Volume 10 - Chapter 9 – The Pitiable Beauty and the Blacksmith (2/2)

“No, I wasn’t asking you to make it Duston. I’d just like you to provide the materials.”

Duston then began to frown.

“Hmmh? Well, if it’s only that then since it’s for no one other than you then I’ll do it, missus. But who are you planning on asking to make it?”

“Ah, this here Jin-dono.”

“Whaat? As if someone as skinny as him could swing a hammer!”

Since Reiko seemed to be about to jump out after hearing that, Jin immediately put his hand on her head. Reiko then gave up, however.

“Onii-chan’s awesome!”

Hannah couldn’t stay silent.

“M-missy?”

As you’d expect, not even the stubborn Duston could yell back at a girl young enough to be his granddaughter.

“Onii-chan can make anything! Even a pump, a trailer, and Mint!”

Hannah said and glared at him. But Duston seemed to have caught interest in one of the words Hannah said.

“M-missy, what did you just say? Didn’t you say ‘pump’?”

“I did! Onii-chan asked if drawing water was difficult and made a pump!”

“What the…”

Duston stared at Jin with a surprised look on his face. That was also what Gloria was feeling. She too looked as surprised as Duston.

“T-the pump was made by Jin-dono!? I never heard this before, that’s amazing!”

“Y-yes, well.”

Jin who was the topic of the conversation couldn’t keep up with the tense atmosphere and didn’t really know how to react though.

“…Well, I can understand when I think of how Magi Craftsmen are capable of all sorts of amazing things.”

Duston said subduedly after calming down and inviting the group inside to sit on some chairs that were in the corner.

“From the start I wanted to make tools and Magi Tools, you see. It’s enjoyable to make tools that are helpful for everyone, isn’t it?”

Jin said with a quiet tone. That was probably what he really was thinking after having so many fight scenes recently.

“Ooh, you understand it even though you’re so young! That’s right, the commoner’s daily lives come first!”

After hearing Jin’s line Duston seemed to once again become high-spirited.

“That’s why I make knives or spoons or kitchen knives and such!”

“Ah, Duston, sorry but they don’t really have much time either so if you could get the materials soon that’d be a great help…”

Thinking that if she stayed quiet the task would never get finished, Gloria spoke out. Although in reality she too wanted to hear more from Jin who was considered the inventor of the pump.

“Mph, ah, I suppose. Is there anything you want? I say, but it’s not like my place has Adamantite or Mithril or such?”

Jin was the one who replied.

“Iron will do. After that, if it’s alright please let us watch you work for a while.”

“Hm? I’ve got plenty of iron so that’s fine. But watching me, well, I don’t mind but is watching so interesting?”

Duston said, but Jin then turned to look at Elsa and Hannah and said,

“Elsa, it’s good for you to see the way edged tools are made without magic. And Hannah, this mister’s got the same occupation as your Grandfather did.”

“Mm. If you say so, Jin-nii.”

“Eh? The same as grandpa?”

Elsa nodded, while Hannah stared in puzzlement.

“What, so missy’s grandfather also was a blacksmith? Great, be sure to watch.”

Duston said and stood up. He lit up the furnace. The furnace seemed to work with magic, as there was no coal or charcoal to be found.

“I don’t make my own iron. I make tools out of iron I’ve bought.”

While talking he gripped a suitably large ingot with pliers and heated it up in the furnace.

Once it had become red he took it out, placed it on top of an anvil, then hit it with a hammer to shape it.

If it became cold and stiff the quality of the work would become worse, so mid-way he once again heated it up in the furnace.

“Co~ol, it’s becoming shaped like a kitchen knife.”

Hannah raised her voice in astonishment. Duston kept shaping the iron into a kitchen knife using just the hammer.

Once it was roughly the shape of a knife he kept working on the shape with a chisel and a file

A kitchen knife in the style of a chef’s knife was created.

“This will be quenched next. Sorry, but the method’s a secret so I can’t let you see it…Is what I’d like to say but I don’t mind you watching from a distance.”

When told so, Jin’s group retreaded farther to the corner of the workshop.

They watched from afar as Duston grasped the kitchen knife with pliers and inserted it in the furnace.

This time he stared at it carefully and when he estimated that the knife had turned orange he took it out and immersed it in water at one go.

There was a hisssssing sound and steam rose up. Even at a distance it was intense.

Elsa and Hannah who saw it for the first time seemed a little surprised.

“Now then, with this the quenching is complete. Finally comes tempering.”

Duston muttered an explanation and once again gripped the kitchen knife with the pliers.

This time he warmed it up above the furnace without putting it inside. He kept it like that for a while then took it away from the furnace.

“It’s done.”

After waiting for the metal to cool and using the file to clean up the surface, he sharpened it with a whetstone. Finally he added a handle.

In approximately one hour he had finished making the knife.