Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Haruna - [1]
Once a rundown workshop on the outskirts of the capital, filled with the stench of dust and swarming flies, Haruna's forge had now transformed into an entirely different space.
"Hey! How much longer until my turn?"
"I'll pay whatever it takes, so please look at mine too!"
The entrance to the workshop was packed with throngs of people. The ripple effect of the street performance had been tremendous.
The shock of Moonlight Sonata and that one line Aiman had shouted while pointing right at her.
-It's thanks to the empire's greatest artisan standing right there! The piano made by Haruna!
That single statement had upended Haruna's life completely.
"Haa...."
Haruna wiped the sweat beading on her forehead with her forearm and let out a sigh. Piles of order forms brought by customers towered on her workbench.
"What is all this? It's a total mess."
She picked up one order form and furrowed her brow. Most of them were utter nonsense.
The drawings people had sketched, claiming to imitate Aiman's piano, were crude beyond belief.
"You want me to make something like this? It'd break before it even made a sound."
Haruna grumbled but pressed on with her work. Her body ached, yet there was a strange thrill to it.
The people who had once scorned her were now begging her to make something for them.
It felt like recompense for all the years she'd endured to keep this workshop alive.
But.
'I miss it...'
Not these crude blueprints people brought, but that perfect, beautiful design that tolerated not even a 0.01mm margin of error.
"He's probably messing around with it without my permission. The tuning must be a wreck by now..."
Haruna hammered the heated iron with a pouty expression.
"They definitely didn't manage the humidity, and with that brute force pounding the keys, the strings must be stretched out. My baby must be screaming in agony."
The more she thought about it, the more it hurt. Her greatest masterpiece, the piano.
That child needed to be kept in peak condition, and she was the only one who could do it.
Aiman hadn't sent even a single message.
"Thinks he can just ghost me now that he's making money? Just you wait. Next time I see him, I'll charge him a fortune for repairs."
The wood and metal she'd carved and assembled herself had moved the hearts of people across the world. That exhilarating shiver was something she'd never forget in her lifetime...
That was when it happened.
Bang—!!!
The rickety wooden door of the workshop flew open violently. The customers at the entrance startled and parted to the sides.
"Out of the way! Out of the way, you stinking humans!"
A group of burly figures barged in with gravelly voices.
Braided bushy beards, leather aprons, and massive hammer tattoos etched on their forearms.
They were executives from the Dwarf Guild in the capital. Haruna's hammer paused mid-swing. Her face hardened.
The customers exchanged glances and quickly scattered.
"We heard it was getting noisy around here lately. So this is the commotion?"
The red-bearded dwarf, who seemed to be the leader, stood crookedly and surveyed the workshop. Mockery gleamed openly in his eyes.
"Haruna. Looks like pandering to humans has been treating you well lately, huh? Tsk tsk. No shred of dwarven pride in you."
"...."
"Whipping up whatever garbage sketches they hand you? That's no blacksmithing. That's just being human lackeys. No better than slaves."
To dwarves, any blacksmith who couldn't create original weapons was treated as dead weight.
That was why the dwarves refused to acknowledge Haruna.
"That piano or whatever you made? Pure luck it took off. Not your skill—it was that performer guy who pulled it off."
Red Beard spat onto Haruna's workbench.
"Know your place. Who do you think you are, calling yourself an artisan? Don't tarnish the dwarven name—take down that sign right now."
Haruna bit her lip hard. Hard enough for blood to seep out.
She wanted to retort. But the words wouldn't come.
Because deep down, she knew he wasn't entirely wrong. The blueprint had come from Aiman.
She'd just built it to spec. Not a creator, merely a technician.
'Still... I made it. That sound came from my hands.'
Rage boiled inside her, but standing alone against the might of the massive guild, she looked terribly small and pathetic.
The moment Red Beard moved to kick her workbench.
Ding-a-ling—.
A clear bell chime sliced through the heavy air in the workshop. The door opened quietly but elegantly.
The dwarves' gazes snapped to the door. Their eyes bulged in shock.
Silk dress layered with ornate lace. Jeweled hair ornaments. Attending knight escorts.
Undeniably nobility. The kind who would never set foot in a grimy back-alley workshop like this.
The young lady of the baronial house, Rozina von Bellua.
"N-Nobility?"
Red Beard stumbled back in panic. His earlier arrogance vanished without a trace.
No matter their status as Dwarf Guild executives, they were no more than flies before such nobility...
Yet Rozina's condition seemed off for a noble. Her face was pale, her fingertips trembling faintly. Her eyes shook with unease.
Even her escorting knights wore equally ashen expressions.
Of course, Red Beard didn't notice. He assumed she'd come to dwarves for weapons.
And naturally? She'd choose them.
"Here for weapons? Or jewelry? You've come to the right place! We'll take you to our guild, where the finest artisans gather—nothing like this 'Haruna' hack!"
Red Beard was convinced she'd show interest in them.
But.
Rozina didn't spare Red Beard a glance. Not even a look.
Her eyes were fixed solely on Haruna, standing in the corner of the workshop.
Rozina strode past Red Beard. She stopped before Haruna. And then.
"...!"
"!!!"
"?!"
Rozina von Bellua, young lady of a baronial house, bowed to the oil-stained work-clothed dwarf Haruna!
Deeply. Obsequiously so!
"A-Are you... Lady Haruna?"
Rozina's voice trembled. She clasped her hands in front of her.
"Y-Yes... that's me..."
Haruna answered in a daze. She couldn't comprehend the situation at all.
Rozina swallowed dryly. She had to score points with Serika somehow. Otherwise...
"Aiman..."
Rozina shuddered violently before finally speaking.
"Aiman is looking for you, Lady Haruna. He says you're essential for the Imperial Arts Institute."
The dwarves' eyes popped out. They began murmuring.
"I-Imperial?"
"Did she say Imperial?"
Rozina pulled a letter from her bosom and offered it to Haruna with both hands, politely.
"To reiterate, Aiman is searching for you."
"Wh-What's going on here?"
Haruna was too bewildered to keep up, and Rozina shuddered again before speaking.
"Aiman sent this letter to you, Lady Haruna. For the upcoming Imperial performance... he says the only one who can exclusively manage his instrument, the piano, is you... Without you, he can't perform."
Haruna's eyes widened. Her heart pounded fiercely. She didn't understand, but she took the words at face value.
Imperial performance...? A disgrace to dwarves like her, going there?
Joy washed over her. Followed swiftly by fear.
And didn't that imply Aiman would be there too?
Just a commoner and a dwarven disgrace like her, at the Imperial palace?
'This... can't be right.'
As Haruna hemmed and hawed without responding, Rozina panicked... no, pleaded.
"All expenses! Lodging! The finest carriage! No, if you wish, we'll relocate your entire workshop! The Bellua family will cover everything, unlimited support!"
"Huh?!"
"Please! You must come! For my sake... no, for Aiman's!"
Rozina was on the verge of tears. She clutched the sleeve of Haruna's filthy work apron, begging.
Haruna stared blankly at Rozina, then glanced sideways. Red Beard and the Dwarf Guild members stood frozen, mouths agape.
An Imperial invitation. She still couldn't quite believe it... but those shocked faces were proof enough.
Expressions etched with astonishment.
"Very well. For now... could you take me to Aiman?"
Haruna untied her work apron and tossed it lightly onto Red Beard's face.
"A gift. Perfect for wiping sweat."
Haruna exited the workshop under Rozina's escort (she freaked out that a noble was personally escorting her!).
'...Why would a noble young lady like her bother with someone like me?'
Haruna boarded the waiting luxury carriage, bearing the Bellua family crest.
The dwarves left behind gawked slack-jawed at the closing door.
"Imperial? Aiman? Haruna...?"
"The dwarven disgrace..."
Red Beard chewed his lip. It was humiliating. And dwarves never bowed their pride.
"Aiman... was it."
Red Beard mulled over Aiman's name.