When Emiya first said he would craft equipment for them, Lunoire thought he would provide some second-grade armaments. After all, for an adventurer like her at Lv.4, second-grade armaments were already sufficient.
But now, what appeared before her eyes were clearly impressive even among first-grade armaments, and there were two of them?
"Lunoire, your stats have already reached the upper tier of Lv.4, you can start using first-grade armaments. These gauntlets, you can keep using them even when you reach Lv.6," Emiya said.
With Lunoire's current level, she no longer had to worry about strong weapons hindering her growth.
"Wait a second, that's not the problem," Lunoire said, "These two gauntlets, how much do they cost?"
She naturally didn't want to accept Emiya's gift of equipment for free, especially not weapons this valuable. But the predicament was, she was almost penniless, and could only temporarily owe him this favor.
As for giving up the gauntlets, the moment Lunoire laid eyes on them, that option had been completely ruled out.
Gauntlets like [Hrunting Kai] and [Naegling Kai], no martial artist could resist, let alone give up on them.
Lunoire took a deep breath, and after barely calming her emotions, she said, "Alright, Emiya, no matter how expensive these gauntlets are, I'll accept them. I'll owe you the money for now. When I earn enough from dungeon adventures, I'll repay you for the gear."
She paused, then added, "And I'll pay interest over time."
Emiya nodded, "The goddess's pricing is 150 million Valis."
"For the pair?"
"For one."
Lunoire's entire body froze. She had just been thinking about how to pay back the debt, and now she was completely crushed by that colossal number.
She clutched the two gauntlets tightly, trembling.
And when she next heard that [Barrier Guard] and [Blade of Resolve] were 20 Million Valis, Lunoire was already numb.
Although 20 Million Valis for a second-grade weapon wasn't a small number, compared to the two gauntlets, it was barely worth mentioning.
"Shirou, I…", Her voice trembled, "I-I-I'll definitely pay you back…"
After Lunoire, Chloe's eyes were fixed on the short sword Emiya took out, the girl gulped.
"Um, Shirou, let's make this clear. This cat's heart isn't as strong as Lunoire's. The weapon you made for me… it isn't first-grade armament too, right?", She asked cautiously.
Emiya nodded, "Yes, [Anti-Magic Dagger], first-grade armament."
Chloe was currently using a poisoned short sword, [Violetta], which was quite effective against people, but against dungeon monsters, poison didn't work well, and was inefficient.
The [Anti-Magic Dagger] Emiya made for her focused more on "armor-breaking," a more practical option.
Moreover, this dagger's design referenced the Noble Phantasm [Rule Breaker], carrying the concept of anti-magic, capable of forcibly interrupting monsters' magical attacks.
For example, the black Goliath's [Roar], Chloe could throw this dagger to disrupt those high-threat magic attacks.
When facing high-threat monster individuals, it could also be used alongside Chloe's poison expertise.
Chloe asked nervously, "H-How much?"
Emiya, "30 million Valis."
"Thir… ty million? That cheap, nya?", Chloe was stunned.
'First-grade armaments usually start at 50 million Valis, this dagger is only 30 million?'
Emiya: "Yes, one is 30 million Valis, a set is ten. Since it's a dagger specialized for armor-breaking, its durability is relatively low, and it was designed to be used as throwing knives."
Chloe: "...A 30-million-Valis weapon, used as a throwing knife? Are you serious?"
Logic told her that a 30-million Valis weapon, low durability, used as a throwing knife… if she got used to this, her life was basically over.
But deep inside the catgirl, desire gradually ignited, "This cat's never used a first-grade armament before…"
Driven by longing, Chloe still reached out her hand.
Chloe told herself, 'Use it carefully… it'll be fine…'
Seeing her two teammates already mentally collapsed, Anya said timidly, "Shirou, I already have the [Golden War Spear], and that's first-grade armament, so maybe…"
But even as she said that, the catgirl's gaze never left the crimson spear.
The spear called [Thorn of Bramble] was inspired by the Noble Phantasm [Gáe Bolg], possessing strong power to release curse magic.
This weapon could fully unleash Anya's curse magic, achieving effects akin to annihilation magic.
'If I pick up this spear… I'll have to be Shirou's cat for life, huh.'
Anya struggled inside, her reason and emotions clashing, 'But, but…'
Anya's hand ultimately still reached for that spear.
[Thorn of Bramble], first-grade armament, price: 350 million Valis.
Lefiya looked at the scene before her, utterly confused.
Human girl Lunoire gazed affectionately at her gauntlets as if cradling a treasure, unwilling to let go; the catgirl beside her hugged her dagger set tightly, face filled with satisfaction and ecstasy; while Anya rubbed her face against the spear shaft openly, as if that spear was her sole emotional support.
Lefiya couldn't help but feel confused, 'Is joining Mr. Emiya's team really the right choice? Is the requirement to stand firm in this party… to owe Mr. Emiya, or rather, Lord Emiya, hundreds of millions of Valis?'
She shivered slightly, recalling how she once owed Lady Riveria fifty million Valis. That huge sum was to purchase the [Wind Guardian] crafted by Emiya.
Thankfully, thanks to dungeon adventures and expedition missions, she had repaid most of it.
As for the 600 million Valis debt Alicia owed, she had repaid about 300 million so far.
Although she kept working hard in the dungeon, paying off that giant debt still felt far off.
In fact, most of the profits from this Loki Familia expedition went into repaying those earlier debts, almost nothing was left over.
On the other side, Haruhime appeared quite relaxed, picking up the magic sword and armor Emiya prepared for her without hesitation, clearly unfazed by the expensive gear.
The magic sword was third-grade armament, already quite luxurious for a Lv.1 rookie.
However, her truly expensive gear was her armor, leather armor made from the hard hide of the powerful dragon Cadmus.
There was no helping it, the little fox's strength was too weak to handle heavy metal armor, but she needed defense the most, so she could only choose this luxurious leather armor.
The drop item was sent by Loki Familia to repay their debt, the inner hide membrane was given to Dian Cecht Familia for medicine-making, while the outer hard hide was sent to Hephaestus Familia to craft armor.
Lefiya carefully approached Haruhime and whispered, "Um, little Haruhime, how much do you owe Mr. Emiya?"
Haruhime tilted her head in confusion, "I am Master's possession."
The elven girl was thunderstruck, 'This one is even more extreme.'
That's right, Haruhime had directly positioned herself as a concubine, even as Emiya's possession, thus having no psychological burden.
Emiya spoke, "Lefiya, your current level isn't suitable for first-grade armament. When you reach Lv.4, I'll craft new equipment for you."
Lefiya was briefly stunned, then hurriedly replied, "Y-Yes…"
However, in the elf girl's heart, a complete logic chain had already formed. Borrow money to buy Emiya's equipment, rack up massive debt, unable to repay, and ultimately become his possession…
As her thoughts raced, steam began to rise from the top of her head.
Previously, when Riveria had suggested Lefiya join Emiya's team, she'd hinted at watching over Emiya and reporting back.
But now, Lefiya was more worried that she'd fall into the trap of overspending and become completely entangled.
Actually, for Emiya now, money was almost just a number. His forging skills alone allowed him to earn wealth easily. Not to mention that previous incident in the kingdom of Rakia, where he was entitled to part of the anticipated astronomical compensation.
In fact, the gear crafted for Anya and the others was already discounted, just like the equipment he had made for Ryuu and Alicia.
Emiya himself didn't mind giving equipment for free, but it didn't fit Familia rules, and the girls wouldn't accept such favors lightly either.
"Besides the main weapons, I also prepared some armor and auxiliary items for you all," Emiya continued.
For girls close to him, especially comrades who fought in the same party, Emiya naturally wouldn't spare any investment.
Victory and defeat in an adventure were already being decided from this point on.
———
"Hephaestus, that kid of yours has leveled up again."
"From the last time, it's not even four months yet."
"From Lv.1 to Lv.3, took less than half a year, that's just too exaggerated."
"However, looking at his battle records along the way, there's nothing to say."
While Emiya was busy distributing weapons and items to the girls, a [Gathering of Gods] was enthusiastically taking place inside Babel Tower.
The [Gathering of Gods], originally held every three months, was postponed to today due to the dungeon riot and the Rakia Kingdom's invasion incident.
As a result, history was unexpectedly made at this moment.
In adjacent [Denatus], to discuss a new title for an adventurer who had just obtained a title, this kind of situation was unprecedented in the lower world.
Moreover, this time it involved two people, Emiya Shirou of the Hephaestus Familia, and Lefiya Viridis of the Loki Familia.
Both of them had received titles as newly promoted Lv.2 adventurers during the previous [Denatus], and this time, the gods needed to consider whether to change their titles again.
Among them, Lefiya was from the [School District], and her promotion to Lv.2 had actually been some time ago, only she hadn't officially received a title in Orario before.
Her upgrade speed this time, though quick, was not beyond the bounds of common sense.
But Emiya's situation was even more astonishing. He had truly accomplished a direct leap from Lv.2 to Lv.3 between two [Gathering of Gods].
Generally speaking, Lv.2–Lv.3 and Lv.3–Lv.4 upgrades are relatively easier than other levels, unlike Lv.2 and Lv.5, which are bottlenecks where an adventurer's strength undergoes qualitative change.
But that's only relatively speaking. Leveling up is still an extremely difficult challenge. For most adventurers, crossing these levels still requires years of training.
And unlike last time, this time no gods questioned Emiya's unusually fast upgrade speed.
The defeat of the Scorpion [Antares] was enough to dispel all doubts.
For a Lv.2 adventurer to participate in the subjugation battle of such a monster, an upgrade was naturally a matter of course.
The Guild strictly sealed all information related to Artemis, but the battle to subjugate [Antares] was promoted as an achievement of the city.
Among them, Emiya, whose name appeared alongside several first-rank adventurers, stood out prominently.
At this [Denatus], the gods unusually displayed an extremely serious attitude, especially during the discussion of Emiya's title, with disputes lasting a considerable amount of time.
In sharp contrast, other adventurers who obtained titles had their titles decided almost arbitrarily, becoming sacrifices of this [Denatus].
Lefiya's title was retained as [Thousand Elf] under Loki's strong insistence.
But regarding Emiya's title, there was great disagreement among the gods.
The first idea was, based on his original title, many gods proposed upgrading it to [Sword Emperor] or [Sword Saint].
This type of title received support from many gods, especially those old-school deities like the War God Takemikazuchi, who favored such traditional and dignified titles.
Then the goddess Ishtar proposed the titles [Sword Demon] and [Demon King of the Sword], which also gained support from many gods.
In the eyes of many gods, 'Demon King' was also a top-tier compliment.
This meeting of the gods was also balanced due to the presence of Ishtar. Otherwise, Freya alone as a beauty goddess would have controlled the whole situation.
Additionally, other titles were proposed, such as [Projection User], [One Man Army], [Master Craftsman]... and so on.
Some gods even maliciously proposed strange titles, like [Elf Slayer] and [Lady Layer].
These titles were decisively suppressed by Hephaestus and the goddess Loki, giving those gods no chance to indulge.
As for the concept of [Elf Slayer], which was first proposed by Loki. Her reason for changing her mind at this moment was that Riveria's magic power had already reached S999, meaning she was close to leveling up, perhaps within the year.
If at that time, when it came to deciding a title for Riveria, Emiya's title was [Elf Slayer], then what title could be given to the Elven Princess? It was simply unthinkable…
The gods argued for a long time, and in the end, it was the goddess Hephaestus who made the decision. To adopt the 'common denominator' among the titles proposed by the gods.
[Holy Sword User (Saber)]
Some of the gods present instantly understood, and tacitly pushed through the approval of this title.
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