Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 10: The Price of the Blacksmith
“Leave her here.”
“…Me?”
Nina-chan, suddenly pointed at, let out a bewildered voice.
However, the blacksmith, without seeming to mind, smirked before continuing.
“If you do that, then I’ll forge it. I don’t need money. Leave the child.”
“What do you mean by ‘leave her’?”
Before anyone else present could speak, I asked the elderly blacksmith.
I didn’t understand what the old man was talking about.
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“Exactly as it sounds. I’ll forge your sword. For that, I need compensation. You understand the concept of work requiring compensation, don’t you?”
“…Yeah.”
Pressured by the old man, I nodded.
There was no argument against what he was saying. I understood because I had worked in my past life. You can’t do work without money.
“But I don’t need money. I won’t live much longer anyway. Even if I had money, I wouldn’t be able to spend it all.”
Hearing the old man’s words, I involuntarily looked him up and down.
He was wearing tattered clothes. Instead of shoes, he wore sandals. Looking around the workshop, there were scattered blacksmithing tools everywhere… and those tools were also old and worn out.
There was no way he looked like he had money.
It might not be nice to say it like this, but since being reborn, I’ve seen many wealthy people. My own family, Aya-chan’s family, Nina-chan’s family, and above all, the Kamirazuki family.
Compared to such families, the elderly man in front of me didn’t seem to have money.
But there was no lie in the old man’s attitude… or at least, it seemed that way.
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The old man in front of me seemed sincere, speaking his mind.
No, but when you think about it, he’s one of the few swordsmiths in the world who can forge enchanted swords.
The clients are exorcists, but because of the nature of using relics, they should be relatively powerful exorcists as targets.
Thinking that way, maybe he really doesn’t need money.
…But right now, that doesn’t matter.
“Because money isn’t necessary, you want Nina-chan in return?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Why?”
“Don’t ask for reasons. The compensation I seek includes not asking questions.”
Saying that, the old man chuckled.
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It was as if he enjoyed the idea of me responding or of me questioning. His attitude seemed somewhat mocking, which irritated me a bit.
Meanwhile, Nina-chan behind me asked in a trembling voice.
“…Does that mean I’ll be separated from Itsuki?”
“That’s right. You have to stay here.”
The old man nodded at Nina-chan’s trembling voice.
At that nod, Irena-san, who was behind, raised her voice.
“There’s no way something like that would be allowed!”
“Huh?”
“Leaving Nina behind as compensation for forging the sword… I cannot allow such a thing.”
“I don’t mind. There’s no need to force yourself to it.”
Saying so, the old man waved the blade he had been holding all along.
Reflected in the light from the furnace installed in the back of the hut, it gleamed.
In front of such a scene, Irena-san continued.
“Soichiro-san, I absolutely cannot allow it. We are indebted to Itsuki-san, and I have received so much kindness from you as well. But I cannot leave Nina with a Magic smith, a swordsmith of unknown intentions.”
“I understand.”
Father deeply nodded at Irena-san’s declaration.
After nodding, he took a step forward and said to the blacksmith.
“The conditions you seek when forging the sword are as usual. You’ve asked for difficult conditions from me and from Renji. But leaving a child behind is unacceptable, you know that.”
“It’s different from your time. This is a magic sword, isn’t it?”
Father’s decisive words were cut off with the sharpness of a blade by the old man.
“Do you understand what that means?”
“Yes. Because I know its power, that’s why I’m coming to Sensei’s…”
“No, you don’t understand. You guys don’t understand the meaning of a magic sword.”
With a sneer, the blacksmith laughed.
His clouded eyes narrowed.
“At Dan-no-ura, Sekigahara, and Toba-Fushimi. Whenever exorcists were still not ‘magic oriented’ but fighting against people, a cursed sword was always involved. You’ve heard of it. A sword that could cut down a hundred men with one stroke and cut down a thousand with its return blade.”
“…The ‘Cross of the Ten’.”
Father replied shortly. Is that the name of the sword?
Just listening from the sidelines, it sounds like a legendary story, but instead of being excited, I feel more restrained.
Because if I were told to do the same thing now—now, I could probably do it.
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“You know, right? A sword that can resurrect the dead on the battlefield, control thousands of corpses and skeletons, and duel with enemy forces alone.”
“The ‘Weeping Insect.'”
“Yeah. Then do you know this? ‘Shadow Glint.'”
“…No.”
Father quietly shook his head.
`When the Genji were chasing the Heike, they were not able to stop the fleeing Heike…The sun began to set.At this rate, they would have been able to escape.At that moment, the Genji who were chasing them cut through time.”
“…And then?”
“The sun rolled back three fingers’ worth of time.”
“…”
Father fell completely silent at the blacksmith’s words.
It seemed like he was checking the veracity of the words and also grasping the meaning of the word “magic sword.”
As for me, if the capabilities of the two swords mentioned later are true… well, I don’t know how to react. I want to believe it’s a lie, but if it’s forged using the treasure of a Sixth Rank, it seems plausible.
Seeing Father fall silent, the old man continued.
“What you guys are trying to get me to forge is such a thing. Do you understand? Are you asking me to forge it with just the money you have? Is that so?”
The old man’s sticky gaze caught Father.
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Certainly, if what he had said up to now was true, I understood that it wasn’t something that could be resolved just by paying money. I understood that, but I also didn’t like being talked down to.
“…Even so, it’s my story.”
“Huh?”
“The magic sword is my story. Nina-chan has noth—”
“…”
When I said that, a smile appeared on the blacksmith’s face.
Just as I braced myself, expecting him to say something else, my father intervened.
“We’ll be heading back today.”
“Yeah. Come back if you feel like it.”
“Yes, please forge it if you change your mind, Sensei.”
With that, my father immediately turned on his heel. I hurriedly followed behind him.
From the reactions around me, it seemed Irena-san was relieved, and Renji-san smiled as if he had known this would happen from the beginning.
Feeling perplexed by the reactions of the adults, I asked my father.
“Hey, Dad. Was everything okay?”
“Yeah, Sensei has always been difficult to please.”
“…So?”
Before I could ask what he meant, my father continued.
“Even so, both I and Renji have had swords forged by him.”
“…”
“Which means, there’s a way to handle it.”