And then Vandalieu had come up with the idea of making metal in order to create coins worth ten Lunas or more.

“When you mentioned the idea, I thought you were just being crazy as usual,” said Datara.

“Well, it should be considered an idea that isn’t confined to the limits of common sense!” Tarea exclaimed.

Pauvina blinked upon hearing their words. “… The two of you are saying the same thing,” she muttered.

She was a clever girl.

The creation of metal that Vandalieu had in mind wasn’t making an alloy like bronze, but using iron and bronze to create a new magical metal. Thus, both Datara and Tarea’s opinions were correct.

Magical metals were metals filled with Mana, with Orichalcum at the top of the list followed by others such as Mythril, Adamantite, Damascus Steel and Obsidian. Other than Orichalcum, it had been more or less established that all of these were created from lesser metals.

Mythril and Adamantite were produced when regular silver and gold were soaked in Mana for tens of thousands of years, becoming naturally refined.

Damascus Steel and Obsidian were refined from ordinary metals by skilled blacksmiths.

Datara could apparently create Obsidian if he had the materials. It was refined by using iron as a base and forging it for a whole day while adding a very tiny amount of Mythril or Adamantite. But he had said that staying up all night to make produce two or three swords’ worth of Obsidian was the best he could do; it would be impossible for him to create a currency with it.

Of course, Vandalieu didn’t have the Blacksmithing skill, so it was impossible for him to mass-produce this metal with Golem Transmutation.

Thus, Vandalieu had been trying to create a new magical metal by pouring Mana into metal equal to the amount contained within Mythril and Adamantite.

It would normally be impossible, but Vandalieu had thought that he could do it by pouring hundreds of millions of Mana into the metal and using Inanimate Aging, the spell that made time flow faster for its target.

And it turned out to be actually possible. The iron and copper had essentially been soaked in death-attribute Mana for tens of thousands of years, transforming into magical metals… liquid metals.

“Hmm, I did manage to make new magical metals, but I can’t turn this into coins, can I?” said Vandalieu.

“They are liquids, after all,” said Datara.

The metal was the same weight and size as what Vandalieu had started with, but he was troubled by the fact that they were black and purple, mercury-like liquid metals.

“Shall we call them Death Metal and Dark Copper for now?” Vandalieu suggested.

Although they were liquid, they were indeed magical metals; it was certain that they would possess special properties. Depending on their special properties, they would have their uses.

Whether or not they could be turned into coins.