"Ian!" A man rudely pushed open the door to the workshop, shouting Ian's name.

The snowflakes were carried by the bitter cold wind and fell to the floor of the workshop with the man's footsteps.

"It's coming!" Ian replied, and walked out of the next room where he slept.

"I said that it was delivered today, why are I still sleeping lazy at this time!"

Ian's new day began with the first snow of the year in Breeze Village, and the scruffy, scruffy junior officer of Crack Rock Fort. His name was Sid, and he had brown hair shaved a standard sergeant's short hair, a square face, and a faint beard around his cheeks.

I heard that his ancestors were originally poor people from Black Eagle City, but they were exiled to Rift Rock Fort because of war and famine, and finally settled down as farmers. His grandfather and father were farmers, and they joined the army halfway to him. Because of his poor background, he was in his early thirties and became a slang captain of the armory of Split Rock Castle - a small officer with a large sesame seed, which was quite a talent for him.

"Look at your relaxed appearance, you must have it all done, right?" The rough voice shook Ian's head in the workshop.

"Okay, don't shout," Ian pointed to the pile of linoleum in the corner, "it's all in there, get it yourself." ”

"Okay!" Sid ran to the corner, not caring about Ian's attitude towards him.

Ian went with him, went back to the desk on his own, looked through his notes, and began to prepare for today's work, letting Sid command his men to inspect and receive the goods in the workshop.

Since the opening of a blacksmith shop in Qingfeng Village, the news has quickly spread to the surrounding area, and people from nearby villages sometimes come to the door to ask for it. It didn't take long for the news of the blacksmith shop to reach the ears of the Lord of Cracked Rock Castle.

It is rumored that Lord Bartod is a low-ranking nobleman who is very happy in his achievements, and he is very keen on sword fighting, and organizes the people of the guards to have real sword competitions at the two ends of three days. Now everyone knows that the officers and sergeants of the guard were wounded, and most of them were not because of the conquest of bandits, let alone because of Warcraft.

Ian had heard different people talk about the lord in Breezy Village and several surrounding villages, even Split Rock Castle—

"Our lord?, I like to collect taxes, eat and pick up girls, oh, and sword fights!"

"I only know that his ancestors have been here for generations, and he likes sword fighting, very much, as much as I like beautiful girls! Hahaha! Your kitchen knife is good, can it be cheaper?"

"Ahem, Mr. Blacksmith, if you have to say it, the lord loves his territory as much as ...... Just like he loves sword fighting. ”

"I'm just talking to you, our lord, he's a bastard—a bastard of sword fighting!

The sword fighting activities of the nobles were considered a daily pastime, and sometimes involved gambling, but it was more about face. Lord Baltod is so keen on sword fighting, if there is any positive effect, it is that the soldiers under his command are all proficient in swordsmanship, after all, the future of his career depends on it.

Sid is the best example of this, an armory slang chief is generally impossible for the lord to remember the name, but the lord will occasionally tell the quartermaster to let Sid supervise some slightly important errands. It's not that he has a good eye on Sid, but that this lord has decided that "a guy with good swordsmanship will not do anything bad".

It is precisely because of his love of sword fighting that Lord Baltord's armory needs to be repaired and maintained frequently, as well as to forge new weapons. The lord's army consisted of a garrison blacksmith and a few apprentices, but often worked overtime to fulfill the lord's overly frequent and demanding commissions. The busiest job in Crack Rock Fort is probably the blacksmith shop, and it is said that apprentices always leave after a few years, and the blacksmith shop is recruiting apprentices all year round.

The fame of "Blacksmith Ian" was first spread, and it was still "attributed" to Granny Su Mu. Since Ian's workshop was a cover, and casting items with his psychic powers could only be done in the basement, he never built utensils in front of people.

Usually he was in the workshop just reading and sketching some drawings to deepen his memory, while having Zack's spirit rhythmically beat the felt and tell everyone that the workshop was in normal operation with a tinkling sound, but no one had a chance to see him swing the hammer and forge it with their own eyes.

It would be very difficult for Ian to do things on his own while still having Zach perform complex and sophisticated actions, as if his left and right hands were doing different things at the same time. But if it's just a mechanical repetition of the tapping action, it's still acceptable.

Outsiders were suspicious of the unfamiliar blacksmith in the village, and Ian's rule of forbidding others to watch it made the suspicious guests suspect that he had cut corners or was not worthy of his name. Granny Su Mu's ears are very sharp, as soon as she hears a customer questioning Ian in the workshop next door, she will hurriedly pull out the kitchen knife that Ian gave her from the board, and take small steps to check the quality of the customer.

Usually before the person arrives, the voice arrives first: "...... Look at my kitchen knife wow!"

It's just that in the eyes of the guests, it was an old lady in ragged clothes running towards them with a kitchen knife, shouting something "look at the knife". What is even more terrifying is that this old lady is blind, and God knows where she will hand the knife, and if she is stabbed to death by mistake, she will probably die in vain.

So no matter how bad-tempered the guest is, as long as Granny Su Mu comes, she will only deal with a few words of "good knife and good knife", and then quickly put down the deposit and slip away.

As soon as there were many rumors, it was inevitable that they would spread to the Cracked Rock Castle. So the lord had an idea and asked the quartermaster to send Sid to give Ian a commission, just in time to relieve some of the pressure on the garrison blacksmiths.

"Ian, this is the next order," Sid handed over a piece of contract paper, "This one is a little special." ”

"Oh?" Ian took the contract and glanced at it, "Oh, I see. ”

"Is that okay?" Sid looked like a straight man, and Ian could hear the worry in his tone.

"Don't worry. ”

"Okay. Then I'll go back on an errand!" Sid saw Ian's calm expression when he answered, and immediately relaxed again, and returned to his heartless state. During this time, the orders issued by the lord's armory were basically handed over by Sid and Ian. His personality is already outgoing and rough, and he is easy to get along with, and knowing Ian's poor background in the chat adds a little more favorability.

Especially when he saw that Ian was still a minor (after the Empire's coming-of-age ceremony at the age of fifteen, he counted as an adult), so he had to rely on his own hands to earn a living, and now he had to share the heavy orders of the Rift Rock Fortress Armory, and he couldn't tell whether he was sympathetic or appreciative. Looking at Ian, he often thinks of his younger brother who died young, so even if he doesn't have official business to look for Ian, he will come to the blacksmith shop to say hello when he passes by Light Breeze Village.

"It's all set, right, let's go!" Sid's loud voice outside the workshop came again, "Ian, let's go!"

A chaotic sound of horses' hooves and wheels faded away, leaving the village of Breeze to return to its usual tranquility.

Because of the carriage pulling the goods, and the heavy snow, Sid and his party rode no faster than they walked. It wasn't until near noon, when the snow had subsided, that Sid finally returned to Rifted Rock Castle.

"My lord," the first thing Sid did when he returned to Rift Rock Fort was to go to the armory to report to the quartermaster, "The twenty short swords that were ordered from the blacksmith in Breeze Village last time are all here. ”

"Twenty handles ready?" the quartermaster's eyes lit up, looking at the weapons box beside Sid.

"Yes, I've checked it all, it's good quality!" Sid hurriedly opened the box and let his boss check it.

The quartermaster walked over to the box, picked up a dagger in his hand, and held it up to the lamp to examine it carefully.

"It's kind of interesting...... Put it away. With a loud bang, the quartermaster threw the dagger back into the box, "This order, too, has it been delivered?"

"Yes, delivered. Say no problem. ”

"Well, that's fine. When the time comes, you can go on another trip, and remember to check it carefully - the design of the weapon was a request from the lord himself, and there must be no mistakes. ”

"Yes!" Sid gave a military salute and withdrew, secretly proud of Ian - it has only been a long time since he received an order directly from the lord, and my little brother is really powerful.

As soon as Sid walked out, a burly man turned around from the screen behind the quartermaster, glanced at the quartermaster, and went straight to check the short sword in the weapons case.

"I heard that he is only one person, and he doesn't even have an apprentice, is it true?" asked the strong man without looking back.

"Yes, my lord," the quartermaster said to him, and bowed respectfully, "twenty short swords are of good quality, and all of them can be made in such a short time." If you weren't born a genius, you'd be ......."

The strong man sneered and said, "This magic blacksmith is so rare, I was still suspicious when you told me! It seems that this time it is my good luck for Baltod, and it is coming?"

"When the order is completed, it should be confirmed, my lord. The quartermaster rubbed his hands together and replied flatteringly.