episode_0002

“Throw it away.”

“Eck! No, why!”

I was taken aback when my father took a quick look at the handle I had made and immediately told me to throw it away. No, what’s the problem?

When I looked at my father with eyes full of questions, I showed him the handle I had made.

“Now, look. When I cut this part, it went in too deep. If you do this, it will split right away when it gets hit later. And, here. It’s good that you said you were going to dig a groove, but you applied too much force and it’s already split.”

As my father said, the handle I made was literally unusable. Even though I applied only a little force, not because I was a father, the tree split with a snapping sound.

I lost strength when I saw that everything I pointed out one by one was correct. No, wasn’t he destined to become a legendary blacksmith? I wondered if it was just the fate of an ‘ordinary villager living an ordinary life.’

“Hahaha! Don’t be too discouraged! Andrew, like you, I messed up the first time I did it. I even asked your grandfather if he was planning on ruining the family business.”

Still, my father comforted me by saying that it was okay for the first time. While patting my back with that pot-lid-like hand.

“Ahh, ah! Father, it hurts! It hurts!”

“Hahaha! Why is this so bad that it hurts!”

He was a flatterer who burst into laughter so loudly that he tried to blow my back.

I felt like my back would explode first if I continued like this, so I quickly ran away.

“Andrew! Starting tomorrow, my father will teach me properly!”

I ran away from the blacksmith shop, leaving behind my uncle who was laughing out loud and shouting at me. If I hadn’t stayed too far away and gotten caught, I could have said I would teach you now instead of tomorrow.

I began to walk around the village, sighing at the hardships that would begin tomorrow.

As I was walking around the village for a while, some memories of my past life suddenly came back to me. It was not a memory like a memory of something, but a memory equivalent to knowledge.

It was our village that I had always seen, but the village suddenly looked different.

The village was like a medieval European village, and the village itself was quite clean. In medieval Europe, it seemed like the streets were full of filth, but that wasn’t the case. It was all thanks to the heroes who had come to this world so far. It could also be said that the footsteps left behind by those who came to save the world led to the vague development of this world.

A warrior from one world spread the concept of water and sewage, and a warrior from another world also spread things like a type of soap. In that way, some knowledge from various worlds spread throughout this world and became established.

Maybe that’s why this world developed so strangely. Why is this there? There’s something to do, and there’s that, but why isn’t that there? There were also cases where it was done. Based on my past life, the development of this world was a complete mess.

Anyway, I walked around the village without feeling uncomfortable thanks to the water and sewage system that was said to have been created thanks to a certain hero. People who appeared to be mercenaries were walking by, and people were moving around busily.

“Hey! Andrew!”

As I was walking around the village for a while, I heard my name being called, so I turned my head. So, what I saw was a little boy who could be said to be my friend, carrying a bucket of water and moving around with difficulty. After going through a very boring childhood, I guess my mental age adjusted to my physical age, but I really enjoyed playing with children.

The person I considered my best friend was a girl named Amy, who was whimpering while holding a bucket of water. Unlike other little kids, he was quite polite and had fun, so he had a lot of fun. Especially since they were more active and tough than the boys, it was quite fun to play with them.

“Amy? Are you enjoying a happy work life too?”

“Are you crazy again? What fun! It’s so heavy I’m dying. Why is water suddenly not coming out to the store again? Lee, Seeing.”

Amy looked like she wanted to throw the bucket of water she was holding. But Amy, who knew full well that she would have to go fetch water again, did not make that choice. I just put down the water bucket and kicked the rocks on the floor.

“Anyway, why did you call me?”

“Please help me. Mom told me to sharpen the knife. Can’t you leave it to me instead?”

Amy knew that our family owned a blacksmith shop, so she asked me to do it.

“It’s not difficult. Can I do it by tomorrow?”

“Yes! Please. If I bring this to the store and then go back and forth to your blacksmith shop, it will be so hard that I might die. Instead, I’ll go pick it up.”

I smiled at Amy’s stern look and accepted the well-wrapped knife. I should go for a short walk, then go back and leave it to my dad and lie down at home.

Although it is said that this is a world where children’s labor is natural, it does not mean that children are made to work all day. I had time to run around with my friends, and I also had time to roll around for a bit before dinner. So, it was like taking a walk around the village like now.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm.”

I walked around the village while roughly humming a melody that I remembered very briefly from my past life.

I snooped around the mercenary hall where mercenaries frequented, and I also went to a large vacant lot in the corner of the village and played with my friends for a while. Of course, I couldn’t play for long because I had the knife that Amy had entrusted to me.

After spending some time taking a walk, I returned to the blacksmith shop. There, my father was forging, pounding hot iron with a hammer.

“Father! I want you to sharpen my knife at Amy’s!”

“Leave it there. No, no. This time, you give it a try. Sharpening a knife will also be a good experience.”

“Me? Wouldn’t it be better if my dad just did this? What if I make a mistake and sharpen half the knife? Our blacksmith’s reputation could be very disastrous.”

“Well… … . okay. Leave it there, and go home and help mom. Aren’t you busy preparing dinner? My father tells me that he will finish this, sharpen the knife, and then go home.”

As soon as my father finished speaking, I immediately rushed out of the blacksmith shop and headed home.

It could be said to be a residential area for people, so as I got closer to the house, the smell of dinner was already coming from everywhere.

What’s for dinner tonight? As I returned home, happily imagining things, I saw my mom preparing dinner. Large pieces of dough were being pushed into the oven, and things to eat along with the bread were on the table.

“Mom!”

“Is Andrew here? Go wash your hands first, and can you help mom?”

“Wait a minute!”

I was able to move around a little for a delicious dinner. I quickly washed my hands and helped my mom prepare dinner, and before I knew it, my dad came home.

“Well, the food you make is the most delicious.”

“That’s natural.”

I pretended not to see my mom and dad exchanging affectionate glances and stuffed the bread into my mouth. Just as my father said, the bread my mother made was very delicious.

After eating dinner, I went straight to bed. I may look like a 9-year-old kid on the outside, but I am in my second life. We all know that parents like it when their children fall asleep quickly. There was nothing the little body could do at night anyway. It was better to just go out and play as soon as the sun rose.

“Is Andrew asleep?”

I quickly fell asleep, using the sound of my parents whispering outside my room as a lullaby.

I had a dream of becoming a warrior and enjoying a crazy life, and when I woke up, the darkness had cleared and the sun was rising. Outside, I could already hear the sounds of people starting their day.

I was very sad to wake up from a pleasant dream, but I roughly made up my bedding and got up. When I went out to the living room, my mom and dad were already preparing an early breakfast.

“Andrew. Starting today, my uncle will teach me the skills to become a blacksmith.”

“Starting today?”

My father’s words brought back memories of yesterday. I remember thinking that it would be time to take over the family business.

After thinking for a moment, I quickly nodded. To be honest, I doubted whether I could become a blacksmith, but I wasn’t going to avoid it without giving it a try.

Moreover, the blacksmith profession was a fairly high-income profession in this world. If you learned blacksmithing skills properly, you wouldn’t have to worry about making a living for the rest of your life. No, rather, it was a kind of professional job that could bring you wealth and fame if you had good skills.

After eating breakfast with some determination, I headed to the blacksmith shop with my uncle.

As soon as I opened the locked door of the blacksmith shop, my father started a fire. The black fuel contained embers and began to spit out hot flames.

After waiting for the temperature to rise properly, my uncle called me and started teaching me the techniques.

“First, watch what this uncle does.”

My father said he would demonstrate and explain first, and took a seat in front of the anvil with a hammer.

“The first thing to do is to heat the iron. Keep in mind that whether it is less heated or more heated will have an effect on the work.”

My father threw a square piece of iron into the burning red flames and watched closely as the iron heated up. My father looked at the iron like that for a while and then took out a piece of iron.

My father took out a very hot piece of iron with tongs, put it on the anvil, and immediately started pounding it with a hammer.

Each time the hammer struck, a change occurred in the appearance of the piece of iron. Little by little, it becomes longer, thinner, and wider. The piece of iron was gradually taking shape.

“Please remember that forging, hitting a piece of iron with a hammer, is the most important part of metallurgy. If you hit it too much, the iron will become soft, and if you hit it a little, it will break easily. The difference in a blacksmith’s skill lies in shaping it and pounding it to an appropriate level.”

Even though my father was dripping with sweat, he didn’t stop hammering.

Put it back in the fire and hit it with a hammer. When it cools down a bit, put it back in the fire. After doing this repetitive work for a while, I ended up with something that looked like a kitchen knife.

Although I had already seen this sight a few times, the more I looked at it, the more fascinating it became. Just by tapping the ground like that, the shape of the sword was taking shape.

“What needs to be done after forging and shaping is quenching. You make the iron stronger by heating it and then cooling it. Keep in mind that you need to control the temperature well at this time as well.”

The thing in the shape of a well-made blade heated up red-hot in the fire pit again. My father took it out and pushed the blade into the oil container I was filling.

Unpleasant smoke rose up with a whoosh, and the blade cooled down quickly. Of course, this process did not end in one session.

” Quenching may need to be done multiple times depending on the result. You can only know this through experience, so you have to make a lot of them first.”

My father emphasized several times that experience is the most important thing for a blacksmith. Afterwards, my father repeated the quenching process once more while looking at the result, and removed some of the burning embers from the kiln.

“After completing quenching, a process called tempering must be performed. Although it is hard once it has been quenched, it can easily break. That’s why we temper it so it doesn’t break easily.”

An explanation was added that the tempering process requires heating to an appropriate level at a lower temperature than quenching and then cooling it appropriately.

“… … How much is moderation?”

“Literally, it is appropriate. If you do less or more, the durability of the result drops drastically, so you have to find just the right level. No matter how good a blacksmith is at forging, if he cannot do this tempering work properly, he is no different from a beginner blacksmith.”

My father, who had told me to keep this in mind, had already finished the tempering process and brought me a whetstone. And immediately began sharpening the blade on the whetstone. I don’t know if it was because of his strength or skill, but every time my uncle moved his hand, iron dust filled the whetstone.

“If you have completed all of the previous tasks, you can sharpen the blade as you do now. There are many ways to sharpen a blade, but it depends on the type of blade you use, so I will explain it to you slowly.”

My father, who sharpened the blade in an instant, cut off a nearby piece of leather to show how well the blade sharpened. The leather was cut very smoothly, as if it were a tanning blade used to trim leather.

“Father. My mom told me to leave it for later.”

“… … .”

Is it because of my unexpected reaction, or because of the words I said? My father looked startled.

But he came back to his serious self again and made me sit down in the same place I was sitting.