The next day in the morning, Alice came as we decided to meet up at my place so then we could go straight to the festival.
“Hm? Nobody is answering?”
After ringing the bell for a few more times, Alice was surprised to see how nobody was answering, when-
-CLANG! CLING, CLANG! CLUNG! SMASH!-
Different kinds of sounds of metal hitting metal resounded from the back, together with battle cries and shouts, attracting her attention and going around the house. When she got at the back, she was surprised to see two fully-armored knights clashing swords as if their lives depended on that.
“Hah!”
“Roah!”
They both roared and with full force they decisively slashed forward against one another, both large swords crashing and forming sparks that flew in the air.
-CLANG!-
“Kya?!”
Alice was surprised by the sudden and loud clash between the two, quickly covering her mouth embarrassed. The two then turned her way, one of them taking his helmet off.
“Eh? Alice? It’s already that time?”
I looked at her in surprise while a large and childish grin was etched on my face, breathing heavily with sweat covering my whole body.
“You forgot? We were supposed to meet at 9:30 AM as the festival starts at 11 AM.”
“Yes, yes, yes. Let me just take off the armor and wash up real quick.”
I quickly grabbed a wooden chest where I placed the sword and the helmet, and tried to take off the armor. Uncle on the other hand shook his numb arms after stabbing the sword on the floor, breathing roughly,
“You f****** brat. If we end up in opposed teams, you better stay to the other f****** side from me, alright? F***, my back…”
My uncle took off his helmet and then crouched for a bit, exhausted beyond his wits, his eyes wide open while his face red,
“I swear I was able to take on more than just this…”
“Maybe you’re growing old?”
“Woah-?! Well screw you! You’re old! 36 in the bag and you call me old?! I’ll wreck you!”
He quickly got up annoyed and started to take off his armor while I laughed amused.
That smile… I never saw it on his face before.
Alice looked at us with a wide smile as she was able to see something new, but after seeing me struggle with taking the armor off, she came closer and asked me how she could help.
Finishing to undress the armor and pack it up, I quickly went for a shower then prepared everything for the festival. Uncle did the same then we called for a taxi and inside of it, Alice told me that the other girls together with Ana and her boyfriend will come to the festival and we will meet up there.
“Kid, you better not waste too much time on your little date, yeah? We got to work there.”
“Eh?”
My uncle then turned at me with a knowing smile and at first I didn’t know what he meant. What work? Why I have any work here? Until we arrived at the festival…
“Oah!”
“Amazing!”
Both I and Alice exclaimed amazed at the large castle. Outside the city, there was a large medieval castle on top of a large hill, used to protect the city from the invaders. It was well preserved and, from what I heard from my uncle, this castle together with another six in the entire country were used as places for international festivals. The medieval festival was taking place inside of it, while on the hill outside of its walls, the battle of today will take place. The parks were all filled, while many people were already going in and out, be them people already clothed with medieval thematic or just tourists, here to visit and have a good time.
Right at the entrance, more men in suits were already there and welcomed us politely,
“Ah! Master Hephaestus is here! Young Goibniu as well! I’m so glad you accepted our invitation in the end.”
“… What is he saying?”
I looked baffled at my uncle and he forced a smile while I could tell all too well how pissed he truly was.
“These bastards said if I wanna participate in the battlefield, then I’ll have to agree on working as a blacksmith throughout the event. And so, to not be the only bastard that works while everyone else has their fun, I decided to share today’s working time with you.”
“Why the f***-“
“We’ll get paid.”
“-would I not agree? Let’s go.”
From revolted to eager in just a moment, making Alice chuckle amused while for my uncle to pop a vein on his forehead.
“F****** brat… For this, you’re starting right now!”
“Wot? But I can’t just let Alice-“
But just before I could continue, Alice gets a call from Marina who tells her that she met up with Ana and is waiting for her.
“U-Uhm… I have to go…”
She smiles wryly and then my uncle patted my shoulder, the agent in a suit patting my other shoulder.
“Now then, young blacksmith. This way please.”
“F~….ine.”
I suppressed myself from cussing and my uncle went to the stalls, grabbing food and drinks, taking his time.
“Have fun kid! Meanwhile, imma go eat some stuff… Oh! Medieval donuts! Wonder if they go well with some wine…”
Look at that piece of…
My fist was trembling but the agent was strongly holding onto my shoulder with a smile on, making sure that I wasn’t escaping anywhere. Having no other choice, I just sighed then went with the agent to show me where I had to work and what I needed to do.
“Here we are, young Goibniu.”
“Oh?”
After passing more stalls of different crafts or types like those of working with leather, or of wood-crafts, we finally arrived at a stall where there was a medieval furnace made out of stone, bricks, and clay. Quite close to it, a large anvil was placed, together with more working tools all over the furnace and metal bars.
Awesome… but…
I looked somewhat impressed but then I sighed,
“Now I get it why you pestered my uncle so much… No normal human would be able to work near such a large furnace inside such a small place. The heat would suffocate them.”
“Indeed. Our designers forgot to take into account this detail, and before we knew it, it was already done.”
“Well, aren’t you happy to have such quick workers?”
I glanced plainly at him and his professional smile twitched for a moment, understanding my sarcasm.
Afterward I simply sighed and went to the changing rooms. I left my baggage there then changed into the blacksmithing clothes they offered me. I put on the thick leather pants, then the working boots, a leather belt over the shoulder on which more spots for tools were made. Feeling the rough shirt rather irritating, I simply left it to the side then went out shirtless with only the belt over the shoulder. The agent that waited for me stared at me baffled for a moment, a wry smile on his face,
“Sir Goibniu, going shirtless is a bit-“
“That’s how I work. And call me Leon.”
“Sigh~ alright, sir Leon.”
I then went to start up the furnace and put more necessary tools on the belt. After understanding that I could create whatever I wanted, I decided to craft myself a good sword to train with.
If the materials are free, don’t mind if I do!
I smiled widely then took the long plier from my belt, grabbed a large iron rod that was already shaped in the perfect shape and length for a sword, then placed it in the burning furnace.
-FHOWSH!-
Waves of heat and fire rushed out and made the air to vibrate everywhere around, but all of this only made me smile widely as I felt the familiar burning sensation.
Haha~! Just like home!
With a wide grin I took out the red burning rod and placed it on the anvil, strongly hammering away as fire spewed out from the iron and sparks struck my bare chest.
Wow~ what a poor quality. It’s going to be fun forging it.
I started hammering harder, tongues of flames flying out of the iron in a violent manner.
Angry, aren’t we? Let it all out! Let me feel what you’re going through!
Seeing the strong flames, I laughed amused as I continued on hammering, placing it in the furnace, then hammering it again, impurities falling off while gas formed flames after every strike.
“Youngster…”
Faint voices resounded around but I couldn’t hear them as I was hammering the metal with glee and burning spirit,
“Youngster…! Oy…!”
The shouts became more persistent but I continued on to ignore, smashing the metal stronger and louder,
“I said, oy you deaf brat!”
“What?!”
I roared loudly as I pointed the tip of the burning blade at the bastard that kept on shouting.
-WOAH!-
“Hm?”
There were more people that looked at me intently as I was working, unaware just when that entire crowd had formed. The guy who wanted to tell me something was now a few steps back with his arms raised from the fright he felt after having a burning blade aimed at his face. He then recovered and turned red in the face, roaring loudly at me,
“You crazy m***********! What the f*** are you doing?! Aiming a burning rod at my face, you want to f****** kill me?!”
I looked at him annoyed then simply placed the rod back into the furnace, waiting for it to turn bright red once again.
“Say what you want.”
“Don’t you f******-“
“Oy.”
This time I was the one furious as I glared at him. I got up from my seat and walked to him. I leaned on the stand that was separating the crowd from the furnace and pointed my hammer at him. However, before doing so I started thinking whenever I’ll still get paid if I screw it up, freezing in place and turning the hammer with the handle towards him, a forced smile quickly plastered on,
“I suppose you want to try hammering as well?”
“What the-…?“
My smile was twitching and the guy’s baffled expression turned into anger and wanted to rebuke me again. However, I quickly raised the red rod again and showed it to him, leaning closer to him with the same amiable forced smile, my voice joyful.
“Y-you bastard! Don’t bring that s*** so close to me!”
“Come on, come on~! No need to be shy dear sir~. Here~! Let all your anger out on this inoffensive piece of metal~!”
He turned bright red from anger but after feeling the heat that I was emanating, he said nothing else and just distanced himself once again.
“What a trashy festival. Phtewy!”
“Please come again~!”
He left furiously while spitting to the side while I forcefully smiled and waved the burning rod in goodbyes, returning to my work after sighing irritated.
What a pain in the ass…
“U-Uhm…”
“Hm?”
Just as I took the red metal out of the furnace, a young shy boy’s voice resounded from between the crowd, making me glance at a kid no older than 12. Because the fire was fiercer than I was used to, I couldn’t help but put on a frowning face. He took a step back after seeing my sharp glare, feeling intimidated. I then relaxed my face and asked with a calm voice, trying not to make the same mistake again.
Calm down, you gotta get paid today, don’t screw it up…
“What is it? Need something?”
Seeing that I didn’t ignore him, the boy became a bit more courageous and started talking. At first more cowardly, only to become more familiar with me,
“S-sir, a-are you a real blacksmith?”
“As you can tell.”
“T-then… Do you… craft swords too?”
“One of the best.”
I smiled pridefully and the boy looked at me with big eyes, a wide smile on his face,
“T-then! Do you think I could learn how to do that as well?!”
“How fast or slow you’ll learn blacksmithing, depends on you. But in the end, it should be possible.”
“Could you teach me?!”
“Kid, let me first finish school, will you?”
“You’re still in school?!”
Rather than just the kid, even the others in the crowd looked baffled at me. Everyone’s expressions made me laugh amused as I asked while continuing working,
“Am I that old to you guys?”
“Oh~! Mister laughed! I thought blacksmiths are always grumpy.”
“… You’re not wrong.”
This time the crowd laughed at the bombs the kid threw my way and I couldn’t really get mad as it was somewhat true. As the kid continued to ask me questions, I continued to answer then more other people started asking me different things, answering back calmly while I continued working. As the crowd became more accustomed to me, some people even started asking weird questions,
“Sir, sir! How come you’re not hot near that furnace?! I’m sweating only by standing here!”
“After a whole year of working like this, trust me, you’ll get used to it.”
The boy asked in wonder and I answered back with a grin.
“Youngster. The way you’re working, is it historically accurate?”
“With the exception of my close seat to the furnace, I suppose everything is more or less accurate.”
“Even your shirtless form?”
“This part neither. This is just how I work. I don’t need to give explanations as to why I work like this.”
A middle-aged guy asked a bit disturbed and I simply answered back while raising my eyebrows indifferently.
Ah, wait. I must be friendly…
“I-I mean~, it’s just a matter of choice, dear sir.”
I smiled with an annoyed smile and another guy then crossed his arms and said rudely,
“I bet you do that only to show your little muscles.”
“You can think so, dear sir~. Confidence is required while working.”
I smiled the same but I couldn’t help answering back annoyed at the skinny guy who commented on that, and he frowned annoyed, clicking his tongue disturbed.
“Don’t mind him! We don’t dislike it~!”
From the crowd then a group of girls shouted while giggling and glancing at me with sparkling gazes. I grinned wryly while sighing tired, already wishing for the battlefield to start. The kid then looked at me curiously and asked again,
“Rather, I’m quite curious. Why does mister prefer to be shirtless? Is it to attract chicks?”
He pointed naively at the girls as they all shouted playfully and I simply laughed at his naïve question, explaining calmly while continuing hammering,
“You know how you feel the temperature better without a shirt, right? The same is here. By feeling the temperature of the fire and of the metal, it helps me work better. I’m not sure how I can explain this, it’s like a sixth sense of the blacksmith.”
“Wow!”
“What a load of b*******-“
“But of course, you can think like this, or simply be dumb- err, not believe it and take everything you’re told as b*******.”
I smiled politely and corrected my intentional mistake then I continued,
“But until you try yourself, you better just take everything into consideration without really believing it. Like this, you might be able to understand my words.”
“I see…”
The kid thought for a bit then took his shirt off, suddenly taking a step back from the heat,
“Augh! The heat is much stronger like this!”
“Ahahaha~! See what I’m saying?”
“Yeah! Amazing!”
As I chatted with the kid, through the crowd, familiar faces appeared and at the sight of them, I raised an eyebrow while continuing hammering,
“Oh~? Aren’t you guys…”
“Yo, Leon!”
“Good day, Leon. I’m Ana and he is John. Remember us?”
“So in the end you decided to come, eh?”
I placed the rod back into the furnace and crossed my arms with a smile on. They didn’t get too close as the heat was quite strong, both appearing surprised at how I was right near it,
“L-Leon, just what is your skin made off?”
“Hard work and perseverance… And maybe dead nerves, but anyway that. What’s the clock now?”
“Hm? Around 3 PM.”
“What?!”
I slammed the wooden counter baffled then took out the metal from inside the furnace, placed it on the anvil, and shot out from the smithy.
“Eh? L-Leon?! Where are you going!?”
“To search for my bastard of an uncle! Damn! He said he’ll come to change after 1 PM!”
I rushed around the festival in search of him, but there were simply too many people, leaving me baffled at how crowded this area was.
My Lord! It’s this festival that popular? Just how will I find that asshole?
