Chapter 13: Lovers' talk

Lutz was making the dagger that Claudia had asked him to make.

I now had some financial leeway, and if Claudia did not take orders, there was no way I could do any other work. The finished blade is a little long for a dagger, but not so long as to be inconvenient to carry around.

Why did Claudia suddenly say that she wanted a dagger? Lutz was thinking as he slid the blade on the whetstone.

She does not know anything about martial arts. She probably doesn't seriously think that she can defend herself with a single dagger.

What did Claudia say the other day when she was begging? It's not right that the knighthood bastards have it and I don't. I'm sure she said something like that.

......I wonder if those words really came out of jealousy.

“Give me proof that I am the most important woman to you, Lutz-kun. Or do you want to dig a knight's ass?”

Claudia's voice replayed in my brain. It sounded like something she would say.

What the heck, that's what it's all about. As soon as I understood Claudia's intention, the resistance was quickly removed from the grinding stone.

I removed the rough whetstone and prepared a fine whetstone and started sharpening again.

This is going to be good. I had such a hunch.

"I'm home……"

Claudia, who had been out peddling, returned after three days.

“Lutz-kun, please prepare something to eat. After I eat, take a nap, and then we'll go have a bit of a skedaddle. ......"

Rather than sitting down, she put her butt on the chair and leaned her upper body on the table.

The sound of something hard being placed on the floor made me look up and there was a black lacquered dagger.

"I'll heat up some soup. Play with it until it's ready."

Lutz's words knocked all the sleep out of her. Claudia gabbered up and grabbed the black-painted scabbard.

The handle is made of wood and fits perfectly with the scabbard. It is a short sword for self-defense, called gokuchi aikuchi, or dirk aikuchi. The lack of a brim makes it less bulky and easy to carry. It was often used in fights by yakuza and exponents of gambling.

Claudia first stared at the paint on the scabbard.

“Lutz-kun always paints his scabbard black.”

"Eh, I guess so. I never really gave it much thought."

Claudia did not miss the slight agitation in his voice. She smiled like a child who has come up with a naughty prank.

“It’s not like you particularly like black. You're not just painting it black so that it looks good, aren't you?"

"No..."

Lutz was caught off guard and was at a loss for words. This man has no artistic sense other than the blade.

It was an abusive remark, like saying to an artist that everyone was facing the same direction.

"...Claudia, I have no taste for being bullied.”

"Ahaha, that's right."

Claudia laughed and checked the whole thing by lifting the dagger and flipping it over.

"I'm not defending those knight shits, but there sure is a lot of room left for decoration. Just making it look better can double or triple the selling price.”

"Not so much."

“There is no fixed price for art. The point is that it's fine as long as the people who are buying and selling are satisfied with each other. It is important to make people think something looks great and to be able to brag about how great it looks.”

Lutz arranged two bowls of soup and two spoons. The church encourages people to eat with their hands, but for Lutz, who emphasizes rationality,  it is a hassle.

I couldn't find any meaning in baking hard bread and using it as a plate, or making a hollow in the table and pouring soup into it. Aside from being inside the castle walls, no complaints were made outside the church's sight. It was just comfortable.

“I would like to make an excuse, or rather, clear up the misunderstanding…”

Lutz said while looking for ingredients with a spoon.

“A sword is basically not something that is made by one person. It is made by a division of labor: sword smith, sharpener, silversmith, sheath maker, handle maker, and so on. I can sharpen the blade, and I can do the sheath and hilt in a certain way…Yeah, I think it's a big deal to be able to do it in that way."

In the second half, it was Lutz who was unconfident and his eyes were swimming.

“I understand that it is cruel to ask you to decorate. Then maybe it would be a good idea to find a craftsman who can do it.”

Claudia drank the soup and replaced the spoon with her dagger. Incidentally, eating fast is her speciality, and Lutz has only eaten about half of it.

"So this short sword..."

"It's an aikuchi (dagger)."

"Oh, yes, the aikuchi. That dagger neck is not so bad painted in black, but don't you think it would be even better if you painted a phoenix or something in gold leaf work?"

Certainly, if you do so, the sense of luxury will be different. It would be a sword that could be called a treasured sword.

"The problem is that there's no way to sell something that takes that much time and effort."

"That's it..."

Living outside the city walls, there was no way for them to have any relationships with the nobility or wealthy merchants. No matter how wonderful the sword might be, there was nothing they could do except put it away in a chest of drawers.

It is fine for individuals to do small business, but it is impossible for those who are not members of a trade association to set up store in the city and invite people to visit them.

Surrounded by scary men in no time, it can become a story that you refuse to do business with anyone.

The last time Claudia was captured by the Knights was a false accusation, but this is a crime that cannot be excused.

It was a world where it was even forbidden for anyone other than bakers to bake bread. It was such a serious crime to meddle in other people's territory.

In that case, Lutz should also join the union, but there were a lot of problems here as well.

First, Lutz has no guarantor. He is a venerable and suspicious person from his father's generation, who was a drifter. No blacksmith would hire such a person.

Since only a limited number of people can be masters in a trade union system guild, it is not possible to suddenly go to a town and open a blacksmith shop from today.

If you want to be a blacksmith, you must first apprentice yourself to another blacksmith. After three to five years of apprenticeship and training there, he finally becomes a craftsman for hire.

It is too late for Lutz, who learned all of this from his father, who learned blacksmithing by traveling the country, but the emphasis here is on years of service, not skill.

In extreme cases, for example, if a master blacksmith is forced by war to take up blacksmithing in another town, he or she will have to start over as an apprentice again.

If you have a good relationship with the local master, he may be able to entrust you with some work, but the position is still a bad one.

If Lutz were to enter such a framework, he would not be allowed to make such a dubious thing as a sword, and his skills as a sword smith would be rusted by the time he had risen to the position of master over several decades.

Lutz, who believed that the skills handed down by his father were supreme, found this intolerable.

"Well, it's nothing to worry about. I'm sure there will be someone somewhere in town who wants a sword."

"Is that right ......?"

"Rumors of the daggers you gave away and the daggers you scattered will slowly spread. That's when the master craftsman Lutz-sama will come into play."

I wonder what Claudia meant when she said that. Is she trying to comfort Lutz, or is she seriously believing that?

I don't know, but I had a feeling that if I was with Claudia, I would be able to do something about it, so I decided to obediently accept her words.

"It's time to unveil him."

After Lutz finished eating the soup, Claudia grabbed her dagger.

“Now then, what kind of love does Lutz-kun take…?”

"Stop it. If it's not good enough, it's as if I don't love you.”

"Oh, you're not doing so well, are you?"

"It's the best I've ever made."

"Fufun, then it's fine."

When pulled out of its scabbard, the blade that appeared was slender but powerful. It seems a little long for a short sword.

"Oh, this is..."

Claudia looked at the dagger from various angles and shook it lightly. Each time she groaned or nodded.

"Do you like it?"

"For example, if the Grim Reaper were in front of me, he would hold out the scythe and say, ‘Trade with me’. I'd offer you the scythe."

"Even if you have such an opportunity, please refuse it. A reaper chasing me with a dagger or something like that would be the worst in terms of the picture. It's too scary."

"I can't go out peddling with a scythe either. I have no choice but to carry this with me.”

While laughing, Claudia couldn't take her eyes off the dagger. Her own face reflected in the silvery white blade, her eyes so sharp that she felt like a different person.

"Why is the blade length a little longer?"

"If you stick it perpendicular to the chest, it's long enough to destroy the heart for sure."

"Yeah, how can I put it, I'm disappointed by the rather disturbing answer."

" It is a mistake to think that because it is for self-defense, it is okay to make it small. It is to put pressure on the bandit to kill the first one who comes at me, no matter how many bandits there are.”

"You make them think you're a pain in the ass. In fact, you're going to have to at least pay a toll from it, and make them somewhat convinced."

"Was it superfluous?"

"No, it's important to be able to take the initiative."

Claudia pointed the blade at herself. Her heart skipped a beat. This was a blade that reminded her of death. What would happen if it were to be aimed at her with murderous intent?

You have more cards in your hand when negotiating with thieves. That much is certain.

It was an option that Lutz thought for Claudia's sake and gave it to her.

"It's not as sexy as a present, but I'll take it.”

Claudia, who was so fond of it despite the hateful comments, seemed to like it so much that she began to carry the dagger with her wherever she went.

Even at home, Lutz would try desperately to stop her from carrying it around on her waist and even into her bed.

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