Early in the morning, Hamlet Town was already brimming with the vitality of life.
The local indigenous residents, a crowd of Ratman, were already washing up in the river that ran through the town.
It wasn't necessarily hygienic, but it was definitely "clean and hygienic."
Many Gatherer had already started heading out, sprinting all the way out of Hamlet Town to harvest ingredients at nearby gathering points. This remote town, an uncivilized frontier, this notoriously wretched place where people could do little more than watch Wyverns bare their fangs, didn't have much that sold well besides some specialty delicacies. Still, life wasn't too grueling here; the competition was different, and anyone wanting to settle down in Hamlet Town would find that a conservative estimate of 30 Gold Lei per year was enough to guarantee a comfortable life with a little to spare.
Therefore, despite the somewhat rough appearance of these Gatherer, they were actually very popular young men and women locally.
Along the way, Maria asked in a leisurely tone:
"A-Mei, have you figured out what weapon you want to use yet? I heard from Suosuo that you turned your nose up at the weapons used by that bunch in the Echo Squad."
Melina replied, "Not yet. But asking me like that—does that mean you've finished making those control cores?"
"Humph."
Maria lifted her chin smugly. "Of course I made them! What do you take me for? I'm practically cheating!"
She now openly and proudly spoke the word "cheating." Come to think of it, she was probably willing to be Melina's cheat code rather than Sonia's. "My system is still relatively simple and straightforward, with its main function being the automation of mechanical manufacturing."
That sounded quite enviable.
"Weapons, huh..."
Melina looked up at the sky and gnashed her teeth.
Passing through East Hamlet into the western side.
Seeing that they were getting further and further away from those blacksmith shops, Melina asked, "Aren't we going to the equipment shop?"
"The blacksmiths of Hamlet Town are quite famous, but they aren't suitable for our long-term grand plan," Maria said with a gentle smile. "Equipment crafted in one area doesn't work like in video games where you can just casually upgrade it in another town. Every armorer and weaponsmith has their own unique techniques, and this kind of skill is experience passed down through word of mouth and personal instruction."
Melina's gaze swept over the armor Maria was wearing.
Maria chuckled and said:
"They were made by the same craftsman, and now, that craftsman has also been invited over by Suosuo. You know how it is—Sonia is a total villain. As someone reborn, she holds a massive amount of intelligence and information, and she has a grip on some weaknesses, or rather desires, of this craftsman."
Sonia really was a woman who had done all kinds of bad things... Melina nodded in agreement.
Then she asked in a low voice:
"Is this craftsman a Banshee again?"
"How did you know?" Maria asked curiously.
Melina opened her small parasol, rested the shaft on her left shoulder, and gently twirled it without speaking, her golden eyes gazing at Maria.
"A bit shy? It's fine, A-Mei, that craftsman is a very, very nice person," Maria said with a chuckle, misunderstanding something. "A very professional artisan. She took my measurements and even left a bit of allowance, so I can still fit into my clothes even though I've gotten a little heavier than before..."
"Did she take them by hand?" Melina looked at Maria's slender waist, her eyes full of curiosity.
For some reason, Maria felt a slight chill, looked up, and thought it strange for such a hot day!
She brushed the feeling aside, however, and replied:
"A kind of magic tape measure, automatic measurement. Ah, if you're worried about being touched by her, should I mention it in advance? A lot of people aren't used to having their bodies touched."
Maria was very empathetic—an absolute good woman.
Melina put back on her nonchalant, gentle smile and lightly twirled her parasol. "It's fine, I was just... curious. After all, Senior Sister Maria is so pretty, it must be easy for people to take advantage of you."
"Really!"
Maria wore a delighted smile. "Thank you." Then her tone grew enthusiastic. "What about you, A-Mei? You must have a lot of people chasing you, right?" She looked her up and down. "I feel like you must be school-belle material. What a pity I didn't keep in touch with any of my junior schoolmates, otherwise I probably could have gotten the dirt on you from them long ago."
Mentioning this made Melina's face turn slightly red. She lowered her hand holding the parasol a bit, letting the black lace canopy block the upper half of her face.
"Not... that many."
Knowing she might not become an Explorer, there were probably over a thousand junior schoolmates, senior sisters, and senior brothers who wanted to invite her to be a long-term guest in their homes. They were just waiting for an accumulation of emotions and a suitable opportunity for both parties to lay eggs—Banshees, Vampires, and Elves were the most famous egg-laying higher races, and it was said that hidden within the eggshells of their very first meal was quite a bit of inherited knowledge. (This was utter nonsense; Melina had crunched through her own eggshell and hadn't felt a thing.)
"Ooh, you must be very popular," Maria asserted. "I'm guessing the people chasing you number as many as a... a full hunter regiment (300 people)!"
To be precise, it was around four full hunter regiments.
...
Near a small hill in West Hamlet stood an extended tent that was unmistakably crafted with Banshee workmanship. This was their destination.
And the true appearance of this artisan young lady finally revealed itself to Melina.
Unlike the rather crude and aggressive Banshees Melina had imagined.
She was a woman with a tranquil demeanor, light blonde hair, delicate features, and fair skin, dressed in a long skirt with a small shoulder cape. Her dark red eyes were deep and calm.
She didn't look like an artisan at all; she looked much more like a scholar.
Spotting the two of them walking over, she greeted them at a slow, unhurried pace, using a voice reminiscent of a calm lake undisturbed by wind:
"Miss Maria, I have come in response to Miss Sonia's invitation. May I ask if we are customizing equipment for this young lady? Also, I have a personal question: did Miss Sonia not come to the appointment?"
Every single word she uttered was clearly articulated, possessing a soft yet unquestionable fluency.
"She said she needed to catch up on sleep—you know how she is. She even had us buy her a roasted calf for takeout."
Wasn't it a bit inappropriate to be so blunt? While Melina harbored doubts, a flash of light suddenly crossed her field of vision.
She saw crystalline tears welling up in the dark red eyes of the tall, light-blonde, tranquil Banshee before her, and actual tears began to fall.
Hey, hey, hey! You made her cry!
Melina widened her eyes like a startled prize cat and looked at Maria beside her. The blonde older sister wasn't worried in the least; instead, her face was full of smiles.
After about a second.
"Pfft."
What was that sound? Melina looked suspiciously at the artisan.
The other woman abruptly broke into a wide, toothed, crazy grin.
"Ahahaha!" Her laughter was high-pitched as she reached out to rub her eyes. "Sonia... Sonia is still as interesting as ever! Ahahaha, as expected of the woman who could send me *3,000 Cold Jokes*, ahahaha."
"Eh?" Melina involuntarily let out a startled sound.
...
This Banshee was named Lee Carrie Austin.
She claimed to be a cold joke artist, with her side job being trivial equipment manufacturing and ecological research. She had achieved nothing in her primary career as a cold joke artist, and only made a tiny contribution to her side job—for instance, she had cataloged one thousand two hundred monster ecologies of the Stormlands (a massive realm), for which her name was recorded in *The Stormlands: Diverse Ecological Monsters*.
This person was insanely capable.
Yet, as a naturally intelligent Banshee, her only passion was cold jokes. Sonia—somehow obtaining the information through her rebirth—had easily acquired many treasured cold joke readers on the market and used those books and local ecology as bait to successfully reel this woman in.
This artisan also had a nickname: the Joke Smith.
She was currently taking Melina's clothing measurements. The two of them stood very close, and Miss Lee practically enveloped her within her frame.
Melina did not refuse the Joke Smith's close-range measurements.
On one hand, the other's illustrious reputation proved her words: "Clothing still needs to fit well to be good."
On the other hand... she didn't really mind being touched by her.
Miss Lee had a wealth of experience, knowing what kind of contact wouldn't make a naturally sensitive girl bristle, and knowing how to say pleasant things to win their favor.
"Your figure is truly wonderful. One of a kind; you must have put a lot of effort into maintaining it."
"Th—thank you?" Melina was almost too embarrassed by the praise.
"Really, black suits you so well." Miss Lee held her claws, her fingers in silk gloves gently stroking Melina's black-polished fingernails. "Now, raise both hands."
Melina paused, raised both hands, and the other woman measured her body data with the tape measure.
This was somewhat awkward.
Making conversation to break the silence, Melina asked, "Has Miss Lee been to many places?"
"Mm, don't look at me like this, but I'm much older than you. When I was young, I used to travel far and wide to collect first-hand materials. Come to think of it, it's quite interesting: recently, it seems we've entered a period of crustal changes, and many powerful Wyverns that are usually impossible to see have been appearing."
"A period of crustal changes?"
"That's right, that's right," Lee said cheerfully. "A massive amount of Magic Factor is constantly gushing out of the Earth's crust, attracting the attention of many Wyverns... In fact, coming here this time, aside from discussing the main matter of investing in cold jokes with Miss Sonia, there is another thing I'm quite concerned about."
"Huh?" Melina lowered her hands.
Lee glanced at the test data, widened her eyes, and rare trace of a "Huh?" emotion surfaced.
The next second, she nonchalantly hid the data and said:
"Hamlet Town has a ballad. Combined with the recent crustal changes and surging Magic Factors, it seems to have a certain research value."
She paused, and then began to sing the local ballad slowly in her ethereal and beautiful voice:
"When the stars align, the day of crustal change, the master of gold brings the wealth of harvest, the master of gold brings the wealth of ripening, look to the sky, the high and shining gold, sing in praise of its name, gold, oh gold."
She stopped, smiled at Melina, and said:
"There are ninety-seven variants of this ballad in the Weeping Peninsula, and they are shockingly similar. Therefore, it has a certain investigative value. In ancient times, people often worshipped Dragons as legends... Hm? What's with that expression?"
Melina maintained a slightly dazed expression.
After a brief moment, she smiled somewhat aggrievedly, and full of curiosity, asked the ecology master and Joke Smith a small question:
"If the legend is true, roughly how big of a dragon would it—the master of gold—be?"
The Joke Smith pointed toward East Hamlet:
"About this big, I suppose, if it's true. But how could a dragon this big go without foraging for so many years? Hahaha, maybe it's just a ballad after all. Ballads stem from human worship, after all, and sometimes that worship can be the result of false imagery or processed imagination."