon was speechless. "Are you some kind of blacksmithing mage?"

"No," Jack simply replied. He flicked his hand and commanded the mana dust to harden on the sword’s surface while spelling out ᛖᛁᚾᚨᛁᚪᛖ (Enhance). He then floated the sword over to Dalon.

"This is incredible," Dalon muttered as he inspected the sword. "The runic engraving is indeed there, and only an eight-letter rune!" He swung the sword but then frowned. "The effect doesn’t seem to activate..."

Jack was also confused, and the dwarf and vampire both looked at the sword with puzzlement.

"Perhaps the runes need to be imbued with mana to work?" Dalon suggested.

"Ah." Jack shook his head in disappointment.

’How didn’t I think about that? What use is mana dust if not imbued with mana?’

"Let me see if I can fix this," Dalon said. He sat beside the sword and activated his skill again. "ᛨᚢᛁᛖ ᛖᛁᛱᛨᚨᛳᛖ (Rune Engrave)." The blue light that appeared around his hand was greedily absorbed by the sword, causing the runes to glow. Dalon almost fainted from mana exhaustion but managed to persist. After a few seconds, the blue glow faded, and the sword took on a new aura.

Despite feeling terrible, Dalon picked up the sword and gave it a swing. Compared to his previous swing, which felt amateurish, this time the sword cut through the wind with power, creating a sudden vacuum of air around it as it descended.

The dwarf’s eyes went round with shock. "Despite my fatigue, I was able to produce such a powerful swing!"

Jack was glad to confirm a suspicion he had.

’It seems I can indeed write runes, but I need to figure out how to imbue my mana into them. Perhaps I can find the records of that spell and how it works somewhere, as "rune engrave" doesn’t tell me how the spell is supposed to work.’

Dalon then froze in shock. "I understand the rune... Did I gain enlightenment?" He began running around like a little kid trying to find a measuring stone. "Darn, where did I put the little bugger?" he exclaimed, and after a few minutes, he gave up.

"Look after the shop for me. I’m going to the crafting guild," he said as he ran for the door. Just after he left, his face and impressive mustache reappeared around the corner, shouting, "Take any booze ya want, lad, and if you want a room to sleep, there’s one upstairs. Enjoy ya date! See ya!"

The merry dwarf didn’t even bother to close the door and ran down the dimly lit street toward the west side of the city.

Melinda and Jack looked at each other and grinned.

"Did I hear free booze?"

Even though they had money now, Jack had been drinking cheap servant wine for the last week, and it left a terrible taste in his mouth. The duo investigated the bar and located a few dusty wine bottles that looked rather fancy. Jack popped the cork and took in the deep fragrance.

"That’s some good stuff!" he exclaimed as he poured the contents into a wine glass.

Melinda also grabbed a bottle of wine and poured herself some. She sat on a wooden stool, while Jack stood behind the bar, and they stared into each other’s eyes. Melinda blushed slightly as she studied Jack’s handsome face that was showing a smile for once.

"So... when will I officially become your blood queen?" she said with a bashful smile on her face as she swirled the wine.

Jack chuckled at her straightforwardness and replied, "A few months at least. You still have the smell of livestock to me."

Melinda looked down into the wine, feeling dejected.

Jack laughed again and added, "Although a few months may seem long... compared to the eternity we may spend together, it is a mere fleeting moment."

Melinda was puzzled and tilted her head. "Eternity?"

Jack swirled the glass with a pondering look on his face. "Noble vampires are immortal, so their blood queen will naturally have to serve them for eternity. What use would a blood queen be if they grew old and died after a few years?"

Melinda’s mouth hung open like a fish out of water. She would become immortal?

Jack added, "But the blood queen’s entire existence is to serve the noble vampire. If I die, then you would naturally follow within a few years."

"I see," Melinda replied as she stared down into the red wine.

The two drank in silence, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere in the quiet tavern. Even after two hours, the dwarf never returned. Jack let out a sigh. He planned to rent out an expensive inn tonight, but he didn’t feel right leaving the dwarf’s shop unguarded. He seemed like a nice enough guy.

"Let’s see the room."

"Hmm." Melinda nodded in agreement, and they both went upstairs.

The room was rather basic, with just a large bed next to a window. It was a little dusty, which made Jack’s nose itch. Melinda noticed her master’s reaction to the state of the room and grinned.

"ᚪᛐᛖᚨᛁ (Clean)," she chanted, and a small gust of wind combed the entire room and gathered all the dust. The wind tornado then dumped all the dust and debris outside the window. A small water tornado soon followed and washed the floors and bedding clean.

Jack lifted an eyebrow at the sight, but the spell wasn’t finished yet. Following the water tornado, a hot gust of air dried everything, leaving it smelling of fresh flowers.

Jack was genuinely surprised. "What level is your cleaning spell?"

"B grade," Melinda said with a smirk. "Impressed?"

It was finally Jack’s turn to be surprised. She had learned the cleaning spell to such a high level in only a few days? Was she actually a magic prodigy?

They then both looked at the bed.

"So... are we sharing?" Melinda asked.

Jack opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted as the ground violently shook. Melinda grabbed onto his arm.

"What the hell is that?"

Jack responded with surprising calmness, as if he had encountered this situation before.

"An A-grade monster is heading this way..."