A Journey and My Usual Whim (9)

Although I had initially planned to leave right away, I had only booked a room at the inn for three days, so I ultimately decided to extend my stay.

I changed my plans because I decided I might as well do some smithing first.

That said, it wasn't as though I intended to take on any smithing work in this town.

This time, smithing was purely a personal hobby.

I had decided to forge and give matching swords to Aina, Nonna's great-granddaughter, and Bileck, her lover.

I had also taken on that sparring match the other day largely so I could determine the quirks of the swords they used.

Ah, by the way, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the outcome of our matches.

I was challenged one after another by nearly everyone at the training grounds, including Aina and the instructor—not just Bileck—and although I crossed swords with Aina and Bileck multiple times, I finished every bout within a few exchanges.

Whether my opponent was Aina's lover or Aina herself, if another school's swordsman challenged me and I accepted as a swordsman of the Yosogi school, I would never take it easy.

Holding back, regardless of victory or defeat, would sully the name of my teacher, Kaeh.

So I moderated my strength to avoid injuring them, but I never pretended to lose or otherwise let them have the glory.

Then, unless one was a master who had trained for many years or possessed truly exceptional talent with a sword, no one could hope to match me, a man who had likely been wielding a sword for longer than a human lifetime.

The reason Shizuki defeated me several years ago was probably that he was both a sword genius and a man who had trained for many years.

I could tell from the way Aina and Bileck wielded their swords that they trained earnestly, but my years could not be made up for by earnest training alone.

In any case, after crossing swords with them so many times, I had gained a rough understanding of the quirks of Azedda Empire-style Orthodox Swordsmanship and grasped Aina and Bileck's movements.

I had more than enough information to forge swords for them.

After all, ordinary blacksmiths didn't spar with the people they were forging swords for.

Thus, I made my way to the Janpemon Blacksmiths' Guild, a place filled with memories for me.

Even if I wasn't going to take on work, this was still the place to borrow a forge.

A new employee I had never seen before came out to greet me.

They apparently knew who I was. Though they seemed disappointed when I said I wasn't taking on smithing work, they readily lent me the forge.

When I casually asked about it, I learned that the female employee who had greeted me before had left the Blacksmiths' Guild after getting married.

Her husband was a blacksmith, so she apparently still came by from time to time to purchase fuel and ore and arrange jobs.

Well, nine years had passed since then, so it was only natural that things like that would happen.

And that was precisely why I decided to make this gift for Aina and Bileck.

Even if the two of them married someday, I probably would never be there to see them as a married couple.

It had been the same with Nonna, Aina's grandmother.

I met Nonna when she was still a child. The next time I saw her, she was around Aina's current age, and the time after that... was after she had been buried.

There was no guarantee that the same wouldn't happen with Aina, either.

So I would do what I could while I still had the chance.

The forge here, which I entered for the first time in nine years, was old-fashioned as ever but had been cleaned thoroughly.

As I checked the smithing tools, materials such as iron and copper, and charcoal for fuel, I nodded in satisfaction.

Since it had been a long time since I had last wielded my smithing tools, I would begin this time, too, by reacquainting myself with the feel of it.

The pieces I made to warm up could be given to the Blacksmiths' Guild if they turned out well.

Since I would be making hand-and-a-half swords for use in Azedda Empire-style Orthodox Swordsmanship, they surely wouldn't go to waste.

But the swords I planned to forge in earnest for Aina and Bileck would not be mere hand-and-a-half swords.

When I visited the East, Wanggui Xuannu, one of the immortals of the Huanggu Empire, taught me about one of the weapons known as husband-and-wife swords. Borrowing that concept, I intended to forge two swords as a matched pair.

Apparently, husband-and-wife swords weren't necessarily swords for a married couple to carry, but since the two of them were swordsmen of the same school and might one day become husband and wife, I wanted to give them such a pair.

I didn't know what awaited the two of them in the years ahead, but as long as they did not neglect their sword training, good weapons would surely come to their aid.

Still, that would all have to wait until I had regained my feel for smithing.

First, I'd probably forge five or ten hand-and-a-half swords to get back into practice.

If I still wasn't satisfied, I could make twenty or thirty, or even more.

Coming to Janpemon had been a detour, but it was a necessary one for me, so I wasn't going to begrudge the time.

When I lit the fire in the forge and took up my smithing tools, the smell of fire and iron made my heart leap.

Ah, it really had been a long time.

What I was about to forge was only for practice, but I would make each sword carefully and enjoy the process.

Yes, smithing was something I truly enjoyed.

Six months later, I gave Aina and Bileck two swords that made a matched pair and set out on the road again.

During those six months, I forged seventeen practice swords.

I may have gotten a little carried away and forged too many, but of the ten whose quality satisfied me, I gave five to the Blacksmiths' Guild and the remaining five to the training grounds Aina and Bileck attended.

I didn't know whose hands they would end up in, but just as Aina and Bileck had been delighted, I hoped whoever received them would be happy too.

The sky was blue, and the wind was blowing eastward.

Now, this time for real, I would head east.

I wouldn't be heading due east, but slightly south of east, toward Ladrenia, the headquarters of a religion that worshiped the God of Abundance and a place also regarded as its holy land. From there, I would cross Dolbogarde, where trade with the eastern part of the continent flourished, and finally reach Sigrea, my destination.

My journey was far from over.