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Translator: Nonon
Proofreader: Silavin
The 1st day of the Azalea academy students’ investigation.
‘Okay, let me say this. If I meet Ash and the others, I’ll probably be heartbroken.’
‘You put it very clearly. It’s fine though.’
The morning after the party at the mansion, Lady Violet declared to me.
Leaving aside whether she’d actually be heartbroken, she really doesn’t seem to want to meet students from Azalea Academy, especially Ash and Chartreuse. She’s also having a hard time meeting noble students. I don’t think that’s any surprising, considering the hostility they were looking at her with yesterday,
So I asked Lady Violet to do another job, while me, Gray, Cyan and a few others are dealing with Azalea Academy’s student investigation group.
I didn’t tell her about Ms. Nephrite, because I assume the agitation she’ll feel will be on the same level as meeting His Highness. For now, it would be better to leave her as far as possible.
Anyway, right now I’m visiting a house a little out of the way of Shiki with Gray early in the morning, while taking Chartreuse and Ms. Nephrite with me.
“— What, by Bligh, you mean the man who was called a living legend in the Empire and suddenly disappeared…?”
“I assume we are thinking of the same person.”
We are in front of the house with a smithy where iron is being hammered early in the morning.
We’re here because I promised Chartreuse yesterday that I’d bring him to the blacksmith. It seems that he wants to polish the damaged blade of his weapon or procure a new one.
“Char, is this Mr. Bligh person famous?”
“Yeah. The blades he finishes up are so good, that if they ever break it’s universally understood that it’s the fault of the wielder’s skills.”
“Oh? That does make me curious as somebody on the creating side.”
Ms. Nephrite, who followed us, saying that she was curious, asked Chartreuse. Because of their height difference, she naturally had to look up at him, making her look deliberately cute. The person in question is probably unaware of this though.
Mr. Bligh is the only blacksmith in Shiki. Because of his dandy voice and appearance, and because he also makes knives, he’s pretty popular with the housewives. He also makes weapons and manages both sales and exports, so he’s a reliable person… technically.
“However, if he doesn’t like the client or the request, he will refuse anybody, even if it’s the King. He is both proud of his work and picky about it.”
“Ooh, he reminds me of my master.”
“…”
From an outsider’s perspective, that’s not wrong. He’s really a difficult person, stubborn and very much a ‘craftsman’ person.
But we must not forget why he had to come to Shiki.
“We’re here. Gray, I’m sorry but please wait outside.”
“Yes sir.”
When asked, Gray took a step back and bowed.
Chartreuse didn’t pay him much attention, whereas Ms. Nephrite looked at him a bit wonderingly and then followed after me, as I stood in front of the door.
I confirmed that the sound of iron being hammered was coming from the inside, and then knocked on the door a little loudly.
“—Are you in, Mr. Bligh?”
◆
“Go back.”
When he heard the content of the request, he rejected it without any questions.
I mean, what did you think would happen if you asked a legendary blacksmith to do something for you with ‘I have money’ and a condescending attitude?
Chartreuse might be unsociable and awkward, but can’t he do anything about his conversation skills? Though, if not for the main character of the Ring of Fire… Ms. Nephrite, he would have lived an isolated life.
“Please! I must become stronger. For that, your weapon is essential.”
“I’m not going to say something cliché, like ‘a good swordsman isn’t picky about a weapon’ — no matter how talented you are, if your weapon is subpar, you will always be 3rd rate.”
I kind of get it. Even in my previous life, there were many things that didn’t work out well when I didn’t take care of my tools.
On the other hand, if you have a good weapon but your skills are inferior, it’ll be like casting pearls before swine.
“I-I’d like to ask you too! His sword broke when Char was protecting us…”
“That doesn’t concern me. Why should I listen to this weakling brat I just met?”
After saying so, Mr. Bligh turned around and returned to working on hammering the iron.
… From the looks of it, he won’t budge if something doesn’t happen.
To be honest, I personally would rather if Chartreuse doesn’t negotiate for a new weapon himself.
It’s because I want to make him owe me by offering him timely help and get him a new weapon once the negotiation fails. Chartreuse is the type of the person to honor the obligation of the favor. I want to use his sense of obligation to make it difficult for him to interfere with anything related to Lady Violet while he’s in Shiki.
I’m sorry, but I’m not going to make my move yet.
Even though Chartreuse is a noble and he’s dealing with a commoner, he won’t do anything like cutting him down for offending him.
“Alright, then I’ll strip.”
Why would you do that?!
“What?! If Char is stripping, I’ll take off my clothes too!
Why does it come to that?
Calm down, you two. Wait, those guys are really trying to take off their uniforms!
I was thinking of waiting and watching until they gave up to some extent, but I grabbed the hands of the two people who were trying to take off their clothes from behind and stopped them from getting naked.
“Please calm down, Sir Chartreuse, Ms. Nephrite. Why are you trying to take off your clothes?”
“Let me go, Baron. I can’t stand being called a weakling, so I was going to prove that I’m not weak by showing off my strength with my body.”
This damn muscleman that’s pretending to be a composed man.
You couldn’t stand it so much that you even changed the way you address yourself? That’s no reason to strip.
“I, I’m also asking for a favor so I thought I couldn’t let Char embarrass himself alone!”
“I think Sir Chartreuse would be more embarrassed if you took off your clothes because of that.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
What a dramatic person, to actually try to take her clothes off. She looked like she’d even take off her underwear and stay with a naked upper body.
Besides, it seems that Chartreuse didn’t notice it while he was stripping, but he was grateful for me for noticing and stopping Ms. Nephrite from stripping with him.
“Seeing you brats naked wouldn’t make me happy at all. If you want me to acknowledge you, you better go and hunt down a B-rank monster by yourself. Or you can train your weakling body. If you do that, I’ll finish up the weapon I forged and give it to you.”
“Kuh… so you’re saying that you won’t acknowledge me no matter what … ! Fine. Then I’ll keep coming back until you acknowledge me and retract your words!”
Wait, what are you saying?!
“Um, Char, what are you going to do about the school?”
“I’ll submit a leave of absence. I’m sorry, Nephrite. I also have things I can’t compromise on.”
“Char…”
Don’t you ‘Char…’ him! I wish you didn’t look at him with that ‘boys will be boys’ expression. You’ll be causing me a lot of problems if you decide to stay here on your own.
Ahh, what should I do? To be honest, I was just thinking about whether or not to make him owe me, but at this rate, this guy might really stay in Shiki. If that happens, Lady Violet’s mental state will continue to worsen.
I gestured to the two of them to leave things to me, then took a step forward and called out to Mr. Bligh.
“Mr. Bligh.”
“What is it, Clo? I won’t compromise on this even if it’s a request from the lord.
I understand that much.
This person won’t do a job he doesn’t like, even if it’s a request by a nobleman or the king himself. And he also knows that he’s skilled enough that his selfishness will be forgiven.
But…
“Let’s put some conditions on it.”
“Conditions?”
“Yes, beneficial conditions for you.”
“What on earth are you talking about…”
I clapped twice loudly with three pairs of eyes on me.
Then, with that as a signal, the door to the smithy opened. The person who I had waiting outside came in—
“――Isn’t this my sweet angel?”
“Huh?”
“Eh?
Yes, it was Gray.
Chartreuse and Nephrite were shocked by Mr. Bligh’s incomprehensible words that were different from his previous craftsman-like demeanor.
“Good morning, Sir Bligh. You have been working from early in the morning today as well.”
“N-nonono, Thank you for coming to this stuffy place this early in the morning, Gray! W-What are you up to today?”
Mr. Bligh put down his tools and approached Gray with a confused but happy expression.
I gestured to the confused Chartreuse and Ms. Nephrite with my arm to back away and watched the unfolding show.
“Yes, I have heard that Lord Chartreuse, the former schoolmate of my… new master, Lady Violet, would be acquiring a new weapon so I came as Lord Clo’s companion.”
“I-is that so?… Did you hear our conversation by chance? “
“? No, I was told by Lord Clo to wait outside, so I couldn’t hear anything due to the sound of the iron being hammered… Was there a problem?”
“Nope, nothing. Nothing at all.”
Mr. Bligh was relieved by Gray’s words while Gray had a questioning look on his face.
… Sorry, Gray. Please forgive me for using you.
“Hey, Gray, if I remember right, you were supposed to help the students of Azelia Academy with their investigation today.”
“Yes, that’s what I had planned.”
“Actually, it looks like Mr. Bligh needs some help to finish up Sir Chartreuse’s weapon.”
“Wha-?!”
Not only Mr, Bligh, but also Chartreuse and Ms. Nephrite looked at me, wondering what the hell I was talking about.
Alright, I knew in advance that Mr. Bligh had some free time to work with and I know that things can work out with just finishing, so it’s fine.
“In other words, I should help Mr. Bligh and not the investigation?”
“Yeah, can I leave it to you? Also, we’ll be investigating until 3 pm so can you stay with Mr. Bligh until then? If you’re done with finishing up Sir Chartreuse’s weapon, you can have tea with him until it’s time or have lunch with him. You don’t have any other work to do, after all.”
“?!”
Mr. Bligh caught my drift from my words and his eyes filled up with motivation.
It was as if his craftsmanship spirit was ignited. It’s a nasty fire.
“I understand, but is that okay? I doubt I would be of any use to the blacksmith…”
“You will! As long as you’re here, the quality of my weapons will be doubled.”
“…? I see. I will do my best.”
Mr. Bligh got to work while probably shouting ‘Hell yeah!’ in his heart.
Chartreuse, who had stopped and was watching the situation, finally put his hand on his head and thought about it, trying to understand the situation and then asked me a question, perhaps realizing that there was no point in thinking about it.
“… So looking at him, will my sword be fine?”
“It’ll be fine. He won’t slack off and he’ll try to look good in front of Gray.”
“But the way that blacksmith is acting…”
“Didn’t I say that he was a difficult person?”
“Did you mean it in… that… sense?”
Yes, I did.
Mr. Bligh didn’t come to Shiki for a craftsman-like reason, like being tired of troublesome human relationships that stopped him from making weapons he liked or leaving the Empire to do nothing but make weapons in the countryside.
He’s in Shiki because he was kicked out of the Empire for liking shotas (young boys).
He’s a no touch shotacon (has a hands off policy). He’s somebody who’s happy to look at them and drink tea with them.
“This legendary blacksmith is quite unique…”
Ms. Nephrite was desperately trying to describe Mr. Bligh in a roundabout way.
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