Chapter 42: The Star-Forger’s Legacy
by AfuhfuihgsAs the hazy dust that blurred my vision cleared, the dwarf’s form became vivid.
Swinging his muscular arms, he silently hammered at the starlight. For some reason, he felt impossibly distant.
Clang!
With every strike of his hammer, fragments of shattered starlight scattered, drawing shapes in the sky.
Their glimmering movement in the wind resembled the night sky over the desert.
“Uh, excuse me…!”
Clang!
Even as I tried to call out, there was no response.
The dwarf continued hammering the starlight without a word.
I attempted to approach, but the distance between us refused to shrink.
Clang!
The metallic sound began to fade.
The unchanging gap and the diminishing noise were signs that this space itself was vanishing.
Frantic, I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a small dagger.
This was the item entrusted to me for delivery by the drunken blacksmith of the Karma Empire.
Finally, I had found the one it was meant for.
“Take this, please!”
Clang!
I stretched my arm out with all my strength, but it wasn’t enough.
The trembling dagger in my hand caught the surrounding starlight, reflecting its brilliance.
How could I make it reach him? How could I close the gap?
Desperation surged within me, and I summoned my mana to strengthen my body.
At that moment, something strange happened.
As if responding to my mana, the starlight emanating from the dwarf’s hammer flared even brighter.
At last, the dwarf paused his work and turned to look at me. Silence descended as his hammering ceased.
I frowned, channeling starlight-infused mana into the dagger I held, and hurled it toward him.
If I couldn’t reach him, I’d send it flying his way.
Fwoosh!
The spinning dagger cut through the air, colliding with tiny stars floating around.
Each impact left a trace, forming a glowing constellation of seven points.
As the path of starlight extended near the dwarf, he finally moved.
With his short but sturdy arms, he picked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground.
Drawing the blade from its sheath, he held it up toward the sky.
The finely forged edge sparkled with the starlight imbued by my mana.
Then, the dwarf exhaled onto the dagger.
His breath transformed the blade, reshaping it.
The short blade extended, and the constellation that had formed as it flew began to shine on its length.
When the constellation etched into the blade radiated a vivid brilliance, the dwarf laid it atop the flowing starlight and resumed his hammering.
Clang!
With the first strike, the first star glimmered brightly.
Clang!
The second strike illuminated the second star.
Clang!
And with the third, the process continued.
Clang!
With every swing of the hammer, the blade took on its true shape.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Finally, with the seventh strike, the work was complete.
The newly forged starlight sword emitted a soft glow, its seven-point constellation scattering radiant light as if asserting its presence.
As if waking from a deep sleep, my hazy consciousness began to resurface.
Feeling returned to my arms and legs, and my blurred vision became sharp once more.
Snort
It was then I noticed Nightmare gazing down at me with a worried expression.
As soon as it saw my eyes open, it eagerly stuck out its long tongue and licked my cheek.
I frowned and looked around.
“This is…”
Contrary to the surreal scene from earlier, I found myself in the middle of a desert, surrounded by dunes of platinum-colored sand.
Looking at the large pit nearby, I realized I must have lost consciousness after enduring the sandstorm at the same spot.
The evidence was clear: my entire body was covered in sand.
“Hmm…”
Dusting off my arms and legs, I fell into thought.
The vivid memory from earlier lingered in my mind, too sharp and powerful to be dismissed as just a dream.
Could it really have been just a dream?
I rummaged through my sand-covered bag, searching for the small dagger I had tucked inside.
Yet no matter how much I searched, the dagger entrusted to me by the blacksmith was nowhere to be found.
Looking up at the sky, I let out a small laugh.
It seemed I had successfully completed the blacksmith’s delivery request after all.
As I continued shaking off the sand, I noticed my sword stuck in the ground, its hilt poking out above the surface.
It was the very blade I had used to create a mana barrier during the storm.
So that’s what felt missing—its weight. I must have forgotten to retrieve it in the chaos.
I walked forward, reached into the sand, and pulled out the buried sword.
Flash!
The moment the blade emerged, an intense light burst forth, glowing like the stars in the night sky.
“This is…”
Seven unfamiliar markings dotted the length of the blade, scattering light like a constellation.
It looked exactly like the sword crafted by the dwarf in my vision, where he combined the dagger and starlight.
It was clear now.
What I had seen wasn’t just a dream. I had truly entered the starlit forge and met the last of the dwarves.
“I found it!”
A jubilant shout rang out from the pit below.
Turning my head slightly, I saw Shah Khan, covered in sand, holding a large stone tablet in his hands.
His face was lit up with an ecstatic smile.
Sheathing my sword, I asked, “What did you find?”
“The dwarves! A stone tablet containing their ancient techniques!”
Shah Khan climbed out of the pit and ran over to me, carefully brushing off the sand from the stone tablet he had found.
As the sand fell away, strange symbols began to emerge, etched onto its surface.
While I couldn’t read the script, Shah Khan seemed to understand it.
He placed his fingers on the tablet and began mumbling to himself in a low voice.
It took us a week to return to the city.
The moment we arrived, Shah Khan and I parted ways.
I immediately found a decent inn and secured a room.
I desperately needed to wash off the layers of sand clinging to my body and rest on a proper bed to recover from the fatigue.
Thanks to the brooch gifted by Kashin, I was able to enjoy excellent treatment wherever I went on the Burning Road.
After a long shower, I collapsed onto the bed and slept for an entire day—until the sun that had set rose again.
Once rested, I dressed in clean clothes, mounted Nightmare, and stocked up on provisions before heading to the Hot Tail Inn near the north gate.
Shah Khan had promised me my reward, and I was there to collect it.
As I approached the inn, a loud metallic clang echoed in the air.
Clang!
“Hm…”
I tied Nightmare securely outside and stepped into the inn, where I was immediately greeted by a wave of heat.
Looking around the inn’s interior, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.
The tables and chairs that had previously cluttered the floor were nowhere to be seen, and the cobwebs that once hung from the ceiling had been cleared away entirely.
That wasn’t the only change.
The partition that had separated the kitchen from the dining area was gone, and in its place stood a massive forge.
At the forge was Shah Khan, hammering away at an anvil, looking strikingly similar to the dwarven blacksmith I had seen in my dream.
“Shah Khan?”
Clang!
“Ah, you’ve arrived,” he greeted, setting down the hammer in his right hand and the tongs in his left as I approached.
“What… what is all this?”
“Well…” Shah Khan scratched his head sheepishly and began recounting his story.
After we parted ways in the city, he had taken the stone tablet inscribed with the dwarves’ techniques and sought out blacksmiths to share the knowledge.
However, no one in the city had been willing to listen to him.
Even when he shouted that it was the lost Star Forge technique, used by the forgotten dwarves, all he received were cold stares and dismissals.
“So, I had no choice but to pick up the hammer myself,” he admitted.
“Are you trying to prove it by making something yourself?”
“Exactly!”
“And that’s why you turned the inn into… this?”
“Well… it did cost me quite a bit, but… Oh, wait a moment.”
Shah Khan hurried over to the forge, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
Shah Khan disappeared into one of the inner rooms of the inn and returned with a small wooden box in his hands.
“Here, take this,” he said, holding it out to me.
“What’s this?” I asked as I accepted the box.
“Your promised reward!”
The box was heavier than I had expected. When I opened the lid, I found it filled with glistening gold coins.
“Should be about 25 gold,” Shah Khan said with a satisfied smile.
I carefully placed the box into my bag, stealing a glance at Shah Khan before speaking cautiously.
“Um, Shah Khan.”
“Yes?”
“About the Guiding Stars…”
“Oh, these?” Shah Khan pulled out two small stones from his pocket.
I nodded. “Could you… give them to me? I’d like to keep them as a souvenir.”
“These?” He looked at them for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, I’ve already memorized the location, so I don’t see why not.”
He handed the stones to me without hesitation. I quickly tucked the Guiding Stars into my pocket as Shah Khan looked at me curiously.
“So, what’s your plan now?” he asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, if you’re up for it, I’d like to offer you another job…”
“Is it about the dwarves or the Star Forge again?”
“No, no, nothing like that. This one’s simpler—just gathering materials from monsters outside the desert…”
I didn’t need to hear more. I chuckled softly and shook my head.
“Actually, I just remembered something I need to do. I’ll have to pass.”
“Ah, I see. That’s a shame…”
“Well, I’ll be on my way then. It was nice working with you.”
“Likewise. Take care, my friend.”
With a final wave, I left the Hot Tail Inn and mounted Nightmare.
Without any lingering attachments, my steps—or rather, Nightmare’s—felt unusually light as we left the city.
Under the blazing sun, I unsheathed my sword.
The blade gleamed brightly, reflecting the sunlight, and the seven stars etched onto it shimmered.
Each star seemed to guide my movements, as if they carried the memory of how the sword was meant to be wielded.
Was this a swordsmanship technique the dwarves once used?
Smiling to myself, I swung the blade lightly, and a trail of radiant starlight scattered in the air.
“Now, where should I head next?”
With no fixed destination, I would go wherever my path led me. That’s the life of an adventurer, after all.
I tugged at Nightmare’s reins and urged him forward.
Fwoosh!
With a snort, Nightmare kicked off the platinum-colored sand and sped off into the distance.
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