Magical Tool Master Dahlia Never Compromises ~ Starting Today: Life as a Freelancer ~

If he dozed off in class, Gildo would teach him again; even though he was angry, he would still help him with his homework. It was thanks to him that Gulart barely managed to get credits every year.

Later, even his father said, "Gildo is our great benefactor."

The two have completely different personalities, but before they knew it, they started studying and playing together.

Sometimes, Gildo gets caught up in Gulat's pranks and gets scolded by the teacher, and he always scolds Gulat badly afterward. Even so, Gulat never learns his lesson, and for some reason, Gildo still wants to stay by his side.

Gildo is a knight at heart, full of chivalry and a strong sense of justice. He is extremely considerate to women and the weak. When he sees others behaving inappropriately, even if the other party is an older student or a teacher, he will not hesitate to raise objections.

Perhaps it was because of the kind of person he was that he couldn't just ignore Goulart.

However, his rigid personality sometimes leads him into fierce conflicts with others.

Whenever he talked too much, Goulart would interrupt him; whenever the atmosphere became bad, Goulart would make jokes to ease the awkwardness; whenever someone picked a fight with him, Goulart would accompany him to fight.

When Gulart came to his senses, he realized that they had become "inseparable bad friends" in the eyes of others. Gildo kept complaining about this, saying "Don't confuse us two."

Later, the two of them were admitted to a high school together. Gildo double-majored in knightly and civil service, and performed very well in both subjects.

On the other hand, Gulat only scored decent marks in the knight's discipline—martial arts and horseback riding—while the rest were just barely passing. He didn't want to lose to Gildor in swordsmanship, so he secretly hired a tutor to practice at home.

Academically, despite his hard work, he saw little reward. His father often scolded him for his poor academic performance and compared him with his more studious brother and Gildo.

As he grew older, the father and son quarreled more and more frequently, and his behavior began to deviate. He even said that his younger brother would inherit the Marquisate and ran away from home.

It was not his father or his teacher, but Gildo, who made him stop fooling around and return to the academy.

Only his attitude towards Gulat has not changed.

Gulat was happy about this, but his family and teachers reminded him not to cause trouble for Gildo.

He was effectively holding Gildor, the gifted student, back. Gulat began to suspect that he was no longer a friend to Gildor, but rather a person whose weakness required protection and correction—this thought tormented him.

The guilt and shame that had accumulated over time suddenly erupted one day, and Gulart couldn't help but say to him:

"I've always been sorry for you, and I don't want to cause you any more trouble. Stay away from me."

Gulat was prepared to be scolded, but all he got in return was silence.

Seeing Gildo turn and leave, Gulat kept saying to himself that he had finally had enough of me, and it was good this way, as it would not cause him any more trouble.

But he still couldn't let it go. He sighed deeply, took a deep breath to hold back his tears, and looked up at the sky.

"There's no such thing as trouble between close friends, you idiot!"

Gildor roared, dumped a bucket of ice water from the second floor onto Gulart, then jumped down and beat him up.

So the two of them started fighting.

Both sides have certain physical enhancement capabilities, have received combat training from the Knight Department, and are young and energetic.

They had fought before, but this time both sides showed no mercy and lost all self-control.

The ground was gouged with deep marks during the fight, and the flower beds were also destroyed. The people around were unable to stop it and were in a panic.

The two men didn't know how long they had been fighting. After the ice water, there was suddenly a strong jet of water that sent them flying, and only then did they come to their senses.

The one who washed them with a jet of water—it turned out to be a school building exterior cleaning machine—was the teacher of the Magical Tools Department.

"Stop it! Are you going to be satisfied only if you destroy the entire school?"

The two were loudly scolded by the calm teacher, and were speechless - they were forced to adopt the "kneeling sitting" posture of the East Country to listen to the teacher's lecture, and in the end they couldn't even stand up.

Goulart was prepared for suspension, but fortunately, Gildo's good behavior meant they were only sentenced to one hour of daily lawn mowing for a month, and only had to submit a letter of apology. Faced with the curious stares, Goulart couldn't help but think that suspension would have been preferable; however, being able to talk it out with his best friend while mowing the lawn was a welcome relief. He also wrote his letter of apology with Gildo's help.

By the way, Gildor didn't leave because he was fed up with him, but went to find a classmate who could use ice magic.

As the two chatted about this, Gulat quipped, "There's no need to go out of your way to find someone who can conjure up ice cubes, right?" The other man smirked and said, "I want to calm your head."

That was undoubtedly the look that only a close friend, no, a bad friend would have.

While contemplating his future after graduating from high school, Gulat, despite shouldering the heavy responsibility of inheriting the Marquisate, was torn between wanting to join the monster-slaying army. He was well aware of the devastation caused by monsters and felt it was his duty to contribute to this cause, as someone who could wield the magic sword "Ash Hand."

Gildor was also worried about his future. He had always aimed to be the first knight of the Royal City, but because he ranked first in the civil service exam, he was recruited by the Royal City's finance department.

While he was hesitating, he received a letter addressed to him. The letter was signed by the King of Audigne, and from then on, he and his family had no right to refuse.

The day after he was confirmed to take up his post in the royal city, Gildor arrived at Gulat's mansion without a single announcement or attendants. He also brought two bottles of acrid fire wine, a strong liquor Gulat had never tasted before.

"I really want to be a knight──" Looking at his friend covering his face with tears, Gulat also cried.

They complained about their situations and the helplessness they felt, and drank strong liquor that they were not used to until they were drunk.

The next day, both of them had severe hangovers and asked a priest to treat them. However, they were lectured endlessly by their mothers.

After all, they had caused the two mothers to worry, so they decided to reflect on it for the time being.

The two of them quietly discussed whether they were prone to being scolded by women. They also found that if they accidentally retorted, they would nag for longer; if they got angry at women, they would become more terrifying.

Later, Gulat successfully persuaded his family to hand over the territory to his younger brother and joined the monster-suppression force.

Gildo entered the finance department of the royal city, buried himself in piles of documents, and soon made a name for himself.

Even though we were both busy with work, we would still drink together sometimes. Although we would often complain or discuss things when we were together, it was still a happy time.

Gildo's younger brother would occasionally join for a drink.

He was a student in the Knight Department of the High School, and he enjoyed chatting with others about monsters and had a longing for the Monster Suppression Squad. However, his personality was the opposite of his brother's, being extremely gentle and straightforward.

When he first said he wanted to join the monster-slaying team, Gildor objected, and Gulat remained silent.

But after his repeated requests, Gildo and his family compromised.

On the day he was officially assigned to the Monster Suppression Unit, his stubborn friend bowed deeply to Gulat and said, "Gulat, I'm leaving my brother in your care."

"Leave it to me," Gulat replied. He had indeed protected him from monster attacks during the expedition.

However, they did not notice that he had not eaten well, and failed to prevent him from falling from anemia.

Even though Gildor had said, "No need for apologies or sympathy," it was still him who had promised his friend to lead the team. There was no way Gulat could ever shirk that responsibility.

"...From now on, just treat me as just talking to myself."

As Gulat was reminiscing about the past, Gildor coughed lightly and said.

"I will allocate the budget to the Monster Suppression Team according to the planned amount. Furthermore, there will be a surplus in this period's financial statements. I can propose purchasing more dried pike at the next meeting so that the team members can eat as much as they want during the expedition."

"This soliloquy is truly grateful, but at what cost?"

"Just a nice bottle of red wine."

This time it was Gildo's turn to smile wickedly.

During his college years, whenever Goulart faced exam challenges and asked Gildor for help, he would reply with this line. Seeing the same expression and words from Gildor, Goulart felt a little lonely.

Since they got drunk that day, they had no idea how many times they had drunk together.

Discuss worries, discuss serious topics, chat about meaningless things, and chat about all sorts of things.

With seemingly endless topics to talk about, they laughed, joked, discussed, quarreled, and made up after drinking.

Even if we can no longer drink and chat with each other, these memories will remain in our hearts.

"The wine you ordered is too expensive. My wallet is almost empty after buying it."

"It's annoying to hear you complain about not having money. Why don't you let me buy you some baijiu?"

The man looked away and said this. Gulat was stunned for a long time, and finally smiled like a teenager.

Volume 4: The Magical Tool Master Called Dahlia

Serves as the official chamber of commerce for the Royal City Knights and the Monster Suppression Force, as well as an advisor to magic tool masters.

On the day of the meeting, Dalia agreed to this request at the invitation of Captain Gulart.

She thought she was just going to deliver goods to the troops as a trading partner, ask them what else they needed, and answer their questions about magic tools.

After returning to the Merchant Guild to report, the usually calm and composed Guild Master, Leone, laughed heartily, wagging his white beard. Gabriella also laughed.

Before asking the reason, the two asked Dahlia to report to Fortu as soon as possible, and she went to the Clothing Guild with Ivano.

After explaining the situation to Fortu, the first thing he said was, "Congratulations. Please let Rukia and I make the dress for the ennoblement ceremony."

Dahlia was confused and stood there in a daze. Finally, Ivano asked a bunch of questions to help her summarize the conclusion.

As the name suggests, the Monster Suppression Force's Official Merchant Guild prioritizes the supply of goods to the troops, acting as a guild. They also enjoy a degree of protection. If anyone obstructs the guild or attempts to force a transaction, the Monster Suppression Force will protest and take countermeasures on behalf of the guild.

Advisors are people who need to be treated with courtesy by the monster-suppression force, so they are basically "candidates for knighthood", which means that Dalia is expected to be knighted as a baron.

No commoner would dare to force a noble like Dahlia to make a deal. Even if the other party was a noble, the title could be used as a shield.

More importantly, it was a title earned based on contributions to the Royal City Knights and the Monster Suppression Force.

Few people would want to make an enemy of the monster-suppression force and Marquis Gulart Bartolone.

What Gulat meant by "taking it for herself" was to let the monster-slaying troops protect her—that's what Dalia thought.

Usually, the review of a baron will not begin until he is recommended, and it will take more than a year before he is conferred the title.

After Fortu finished explaining, he smiled and said to her, "Baron Rosetti will be born next year." This made Dahlia almost fall down.

She did hope to get a knighthood one day, so that being with Wolfe wouldn't be too strange.

However, she had never imagined that things would progress so quickly, without even giving her time to prepare herself mentally.

Is this really okay? To be honest, the anxiety is greater than the joy.

Meanwhile, Rukia, though completely bewildered, was delighted to help Dalia make a long gown and had even begun sketching it out on drawing paper.

After that, Ivano congratulated her, but there was a look of weariness in both of their eyes.

Life starting tomorrow is scary.

Dahlia felt like her soul was about to come out of her mouth. She returned to the Green Tower and saw an extremely high-end black carriage approaching.

The carriage delivered a lovely bouquet of white and pink flowers, some easy-to-store flower-shaped candies, and black tea in a luxurious golden jar. She thought it was from Wolff and happily opened the letter, but when she saw the signature, her face paled.

Gildovan Diels - the Minister of Finance whom I just met today.

Written on it in beautiful handwriting were a brief but sincere apology and the words "Looking forward to seeing you again someday." Dalia lay down on the table.

In the evening, Wolfe came to visit with some wine.

In order to celebrate in advance, Dalia took out the pre-made roasted dried pike and spicy fried okra, and the two of them drank together.

She had been nervous at the meeting, had accidentally gotten something wrong when responding to the captain's request, had been called "Lion" when talking to Gildo, the matter between the two guilds, the letter he had just received—he had poured out a lot of his troubles to Wolff and received a lot of comfort.

Before Wolfe returned, he said to her, "Dalia is Dalia." Only then did she finally feel relieved.

Today, she will participate in the expedition training session as a magic tool master advisor to the monster subjugation team.

The expedition training will be held outside the royal capital, so we would like to ask Dahlia to help hold a lecture on expedition furnaces. She accepted Gulat's commission and went with Ivano to the troops.

The location was by the river in the western forest. It was closer to the capital than the riverbank where I had dined with Wolf.

After moving with the team in a carriage, they spread a tarpaulin on the shore and placed the increased number of expedition furnaces and small magic furnaces on top. Due to the large number of people, they decided to divide everyone into groups of four or five to carry out the actual operation.

The sun is shining brightly and the river breeze is refreshing. It seems like a perfect day for a picnic.

After Dahlia gave a brief explanation, the team members began to fire up the expedition stove on the tarp. No one seemed to have any questions about how to use it, and a number of them were humming songs.

"Um, is everyone already using it well?"

She asked Wolf, who was also sitting on the tarpaulin, and Wolf narrowed his golden eyes and smiled in response:

"Over the past few days, we've been using the royal city's training grounds to hold expedition training sessions. Members of the magic corps are also participating."

"So is there still a need for a lecture today?"

"Yes, but not everyone participates and doesn't know the tricks. Also, some people want us to stop holding expedition training sessions at the training grounds."

"So it's because it would cause trouble to others?"

"For us, this was official training, so it wasn't something we'd be accused of. It was just that we'd shift slightly each time, and the wind just happened to blow towards the Finance and Administration Buildings. The third time, both sides came to stop us, so we had to cancel the practice session."

Was that a new way to pick a fight? She had indeed had some arguments with the Finance Minister a while ago, and Dahlia really wanted to ask him if the Monster Suppression Force had any personal vendetta against the Finance and General Affairs Departments.

"Why did you choose that place specifically?"

"It was pure coincidence. The training ground over there happened to be empty. I felt a bit embarrassed, so I went with the vice-captain to apologize, bringing a small magic furnace, smoked bacon, dried goods, and coffee powder. The Finance and Administrative Departments often stay up late before settlements, so having these things on hand should be very convenient."

"Could it be that Ivano was so happy just because he received a large order for small magic reactors...?"

"That's great, Dalia."

He smiled knowingly.

At this point, shouldn't I officially recruit Wolff to help run the guild? Should I simply ask him to stay by my side as a guild manager, rather than being a dangerous Red Armor member of the monster-slaying force? Dahlia desperately tried to dispel the strange thoughts that surfaced in her mind.