Chapter 35

On this day, I decided to finish by forging just one more. The other one would be for tomorrow. Rike had also finished his knife, so we put out the fire in the hearth and ended today’s work. While we were cleaning up, Sermia returned from her gathering.

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back, how was it?”

“Hmm, it was okay, I guess.”

In the basket Sermia put down were medicinal herbs for fever and inflammation, fruits similar to apples, and fruits that looked like wild strawberries.

“Wow, you got quite a lot.”

“If the timing had been better, I could have gathered more.”

“Well, as for the herbs, sure, but as for the fruits, any more would have just rotted. This is fine. Thank you.”

I made sure to reassure the slightly pouting Sermia.

For dinner, we added the apple-like fruit to our usual menu, making it a bit more luxurious.

“Ah, I’ve never tried this before, but it’s delicious.”

I said, eating the fruit. The taste was almost like an apple, but of course, it hadn’t been genetically modified, so it wasn’t very sweet. I didn’t eat them very often in my previous world, but the familiar taste was comforting.

“Sometimes, there are really sour ones.”

“Yeah, when I was a kid, we used to figure out which ones were sour.”

Sermia and Rike said. Well, with natural things, that’s to be expected. I’d like to try cooking them at some point.

Today, we talked a lot about the fruits Sermia and Rike had gathered. There are also fruits that resemble oranges and watermelons, so I might ask Kamiro about them sometime.

The next day, Rike and I were back to blacksmithing, and Sermia was going to try to catch some prey. I thought it might be a good idea to have Sermia’s cycle be hunting → helping → gathering → hunting → helping → town → rest, with a weekly rest day. That was part of the original plan, so I’ll keep it in mind for the future.

Today, I started on the second one. The work itself was exactly the same as yesterday. Yesterday, I was feeling my way through it, but today, I knew that doing it the same way as yesterday would be fine, so I finished about three hours earlier than yesterday.

Since I had the time, I decided to add decorations to both swords. Using the same tool I used to smooth the surface, I flattened the middle of the blade. If it was even a little off, the weight balance would be ruined, so I had to work carefully. After flattening it, I cleaned the surface and lightly swung it to check if anything was wrong. When I tried it, there was no particular sense of discomfort in the swing.

I carved a design into the flattened part with a chisel. Again, I had to be careful not to upset the balance, so I used my cheat to ensure the weight distribution remained even as I carved. After carving both, I removed the burrs. By the time I finished, I had used up almost all the time I had saved. I used to make model kits in my previous world, so I really enjoy this kind of work...

Today, Sermia brought back a bird. After preparing it, I made chicken (leaf bird) steaks, which are pretty basic. However, I used the wild strawberries (or similar fruits) Sermia gathered yesterday and the wine we had to make a raspberry sauce-like dish.

“Wow, this is amazing, Eizou!”

Sermia was jumping with joy. She can be very childlike at times. Physically, she’s 25, but mentally, she’s probably not quite there yet.

“Hey, that’s bad manners, Sermia.”

“But it’s not something you see every day!”

“Indeed. Even in my workshop, such things are rare.”

Rike also seemed a bit surprised by today’s meal. I don’t know how old Rike is in human years, but he’s probably middle-aged. He hasn’t been visibly shaken by anything... except for things related to blacksmithing.

“Well, today is the completion day of my first custom order. It’s a celebration.”

“I see. Congratulations, then.”

“Thank you.”

“Let me also congratulate you.”

“Yeah. Rike helped a bit, so thank you.”

That night, we poured wine with our dinner and had a lively meal.

The next morning, as I returned from fetching water, I saw a familiar figure in front of the house.

“You’re here pretty early again.”

I called out. The person grinned and said,

“I couldn’t wait to see it! I rushed over before dawn!”

The tall, red-haired figure—Helen—said, her eyes sparkling. She had this much energy after rushing over before dawn. How energetic is she?

“Haven’t you had breakfast yet? Come in and eat. We’re just about to.”

“Really? That’s great!”

“I’m not that thick-skinned to sit and eat breakfast while leaving a guest outside.”

Helen and I went into the house.

“Sit wherever you like.”

“Sure thing.”

Helen plopped down into a chair at the table. I put the water jug down in the kitchen and started preparing breakfast.

After that, I’ll just say that this morning’s breakfast was unusually noisy.

After breakfast, urged on by Helen, we all went to the workshop.

“Here’s the long-awaited item.”

I handed Helen the two short swords wrapped in cloth.

“Can I take a look?”

“Of course.”

I thought Helen would rip the cloth off, but she slowly and carefully unwrapped it as if it were a fragile item. As the blade was revealed, I could see Helen’s excitement growing.

Finally, the full appearance was revealed. The steel gleamed, and a carving of a lightning bolt ran down the center of the blade. The rest was a simple, practical design, with a fat cat sculpture on the pommel. There were two of them.

“I remember you said ‘lightning sword.’ I included the nickname in the decoration. Try swinging it to check the balance. It shouldn’t be off.”

I said, and Helen tentatively gripped both handles and swung them so fast that they made a whistling sound. Strangely, it didn’t feel dangerous, but if you got caught in it, you’d be sliced up in an instant.

The test swings continued for a while, then suddenly stopped. Helen was breathing heavily.

“What do you think?”

I asked Helen. She was looking down. She was about to throw the swords... but instead, she gently placed them on the workshop floor.

“Wow! This is amazing! Perfect!! I’m so glad I asked you!”

She shouted and hugged me.

“Really, you’re happy... ouch! It hurts!!”

She continued to hug me with all her might until Rike and Sermia forcibly pulled her off.