I Want To Be A Magic Sword Blacksmith! - Chapter 4

“We’re here”

Following Gyariko, Eiji arrived at the hut.
It is located on the outskirts of the mining village, and there was no sign of anyone.
And even thought it was a hut, from the exterior it was a solid building. It would be believable to say that it was a detached house built by a rich person as a hobby.

“I built it”
“Eh!? You built it alone!?”

Eiji was surprised again by her sudden confession.

“Dwarves have high level construction skill as well. Except for my blacksmithing skill, I’m not as good as my father, onii-san and the others, but building a workshop like this is easy”
“Workshop……?”

Gyariko didn’t care about Eiji who could not catch up with his understanding and went inside the hut.
Eiji followed after her hastily and was astonished when he entered.

“This is……!?”

Inside the hut there was a complete set of blacksmithing tools.
The basic equipment of a furnace and an anvil, as well as the necessary tools such as hammers, bellows, and shears, are all there.

“A blacksmith workshop……!?”
“This is my private workshop. This is where I spend my free time, hammering and making whatever I like”
“Wha……! That means……!”

It means Gyariko had spent her free time training and increasing her blacksmithing skill.
She was super serious.

“I’ve always wanted to be a blacksmith. For that reason, I asked my father to let me train for three years in the dwarven capital. After I came back, I was told that I needed to learn other skills besides blacksmithing, so I was made a supervisor in the tunnel area……”
“I see…… so the seniors prediction that you might be bathing in the water was wrong”

“Eh, I do bathe, you know? Blacksmith work makes me sweats a lot”
“Eh!?”
“Eh!?”

Somehow, the two of them blushed and became silent.

“…… And so, Eiji. Although it is called blacksmithing, there are many kinds of things that are made by striking. The main products are farm tools and everyday items such as scissors. Blacksmith make more things than most people can imagine and distribute them to other races besides the dwarves”
“That’s right!”
“Among them, what do you think I’m making here?”

Eiji was bewildered as he felt a faint mystery in her voice.
In Gyariko’s private workshop, there were three closets in a row, all of which had tightly closed doors.
It seems she even put a lock on it.
Gyariko opened the locks one by one. It was as if she were unbuttoning the buttons of her clothes one by one.

“I have never shown the inside of this box, not even to my father. You are the first person I show it to……”

And then, Gyariko finally opened the closet door all the way.

“Take a look! Look at my painstaking works!”
“This is……!?”

The thing stored inside the closet was a sword.
Sword.
Moreover it is not just one, but so many that it almost fill the three closets.

“There are so many…… swords. Did Gyariko-san made all of these?”
“Yes! It’s my lifework!”

Gyariko starts to talk fast.

“While training my blacksmithing skill, it’s also because I want to strike a sword! That’s why I asked my father to take me to the Dwarven capital to train! You see, I want to make a great sword! I want to make the greatest sword no one has ever made!”
“…… Umm, but, why a sword?”

Gyariko’s rapid speech stopped at Eiji’s simple question.

“Weapons are unique to each race, right? The dwarves are good with hammers. And swords are used by……!?”
“That’s right, humans”

Gyariko’s voice sank a little.

“You heard it at the dinner too, right? That I was saved by the human hero in the past?”
“Y-Yes……”
“I wonder if it was the so-called toddler experience? I was 13 years old when I was rescued, I’m not at the age to be a toddler anymore, but that experience was still burned into my mind”

The human hero who saved Gyariko.
The sword wielded by that hero.

“The sword used by the hero, so of course it must have been a holy sword. The blade was blue and very beautiful”
“Hahaha……!!”
“At that time, I was fascinated by the beauty of the holy sword. Born as a dwarf who makes a living as a blacksmith, I want to make a sword as good as that holy sword!!”
“And so, you’ve been hammering so many swords?”
“That’s right! …… Eiji!!”

Gyariko approach Eiji abruptly.

“You are a human, right? Then you must know something about the holy sword, right!?”
“Ehhh!? Rather than knowing, how should I say it……!?”

It is quite irrational to say that anyone of the human race knows about the holy sword.

However, the momentum of a maiden in love with a sword ignores a few logical setbacks.

“Please! From your point of view as a human, what do you think of the sword I hammered?　Is it even close to the holy sword?”
“……..!”

Eiji wrinkled his brow as he selected one of the swords lined up in the closet and grabbed it.
At that moment, Gyariko’s expression lit up.
The sword that Eiji picked up is probably one of her proudest creation.

“Please back away for a bit”

Standing in the center of the room, Eiji swung the sword with a swish, while being careful not to let the tip hit anywhere.

“Wow……!”

Gyariko let out a long breath at the beauty of his sword’s swinging form.

“…… It’s a good sword. The hilt fits well in my hand”

Even though it was the first time he held it.

“The center of gravity does not shift, and I can see that the blade is straight and extended. I can test it out and split the helmet with no difficulty with this one”
“Then……!”
“But it is far from a holy sword”

At Eiji’s frank comment, Gyariko’s face, which was about to cleared up, instantly clouded over.

“I think Gyariko-san also aware of it, right?”
“Yeah…… because the sword here is made from iron taken from our mine…..!”

That’s exactly what Eiji thought.

No matter how good the blacksmith’s skill is, no matter if her blacksmithing skill level exceeds 1000.
As long as she only uses iron as material, she will never be able to make a sword that surpasses the holy sword.

“….. But, I’m extremely happy”
“Eh?”
“Because I met someone who has the same goal as me”

Eiji put the sword away in the closet for a moment and then gripped Gyariko’s hand tightly.

“Eh? Huh?”
“Gyariko-san……! The reason I work here is because I want to create a sword that surpasses the holy sword!!”

Gyariko’s heart beats faster at his sudden confession.

“No, I want to make a sword that surpasses the holy sword, a sword that also surpasses the supreme holy sword……! I came to the mining village because I thought I had to acquire blacksmithing skills for that purpose. I never thought I would meet someone there who had the skills that I wanted. ……!”

For Gyariko, it was too sudden and confusing.
The first stranger she invited into hersecret workshop was Eiji, because he was a human and might have some connection to the holy sword held by the heroes.
The sharp abnormality that she could faintly sense in Eiji was another reason for her to be attracted to him. In the tunnels, she didn’t want him to realize this, so she sometimes treated Eiji badly.

But she never thought that just letting her guard down for a bit would to such a rapid development……!
…… The maiden Gyariko were in turmoil.

“Please, Gyariko-san, make me your direct disciple! Please teach me how to hammer a sword!!”
“Eh!? That, umm……!? That sort of thing, I need to talk to my father first……!? Also to my mother……!?”

At this rate he thought she would be overwhelmed soon and nod with a, “Hmm”.

“It’s a monster! A monster has appeared!!”

Such voice reached the secret workshop on the outskirts of the village.