Azrie

Hopefully the chapter was good, it's a bit on the odd side. I just edited it so I was late, not like anyone actually reads them at the time I schedule these. Or does anyone? Well. Regardless... I hope it was a nice chapter. This concludes the 4 part 10k word chapter. I think it was 10k words anyway.

I looked at my piece of metal that sort of resembled a dagger, it had finally cooled down. It was preferable for it to rest for a day or two, but I am not making a masterpiece here ⁠— it’s just a dagger, nothing more nothing else. Although I wonder what would happen if I chose to make something more exotic and the dwarf wasn’t bothering me. Hmm…

“Girly, are you alright?” 

“Yeah.” 

I was wordlessly looking at the block of metal, but well, no use in thinking about what it could’ve been if it already is something. I should just be happy about it. Now that the iron had cooled down it was time to grind it, but there was no grinder. It was just to sharpen it. It’s a good time to sharpen because the iron is soft, which is preferable. However, my only issue was that I had absolutely nothing to sharpen it. 

“Hey dwarf, do you have something to sharpen this?” I said as I waved the metal rod; moving the metal along with it. 

“Tsk, can’t you just call me by my name already?” 

“Well, you also know my name and keep calling me girly, so I don’t see the point.” I shrugged. 

“That’s just my way of speaking when I don’t care about something!” Is that so? Looks like I won’t be getting a file out of him. Oh, I do have a file, I did use one back then… 

I pulled out the metal file I had forgotten about, it’s surface was rough but it was not rough enough to dent the metal. It was just rough enough to sharpen and smooth it out at the same time. It was a truly magical file, it was an item of course. So, I guess the magical part was more in a literal sense. 

“Why did you ask for one if you already had one?!” the dwarf was annoyed. I shrugged again not wanting to reply to him. He was nice to talk to, but he had those moments in which he was annoying to me. I am smithing? Don’t make random comments. At least he provided useful information on my ‘disciple’. 

The dwarf was bickering to himself, I stopped watching and decided to sit back on the chair and file the piece of metal calmly. I mean, there was no wheel to grind it, filing while standing up? No thanks. With those thoughts in mind, I stabbed the rod into the grass in a manner that made the dagger point at me. It wasn’t the smartest idea, but it was comfortable, besides, it had no sharpness at all. Not even the pointy tip could realistically stab a person without putting an unrealistic amount of strength into it. 

Since the ground was somewhat soft I could angle it to my liking. I placed it close to my thighs and began grinding. The metal dust was laying on my skirt, but I could remove it with just standing up, so I wasn’t really bothered with it. A random thought came into my head. ‘Why was I wearing a skirt?’ Not in the sense of ⁠— it was the gear that got transformed, but more of a 'Why wasn’t I bothered with wearing one, and why did I not switch it?' I thought about it and came to no conclusion or rather, a simple conclusion ⁠—  It was comfortable and had forgotten about it. 

I shrugged and continued filing down the metal, it wasn’t an exciting process, well not that much. Since most of the shaping was done during the hammering, all I could do at this point in time was give it sharpness and engrave it. Oh right, I had forgotten. I am too used to doing it at the end, but it would be better if I did it right now. 

I took out a chisel and grabbed my hammer again ⁠— breathed in and out. Stared at the dagger and planted my chisel right on the center. It was fine pointed for small details. The dwarf said I couldn’t do it, but, who cares? Not me. Dismissing the “restriction” I gently pressed it against the metal and started hammering the handle from behind very gently and slowly, It was carving a beautiful half-moon pattern. I finished in about thirty-seconds. I looked at the thing with a smile and returned to filing it. 

The dwarf had finished bickering to himself and came over to see me. He seemed confused as I was filing it while sitting down. Well, he did file the dagger he made me while standing up, so I guess that was one of the reasons he came to see. His eyes glued into the dagger and he raised a brow in annoyance. 

“Girly, didn’t I tell you that you could not use the symbol?” 

“Yea.” 

“So why are you using it?!” 

Well, it technically is my symbol. I am also technically my own disciple, but I am currently a girl and am too young visually. Hmm… Family name Kuro, and nobles did seem to have a family associated with them. Somewhat like a privilege. I have decided. 

“Well, the symbol belongs to the Kuro family no?” 

“... Yeah…” he awkwardly stated after hearing me. 

“Then there is no problem.” 

I started filing again as I watched the dwarf think quietly to himself with a bit of shock on his face. Well, that wasn’t my problem. It seems like we are in medieval times anyways, not like there will be copyright laws. I am sure plagiarism is incredibly common and people don’t even realize it, why should I have to abide by such dumb rules if that was the case. 

The dagger had started to shine but that wasn’t really the point. I kept on grinding away metal with my file, or filing. It’s kind of weird how language works. Anyway, I had to make it sharp and give it a smooth edge. No nicking. I finished one side while eyeballing the symmetry between the two sides. Although it wouldn’t really matter since I would need to check it again for the other side. 

I started on the backside of the dagger. While thinking various random things the dwarf seemed to have arrived at a conclusion. 

“Girly, I don’t know what distasteful joke is this. But lying about being a member of someone else’s family could get you in big trouble. Not even his disciple is in his family. Why would a random girl like you be?” He stated as he pointed his finger at me repeatedly in annoyance. 

“You can just check with one of those appraisal stones.” I absentmindedly answered him as I continued filing the dagger. It actually looked like a dagger now. 

The dwarf did not seem to appreciate the dagger I was filing as much as I did ⁠— he was shaking his fist in rage instead. 

“Girly this is no joking matter! Put that stupid dagger aside. You should be able to understand when to stop and when to keep going. And you must stop when you are having an important discussion with someone, besides, you are filing it. It’s not like it will break because of that!” What did he just say? 

I stared at him with an emotionless expression. “That might be the case for you, but to me, this dagger is the important thing. I already told you to bring a stone if you don’t agree with me.” He had crossed the line. 

The dwarf flinched hearing my icy-cold-voice and exited the forge through the hulking door. I breathed in satisfaction and kept absentmindedly working on my dagger. It took a bit more filing, but it was finally sharp. It drew blood with somewhat touching it with my finger! It kind of hurt a bit, but it’s not like my stats were going to give me lizard skin or extra pain tolerance. As far as I knew vitality just stopped people from dying as long as it was possible. Meaning getting decapitated would kill you instantly, same goes with having the heart pierced. It was just preferable to not take injuries at all. 

But well, now that it was sharp, it was time to quench it. If I tried to cut something or someone down in the state that the dagger is in simply put ⁠— it would ruin its edge with a single swipe. The metal was in a softened state so I had to harden it. I tossed it into the furnace and waited for it to be in a nice dark orange. I did not really want to melt the metal either. Once that was done, I took it out from the rod and placed the incandescent metal dagger on top of the flat part of the anvil next to the horn. I couldn’t really use the face for this. I took out another chisel, this one was flat. I amputated the rod from the dagger. It was time to separate. I couldn’t really chop it off on the face of the anvil. Nicking that surface would add nicks to one’s works when they are hammering. It was a bad idea. 

Once the rod was off. I just left it there. I made sure to cut extra part of the dagger’s tail to make sure it did not create some sort of weird alloy. I wanted it to be pure iron. It was better for my mentality, how could I be okay knowing that, some part of the thing I just made is not iron, and instead some weird amalgam of iron and something else? Using some tongs I found on the ground I put the dagger inside the quenching tank. 

Quenching was nice, but I disliked having to file the metal again to make it sparkly. Since it turned opaque. As I absentmindedly waited the dwarf came into the room and wordlessly placed a crystal and a sheet of paper on my hand. I shuddered almost dropping it. He took the piece of paper and started reading before yanking the stone as well. 

“Looks like you were right…” he said in defeat.

“Are you not surprised?” I mean, most people did seem surprised. 

“Well, your smithing skill is not normal, to say the least. Besides, I was told you don’t even have a smithing class. How amazing would it be if you had a smithing class?!” He said in pure joy. However, there was something odd.  

“What do you mean if I had a smithing class?” I asked in confusion.

“Well you know, classes assist you and sort of unconsciously make your head do the right things, even though I hate to admit it...” he stated in annoyance. 

I felt a sense of defeat overwhelm me. I hurriedly went to sit and plopped down on the chair. It was odd… I mean, I thought all of this knowledge was acquired through experimentation and things like that. Not through brain enhancement or whatever he called it. I am annoyed… 

In annoyance, I decided to open my long status and take decided to try inspecting my own Class. To my surprise, it worked, and surprisingly or unsurprisingly enough. The Tamer and Summoner classes did mention their way of acquiring them as well as 'assisted by the system' at the bottom. It made me feel bad, and also kind of silly for taking something as a g ame system so seriously. With a bit of nervousness, I inspected the [Master Craftsman] Class. 

[Master Craftsman ⁠— A class awarded to someone for their feats, but more importantly ⁠— their knowledge. Having mastered the three main crafting classes. 

Effects: Compacts all classes into a single one. Allowing the user to learn two more classes. Unassisted by the System.] 

I felt happy and shuddered from joy. If someone got the [Master Craftsman] Class, they would not be able to use it at all unless they actually had the knowledge of things. Although there is something that bothers me a bit. I did not really know how to do potion-making. I mean, I tried it when it was a game. It kind of felt like throwing things into a pot, and “feeling” what was right or wrong. There was no logical sense to it. I should try it sometime. 

The dwarf was extremely confused and tilted his head. I did shudder in excitement because of a realization, but he had no idea what it was. Anyway, I was happy too. It was time to polish the dagger. 

I made my way to the quenching tank and took out the dagger. I froze before my file touched the dagger. I still had one remaining thing to do to it, it was tempering. I threw it inside the furnace once again. I had to temper it because otherwise the metal would not be very flexible, which would make it prone to breaking. And I don't know about others, but having your things shatter and explode is not that fun. Especially when you get injured. I waited a few seconds until the metal was glowing. I took it in an out of the furnace to sort of try to make it retain a certain temperature. This helped me relieve the stress on the metal or whatever by stabilizing whatever it was. I had forgotten the actual things this myriad of processes did to the metal. After maintaining the same temperature, although it probably wasn't the same. I 'quenched' it once again or tempered it. Well, tempering was the part of maintaining the same temperature. I think... Ah, this is complicated. The metal was still opaque as it sizzled inside the oil. I waited and waited. The dwarf just watched not really saying much as he only paid attention to the things I was doing. 

I started carefully filing it.trying to only remove the surface level of the dagger.  The dwarf started carefully watching the glistening surface of the dagger as it was unveiled. It was not as white as the one the dwarf had made me, but it was really shiny and had a nice silver color. I just had to give it a handle by wrapping it with leather. But I realized.

I forgot to add a hilt. I shrugged seeing it was not that important. I forgot the pommel as well, so it was probably unusable as a weapon. Oh well, it was technically still a dagger. With conflicting thoughts, I started wrapping the back-end with some leather I found. The forge had most of the utilities for the manufacturing of weapons. Except for a grinder, for whatever reason. 

I finally finished it. It looked somewhat plain except for the rather peculiar logo on one of the faces of the symmetrical dagger. But it was done. I enchanted it out of habit and inspected it. 

[(Unnamed) ⁠— Flawless ⁠— A fine Iron dagger of superb quality. Probably made by some renowned smith.] As always, the description was odd, it was also unnamed. But well, that’d be for the dwarf to decide. 

I handed the dwarf the dagger and he was taken aback by it. 

“Why?”

“Well, take it as a thank you for helping me out with something,” I vaguely answered him with a  smile. He had truly helped me out ⁠— giving me a few realizations as well as making me want to smith more. This forge was fantastic as well. 

“Dwarf, is there a way I can access this forge later?” I asked in curiosity. 

“The coin I gave you girls is for that. It gives you access to this special place. Only three people have access to it, you being the third.” He finished his sentence as he pointed at me. I felt kind of happy. 

“Thank you.”

“For?” He tilted his head. 

“For everything.” 

He nodded with a smile before suddenly remembered something. He looked back at the sky, it was already getting late. We had to go back. The dwarf seemed to have taken a liking to this dagger and he even praised the quality of it. He talked to me about his experiences as well as his failures in smithing as his journey as a smith. Hearing him I recalled a lot of the failures myself. The dwarf was certainly someone to be remembered. I think his name was Alron? Weird name, although mine is still just as weird. 

We finally stood before the mansion and the guard seemed surprised. 

“To think it would take you this long. Hopefully, you enjoyed yourself with the Great Smith,” he said in happiness and moved aside. I nodded and went past the gate. 

“Well, see you later Girly, it was fun. Thanks for the dagger! I will see you later if you visit.” 

“Thanks for everything Alron!” I said as I waved back at him. He staggered before nodding and turning around. Waving again. 

The guard seemed somewhat frozen by the exchange, but it was not my fault. I left and entered the mansion without saying anything to the guard.