"Ding! Bite! Phew! ”

"Ding! Bite! Phew! ”

Blacksmith shop, rhythmic percussion.

"Mace, you take a break, I'll come."

The young man named Mace had a sneering expression and handed the sledgehammer in his hand to the middle-aged man beside him. This middle-aged man was his master and the owner of the town's only blacksmith shop, Barlow.

Barlow is not tall, but extremely burly, and when he takes off his shirt, he can see the angular muscles, which look full of explosive power.

"I'm sorry, master"

"This material is better than what we usually use, you haven't used it, and you don't blame it."

"Ding! Bite! Phew! ”

The middle-aged man took the hammer, serious and calm.

No one else may be able to tell the difference, but Mace knows it. As his master said, this is an excellent piece of fine iron, he has never tried it, and only after getting started did he find that the material is different, and each stroke requires more strength. The general material needs to be folded and forged about ten times, according to the different materials, the difference between the left and right will not be too much, not that it cannot be forged more times, but the more the better. But this piece of fine iron is different, he has folded it twelve times, and it still doesn't feel like it's in the best condition, and he is already a little struggling, and the rhythm of his hands is naturally a little slower.

Mace quickly fished out the towel from the copper basin, squeezed it half-dry, wiped the upper body of the **, and a coolness instantly spread all over the body, extremely refreshing, and then returned to the iron felt, staring intently at his master.

"Ding! Bite! Phew! ”

Mace has been following his master for eight years. In the past eight years, the master has taught him everything, and he has never hidden it, and he has learned very hard. Now almost all the work in the shop is done by him, which made him think that he had become a teacher, but the arrival of this piece of fine iron shattered his confidence.

"Forging is a science."

Mace still remembers the first words the master said to him after taking him

"Big Brother Mace? Big Brother Mace! ”

Unconsciously, Mace was a little distracted, and he found that the master had finished forging, and a small piece of material had to withstand sixteen folds before it reached its best condition.

"Brother Mace, look at my knife, it has been broken, can you fix it?"

A half-grown child, with an iron knife in his hand, looked at Mace with an eager face.

"Boy, why are you here again?" Mace reached out and took the all-too-familiar knife. Can you not be familiar with it, he has to repair this knife almost once a week, and he doesn't know what this kid does all day.

The little boy blushed a little, he knew he was coming too often.

Mace put the iron knife in front of him, looked at it carefully, and touched the blade from time to time.

"Boy, your blade has a broken cut, it's okay, but the serious thing is that the blade is a little cracked this time, even if it is repaired, it won't be used many times. You've had enough money to buy a new one in the past two years, why don't you get a new one this time? ”

"Huh? So serious? "The boy was a little heartbroken, and he got a little carried away on this mission.

"Forget it, this is my first sword, or supplement."

"That's good." Mace smiled helplessly. "I'll pick it up this time tomorrow." As he spoke, he put the boy's iron knife behind him.

Leaving a thought behind, the boy's face was sunny again.

"Brother Mace, let me tell you, I'm leaving here next week."

"Oh? Where are you going?" asked Mace, nonchalantly, tidying up the shop.

"Of course, it's to go out, the monsters around us are no match for me. When I go out and practice, then I have to go to sea, and I am the man who wants to conquer the world."

The sun is setting, and the evening breeze is blowing. The golden afterglow filled the world, and the old and noisy street calmed down.

This is a very remote place in the western continent, its name is Saldo Peninsula, and this town is in the very remote part of the Saldo Peninsula, not far from here is the endless sea. On bad summer days, you can even feel the sea breeze in the town.

"Gone?"

"Hahaha, I just left, and I was a little reluctant when I left." Mace cleaned up the storefront, closed the door, and entered the back hall.

"This kid is here to mend the knife again, and when it's over, he just doesn't leave, he thinks I don't know what he thinks."

"You too, what's the fight with a child." The middle-aged man took a sip of wine, he was used to having a drink at dusk.

"That stinky boy, the knife is broken, and he said that he wanted to go out and break in, and he didn't say anything about going around. It's not that I can't believe in my craftsmanship, I want to ask the master to give him a new knife, and I'm afraid that it will hurt my heart, and the thief is wandering around the shop, just to meet the master and tell you alone. Hahaha, I'm not as good as he wants. ”

The master chuckled and shook his head.

"Mace, how many years have you been with me?"

Mace was stunned, "It's been almost eight years." ”

"Our place is too small, you should go out for a walk."

"Master, don't you want me anymore?"

"What are you talking about, stinky boy!"

"You've almost learned your craft, but all you need is a lot of hard work. In such a remote place, even a piece of fine fine iron is a rare commodity, and when you go outside, you will find that in many places, this is not even scraps. The master walked around outside to return to this remote place, but it shouldn't belong to you young people. ”

Mace was silent, his master was a taciturn man, and there were not many cases where he said a lot at once, which means that he was not joking, but serious.

"Master, I'm leaving, what are you going to do?"

"I don't need you to worry about it yet."

Silent again, the apprentice bowed his head like a child who had made a mistake, for he really wanted to go out and see. The town is so small, there is only one blacksmith shop and one inn. Young people who live here until they reach their teens almost always leave here. Every time he heard such a story, it would stir that nerve in his mind. Like all young people, he longed to see the outside world, practice with high-grade materials, and even secretly fantasized about becoming a legendary forger and building artifacts. He never dared to tell his master about his thoughts, for fear that he would say that he was too ambitious. But the ambition of breaking into the world was really discovered by the master.

"You don't have to answer now, you can think about it for a while. Also, just because you're gone doesn't mean you won't come back. After saying this, the master closed his eyes.

Mace understood that this meant the end of the conversation, and he bent down to salute his master respectfully and turned to leave. This is the blacksmith's shop, and the master's home, but it is not his home.

As the night sank, Barlow fell alone on the chaise longue, swaying gently, as if he were asleep.

～～b～～