Episode 103

A few days have passed since then.

I sat on a chair in the workshop, arms crossed, staring fixedly at the Esrea Magic Ore sword.

It was by no means a sword I could give to Bertie.

Not yet.

I should be able to work it better.

…But I can’t think of how.

“…What should I do?”

I had declared it coolly to everyone, but being at an impasse hadn’t changed.

I tried intervening with the Esrea Magic Ore in various ways, but every attempt failed.

What on earth should I do?

After raking my head, I resumed working on the Esrea Magic Ore once more.

There was something I learned from wrestling with the forging over the past few days.

Esrea Magic Ore, unlike other Magic Ores… has snags and resistance.

It’s a resistance as if the Magic Ore itself has a will.

Even if I tried to process the metal by referencing Bertie’s sword… that resistance made it fail.

How do I get rid of this?

I tried various contrivances, but nothing worked.

“…It’s already evening, huh.”

I felt a pang of despair at the evening sunlight streaming through the window.

In the end, another day had passed without making any progress.

Isn’t it hopeless now?

Maybe it was still too early for me after all.

No, no… don’t think such pathetic thoughts.

Everyone’s waiting.

As I slapped my cheek to push away the timid thoughts, the workshop door opened.

“Faik, got a moment?”

A voice sounded suddenly, and I jumped.

When I looked over, Alicia was there. She held something like an old book in her hands.

I wondered what it was.

“What’s up?”

“I found this and thought it might—maybe—be helpful as reference.”

“…What’s this?”

The cover of the book Alicia handed me had nothing written on it in particular.

I could only tell that it was probably an old book.

—What on earth could it be?

As I tilted my head, Alicia smiled gently.

“I was searching the mansion’s library and found this. I thought it might be useful for smithing.”

“…This is—”

When I opened it, it turned out to be something like the diary of the first head of the Barnast family.

Apparently he particularly liked smithing; the diary’s entries were almost entirely about it.

All the entries were interesting—more than that, they were relatable—so progressing through the reading was enjoyable.

It was far more enjoyable than reading a mediocre book.

Thinking that, I turned the pages and found some text that caught my eye.

Esrea Magic Ore.

There was an entry about it.

I traced the characters with my finger and read on with more focus than before.

The first family head seemed to be passionate about smithing.

There were even jokes written about how he got scolded by his wife for being too absorbed in smithing.

Alicia, standing beside me, peeked in and gave a small laugh.

“This is so Faik-ish.”

“…I’m not that—”

“You’re obsessed, you are.”

I couldn’t say anything to Alicia’s teasing tone.

Because that was certainly true.

Scratching my head, I read on and finally found that passage.

“I worked on processing Esrea Magic Ore.”

Seeing those words, I carefully checked the surrounding lines.

It talked about impressions from processing Esrea Magic Ore and the difficulty of that work.

It was exactly the information I wanted.

“Faik… Here. It’s written here.”

I nodded at Alicia’s voice and turned the page.

And I began to read the content aloud.

“The most important thing in working Esrea Magic Ore is dialogue.”

“…D-dialogue?”

As Alicia voiced puzzlement, I continued reading the text.

“To work Esrea Magic Ore, you need to synchronize your heart with the Esrea Magic Ore.”

“Wh-what is it saying…?”

“Face the Esrea Magic Ore properly and talk to it. It’s important to respect the Ore’s will and process it accordingly.”

“…I-I don’t get it.”

Alicia’s shoulders slumped.

I closed the book and examined once more the sword I had processed as Esrea Magic Ore.

And then――

“…So that’s what it was.”

“Eh?! You can tell from that?!”

“Ah, it all makes sense now… I see. I should have talked with the Magic Ore.”

“…F-Faik?”

That resistance I had felt from the metal while smithing until now was precisely that.

Because Esrea Magic Ore has a will like a human’s, it also has an idea of what it wants to become.

In that case, the method to resolve it is quite simple.

You just have to converse. Forge it so that it changes into the form the Ore desires.

That is all there was to it.