Chapter 9
Doloris looked down at the appraisal certificate again.
This phrase engraved on equipment can only be learned through a high-grade appraisal device.
Origin Script.
It usually represents an item's identity, and sometimes even leaves behind a quotation.
This phrase engraved on equipment isn't written by the maker.
The world reads it.
The maker's feelings, and their intentions when they made it.
It cannot be manipulated. It cannot be embellished.
Because it isn't something you choose pretty words for to make yourself look good to her.
It's simply something from that moment that gets engraved.
If he'd deliberately guided things so that this Origin Script would be engraved, too.
That would mean he was an exceptional schemer for a mere child, making him talent to cherish all the more, but.
The most likely explanation here was simply that he'd made it while thinking of Doloris….
“……”
When had it been?
When was the last time she'd received someone's pure goodwill?
Her sworn sisters? That had been a long time ago, too.
Goodwill.
It had been quite some time.
Doloris smiled sweetly once more.
‘I should buy him some candy.’
With that thought.
Meanwhile.
Furam's thoughts were flowing in an entirely different direction.
‘It's real.’
A 100 percent match.
Even the Easter egg left behind by the previous Descendant of Fire for his junior—the arrangement he'd made—had been printed.
These gloves were unquestionably genuine. Furam absolutely had to deliver that arrangement to the junior.
There was no hiding it or anything like that.
That was a dwarf's pride.
‘…Wait.’
Furam's hand stopped.
He remembered a rumor from a few days ago.
Ricardo, the head of the dwarves.
Apparently, the furnace on Ricardo's floor, one floor above this one, had boiled.
They said that furnace reacted only when a new Descendant of Fire was born.
A story that belonged only in old records.
Ricardo was getting on in years himself, so Furam had wondered if senility had set in.
Besides, judging by the young dwarves on Floor 88, there wasn't a single one who had even properly held a hammer, let alone become a Descendant of Fire.
He had dismissed it as nonsense, thinking there was no way a new successor could appear.
He'd thought the dwarves had no future.
But it was true.
These gloves had been made only recently, and that timing had to overlap with when the furnace reacted.
With the future of the dwarf race at stake.
He had to find them.
Furam's gaze turned to Doloris.
This woman knew the answer.
She definitely knew the maker.
‘…I have to hold on to her.’
Furam first made a copy of the verification certificate.
Then he translated it. The certificate was written in Dwarven, which humans couldn't read. It was a basic system feature.
He held the translation out to Doloris.
“They’re genuine.”
“I see.”
Doloris smiled sweetly as she accepted the verification certificate.
“……”
Genuine, 100 percent, was written at the very top.
So far, so good.
But beneath it was writing in Dwarven that she couldn't read.
If it was ordinary Dwarven, she could read it to some extent, like the appraisal certificate from earlier. But this was… a little different.
“What does this writing below say?”
“…Who made this equipment, and where are they?”
He answered a question with a question.
Doloris sensed that the appraiser before her was giving off an unusual intensity.
It wasn't a threat to her; it was merely another process in which a third party proved the child's value once more.
An annoying battle of wills.
“I found him on the road.”
That was her answer.
In fact, the child really had just fallen out of nowhere onto the road.
It wasn't a lie.
Furam's brow furrowed.
“This may be a simple matter of profit and loss to you, but to our clan, this is extremely important….”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
He was cut off.
Maintaining her smile, Doloris closed the door on the conversation with a single sentence.
She'd heard roughly about the dwarves' circumstances, but that was their problem. It had nothing to do with her.
Furam thought that continuing the conversation would not get him the result he wanted.
There was no option of intimidating her by force. He knew who she was.
Then what about reporting this to Chief Ricardo?
…It was possible, but exhausting. Very much so. He was still as stubborn as ever.
Furam thought for a moment.
A sustainable course that could preserve the future of his race.
In fact, there was one more thing Furam had been debating whether to mention.
The leather's grain.
Now that he looked again, he understood.
Furam loved the dwarves' methods more than anyone, but he knew just as well what the dwarves lacked.
The dwarves had no technique for this kind of natural polishing—one that subdued the grain itself and opened the leather's pores.
It didn't come from clumsy hands.
In other words, this polishing method belonged to the fairy race.
However.
He couldn't tell them this, too.
Someone who was a Descendant of Fire and possessed the fairies' secret technique as well.
If this woman learned that fact, she might hand the newcomer over to the fairy race.
If she decided the fairies had more to teach than the dwarves.
That wouldn't do.
Furam swallowed his words.
So he simply changed direction.
“…We need to create a foundation for that newcomer to grow.”
“……”
Doloris narrowed her eyes.
Unlike what had been said until now, this was not something she could disregard.
Doloris gathered the verification and appraisal certificates and lowered her gaze.
Then.
“It doesn't really have anything to do with me, but.”
“……”
“How can they grow?”
Doloris didn't imprison children with talent.
If that talent was a Descendant of Fire, there was even less need to say so.
‘So she has no intention of hiding it.’
Furam fell into thought for a moment at her reaction.
Would bringing the child here really be an entirely good thing?
This place had… the Dwarf Company.
Not merely existed. They would have figured out long ago who entered and left this appraisal center.
They might even be listening right now, at this very moment.
It was the same upstairs. He'd heard that even Floor 89 was gradually coming under the Dwarf Company's influence.
He couldn't guarantee that Ricardo would protect the newcomer perfectly. Besides, Ricardo's methods didn't suit young people these days.
He'd bet on it: Ricardo might tell the child to jump straight into 10,000-degree lava.
And if they couldn't climb back out? He'd simply consider it unfortunate.
In that case, perhaps.
Growing outside while receiving this woman's generous support.
…might not be a bad idea.
- Swish.
As a Descendant of Fire, the child would receive treatment second to none.
Furam translated all of the ancestor's arrangement written below the appraisal certificate.
─────────────────
『To the descendant who has taken their first step.』
『You are clumsy. But you are undoubtedly blazing.』
『Please, do not grow cold.』
『If you have lost your way, come to Voldr's workshop——』
— Voldr, Seventh Master Craftsman and creator of the appraisal device —
─────────────────
“……”
Doloris's eyes widened.
“It was written in Ancient Dwarven.”
“Tell that child.”
Furam caught his breath for a moment, then.
“If you've lost your way, come to Voldr's workshop.”
Then he immediately added,
“You will need a good hammer….”
Having said that, he turned his head away.
Doloris watched the old master's back as he turned away.
His back was hunched. The sun engraving on his worn apron glowed faintly in the lamplight.
There had been no lies.
Not a single word.
The woman placed twice the payment on the table and went outside.
Furam put a hand to his forehead.
Had he really made the right choice?
He had essentially handed the future of his race to a mere climber.
Translating the ancestor's arrangement, and bringing up the matter of the hammer.
An irreversible choice….
It was then, while he was lost in thought.
- Knock knock.
“……I’m not accepting any more customers today.”
“……”
There was no answer. And then.
- Creak.
The door opened.
“……”
It was a business suit.
Furam's most hated clothing.
“We’re from the Dwarf Company, Mr. Furam.”
The man in the suit smiled.
“Did anything happen?”
His eyes were not smiling.
2.
“The beginning of metallurgy is the hammer and furnace….”
This is infuriating.
Is there no method for a dirt-poor blacksmith?
I had read all of the leatherworking and gemcrafting sections. But even after reading the metallurgy section, I still had no idea what it was talking about.
I felt like I had to try it myself to understand, but the barrier to entry was damn ridiculous.
“How much is a furnace? One with decent performance.”
[30,000 gold]
30,000 gold.
Last time, Yuna had said that something called the Genesis Sword cost ten million gold.
She'd told me to think of 10,000 gold as roughly 100 million.
Then 30,000 gold would be…
[300 million.]
What the fuck.
How was the startup cost 300 million?
What even is this?
I was clicking my tongue at the absurd price when.
“…Then what about the hammer?”
My hands suddenly began to tremble.
How much was the hammer, then?
[100,000 gold]
“Heh heh.”
It was a price that elicited a hollow laugh.
Okay, forget metallurgy. I'll become a master of leatherworking.
If things went south, I was even considering abandoning the Descendant of Fire path and running off to the fairy race.
A Child of the Forest? I'll go with that, I guess.
Let's cut what needs to be cut. I didn't know how rich Doloris was, but.
I didn't exactly expect her to spend 1.3 billion on a little brat right away.
I was pretty good at keeping myself grounded.
Just as I was raising my head after pondering all this.
“……”
“……”
Ruby was awake.
I didn't know when she'd woken up.
She was half sitting up on the bed, staring blankly at me.
“……Hello.”
“……”
There was no answer.
She just stared at me, silently.
I looked out the window for a moment. Before I knew it… the sun was sinking toward the horizon.
Judging by the red glow coming in, she'd slept for quite a while. I'd forgotten the time while reading.
She said Lady Doloris was coming back.
“…Did you sleep well?”
She continued to stare at me with her eyes open, still without answering.
Ruby's eyes narrowed.
Could this be…
“……”
“……”
A staring contest began.
Naturally, without either of us deciding who would go first.
Ruby looked at me, and I looked at Ruby.
Sorry, but I'd spent countless nights in front of a monitor in the lab during my undergraduate years.
Dry eyes were something I'd graduated from long ago. How dare a thirteen-year-old challenge me.
“……”
Ruby's eyes began to grow moist, and then, in the end.
“Sniiif…!”
Ruby closed her eyes and rubbed them with both hands.
I won. I did win, but I didn't feel good about it.
“Ugh.”
Ruby rubbed her eyes and glared at me. Her bloodshot eyes were slightly teary.
As I said earlier, I wasn't particularly fond of looking after children.
Because.
“Aren't you hungry?”
Whenever I played with children, I lost track of time.
Paradoxically, I was careful because I liked them too much.
“I'm not hungry.”
Ruby sharply turned her head away and answered curtly.
It must have been a bewildering situation, with Doloris gone and me as the only person in front of her, but she didn't seem bothered.
She was calm. Were children like this what became mages?
“…Lady Doloris said she'd be back before it got too late. Don't worry too much.”
Although she seemed to be a little late already.
“……”
Ruby looked at me and kept hesitating, as if she had something to say.
Then she opened her mouth.
“Master. Are you sick?”
“……”
“You said it earlier… blocked meridians or something.”
Before she passed out—no, that wasn't quite right.
Before Doloris put Ruby to sleep, it seemed she'd heard something.
“I'm not in pain.”
If I got the chance.
I intended to make sure of that.
So she wouldn't hurt.
“You're lying….”
Ruby lowered her head, looking upset.
Just as her eyes began to well up.
- Bang.
“Were you playing nicely?”
Someone came in.
Doloris.
“Welcome back.”
I turned off the manual floating in the air and got to my feet.
“Masteh!”
Ruby kicked off the blankets and ran to her.
She'd been teary just a moment ago, but now her face was already buried against Doloris's waist.
“I had to stop by somewhere, so I ended up a little later than expected.”
Doloris stroked Ruby's head as she looked at me.
There was a faintly apologetic look in her eyes.
Was she apologizing to me? To the little brat?
It was strange that she even felt such emotions.
“It's all right. Nothing happened.”
Nothing happened meant that I had won the staring contest and given up on metallurgy.
It wasn't worth reporting.
- Click clack.
Doloris slowly approached me.
Ruby, her face still buried in the skirt, was dragged along beside her with tiny sideways steps.
For some reason, Doloris had been standing with her hands clasped behind her back since earlier.
“Lionel.”
“Yes.”
Doloris called my name.
And then.
- Swish.
She held something out.
“……”
A hammer.
It was a hefty-looking double-headed hammer, engraved with lightning-shaped cracks,
and a yellowish gem was set into the end of its handle.
Just looking at it made my eyes tingle.
─────────────────
[Tozar's Thunder Hammer][★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility][—/80]
─────────────────
『A battle hammer forged from ore mined deep within the Thunderlight Vein. It carries a fragment of thunder in every strike. They say the number of lightning bolts varies according to the wielder's caliber, but no one has yet proved it. 』
- Rudin, Thunderflash -
─────────────────
In other words, it was a hammer.
A hammer that looked like it belonged in a movie, and for some reason seemed like only someone worthy could lift it.
Its head was a little smaller than that, but still.
The problem was.
─────────────────
【Use: Combat】
【Thunderlight Vein ore from the depths — purity and crystal density of the highest grade. The material's value is top-tier.】
【However, this weapon is a combat design optimized for transferring impact upon striking. Its center of gravity is concentrated at the end, and its striking surface is narrow, making it unsuitable for precision forging. As a forging tool, it is unusable in its current form.】
─────────────────
This was a combat hammer, wasn't it?
“It's a gift.”
Doloris had given me a 1-billion-gold combat hammer.