Chapter 191 – 9. Hormia’s Dictator, Countess’s Insidious Task

Kkang-! Kkang-! Kkang-! An old man with well-groomed white hair and a stubborn-looking face, who radiated an aura that said, “He is an old man,” Was tapping his sword on the anvil outside the forge. It was quite well-organized, with students running around busily in and out of the smithy, as well as many other people.

“Excuse me.”

“Who are you?”

Kkang-! Kkang-! I took a step closer to the old man who didn’t even care about the sparks that bounced and politely greeted the old man and asked who he was.

“The countess sent me a mercenary, Cassano.”

“… Whoa!”

Kaaang-!

With the sound of heavy breathing, the sword on top of the anvil split in two and flew through the sky. With a plop-! The knife that fell into the bucket of water quickly cooled, foaming with water, and the old man with a face as red as a heated iron looked at me with ferocious eyes.

“I heard that the wife’s thug who didn’t give ore and didn’t support me and threatened to kick me out if I didn’t deliver the promised quantity!!!”

All the eyes of the people who were running around the store were focused on me with a clear voice. Seeing that, I immediately raised both hands and answered the old man quickly before being kicked out.

“Ore will arrive soon. I came because the countess also asked me to get a written oath to make sure that only the contracted quantity is resolved, not now.”

“It’s too much! If the moonlight stone comes, the quantity can be met, but there are no people. All of them had collapsed under the countess’ unreasonable orders, so what should I do with other tasks? Huh?”

“Do you have a lot of other things to do?”

At my question, the sniff-snobbed old man nodded his head.

“Looks like she’s going to meet the blacksmiths who signed a contract with the Countess-“

Pointing to the parchment with the tip of his chin, the old man continued his explanation in a gruff voice.

“Among them, we are the largest blacksmith, we have to make weapons and iron ingots to send to the fortress for repairs, but because of the countess’s cowardice, none of them work!”

“Can’t I?”

Solve the moonlight stone through Sierra and you’re done. Then wouldn’t it be possible if I help you just do your best? I raised my hand and appealed to the old man, and he immediately shook his hand with an expression of bewilderment.

“What are ordinary people, no mercenaries, doing! You have no strength, can you listen to me properly?”

“Try it just once, and I’ll try.”

“If the moonlight stone comes in, the quantity will be resolved, but it will be impossible within the date written here. I am sorry, but please return it.”

Suk- When I received the parchment that the old man held out, the deadline was 10 days. He pulled out all the parchments in his bosom and compared them. Each blacksmith had a different date, but the default was 10 days. However, I had to receive all the pledges within a week, so the situation was different from the relatively relaxed old man.

“If you break the contract, will the Countess leave you alone?”

“Ha, then you’re saying they’re going to kill us? That’s bullshit. Go back!”

I sat down for an hour in the old man’s village, thinking that I was not an easy old man. I’ll try-I’ll try-I’m confident in one strength-Isn’t it just a matter of tapping-the old man shouted at me as he held his neck against his neck.

“Ah then try it!!! Try it, yes, do whatever you want!!!”

Guided by an angry old man and glaring disciples, I stood in front of a large anvil. The old man, who put a red-hot iron on his tongue, said to me with boiling eyes.

“If you solve all 80 sticks here today, I will sign the oath, but if you give up midway or can’t do it, just go quietly. Got it?”

“Going?”

“Ah, no matter what!”

Caang-! Caan-! Caan-!

One was easy. When asked how to do it, he told me to just let it bloom long, so I knocked. Kkang-! Kkang-! Kkang-! One was quickly finished when he hit it with force, and the old man silently handed it to his disciple and put a freshly heated stick on it.

Two, three, ten. At this point, I couldn’t stop the flow of sweat, so I sweated, but the sweat dripped onto the iron rod with the sound of evaporation.

Clink!

The old man suddenly threw away the stick he had beaten well, and he raised the freshly heated one. Wondering what he was doing, he tried to open his mouth to speak, but the old man jumped first and spoke in a loud voice.

“Impurities! Make it new!”

Anyone can see that it was stubborn. He’s a dog-like old man – he said he was busy holding a stick next to me, but what- I sweared inwardly and hit him again.

[Is this okay?]

Nodding – The feeling of his body cooling down gave him momentum and the hammering became faster and faster. Of course, because my body was hot from moving, I was sweating profusely, but it was several times better than not having it.

In the middle, when the arm did not move, he moved his arm while using mana. Every time that happened, the rod went into a dent and the progress continued, but when the mana ran out, I was the one who was screwed, so I saved it as much as possible.

The long-awaited 60, the old man had left before he knew it and was doing his own thing, only the machine-like old man’s disciple put the tongue-tongue-stick on the anvil and matched it with me, and I just tapped the stick as my arms and body moved. Won As if it was really all they had to do, the disciples and the old man passed by and did their own thing without interfering once.

70, the sun began to set, and the number of people passing between blacksmiths decreased. Other blacksmiths still lit up the darkening alleys with sparks, but the brightest light was where I was.

75, arms creaked. Was I this weak? Haruna won, but this much? Of course, I don’t think I won in a fair way, but I still won. Was I such a weak human being?

When it reached 77, the first hammering could no longer be found. As if a child was massaging her grandfather’s shoulder, I just tapped on it. In the end, I pulled up the mana I’d been saving and saved and hit the hammer down. The disciple, who looked around with the thinly spread rod, passed it over to the anvil next to him without saying a word.

“Ha, ha, whoa, whoa-whoo!”

Caang-! I put my weight on the newly mounted rod and hit it straight down. Sparks and dented sticks everywhere, but it was just the beginning. You are really weak! Cassano, after struggling so hard to live away from a dog-like place, did the world just look like a dog-fuck now that you can make a living? Just because you’ve got mana and won knights, you don’t need to train anymore – did you think that?

A rod resting on an anvil was no longer a rod. I hit myself, who had become sluggish, and hit me down and hit me again. The more I was dented, beaten, and quenched, the stronger I was. Tueong- all the stretched sticks are gone. Tung- A bright red rod was put on top again.

The 79th was no longer impossible. It really was. No matter how much I turned my shoulders and strained my arms, my arms were still trembling and holding my breath. Why are you doing this? I couldn’t even remember it anymore, so my arm, which had lost its purpose, started to cool down.

[It’s hard? … Shall I make the healing water?]

Dori Dori – If you drink it, you will be completely revived, just tap the stick as if nothing happened, and I don’t know when it came, but I was able to smash the nose of the old man holding the stick instead of the disciple.

But that didn’t work. Just as an impure rod is thrown away, I become an impure Cassano. Having made such a resolution, I shook my head and continued hammering without power, and I was finally able to finish with the old man’s acceptance.

Eighty, the last rod quietly climbed onto the anvil. When you’re done with this, you’ll sign the pledge. What do you do when you get it? Oh, I’m looking for Perisha. Asking for it – Where was Perisha kidnapped? Is it like that? Round and round- I rolled my head, which couldn’t even turn, and somehow swung the hammer, but Kang- the powerless hammer only hit the poor anvil.

“… Give me strength, even the wrong hand to squeeze and squeeze her waist.”

I gave strength to my back. She twisted her foot on the floor, loosened her grip, and gripped her hammer tightly enough to make sure it wouldn’t be crushed.

“Hold it, hold it all the way- slam it!”

Kaaang-!

The clear sound I heard when I first visited the old man echoed through my fingertips. As if possessed, I bent my arm, raised the hammer, and struck it once more.

Kaaang-!

Kaaang-!

Kaaang-!

I had no idea. There was no conversation. Everyone just kept their mouths shut and did their own thing. Perishia must have been doing her own thing like this, so she was considerate of me who was sleeping so hard. She knew the character of the countess well, and she knew what she had done. She was frightened, but fearing that I would worry about her showing weakness to me, she went to her call early in the morning.

Caang-!

Promised I will protect you no matter what. I will keep that promise to any woman in town. Because that’s a promise that also applies to Perisha, who’s newly embraced this time…

Kaaang-!

Finally, after removing the hammer from the thinly spread rod, I handed the oath to the old man who was looking at me while stroking his chin.

“But is it okay to bring it? If you don’t give me anything like this, I’ll go find her to break her skull.”

“Don’t worry, he’s a rugged old man, so I’m asking questions about him.”

“What?”

The bell in my pocket trembled while I was having a trivial conversation with the old man. Oh, it wasn’t that he suddenly shivered, Undine was shaking it out of his pocket.

Instead of saying hello, I will share bad words. I quietly turned away from the alley with Undine. As I walked, sticking out my tongue as I felt my soles sticking to the ground, the old man’s voice stopped me.

“Hey!!!”

“Why.”

The old man giggled at the blunt answer and pointed at my sword hanging from his waist.

“It all looks like worn-out antiques, so come take a look.”

“… I will come tomorrow.”

Rumbling- rumbling- In Hormia, where the cold darkness had come, the sound of a carriage running could be heard. Closing my eyes in the city swept away by darkness, I gave myself over to the current and threw myself into it.

In other words, it just collapsed.

[It’s heavy-]

I dragged myself to my feet by Undine, who pulled me by the collar of my fallen neck. I climbed into the wagon that arrived before I knew it, and I fell down as it was once again entrusted to the coming horse.