Hard Work Will Never Betray Me - CH 12

“Excuse me for disturbing you. ”

The girl took me to a place that had a distinct presence in the workshop. There were several smiths inside, all wielding their hammers with great power.

The girl spoke to one of them, who seemed to be the master.

“Mister!　Can I watch  how do your work with him?”

“What, a friend?　Yes!　But be careful and watch from a distance!”

“Thank you.’”

The master, the girl’s father, was a very stocky man. He had muscles, a bushy beard, and above all, he was quite short for an adult male. The master seemed to be a dwarf.

Does that mean this child is also a dwarf? It’s hard to tell the difference when you’re a child, let alone an adult.

Also, if you look closely, you can see that more than half of the forgers working there are Dwarves. It  seems to be the workshop of the dwarves. I wonder if the human smiths are their apprentices.

Gun gun gun!　While making a high-pitched sound, the smiths repeatedly raised their hammers and struck them, and then raised them and struck them again. Each time they hit, the shape of the bright red iron changed little by little.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

The girl spoke to me as she watched the forging.

“I want to be able to forge like that in the future.”

“I’m sure you  will be able do it “.

It is not unfounded.

“I  will ? ”

Yes, you will. You’ve always wanted to do it, right?　Then why shouldn’t you  try ?

Continuity is power. Even if you don’t have any specific skills, it won’t change that. Of course, there are individual differences in how well you can do it.

“I’m looking forward to ……. I’d like to try it myself soon.”

She was happy to be told that s he could do it, but she was a little worried. I’m sure it’s because  she never actually been allowed to forge anything yet. If that’s the case, why don’t you actually try it? If it’s dangerous, just watch him carefully.

“If it’s too dangerous for you to do it alone, you can ask your father to watch you.

“Well, won’t he be mad ?”

I” don’t care if he gets mad. You want to do it, right?”

“That’s true!　Let’s give it a try ”

As soon as she said that, the girl walked up to her father.

“I told you to stay away from me .”

Dad, I want to do it too.”`

“What?　I don’t think you’re ready for this. ..”

“I want to try it, too. Please teach me.”

…………

The father was silent for a while as the girl looked serious. A tense air flows between the two.

—- And after a few tens of seconds, it was the father who lost his patience first.

You can’t blame him. Well, it was the same with me. ……. I was yelling at my dad every time  he went to work, and he was yelling at me every time. …… Okay, I’ll see you when this is over. So for now, take a step back and take a good look at my work.

“……!　Thank you!”

Apparently, I got permission to try my hand at forging without incident.

✳︎

“No, that’s not it!　You have to hit with more force!　Faster. That’ll cool down the iron!”

“Yes,  master ”

“Do it again!　You see, forging is a battle of time and energy. You said you wanted to do it, so don’t be discouraged!”

After that, the sword that the master was working on was finished, and the master was now teaching the girl how to forge. I’m watching from the side, . He seems to be leaving the work to the other craftsmen. I wonder if that will keep the workshop running. ……

The girl is drenched in sweat, desperately wielding a mallet under the spartan guidance of her master.  she still very young, and even though the Dwarves have an aptitude for forging, it seems very difficult for her to suddenly hammer iron. Still,  her expression was very lively, unlike when I was watching him from the side. Great, a young man with a dream!

After hours of heating the iron and beating it,t , it was finally time to soak the iron in water as instructed by the master.

I finally grabbed the beaten lump of iron with my scissors and dipped it into the cold water. With a sizzling sound, the iron was cooled down at once. After repeating the process several times, the girl held the iron, which was finally at a temperature that she could grasp with her hands, and fell in love with it for a while. It was the first time she had forged something by herself. She must have been very impressed.

“Oh, don’t dawdle. The next step is to file it. If you don’t polish it, it won’t become a blade.”

“……, yes!”

The girl replied hurriedly and ran to the place where the grinding stone was kept.

Then the master taught her how to file, mixed with reprimands, and after hours of work, when the sun was about to set,  her voice finally rose.

Finally, just as the sun was about to set, the she aid, “It’s done !