Chapter 87: Re-hitting

After worshiping together, we start working. I lit a fire on the fire bed then I send in some wind to raise the temperature. When the temperature has risen, I put the Mithril sword inside the fire to heat it. Apart from that, I also lit the fire on the furnace. This one is to be used by Rike and the others when they work.

When the temperature of Mithril has risen just above the workable temperature, I take it out and hit it with a hammer. A clear glass-like sound echoes in the smithy, glittering lights also dances around it. I hammer it quickly so that I can hit it as many times as possible.

I did not mean to say that I’m just hitting it as fast as I can though. If my hand misses even a little, the magical power woven in will be lost. So I’m still careful for that not to happen. I hit it quickly and carefully at the same time. And, for sure, only a limited number of people can handle this. This is especially true for blacksmiths, most of whom don’t understand magic. I’m still doubtful even if I was told that I really understood magical power, well, there’s no doubt that I can see the flow of magical power though.

In this world where the number of people who can use magic is quite limited, those who can properly see the flow of magical power become a magician instead of becoming a blacksmith. With that alone, they can live tranquilly. As a result, “only few blacksmiths can properly handle a Mithril”.

The Mithril, which is probably filled to almost the limit of its magical power capacity, has a clear sound but it felt very heavy when I hammer it and it does not stretch well. Within only a few strikes, it is already out of the workable temperature. I then put the sword back into the fire, heat it, remove it, and hammer it again. The glass-like sound that comes as I’m hitting the Mithril and the metallic sound that was produced as Rike hits a sword to make a general model echo inside the workplace. Besides that, Samia and Diana are making molds and they pour the iron melted in the furnace to it. Fire, wind, hammer, and the people here, makes their own sounds as each of us do our part of work. For me, this room is very comfortable.

That being said, the progress on my mithril work is very poor. Still, I feel relieved knowing that I’ll be able to meet the two-week deadline.

In the end, for this day, I stretched it to half of the remaining 2/3, in other words, I was able to stretch it to the point where only 1/3 is left. Perhaps this is still quite fast compared to a normal blacksmith, however, the progress is slower than the usual steel sword, which is quite stressful. The saving grace is the beautiful sound that comes when I hit it. To be honest, without it, my progress would have been even slower.

However, considering the Apoitakara and other unseen ores I’ll encounter in the future, I can’t be tired-out re-hitting mithril. I have to get through this and be more confident.

The next day,

Considering the progress of yesterday, I’ll also keep on hitting Mithril all day long today. For the newly added routine, I did not forget to exchange the water and salt in the Kamidana and do the worship. Rike and the others will still make the general model ones today. Liddy-san is will observe my work as usual. That said, she’s just watching me hit and stretch Mithril with a hammer all day long.

“Liddy-san”

“What is it?”

After I put the Mithril in the fire bed, I called her while I’m heating it. Liddy-san replied with a cool and clear voice as usual.

“Is it fun to watch?”

“Yes, it is. If it were a normal work, I might find it boring at some point after watching it for a whole day, but Eizou-san’s work is anything but normal.”

“Uh-, thank you”

I thanked her, judging that she was probably complementing me. Well, it’s not really normal.

“Besides, elves have a long lifespan, we feel one day shorter than a human day.”

She’s quite an intellectual, but when I think of her laid-back atmosphere, I realized that she felt time differently. Wait-, if that’s the case, then five years of Samia’s life must have been quite long. Unfortunately, even if I got a cheat, it’s a feeling that I, as a human being, will never understand.

“The sound is pleasing too. There was no blacksmith in my village or in any other village that could make such beautiful sound.”

“Does the sound differ depending on the person who wields the hammer?”

“Yes. The more efficiently you put magic into it, the mithril will make better sound. I don’t think there are many elven blacksmiths who can do it at Eizou-san’s level.”

“I see…”

I pretended not to notice Rike nodding at the corner of my field of view as I hit the heated Mithril with a hammer. The Mithril made a beautiful sound as I hammered it.

“Well, in the case of the sound we heard so far, it was also affected by the degree of mithril refinement.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s not applicable to steel, but the purer the Mithril becomes, the easier it is to store magical power on it and the sound when it is hit also becomes more beautiful.”

“Haha, I see.”

I make a sound that seems to be hard to make. Now I understand why it feels different than when I hit the mithril rapier before. The mithril at that time had a lower “degree of refinement” than this one –in other words, it probably had more impurities. It’s not so far-fetched to think that this meant that less magic power was put into it so less effort was needed in hammering it.

Let’s find a way to increase the degree of refinement in the future. I thought so to myself while listening to the beautiful glass-like sound.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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