The Blacksmith Who Forges Starlight
As the hazy dust that had blurred my vision cleared, the dwarf’s figure came into sharp relief.
The sight of him swinging those muscular arms, silently hammering starlight, somehow felt impossibly distant.
Clang—!
With every strike of the hammer, shattered starlight scattered in every direction and began to paint the sky.
Carried on the wind, it looked just like the heavens I had gazed up at from the desert.
“H-hey…!”
Clang—!
I called out, but there was no answer.
The dwarf simply kept hammering the starlight in silence.
I tried to approach him, yet the distance refused to close.
Clang—!
The metallic ring began to fade. The unchanging distance and the dwindling sound meant this space itself was vanishing.
In a panic I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a small dagger.
It was the item the drunken blacksmith of the Karuma Empire had asked me to deliver—and at last I had found the one meant to receive it.
“H-here! Take this!”
Clang—
I stretched my arm as far as I could, but it would not reach. The dagger trembling in my fingertips glittered as it caught the starlight that filled every corner of the space.
How could I bridge the gap? How could I stand before that dwarf?
In my desperation I drew up mana and reinforced my body—and something strange happened.
As if answering my mana, the starlight bursting from the dwarf’s hammer blazed even brighter.
Only then did the dwarf who had been silently forging starlight turn his head and fix his gaze on me.
The hammering stopped, and silence settled over everything.
Frowning, I poured starlight mana into the dagger in my hand and hurled it.
If I could not go to him, I would simply send it flying his way.
Fwoosh—!
The starlight dagger spun through the air, colliding with the tiny stars floating around it and tracing a constellation of seven points that sparkled blue.
The long trail of starlight reached the dwarf’s side—and at last he moved.
His short, thick arm picked up the dagger that had fallen to the floor.
Drawing the blade from its sheath, he held it up against the sky.
The finely honed edge, still filled with my mana, glittered with starlight.
In that moment the dwarf breathed upon the dagger.
His breath began to reshape it.
The short blade lengthened, and upon the newly elongated edge the constellation that had been drawn in flight rose into view.
The moment the constellation etched into the blade scattered its brilliant light, the dwarf laid it atop the starlight flowing all around and began to hammer once more.
Clang—!
With the first strike the first star scattered its light.
Clang—!
The second strike kindled the second star.
Clang—!
The third followed the same way.
Clang—!
With every blow the blade took on its proper form.
Clang—!
Clang—!
Clang—!
When the seventh and final strike ended, the newly forged sword of starlight glowed softly, and the seven-pointed constellation scattered its vivid light as if to declare its presence.
Like rising from a deep sleep, my hazy mind began to surface toward wakefulness.
Sensation returned to my arms and legs, and my blurred vision regained its clarity.
Prrrrh—
Only then did I notice Nightmare looking down at me with worried eyes.
Seeing me awake, the horse stuck out its long tongue and licked my cheek with abandon.
Frowning, I looked around.
“This is…”
As if everything I had just witnessed had been nothing more than a dream, I was in the middle of a desert piled high with platinum-colored sand.
The large crater nearby told me I must have briefly lost consciousness while weathering a sandstorm right here.
Proof enough: my whole body was caked in sand.
“Hmm…”
I brushed off my arms and legs, lost in thought.
A vivid memory that refused to feel like a dream lingered stubbornly in my mind.
Could I really call all of that a dream?
I rummaged through my sand-covered bag, searching for the dagger I had tucked inside.
No matter how thoroughly I searched, the dagger I had received from the blacksmith was nowhere to be found.
I looked up at the sky and smiled faintly.
It seemed I had successfully completed the delivery the blacksmith had entrusted to me.
Still brushing sand from myself, I spotted my sword half-buried in the ground, only its hilt remaining visible.
It was the blade I had used when I raised a barrier of mana to endure the sandstorm.
No wonder the weight at my side had felt oddly light—I must have failed to retrieve it.
I walked forward and drew the sword from the sand.
Fwaaaash—!
The instant I pulled it free, a brilliant light erupted.
It was the light of stars hanging in the night sky.
“This is…”
Along the long blade, seven points I had never seen before glittered and scattered starlight.
It was identical to the sword the dwarf in the dream had forged by combining the dagger with starlight.
So then.
What I had seen had not been a dream after all.
I had truly arrived at a forge filled with starlight, and I had truly met the last dwarf.
“I found it!”
At that moment a cheer that was almost a scream rose from the bottom of the sand crater.
Turning my head slightly, I saw Shahkan, covered head to toe in sand, beaming as he held a large stone tablet in his hands.
I sheathed my sword and asked him,
“What did you find?”
“Dwarves! A tablet containing the techniques of the dwarves!”
Climbing out of the crater, Shahkan ran to my side and carefully brushed the sand from the tablet.
Strange characters began to appear.
I could not read them, but Shahkan clearly could.
He rested his fingers on the tablet and began to murmur under his breath.
It took a full week for Shahkan and me to return to the city.
The moment we arrived I parted ways with him and took a room at a decent inn.
I wanted nothing more than to wash the sand and dust from my body and rest my fatigue on a soft bed.
The brooch Kashin had given me ensured I received excellent treatment wherever I went in Burning Road.
After finishing my shower I lay down on the bed and slept straight through an entire day—
from the moment the sun vanished from the sky until it rose again.
Dressed in clean clothes, I mounted Nightmare, bought a generous supply of provisions, and headed for the Hot Tail inn by the north gate.
I was going to collect the reward Shahkan had promised me.
As I approached the inn I heard a loud metallic ringing.
Clang—!
“Hmm…”
I tied Nightmare in front of the inn and stepped inside. A wave of intense heat washed over me.
Looking around the interior, I could only tilt my head in confusion.
The tables and chairs that had once rolled about the floor were gone, and the long strands of cobweb that had hung from the ceiling had been thoroughly cleared away.
That was not all. The partition that had separated the kitchen from the dining area had vanished, and in the place where the kitchen had stood a large forge had been installed.
The Shahkan I was looking for was hammering away at an anvil in front of that forge—
just like the dwarf blacksmith I had seen in the dream.
“Shahkan?”
Clang—!
“Ah, so you’ve come.”
A hammer was in Shahkan’s right hand, tongs in his left.
He greeted me as I approached and set both tools down.
“What on earth is all this…?”
“Well, you see…”
Shahkan hemmed and hawed before launching into his story.
After we parted in the city he had taken the tablet inscribed with dwarf techniques and gone around to the blacksmiths.
But no one in the city would listen to him any longer.
Even when he shouted that it was the technique of Star Forge, the forgotten craft of the dwarves, all he received was cold indifference.
“So I had no choice but to pick up the hammer myself…”
“You’re going to make something yourself to prove it?”
“Exactly!”
“And that’s why you turned the inn into this…?”
“Well… it did cost a fair bit of money… Ah, wait just a moment.”
With that, Shahkan headed into the back room of the inn.
What he brought out was a small wooden box.
“Take it.”
“This is…?”
“The reward I promised!”
The box he handed me was quite heavy.
When I opened the lid I found it packed full of glittering gold coins.
“About twenty-five gold, I’d say.”
Shahkan wore a look of pure relief as he gave me the box.
Tucking it into my bag, I carefully watched his expression and spoke up.
“Um, Shahkan.”
“Hm?”
“Those… guide stars.”
“Ah, these?”
At my words he pulled two small stones from his pocket.
I nodded.
“Could you give them to me?”
“Huh? These?”
“Yes. I’d like to keep them as a memento.”
“Well… I already remember the location, so I suppose it doesn’t matter…”
To my surprise, Shahkan handed over the guide stars without protest.
As I stuffed them into my pocket he asked,
“What do you plan to do now?”
“Hmm… why do you ask?”
“If you’re willing, I’d like to entrust you with one more request…”
“Is it about dwarves or Star Forge again?”
“No, not this time. This one’s relatively simple—materials from monsters that can be found outside the desert…”
I didn’t need to hear any more.
I laughed lightly and shook my head.
“Something I need to do just came to mind. I think I should be going.”
“Ahem… is that so? A pity…”
“Well then, I’ll be off. I had fun.”
“Ah, take care. I enjoyed it as well.”
Leaving the Hot Tail inn behind, I mounted Nightmare and rode out of the city.
With no lingering attachments left here, my steps felt wonderfully light—
even if I wasn’t the one doing the walking.
Beneath the blazing sunlight I drew my sword.
On the blade that drank in the sun’s rays, seven stars rose into view.
Each star seemed to hold the motion of a sword stroke.
A way of swinging the sword that carried the stars within it.
Was this the swordsmanship the dwarves had once used?
With a light smile I swung the blade, and glittering starlight scattered white through the air.
“Where to next, I wonder.”
No destination—just following wherever my feet led. Wasn’t that what it meant to be an adventurer?
I tugged Nightmare’s reins and urged him onward.
Prrrrh—!
Nightmare kicked up the platinum sand and galloped swiftly away.