"Have you heard from the Ironstone Blacksmith Family, Zahir?" Kaizen asked.
When he heard those words, Zahir's eyes went wide.
"How do you know that name?" he asked with a strangely somber and serious face.
Kaizen could not tell that he saw and communicated a few days ago with a half-Ironstone half-dwarf who had been dead for 100 years. If he told this, Zahir would probably think he was a madman. Nevertheless, Kaizen felt that it would not be easy to lie to this dwarf, so that he would tell only a half-truth.
"Last weekend, I explored the Misty Woods and found a cave. Surprisingly, I entered this cave and found ruins of this ancient family of dwarves. From the detonated pieces of scrolls, I could find one piece of information or another that was useful, like their name."
"Wait a second. Are you really claiming that the ancient lost village of dwarves from the Tretidian Kingdom was all the time on the outskirts of Holinda?" Zahir was more elated than usual.
"Yes?"
"Do you understand what that means? You have found a part of dwarf's history, a mark of the relationship between humans and my race."
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you know the tale of the rupture of all the Five Great Races?"
"That story tells how the Dwarves, Orcs, Humans, Elves, and Giants went their separate ways? Yes, of course."
"So when these races split up thousands of years ago, the Dwarves also split across the underground world. So family branches were created in my race, and the most despised family were the Ironstones. They were said to be pigs for having such close relations with humans, but in fact, in the end, this encouraged the other dwarves' branches to do the same. My family, the Ninestones, taught me to see the Ironstones as the pilgrims of a new era for dwarves. They are my heroes, to explain in other words."
Inevitably, Kaizen smiled, and if not for Zahir's body expression, his eyes would have been filled with tears.
The truth was that this story had too many holes to be completely true. First, the Ironstones were betrayed by the humans, who refused to help them, and Therkara had told this Kaizen. Not to mention that the humans had hastily killed everyone who tried to escape from the Ironstones' village.
Kaizen stared Zahir deep in the eye and said:
"Tell the truth about them. Not that story that can be found in a human history book."
The dwarf seemed a little afraid and also a little inclined to tell. "I will tell; however, first, I need to know what you found there."
"I found nothing but trash and spiders," Kaizen said, slightly irritated.
The Psyker was tall and strong, and now that the dwarf knew that he may indeed have killed a mythical creature to have obtained such a rare and great item from the druids, Zahir feared him.
"Kaizen... I shouldn't tell you this, but the production methods of the Ironstones are unique. In fact, they were not despised because they related to humans. That is a fake story. The reality of the facts that have not been told is that the Ironstones' talent was so overwhelming that the other dwarf's families were jealous, but the Ironstones refused to talk about what their techniques were like. Everything was perfect for how they planned the diagrams, how they moved the weapon on the coals, how they controlled the temperature, and how they hit the hammer."
Hearing these words shocked Kaizen, for although he knew that Therkara was amazing, he couldn't even imagine that the Ironstones actually were the best dwarves at blacksmithing. They lived in so simple houses, seemingly, making this story Zahir was telling almost unbelievable.
"Their perfection in blacksmithing drove the other branches of dwarves away a lot, but when an illness afflicted them, it is said that some mysterious dwarves thought it was the perfect time to get their diagrams and blacksmithing methods. Some theories claim that some of the dwarf's families bribed the king, promising even better weapons and spreading the lie that the Ironstones were the worst at blacksmithing. The king of Tretidian at the time believed this bullshit and denied the Ironstones medical help, ending their lineage."
"Fuck... I like better the flowered fake version of the story. Why did you tell me that?"
"You're the one who asked! Khum... Anyway, apparently, the dwarves who bribed the king of Tretidian didn't find what they were looking for even after the ruin of the Ironstone Village. I believe this because no weapon like the ones the Ironstones produced ever again appeared."
Therkara departed the world believing that all dwarves saw her family as the most despicable when in reality, her family was respected. That were some harsh things for Kaizen.
"That puts my mind at ease, in a way.... By the way, how powerful were these Ironstones' production methods? I mean, what differentiates one production method from the other?"
The dwarf blacksmith sighed. "Answering this question is simple so that I won't be frustrated by it. Also, you deserve a reward for finding this hidden village for so long."
Crossing his arms, Kaizen nodded and leaned his back against a cabinet behind him to listen carefully.
"Just as there are countless ways to make fire, there are countless ways to forge any item. However, imagine that there is a perfect method for lighting a fire, one that will spend less time, fewer resources, less labor, and one that will generate an intense fire that, no matter how much you blow, will still endure. The Ironstones had this ability. They could take components and ingredients of a lower level that together were able to form an item of a higher level than those of the ingredients."
"How do you take Primal Rank items and produce a Mutant Rank item?"
"Exactly! For other blacksmiths, this is almost impossible. It requires years and years of trying to produce a single weapon that surpasses the level of their components, and this weapon will still be nowhere near the items produced by the Ironstones."
At that moment, Kaizen finally realized his power in his hands, the burden he carried.
Therkara was not kidding when she said how incredible his feat of making Mutant Classification arrows was.
That day, Therkara stated:
"Today is only your first day, and you have already made an item that is Mutant classification, apprentice!? The Medullar Forge is a special place, or you are special! This is the first time I have ever considered an arrow beautiful! You are amazing, Kaizen! Incredible!"
These unreasonable compliments of hers echoed in Kaizen's mind as he continued to hear from Zahir how special the Ironstones' production methods were. At the moment she spoke these words, Kaizen refused to believe them, but now they seemed so full of meaning to him as they were so full of emotion.
Before he heard the facts about the Ironstones, Kaizen planned to settle for a while in Holinda, in Zahir's forge. This dwarf would surely let him work there when he saw the Dagger of Obsession. However, mixing the Ironstones' name and brand with someone other than a direct apprentice of theirs seemed rude now. Besides, the Psyker now had no doubt that he would attract trouble when he started using the Ironstones' mark, so having Zahir around would be tricky.
'Yes, I shall open my own place. The name will be... um... Medullar Forge, how about it? Not a bad name.'
After selling those Swift Arrows for so much money without even trying that hard, Kaizen believed that being a blacksmith would be the best way for him to get rivers of money.
Kaizen still had no idea that by becoming a freelance blacksmith, his curiosity for the unknown would get even more hungry and that, thanks to his class, this feeling would soon disturb the nemetons all over Midgard.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
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