Chapter 24 (2/2)
After training into the late night, Luke and Kurotan left the inn after a good night’s sleep and breakfast. They were trying to repair Kurotan’s axe.
“I still do not enjoy using a sword, because it’s small and thin.”
“Yeah, and I think the Belloche sword style would be better executed with an axe than a sword. The destructiveness of an axe along with the continuity of the sword style would be extremely hard to deal with.”
Luke and Kurotan walked towards a smithy, asking people for directions if they got lost on the way.
Ddaang. Ddaang. Ddaang.
The size of the smithy was rather big. Armored men and their weapons crowded the smithy. They seemed to be there to repair their equipment for the coming martial tournament.
Luke’s sharp gaze scanned the room. His face brightened when he discovered a free blacksmith sitting in the corner.
“Follow me.”
Luke and Kurotan walked over to the corner. The blacksmith was an old man with a face full of wrinkles, currently slowly enjoying a beer. His face and arms were covered with burns, testifying to his lifetime of hammering away at steel.
The blacksmith glared at Luke who had come to stand in front of him.
“I don’t even wish to know why you are here, go find another blacksmith. I do not do small jobs.”
There was definitely a reason the blacksmith had been free. Luke smiled, despite the old man’s grumpy mood.
“It’s not a small job. Would you take a look at my weapon first?”
Luke placed the damaged axe on the old man’s work station. The blacksmith’s disapproving stare disappeared immediately as his eyes widened.
“What?”
The old man immediately sat up straighter and studied the two pieces of the bisected axe.
The surface of the cut, having been severed by an aura master, was impossibly smooth like a mirror.
The old man’s voice trembled as he spoke, rubbing the surface of the cut with his finger.
“Ho, how is this possible? It-It doesn’t even make sense.”
People started to gather around at the old man’s response. The other blacksmiths also ceased their hammering and looked towards the old man.
“This axe was made with molten steel, not by hammering. How could it be cut this cleanly? This is impossible even with a magic blade enchanted with a sharpness spell.”
The old man looked at Luke with wide eyes.
“What happened to this axe?”
The crowd’s eyes all turned to Luke, or more specifically his mouth. Luke took a deep breathe before seriously facing the old man.
“This axe was cut by the aura blade of an aura master.”
The old man immediately slapped his knee in excitement.
“Of course. Of course, it would be impossible if it wasn’t an aura blade. But….”
The old man glanced Luke up and down rather suspiciously.
“You don’t seem to be at a level where you can take on an aura master.
“There was a misunderstanding and a brief clash. I didn’t take him on, just blocked his attacks twice.”
Luke remembered earl Wellington and Kurotan’s clash.
“A mysterious aura master mistook me for an enemy and attacked. You see the bottom of the axe also has a cut?”
The crowd’s eyes now looked at the axe. Indeed, there was a cut going through about half of the axe.
The old man nodded.
“Yes, this is only possible with an aura blade. Yes, of course.”
“That was what happened after the first clash. The second clash is what cut the axe clean in half.”
Luke glanced briefly at Kurotan, uncomfortable because he was telling the story as if he had been the one to clash with the aura master. Kurotan, however, was standing expressionlessly.
“Afterwards, the aura master’s kick sent me flying back quite a distance.”
The audience held their breath. Just imagining the one on one battle with an aura master was enough to give them gooseb.u.mps.
“When I blocked two of his attacks, the aura master ceased attacking me and asked for my ident.i.ty. Fortunately, we were able to solve the misunderstanding.”
The old man heaved a sigh with the end of the story.
“I see. That explains the axe.”
The audience continued to look at Luke without dispersing. To their eyes, Luke seemed to be a kid with incredible luck.
“So why are you hear at the smithy?”
“I am thinking right now… I’ve considered repairing the axe, but it doesn’t seem like a bad idea to leave it in its current state as evidence of my battle with an aura master.”
The old man’s eyes flashed with greed.
“Give it to me. I will give you three axes from my personal collection.”
“Well…”
It was then that someone from the audience shouted out.
“I will pay you fifty denarins. You should be able to buy four axes with that money, so sell the axe to me.”
The first offer set off a cascade of offers from the rest of the crowd.
“I will pay you seventy denarins.”
“One hundred denarins. Any object with the mark of an aura master is priceless.”
Everyone at the smithy was here in order to attain fame at the martial tournament. Their final goal could be said to reach the end of their martial path and become an aura master.
It would have been impossible for them to ignore an axe that had been cut in half by an aura master.
“Two hundred fifty denarins, my entire fortune. Please sell it to me.”
After a while, the price of the axe had exceeded three hundred denarins. Luke couldn’t help but gape at the sight of the frantic crowd.
‘This is why the Sith Empire has been able to survive while surrounded by unfriendly countries.’
Although Luke felt impressed by the crowd, he still desperately needed the money. The axe was finally sold to the highest bidder for a grand sum of five hundred denarins.
“Here you go. Please, take care of it.”
The hairy man who had handed Luke five hundred denarins worth of gold coins only smiled wholeheartedly.
“Don’t worry, this will be my heirloom and handed down through the generations…”’
Luke smiled bitterly watching the back of the hairy man as he walked away while cradling the axe.
Although the hairy man had stated that he would treat it as an heirloom, it was more likely that he had purchased the axe just to brag to others about the story Luke had told the crowd.
‘Well, that’s that. I have the money to bet on Kurotan, as well as prepare some equipment for him.’
Luke turned to look at the old smith, who looked disappointed. It seemed that the old man had had high hopes for purchasing an object with an aura master’s mark.
“I will definitely give you the chance to purchase another object if the opportunity comes, sir.”
“d.a.m.n, I don’t think that opportunities like yours are common. Anyways, I suppose you will need a new axe.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You are a man who has survived an encounter with an aura master. You have more than enough qualifications to fight with a weapon that I’ve made. Come, follow me.”
Luke and Kurotan followed the old man as he walked deeper into the smithy.
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