Chapter 39
1.
Besides.
“……”
- Thump, thump.
My heart beats faintly.
Now, what is a bell?
In the end, it’s iron.
My first work of metallurgy.
Now was the time to begin.
I held the raw ore Doloris had brought me not long ago in my hands.
What I needed now was an ingot in excellent condition.
Not some mediocre industrial-grade ingot, but a truly excellent ingot I had made myself.
I raised one piece of raw ore before my eyes.
─────────────────
[Hematite Ore][☆☆☆☆☆]
[Purity][44 / 100]
[Impurities: Silica, Sulfur]
─────────────────
The overall purity of the ore Doloris had brought was excellent.
According to the textbook, the reputation of the mining region was necessary to determine the ore’s original purity.
This much purity from one mine, that much from another.
Fortunately, I could skip that inconvenient process.
And among them.
─────────────────
[Hematite Ore][★☆☆☆☆]
[Purity][78 / 100]
[Impurities: Silica, Sulfur]
─────────────────
My hand stopped.
Find the secret key.
I had found the ore.
This was quite good—good enough to make me think it had already undergone refining once.
Nature had done half the work for me.
I rolled the raw ore across the table in my hand.
- Roll.
It’s heavy.
Good.
I picked up the tongs.
“Let’s melt it.”
I threw an ignition stone into the forge and lit the fire.
- Whoosh!
Flames rose in the forge.
A red glow climbed the walls.
The corners of my mouth lifted before I knew it.
My first work of metallurgy.
Once the fire had properly settled in, I pushed the ore inside.
And heated it.
When the fire began to die down a little….
- Squeak. Squeak!
“Agh!”
From broad daylight onward, I stepped on the treadle and pumped air into the forge.
Ah, I had oiled it, but it still wasn’t easy.
- Squeak! Squeak!
- Pshh! Pshh!
I was short, so I couldn’t put my weight into it. Since I couldn’t put my weight into it, I had to press down with my whole body.
Sweat beaded on my forehead. One drop ran down my temple and fell from the tip of my chin.
I undid the buttons at my chest and pulled up my shirt.
That’s much better.
I’m dying.
How much time had passed?
The ore inside the forge began to lose its shape slightly.
And now.
- Tap.
I grabbed a handful of charcoal and threw it in again.
Ore wasn’t iron to begin with; it was iron with oxygen clinging to it.
The charcoal had to steal away that oxygen for the iron to remain.
And then.
Red became orange, and orange became white.
More precisely… when it began shining so brightly that it hurt the eyes.
Something whitish rose above the glowing ore. Skimming that off was the removal of impurities.
Once I had skimmed away all the impurities, now.
- Swish.
I pushed in the tongs and pulled out the heated mass.
- Sizzle!
Amazingly, the ore, heated to its limit, sizzled when it touched the relatively cool air.
‘Right away.’
It would be too late to think after taking it out.
I had already thought everything through.
Two cooling vats sat side by side next to the forge.
One contained water, and the other oil.
Last time, it had been water.
But normally, cooling ore with water was reckless.
It cooled far too rapidly, causing the mineral to crack in an instant.
But what had I wanted last time?
Thermal shock exfoliation.
Back then, I had needed to shock the Flame Ore to strip off its shell.
This time, there was no need for that, so.
We had to cool it relatively ‘slowly’… and oil was appropriate.
Oil had poor thermal conductivity, so it could cool the ore slowly.
It allowed the outside and inside to cool at similar speeds, without too much discrepancy.
I moved the tongs toward the oil.
Then I pushed the white-hot ore into the oil.
- Splash.
- Bubble, bubble.
There was no sizzling sound like when I had put it in water.
Instead.
- Whoosh!
“Fuck?!”
Flames suddenly spread across the surface of the oil.
The oil couldn’t withstand the heat and began burning on its own.
Black smoke rose toward the workshop ceiling and filled it.
Uh, I was surprised—really surprised—but… this was normal.
Water made an awful racket, while oil was awful in this way.
Fortunately, the workshop had been renovated, so there was a ventilation shaft in the ceiling and a window right in front of me. I didn’t end up being buried in smoke.
- Bubble.
I kept swirling the ore held by the tongs.
If I left it sitting still, a film of steam would form on the surface and prevent the heat from escaping properly.
How did I know? Our professor told me. Our dwarf professor.
“Sixteen… seventeen….”
My arm trembled slightly.
By then, the flames had died down, and the smoke had decreased considerably.
Eighteen… nineteen.
And then.
“Twenty.”
- Splash!
I pulled my arm up and took it out in one swift motion with the tongs.
Black oil that had burned onto the ore dripped from the ends of the tongs.
I placed it on the anvil.
It was still bright red. Perfect.
I reached for the hammer hanging on the wall.
Earthborn Hammer.
Tozar’s Brain Hammer, I’m sorry, but you still aren’t a forging hammer.
Though you are precious to me.
I gripped the handle.
- Clang!
The first strike.
Another strike.
- Clang, clang, clang!
With every blow, the mass grew a little smaller.
And harder.
The waste was being driven out, leaving only the core behind.
No matter how I looked at it, the exercise I had done recently was paying off.
I was exhausted to death. Without that, this really would have been hell.
“Haa… haa….”
My shoulder felt as if it might come loose, my hands were numb, and sweat ran into my eyes, but.
If I stopped, it would cool. If it cooled, I would have to do this all over again. Unless I was insane… finishing it in one go was the right choice.
How many times had I hammered it like that?
- Clang! Clang.
The sound changed.
I looked down at the anvil.
A palm-sized lump of iron lay on the anvil.
This was an ingot.
“Here.”
Let’s see how you turned out.
And the result was.
─────────────────
[Hematite Ingot] [Handmade]
[1kg]
─────────────────
[Composition]
[Iron] [99.39%]
[Carbon] [0.58%]
[Sulfur] [0.00%]
[Phosphorus] [0.03%]
─────────────────
[Quality]
[Homogeneity] [A]
[Density] [A]
─────────────────
[Evaluation]
An ingot forged by human hands.
The sulfur has been completely removed, and the structure is dense with an even grain.
It can be shaped into any form.
─────────────────
I clenched my teeth and carefully muttered in a trembling voice.
“Is this… a good one?”
I already knew, but I just wanted to ask once for no particular reason.
There was something I had always wanted to try at least once.
I asked Yuna, and.
[…….]
Leaving Yuna, who showed no reaction, behind, I clenched my fist and waved it in the air.
“I did it!”
I clenched my fist and shook it wildly in the air.
At last, a decent-looking ingot had popped out.
It was my first ingot-making attempt, but it had turned out pretty well.
The process should actually have been more complicated… but the purity was so high that the steps didn’t need to be all that complex.
And.
Now.
“……”
Normally, making a bell required a mold.
You melted the ingot into molten metal, poured it, and shaped it.
But I had nothing to receive molten metal with, and I had no mold.
Then how did an Heir of Fire work when tools like these were lacking?
“Just do it.”
If I didn’t have one, I could simply hammer it into shape.
That was exactly what the textbook said.
『Do not blame the material or the workshop. A hammer and an anvil are all you need.』
This was Sparta.
Of course, that part was for apprentices. What was ridiculous was that the official textbook told you to use tools because you shouldn’t ruin your body.
Crazy professor.
I readjusted my grip on the tongs.
“I do want to rest.”
Then I tossed charcoal into the forge and lifted the corners of my mouth.
“But this is where I have to do it.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my arm and stoked the fire.
The process afterward was the same.
I heated the ingot and softened it.
Then, instead of quenching that softened ingot in oil!
Right away!
- Tap.
I placed it on the anvil and hammered it.
The advantage of the Earthborn Hammer was that its front and back had different shapes.
The front was broad, making it good for flattening things firmly, while the back was sharp, making it good for gathering the shape together.
That was a forging hammer.
- Clang! Clang!
First, spread it out. Don’t try to shape it into a bell right off the bat.
The palm-sized lump spread a little farther each time it was struck.
- Clang, clang, clang!
When its color darkened, I put it in the forge, and when it grew red, I took it out and hammered it again.
How many times did I repeat that?
- Tap.
A broad disk lay on the anvil.
Up to here, it was easy.
The problem started now.
I flipped the hammer around, turning the sharp end forward.
‘Now, gather it.’
I rested the edge of the disk lightly against the end of the anvil.
Then I slowly pushed it upward from the outside inward with the hammer.
Each time I rotated the spread-out disk a full turn, its rim rose a little higher.
By ‘rose,’ I mean it stood straight up.
“Rise!!”
One turn made a plate, and one more turn made a bowl.
And then.
- Whoosh!
“Agh!”
When the color died, I put it in the forge; when it grew red, I put it on the anvil.
I eventually stopped counting how many times I went back and forth.
Just when I felt I might really die.
The thing on the anvil finally began changing into the shape I wanted.
“It works….”
But the real thing started here.
What determined the sound of a bell?
Thickness.
If one side was thick and the other thin, the sound died right there.
No matter how pretty the shape was, it was just iron—like a comb-patterned pottery shard.
So I spread out the side that was too thin again and hammered it back into shape.
How many times had I repeated that?
“…Haa.”
I caught my breath and looked down at the anvil.
A small, smooth, dark-red bell lay there.
And.
This time, even though I hadn’t done anything separately.
- Whoosh!
A Sun Dwarf seal was engraved on the front of the bell.
The apprentice’s emblem, with an L beneath it.
Now that I was official, I got different treatment.
I lifted the corners of my mouth as I looked down at the bell.
─────────────────
[New Bell][★★☆☆☆]
[Divine Tool]
─────────────────
A bell that informs the gods that the Heir of Fire has opened his forge.
The gods will hear this and ask for what they desire.
─────────────────
『Receive the call.』
── To Certified Blacksmith L ──
─────────────────
What was that supposed to mean?
The first thing that came in was.
An Origin Script telling me to receive a call.
I didn’t know who had sent it. The bell hadn’t even rung, so what was this?
I left the bell on the anvil.
It was insanely hot right now anyway. I had to let it cool before I could touch it.
Then, in the meantime.
I picked up some scraps of iron.
I needed a hook to hang the bell from.
This much was easy.
A few strikes produced a ring, and a few more produced a stand.
And how much time passed?
- Swish.
I lightly prodded the bell with the back of my hand.
Was it hot?
[?! Oppa!]
“Aaaagh, hot!”
[Are you crazy?! Are you okay? Are you okay, Oppa?!! What do we do!!!]
“Oh, it’s cool.”
[Ah, seriously, so annoying, so annoying ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
I lifted the corners of my mouth, hung the bell on its stand, and went outside.
I didn’t know how many hours it had been.
My sweat had cooled to the point that my clothes felt cold.
- Creak.
According to the textbook, receiving a call from a god was simple.
『Whether it is the moon or the sun, set it down on the ground when it hangs directly overhead.』
『For the lords of that time will descend.』
In other words, regardless of whether it was day or night, I had to set it down when it was directly above my head.
Then the god appropriate to that time would descend. It didn’t seem to be a system where the god of the moon simply descended when the moon rose.
And.
As it happened, a full moon was hanging directly above my head.
The night breeze brushed across my face.
In the middle of the black sky.
- Tap.
I placed the bell on the grass.
The Earthborn Hammer hanging from my right hand.
Now, this.
- Swish.
I readjusted my grip on the hammer and slowly raised it.
I took a single breath.
“Let’s go.”
- Ding….
The clear sound cut through the night air.
- Humm….
The sound and its resonance seeped into my ears.
- Thump.
A slight chill ran over my skin.
I had heard the sound of bells before, but I had never felt anything like this.
Would I really be able to receive a god’s call?
As I waited for that moment.
“… Is it over now?”
“……”
When I turned my head, Ruby was crouching right beside me.
She was holding a ciabatta and some water.
Something I liked.
Cute. I didn’t know how long she had been there.
Had she been waiting to give them to me?
“Moya, why are you looking at me like that?”
I accepted the bread and lifted the corners of my mouth.
“Shh.”
And then.
- Swish.
I raised a finger to my lips.
“A god is coming.”
“……”
Just as Ruby tilted her head as though she didn’t understand.
- Dingㅡ
The bell, which no one had touched, suddenly rang.
And not long afterward.
- Ding, ding, ding, dingㅡ
I had a hammer in my hand, and there was no wind.
“I’ll enjoy the bread.”
Watching the bell ring as it was beaten furiously by some mysterious force, I.
Slowly patted Ruby’s head.
Ruby’s eyes widened.
“……”
- Ding, ding, ding….
A god.
Was calling me.