Leon Kowalski.
I was six years old when my father picked him up.
[I picked it up in the forest near the Marquis estate.]
[Did you see that his right arm is bruised? Definitely.]
The father and the uncles whispered something I couldn't understand.
I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but when I saw the burn scars covering his right arm, as he shivered like a rain-soaked young animal, I could smell the strong scent of unhappiness on him.
Yeah, even when I was six, I pitied the little brown-eyed kid.
I was secretly delighted to hear that the guy was coming to live with us in our blacksmith shop.
[He's learning on the job?]
The trouble started when the guy started learning how to work in the blacksmith shop.
[But that guy is smaller than me. He's still too young to go in front of the fire.]
My father responded to my words with a snicker.
[That guy is already ten years old, Diana. He's taller than you.]
But that guy's arms are much thinner than mine.
I was about to answer bluntly, but then I shut my mouth.
[When you try to find your own will, you need to have a way to eat and live.]
In the blacksmith's shop, the swordsmith's word is law.
My father always said that.
And whatever it was, I'd be seven in a few months, and from then on I was allowed to go in front of the fire.
'What are you going to do with those skinny arms?'
Even Leon hated fire...
When he saw the complaint, his expression would get worse as if he was upset.
So, he was not suited to the profession of a blacksmith, who heats and transforms iron with fire.
At least that's what I thought back then.
[Leon Kowalski! The florist girl has come to see you again! She said she liked the scissors you made for her last time.]
Of course, in just a few years, that thinking changed.
The guy showed his true colors after three years... no, after only two years.
By the time he was about fifteen, he had grown thick and my arms were twice as long as mine.
When the muscles of the arms of the man forging the hot Iron showed their rugged appearance in front of the flames of the furnace, all the village women would open their mouths and watch the scene.
As a child, he hated fire because it was all smoke, but as he entered puberty, he showed off his muscles and handled fire with pride.
[Dirty.]
[What?]
Leon Kowalski heard me mumbling and asked me back.
Kowalski.
It was a name his father had given him himself.
Its meaning was 'son of a blacksmith'.
Even if he goes to live somewhere else later, he should be able to tell that he is a blacksmith just by hearing his name.
But I really didn't like that name.
[I put some potatoes in the oven, so eat those. I'm going to go chat with the guests.]
A blunt guy takes care of my meaIs>
It's also true that my father recognizes his skills.
When he forges with those thick arms, It takes shape much faster than I do.
That's how the guy got the name 'the blacksmith's son'.
I didn't like it at all.
But what I disliked the most was that he disappeared into the fire he hated so much.
On the subject of disappearing without leaving a trace.
"Is this all there is to this castle blacksmith?"
It suddenly revealed traces.
I spoke to the butler and he summoned three blacksmiths from the castle.
In any case, blacksmiths who could handle iron and copper were needed to make drains.
The wood rotted and warped easily, making it unsuitable for making drainage ditches.
But all the blacksmiths who appeared before me had faces I didn't recognize.
"Yes. Your Highness. This is the sword they made."
And the sword they made...
'It's all bad.'
I furrowed my brow as I looked at the three swords.
A bearded guy... a pot-bellied guy.. a balding guy.
Here, three blacksmiths stood proudly in front of the swords they had each created.
[Not all of them. Not even Johan.]
I heard the butter knife I had hidden in my hand grumbling.
Johan.
That was the name of the blacksmith who had created him, as Butterknife had said.
But no matter how much I listened it was definitely Leon Kowalski's voice.
If the reason Gram had my father's voice was because my father made him, then the reason this guy had Leon's voice should have been because Leon made him.
I don't know why the dagger I made doesn't have my voice.
[Because only a master blacksmith can give the sword the proper sword energy.]
Butterknife spoke as if answering my question.
So, what I'm saying is that I made my dagger when I was too young, so I didn't have the proper sword skills.
So that's why you have that... kind of rough girlish voice?
'Tch.'
As I was thinking that, a man with a beard that reached down to his chest stepped forward.
"Your Highness! I dare say that I am the most successful swordsmith in this castle. You probably don't know what a swordsmith is, so let me explain..."
Don't you think I don't know that?
I am a blacksmith who has been in and out of the blacksmith shop since I was seven years old.
I was the daughter of the best blacksmith in the empire and is now the best blacksmith in the empire.
"It means a blacksmith who can make swords. After all, not just anyone can make a sword."
I interrupted him and spoke first.
Then the bearded blacksmith flinched in surprise and said:
"Your Highness, you know more than I thought..."
I lifted the sword forged by the bearded blacksmith.
The blade is about two spans ion.
I held it upright, closed one eye, and watched to see if the blade was straight.
It's slightly twisted.
If it were me, I would have noticed that the sword was twisted from the moment I started pickling it.
I would never have thought of giving this sword to the lord's wife, calling it 'my sword'.
I picked up the sword without hesitation.
Then the sword spoke.
[Just kill me.]
I slammed it down on the stone steps next to it and broke it easily.
It was simply broken when struck at the twisted part, the part where the iron was weakest.
"But if it were me, I wouldn't make a sword like this and call myself a swordsmith. Above all, this is..."
"... My, my sword...!"
The bearded blacksmith looked at the shards of the sword scattered on the floor, his face distorted.
But I didn't stop.
"This too."
Kang!
"This too."
Kang!
I easily broke the remaining two swords and looked at the blacksmiths.
"You shouldn't call it a sword."
Leon's voice was not heard from those swords.
I left the three frustrated swordsmiths behind and went to their forges to examine the scissors, hinges, and other items that their assistants might have made.
I had told Esben in advance to bring not only the swords of the blacksmith shop but also various utensils made by their blacksmith assistants.
"How did you cut a solid sword in two at once?"
Butler Esben asked me with surprised eyes. I looked at him and answered calmly.
"If it's not a proper sword, it breaks easily. Isn't there a sword like that in the Lord's bedroom?"
A poorly made gram of my own.
At my words, Esben coughed and turned his head away.
It seemed like a topic he wanted to avoid.
Esben soon regained his composure and said.
"But, you don't like all three of them? The number of blacksmiths has decreased significantly since the war. It's not easy to find a blacksmith of this caliber outside the castle."
Instead of answering him, I just looked at the blacksmith's items.
Then I picked up a pair of scissors, one of the blacksmith's items.
Although the blade was sharp and blue, it was not a knife. It was just scissors. That was why no sound was heard.
But as soon as I saw those scissors, I knew.
[Leon Kowalski! The florist girl has come to see you again! She said she liked the scissors you made for her last time.]
That guy made it.
I asked the three frustrated blacksmiths, holding up their scissors.
"Which blacksmith shop did this come from?"
Then the three blacksmiths looked at each other and hesitated.
Soon the bearded blacksmith carefully raised his hand.
"In our forge."
"..."
"It wasn't made. It was bought. There's a blacksmith who brings his horse-drawn carriage to the market."
Blacksmiths who learned the trade at a blacksmith shop but were unable to set up their own shop or who were not affiliated with a blacksmith shop for some reason became wanderers who sold goods by carrying a small furnace on a cart.
Their carriages are called horse carriages.
After hearing that, I looked down at the scissors.
A blacksmith pulling a horse-drawn carriage.
I secretly expected that if the guy was alive, he wouldn't belong in any forge.
I can tell because we are the same blacksmith.
It's hard for a man who worked under my father, the best blacksmith in the empire, to adapt under another swordsmith.
So everything is as I expected. Found it.
The blacksmith's son.
My father's disciple and...
"Do you know where the blacksmith went?"
"I don't know, but he'll probably show up in Urdu Village on the full moon. He'll definitely be attending the market that the merchant group led by Yon opens that day."
My rival.
Leon Kowalski.
***
"She cut a sword in two? With one hand?"
"Yes. She said it would be easy If you found the point where the sword was twisted, but what does she mean by that?"
Armin picked up the broken sword as he watched Esben hesitate as he spoke.
It was the sword that Diana broke with one hand.
Although it was just trash without any sword skills, it was difficult for a woman who had difficulty lifting a longsword to break it easily.
'Unless you know how to properly see iron.'
Armin thought so and looked at his face reflected in the sword.
His golden eyes shone in the light of the sword.
He looked into his eyes and pictured Diana's face.
[I think it's true that it's not perfect, but...]
The feeling of those soft lips touching his fingertips.
Although the sensation made him feel dizzy, he had felt it clearly before.
A dark aura flowed from her.
Diana Isla.
No, Diana Wilhelm.
That woman was a much better sword than this piece of trash.
It's enough to make any inspector want to swing it around at least once.
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