Chapter 88

After everyone bowed, we got to work. I put the fire in the hearth, sent air to raise the temperature, and once it was hot enough, I inserted the mithril sword to heat it. Meanwhile, I also put a fire in the furnace, which was for Rike and the others to work on.

When the mithril reached the upper limit of the temperature range for processing, I took it out and hammered it. The clear, glass-like sound echoed through the forge, and sparks flew. I hammered quickly to get as many strikes in as possible.

However, it wasn't just about hammering quickly. If my hand slipped even a little, the magic woven into the mithril would escape. I had to be both cautious and swift, a difficult balance to strike. Indeed, there were few people who could handle this. Most blacksmiths didn't understand magic, and even I was unsure if I truly understood it, but I could still see the flow of magic.

Those who could see the flow of magic, in a world where magic users were extremely rare, would likely become mages rather than blacksmiths, ensuring a comfortable life. As a result, almost no human blacksmiths could properly handle mithril.

The mithril, nearly saturated with magic, made a clear sound but felt very heavy and was difficult to work with. It would cool down and become unworkable after just a few strikes. I heated the sword in the hearth again, took it out, and hammered it. The clear, glass-like sound of my hammering and the metallic sound of Rike hammering a regular sword echoed loudly in the workshop. Meanwhile, Sermia and Diana were making molds and pouring melted iron from the furnace.

The fire, wind, hammer, and people each made their own sounds and did their own jobs. This space felt very comfortable to me.

However, the mithril wasn't stretching at all, making progress very slow. Still, it was a relief that it seemed we could meet the two-week deadline.

By the end of the day, I managed to stretch the mithril to two-thirds of the remaining length, leaving one-third to go. Even this was probably much faster than a regular blacksmith, but the slower progress compared to a regular steel sword was quite stressful. The beautiful sound when I hammered it was a consolation. Without that, the progress might have been even slower.

But thinking about Apoita-kara and other unknown ores, I couldn't afford to be discouraged by the mithril. I had to push through and build my confidence.

The next day, considering yesterday's progress, I knew I would spend the whole day hammering the mithril. I didn't forget to change the water and salt in the shrine and bow, which had become a new daily routine. Rike and the others were working on the regular models, and Ridi was scheduled to observe my work again. Though, she would just be watching me hammer the mithril all day.

"Ridi-san."

"Yes?"

While heating the mithril in the hearth, I asked, and Ridi answered with her usual cool, clear voice.

"Is it enjoyable to watch?"

"Yes. If it were a regular job, I might find it boring after a whole day, but your work is not ordinary."

"Thank you."

I took it as a compliment and thanked her. It was indeed not ordinary.

"Also, elves have long lifespans, so a day feels shorter to us than it does to humans."

It made sense. The perception of time was different. Wait, if that's true, then Sermia's five years must have felt like a very long time. Unfortunately, even with my cheats, I couldn't understand that feeling as a human.

"The sound is also very nice. I've never heard a blacksmith in my village or any other village produce such a beautiful sound."

"Does the sound differ depending on who hammers it?"

"Yes. The more efficiently one can infuse magic, the better the sound the mithril makes. I don't think there are many elves, even among blacksmiths, who can do what you do."

"Interesting."

Pretending not to notice Rike nodding in agreement, I hammered the heated mithril and responded. The mithril rang with a beautiful sound.

"The sound is also influenced by the refinement level of the mithril."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. While steel doesn't work that way, the purer the mithril, the easier it is to store magic, and the sound when hammered is clearer."

"I see, that makes sense."

I produced the clear sound that was apparently hard to achieve. This explained why the mithril rapier I made before felt different. The mithril then had a lower "refinement level" than this one, meaning it had more impurities. This made it easier to hammer with less effort, as less magic was retained. This wasn't a far-fetched guess.

I decided to look into methods to increase the refinement level. Listening to the beautiful, glass-like sound, I thought about it.