Volume 4 - Ch 3.12
Sherry, if you do not mind me asking, would you be happy if you managed to become a Master Smith after all?
Come to think of it, that is one of the things that I have never confirmed with her: does she want to get that Master Smith Job or not?
N-No, I. . . I do not think so.
Huh? Say what?
You do not think so? Why is that? Is becoming a Master Smith not an aspiration of every Dwarf?
I was wondering why she would say something like that, but Sherry simply hanged her head down and continued to stare at the tips of her boots in silence. And then, after a while of not saying anything. . .
I guess. . . I guess I have simply given up on it.
She said those words quietly, as if she was afraid of speaking them out loud.
Hey, what do you mean, you gave up? You cannot give up! You just cannot! You hear me, Sherry?! Never give up! Just look at me! Back on earth I was a worthless nobody who was so fed up with his own life that I wanted to kill myself without even trying to change anything for the better, and look at me now, I am here, living and giving it my all here in this new, strange and unfamiliar world, so if even a coward like could turn his shitty luck around, then a hard-working and smart person like Sherry should be able to achieve pretty much anything she is going to set her mind onto, so I am choosing to believe in you and that you are definitely going to become a Master Smith! So please, Sherry, whatever you do, do not let goof your dreams and aspiration and keep trying to make them come true!
Now that I have become a slave, becoming a Master Smith would only end up causing a whole lot of unwanted problems, and I do not want to be a cause for concern for master and Miss Roxanne.
Well, I guess that is technically true, but even so, I do not think that this should mean that she should put pursuing her own ambitions on the backburner simply because it would be more convenient for Roxanne and I. That being said, I can definitely see why she would think that a Master Smith who has become someones slave might be perceived as troublesome. Master Smiths services are probably among one of the most valuable for Adventurers, since they are the only ones capable of fusing Skill Crystals with the equipment, but as a result, these services probably cost a ton of money, and they have no guarantee if that investment is going to be worth it, since the failure rate on the fusion process is also relatively high. But if you have a Master Smith as your slave, then the biggest concern you might have, the financial one, is swiftly eliminated. That is why if Sherry ever manages to finally obtain the Master Smith Job, it might be more beneficial for us to keep that fact a secret from everyone else around us in order to avoid any unnecessary attention, or perhaps even becoming a target of grudges of those jealous of how big of a jackpot I managed to land with Sherrys purchase.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. When I mentioned becoming a Master Smith, Sherry looked quite dejected and dispirited. . . . . . . . but I think that deep down in her heart she still wishes to become a full-fledged Master Smith, even if she is trying not to show it and says that she has given up on it. In which case, I have to offer her some words of encouragement and as much positive reinforcement as I possibly can in order not to drive her any deeper into depression due to her situation than she already is.
Do not worry, Sherry. No matter what happens, I am sure that everything is going to be all right and that things are going to work themselves out pretty soon.
I realize that these words might sound pretty irresponsible, but this is the best that I can do for her at the current moment.
Y-Yes, I guess you are right, master.
Sherry did sound like my words managed to convince her, but probably only a little bit. Well, it does not matter. All that we have to do to improve her self-esteem is to find out the condition required for becoming a Master Smith and then make her into one, which should cause all of her problems to go away as if they were never there. And of course, I am not even considering the eventuality that we will not find a way to make her a Master Smith, because we would have a big problem if that was how the events would have turned out in the end, because her being a Dwarven Master Smith was the main reason why I have chosen her as my second slave to begin with.
If master says that everything is going to be all right, then it definitely will, Sherry. So you do not have to worry about anything, and just continue to live they way you are doing it now.
O-Of course, Miss Roxanne! I will be sure to try and do exactly that!
Roxanne offered Sherry some words of encouragement as well. But really now, Roxanne, just where is that unwavering faith in me of yours coming from? I honestly do not know. But she is absolutely right. Sherry is not alone anymore. She has me and Roxanne by her side, and she can be damn sure that we are going to do all in our power to help her out of her Master Smith pinch.
All right then you two, since we are done with our warp-up, then I am going to be using magic to fight any enemies we might be encountering from now on. I will make sure to annihilate any monsters that might be coming our way, so Sherry, I want you to focus on evasion and defense. Other than that, just make sure that you will listen to any instructions Roxanne might be giving you and be sure to cooperate with her well at all times.
I declared my intention to switch onto using magic and gave instructions on how to act for both Sherry and Roxanne. Thankfully, it looks like even with just the Villager Lv.3 equipped as her main Job Sherry is not going to be brought down to critically low HP with just one or two blows so I will probably do not have to worry about her as much as I thought I would have to, but just to be on the safe side we should get more used to fighting as a team here on the lower floors of the Labyrinths before advancing onto the higher ones.
I never entered a Labyrinth while having a Mage in a Party before, but from what I can see you seem to be even more powerful than what I have imagined and what the stories about magic users were telling, master. Your usage and expertise of the Attack Magic might be on par with that of an expert mage, or perhaps even better than that still.
So that is Sherrys impression of my magic, huh? Well, I do not know if this is what can be called magic on a professional level, but it is certainly something that a Lv.32 Mage is capable of. If I were to remove Mage from the list of my active Jobs, then I would not be able to cast but a single Fireball, much less the more impressive and effective spells.
Really? That is what you think, Sherry? Well well well, I have to say that your flattery makes me really happy.
This is not flattery, master. I am merely stating the fact. The stronger you are as a leader, the easier it will be for us in the vanguard, after all.