‘Heh, I knew it. Although the momentum when he swung at us looked intimidating, he and Amir were nowhere near the same level of combat ability.’
‘But to think that just a single kick could block his killing blow…’
Histori silently shook her head, sighing inwardly.
‘Looking back now, I guess I really should thank Amir for when we fought the Demon King before. At least she drew her sword immediately. If she had just kicked him to death on the ground like she is now, we would’ve been no better than stray dogs on the street.’
Cough, cough…
Lying in the crater he himself had carved out, Chief Baron painfully spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
He struggled to get up, but the sharp pain in his knee left him helplessly collapsed in the pile of rubble.
“An explanation? You… what else do you have to explain? You humans just came to see us dwarves make fools of ourselves and then steal our Anvil of Thunder, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.”
Facing Baron’s anguished accusation, Amir calmly withdrew the scabbard she had pressed against his knee.
Then she leisurely sat down on the only chair in the Sacred Chamber and shrugged at Baron.
“I think you’ve misunderstood something. My visit here does not represent the United Kingdom, nor any human. I simply wanted to help this… companion of mine fulfill a wish.”
“…A wish?”
“That’s right.”
After a moment of thought, Amir grinned at Baron and pointed her finger toward Histori.
“This young lady’s late father was a blacksmith. His greatest wish in life was to see the world’s top smith forge using the Anvil of Thunder. But her father couldn’t hold out until the Great Forging Festival opened, so she came to watch on his behalf.”
“Is that so?”
Histori and Baron blurted out in unison.
“But if that’s the case, you should have waited until the Great Forging Festival opened, shouldn’t you?”
The dwarf chieftain didn’t seem so easy to fool.
He rubbed his brow and pointed at the pipe Histori and Amir had hidden in earlier.
“Sneaking around like this—I can tell you had no good intentions from the start!”
“No, about that… it’s because this young lady also can’t hold out until the Great Forging Festival opens.”
“Huh?”
Histori pointed at her own cheek in confusion.
Then, at a signal from Amir, she quickly covered her mouth and let out a few weak coughs.
“See? Just like that. She and her father suffered from the same serious illness; she only has a little time left. I had no choice but to resort to improper means to bring her to see your forging, just to fulfill this poor girl’s final wish.”
Amir shook her head gently and let out a heavy sigh.
“So we are not here to destroy the dwarves. On the contrary, she and I wish more than anyone for your sacred artifact to remain safe and sound.”
“I see…”
After listening to Amir’s story, Yorike beside Baron nodded subconsciously and wiped the corners of his eyes.
“I never thought you would do such a thing for this reason. It’s all our chief’s fault for being hot-tempered and not willing to listen to your explanation, forcing you to fight back desperately…”
“You brat, how can you only listen to her side of the story!?”
Baron glared angrily at Yorike, then wiped his own eyes.
“If you ask me, not only this girl’s father, but she herself must have wanted to join our forging trade. It’s just that humans aren’t blessed by the God of Forging, leading to this outcome. Luckily, I didn’t use my full strength just now; it would have been bad if I had injured such a pitiful girl.”
‘…’
Histori frowned speechlessly and decided to face the wall for a while—out of sight, out of mind.
“But you must have heard it just now.”
Baron let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.
Two streams of murky tears flowed down his sparse beard and dripped onto the floor of the Sacred Chamber.
“Two months ago, on that day, I went as usual to nourish the sacred artifact with magical power. But when I opened the door of the Sacred Chamber, I found that the sacred anvil, which had always sparkled with lightning, had suddenly become dark and dull.”
“At first, I thought it was just a problem with the magical flow. But I tried every infusion ritual I knew, and even sought help from other top blacksmiths to try and awaken it—no response. The Anvil of Thunder had died, as if all its divine power had vanished.”
Baron’s voice was raspy, as if rubbing against sandpaper, filled with a deep sense of powerlessness.
“Sigh, next month is the Great Forging Festival. It’s a grand event where envoys from all races across the continent come to observe. According to tradition, I have to forge a divine artifact in front of the whole world using the sacred artifact at the end of the ceremony. But…”
He shook his head at Histori and spoke with a heavy tone.
“Little girl, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. With the sacred artifact broken now, I can’t forge with it at all. I can only apologize for your wish.”
“Now that the sacred artifact has lost its divine power, not to mention the blacksmiths, the fate of our entire dwarf race may be in jeopardy…”
“Well…”
After listening to Baron’s account, Histori, who had a complicated expression on her face, suddenly thought of something.
“Chief Baron, haven’t you ever forged anything with the sacred artifact before?”
“Hm? Of course I have. I have dozens of forged items in my storeroom that haven’t been displayed to the public. If you want to see them, I can make an exception for you…”
“Then isn’t the dwarf race’s crisis easy to solve?”
“…Huh?”
Histori turned around and counted on her fingers toward Baron and Yorike.
“Look, your problem is twofold: one, the sacred artifact is broken and you can’t forge a divine artifact; two, next month’s festival, you have to forge a divine artifact with the Anvil of Thunder in front of a bunch of outsiders, or else people will see through you.”
“Y-yes, that’s right?”
“Then if you just want to avoid such a crisis, it should be pretty easy to handle, right?”
“…Easy to handle?”
Hearing Histori’s words, Baron’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Then what exactly should we do? Could it be… you have a way to repair the Anvil of Thunder?!”
‘…’
Histori rolled her eyes at Baron.
“What I mean is, if you just want to forge a divine artifact at the Great Forging Festival, then just go to the warehouse, pick out something you made before, find some ore, pretend to hammer it a couple of times, hire a few mages to add some lightning special effects, and make it look like you forged it on the spot. That would do it, wouldn’t it?”