Chapter 48
1.
A truly triumphant return.
Carrying countless ores sent directly by the Imperial Palace, along with funding,
and, most importantly, the “magicite” among them,
we returned to the ducal estate.
The first thing we did was look for a site for the new workshop.
But then.
“…Lionel, couldn’t you just build it inside the mansion?”
Doloris called out to me with a worried expression.
“Inside the mansion?”
“I was already having something large built anyway….”
“That was my workshop?!”
The large building that had been clanging away beside my small workshop in one corner of the garden for weeks.
I had wondered what on earth it was.
Apparently, that had been my workshop.
“I’m fine with that.”
A smelting furnace—the thing we commonly call a smelting furnace—
was probably, in most cases, what’s called a blast furnace.
A huge vat with molten iron pooled inside like a sea,
into which you melt all sorts of things.
Someday, I would have to build one of those, too.
But the smelting furnace I had been talking about wasn't something that enormous.
If you built one of those, the entire surrounding area would heat up.
It would slowly cook everything, nice and warm.
At night, it would turn even the sky red, and the people nearby wouldn't be able to sleep properly.
Would a thing like that be in the forge in the middle of the Imperial Palace?
In the first place, that meant even the Imperial Palace's smelting furnace wasn't a blast furnace.
Of course, it was true that I had obtained permission for that as well.
I would have to build one eventually, after all.
What I would build was a “crucible furnace.”
One that melted iron to its extreme limit, turning it into liquid to pour into molds and so on.
This was unquestionably a smelting furnace, too.
It wasn't for large-scale production, but it could actually produce better quality.
Fortunately, this one could be handled entirely inside the workshop.
No heat would leak outside, either.
Of course, it would be unbearably hot inside.
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
And so, the matter of the site was settled simply,
and we entered the mansion, leaving the materials dumped beside the construction site.
To be honest, I was exhausted right now.
Maybe it was because I had been burning through my mental energy for the past few days—or rather, the past month and a half.
I felt like resting for a little while.
“Master!”
Ruby, whom I saw for the first time in a while, had filled out nicely.
No, rather than gaining weight, perhaps I should say she was overflowing with vitality.
Had taking two days off from magic practice really made her this energetic?
But then.
I noticed sweat beading on the back of Ruby’s neck.
“…Did you exercise?”
“Yeah.”
Ruby shrugged.
“It was fun.”
“Really?”
She had kneaded my forearm and apparently confirmed it really was effective.
It seemed Ruby had started exercising, too.
“I read twenty pages and did push-ups, then read some more and jumped rope. It’s fun when I do it that way.”
So it was interval training that alternated between knowledge and physical strength.
This was talent.
I had been too busy with work to exercise.
“A mage benefits from having stamina to back them up, too. Well done, Ruby.”
“Heehee.”
Doloris patted Ruby’s head.
After saying goodbye, Ruby went right back to the sitting room where the exercise equipment was set up.
- Pitter-patter.
At this rate, I wonder if she’ll become a gym rat.
Well, it was good if she got healthy.
I stretched and looked at Doloris before speaking.
“By any chance, how long until it’s finished?”
“Hmm… I think it’ll take about a month, perhaps a little less.”
“I see.”
Then I could prepare other things in the meantime.
I had to revise the blueprints and shape the crucibles, too.
I also had to make the crucible furnace itself.
There was plenty to do.
Just not today.
“I’m going to bed.”
The time had come to enjoy some honey-sweet rest.
2.
So much for rest.
Today, too, I was an old man shaping pottery.
No, a young man shaping pottery….
Not even that—a little brat shaping pottery.
I had spent the entire past month buried in clay.
You might wonder whether a little kid could build a smelting furnace.
But a crucible furnace had a relatively simple process.
It was genuinely doable.
There was a separate reason I had gone to the trouble of obtaining the blueprints.
Each individual drawing contained the circumstances behind its design.
This one narrowed the vessel because it lacked heat, while that one widened the bottom to clear out ash more often.
Someone else lowered the height because their knees were bad.
Honestly, there was no single right answer.
They were all choices tailored to each person’s circumstances.
Even a shitty structure had its own reasons.
So I spread open the Heir of Fire’s blueprint from the textbook,
and tried to steal only the good parts.
I discarded other people’s circumstances and kept only what suited mine.
What came out of that was my furnace. For the record, the “ro” in “nan-ro” (stove) is the same “ro” as in “no.”
It was a collective term for vessels used to handle fire,
but I’ll just call it a hearth.
And it wasn't enough merely to make the hearth of the smelting furnace;
I also had to shape the crucible that would hold the molten iron with my own hands.
How many had I broken?
[16]
Along with Yuna’s information being relayed,
- Scrape… scrape….
the last crucible, the vessel that would hold the ingot inside the smelting furnace, was completed.
“……Ah, I can’t do this twice.”
To be honest, with this process,
I had gotten a little too ambitious.
The crucible furnace—in other words, everything that made up the smelting furnace,
including the interior, crucibles, anvils, and so on, had all been handled by me.
I hadn’t realized how frightening it was to have a generous budget.
If I could use it, I kept using it.
I ran all over the place, and I don't know how many custom orders I commissioned from here and there.
And so, my enormous workshop, which had just gone up yesterday.
A huge mineral warehouse was attached beside it, while the main building was my domain.
And inside it….
“Yuna, what was the layout inside again…?”
[Just a moment.]
Along with the notes I had written with Yuna.
─────────────────
[Workshop Interior List]
─────────────────
[Crucible Furnace]
└ Melts iron into liquid. Can be poured into molds and worked in various ways while molten.
[Pig-Iron Furnace]
└ Toss in ore and it spits out iron; the resulting lumps have to be hammered.
[Hearth]
└ The same one I always use.
[Custom Anvil]
└ Had to lower it because I’m short. The quality is… not worth mentioning, but I’ll use it anyway.
[Tuyere]
└ A passage that pushes air beneath the hearth. This is the real key.
[Vent]
└ The workshop’s breathing hole. Without it, you die.
[Quenching Tank: Water / Oil]
└ Separates things that need to harden quickly from things that need to harden slowly.
[Sorting Table]
└ A space for looking over the finished product and going clatter-clack.
[Crucible Shelf]
└ There are 10 decent crucibles; make more after using 5.
─────────────────
I lay flat in the middle of the completed workshop.
“It’s done!!!”
With its high ceiling, my shout echoed loudly.
I hadn’t been able to do any of my original plans because of this.
Once I focus on one thing, I can’t do anything else.
My original plan, first: enchant Doloris’s equipment.
Second: make underwear.
Third: ask her to show me what she was wearing.
[Ugh.]
...Third: make spare underwear.
“Now I really have to do it.”
But one final process remained.
I had built the entire workshop, and it was time for its first firing.
The first item would be….
“The signboard.”
It might sound strange, but.
『If you ever build your own workshop, you must hang your personal mark before its door. That mark is your name, and your pride in everything you forge.』
I wondered what kind of culture this was, but.
『Every time you enter or leave, it will be a source of pride.』
“……”
I was tempted the moment I read that last sentence.
“Right, I’m a dwarf, after all….”
If it had to be done, it had to be done.
I decided to participate in the tradition.
I rose from my seat and picked up the tongs.
Ignition stone.
Until now, I had simply tossed this in, and once it caught fire, stepped on the treadle to blow in oxygen.
That was how it had always been with the hearth I used.
I grabbed a handful of charcoal and spread a shallow layer beneath the hearth.
- Tap.
I dropped the ignition stone, which I had struck, onto it,
and it caught fire in an instant.
- Whoosh.
The red glow climbed the inner wall of the hearth.
And now.
I poured in the charcoal wholesale.
Until the hearth had swallowed enough to bury the spot where the crucible would rest.
How long had I waited? The charcoal began to feed on the fire.
And then.
- Screeech.
The same thing I always did.
I climbed onto the treadle and stepped down.
The only difference was that it had become heavier than before.
There was no helping it.
I supposed I’d have to use some strength from now on, too.
- Fwoooosh!
Air was sucked beneath the hearth,
and as oxygen passed through the charcoal and opened a path for the fire, its intensity grew stronger.
- Screeech! Screeech!
If I stopped here, it would cool, so I had to keep stepping.
The difference from the hearth I had used until now was.
These flames had nowhere to escape.
If half the heat flew away from the open front of a hearth,
this one trapped it in a narrow chamber, letting the heat rise only upward.
And now.
I filled the crucible with the ingots I had cut beforehand.
I picked them up with tongs and set them in the middle of the hearth,
- Clunk.
and covered it with the lid.
Now the heat inside had nowhere to go and would only continue growing hotter among itself.
How much time passed like that?
[Two hours]
For two hours, I did nothing but pedal like a madman.
[Oppa, are you okay?]
No, not at all.
Not at all. Absolutely not.
At this point, I thought I understood why I was the Heir of Fire.
Because I was literally spending all day in front of a fire.
If this wasn't the Heir of Fire, what was?
“………”
I couldn't speak and just kept stepping.
The workshop interior was larger, and even though ventilation had been installed, it was insanely hot.
That was how smelting furnaces were.
They only did their job after the inside became insanely hot.
Until then, I was just Lionel roast.
- Drip… drip….
Sweat fell like rain, and the soles of my feet had already gone numb.
I carefully brought my eye to the small hole drilled in the lid.
If I put it too close, my eyebrows would burn.
“White.”
It was so hot that the inside was almost white.
It was done.
The temperature was definitely right.
The question was whether the inside had turned out as I had envisioned.
The appearance of white light meant it had already surpassed the temperature at which iron melted,
and after two hours of stepping, there had surely been enough time.
- Clunk.
I lifted the lid.
Of course, from far away.
“It’s fucking hot.”
Even though I opened the lid remotely by reaching out from a distance, the heat was overwhelming.
After some time passed, I stepped on the treadle and looked down inside from above.
A black film covered the crucible containing the ingots.
Burnt remnants that had floated up and solidified.
I slid in a rod and lightly skimmed it away,
- Slide.
and beneath it.
“……”
Shining, snow-white liquid was revealed.
So iron could become like that.
It could melt that thoroughly.
And the state of the liquid floating before my eyes.
─────────────────
[Molten Hematite]
[1.4 kg] [Liquid]
─────────────────
[Composition]
[Iron] [99.28%]
[Carbon] [0.61%]
[Sulfur] [0.00%]
[Phosphorus] [0.09%]
[Stone Powder] [0.02%]
─────────────────
[Condition]
[Homogeneity] [A]
[Temperature] [Optimal for Pouring]
─────────────────
[Assessment]
The impurities have been skimmed off the top, and the bottom is even.
It is at the ideal point for pouring.
─────────────────
I hooked the rod onto the crucible’s handle.
- Slide.
The moment I lifted it, my arm sagged downward.
“……”
It was heavy—considerably so with the weight of the crucible added—but.
If I spilled it here, it would really be over.
If this touched my flesh….
[Don’t think like that ㅠ]
Since I didn't want to become Lionel roast,
I climbed down from the treadle, holding my breath.
- Slither.
Sweat ran down my forehead, but I had no hand free to wipe it.
“Haa….”
I stood before the rectangular mold I had placed right beside it beforehand.
I had prepared the mold in the exact shape of the signboard.
I slowly tilted my wrist.
- Trickleeeee….
The white substance flowed down and poured into the mold.
- Hissssss….
The mold cried out that it was hot, but I ignored it and poured it all in.
I had poured it all, but this wasn't the end.
If the crucible cooled, it would crack apart as it was.
I put the crucible back inside the smelting furnace
and covered it with the lid to let it cool slowly.
Now….
“Wait quickly.”
There was no way I could take it out immediately just because I’d poured it.
I had to wait slowly until it cooled.
So I.
- Plop.
lay flat on the floor.
“……”
The stone floor was warm.
At least the good thing was that lying down reduced the hot air somewhat.
I looked up at the ceiling.
Sweat was still running down my temples.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then.
“Wake me in three hours.”
After setting Yuna’s alarm call,
[Get uuuuuup!]
I opened my eyes.
No way.
“Only one minute passed, right?”
Had any time even passed?
My body wouldn't move.
It made sense, since I had stepped on the treadle for two hours in a blazing furnace.
“Ungh….”
I braced myself on one arm and raised my body.
My back was damp. I could feel my shirt sticking to the floor and peeling away.
I hated it.
“…Ah.”
Only then did I notice the mold.
I staggered over to it.
I held my hand near it without touching.
It was appropriately warm.
Not hot enough to burn me, merely lukewarm.
It worked.
I picked up the Earthborn Hammer.
This mold was good for one use.
To get out what was inside, I had no choice but to break it.
- Clang!
One strike.
Cracks formed in the clay,
- Clang clang!
Two strikes, three.
Crumbs showered down,
and through the gaps, finally.
A rectangular, dark, pitch-black lump was revealed.
“……”
You might ask whether iron was not originally silver,
but that was the true harm caused by the media.
You had to scrub that black surface like hell before it finally turned silver.
The iron color we knew was the result of that process.
I brushed away the crumbs and lifted it up.
I brushed off the debris with the steel brush I had prepared beforehand,
“…I don’t think I’ll grind it.”
I didn't particularly want to bring out its iron color.
Since this was my first experience, part of me wanted to leave it rough just like this.
I picked up a steel file.
It was a flat metal bar with teeth densely carved across its surface.
When you pressed it against something and pushed, those teeth scraped away a little of the iron.
You could think of it as a fucking huge nail file.
- Scrape….
With the steel file, I only shaped it.
Once I filed down just the edges to blunt them appropriately, it more or less looked like a signboard.
Dark gray. The surface was rough.
“Nice.”
Now only one thing remained.
I took out a chisel.
Come to think of it, this was my first time.
The items I had made so far had the Heir of Fire’s mark engraved automatically; I had never engraved one separately myself.
So this was my first time engraving one directly.
“I’m a little nervous.”
- Tap.
I rested the tip of the chisel on the signboard.
I lightly tapped the top of it with a hammer.
- Clang.
- Scrrrape….
As the chisel slid, a groove was carved into the signboard.
Surprisingly, the feel of it in my hand was pretty good.
It was like a sensation of tapping out short, crisp beats.
It wasn't a theory that everything was a rhythm game; it really did feel like a rhythm game.
- Clang.
- Clang clang.
The sun mark gradually came into view.
I moved the chisel while sneaking glances at the picture Yuna had displayed.
It was the mark said to be carved into the sky on the 88th floor.
Along with the sensation of writing my name for the first time.
- Clang.
The final stroke.
I drew an L and stopped.
“Hoo….”
I blew on it, sending the debris flying.
Over the dark background, only the carved areas showed through in a thin silver.
“Rough.”
The surface was bumpy, and the lines weren't straight.
But.
“I like it.”
It was the ugliest thing I had made so far, but I liked it.
『If you build your own workshop, you must carve your own emblem and hang it before it.』
I understood why.
It wasn't a moment for showing it to someone else, but a time to reaffirm my own identity.
- Slide.
I stood up, now holding the fully cooled signboard.
Then I slowly went outside
and stood before the workshop door.
The spot directly above the doorframe, the first place one saw when looking up.
“Here.”
I took out the four brackets I had prepared beforehand.
They were pieces of metal bent into a ㄷ shape; I planned to hammer them into the wall above the door and clamp the signboard between them.
I had no choice, since hammering in nails would break the signboard.
- Clang clang!
I hammered the four brackets into the doorframe,
and between them….
- Slide.
- Click.
it fit together satisfyingly.
I took several steps back and looked up at it.
On the dark metal plate, a sun with only its carved portions left silver, and the lattice beneath it.
“……”
This was my workshop.
[Congratulations, Oppa.]
“Thanks.”
It really was my own workshop.
If the first workshop had felt like entering a place someone else had made for me,
this time, I had directed everything, from the design to the layout.
It truly felt like my own workshop.
Before I knew it, the day had grown late into night.
“Let’s go to bed.”
Feeling proud, I tapped the signboard twice before going back inside,
- Tap tap.
Then.
- Ding.
Something appeared before my eyes.
─────────────────
[Official Blacksmith, Lionel’s Workshop][★★★☆☆]
[Heir of Fire]
─────────────────
[Crucible Furnace][★★★★☆]
[Pig-Iron Furnace][★★★☆☆]
[Hearth][★☆☆☆☆]
[Human-made; replace in the future.]
[Custom Anvil][★☆☆☆☆]
[Human-made; replace in the future]
[Tuyere][★★★☆☆]
─────────────────
“……”
I paused for a moment as I looked at what had appeared in the air,
and at the scathing assessment of the workshop’s interior layout—
an assessment that precisely pinpointed the human-made things I hated deep down and had been averting my eyes from.
It was both oddly satisfying and bewildering.
[A mark has been hung before the workshop.]
[This place has thereby been recognized as the Heir’s workplace.]
[★★★☆☆] [The Heir of Fire builds a foundation himself.]
[Title Acquired ─ 『Master of the Forge』]
[Reward]
A reward?
What reward?
The second achievement, after creating two-star equipment.
Just as I was looking into the air, wondering what the reward was,
- Boom!
inside the workshop, the sound of the smelting furnace’s lid exploding,
- Fwoooosh!!
flames shot straight upward.
“What the fuck?!”
The flames began to engulf the entire workshop inside.
I tried to get out, but red seeped through the cracks in the stone floor beneath my feet,
then soon climbed the walls.
- Whoosh, whoooosh,
“What, what is it?!”
The ground collapsed, too, and flames engulfed me.
I reflexively turned toward the door, but….
- Boom.
The door slammed shut.
Then flames surged up in front of it, flowing up and down along the doorframe,
blocking the exit.
“Yuna!”
[I-I don’t know what’s going on…! The coordinates… are strange….]
This was the first time I’d ever heard her say she didn't know.
“What do you mean, the coordinates? Why are the coordinates—!”
[Oppa.]
[I can’t lock onto the coordinates.]
A shocking statement.
This was driving me insane.
Flames rose to the ceiling, and the entire workshop sank beneath a wave of fire.
I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I covered my face with my arm.
It wasn't hot.
That was even stranger.
- Fwoooosh!
Just as I desperately crouched down, shielding my eyes.
Slowly… the fire began to subside.
The flames that had climbed the walls sank back down,
and slowly seeped back through the cracks in the floor.
“……”
I slowly lowered my arm.
It was the workshop.
My smelting furnace, the human anvil I had wanted to throw away, the human hearth I had wanted to throw away.
I had returned to my workshop.
“…What the hell was that….”
Then.
- Clomp.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
“Mama?!”
So it had been Doloris who saved me after all.
I sank down with a thump and slowly turned my head,
“……”
But contrary to my expectations.
A man was standing there.
He was about my height.
But he had a bushy beard and an extremely crotchety expression,
while his shoulders were twice as broad as mine and his forearms were as thick as three of my thighs laid end to end.
And most importantly, in his hand.
He was holding a hammer.
“……”
And then.
- Ding.
[Reward]
Along with the notification of the reward for achieving an accomplishment,
“Heir of Fire!!!!”
The man’s eyes blazed red,
[Encounter with a Former Master Craftsman(
賢匠
)]
“What in the world are you doing!!!”
I.
“…… Huh?”
I….
I encountered a dwarven ancestor.