Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Blacksmith Walter
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"What the hell are you?"
"What's this kid?"
The two men inside the smithy glared at Rian, who was sitting on the floor.
But Rian looked at Walter, sprawled on the ground ahead of them.
'...This is the moment.'
Not far in the future, Walter would become one of the continent's most renowned blacksmiths.
That's why people who admired him would follow him, and an autobiography about him would be written.
Rian had read Walter's autobiography.
That's how he knew.
He knew about the deep sorrow Walter carried before he became famous.
"Get up, sir."
"Ugh...."
Rian slowly helped Walter to his feet. At that, the two men ahead of him glared and took a step forward.
"You little shit!"
"Hey, if you're not involved, just pass by. Don't get yourself hurt for nothing."
At those words, Rian pulled his nameplate from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor.
And the moment the two men saw the nameplate,
"I am Ten-Man Commander Rian of the Artian Kingdom's 6th Legion. How dare you speak so rudely to a soldier of the kingdom?"
"S-soldier?"
"A Ten-Man Commander? This brat...?"
Rian's eyes turned icy cold at their reactions.
"Get lost if you don't want to die."
"Damn it...."
"Hey, old man! We'll be back, so make sure you're ready then!"
Intimidated by Rian's threat, they grimaced and turned away.
"Are you alright?"
"Mmm... Thank you."
Once the two men left, Walter shook off Rian's hand lightly and went back inside the smithy.
There was a sense of loneliness in his weary steps.
Rian followed him inside without a word.
"Hmm...."
The shop carried a faint smell of fire.
The forge had been out for quite some time, but the smithy still held the feel of its long history.
Rian looked at the items hanging on the wall.
Longswords and daggers.
Along with various weapons, there were even lightweight armors—quite a collection of gear.
Rian picked up a longsword and examined it from all angles.
The blade wasn't perfectly sharp, but it was a well-balanced weapon at its core.
'His skill is the real deal.'
His temper was prickly and his stubbornness extreme, but that's precisely why he could produce such items.
As Rian inspected the sword, Walter, who had picked up a bottle of liquor, spoke to him.
"Not bad for a young pup—you know how to judge a weapon. You're a soldier, right?"
"Yes."
"I heard you're a Ten-Man Commander. You look young, but that's impressive for your age."
A Ten-Man Commander led ten soldiers—a squad leader, essentially.
It wasn't a big deal in the army, but to street thugs, it was plenty intimidating.
Rian nodded at Walter's words.
"It's not a grand position. But... are you done with the hammer now?"
"...."
Walter's expression twitched at Rian's question.
He soon gulped down more liquor and turned away.
"I don't pick up the hammer anymore. No, I can't."
"Why? Because this smithy, full of your pride, has fallen entirely into someone else's hands?"
"....!"
Walter's eyes shook for a moment.
He turned back to Rian, his face twisting into a fierce scowl.
"You damn brat, what do you know...!"
"I don't know everything, but I have a rough idea of the situation."
Walter was a fairly well-known blacksmith in Bellotra.
Naturally, plenty of people came to him, and his position had been secure.
"But to the people trying to start a new business here, you must have been a thorn in their side."
Walter was an upright blacksmith.
He never compromised on making items for others or chased petty personal gains.
He was a true craftsman.
But having an upright character didn't mean things would always go straight.
In fact, because he didn't bend, he was bound to break.
"And the result... is that you have to hand over the smithy you've devoted your life to."
"You... who the hell are you! Did that shameless Hilterson send you? What more does he want to take from me!"
"I'm not here to take anything."
Rian spoke. As Walter looked at him, Rian turned and picked a sword from the wall.
"You don't know me, Walter, but I know you. And I've used a bow you made."
"A bow?"
"Yes. I'm good with a bow."
Even at the moment his final life ended, Rian had been holding a bow made by Walter.
Rian smiled and placed the sword back in its spot.
He turned to face Walter, his gaze now serious.
"If you had a chance to start over, would you take it?"
"...No such chance exists."
Walter's eyes wavered.
The debt he had fallen into due to that Hilterson fellow's scheme exceeded 2,000 gold.
Money he couldn't earn in a lifetime of work.
But Rian said to Walter,
"That's not what I want to hear. If... you could start over, would you seize that chance? That's what I'm asking!"
Rian shouted, and Walter, who had been looking down, slowly raised his head to meet Rian's eyes.
He was clearly a boy more than twenty years younger than him. Yet,
'Why... doesn't it feel like a joke...?'
Those weren't the eyes of a boy.
They were the deep gaze of a veteran who had seen it all in life.
Walter soon forgot Rian's youthful appearance and nodded slowly.
"If I could... if I could start again, I would."
"I'll help you."
"You... you're a soldier, aren't you? Are you perhaps a noble?"
Even for a noble, 2,000 gold was a hefty sum.
Especially to invest in a mere blacksmith like him.
Rian gave an awkward smile.
It was a far cry from his dignified expression moments ago.
"Just a commoner-born Ten-Man Commander."
"Then how do you plan to do it?"
"Could I borrow a few of these items here?"
"...My items?"
Rian quickly turned to scan the weapons on the wall.
He seemed to be searching carefully.
"What are you doing?"
Walter asked, but Rian began examining each piece of gear on the wall one by one.
Though they lacked mana, he had something from years rolling on the battlefield.
The senses of those who used Aura.
'It was the sense for mana.'
He had felt it even in the battle at Phelon Gorge after his revival.
'I can find it.'
Rian focused his senses as much as possible, inspecting the weapons he held. But then,
"...Impossible."
To imbue an attribute, there was one absolutely essential factor.
The weapon itself had to hold mana.
This couldn't be created artificially.
It was like a gift bestowed on those deeply attuned to their craft after long years.
That's why even those who knew how to make attribute gear couldn't replicate it.
Yet among Walter's gear, quite a few held mana.
'His autobiography mentioned it. Out of twenty items, about one would hold mana.'
That's why he figured among this many, at least one or two must have it.
But....
"Impossible...."
If his senses weren't wrong, among all the gear here that held mana,
"All of them...?"
* * *
Walter became famous because of attribute gear.
Attribute gear meant imbuing weapons or armor with attributes.
By granting natural attributes like fire, water, wind, earth, it amplified the properties of that attribute.
For example, a sword with wind attribute would have slightly increased cutting power, or one with fire would cauterize wounds with its heat.
The price of such attribute gear skyrocketed based on the strength of the attribute.
A plain longsword with one attribute could sell for 50 to even 100 times its normal price.
But imbuing gear with attributes was incredibly difficult.
No—more precisely, no one had even thought to imbue attributes into gear.
'This is the era before attribute gear existed.'
Rian didn't know the exact starting point, but he knew it began with a mage's accidental research.
'Who would think to imbue attributes directly into knights' weapons, rather than just engraving spells?'
Moreover, gear capable of holding attributes was exceedingly rare.
Not every piece could become attribute gear just by imbuing.
The gear itself had to be a vessel that could accept mana.
'Even future Walter, the continent's top attribute gear craftsman, only succeeded 5% of the time.'
And yet, nearly half the items before him now held mana.
Including the uncertain ones, more than half.
Rian cautiously reached out and checked a weapon again.
No matter how many times, it was certain.
'Faint, but I feel the mana.'
He had encountered so many Aura users that his body remembered it.
'Does that mean... the future Walter actually declined from now?'
It was possible.
When Walter became famous, he was already over fifty.
'This is... his prime.'
Rian silently examined the weapon in his hand, then turned to Walter.
"If a chance to start over comes, you must never let it go. You have to keep that promise."
"But how exactly do you plan to do it?"
"I'll borrow a few of these."
Rian picked up a longsword with the strongest mana response from the wall and a leather breastplate.
These would suffice for testing.
"I'll be back."
Rian headed to the mage tower at the center of Bellotra.
It was only three stories tall—a modest scale for a mage tower—but its very existence proved Bellotra was a sizable city.
"Anyone here?"
Mage towers were notoriously reclusive, but that applied to sharing knowledge.
They burned astronomical sums on research, so they were quite accommodating in business matters.
Rian entered the first floor and saw a man at the reception desk.
He wore a brown hooded cloak—Jerome, a novice apprentice mage who had just joined the tower.
As Rian entered, Jerome smiled warmly.
"Welcome to the mage tower. What brings you here?"
"Is there a mage skilled in fire and earth attribute magic?"
"What for?"
"Ah, I want to run an experiment on this weapon I have."
"An experiment...?"
Jerome looked suspicious at Rian's words. Rian gave an awkward smile.
"Yes. I want to try imbuing an attribute on this weapon."
"Attribute imbuing?"
"Yeah. Is that possible?"
"Hmm... For something like that, the mage probably won't see you. They don't meet unless it's official business."
"Hmm...."
Rian let out a small sigh.
He didn't know mages intimately, but he had some idea of their tendencies.
"Then ask for just thirty minutes. I'll pay whatever it costs."
Clink.
Rian pulled five gold coins from his pouch.
'This is the gamble.'
Five gold wasn't much to mages. But for thirty minutes' time, it could tempt them.
Jerome seemed a bit flustered by the gold coins Rian laid out, then said,
"Please wait a moment."
He scooped up all the coins and headed upstairs. A few minutes later, he returned to Rian.
"He'll see you. But... exactly thirty minutes."
"Thank you."
Rian followed Jerome to the second floor.
Knock knock.
"Mr. Mark, I brought the guest."
"Come in."
Rian entered at the voice from inside.
Creak.
"Five gold for thirty minutes. Whose noble brat are you?"
His blond hair fell in soft waves.
With skin white enough to pass for a vampire from legend and a lean build, the man was striking.
Rian answered his question.
"I'm no noble. I'm Rian, Squad Leader of the 6th Squad, 6th Platoon, Eagle Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Legion."
"A soldier? Why would a soldier come to me?"
Mark looked puzzled.
There could be ties between soldiers and mages, but most often there weren't.
Rian set down the longsword and breastplate he had brought.
"This experiment will probably interest you too, sir mage."
"Let's hear it."
He crossed his arms and tilted his chin up slightly.
A haughty expression, as if he'd humor whatever amusing thing it was.
But that didn't matter.
As long as he achieved his goal.
"On this sword and armor...."
Rian began explaining what he knew.