Volume 3 - CH 2.1

Act 3-2.1: God of Treasure and Blacksmith

The father of dwarves, Heibos, was hailed by humans as the God of Treasure and Blacksmith.

Heibos was actually just the God of Blacksmith, but thanks to the dwarves’ reputation of excavating precious metals such as gold and silver, with a high frequency at that, he had also become known as the God of Treasure.

Adding on to the dwarves, Heibos was also revered by human merchants. These merchants often possessed a lot of precious metals and were often in need of someone to purchase them or create wondrous objects with them. Cooperating with dwarves, who have the best technology and could create anything from those precious metals, was the ideal outcome for them. So it was no wonder that they chose to follow the same God as the dwarves, it made all their dealings with this race several times easier.

It was for this reason that Heibos was also known as the God of Business amongst humans. He had inadvertently created an atmosphere where human merchants and dwarves could work with each other. This also benefited the Dwarven race as they weren’t blessed with a sense of business, only a few of them succeeding in becoming merchants—having a chain of commerce with humans had allowed them to create more things.

From Kuroki’s perspective, the Heibos who stood before him looked 120% like a craftsman and minus 120% like a merchant.

Just like Kuroki was looking at Heibos, the God’s eyes were also sizing the man before him, judging him.

「It’s nice to mee–」

「Let’s skip the greetings, Dark Knight.」

Heibos interrupted before Kuroki could even finish his greeting.

「You were probably warned beforehand by Dario, so no need to show such a surprised look. Now, let me see that sword.」

Heibos presented his palm toward Kuroki.

Not daring to hesitate any longer, Kuroki took out the short sword he kept in his breast pocket and handed it to Heibos. This short sword was one he had made himself after taking a few smithing lessons from Dario.

Heibos unsheathed the short sword, exposing its jet-black blade.

「This short sword alone is enough of an introduction. Looking at someone’s craft can tell you more about them than hundreds of words.」

Heibos spoke to Kuroki as he examined the short sword. The sword was tempered with Kuroki’s black flame, it was his first finished product after numerous failures. It had been difficult to find materials that could withstand his black flame, and once he did find such materials, he ended up wasting a lot of them while trying to understand the craft, until finally he managed to create the jet-black short sword. He hadn’t intended to create it as such, but maybe because it was tempered with black flame, the blade had come out in a pitch black color and donned an extremely sharp edge.

Though initially Kuroki felt that it was a good sword, he honestly lacked the confidence now that he was showing his creation to the God of craftsmanship.

「Huhm, I see… Well done. But please wait for a moment, I’m going to add something.」

Heibos left his seat as he said so. When he came back a while later, the thing held in his hand wasn’t the same short sword Kuroki had given him, rather it looked like a completely different sword.

「Here, take it.」

Heibos returned the short sword to Kuroki. Kuroki was baffled as he took it and started examining the weapon. He couldn’t understand why Heibos had given him a new sword instead of the one he had created.

「It’s better now.」

At the God’s words, Kuroki unsheathed the short sword, exposing its jet-black blade.

「That’s…!」

Kuroki couldn’t hide his surprise.

「Yes, this is the same sword you made.」

The short sword given to Kuroki was the very same one he had forged. Initially, the sword’s handle had been unadorned. Kuroki had made the handle simple for practicality and ease of use. However, after falling into Heibos’ hands for a few short minutes, the sword had transformed into a beautiful work of art, without altering its original function. The handle was now encrusted with lustrous but simple jewels, which were all surrounded by intricate engravings. There was no question that Kuroki would have thought it was another sword, one different from the one he had created after numerous failures, had he not unsheathed it.

Kuroki received it with gratitude.

「The most worrying thing about this sword is the fact that it was geared for functionality and practicality to the extreme… That’s why I decided to add some simple decorations to give it a sort of elegance. To be honest, I couldn’t detect any willingness from the creator to polish its appearance after I had touched it. Tell me one thing, you’ve never dressed up stylishly before, right? You always wear black clothes in your everyday life to not stand out, isn’t that right?」

Heibos’ words hit the bull’s eye.

In fact, Kuroki was really surprised since Heibos realized it without him ever mentioning it. Shirone had often told him off about this, saying something along the lines of 「Kuroki, do you have any other clothes aside from ones in grey or black?」.

「I’m right aren’t I?」

Kuroki couldn’t even retort. It was only natural since Heibos’ guess was spot on. Heibos then continued on as he looked at the sword.

「I can feel the determination of its creator to create a good sword, but…」

He paused for a moment as he looked at Kuroki.

「In a sense, you’re rather clumsy as a man… You don’t take initiative when you find a woman you like, and prefer to back down when you know that you’re competing with another man for the same woman.」

「GUH!」

Heibos’ words pierced deep into Kuroki’s sore spot.

「Maybe it’s not even limited to women, you have the tendency to back down in any kind of competition, right? Then you end up doing something that can’t be undone.」

Heibos continued on with a distant look on his face.

「Just like Modes… even though he should have put up some resistance, he ended up not doing anything and just quietly retreated to Nargol. Resulting in those bastards who exiled him to get ahead of themselves, creating even more conflict.」

Heibos then cracked a kind smile.

「But I have no right to criticize him… I’ve always secluded myself in my own small workshop, refusing to concern myself with the outside world unless someone I was close to was concerned.」

Heibos muttered self-deprecatingly.

Kuroki had heard from Nut before that Heibos spent most of his time inside his own workshop, refusing to go out even for the Gods’ assembly. It was the reason why he had heard about Modes’ exilement much later. Heibos felt slightly regretful about this, which was why he always assisted Modes.

And today, he had also observed the short sword made by Kuroki at Modes’ request.

「We’ve slightly veered off topic… Though it looks just like your everyday sword, I have to say that it’s made to be used as a powerful weapon. Its quality isn’t below the ones made by dwarves.」

When such words came from the God of Blacksmith himself, it was definitely the best compliment for any craftsman.

「Thank you very much.」

Kuroki bowed his head, feeling delighted hearing such praise.

「Will you let me see the sword you got from Modes?」

Kuroki passed the Demon Sword he received from Modes.

The reason it was called the Demon Sword of Venous Blood was the fact that its blade was weaved in shining crimson threads that resembled blood vessels.

「It’s a wonderful sword no matter how many times I see it. Not even I can make a sword like this one.」

Kuroki couldn’t hide his shock upon hearing that remark.

「Not even you, Heibos-dono can make this kind of sword?」

Heibos shook his head as if to affirm Kuroki’s question.

「This sword was made by Modes’ mother, Nargol. Since it’s created by a being hailed as the God of Destruction herself, it has the power of destruction contained within. Not even I can match her in that area. In fact, limited to weapons, Modes’ skill is equal to mine. The person himself isn’t that keen on creating weapons though. You might have the same talent as Modes.」

Heibos told Kuroki as he looked at the Demon Sword and the short sword made by Kuroki.

Kuroki never came in contact with blacksmithing prior to coming to this world. In short, Kuroki’s swordsmith power was gained after he came to this world.

The world of swords was so profound to the point that there was a saying that one would need their entire life to sharpen their swordcraft.

But still, the reason Kuroki could make a dwarven class weapon might be because he could move easier and more precisely after coming to this world. He might not be able to create the same kind of weapon once he got back to Japan.

「Well, though your outer appearance is different from each other, your personality kind of resembles Modes. Here, feel free to give the short sword to anyone. All I did is just add a few decorations to make it more beautiful.」

Heibos spoke to Kuroki while returning the Demon Sword of Venous Blood to the latter.

Upon hearing that remark, Kuroki started to ponder about the candidates to receive the short sword made by him.

Kuna, who was waiting by his side, showed an eager look on her face, but Kuroki wanted to give her an even better weapon than the one he had made.

「Please be patient Kuna, I’ll prepare an even better gift for you in the future.」

Kuroki told her so while patting her head, he then put back the short sword in his breast pocket.

Kuna pouted a little upon hearing that, but her mood rose again when Kuroki patted her head.

「Moving on to the next topic, the armour for you is inside. Come, follow me.」

Upon hearing that, Kuroki and Dario followed Heibos. The place they were guided to model a set of armour and helmet, which had been prepared for Kuroki. Though the colour of the armour was the same jet-black as the previous one, the magical power loaded in the new armour far surpassed the one that was destroyed in the battle of the Holy Dragon King’s mountain.

「This set of armour is different from the one you used before, this one is made to match your combat style. I’ve made it based on the destroyed dark knight armour that was sent before, but I guess it’ll be easier for you to understand once you try it.」

Kuroki nodded to Heibos and tried the armour on.

The armour was a perfect fit for him, without any wrong measurements. When he tried to move, the armour didn’t hinder his movement despite the solid feeling it gave.

「Awesome. I can move freely despite how the armour looks…」

Kuroki thought that not even the peak of the current technology on earth could create an armour like this one.

「And this one is for that lass.」

Heibos gave something like a pole to Kuna. That pole turned out to be a scythe.