Academy’s Genius Swordsman

29. Gran Cappadocia (2)

#29

The party gathered around Didi Khan. Didi Khan, who was fumbling along the wall of the furnace, pressed down on a certain section. The building started to vibrate slightly, and then the floor on which the four of you were standing slowly began to turn off.

“What, what?!”

“ㅍ.”

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Marya, startled, hugged Asher. Creaking noises were heard from all sides.

-Gugugugugu…

The floor, which was going down slowly, was eventually swallowed up by the wall surrounding the slopes. Didi Khan chuckled at the bewildered look.

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

“Is there a passage in another place?”

“right. The location is a secret, but there are enough dozens. Grancia is our biggest customer, but we also get a lot of requests from other customers.”

The elevator descended the dark vertical passage for a long time. The doorway I looked up at was already as small as the moon. Only Sita’s eyes were sparkling like red jewels.

Kang… Kang… It seemed as if the sound of metal hitting something was heard.

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

“Come on. The largest blacksmith on the island.”

The elevator, which had escaped the rock passage, was now descending on a support made of steel. The three people’s eyes widened, regardless of who they were. A scene that I had never even imagined unfolded before my eyes.

“What is all this…”

It looked like a space secured by remodeling a huge pupil. Stalactites and stalagmites the size of houses were sprouting everywhere. Luminescent moss covering the wall of the pupil was acting as a light source.

Five or six stone buildings were sprouting like mushrooms in various places in the pupil. It was more like a village than a blacksmith’s.

Between the buildings, dwarfs were busily passing by. It was an underground artisan, a dwarf. Didi Khan said proudly.

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

In a corner of the village, bubbling lava pooled like a lake. Dwarves were pouring lava into buckets that had been specially treated.

thud. Soon the elevator stopped. Didi Khan looked down at the three and said.

“Come on, follow me. I will take you to the best blacksmith. But is that inspirational holiday over?”

Didi Khan looked around with her ears raised. He shouted at the dwarf carrying lava in the distance.

“hey! Do you have any inspiration today?”

“Didican you fucking bastard! Are you the one who stole the invisibility enchantment scroll? You’re not going to be fooling around with invisible armor or something!”

The dwarves were furious. The three of them looked at Didican at the same time. Didican, who raised his index finger for a moment and brought it in front of his snout, shouted again.

“It can’t be! Do you have any Doron inspiration?”

“What do I know! The vacation is over, so you should be sitting in the place you always used to be!”

The dwarf walked boldly. The lava bucket in both hands swayed precariously. Didi Khan smiled wryly and turned his head.

“Come on, vacation is over.”

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

“It’s not natural. There is no denying that our elders are rare masters, but stagnant water is bound to rot. We have to do our best to develop better technology.”

Didi Khan nodded with a hard expression on his face. Ronan was slowly starting to like this furry. The party following Didi Khan stopped in front of a huge cube-shaped building.

“This is really… difficult to eat.”

Ronan shook his head. The surface of the cube made of stone was so slippery that even a fly could not sit on it.

I had no idea how the hell it was made. On the top of the cube was a long chimney that reached the ceiling. Didican said triumphantly.

“Aren’t you genius? It’s a work that Doron, who I’m going to see now, made when he was young. It must have been one or four hundred years ago.”

Asher took a breath.

“Four, 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, it was truly surprising.

The cube had only one wide gate with no windows. It was the moment when Didi Khan opened the gate. A wave of red light rushed in like a wave and fell on the four of you.

“Ouch! my eyes!”

“Hot, hot!”

“Beep!”

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

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

“Doron inspiration!! You are a guest!!”

Then the light and heat faded. Ronan removed the hand that covered his eyes. A chaotic yet bizarre landscape caught my eye.

“What is all this?”

The scenery of the smithy was like a nest made of weaving weapons instead of branches. Spears, swords, daggers, and polearms… Weapons of all kinds filled the square space.

At the center of the steel nest was a white, large anvil. In front of him stood a round onigiri with a hammer.

“A guest?”

The rice ball raised its head. It was a very small dwarf. A fluffy, pure white beard covered all parts of his face except for his eyes.

A dwarf called Doron opened his mouth.

“You must be a very anticipated guest, Didican. As long as you bring it yourself to me.”

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for this armor, I would have been crippled. It was the first quick sword I had ever seen in my life.”

Didi Khan smiled, pointing to Ronan. Doron limped and approached Ronan.

“Look at me.”

Doron took Ronan’s Black Iron Sword without saying a word. Seeing the black iron sword in half, Doron sighed.

“Didican. Is this really my guest?”

“yes?”

“What is this… you carry garbage like a knife.”

Doron threw the black iron sword behind his back without saying a word. The black iron sword that went into the huge furnace turned into black molten iron and melted.

“Inspiration. What is this now…”

“Give it to you too.”

“What?!”

Doron, in turn, checked the weapons of Marya and Asher. Taking a deep breath in succession, Doron threw their weapons into the furnace. Asher and Marya screamed as they saw the two melting swords and the staff.

“My, my, my wand!”

“What is this!”

Ronan chuckled. He looked around and picked up a short sword that was rolling on the floor.

“After living in a tunnel for four hundred years, it looks like there’s a mold growing on his brain.”

Ronan strode towards Doron. It didn’t matter because the Black Iron Sword couldn’t be used in the first place, but the rest of the weapons were obviously fine. Doron opened his mouth.

“It’s been fine. Take the sword and swing it around.”

“What?”

“Is the young man deaf already? It’s good even in the air, so hurry up and swing it.”

Doron clicked his tongue and urged. Ronan glared at Didi Khan with intent to live.

Didican was waving his hand with all his might, telling Doron that he had no malice. Ronan, who had cooled down, sighed.

“Ha, I got it.”

“Yeah, come on…”

It was before Doron had even finished speaking. Ronan’s hand disappeared from view. It was the first second formula of the Imperial Swordsmanship I learned in the first class.

The tip of the sword, which fell vertically, stopped right in front of Doron’s eyes. Nettle! A belated bang rang out. Asher and Marya shut their mouths.

“Damn!”

“Lo, Ronan! what!”

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

“This···.”

“How are you, boy?”

It was Ronan who was embarrassed again. He glanced rapidly at Doron and the sword he had just wielded. Doron put his hand on the waist of the sheep and said.

“That’s a knife.”

Ronan couldn’t say anything. It was different from the sword he had swung so far. It felt like the sword was not stable enough to draw against a ruler, and the weight balance was also perfect.

This is what I picked up randomly. There were hundreds or thousands of such famous swords. Ronan lowered his short sword lightly on the floor.

“I have no choice but to admit.”

“It’s the same with me.”

“What?”

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

Doron exclaimed in an excited voice. Didican looked at the two of them and sighed in relief.

“I told you. It’s really no joke.”

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

Doron held out a long sword to Ronan. Ronan showed off his second sword attack without saying a word.

This time it was a spinning sword made by Nabirose. Shirick! A sword strike that was so smooth that it was incomparable to the usual cut through the air. Doron tilted his head.

“Uh? It’s a familiar swordsmanship… Are you a friend of that child’s butterfly?”

“friend? Do you know Instructor Nabirose?”

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

“No, I’m the instructor of the Phileon Academy.”

Doron’s eyes widened. He ruffled his beard a few times and let out a low laugh.

“Heh heh, as you said, after being buried in a tunnel for hundreds of years, your notion of time becomes dull. I think it was just yesterday when I made that kid’s sword.”

“Is that the big one? It’s ignorantly wide and long.”

“okay. Secret Sword Ursa. It was a masterpiece of my whole life that went into my ten fingers.”

Doron told the story of the time when Nabirose Daetae was created. He said that he accepted the weapon production request only after checking all the swordsmanship of Nabirose, as well as the Aurors.

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

“Then, do you make weapons that are suitable for each individual?”

“right. Every warrior has a different way of fighting, and naturally the way they handle their weapons is different. Honey, you should try swinging it one more time.”

“yes? Me?”

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Marya pointed at herself with her finger. She shrugged once, and picked up two short swords similar to the one she was using.

“……Then, will you do it?”

Doron nodded silently. Shirick! Her unique strong sword, reminiscent of a storm, drew a stroke in the air. After swinging around 20 times, Marya widened her eyes.

“Wow, what is this sword? Is it really, really good?”

The reaction was like seeing Ronan from earlier. It was the first time I had ever seen such a light yet well balanced weapon. Doron looked at Marya’s arm with interest.

“You’re a lot stronger than you look.”

“Go, thank you… Do you have any plans to sell the weapons lying around here? If you do business with our top…”

“Hey. The weapon that is right for you is not a short sword.”

“yes?”

Doron shook his head. Digging through the pile of weapons, he pulled out a bayonet. It was smaller than what Braum, a sophomore, wrote, but it looked heavy enough.

“Hey, are you going to write this for me?”

“okay. I want to give it a try once.”

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Marya grabbed the hilt with a bewildered expression. It was my first time holding a sword, so I wasn’t used to it.

“Ugh…!”

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Marya, who somehow managed to get a posture, swung her great sword. Whoops! A light slash ripped the air. Ronan rolled his mouth in admiration.

“Five. exactly.”

“Do you understand what I am saying?”

Ronan nodded. His posture was a bit awkward because he didn’t learn how to handle the sword properly, but his speed and stability were different from those of the twin swords.

Surprisingly, Marya was the same. After a little getting used to it, I felt like I could handle it like my own limbs. Ronan asked.

“Then what should I wield?”

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

“sure?”

“The material is the problem. I don’t know how many kinds of materials in the world can handle your quick sword.”

Doron drooled. Ronan’s sword attack was faster than any other swordsman he had ever seen. He began to rummage through the experiences he had accumulated so far.

“Is it still a mithril…? No, Orihalcon might be better. Was there any meteorite left for alloying?”

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

“At first, I didn’t care about the price. If I was going to ask for something like that, I should have gone to the cheap workshop upstairs. Hmmm… what’s really good? A kind of monster carapace or scale…”

‘scales?’

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

“Ro, Ronan…what are you doing?”

“Stay still. Obviously I had it…”

All sorts of things came out of the overcoat, which had more than eight pockets. A bite of a biscuit, a crumpled sock, a squeaky coin, etc… Ronan grinned when he finally found what he was looking for.

“found.”

Ronan grabbed what he found and approached Doron. He was still muttering to himself, contemplating the subject matter.

“No, no. Blue Wyvern’s scales are so tangy. If so, what…”

“Inspiration. How about this?”

“Well?”

Ronan held out his hand. Doron tilted his head.

Thin pieces that looked like shards of something were placed on Ronan’s hand. It was as black and beautiful as a black pearl.

“What is this?”

Even though the blacksmith had been working for over four hundred years, it was a material he had never seen before. Ronan patted Sita and smiled.

“It’s the eggshell that he broke.”

“Byeah.”

Sita clasped her face in Ronan’s hands. Doron’s eyes widened.

“An eggshell? Is this what you mean?”