Chapter 8 -

(Ryu's POV)

 

Deep in my own thoughts, I don't realize where I walked off and am jolted to reality by the sounds of hammering.

I find myself in some sort of town square, there are not many people around since it's still pretty early. The square itself was pretty spacious, a variety of establishments scattered around, two taverns almost opposite of each other, what seems to be a meat shop, a shop with some clothes hanging on display, a place that looks like a family-friendly eatery, shops with odd items for sale, an apothecary, and a smithy.

I was standing right in front of the smithy, and it had caught my attention, I looked closely at the young boy, probably even younger than me, hammering a lump of red hot iron.

He had Messy hair, a symmetrical face covered in charcoal, wearing a kind of leather apron, a small frame yet muscular arms. He wielded the massive hammer with ease and worked on the lump of metal on the anvil.

I got lost in the simple beauty of the red hot lump of metal, various thoughts passed through me.

'What is this metal? Is it iron? Or was steel already invented in this world?'

'What is he making? A sword? Or maybe a shield? Could also be something simpler like a horseshoe.'

'Why is he making it? Well, that's probably for some customer.'

" What you looking at? Huh!?"

The boy had stopped working and was standing right in front of me, I guess I looked somewhat suspicious standing here on a cold morning in nothing but a shirt.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was staring. The iron looked sort of beautiful."

"Huh? Weirdo..."

"Hehe... Don't mind me. lol"

 As I was again starting to walk away, someone called me from behind.

"hey!! Young man! listen here for a second"

I turn around, and I see an old man sitting on a chair beside the smithy, smoking what I assume is tobacco from a pipe. I look around to see if he was calling someone else but don't see anybody.

" Me?? "

He nods. Sure, why not? It's not like I have somewhere I need to be.

"Yeah?"

"Are you lost, young man?"

"No. why?"

"Well, you look lost."

This caught me by surprise, I wasn't sure how to reply. I just stood still and observed the old man for a couple seconds as he keeps smoking from his antique-looking pipe. He is definitely old, yet he seems quite fit, he's wearing a robe that fully covers him and then a shawl over it around his neck.

"I don't know gramps.... I guess you could say I'm not sure what to do here. I came to this town entirely by accident, and there are responsibilities on me that are way too big for me to fulfill. So.... I guess I am...lost..."

There was something about this old man that just made me want to talk my heart out. his dark eyes seemed full of wisdom, and he had long white hair, which suited him quite well against his dark skin.

"Oho.... you seem to be quite deep in thought. so like you."

"hmm? do you know me from somewhere?"

"hahaha!! I mean, all you young people overthink these days."

"Oh... yeah, I guess."

Then I recalled something, in some novel about another person being transferred to another world, he meets a fortune-teller who somehow knows that he is from another world and gives good advice.

If this is indeed a novel, there's a good chance this guy is indeed that type of character. I should stick to him for now and try to get some info out of him.

"So gramps, do you come here often?"

"hm? Yeah, I like to take time out and sit here in the mornings and look at all the energetic people going here and there. It's like clockwork."

At this the young smith interjects,

"Don't listen to him! That's just old man  , he's a retired old man who lives around here and has nothing much to do so just comes here every day, he's also the part of the clockwork he's talking about."

The old man gives a hearty laugh, "My lovely daughter lives a few towns over and sends me money regularly, and I'm very proud of her, but this town has too many memories, and I want to live my last years here."

"That's so cute," I say.

"huh?" they both say at the same time, I guess it doesn't make much sense, but this was totally an awww moment.

"ehem..." I act like nothing happened, and the smith goes back to work. I wait for a bit then ask gramps Zarsh about how to return back.

"So gramps.... I know you know something. Please tell me how to go back to my world," I blurt out.

Zarsh looks at me weirdly.

"What? did you eat some poisonous mushroom boy?"

I guess I was wrong, this really is an ordinary old man.

"No... nothing, forget what I said, please. Anyway, you said you know this place like clockwork? Show me how. I have time."

"sure! come sit here."

I sat on the ground beside Zarsh. I waited for a bit, and then Zarsh started telling who will go where and what they will do. And everything was happening exactly as he said.

A young girl picking up something from the apothecary for her father, a hand cart filled with milk buckets went to taverns and eatery, some people came to pick some farm equipment from the smithy, another old man came by and said hello to Zarsh, and many other things, people going about here and their most seem to be happy even as they did hard work. It was a peaceful place.

I even borrowed Zarsh's pipe for smoke or too, and it was even better than cigarettes. It had a smooth and light flavor that melted with the smell of moist ground. It was a truly relaxing atmosphere, and Zarsh started to speak softly.

"See that lump of iron our little smith has been working on?

"yes..?"

"People aren't much different, you know. We are all lost in the beginning, like the ores in dark caves, waiting for someone to find us. The mineral has en extremely uncertain future; it might just turn out to be scrap or be part of a legendary sword."

"Nah.... we're much different, we can walk out of that cave on our own"

"hahahaa! True again. But how do you know if you are no longer in the dark? There's no cave around you right now is there? We are inherently reactive creatures, we might think we are in control, but that's mostly an illusion. Anyway, back to our ore, It'll be constantly heated and forged until it takes the shape of what it is destined to be, and it shall have the responsibility to be strong and durable for its purpose."

"Indeed, gramps, I too believe in this little theory of yours."

"Let your allies guide you, let your enemies make you stronger, be cleansed of impurities in your soul, and then you can fulfill your responsibilities, with strength and a solid belief in your purpose."

"your words seem so wise. are you sure you don't know anything about another world?"

"ugh! as I said, did you eat some bad mushrooms? anyway, as thanks for listening to this old man's ramblings, here have a couple of bacon sandwiches."

When I saw those sandwiches, it hit me that I hadn't eaten for like 2 days and immediately felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I took those sandwiches and started gorging on them like a shonen protagonist after the main villain fight.

"Thank you for the sandwiches and your talk," I bowed deeply.

"no problem Ryu, by the way, see that tavern over there?" he pointed to one of the taverns in the town square. beside the apothecary, "go there if you wanna find your ally."

"What?" I looked away from the tavern and looked back to the old man, but he was gone. I asked the smith, and he said he didn't see when Zarsh slipped by.

Dammit! of course, he was that type of character. I wish I knew if he was a good guy or not, it often happens where you first meet the last antagonist in this type of situation. or maybe he was a single appearance character who'll die by the next time. He seems like a nice old man.

'Author sama, I hope you don't kill him.'

I think about the things he said again, I’m sure there’s some hint in what he said.

‘lump of iron huh….’

‘what should I do now? Okay think about it from a novel’s perspective, I’m sure I have some cheat ability because that’s how most new ones are these days. So my first goal should be to become more powerful’

‘yeah that makes sense. But why even bother? Even if it’s the real world for me, why do I have to protect it? What is my purpose’

‘I wanna go home….’

‘Okay so this is how I’ll do it. First I get stronger and stop the evil invaders, no problem at all, barely an inconvenience. I don’t know about anything else but if I’m to believe Bruno at all, A king sacrificed himself and his country so that I can get stronger. I don’t think I’ve the power to do so but I guess this is my own personal responsibility to do it.’

‘So lets just get stronger, If I do have some cheat, which I probably do based on that wind blade thing incident, I owe it to those people to try and get stronger. If I think I’m strong enough then I’m sure I’ll be put in a situation where I have no other choice.’

‘Yeah! Fuck it! I’m gonna be the best legendary sword in this world, so right now I’m just the Best Lump of metal!’

I finish my inner monologue and start heading to the tavern Zarsh pointed out to. Almost immediately I see a hooded figure walk into the tavern, maybe because according to Bruno I have a magic core now, but I can sense people to some extent and this person is definitely strong. This must be the ally Zarsh was talking about. I head towards the tavern faster.

‘Please Author sama, let it be a beautiful girl teammate’

(Author’s POV)

*Sigh* fine whatever. Enjoy your female teammate.

HAHAHA!!