Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Semoral
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Kaang.
The small, clear sound of the hammer rang out, marking the end.
Drop, drop.
Sweat dripped down Sein's forehead and face.
The heat from the forge in Demorus's smithy was so intense that even Sein, who had high resistance to fire, was sweating.
“…….”
Sein's face, having finished everything, was expressionless.
Not a forced fake smile, but his true face.
Woooong.
What Sein held in his hand now, something he had poured his all into creating, hummed faintly.
“This feeling is a first.”
Even when he'd been obsessed playing Sanctuary in the game, it hadn't been like this.
The intense realism, combined with those emotions from back then, had birthed something utterly absurd in Sein's grasp.
A small dagger.
A long dragon emblem engraved upon it.
“…….”
Staring at it unconsciously drawn, Sein spoke.
“How long are you all going to keep lurking?”
He'd noticed quite a while ago.
No matter how focused he'd been, he wouldn't have completely let his guard down in enemy territory like Demorus's.
But he'd let them be, sensing their earnest longing in their gazes.
“Sein, heir candidate….”
A low voice from somewhere.
“Who in the world are you?”
Sein slowly turned his head.
The elderly blacksmith, barely able to hold his hammer properly, trembled as he continued speaking, his throat bobbing.
“Who in the world….”
“What are you talking about? You just said it yourself. Sein heir candidate.”
“But….”
This was Demorus's smithy, hailed as the continent's finest.
Of course, there were one or two others on par, but many considered Demorus's the best.
Naturally, the blacksmiths within were among the continent's elite.
Kaang.
Someone struck hammer against metal.
Kaang, kaang!
It sparked a chain reaction, stirring the other blacksmiths' hearts.
Kaang, kaang, kaang!
It was a sign of respect, of awe.
The blacksmiths' unique congratulations when one created a masterpiece for the ages.
“A name….”
The elder said to Sein.
“Will you name it?”
He was asking to name the dagger Sein held.
“Semoral.”
Sein declared.
“This dagger's name is Semoral.”
Kaaang!
Hearing Sein's voice, the elder lifted his hammer and struck down.
“A new legend has been born in Demorus's smithy.”
Every blacksmith listened intently to the elder's softly resounding voice.
“For the next two weeks, we close the smithy and extinguish all forges.”
They knew this was another customary greeting for the birth of a new legendary item.
“Will you join us?”
At the elder's question, Sein finally showed a faint smile.
“Let's do it.”
For the next three days, Sein didn't step outside the smithy.
Demorus's servants kept bringing in alcohol and food.
“Didn't I say I had business?”
The smithy had restricted even Demorus vassals' entry.
“I need to confirm if Sein is inside.”
Even Jagar, one of the heir candidates, was barred.
“My apologies, but you cannot enter.”
“How dare lowly blacksmiths….”
Furious, Jagar bellowed as if to smash the door, but it was futile.
“This is a promise we blacksmiths received from the family head.”
Before the family head's name, Jagar was less than a worm.
Grip.
All he could do was one thing: turn back.
However, aside from the blacksmiths, only one person was inside.
*
*
*
For days after leaving the smithy, Sein spent time observing Demorus's facilities and artisans.
Nothing like the smithy incident happened again.
That day, Sein had been possessed, in a way.
Even when he created a potion in Demorus's alchemy lab that permanently enhanced regenerative power, there was no notable reaction.
It was because.
“Apart from the smithy, the skill level is just average.”
They couldn't gauge what Sein had made.
They wouldn't realize without Sein explaining its effects and touting it to them.
It had been a coincidence, but the effect was significant.
“Lord Durte requests a private meeting with you, Sein.”
Perio spoke politely.
“Durte?”
“One of Demorus's vassals, leading the 13th Armed Force.”
Interest in Sein had exploded.
The reason was simple.
“Is this about putting in a word at the smithy?”
Demorus's smithy was top-tier, and the blacksmiths' pride pierced the heavens.
It stemmed from a promise Demorus made when absorbing blacksmiths from a fallen empire.
They provided weapons to Demorus but took no special requests, leaving many dissatisfied.
Then Sein appeared.
-Our Dark Steel will prioritize Sein heir candidate's requests above all.
The smithy had abruptly declared as much.
It was tantamount to an endorsement, unnerving other heir candidates while earning favor from armed force leaders.
Better gear for their forces meant climbing higher.
“Decline.”
But Sein was rejecting all their overtures.
“The harder the fruit is to obtain, the more desperately it's craved.”
The longer it went, the higher his value would rise.
“I'll convey that.”
As the conversation ended, Sein surveyed the pair before him.
Two men and women stood there in tense postures.
“So, what do you want to say?”
They were the ones Sein had accepted despite avoiding meetings.
“I am Parpi, granddaughter of the Great Steel, Pargen.”
The woman with a strong impression spoke like a soldier.
“Pargen, you say.”
The head blacksmith of Dark Steel, that elder from before.
Son of Yurgen, the empire's top blacksmith, and Demorus's most prized recruit.
Without him, Demorus might rank last among the three great underworld families.
“And?”
“My grandfather told me to seek you out, Sein. To learn from you….”
Grit.
Parpi clenched her teeth before finishing.
She seemed pride-wounded, yet continued.
“…that it's better than learning from him.”
She had to deny the man she respected most.
“You don't think so, huh?”
At Sein's words, Parpi fell silent, then spoke.
“No. I saw the dagger you made that day.”
The dagger Sein forged, Semoral, was displayed in Dark Steel's highest spot.
“It's just that my head understands, but my heart doesn't.”
She was unique.
But.
“Honest, I like that. You're in.”
“Thank you.”
“And you?”
The young man with a frail look.
Dark circles down to his jaw showed he wasn't normal.
“Tuki… from Diarc….”
Parpi, rigid beside him, frowned at the half-dazed guy.
“Diarc is the alchemy lab, so why you?”
“…What I made….”
Tuki continued.
“Regeneration enhancement… permanent….”
In a low voice.
“In.”
Sein approved him immediately.
This was Demorus's alchemy lab.
Of course, there'd be at least one talent.
“From today, you two are the founding members of my private force….”
Sein told them.
“Semoral.”
“Thank you!”
“Thank… you.”
*
*
*
Demorus heir candidates held status equal or superior to the three lower organizations' leaders.
Thus, they enjoyed many privileges, like forming a private force.
And another was.
“What's that?”
“…A carriage?”
Free movement within the 3rd District's sub-areas where the main house was.
“It's been ages since I rode in a carriage.”
“Looks pretty luxurious, doesn't it?”
“It's black.”
The guards at the wooden stockade spoke curiously.
This was the 10th District.
The lowest, called the dump.
Merchants visited occasionally, but none came to the 10th in such a fancy carriage.
“H-Halt.”
Naturally, they cautiously stopped it.
Guarding a dump like the 10th, they lacked proper training.
So they didn't know.
“How dare you block the way.”
What the carriage they'd halted was.
“W-Well… we have to check first.”
It was their only rule, and seniors said it might snag a crumb or two.
Especially from such a luxurious carriage—the crumbs might be more.
But then.
Chill.
Goosebumps swept their bodies.
When had it happened?
“Country bumpkins who don't know better. Don't make a fuss, let's go.”
“As you command.”
Thin blood trickled from the guards' necks.
Had the voice come a beat later.
Thud.
They might have lost what was most precious.
The guards collapsed.
Only then did the carriage resume.
“Be grateful for the mercy. And remember well.”
The unassuming coachman warned the slumped guards.
“Only Demorus blood can ride the black carriage.”
The carriage passed through the plain gate.
“Hah! Hah!”
Only then did the guards exhale held breaths.
The memory was shock-blurred, but one thing was clear.
“D-Demorus!”
Demorus had come to this, the 10th District, Chichiron.
