154 Part 2
There was no response.
I only said that, winked at Madam and went out of the high-class restaurant. The delicious apple is still in my hand.
I continued my stroll around the town.
This time round, I went to the recently built magic academy. It is a private school; so of course, it is mostly attended by rich noble’s children who can afford it. We will be building a Helan public academy but I guess they beat us to it first. Helan public magic academy will be built to grant equal study opportunities to both commoners and nobles. It was kind of disappointing that the private school was built first. Two groups of boys were fighting each other in front of the private academy. It looked interesting so I approached them.
As expected, it is a group of rich kids of the magic academy versus a group of commoners. Apparently one of the rich guys snatched away the lover of one guy from the group of commoners. It is a very common story but the person involved probably felt like his world has turned upside down. I stood out to the man who was going to land a punch to the noble kid and asked about the obvious.
“What’s going on? Calm down.”
He was going to land another punch on me after seeing my clothes when I intervened. Oh right, I guess I am wearing fine clothes right now. He’s in a Rich=Enemies frenzy and my clothes probably triggered him.
“Was your lover taken away? You don’t have to feel so down because of that. As long as you can eat apples, it’ll be fine.”
“Shut up! What do you know about my feelings?!”
“Don’t give up on yourself. Next month, the Helan public magic academy will be built on the opposite side of the river bank. There is a chance for commoners to study there. As long as you enrol into the school, you might get a chance to meet another lover.”
“There is no way I can do that!”
“That’s not true. As long as you get superior grades, you can get work in the Helan autonomous territory, or you can also find a job at the capital too. Of course, you will easily get a girlfriend too.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes it is.”
“Damn it. Then I will enrol in that school. I will definitely enrol in it.”
“That’s the spirit. You guys should all take the exams. Of course, this applies to you rich kids too; apparently you can transfer schools if you are talented. That’s all I have to say. Well then, go ahead and fight.”
After I walked away, things heated up between them again and a scuffle began. That’s wholesome. Wholesome. Be sure to apply that power to studying from next month onwards!
“He’s now an autonomous feudal lord! But he used to be a legendary blacksmith!”
Sounds travelled from a distance. It seems like merchants are shouting to attract customers but judging from the content, it is related to me. I decided to take a look.
A crowd formed. In the centre of which, a man with a sword in one hand, introduced his product with a nice pitch.
“He is also Kururi Helan! The number of swords he forged is not known, but there aren’t many of his swords going around in this world. Most of his exquisite swords are in the hands of the nobles. Unfortunately, it is probably not possible to see it in the market once it is in their hands. However! Right here, is a sword forged by the Kururi Helan. The famous Swift sword! It took much painstaking efforts to finally get this sword and I am selling it in Kururi Helan’s land today!”
Cheers arose. The customers were heated up as they were influenced by the man.
However, the crowd’s tension immediately cooled down upon hearing the price the man shouted. It is totally unaffordable.
Right then, one man butted in.
“I will buy it.”
From his look, he is a noble. He held a large amount of money in his bosoms, and could not hide his excitement in front of the famous sword.
“Is there anyone else other than the customer over there? If not, I’m going to sell it to him!”
Well I could have stayed quiet, but I cannot help but intervene.
“Wait a minute.”
“Oh? Does the customer over there want it too? I will sell it to you if you cite a higher price.”
The guy, who misunderstood me as a customer, looked pleased while the man, who thought he finally had the sword in his hands, glared at me. That’s not the case, so please calm down.
“What made you think that this is really a part of Kururi series? Is it the splendour of the scabbard? Have you seen the actual sword?”
I faced the noble who was about to buy it, and asked.
“I don’t mind if you are tricked, but it annoys me to think that this toy here is thought to be part of the Kururi series.”
“What are you talking about?!”
The man who was about to sell it naturally flared up. However, with my questions, the crowd could not help but demand to confirm the authenticity of the sword.
“Can you lend me the sword? I will explain one by one.”
The man was reluctant to hand it over, but the crowd would not forgive him if he did not. I immediately unsheathed the sword upon receiving it. Soft shrieks could be heard. The blade, like the scabbard, was polished very well and looked good with the reflected light… Indeed it might look like good stuffs at one glance.
“First of all, the balance is bad. Remember this, all right? A sword that is not straight has a bad balance compared to a good sword, it will be awfully heavy when one is about to unsheathe it. And that is exactly the description of this sword.”
“Don’t say things off the bat…”
“Secondly, swords that are not forged well will immediately break apart, but we wouldn’t know if it has not been used before. However, swords that are not forged well generally have a bad reverberation. I will try to swing it and you will probably hear a dull sound.”
Indeed, a dissonance echoed.
“It is false accusation…”
“Third, bad swords tend to gather bad masters. Hey.”
I threw the sword at the guy. The guy desperately tried to catch it so that it would not fall onto the ground.
“Slay me with this sword. If you managed to kill me, I will give you this.’
I flashed the money from my pocket and solicited him.
“You said that eh? There are many witnesses here!”
The guy came forward to slay me without hesitation. The sword has a bad balance with no substance, and even the master of it is terrible.
It did not even leave a scratch on me. The knife immediately flew off from his hand after I poked his wrist, and I took it. The man looked bewildered, and I threw the wallet, containing all the money I have now, at him. It is my apologies for disturbing his business. I hinted him to scram off through my gestures. The man fled the scene.
The knife is still in my hand.
“Can anyone get me a hammer?”
Someone immediately got me a hammer. I explained in great details, so that the crowd around me can see it.
“It is important to own a good sword, but a mediocre sword can be greatly improved just by using some technique. For swords with bad balance, we forge vertically. For swords that were forged badly, we will divide the blade to widen it. By doing this, it will last slightly longer. Take a look at how I will improve this sword.”
“Ah.”
When I held up the hammer, there was a scream of shock. After the scream of one person, more and more people in the crowd started screaming. Everyone was looking at my face. I touched my face to grope around. I plucked one hair and looked at its colour. ……It is red. This is bad, my transformation magic was probably undone without me realizing because I was going to display my skills as a blacksmith.
My identity as the territory feudal lord was revealed, and I ran away from the noisy crowd.
While leaving, I faced the noble who was duped and gave an advice.
“Got it?! Don’t be fooled anymore! Being a blacksmith is good. It is better to study more. Even though you do not expect to fall into ruin, you should still aim to become a blacksmith! Bye!”
Lightly proofread by FlawFinder