Dang Bilyeong's Request
Snoooore—-
As I entered the forge, my father was lying on a makeshift bed of cloth in one corner, fast asleep.
It seemed the fatigue had built up quite a bit.
‘I should send Bilyeong to rest and put my father to bed. If he sleeps here, he'll get sick…’
I turned my head to the standing Bilyeong and was about to ask about the deadline.
“Young Mistress. How long should the deadline be?”
“We saw fifty swords before, and we need three more swords. How about two weeks?”
Two weeks to make fifty-three swords.
Plus, those three need to be masterpieces at minimum.
It seemed tight, but when I ran the numbers in my head, it seemed sufficient.
The faster, the better for these kinds of things.
From Bilyeong's story, the Haebuk Paeng family seemed like very cunning people.
If the production deadline lengthens and the power gap in Sacheon Dang family becomes too long, who knows what they might do.
Perhaps Bilyeong could be in trouble.
“Ten days should be enough.”
Surprised by my answer, Bilyeong's eyes widened as she shook her head.
“Huh? Ten days? Making fifty-three swords in ten days… No matter how skilled you two are, it's impossible.”
Regret was deeply in Bilyeong's eyes.
It seemed she was worried about my physical condition, but I shook my head.
Actually… if it's not impossible, then it's a lie.
Even though my father, with his experience and characteristics, is here, making fifty-three swords in ten days is clearly impossible.
Yet, the reason I pushed it was because I saw my past self in Bilyeong.
At night and day, hammering to revive the forge, and my father working hard too to support us.
Countless times hitting the wall, no hope, unable to sleep at night.
The feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff, precarious, only those who have experienced it know.
In a similar situation, Bilyeong must have been at a precarious crossroads.
The heavy pressure of risking the family's survival alone against the Haebuk Paeng family was felt deeply.
I sincerely hoped that Bilyeong would not break under this harsh trial, quickly regain the family's honor, and stand tall.
After all, I had gone through something similar.
“Those damn Paengs, I wonder what they'll do. Do we really need two weeks?”
“Of course, but…”
“Don't worry, Young Mistress. We agreed to provide sufficient compensation, right? There's a saying in our world called 'financial healing'.”
“Financial healing…? What does that mean?”
“Ah~ It means washing away fatigue with money.”
The reason I hid my intention was so Bilyeong wouldn't feel burdened.
If she knew I rushed the deadline out of goodwill, she'd refuse vehemently, so I made her think it was due to money.
“Sir Seo… You are truly a good person.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”
“No. Then, please send us the existing black iron and white iron from our side as soon as possible.”
Bilyeong smiled faintly, happy, and waved at us.
Then, she took out a black sphere from her pocket, threw it on the floor, and a dimensional gate similar to the one in the bathhouse opened.
Through the gap, Bilyeong disappeared.
“Well then, let's get to work~”
“Stop there.”
As I turned on the forge, my father suddenly grabbed my wrist with a jerk.
“What's the matter, Father?”
“Look at the time.”
“Twelve o'clock…?”
Looking at the time, it was already midday.
“You idiot, you'll die if you keep going like this. Living comes before working, right? Hammering all night and then saying you'll do it again?”
…
That made sense.
Currently, enthusiasm is high and the body follows, but if we keep this pace, we might have to lie down for a few days.
“At least get some sleep.”
Yeah… not wrong. Then, let's sleep a bit and work.
I moved to the house on the second floor of the forge.
After returning from the gate, my whole body was sweaty, so I quickly washed up and threw myself on the bed, my eyes slowly closing.
***
“Haaam- What time is it now?”
08:34.
Turning on my phone to check the time, it showed 8:34.
I slept for about eight hours, but my body felt oddly light.
Is this a perk from awakening?
Rooooar—!
A bear-like roar came from somewhere, so I turned towards the sound and saw my father sleeping.
At this time, he should have been up and out working…
How long had it been since I last saw my father sleeping like this…
I thought it would be nice if I saw this more often in the future.
Having such a meaningless thought, I roughly brushed my teeth and washed my face, then went downstairs where the sun was rising.
Wait a minute… the sun is rising, not setting?
“What the hell? It's 20:34, not 8 o'clock? Did I… sleep for 20 hours?”
Can a person sleep 20 hours?
Flabbergasted. I wasted an entire day.
Not the time for that. Then, I must push the work even harder.
Opening the forge door, I saw fifty neatly arranged sword handles.
…
These handles couldn't have appeared suddenly…
Ha…
My father must have made them after sending me first.
Making fifty handles isn't that long, but fifty would take some time…
He did it while in his middle age, doing manual labor, driving for a living, and working in the forge all night.
Although we slept a bit while away from the gate, it must have been tough on the body…
It seemed he was worried about watching his son suffer.
Seeing this, my heart felt inexplicably heavy and choked up.
“Yeah… Since Father did this for me, I have to push through!”
I couldn't waste the framework of sweat my father left.
Now, it's my turn to do my part.
I rolled up my sleeves roughly and headed to the forge.
Operating the blower that spews strong air at maximum output, the scarlet flames in the forge burned more fiercely.
Wearing sturdy leather gloves, I used a long pair of tongs to pick up a neatly cut titanium lump and pushed it deep into the forge.
Inside the flames, the titanium began to glow orange.
Overheating would make the metal surface coarse crystals and break easily.
Cooling too much would cause cracks during forging.
That's why accurately gauging the temperature is essential for blacksmiths.
“Okay, now!”
I took out the titanium lump that was properly cooked to a reddish hue and placed it on the heavy anvil.
Clang-! Clang-!
Each time I hit the titanium surface with a heavy hammer, the sparks flew and dyed the inside of the cave-like forge red.
With high heat, hammering was no easy task.
Sweat droplets fell from the chin, evaporating instantly with a 'chick' sound on the red-hot anvil.
Using the left hand that gripped the tongs without deforming the sword, I rotated it precisely and hammered repeatedly.
If the titanium cooled, I put it back in the forge to heat it again.
Then take it out and hammer.
Heating the iron, shaping it with hammer, removing impurities on the surface to increase durability.
This is forging.
Normally, even with regular iron, it would take a long time, but…
Thanks to the characteristics, this process ended in an instant.
Without doing it many times, the impurities were all gone and the shape changed exactly as I thought.
Thinking it's regular iron or titanium, the efficiency is unbelievable.
Now, next step.
I brought the goggles from the corner of the forge, put them on, and sat in front of the grinder.
Beeing! Chizizick!
Placing the shaped titanium sword blade on the high-speed rotating grinder, brilliant white and blue flames rained down like a storm.
I didn't forget to check the balance by supporting the sword's center of gravity with one middle finger in between.
Sharpening the sword to a uniform thickness without compromising balance is one of the most important parts of making a sword.
So, I couldn't be careless.
Originally, this process could only be smoothly passed with my father's help, but now, without father, I was shaping it to look decent.
“Good… Good balance too.”
This completes the polishing.
After forging and polishing, the only thing left is to perfectly combine the sword blade with the handle my father made.
Click-
Normal Grade (Item)
Poison resistance, lightweight, weight balance
Comment: A titanium sword completed without any help. The impressive weight balance is striking.
Wow… impressive weight balance… Does the system have to like compliments?
… Well, even if it's a compliment, I'll take it.
The time it took to complete this process was only an hour.
Truly unbelievable speed.
Normally, making even a decent kitchen knife would take a full day of work.
But making this so quickly, fifty hours, that is, just two days and six hours more to make fifty swords.
Plus, we have to make the last three for Bilyeong and the Dragon Lord, and finally the sword for Bilyeong's father.
Since the road ahead is still far, I put the titanium lump back into the forge.
“Good… Let's keep going without resting.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and gripped the hammer tightly again.
Although the fact that the fate of Sacheon Dang family was decided in my hands made me tremble, I didn't care.
Thinking that the weapon I made might change someone's fate, I couldn't waste even one strike.
Inside the forge, the red flames and the heavy sound of hammer strikes began to resound without pause.