Chapter 102
I lit the fire in the furnace at the smithy, which they'd kept clean without fail even while I was away.
This time, Win, who had learned smithing from Azvvald, joined me as well.
Shizuki and Win accepted Kaeha's proposal—the match between Win and me three years from now.
Whatever the result, Win would be thirty-two in three years, which would be roughly fifteen or sixteen in human terms.
By this world's customs, that was the age when Win should stand on his own.
If I followed the memories of my previous life, the milestones would be eighteen, twenty, or twenty-two—but I had no intention of imposing that on him.
Perhaps it was because the time had been clearly set.
Win also seemed somehow a little more at ease.
I think what I had been missing was an awareness of myself as a parent.
Because I believed I wasn't the kind of person who could be a parent, I'd spouted nonsense about wanting to be his guardian and his closest friend.
No, those had been my genuine feelings without a doubt. Even so, I must have been a parent to Win.
For a child to watch a parent's back, admire them, want to catch up to them and surpass them, and seek their recognition was surely only natural.
But my attitude had been half-hearted as a parent.
Maybe that had been enough when he was little, but as Win grew into a boy and gradually approached adulthood, he lost sight of how to deal with me, who behaved so ambiguously.
Ah... no, that's not it.
Actually, I also stopped knowing how to deal with Win as he gradually became harder to understand, so perhaps we were even.
It was a truly pathetic state of affairs.
On top of that, time passed differently for Win and me.
And lately, I'd been living a somewhat flashy life.
Enough that Kaeha, whom I met again after so long, told me I was like a hero from a story...
Yes, a hero from a story was someone far removed from ordinary people.
To Win, my back might have always seemed far away.
But the fact that we could worry about such things at all was because we were fortunate.
After all, most people in this world had to desperately struggle to survive and gain the means to go on living. They probably had little time or leeway to worry about how to relate to one another.
And yet Kaeha and Shizuki were trying to help us—not solve those worries... perhaps that was impossible—but come to terms with how we related to each other and reach an understanding.
We truly were blessed, in every sense of the word.
"Win, I plan to do as before—repairing practice swords and taking on jobs from the Blacksmiths' Guild. What will you do?"
I asked while gazing into the furnace.
If Win wanted smithing work, I intended to line up work for him as well.
As long as he demonstrated sufficient ability, I could also arrange for him to eventually be recognized as an advanced blacksmith.
But if he wanted to devote himself to sword training, that was fine too.
How he chose to spend his time was entirely up to Win.
"I want to use the forge. But as for smithing work... I want to become capable of finding work on my own."
He said that after thinking it over for a moment.
I see. Certainly, if he didn't know how to find work in human nations, it would be difficult to earn a living through smithing.
In that case, it would indeed be more convenient to obtain an advanced blacksmith's license.
All the more so if he planned to travel instead of staying in one place.
"Then let's go to the Blacksmiths' Guild together next time. I'll teach you how to find work."
Unless he planned to settle down and open a smithy, the quickest way to find work was through the Blacksmiths' Guild.
Of course, the guild would take a portion of his pay as a fee, but considering the trouble of arranging a smithy, fuel, and materials, it was an expense he could regard as necessary.
"If you're going to make a living as a traveling blacksmith, you'd be better off with an advanced blacksmith's license. Of course, you'll need the appropriate skill and track record, but since you learned smithing from Azvvald, three years should be enough."
Well, it wasn't as though every one of Azvvald's apprentices became an advanced blacksmith, but he would probably be fine.
Azvvald had acknowledged Win's talent and enthusiasm, and although it hadn't yet been ten years since Win began learning smithing, adding three years would put him past that mark.
It had taken me ten years to get my license, too.
There was no reason he couldn't get one.
"Yeah, I understand. Eisa, um... thank you."
Win thanked me, looking a little embarrassed.
He didn't need to worry about that.
It was only natural for me to help him gain the means to make his way in life.
I was still Win's guardian, after all, not his opponent.
What lay three years ahead was a match, too.
We would compete, of course, with everything we had.
But we weren't enemies.
"Well then, I suppose I'll start with the repairs. Every last one of these has seen a lot of use. Win, will you help me?"
Apparently, while I was away from the dojo, they'd left the repairs to a blacksmith in the royal capital, but relying on an outside party meant they couldn't have them done frequently.
It might be a good idea to teach smithing to one of the apprentices—or perhaps to one of Shizuki's children.
It was a shame to leave such a fine forge unused for so long.
I'd thought it was a bit of a waste.
Even so, if we were going to do that, it would probably have to wait until after the match three years from now.
For now, I had something else I needed to do.
Win nodded, and we set to work repairing swords side by side.
We focused on our work without exchanging idle chatter, but the time that passed in that quiet way was very peaceful and soothing for me.