Chapter 106 Appreciation

Rohimen’s handshake was sort of too tight making me flinch from the pain momentarily,rohimen obviously caught onto it,but didn’t say anything and just stopped shaking my hand,I could see a slight light of confusion flashing through his eyes,but he quickly got back to himself and spoke.

-So what would you like to know ? Lets go inside…

He offered,I quickly nodded my head and took up his offering heading into his big smithy where the smell of iron and small amount of smoke was everywhere the temperature inside was also exceptionally high hobusaku didn’t seem to like it all too much neither did I,but It wasn’t all too troublesome either way.

The inside of the workshop was as impressive as it was outside,the amount of tools hanging on a stand or on shelves was abundant ranging from all kinds of different sized hammers to stacks of ore ingots stacked everywhere,far behind the smithy was also a giant furnace creating a giant flame in its mouth raging around and behind it I could see 3 kobolds blowing wind inside the behemoth of a furnace through a device making the flame even more intense.

It was pretty interesting to just stand here and observe everything,but I could see that rohimen didn’t seem to have much patients in him and waited for me to say what my problem was,I also quickly came to my point and summed the enchanted rusty long sword from my inventory giving it to him.

-I was told by rokuten that you are familiar with enchantments this sword is something I found and it is also pretty beat up so I wanted to ask you if you can repair it somehow it seems pretty extraordinary in my opinion

Rohimen accepted the sword curiosity swept through his eyes as he looked at the rust sword he frowned seeing the big crack on its main,but was fairly interested towards it.

(Slick !)

A drop of blood came forth as rohimen handled the sword in his hand,the drop of blood came directly from his thump when he put it on the edge of the blade,seeing the sudden bloodshed surprised me,but I understood that rohimen did this intentionally testing the blades sharpness even though its rusted.

-This sword…its miraculous the craftsmanship put into it is very good and the enchantment makes its foundation only better,if you don’t mind me asking where did you find this sword ?

Rohimen asked putting his eyes onto me,I didn’t see any reason to lie so I told him fairly that I got it from a enemy the hobgoblin at that rohimen didn’t question its origins anymore he understood that I didn’t know anything about it and just observed the sword some more…seeing him indulged like this I couldn’t help,but asking him feeling curious.

-Can you somehow replicate it or repair it ?

My sudden question made him stop as he stared at me again..this person wasn’t much when it came to talking or showing his emotion so talking to him was slightly problematic the way he acted also always looked to me as if he was constantly angry,but I wasn’t sure.

Meeting my eyes the kobold blacksmith sighed and shook his head.

-If I have time I could study the enchantment on the sword and try to replicate it,but that would take time,time which I mostly use to train the apprentices or make weapons with the blade is indeed a work of art,but I can’t simply make the same thing on the spot forging rokutens <Flame Rager> already took me a month this sword would at least take me half a year or even more don’t even say repairing its already long too late for that…

The blacksmith commented his answer made me a bit disappointed,but it was expected nonetheless…while brooding about his answer I suddenly had an idea pop up inside of my head looking at my hand I stepped forward and asked the blacksmith.

-If you could somehow shorten the amount of time needed to study the sword say…a single month or even a week would you do it ?

The kobold blacksmith was slightly confused when he heard me confronting him with this question there was a strange thoughtful luster in his eyes as he thought about it rationally and answered.

-if that was really possible I would do it of course,but that isn’t the only problem here the enchantment also needs other items to be enchanted on a item that item in particular is something we don’t get very often and is also very rare a <Elemental Stone>

-What is that ?

I asked.In return rohimen quickly started explaining me what a <Elemental Stone> was and it turns out it is some kind of magic mineral or crystal so to say that grows inside a mountain or near it,its pretty rare and each stone can also be imbued with a different element such as fire,water and wind these stones are also used for other many different crafts not just enchanting,but also alchemy they are in high demand from what I understand and until now the kobolds could only find a few fire element stones to make the <Flame Rager> sword rokuten wielded.

Getting towards the problem in hand I also started thinking some more…if we somehow get a supply of these stones and if rohimen could make use of these and make us good weapons then we could bolster ourselves some more,but the problem is where do we get the stones….do we need to mine ? If so then where do we mine these stones ?

While thinking like this rohimen who was standing beside me suddenly snorted putting the sword next to the anvil he sat down on a chair and spoke.

-No,need to think about that leader I am flattered that you value my skill,but in the end I am just a kobold a lesser race I can’t possibly compare to any blacksmith outside this forest even the humans are far better then I will ever be not to mention the dvarves the ones who invented crafting itself…just because I know some amount of enchanting and how to move a hammer doesn’t make me someone special…no,not outside this forest…

He said taking a bottle of something from a corner and gulping it down…seeing him like this made me temporarily put of since this guy seriously had some confidence issues calling himself a lesser race wasn’t something nice to say even if it was true I am sure that he didn’t just come all this far to tell himself how useless he was,his age already showed that he had seen a lot of things survived a lot of things and kept on going,but for some reason his mindset got broken making doubt grown inside of his head…

-Thats not true at all…like look at me you probably know I am weak

I spoke my eyes clear and proud,I admitted my weakness and I wasn’t ashamed anymore even if I was weak I would still struggle and do something about it my weakness was my greatest strength even this guy had some amount of pride in himself right ? If he didn’t have it then he wouldn’t teach so many kobold youths of how to wield a hammer or how to forge keeping their dreams high,I don’t believe in such things as impossibilities or limits these are just excuses for the lazy and weak through practice and understanding anyone could become something great and one day I would be strong too I would gain my own “Strength”.

-Even if I am weak do you see me give up like this ? It is good that you set a goal for yourself,but didn’t you also think at one time that you could surpass the ones who were better then you ? The way you move your hammer the way you know how hot something needs to be to serve your needs,didn’t you learn those things and tried to perfect them ? I had seen your work rohimen and I say that these are good pieces of work even someone young as me can acknowledge those things so why can’t you ?

Rohimen continued to stare at me,I could see he seemed moved by my speech slightly,but he eyes immediately got back to himself as he snarled at me putting down the bottle of something talking to me…the smell of alcohol was present as he spoke.

-Yes,thats true appreciating ones work is always important,but you also have to understand your limits there are just people who are given everything from birth like talent and brains and then there are people like me who need to understand it to reach something,but in the end there is also a limit to what you can understand yourself what your mind can move towards and stride with every step towards that goal my power is just insignificant to move further from that bottleneck no matter how much I try it is meaningless…its frustrated to see someone do something that you cannot do no matter how much you try to understand that person is just more gifted then you !

He roared getting slightly agitated at the last sentence the bottle in his hand even cracked under his pressure,hobusaku who was standing behind me got slightly angry because rohimen roared at me she was about to draw her short swords,but I stopped her and spoke for myself.

-Then if you would get that chance would you try without a stop would you sacrifice yourself for such thing ?

The look in the kobolds eyes already gave me the answer to my question “Without A Question” it was.

-Of course

I nodded giving him a small friendly smile,I gave him my hand again rohimen didn’t understand the meaning to my hand until I spoke again.

-You said it yourself you wanted to move forward again thats why I am giving you this chance and in return you will serve me loyally so are you ready for that,I want to know ?

Rohimen understood and looked at my hand for a moment…a very complex expression came to his eyes as he raised eyes his up to me again and said with a grin of his own.

-I don’t have much to lose your my leader and your also a very interesting person maybe thats why rokuten admitted his defeat…that blockhead never knows when to stop…

Rohimen took my hand and as he did a very bright shine started to appear on his back hand forming his very own tattoo,the tattoo made the kobold very surprised he stared at it for a moment trying to figure out what it was and as he did something in his mind seemed to have clicked on subconsciously,he smiled it was the first time I saw him smile as he looked up at me.

-I am not calling you master or lord by the way I am only acknowledging you as the one I serve under so forget all the servant talk with me youngster !

Hearing his words I grinned slightly amused by his words and replied.

-I wouldn’t think less of it rohimen the only thing I am asking you is to try somehow providing us with these kind of weapons,I also have a lot of weapons myself which I can provide the whole town with using this chance I am expecting you to learn some more and teacher your apprentices do you think you can do that ?

I asked seriously hearing my question rohimen gripped his fist tightly showing me a determined look of his own as he spoke to me.

-yes,I must and I will,but at the same time what about the <Elemental Stones> ?

He asked,but I quickly told him that he didn’t need to worry about those since I was going to handle it myself hearing my answer rohimen just laughed nodding his head and turning back to the enchanted rusty long sword his back quivered for a moment as he looked at the back of his hand…the emblem he had was a black hammer striking a anvil it fitted him very well.

Having a dealt with this blacksmith,I wasn’t worried about anything anymore and just turned back towards the exit while thinking about those <Elemental Stones> we needed to acquire somehow I also wanted to look into the other craftsman in this town and see what else we could do things such as agriculture and architecture was also important I had a lot of basic knowledge concerning these things and could probably evolve their way of doing things some more expanding was another issue I wanted to tackle really…

-Another long day…

I murmured to myself while going through the different buildings and talking to the different people who managed them.