After having breakfast the next day, we leave right away to go see Darc the blacksmith.
We would probably bother him if we all went, so it’s just my party, Naoto’s, and Yuno. That’s still over ten people, so it’s actually a lot anyway.
Apparently the others had a meeting with Leight yesterday, and they’re going to have a look around the forest.
Ryuryu is taking us to Darc’s smithy, which just happens to be on the opposite side of where I built the houses. There are also fields around it, and no other houses.
Apparently he doesn’t live here, he just comes here to work, and the smithy is far from the houses to minimize the damage in case something goes wrong.
Darc is the main blacksmith, but he has a few pupils. There are dwarves among them, but they came here specifically just to be Arc’s pupils.
Apparently he demands a certain level of skills and knowledge from anyone who wishes to be his pupil, and that standard is pretty tough. But that’s the standard he sets for people to create their own smithy. Conversely, he doesn’t really demand that standard from people of Fuxto.
“Ooh, ooh, Ryuryu? It’s been a while.”
It’s the first thing he says when he sees us. His stern face changes, and his cheeks loosen.
I feel like I’ve seen that face. It’s the face I saw when we used to go to see my mother’s parents.
“I heard about it from Leight, and I read the beast king’s letter. But do you know my policy?”
“Yep, but… Can you be a bit flexible…”
Says Ryuryu while looking up with her eyes moist, and Darc wavers.
“Y-you can look around. And you can ask my pupils what you want.”
He says, as he moves deeper into the smithy with heavy footsteps.
“No good uh…”
Ryuryu wanted Darc to teach the basics, but just getting to stay here and listen is big.
I mean, even if they’re called pupils, they’re pretty good apparently.
I can’t be too greedy, and besides, I have something to test.
NEW
Blacksmith Lv1
I learned this new skill last night.
Like the Cooking skill, this one gives me advice about smiting.
What I want to do right now is do some smiting of my own, but I’ll start by watching the others work.
Darc said I can ask what I want, but everyone’s busily moving around, so I have no time to say anything. I don’t want to get in the way of their work either.
One thing I learn by watching them work is that the Blacksmith skill has an effect even when I’m just watching. They don’t explain anything before they start forging swords, but they do tell me what it is they’re doing… That said, they work so fast and without wasted movements, that I have trouble understanding all the information entering my head.
I would’ve blown a fuse without Parallel Thinking. It’s tough even with it.
But since Ryuryu is here, Darc stops here and there to ask his pupils what they’re doing.
He says he’s making sure they understand what he thought, but I’m sure it’s for my sake.
“Try hammering by yourselves next.”
Darc finishes one sword, and tells his pupils to work on their own. He’s tough on the dwarves, but a little different on people from the village.
He’s still tough, but when they don’t understand something, he explains it without yelling.
The dwarves look a little jealous.
“It’s the same as always.”
Says Ryuryu, sounding nostalgic.
◇ ◇ ◇
The dwarves keep working, but the people from the village step outside to take a break. I think it’s tough to even stand in this heat if you’re not used to it. Elsa and Alto have already gone outside.
In the end, the ones who stay are me, Sera, Chris, Kotori, and Shun.
“I didn’t expect you to stick around… You’ve got guts.”
Darc praises us a little.
It’s not like everyone left because they couldn’t handle it. They had reasons that we don’t need to get into.
But… Then I look at my skill. Just by watching them, it’s gone up to level three. So that’s why I felt I was understanding things better as they went along.
I can’t hammer out a sword as smoothly as them, but when I think about making a sword, ideas pop into my mind about how to do it.
I can tell that if I follow this procedure, it will work. Then again, making a sword and making something that could be sold are two different things.
Still… I want to give it a shot. It was like this with skills like Cooking and Swordmaster too, so I know from experience that the best way to get a feel for it is to actually do it.
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Thanks for the treat.