Cursed Villainess’ Obsession

Recently, there’s been a hot topic among adventurers in the city of Dramon about a street vendor.

“Pretty girls are doing the inviting? But it’s a weapons shop?”

“Yep! And they say their skills are quite impressive too.”

“No way! If they’re skilled, why the need for pretty girls…?”

“Who knows? Just go check it out!”

It wasn’t always like this for Ken’s street stall to gain such rumors.

At first, there was no way anyone would leave their weapons with a stranger they didn’t know.

However, some adventurers ended up entrusting their weapons for repairs, drawn in by that lovely facade.

“Uh, uh? W-weapon repair?”

As this stunning blonde beauty grabbed him by the arm, adventurer Luan blushed and panicked.

“You’re an adventurer, right? How about it? Isn’t your sword getting dull? Our boss is incredibly skilled! As it’s our first customer, we’ll do it for this price as a grand opening gift!”

The amount she offered was definitely cheaper than a nearby blacksmith.

‘…Well, it’s nice to chat with a pretty girl.’

Luan needed to get his sword fixed anyway, so he approached the stall, almost in a trance.

There, he found a rather unimpressive, chubby guy sitting behind the counter.

‘…What the heck? Just a useless brat.’

Of course, if they hired such a beauty to lure in customers, there was no way that guy was incredibly skilled.

But since it was just a weapon repair, Luan decided to hand over his dagger as a mood booster.

Luan was a member of a common C-rank party in Dramon.

Thus, while his sword wasn’t a legendary blade, the weapon he had recently acquired was a valuable one with magical enhancements.

Handing it off to a brat felt uneasy, so he passed over the dagger instead.

He planned to judge the guy’s skills based on the dagger’s repair quality.

“Okay, please wait a moment.”

The man, who received the dagger, effortlessly picked up a hammer, which raised Luan’s eyebrows in confusion.

“A moment? Is that all it’ll take?”

“Yep, looks like there’s nothing seriously wrong with it.”

‘So you’re just a slacker, huh?’

No matter how much of a C-rank adventurer he was, Luan had been an adventurer for five years.

He had entrusted weapons to various repair shops, but he had never met anyone meticulous who worked fast.

Usually, they would just mess around with the sword while glancing at their small change.

‘Of course.’

Luan gazed at the inviting women along with their hustle.

Strangely scary-looking men and posh-looking dudes were doing the same, and it seemed they were targeting female adventurers based on their appearances.

Still, the three other women were undeniably beautiful.

‘Wow, this is eye candy.’

Even though it was merely a few lines of flirtation, it cheered him up to converse with them.

Even if the repair quality came out just okay, he thought it would still be worth the cost.

And not long after.

“Alright, all done!”

The guy who had been hammering handed over the repaired dagger.

“Ah, thanks…”

Luan was about to grab the dagger carelessly when he suddenly froze in surprise.

“Wait a moment! Is this the dagger I left with you?”

“Yeah? It is… What’s strange about it?”

“It’s not strange, it looks brand new!”

The once-dull and dirt-covered dagger, full of monster sludge, was now completely shiny with a perfect blade.

There had definitely been multiple scratches on the blade, but they were nowhere to be found now.

It felt sharper and shinier than when he first bought it.

Only a few minutes had passed.

Luan had never seen anyone in Dramon achieve this kind of result at such speed.

“Hey! Can you fix this too?”

“Sure! Oh, but magical weapons cost a bit more, is that okay?”

“I-I don’t mind! Just do it well!”

He had recently saved up money by cutting down on meals to buy this magical longsword.

During a recent battle, the rune designs had been damaged, weakening the weapon’s magical attack power.

He had drowned his sorrows in booze over it.

Finding a craftsman to repair it had been too expensive, so Luan was only able to use it in the damaged state.

But the price Ken proposed was still cheaper than those craftsmen.

What mattered most was the state of the dagger.

Luan swallowed dryly in anticipation.

And as he said, just a few minutes later.

“Whoa, this is insane!”

Luan gazed at the repaired weapon with wide eyes.

The flawlessly restored rune design.

As he swung the weapon to test its performance, he realized the output had improved compared to before.

He couldn’t figure out what sort of magic was applied, but it felt less like a repair and more like a power boost.

“I’m glad you like it. If you don’t mind, could you recommend us to other companions?”

“Ah, thank you! I’ll come back to buy more weapons!”

As the first satisfied customer departed, Ken thought.

‘So the mana conversion skill really is handy.’

If it had been a regular repair, he couldn’t have achieved these results without the requisite materials.

Instead, he enveloped the blade’s worn spots with mana, generating materials to fill the gaps.

He even reinforced the mana stones embedded within the magical weapon.

What was initially a physically challenging repair had become possible thanks to the mana conversion skill.

“How’s it going? Did the customer enjoy it?”

At that moment, Emily, who had brought in the first customer, approached with gleaming eyes.

“He seemed to really like it. I’m not sure how many customers it’ll bring in.”

“I knew it! I believed you could do it, Ken!”

With her satisfied response, Emily wore a joyful smile.

Then, contrary to Ken’s expectations, word of mouth began to spread from the first customer Luan.

“They repair weapons completely?”

“Yep! Not just repairs; they turn them into brand new ones!”

“They said the prices were cheap too?”

“And the girls inviting you are pretty.”

“Hey, be careful with those girls. A guy tried to hit on one of them, but ended up getting smacked instead.”

“He got hit? By an adventurer?”

“Yep! He even knocked out Branki, the Iron Fist, with his fist.”

“B-Branki? Isn’t he an A-rank adventurer!”

Thus, Ken’s street stall began to spread among the adventurers who were sensitive to the gossip.

Before long, they became crowded with numerous people.

“Hey, wait! Line up! No cutting in line!”

“Eeeek! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! Please don’t hit me!”

“Keep your hands off me. I’ll slice your wrist.”

“All I wanted was to pat your shoulder… Eeeek! I’m really sorry!”

“Raphne! I said don’t hit the customers!!”

The inviting effect came thanks to not only the women but also a good portion from Siegfried and Adrian.

“Need a weapon?”

“Y-yeah? A weapon?”

“Yep. With your beauty, how about this mace?”

“B-but I’m a magician…”

“It suits a magical girl like you perfectly.”

“Wow! I’ll buy it!”

As the nobleman Adrian flashed a lethal smile, female adventurers lined up to buy weapons.

And as for Siegfried…

“Hey, do it again! I’ll beat you one day!”

“Mr. Siegfried! Please teach me your swordsmanship!”

Some unknown time had passed, and male adventurers whom he had previously lost to in battle were now swarming around him.

“This sword of mine is only strong due to its assistance,” Siegfried said, pulling out his black sword from his waist.

“Oooh!”

“That glorious black! Where on earth did you get such a magic sword?”

“This sword was crafted by Ken Feinstein over there. His repair skills are remarkable too.”

“I’ll pay with my money! Take my wallet!”

“Me too! Please give me the same sword as Mr. Siegfried!”

And thus, Ken’s shop, which successfully gathered a crowd, was always bustling with people.

Amidst it all, however, the one struggling the most was Ken Feinstein, who was hammering away with a ghostly white face.

‘D-Did the requests never end?’

For several days now, countless adventurers had flocked to him, asking to craft weapons or repair their gear.

While earning money was great, ultimately he alone had to bear all the workload, making him feel like he needed ten more hands.

Among the repair requests, a lot were high-cost weapons with complex magical enhancements.

As a result, his crafting skill proficiency increased significantly.

Just when he felt like he’d never finish, something unexpected happened.

[System: After attempting high-level weapon repairs and creations repeatedly at an accelerated pace, a skill is revealed.]

[System: Speedy Crafting Skill Acquired.]

‘S-Speedy Crafting?’

While it wasn’t a repair skill, the name suggested to him that it boosted crafting speed.

In Ken’s urgent situation, he immediately checked the skill’s capabilities.

[Speedy Crafting: Skill – A skill that can be acquired by those with Mana Conversion.

You can instantly create weapons in the category by consuming mana.]

‘I’m saved!!’

Seeing the skill description, Ken couldn’t contain his excitement.

Regardless of how great its abilities were, the ability to instantly craft weapons in his current busy state was like a lifeline in a desert oasis.

‘Speedy Crafting!’

Ken wasted no time and immediately utilized the Speedy Crafting skill to begin creating weapons.

Soon after, a large amount of mana was consumed from his body, and he began generating various weapons stored in the category.

“Look, look at that!”

“He’s not even hammering away anymore!”

“It’s magic! He’s practically a magical craftsman!”

Thanks to the skill, Ken started plowing through the backlog of crafting orders in no time.

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