"Old man, we have the antler."
Thibault and co entered the brick-walled house with Vincent in tow. As soon as he stepped in, a wave of heat passed through his body.
"Really?"
Vincent looked at the blacksmith.
Blonde hair and beard. Highlighted Muscles because of all the sweat he had worked up. A black hammer in his right hand and an anvil in his left one. By all means, he looked like a titan with all of those features, except for one fact.
"A dwarf?"
He had never seen a dwarf before.
'So tiny!'
"Vincent, this old dwarf is the main blacksmith of the town, Beauvais."
"Who is this urchin?"
Beauvais looked at him cautiously and asked.
"He is Vincent, a traveler from Malen."
"He made it through the forest alone?"
"No, he was with two other travelers."
Beauvais came closer to him and scanned with his eyes.
"What is your job, urchin?"
"A-an Adventurer."
"Hmm..."
He continued to stare at him.
"Old man, you are scaring him."
He turned towards Thibault and asked,
"I was just checking his mana. Not too shabby for a 10-year old."
He snatched the antler and went back to his table.
"One shortsword, coming up."
He started to shave out the unwanted parts of the antler. With each attempt, he was only able to shave off a little bit.
The other kids had already seen this happen countless times. They sat on the ground and started to talk to each other. They wanted to talk to the traveler, but they gave up after calling out to him a few times.
Vincent was staring at those hands with rapt attention. The movement speed continued to increase, but it didn't seem like Beauvais was worried.
The blacksmith started to move the antler in his hand. The anvil was now shaving off minute details, and the black shavings were flying everywhere.
He could finally make out a shape. The tang and shoulders were slowly starting to appear. Then came the fuller, the back, the flat, and the tip. It was still an uneven weapon, but the outline was ready. Only about half an hour had passed.
The veins on his head were visible.
First, he started to polish the other parts of the blade and using a metal filer. Slowly, the uneven parts started to become even. When he was done with the filing, he looked at the black blade. The shape was almost finished.
He took the whetstone from the table.
Sparks flew everywhere. Vincent created a barrier to protect himself.
He was using both of his arms to rub the edge of the sword in rhythm. Over time, his hands slightly moved to make sure that the sharpening was perfect.
The blade was getting sharper. His focus was at its peak. He would not allow any mistakes from this point forward.
"Done."
There were several burns on his body. He wasn't wearing anything to protect himself while performing the task. He placed the blade in a bowl of water, after which he took a potion from the table and drank some of it.
The burn wounds started to heal. Beauvais took the blade out of the bowl of water and dried it with a cloth.
The blade was looking good, but it was still only a normal blade.
He took out a cast and placed the blade in the middle. It fit perfectly, leaving some space on the lower side for the hilt, specifically the tang snd the shoulder region. After that, he took the cast to the forge and opened the lid. The molten metal was ready.
Using a scooper, he put some of the mana on the tang and shoulder part of the blade. The other parts were tightly packed to avoid the liquid metal from spilling out.
After judging that the quantity was enough, he closed the lid and took the cast towards a water bath.
The water started to boil almost instantly, but he used mana to condense the steam back into the water, and used a combination of very low ignition and freeze to maintain a low temperature.
The molten iron inside the cast started to cool rapidly. The hilt and the guard were ready after another 30 minutes.
"Permanent Enchantment"
With that done, he made sure to use a spell unique to master forgers. Permanent Enchantment used Mana to strengthen the material used in the forging process. The metal was set tightly around the blade, and the antler was covered in a thick layer of mana.
"3 more hours and the weapon will be complete."
He turned towards Vincent.
"Urchin? You are still standing here?"
Vincent snapped out of his Trance. He had been staring for too long.
"I am sorry if I disturbed you..."
"No need to be sorry. You liked watching me forge a weapon?"
"Y-yes?"
Beauvais smiled.
"Do you have a weapon of your own? I'll sharpen it for you."
The hero's face lightened up.
"Really?"
"A master forger never makes false promises."
Vincent took out his dagger and handed it to him. The shortsword wasn't his preferred weapon. He would rather have the dagger sharpened.
"Vincent."
The door to the forge opened. Aceline and Diana walked in.
"It's getting dark. Time to go back."
He looked back at Beauvais, who said,
"I will have your dagger sent back. Don't keep her waiting. And lady,"
He looked at Diana and said,
"Buy this urchin some better clothes."
------------------------------------------------