Chapter 116: The Stone Eater

A katana is a tool for cutting people. Therefore, it must be sharp.

A katana is something that is used on the battlefield. Therefore, it must be sturdy.

There is no need to seek beauty in a blade. If you pursue functionality, beauty will follow.

At the request of the marquis, Lutz chose a katana that was faithful to the basics without worrying about eccentricities for the big task of taking over the role of his father, who was his teacher.

It is just strong and sharp. He sublimated and fused the contradiction between hardness and suppleness. Lutz continued to hammer steel with all the skills he had learned from his father.

Cut a slit with a trowel in the beaten and stretched base metal, fold it in two, and stack them on top of each other. It is heated to about 1,300 degrees Celsius, beaten and stretched, and folded twice again. It is said that a few folds are enough to remove impurities, but Lutz continued this process dozens of times to an uncomfortable degree.

He was so focused that he could clearly see each flying spark. When his thoughts became blurred by the heat, he covered his head with water and continued working.

It was a dreadful work that made me think that I was obsessed with steel.

When the process of making the sword into a shape called “hizukuri” was finished, Lutz collapsed. When Claudia, startled by a loud noise, ran to him and picked him up, Lutz smiled at her with an earthy look on his face.

“This guy is going to be great.”

Before I could finish, I was smacked on the head with a peck.

“Clau, what are you going to do if I become even more stupid?”

“I’m glad you’re aware of it. Go to bed, get some rest. You also lost consciousness and collapsed because you had come to a break, right? It shouldn’t be a scene where you shouldn’t take time off.”

“That’s, well, true, but ……”

“I’ll hear your complaints tomorrow. Come on, come on.”

Thus, he was dragged to his bed on the third floor. Lutz was concerned that he would lose his concentration, but when he collapsed onto the bed, he began to fall asleep. It seemed that he had exceeded the limit of his physical strength without even realising it.

“Totally, you’re a helpless man…”

Claudia muttered with a wry smile.

Will his bad habits heal with time? He will probably stay like this for the rest of his life. And I will be stuck with it for the rest of my life. That’s not so bad.

The shape of the finished katana was very ordinary, without any special features. The blade is slightly longer. This is because it matches the height of the marquis, who is the client, and also because it makes it easier to apply force to the tip when it is swung.

There was no temptation to self-mutilate, to be mesmerised by its beauty, or to be manipulated into continuing to swing it. It was a very ordinary katana.

“What a difficult blade. ……”

Claudia said while pulling out the katana stored in the white wooden scabbard and swinging it lightly.

A katana is a tool for cutting people, and that is all he pursued. It is beautiful, but it is not artistic beauty, but pure functional beauty.

Even Claudia, who was an excellent merchant, found it difficult to put a price on this katana.

For example, if you were a nobleman and a merchant came to you with a katana and asked you to name your price, what would you say?

Ten gold coins?

Or a thousand?

I don’t know. This is a very high standard, ordinary sword.

“I’m home.”

When she turned around to hear the lingering voice, Lutz, who had been out somewhere all morning, came back. He was carrying a stone as big as a man’s head under his arm.rm.

When I asked him what happened to it, he said he picked it up on the river bank.

“I’m thinking of finishing the sword with this.”

“Eh, no way…”

“Slash.”

I thought it was a joke, but I looked into Lutz’s face, but his expression was serious. You know, he’s a man who never lies when it comes to katanas.

“Wait, wait, Lutz-kun, I’m going to tell you something obvious. If you strike a katana against a stone, of course the blade will break.”

“I made it so that it wouldn’t happen. Besides, it is said that my father’s katana could cut through even stone. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t do it.”

“Your dad’s blade is the one you swung all the way to sharpness, right?”

“I hear Gerhard-san slashed some rocks too.”

“Isn’t that due to the enchantment of magic? This blade is, how should I put it, a balanced type of normal.”

“It is only then that the true value of the katana is put to the test.”

Lutz went around the back and carried an old barrel with a hole in it from the donkey shed. He had gotten this from somewhere else, too.

He placed a stone on top of the barrel and received the katana from the reluctant Claudia.

“What are you going to do if the blade breaks?”

“Then I’ll throw it in the furnace again, turn it back into steel, and start all over again.”

“Even though you worked so hard to make it!?”

Claudia’s confusion was considerable, as she had seen Lutz rooted to the point of collapse. That was to be repeated again, and he was not joking.

“The hard part about hard work is that there is no guarantee that it will lead to results. You still have to go through the process of groping. That’s what I’ve been doing all my life. Maybe my father would have done the same.”

As he talks, Lutz re-grips the white wooden handle several times. He just has to make sure it doesn’t slip or fall out when he swings it down.

“Talent is the mind that is not afraid of wasted effort.”

Standing in front of the barrel, Lutz raised his katana.

“Clau, I need you to stand back a little bit. If the blade breaks off and gets a scratch on your face, I’ll have to cut my gut right here and now.”

Claudia, who could not tell whether he was being serious or joking, took a backseat and followed his lead. The man is taking his job seriously, and I would not be tactless enough to stop him. Even if it is a foolish thing to do from the other side.

Take a deep breath and stop. He put a lot of pressure on his abdomen and stopped moving from that position.

Just when I was worried that he might suffocate like this, the katana was swung down with a thunderous spirit.

“Keeee!”

Claudia braced herself, thinking that the sound of the stone and blade clenching would be tremendous, but there was only an unexpectedly small sound.

Lutz took a Zanshin stance, and after a moment the barrel collapsed. Claudia crouched down to see what had happened to the stone and found that it had split in two. The cut was as smooth as if it had been filed.

“This is amazing, you cut it beautifully!”

Perhaps relieved by Claudia’s excited voice, Lutz sat down on the spot with a weak waist. Just one swing, and Lutz is covered in sweat all over his body.

“Lutz-kun!?”

“It’s okay, I’m just tired from concentrating too much. More importantly, Clau, can you name this blade for me?”

“Is it okay for me to meddle in the Lutz family’s affairs?”

“You are also part of that family. I’m counting on you.”

Claudia’s gaze was between the katana and the broken stone for a while.

“… How about a stone eater?”

“It’s rugged. No, that’s why it’s suitable. This katana doesn’t need extra decoration.”

Claudia nodded back at Lutz, who smiled and said, “I like it.”

Lutz checked the blade. There was no chipped blade at all, and it was emitting a suspicious light as if searching for its next prey.

“So I guess this means I’m all licensed, right?”

I ask towards the ceiling that has started to get dirty. There was no way I would get an answer, but I had a guess what my father would say at a time like this.

Do whatever you want, and I’m sure i’ll say yes.

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