CH 3.1

CHAPTER 3 PART 1 – A BLACKSMITH’S DAUGHTER

“Excuse meee…”

What the girl had taken me to was one of the most striking places inside the workshop. There were several blacksmiths inside, all swinging their hammer with great intensity.

The girl went over and talked to the person appearing to be the chief. “Daaad! Can we watch you work together?”

“What, your friend? Sure thing! But watch from a distance since it’s dangerous!”

“Thank you!”

The chief, rather, the girl’s father was of a very short and stout build. He was a man with brawny muscles, unkempt beard, and most importantly, about 150 cm tall, which was quite short for an adult male. The chief seemed to be a dwarf—by the way, the dwarf in this world wasn’t a race as short as seen in manga or anime; and their height was about the same as an ordinary small statured human.

That means this girl’s also a dwarf, huh. Setting aside adults, it sure is kinda hard to tell when still a kid. On a closer look, the ears look slightly pointy, but even that is unnoticeable if you’re not paying attention.

Also when I look around the workshop, more than half of the working blacksmiths are dwarves. I see, looks like this is the workshop of the dwarves. The human blacksmiths are apprentices, I wonder?

Pang pang pang!⸻together with high-pitched sounds, the blacksmiths were single-mindedly raising their hammers and hitting them, raising their hammers and hitting them repeatedly. With each strike, the shape of the bright red iron was gradually changing.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Eh?”

The girl spoke up while watching the blacksmiths. “I also want to be able to do blacksmithing like that in the future.”

“I’m sure you can.”

Not that it was without any basis.

“Will I be able to?”

“Yep, that’s right. I mean, you long for it, right? Then there’s nothing stopping you, no?”

It wasn’t my ability, but ‘perseverance makes one stronger.’ It didn’t change even if there were no inherent skills. Of course there were individual differences in being good with things, though.

“I’m… really looking forward to it. I want to give it a try soon myself.”

She looked a bit anxious, though happy when told that she could. Surely it must be because she still wasn’t allowed to do any actual blacksmithing herself. Then she could just give it a try. She could just watch closely if it was dangerous.

“Then just try asking your dad. If it’s dangerous doing it alone, just ask him to let you watch close by.”

“Hnnn, I wonder if he’ll get mad at me.”

“It’s fine even if he gets mad, no? You want to do it, right?”

“…I suppose that’s true, too! I’ll ask now.” And the girl immediately walked up to her father.

“Hey, I told you to keep your distance since it’s dangerous.”

“Dad. I, also want to do blacksmithing.”

“What? I think it’s still early for you, though…”

“I want to try hitting iron, too. …So please teach me. I beg you!”

“……”

The father was silent for a moment at the sight of the serious girl. A tense air passed over the two of them.

Then dozens of seconds passed, and the father was the first to give in.

“Haahh, no choice. Well, ‘twas also the same with me… I used to pester my old man every time he was working, and got yelled at everytime. …Alright, I’ll watch over you when this is done. So take a step back for now and look at my work closely.”

“…! Thanks!”

It looked like she’d gotten the permission to give blacksmithing a try without a problem.

“No, not like that! Lower your hips, put your strength into it and hit it! Do it faster. Or the iron gonna get cold then!”

“Y-yes!”

“Heat it again! Listen, blacksmithing is a battle between time and stamina. You said it yourself you want to do it, so don’t get cold feet!”

After that, the sword the chief had been hitting was finished, and the chief was now giving the girl guidance in blacksmithing. And I was watching them from the side, a little distance away. It seemed that the work was entrusted to the other craftsmen. Does that how a workshop work, I wonder…

Despite sweating buckets, the girl was desperately swinging the hammer under the spartan training of the chief. She was still very young, so despite how much aptitude the dwarf race had for blacksmithing, suddenly hammering iron looked to be a tough one. But nonetheless, that expression of hers was much more vibrant, unlike when she was watching the blacksmiths from the side. That’s nice, a youngster with a dream! Oh so youthful!

And then even after how many hours passed of heating the iron and hitting it, she kept on repeatedly heating and hitting; and then the time to dip the iron into water finally came with the chief’s instructions.

She finally grabbed the hammered lump of iron with tongs and dipped it into cold water. Sssshh—the iron was cooling down rapidly. After repeating that process several times and it finally was in a temperature where it could be grasped, the girl held it directly with her hands and was spacing out for a moment. It was something she’d forged on her own for the first time. She must be so deeply moved.

“Hey, don’t get all spaced out. Next is filing. It ain’t gonna be a blade unless you polish it.”

“…Y-yes!” The girl replied in a fluster and dashed to the place where the grindstone was.

Then she was taught how to file by the chief accompanied by scolding; when it was about to get dark after also taking how many hours, finally, “…It-it’s dooone!” she yelled.

It looked like, for the first time in her life, the blade she’d forged by herself was finally finished.

“Wooow, congrats!”

“Well, that’s pretty good for a first time. Now you’ll be making the same thing every day. Be sure to remember the feeling you had today, got it?”

“Okay!”

It was already dark all around. There was almost no sunlight entering the workshop, so just the fire from the furnace was dimly glowing in the darkness.

In such a moment, the girl was holding the finished product in her hands—the knife with a blade about 20 centimeters long was shining in silver, reflecting the little bit of the sunlight that came in.

“……Pretty,” a single word, the girl muttered. I felt exactly the same way.

“Hey, kid. Looks like you ended up keeping company the whole day, huh. Sorry for my daughter’s sake.” The chief approached and talked to me. I’d presumed on my own that he was a crusty person, but he seemed to be friendlier than I expected.

“No, I don’t mind. I’m the one who said I wanted to watch anyway… Rather, I’m sorry for barging in so suddenly.”

“Nah, don’t mind it. You gave my daughter a push. It’s a welcome for me, and I ain’t gonna be harsh about it. That’s right, kid. Gotta say, as a thanks, go choose and bring any weapon you like.”

“Eh, that is… Is it okay? They’re for sale, right?”

“What we got here ain’t nothing that expensive. The expensive ones are basically custom-made. Ready-made stuff ain’t costing that much. Don’t be shy and go take it.”

“Uhuh, then I will take up on your offer…”

I pointed to a throwing knife with a blade about five centimeters long being displayed on a shelf by the wall.

“Can I have some of these?”

“You alright with that? There are some much better swords, y’know?” the chief asked with a face that said: ‘won’t a boy choose something like that?’

Well, certainly it wasn’t like I didn’t want something like a sword, but it was just too much for my current strength. I couldn’t raise my strength with Shock after all. It was also hard to say that non-attribute magic body strengthening was quite perfect.

“No, I’m alright with this. I think I can use it well, so…”

“I see. We’ve got lots of those in stock in the back, so I’ll give you about 20 for now.”

“Eh, y-you’re giving me so many!”

I was so surprised by the so unexpected number that I reflexively yelled.

“What, don’t you want it?”

“I mean, thank you very much!”

It was a valuable kindness. I’d be gratefully using it for my magic training. Although still in the conception stage, lately I’d just come up with a new application of magic.

The girl must’ve come to herself while the chief and I were making such a deal; the girl turned to look at me. Although greatly dirtied with soot and sweat, that face of hers was bright and incredibly beautiful.

“Thank you very much for today. Thanks to you, I was able to take the first step.”

“I’m not doing anything, you know? You’re the one who worked hard.”

“No, I still want to thank you even so,” the girl said, and went to hold out the sword she was holding to me.

“You made it pretty well.”

“……I, want you to accept this.”

“For, me? …You sure? It’s your first, precious work, right?”

“Without you, this knife wouldn’t have come into this world. That’s why, I want you to accept this knife,” the girl told me, somehow looking very nervous. She was probably thinking that I wouldn’t accept her first, crudely made work.

“…In that case, I’ll gratefully accept it.”

“!! Thank you so much!” The girl gave a very happy, broad smile the moment I said I’d accept it. I’d use this knife with great care.

Huh, come to think of it.

“Come to think of it, looks like I haven’t asked your name yet. What’s your name? I’m Eberhard.”

I introduced myself, having remembered that I hadn’t asked the girl’s name yet. The girl introduced herself back in a hurry, also seeming to have completely forgotten all about names.

“I-I’m Mayle. My name is Mayle Aalendal.”

“So it’s Mayle-chan. Can I call you May?” When I asked, Mayle-chan blushed and panicked.

“…It’s a nickname, I’ve been given a nickname!”1

Her panicking was incredible. Maybe this girl, also like me, had never had a friend before.

“Mayle-chan?”

“Ah, umm, I’m totally okay with being called May. And I also… umm.”

“Har is fine.”

“T-then, Har-dono…”

Maybe it’s her first time calling a friend’s name by nickname, but her innocent reaction is cute. Lily’s tomboyness is cute, but May’s sweetness is also cute. The first impression is the total opposite; in this one she looks like an energetic one, but her personality is actually like this. You really never know with people.

“Ah, will you come back again tomorrow?”

“Of course. I’ll come back tomorrow and the day after as well. Also, you should come over to mine to play sometime, May. There’s a big garden, so we can run and play all we want.”

“There is a garden? I see that you’re rich.”

“Ah, o-oh my~ Is that so? Is that so, I wonder? Maybe that’s right, hahaha!”

That was close. It almost got out that I was being incognito. The town we were living in, Heitburg, was a fortified one, so there was not much room for land. Having a garden alone would mean that you got a high social status. I believed that it was settled once I invited her, but she maybe wouldn’t come to my house if my identity was found out before I invited her after all.

I wanted to be as sure as possible that I held on to my precious friend. Lily was in the neighboring territory, but it was still a residence in the duke’s territory, which was hundreds of kilometers away, and it’d be painful to lose a friend in the territory like May, whom I could play together with frequently.

Then I, receiving lots of throwing knives from the chief and going to bring home lots of metal with May’s work included, walked home through the town after sunset while the two were seeing me off and the bag was all clattering.

When I got back, mom asked where I’d gotten a large number of knives; and when I told her I’d become friends with a blacksmith’s daughter, this one brief comment was what came out.

“Har-kun is really popular as expected~!”

Something’s just, kinda a bit off-point, I thought to myself.