Academy’s Genius Swordmaster - Chapter 29

29. Gran Cappadocia (2)

#29

The group huddled together around Didican. Didikan, who had been fumbling along the wall of the furnace, pressed down on a certain section. The building seemed to vibrate slightly, and the floor on which the four people were standing began to slowly disappear.

“What?!”

“Geg.”

Surprised, Marja hugged Asher. A creaking sound was heard from all directions.

-Koo-gu-gu-gu…

The floor that was slowly descending was eventually completely swallowed up by the wall surrounding the slope. Seeing the embarrassment, Didican chuckled.

“It’s an elevator made with magic stones and pulleys. It is the fastest passage leading to the smithy under the ground.”

“I guess there are passages somewhere else?”

“yes. The locations are secret, but there are dozens of them. Our biggest customer is Grancia, but we are receiving a lot of requests from other customers as well.”

The elevator went down the dark shaft for a long time. The doorway I looked up at was already as small as the moon. Only Sheeta’s eyes were shining like red jewels.

Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkn, 1912.11 of 245.33 of the sound of metal clashing seemed to come from somewhere.

Soon, the view was wide open. A cool wind blew in.

“Come on. The largest smithy in the islands.”

The elevator, which had left the rock passage, was now descending on a steel framed support. The eyes of the three of them widened, regardless of who they were. A scene I had never even imagined unfolded before my eyes.

“What is this all about…”

It seemed to be a space secured by remodeling the huge pupil. House-sized stalactites and stalagmites were sprouting here and there. The luminous moss that covered the pupil’s walls served as a light source.

Five or six stone buildings sprouted like mushrooms in every corner of the pupil. It was more like a village rather than a forge.

Between the buildings, full-bodied dwarfs were busily coming and going. It was a dwarf, the artisan of the underground. Didican said proudly.

“Gran Cappadocia. This whole forge is forge. Most of the members are dwarves, but there are other races like me.”

In one corner of the village, bubbling lava pooled like a lake. The Dwarves were pouring lava with specially treated buckets.

thud. Soon the elevator stopped. Didican said, looking down at the three of them.

“Now follow me. I’ll take you to the best blacksmith. By the way, is that inspirational vacation over?”

Didican looked around, ears perched. He shouted at the dwarf carrying lava in the distance.

“hey! Do you have any inspiration for Doron today?”

“Didikan, you fucking bastard! Are you the one who stole the invisibility enchantment scroll! It’s not like you’re talking nonsense about invisible armor or something!”

The Dwarf gave off a tantrum. All three looked at Didikan at the same time. Didican, who raised his index finger and brought it in front of his snout, shouted again.

“It can’t be! Doron, do you have any inspiration!”

“What do I know! Now that the vacation is over, you should be sitting where you always were!”

The Dwarf walked with great courage. The lava buckets in both hands swayed dangerously. Didican smirked and turned his head.

“So, vacation is over.”

“Do you have a different opinion from the other blacksmiths?”

“That’s natural. I don’t deny the fact that our old friends are great generals, but stagnant water is bound to rot. We must do our best to develop better technology.”

Didican nodded with a hard expression on his face. Ronan was slowly trying to like this hairy guy. Following Didican, the party stopped in front of a huge cube-shaped building.

“This is… so complicated.”

Ronan shook his head. The surface of the stone cube was so smooth that even flies could not sit on it.

I couldn’t even guess how the hell it was made. At the top of the cube was a long chimney that reached the ceiling. Didican said triumphantly.

“Are you genius? It’s a work that the old man Doron I’m going to see now made when he was young. It must have been about four hundred years ago.”

Asher sighed.

“Four or four hundred years?”

“okay. He is probably the oldest among the dwarves living in the islands.”

Considering that the average lifespan of a dwarf was around 300 years, this was truly surprising.

The cube had only one wide gate with no windows. It was the moment Didican opened the gate. A wave of red light rushed in towards the four people.

“evil! my eyes!”

“It’s hot!”

“Beep!”

Ronan raised his hand and covered his eyes. It was a hot ray that seemed to burn your face.

Nothing could be seen in the red light. Didikan took a deep breath and shouted toward the source of light.

“Inspired Doron!! It’s a guest!!”

Then the light and heat faded. Ronan removed his hand from covering his eyes. A messy yet bizarre landscape caught my eye.

“What is all this?”

The landscape of the forge was like a nest made of saplings instead of tree branches. Spears, swords, daggers, polearms… Weapons piled up in any type filled the square space.

At the center of the steel nest was a large white anvil. A round rice ball stood in front of him, holding a hammer.

“A guest?”

Rice balls raised their heads. It was a very small dwarf. His fluffy white beard covered every part of his face except for his eyes.

The dwarf called Doron opened his mouth.

“You must be a highly anticipated guest, Didikan. As long as you bring it directly to me.”

“Yes, if it were not for this armor, I would have been crippled. It was the first quick sword I had ever seen in my life.”

Didican laughed, pointing at Ronan. Doron came toward Ronan, limping.

“Look at me.”

Doron took Ronan’s black iron sword without a word. Doron sighed as he saw the black iron sword cut in half.

“Didikan. Is this child really my guest?”

“huh?”

“What is this… You carry garbage as a knife.”

Doron said nothing and threw the black iron sword behind his back. The black iron sword that went into the huge furnace melted into black molten iron.

“Inspiration. What is this now…”

“You guys should give it here too.”

“What?!”

Doron, in turn, also checked Marja and Asher’s weapons. Doron sighed in succession and tossed their weapons into the furnace. Asher and Marya screamed as they saw the two melting swords and staff.

“My my my my staff!”

“What are you doing!”

Ronan laughed. Looking around, he picked up a short sword rolling on the floor.

“After living in a tunnel for four hundred years, it seems that mold has grown in the brain.”

Ronan strode toward Doron. The black iron sword was useless in the first place, so it didn’t matter, but the rest of the weapons were obviously fine. Doron opened his mouth.

“It’s just fine. While holding the sword, try to swing it.”

“what?”

“Has the young man gone deaf already? It’s good even in the air, so go ahead and swing it.”

Doron clicked his tongue and urged. Ronan glared intently at Didican.

Didikan waved his hand with all his might, letting Doron know he had no ill intentions. Ronan, who had cooled his anger, let out a sigh.

“Ha… I got it.”

“Yes, come on…”

Doron hadn’t even finished speaking. Ronan’s hand disappeared from sight. It was a first class of imperial swordsmanship learned in the first class.

The point of the vertically dropped knife stopped right in front of Doron’s eyes. Wedge! A belated gong sounded. Asher and Marya shut their mouths.

“Kyaaak!”

“Ro Ronan! what!”

Even if the cornea was cut by the wind pressure, it was a distance that would not be strange. If Doron had tilted his head even a millimeter forward, he must have gone blind. However, there was no change in Doron’s expression.

“This is…”

“How is it, you bastard?”

It was Ronan who was embarrassed again. He glanced back and forth between Doron and the sword he had just wielded. Doron said, putting his hands on both hips.

“That’s a knife.”

Ronan couldn’t say anything. It was on a different level from the swords he had wielded so far. The sword was not stable, so it felt like drawing against a ruler, and the weight balance was perfect.

This was about what I picked up randomly. Hundreds and thousands of such famous swords were scattered around. Ronan gently put the short sword on the floor.

“…I have no choice but to admit it.”

“That goes for me too.”

“what?”

“Didikan. Where did you get this monster from? You are definitely my guest!”

Doron exclaimed excitedly. Didican, who watched the two of them, let out a sigh of relief.

“I told you. It’s really no joke.”

“Would you like to try one more time? Now, with this one.”

Doron held out a longsword to Ronan. Ronan showed off his second sword attack without saying anything.

This time it was Nabi Rose’s spinning sword. Shirik! His sword strikes, which were incomparably smoother than usual, cut through the air. Doron tilted his head.

“Hmm? It’s a familiar swordsmanship… Are you Nabi Roze’s friend?”

“friend? Do you know Instructor Nabi Roze?”

“Everyone knows. By the way, did you say instructor? Are my old ears finally broken?”

“No, I am an instructor at Phileon Academy.”

Doron’s eyes widened. Shaking his beard a few times, he let out a small laugh.

“Hehe, as you said, being stuck in a tunnel for hundreds of years has dulled my sense of time. It seems like just yesterday when I made a sword for that child.”

“What about that attitude? It’s ignorantly wide and long.”

“okay. The secret sword, Urusa. It has been a masterpiece that fits within the ten fingers of my whole life.”

Doron told the story of the time he made Daetaedo of Nabi Roje. He said that he accepted the request for weapon production only after checking all of Navi Rose’s sword skills as well as his Aura.

“It’s not just Ursa. I also made Escamone, the long spear of Aston, former commander of the Imperial Knights of Pale Road, the sword of the Duke of Grancia. Ah, now my head is spinning a little.”

“Then, does the old man make weapons that suit each individual?”

“yes. All warriors fight differently and naturally handle their weapons differently. My dear, give it a try.”

“yes? Me?”

Marja pointed at herself. She shrugged once and picked up two short swords similar to her own.

“…Then will I do it?”

Doron nodded silently. Shirik! Her unique strong sword, reminiscent of a whirlwind, drew strokes in the air. After swinging around twenty times, Marya widened her eyes.

“Wow… what is this sword? Really no really good?”

The reaction was like seeing Ronan from before. It was the first weapon that was so light and well-balanced. Doron looked interestedly at Marja’s arm.

“You’re a much stronger kid than you look.”

“Thank you…Are you thinking of selling the weapons here? If you do business with our guild…”

“Son. The weapon that suits you is not a short sword.”

“yes?”

Doron shook his head. Digging through a pile of weapons, he pulled out a greatsword. It was smaller than what Braum, a senior in the second grade, was wearing, but it looked heavy enough.

“You want me to write this?”

“okay. Try swinging it once.”

Marja gripped the hilt with a bewildered expression. It was my first time holding a greatsword, so I wasn’t used to it.

“Huh…!”

Marya, who managed to get into a stance, swung her greatsword. Whoa! A light slash tore the air. Ronan rolled his mouth in admiration.

“oh. surely.”

“Do you understand what I am saying?”

Ronan nodded. His posture was a little awkward because he hadn’t learned how to handle the greatsword properly, but the speed and stability of his swordsmanship were on a different level from those of twin swords.

Surprisingly, Marja was the same. I felt like I could handle it like my own limbs once I got used to it. Ronan asked.

“Then what should I swing?”

“It doesn’t matter what type of weapon you have.”

“sure?”

“The material matters. I don’t know how many kinds of material there are in the world that can handle your quick sword.”

Doron drooled. Ronan’s swordsmanship was faster than any swordsman he had ever seen. He started rummaging through the experience he had accumulated so far.

“Is it Mithril after all…? Orihalcorn might be better. Is there any meteorite left for the alloy?”

“The price doesn’t matter. It’s not something I pay for anyway.”

“At first, I didn’t care about the price. If you were going to argue about that, you should have gone to the cheap workshops in the uptown. Hmmm… what could be really good. A type of monster’s carapace or scales…”

‘Scale?’

It was the moment I heard the word scales. A flash of light flashed in Ronan’s head. He took off his coat out of nowhere and began to shake it off.

“Ro Ronan…what are you doing?”

“Stay still. I’m sure I packed it…”

All sorts of things protruded from the coat with more than eight pockets. A bite of a biscuit, a crumpled sock, a rattling coin, etc… Ronan grinned when he finally found what he was looking for.

“found.”

Ronan approached Doron, clutching what he found. He was still muttering to himself, thinking about the material.

“No, no. The blue wyvern’s scales are too thick. If so, with what…”

“Old man. How about this?”

“hmm?”

Ronan held out his hand. Doron tilted his head.

Thin pieces that looked like fragments of something lay on Ronan’s hand. It was black and beautiful like a black pearl.

“What is this?”

It was a material I had never seen even though I had been working as a blacksmith for over 400 years. Ronan smiled as he stroked Sheeta.

“It’s the eggshell he hatched from.”

“Damn it.”

Sheeta rubbed her face against Ronan’s hand. Doron’s eyes widened.

“Eggshell? Is this what you mean?”

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