Episode 1

I am a royal court blacksmith.

My job is to make and maintain the weapons of the knights who come and go in the court, and their subordinates.

Originally working as a blacksmith in the provinces, I was taken in for my talent and became a royal court blacksmith.

When I was first scouted, I was ridiculously happy.

Because a royal court blacksmith was the pinnacle for a blacksmith.

But this place was not that glorious.

“Hey, finish up the work!!”

There are several departments in the court, and the one I belong to is, of course, the blacksmith division.

Head Blacksmith Morgan, the head of that division, yelled at me.

Weapon maintenance is supposed to be done by everyone in the blacksmith division. Instead, it was shoved onto me alone.

With my vision slightly dizzy, I called out to Morgan.

“B-but… last week I worked without a break, almost every day from morning till night… I can’t hold up anymore! Please, just give me one day off!”

“Huh!? Can’t hold up? What a pathetic excuse!!”

A sharp slap struck my cheek. At the same time, Morgan’s companions came over and landed kicks on me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“This isn’t something you can fix by apologizing! It’s punishment for talking back!”

“Yeah, that’s right! Apologize to Morgan!”

“I apologize, I apologize!”

I desperately mouthed words of apology, but they laughed as if it amused them.

After a while, when I was finally released, all I could do was stare at them in stunned silence.

“So? Are you going to do it? Or not?!”

Morgan raised his voice again. At that ear-piercing shout, I nodded without emotion.

“…Understood, I’ll do my best.”

“That’s better. Get on with it!”

I had no choice but to accept it. If I denied it, I’d just get hit again. Everyone in this blacksmith division was under Morgan’s influence.

There are other blacksmiths outside the court, but they never came all the way into this court.

Morgan and the others would probably go eat now. They chatted happily and left the room.

I didn’t want to join them. Far from it—I had no desire whatsoever to take part in such a suffocating place.

Even if I went, I’d only be watching Morgan and the others’ moods.

I moved to the workshop to begin maintenance on the large number of swords that had been brought in there.

When I entered, boxes filled with swords were stacked up. These were swords issued to the knights.

“…Sigh.”

From today through tomorrow and the day after, Saturday and Sunday, are days off.

I have to finish this by next Monday. I don’t feel like I’ll make it, and if I don’t… I’ll get hit again.

For now, working through the weekend is certain.

Even if I work on the weekend, my pay won’t increase.

I took a sword out of a box and checked the condition of the one sheathed in its scabbard.

There are two jobs for us blacksmiths.

One is making weapons.

The other is to strengthen the magical information inside weapons, called Enchantment.

Our job is to increase a sword’s sharpness or its durability.

What I mainly do now is this enchantment work.

With this Enchantment, weapons won’t rust and can be used without maintenance.

However, the effect wears off in about a week, so every week a large number of weapons are brought to the blacksmith division.

If an Enchantment remains, we repair it; if it’s gone, we have to recreate it from scratch.

Because I constantly use mana, I’m struck by dizziness.

But I have to do it.

Almost unconscious, I performed the Enchantments in an assembly-line fashion.