Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Moon White Sword (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘I don’t need to step in after all.’
Not far from the Basque Workshop.
Ray stood atop a tree that overlooked the representative’s office at a glance, letting out a sigh of relief.
The moment Theo had gripped the Moon White Sword, he’d looked in danger, and she’d considered intervening.
Fortunately, it seemed Theo had handled it perfectly on his own.
‘Whatever it is, I want to help him…….’
She’d followed him with the desire to repay the help Theo had given her in their childhood, to be of some use to him.
But no matter how she looked, there’d been no opening for her to step in.
‘Let’s follow him just a little longer.’
With that thought, Ray moved her feet once more.
Srrk—
In an instant, her body vanished into the shadows as if by magic.
* * *
Clack-clack, clack-clack—
The carriage carrying Theo and Cecilia headed back toward Camellia Palace.
“It’s a relief we managed to secure a good sword after all. I was worried he might refuse because we were in a rush.”
As Cecilia let out a sigh of relief, Theo smiled faintly.
It was a completely different demeanor from when she’d been protesting to Kirson about selling defective goods.
Theo was starting to understand his mother’s true nature.
Cecilia actually had this fragile side to her.
She’d only shown a sharp, fierce side out of necessity to protect her son.
Her one and only son had misunderstood his mother all this time.
“Thanks to Mother, I obtained it easily. I’m grateful.”
“What are you saying, my son? It’s only natural for a mother to support her child materially and morally ahead of a major event.”
Though her words were casual, Cecilia smiled, clearly pleased by Theo’s gratitude.
“Still, it’s fortunate he agreed to make it under the name of the master smith this time. Let’s look forward to it.”
Theo nodded, then unwittingly let out a chuckle.
“What’s so amusing?”
“Ah, it’s just that Mother was bargaining with the master smith, who’s like…….”
“Just call her Grandmother. It’s fine.”
“……Grandmother.”
Cecilia crossed her arms and snorted lightly.
“Isn’t it just reaping what one sows? I specifically asked her to put care into it as a birthday gift for her own great-grandchild, and she gave me something like that. As her mother-in-law, don’t I have to demand her absolute ‘best’ to smooth it over?”
‘Thanks to that, Grandmother—who loves money—will have to tighten her belt for a while.’
Theo recalled Cecilia relentlessly picking at Kirson.
—The best, you say? So you’re admitting last year’s gifts weren’t your best work, Mother-in-law?
I’ll give it my absolute best.
When Kirson had spoken confidently, Cecilia had pointed it out with axe-like eyes.
Kirson panicked.
—Ah, that’s……!
—No wonder they were so shoddy. We weren’t even supposed to come here in the first place.
—No, that’s not what I meant!
—What do you mean it isn’t? This won’t do, my son. Get up. Let’s go somewhere else.
Kirson had planned to boast about making Theo a splendid sword and have him receive it gratefully, but he ended up making excuses that weren’t excuses.
Cecilia was throwing a hysterical fit, claiming he hadn’t given her a proper sword.
Thanks to that, Kirson had to fawn over her desperately to calm her down.
—Where do you think you’re going at this hour?
—There’s Turkan Merchant House or Georg Workshop not far from here, so maybe there.
—No, why those half-baked places!
Turkan and Georg were workshops often compared to Basque.
Naturally, Kirson jumped up in alarm.
—At least those half-baked places won’t give our son defective goods!
—Th-that wasn’t defective……!
—We’ll see about that.
—Sword…… Right! You need a sword for the Awakening Ceremony right away, don’t you? You won’t find a satisfactory one anywhere else now.
—Who knows.
—The entire workshop district is swamped with orders, working day and night. How do you expect to get a treasured sword? So just relax and let me make it……
—No. I think we can get one.
—No, I’m telling you that won’t work!
—Have you forgotten already, Mother-in-law? My son is a talent who defeated the four pillars of the North. And if word spreads that he was chosen by the legendary Moon White Sword…… Don’t you think they’ll all be clamoring to give him their swords?
—……!
—He’d be a walking billboard, after all.
Kirson’s pupils trembled violently as his inner thoughts were laid bare.
—You were aiming for that too, weren’t you, Mother-in-law?
At that moment, Kirson realized.
The foster daughter he’d raised wasn’t just beautiful.
She resembled him so closely, it was as if they shared blood!
In the end, Kirson had to raise both hands in surrender.
—……Fine. I’ll make a truly ‘proper’ sword.
—Good. Now we’re getting somewhere.
—Any…… conditions you want……?
—Why would we mother and son have to spell it out?
—……What?
—The desperate one offers first.
—…….
In the end, Kirson was toyed with by Cecilia for quite a while before barely escaping the negotiation hell.
‘Others beg and plead just to get a chance at a master smith’s sword, and whether they succeed is up in the air…… My mother is truly remarkable.’
The specs Cecilia had wrung out for the treasured sword were simple.
60% Froststeel Ore and 34% Ebony Wood.
And.
‘6% Adamant.’
He’d been shocked when he heard that.
‘Even for a master smith, I never imagined she’d have Adamant on hand.’
Adamant was an ultra-metal extracted in minute quantities only from meteorites fallen from space.
It boasted the trait of being utterly unbreakable and unmelting unless processed in a specific way.
That’s why even a tiny amount mixed in elevated a ‘treasured sword’ to a ‘divine sword.’
And she’d demanded not 0.6%, but a full 6%.
It was practically robbery.
—If you don’t like it, we’ll be off.
Cecilia hadn’t blinked an eye at Kirson’s earnest pleas, preparing to stand haughtily.
In the end, Kirson cried out complete surrender and sank.
‘Soon, a sword like that will be mine.’
However, Kirson had said crafting a sword of that caliber wouldn’t take just a day or two—even working through the night, it would take at least a week.
The Awakening Ceremony began in five days, which was a shame.
‘Anyway, the first Awakening Ceremony uses standard iron swords provided at the testing grounds, so it’s fine. I can use it from the second one.’
Theo’s fingertips tingled, already imagining the master smith’s treasured sword in his grasp.
Wuuuung!
As if displeased with Theo, the Moon White Sword at his waist let out a fierce hum.
* * *
“……Damn it all. She’s snapped her daughter-in-law’s spine clean in two. They say raising kids is pointless, and oh boy, oh boy!”
After Theo and Cecilia left, Kirson wailed in lament.
He’d lost the Moon White Sword, his roof had been blown off so he’d be working in the cold breeze for a while—that was grievance enough.
But his daughter had swallowed up a treasure he cherished even more than the Moon White Sword.
And yet, he couldn’t refuse.
If Theo really gained support from Turkan or Georg and took first place in the Awakening Ceremony.
Their old relationship with Cecilia would naturally become rumor fodder…… And then he couldn’t escape the label of ‘the fool who couldn’t recognize her great-grandson’s talent.’
He’d tried to secure one billboard and ended up with his nose pierced instead.
Still, he thought he could manage somehow.
The amount of ore needed for a standard-sized sword was predictable, after all.
But.
As Theo and Cecilia were leaving, the boy’s words became a bombshell.
—Please make it a Zweihänder.
—……What?
—Length around 2.3 meters. Thickness about the width of a finger joint. And for the edge……
—You thieving bastards!
The problem was that Theo’s requested sword exceeded Kirson’s expectations.
At that size, it was practically a ‘slab,’ requiring massive amounts of Froststeel Ore, Ebony Wood, and Adamant.
……Enough to raid Kirson’s emergency vault.
“The kid’s one thing, but what’s with that great-grandson demanding something like that?”
Grind, grind!
His teeth ground to dust, but the ship had already sailed. He couldn’t back out now.
Hooo—
Kirson furrowed his brow, slumping over his chair and filling the air with thick smoke.
“Still, it’s not entirely unreasonable…….”
Kirson’s gaze turned to the items on his desk.
Materials Theo had asked him to use if needed for the sword.
Lesser Drake fangs and claws.
Pristine top-grade ones without a scratch.
‘Probably obtained while acquiring the relic.’
What if he added these to the treasured sword he was crafting?
Undoubtedly, even for her—who’d lived centuries—a <masterpiece> worthy of counting on one hand would be born.
The craftsman’s instinct he’d kept tightly locked away in his heart, enslaved to capitalism all this time, began to stir.
“The design’s already forming in my head. Ha! I must be losing it.”
Kirson gave a wry smile, recalling where he’d left his hammer—when.
“…….”
Kirson’s expression chilled coldly, his gaze shifting to the window.
Flutter!
A bunting landed beneath the curtains swaying in the night breeze.
A peculiar bunting covered entirely in black feathers.
Tweet! Tweet-tweet!
「Long time no see, Master Smith.」
A human voice rang in Kirson’s ear.
Telepathy magic.
“Not really.”
「You’re as cold as ever.」
“If you’re here for idle talk, scram. My mood was good for once today; I don’t want to dirty it with you.”
「A welcome guest must have come and gone.」
The bunting glanced at the roof where sword wind had swept through, chuckling.
Its gaze lingered on the traces left by the sword wind.
The explosion in the smithy district was treated as a major issue even in Ragnar.
It risked escalating into a disaster, and there was a high chance of weapon supply disruptions.
“Traces of a senior craftsman blowing himself up in research. I just issued a confinement order. Satisfied? And.”
One of Kirson’s eyebrows arched.
“I said scram if you’re just probing.”
The bunting’s gaze returned to Kirson.
「Fine. Then I’ll ask one thing and leave. Have you given it any thought?」
“Thought?”
「Yes. The consultation about that relic I mentioned before.」
“Oh, that? Still not interested. Lost interest entirely.”
「…….」
“What? Why?”
「The relic you had…… Never mind. Forget it.」
Kirson waved dismissively with the hand holding his pipe, annoyed, and the bunting clamped its beak shut mid-sentence.
No point in saying more; it’d just hurt his mouth.
Even forcing it wouldn’t work against someone this intractable—not human, not even elf.
「……I’ll come back another time.」
The bunting glared sharply at Kirson, then flapped away and vanished.
Left alone.
Kirson grumbled deeply around his pipe.
“Damn this wretched house. Nothing to my liking. If only that worthless daughter weren’t here…… Ugh!”
* * *
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
The day of the Awakening Ceremony.
Theo was doing his final check with Evelyn.
Clang-clang-clang!
Clang-clang—
“Your swordsmanship has overall become much more solid and faster.”
“Meaning it’s more refined too? Good. Even got praise from Evelyn.”
“But it could trap you in rigid orthodoxy. Be mindful of that.”
“Got it. I’ll watch out.”
To onlookers, it looked like a real deadly swordfight, so intense.
Yet Theo and Evelyn conversed casually, as if it were the most natural thing.
“Really, though…….”
“He’s no human…….”
Sybil and the followers watching shook their heads.
Over the past half year, an enormous gap had opened between Theo and them.
They trained day and night too.
But Theo’s growth speed was impossible to match.
Even for Ragnar, it seemed unbelievable.
Screeeeech!
Then, with a fierce clash of metal, Theo and Evelyn parted widely.
Evelyn gazed at her violently trembling sword, then quietly sheathed it.
Theo had grown strong enough to ‘push her back’ now.
If he unleashed mana on top of that?
‘A monster…… will be born.’
Evelyn trembled faintly, eager to witness that monster as soon as possible.
“You’ve worked hard all this time. For the Awakening Ceremony starting today, I wish you great results.”
“It’s all thanks to Evelyn. Thank you.”
At Theo’s words, Evelyn’s nose tingled slightly.
「……No. The one who should thank you is me.」
Evelyn meant it.
Thanks to Theo, she’d gripped a sword again—physically and in spirit—after losing her right arm and letting go of it in her heart.
Now, it felt awkward to be without one.
“If I take first place, I’ll mention your name in my statement, so heads up.”
“That’s……!”
Evelyn flushed, flustered and about to protest, when Sybil suddenly cut in.
“Young Master, Young Master! Mention my name after Evelyn’s!”
“Me too! Please!”
“What about me?”
As the followers clamored to be included, Theo burst into laughter.
“Alright. I will.”
Theo left the training grounds, Moon White Sword and practice iron sword at his waist, and a temporary Zweihänder on his back.
Amid the followers’ cheers to claim first place for sure.
Exactly half a year since his regression.