Please Show Mutual Respect

"That won't do."

On the worn workbench, I looked at the broken silver staff and shook my head.

"Why not? You fixed it for me last week."

"That is precisely why it won't do, Lady Eris."

"Then give me a reason. I'm telling you."

A blue gemstone, the mark of her house, was set into the silver grip.

"Remarkable. Truly."

"What is."

"How on earth do you care for this staff? Snapping something this sturdy is no easy feat."

"A servant, and you dare."

Tears of pure frustration had already gathered in the eyes of the girl glaring at me.

"I am not your servant, my lady."

"What are you talking about? You belong directly to our Olivia house."

"I am the direct servant of your father, Duke Shale, lord of the East."

The fifteen-year-old I was bickering with was Lady Eris. This girl was the protagonist of the romance-fantasy novel I had read.

I had heard the cliché before—someone reads a novel and falls straight into it. I had never once imagined that someone would be me.

Perhaps that was why the status window floating before my eyes did not frighten me.

"Blacksmith's Blessing?"

Fall into a novel, and you usually became the hero who saved the world, or else you fell in love with the heroines inside it. At the very least, you walked away with some absurdly overpowered cheat.

"Is this a joke?"

Look at them any way I liked, these were not abilities that could save the world. They couldn't even get me a girl.

"They could have at least given me swordsmanship."

Grumbling, I waved a hand through the window. As if it had been waiting, the blue letters scattered into the empty air and never appeared again.

Not once, through the whole year I lived in this world.

"...Is this really all?"

It was. What waited where I had opened my eyes, in place of any of it, was a forge.

"...I'm fucked."

Only after several days did I learn where I had landed. The Olivia Ducal House—the domain of Duke Shale Olivia, ruler of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Empire's East. And I was a blacksmith in that house's service.

At least I'm not a slave. Small mercies.

A servant was still the accurate word. The ducal house saw to my food, my clothes, and a roof. In return, I forged and repaired the arms its people used. If anything set me apart from the other servants, it was this.

"Thank you again for the mana staff, Mr. Karon."

"It was nothing."

Blacksmiths were rarer in this world than I had expected. More precisely, people who could work arms that carried mana were rare. Mishandle one, and a weapon worth dozens of gold became scrap on the spot. Because of that, a proper blacksmith was treated as a craftsman even an ordinary noble house could not easily obtain.

"Hey, Mr. Karon."

Even the knights did not casually drop their manners with me.

"Heh... if you're busy, I'll come again later."

Even the butler would not step into the forge uninvited while I was working. I still had to bow my head to nobles, of course. But when a fifteen-year-old girl snapped her staff every week, I had just enough standing to say a word about it.

"You promised last time. You said you would treat it with care."

"Th-that's—!"

"Yes. Go on."

When Eris only hesitated, I set my hand on the broken staff.

What did you break it over this time.

A study rose around me, books piled in layers. Eris stood with the staff in hand, murmuring ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a small incantation.

She finished the chant and thrust the staff forward. Nothing came from its tip. A natural result. A girl who had learned 2nd Tier magic at best had no chance at all of succeeding at a 4th Tier spell.

Eeeek!

She stamped her feet, and when she could no longer master her temper, she hurled the staff at the floor.

Crack.

The mana had failed to spread evenly, and the weakest point burst apart where it was.

"...Why are you training in something that does not suit you, my lady?"

"I want to go to the North too!"

"Why the North, when you have this warm East?"

"I want to be of help to Father and the other knights."

"That is an excuse you have already used."

"Urk."

I left her with nothing to say and studied the broken length of the staff.

I can repair this much. But if it breaks any further...

Every weapon has a limit. A limit to how often a break can be patched. A limit to how often a joint can be set again. A limit to how sharp an edge can be honed. And this staff had reached its limit.

"My lady. As I told you before, it would be better to melt this staff down and forge an identical one—"

"No."

The answer I had expected. In the novel, this staff was the last her mother had used while she lived.

If it's a keepsake, look after it. She flings it at the floor whenever she's bored.

I let out a short sigh and lit the furnace. If I meant to keep this cushy post, I would have to indulge the young lady in the end.

"Come tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yes. Break it again, though, and I truly will not repair it."

"Whoa, thank you, Karon!"

"If you're grateful, then please, for once, take care of it..."

She was bouncing her way out of the forge when she stopped short at the door.

"Is there something further you wish to command?"

"Don't tell my sister."

"Tell her what?"

"That I broke the staff again."

Even now, she was afraid of her own sister?

"I suspect Lady Arie already knows."

"Why? I snuck out with only Joaquin so Sister wouldn't catch me!"

Instead of answering, I looked toward the receiving room at the back of the forge. Lady Arie sat there, quietly drinking tea.

"Because a guest arrived before you."

Arie's eyes met Eris's.

"You broke it again?"

"Eep!"

Eris fled the forge outright, mana poured into her feet as she ran.

Once Eris was gone, a middle-aged man came in.

"It has been some time, Mr. Karon. And I beg your pardon for the discourtesy, Lady Arie."

"Sir Joaquin!"

Joaquin—the knight who had served the Olivia family for decades.

"What wrong could you possibly have done, Sir Joaquin?"

"I guided Lady Eris poorly..."

"Father and I have always held you in regard. There is no knight so loyal as you."

"You have my gratitude, always."

When the greetings with Arie were done, Joaquin drew a letter from his coat and offered it to me. The Olivia crest was pressed into the wax.

"Orders from His Grace. Ahead of the Debutante in two weeks, he says the arms and the facilities alike must be inspected."

"Will it be conducted the same way this time?"

The moment I asked, Joaquin grinned.

"Yes. This year as well, the designated young ladies will hold magical duels."

"You'll have your work cut out for you, Sir Joaquin."

"It's quite all right. There's something I'm looking forward to this time."

"Looking forward to?"

He gazed quietly out the door.

"Lady Eris is also to take part in the duel."

The broken staff passed through my mind.

"So that was the reason."

"Pardon?"

"Hahaha. It's nothing."

Joaquin stopped there and glanced at Arie. She answered him with a smile.

"Mr. Karon. Would you step out with Sir Joaquin for a moment?"

"Yes?"

"It seems the two of you have things to discuss without me. I shall drink my tea alone and, like the tragic heroine of a book, weep from loneliness..."

"M-my lady. No. We will speak here."

"Pfft. I was teasing. Off you go, both of you."

Just beside the door that led into the forge, an iron plaque was mounted.

"...Every time I see it, it does look rather like a threat."

Joaquin laughed, a little awkward.

"Haha. I can only ever be grateful for His Grace's indulgence."

"Even so, I would ask that you not play tricks on the young ladies' arms."

"Set your mind at ease. I have made your sword heavier on purpose before, but I have never once touched the young ladies' equipment..."

"Pardon?"

Joaquin caught his sword with a playful look.

"Well, well. I thought it was taking more strength than it ought to."

"Has your efficiency with mana not improved, though? That would be because your body has been tempered."

"Haha. Enough. A joke of this degree is nothing."

A brief quiet settled between us.

"Speaking of which, if the Debutante is soon to open..."

Joaquin nodded.

"Yes. I believe His Grace will be looking into a match for Lady Arie as well."

Right. I had thought it all too peaceful. The Debutante, and with it the talk of Lady Arie's marriage. This was the opening of the main story in the romance fantasy I had been reading.

Of that novel's five parts, I had read through the first. Before she turned twenty, Eris suffered horrific things and turned dark. Darkened, she became a witch, and according to the spoiler comments, she later reduced this whole region to a wasteland.

The very first tragedy waiting for her was the Debutante, two weeks from now. Because of the other young lady set against her, Eris would lose her sister.

This cushy life... I can't lose it.

From the moment I fell into this world, I had thought about it—the main story, and the disasters that would follow from it. The conclusion was simple. If I wanted to keep my cushy life, I had to break the original plot and save this world. And to save this world, I first had to stop that fifteen-year-old brat from turning dark.

"Sir Joaquin."

"Yes, Mr. Karon."

"Before the Debutante, might I be permitted to repair the young ladies' arms?"

The moment I finished, tears welled in Joaquin's eyes.

"Sir Joaquin?"

"Mr. Karon... you are finally showing some sense."

…?

"What?"

"To spend your own time seeing to others' convenience. His Grace will be very pleased."

"I wasn't exactly running wild on an ordinary day..."

Instead of answering, Joaquin slid a look toward the plaque.

"Ah. That."

"I, Joaquin, in twenty years of service upon the Olivia domain, have for the first time learned what it is to be moved."

"I hardly know what to do with myself..."

"Haha. I will go straight to His Grace and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠convey your request at once."

"Thank you, Sir Joaquin."

It was all about to end on a warm note when the color drained from Joaquin's face.

"You aren't planning to relocate to another domain, are you?"

As if.

"Set your mind at ease. I like it here, Sir Joaquin."

Only once he had that firm answer did Joaquin mount his horse.

"Then I will be on my way. I still have to find Lady Eris."

"Yes, sir. Best of luck, Sir Joaquin."

He vanished down the road.

I save Arie, whatever it takes. And to do that...

It was time to move.

First, I'll forge her something to wear. Something that keeps her from dying.