WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

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◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 037

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I Thought You'd Be Taken From Me

* * *

Late at night, after the banquet had ended.

In the spot where the Princess and Lionel had been talking a few hours earlier,

two men now stood.

The Emperor and Richard.

A night breeze drifted quietly across the terrace, now empty of anyone else.

Beside the table sat a potted plant from the banquet hall, withered and shriveled to a crisp.

"...So that's how it is."

The Emperor, who had kept his eyes on it for a long while, finally spoke.

Whatever the Princess wished for was a separate matter. Before he was her hands and feet, her guardian knight was a knight who had sworn an oath.

Reporting what he'd seen and heard to His Majesty was a duty given to him, and that duty stood above even the Princess's own orders.

So in a situation like this, the Princess's request carried, in truth, no weight at all.

"So the necklaces I gave them had, in fact, been draining my children's vitality."

They were items he'd gone to great lengths to obtain from within the Tower, for the sake of two children born innately frail.

The appraisal had been flawless, the Origin Script flawless. Even the deity tied to the accessories had seemed perfectly fitting.

Gear that restored vitality wasn't common. It could be counted on one hand.

He had never once thought the two accessories might be flawed.

The Emperor's expression hardened. His eyes narrowed faintly, and a crease formed between his brows.

Richard couldn't quite answer.

There was nothing to say.

Of course His Majesty's own heart must be more troubled than anyone's.

- Tap.

The Emperor touched the withered plant, brushing a fingertip lightly against one of its leaves.

"The moment the necklace was wound around it, it turned like that before you could count to ten."

Richard, who always had to keep his eyes fixed on the Princess and the Prince, had watched the whole process, including the plant being drained of its life.

- Crackle...

The dry leaf crumbled away, lifeless.

If that was so, if the Prince had kept wearing the necklace,

didn't that mean his own child would someday have crumbled just like that dry leaf?

The Emperor's gaze stayed fixed on the leaf.

His thoughts sank deeper.

"...I owe the Duchess a debt."

the Emperor murmured, low.

"Who was it, again."

"...Lionel, Your Majesty. A child taken in by House Dolores, I'm told."

"...A child?"

"Thirteen years old this year, apparently."

That a child of thirteen had managed something like this was itself surprising, of course.

But the Emperor had already seen more geniuses than he could count.

That the talent in question was blacksmithing and appraisal was unusual, admittedly, even remarkable...

But that was all.

A noble house, a Duchy no less, scooping up a talented child was hardly rare.

"...They said it was compatibility."

"Yes."

Ordinarily, talk of "compatibility" was the kind of thing only wandering con artists spouted.

"...Has the Duchess taken a late interest in superstition, then?"

But that couldn't be right.

"...She's far too shrewd for that."

She never made a choice that cost her anything.

Let alone... the illness having actually been cured?

It was all part of the same story.

- Footsteps.

The Emperor turned slowly.

"I hear both necklaces were taken back."

"He said he'd craft separate accessories for both Highnesses."

An interesting turn of events.

The Emperor repeated the thought to himself.

The child had found the problem, and had said he'd solve it.

And more than that.

The moment the child's identity was questioned, the Duchess's own guarantee had come attached to him.

And more than that still...

The instant the Duchess had warned that the child be sent back to her "without fail,"

his worth was already proven, as good as.

It wasn't every day that a noble of Ducal rank stepped forward to protect something in this Empire.

"Richard."

"Yes."

"See that no support is spared for whatever accessories that child crafts."

"It will be done."

And,

as for saving my children.

- Crackle.

The dry leaf in the pot was caught by the wind and crumbled apart completely.

He'd need to give something definite in return.

"I'll grant the Triple-Lion Plate."

"......!"

"He saved a member of the imperial family. Isn't this the least that's fitting?"

No one in the Empire was ignorant of the worth of a golden plate bearing three lions.

Let alone,

when the recipient was a mere child of thirteen...

But the Emperor had called it fitting, and so it was fitting.

"...Your Majesty's judgment is entirely correct."

Richard bowed his head.

* * *

"Let's get home quickly."

After finishing my talk with the Princess, I swiped both necklaces, left the banquet hall, and climbed into the carriage.

Carrying them out in the open would've drawn every eye, so I'd tucked them inside my clothes first. They kept buzzing away noisily, too.

I wondered where the carriage even was, turned out they'd all been herded into some sort of parking area.

Finding it took a bit of time.

Dolores and Ruby seemed busy, and the banquet looked like it was winding down anyway, so I'd come ahead to the carriage.

I'd told them I'd go on ahead and wait, and they'd said that was fine.

They'd have to come here to get home anyway.

I felt genuinely sorry, but the banquet was the least of my concerns right now.

I needed to get back and start hammering away at all sorts of things immediately.

I sat in the carriage and studied the two necklaces slowly.

"...Should I try one on?"

Hey, a little scientific spirit never hurt anyone.

I felt like I wouldn't really get a sense of it unless I tried wearing one myself.

Curiosity, boundless as ever.

I took the pendant in hand.

Honestly, actually putting on the Moonlight Essence was a little too nerve-wracking, so I just tried the Sun Rising around my neck.

- Click.

"......."

I closed my eyes and savored the moment. Placebo effect? My eyelids seemed to droop a little on their own.

[Big brother, take it off.]

"Yep."

- Jingle.

Since I'd only worn it for a moment, sure,

it didn't seem like it produced any immediate effect on a human.

Wearing it for just a few seconds wasn't enough to confirm any noticeable change.

Just then, the Moonlight Essence vibrated.

- Vrrrmm!

Go ahead and buzz all you like.

Once we're home, you're finished. After plenty of research, of course.

"Don't worry too much, I'll treat you with all the courtesy I can manage."

Outwardly, of course, I treated it with proper respect.

I wasn't sure why, but it had seemed to understand what I was saying for a while now.

- ...Vrmm.

Look at that, quiet again the moment I'm polite.

Sure, I do enjoy borrowing trouble for its own sake sometimes,

but there's no need to earn a grudge from a god on top of it.

Funny little necklace.

- Slam.

"Whoa!"

The carriage door flew open so suddenly I nearly dropped the necklace.

"...Lionel."

Dolores's expression looked strange somehow, off.

A faint tension lay over her usually gentle face.

"Dolores? Wh- what's wrong?"

Dolores didn't answer right away, and climbed into the carriage.

- Slide.

She closed the door, then pulled me into a tight embrace.

- Fluffy.

It was sudden, but there was no reason to mind, so I let myself be held, quiet.

"...His Majesty is asking for you."

"......."

His Majesty...

That's the Emperor.

I'd figured he might come looking for me, but I hadn't expected it to be this fast.

"...Then, should I."

I opened my mouth carefully.

"Shouldn't I go?"

"...Just a moment."

- Slide.

The arm wrapped around me tightened, faintly.

"...Just a little longer, like this."

"......."

I stayed quiet in her arms and waited.

[Guess she's worried.]

About what?

Did I do something wrong, maybe?

I feel like I kept my manners as proper as I could.

Besides, if I'm the one being summoned, it can't be anything bad, right?

[......Hmm.]

[If you're too capable...]

[the Emperor still outranks Dolores in the end, doesn't he?]

...Ah.

So that's what this was about.

Only then did I understand what she meant.

My own say in things might not be respected. I could be taken from her, by the Emperor.

That's what this was.

I reached up and held the arm wrapped around me.

"Don't worry."

- Flinch.

"Because I'm a child of House Dolores."

Held against her like that, I couldn't see her face,

but I could feel her shoulders stiffen slightly.

For a while, she stroked my hair,

- Slide... slide...

"I thought I was prepared... but I suppose I was startled, just for a moment."

Only then did her arms loosen, and Dolores pulled her upper body back.

- Peck.

She pressed a light kiss to my forehead and smiled gently.

Quick recovery. Good thing, too.

"Let's go, Lionel."

- Slide.

Dolores held out her hand to me.

I took it firmly and climbed down from the carriage.

Normally, meeting the Emperor meant going to the imperial court's audience hall, so I'd heard, but-

'...Today, the audience will be held in the banquet hall.'

That was what Dolores had said.

Ruby had been left, for the time being, under the protection of a nearby Count's household staff.

- Click.

- Footsteps.

The banquet hall we returned to was a different place entirely from a few hours before.

The noise and bustle, the orchestra's music, the laughter of the guests, all of it was gone.

A handful of lamps lit the far end of the cleared hall.

And at that far end,

upon the throne at the head of the hall,

the Emperor sat alone.

Beside him stood a woman in armor with yellow hair,

and Richard, the Princess's guardian knight who'd been with us the whole time earlier.

The mood was entirely different.

I felt a knot of tension and gripped Dolores's hand tightly.

Dolores stopped before the throne,

- Slide.

and placed one hand over her chest in salute.

"...I greet Your Majesty."

Beside her, I lowered myself the way I'd been taught.

One knee bent, head bowed.

After a time or two, I'd gotten a little used to it.

"...It's grown late, Duchess.

A low voice echoed through the hall.

"My thanks for answering such a sudden summons."

"You honor me, Your Majesty."

Dolores answered evenly.

"This child is the one of 'House Dolores' Your Majesty was looking for."

"......."

A brief silence fell.

Just as the back of my bowed head began to prickle faintly,

"Raise your head."

I slowly lifted my head.

"This audience is for the sake of rewarding merit. There's no need for either of us to draw it out."

"......You honor me."

"What you saw, how you knew, what you'll do from here, those are yours. Keep hold of them yourself."

The Emperor went on, unhurried.

"Richard."

"Yes."

Richard, who'd been standing behind the throne, stepped quietly forward.

"Bring it out."

In his hands was a small golden box.

- Click.

Richard opened the lid and held it out toward us,

and I felt Dolores, standing beside me, tremble.

I looked down into it.

Inside lay a plate of platinum-white gold.

Three lions roared magnificently across its surface.

The craftsmanship was considerable, every strand of mane, every eye, nothing about it looked hastily made.

The kind of thing that would be difficult to reproduce even if you tried to copy it exactly.

"...Your Majesty. For a child to receive this, it's still much too early......"

"Hahaha!"

The Emperor burst into loud laughter.

The sound rang through the hall.

"...Too early, you say. This is a situation where he might as well have saved an imperial life."

"......."

"No one would have doubted that necklace, probably not until the day my child went into the grave."

- Slowly.

The laughter fading from him, the Emperor leaned back against the throne.

"...Duchess, do you know when I last granted this plate?"

"......I know."

"Of course you'd know. The last house to receive this plate was House Dolores as well."

Huh?

I looked up at Dolores.

She said nothing, only looked at the Emperor.

So Maman had received this plate too.

That's a strange feeling, somehow.

"I'm simply glad it's going to House Dolores once again. You don't think age has anything to do with it, do you?"

"...You're right."

"Take it."

This time, he was speaking to me,

so I accepted the golden box.

"...Thank you."

"There's no need to weigh age when settling a debt."

I took it carefully and held it close to my chest.

"You said you'd craft accessories."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"No support you need will be spared, so before you leave, tell Richard what's required."

"...Thank you."

The Emperor looked down at me for a moment, then smiled faintly.

"A human blacksmith."

"......."

"I thought that lineage had died out entirely since the Tower opened."

He nodded and leaned back against the throne again.

"That one should appear again is a surprise, even to me."

"I'm working at it, Your Majesty."

I answered briefly.

How, where, and from whom I'd learned wasn't something to get into right now anyway.

"...I see."

The Emperor gave a short nod.

Then,

- Slide.

"But, you know,"

"......Yes."

"Is there really any reason you need to go all the way back to the Duchy?"

For a moment I didn't understand what he meant.

"...Once the piece is finished, you'll come back here anyway."

The Emperor went on, calm.

"Rather than burning days on travel there and back, plus rest, why not just send the Duchess on ahead alone?"

"......."

Ah.

So that's what this was.

The Emperor was telling me to stay here.

"And there happens to be a place for it, too."

The Emperor's voice had gone considerably softer.

"This palace has several forges left behind by our forebears. The largest and finest facilities humanity built in that era."

"......."

"The line of those who used them died out long ago, but their upkeep has never been neglected."

- Slide.

He pulled himself fully off the throne's back and leaned his upper body toward me.

"For crafting something... there won't be a better place than that."

The largest and finest forge humanity had ever built.

Saying something like that to a blacksmith...

'That's playing dirty, honestly.'

The kind of thing that would make anyone's heart race.

I looked back at Dolores.

She said nothing.

What had Maman staked her message on, a few hours ago?

'That child, coming home.'

She was someone who'd asked for exactly two things.

As if sensing that one of the two might be overturned, she clenched her hand tight.

I looked down at that hand,

"......!"

and just as Dolores, who'd been holding herself back, opened her mouth to say something,

"Tozar's Thunder Hammer."

I spoke up first, quickly.

I hate conflict, after all.

"It's the finest 'forging' hammer, personally forged by Thunder Light Tozar. There's nothing better optimized for use in a forge."

Was that right?

Well, thinking about it, maybe it was.

A hammer's a hammer anyway.

A little of the amusement drained from the Emperor's voice.

"The one I love most, treasure most."

- Slide.

"And without it, I simply can't work at all, that precious a hammer it is."

A precious hammer, that much, at least, was true.

I added, smiling faintly.

"If I don't go back, there's simply no way around it."

There was no need to bring politics into it at all.

That I couldn't leave someone's side, that I was someone's child,

words like that weren't necessary.

When a craftsman says he needs his own hammer, who's going to argue with that?

The Emperor listened to me, then gave a cool smile.

"......Very well, then. Do as you like."

Then he made a gesture.

"You're dismissed."

I bowed my head deeply.

If he'd wanted to force the issue, he could have found any number of ways.

'Bring the hammer here and work.'

One word would have settled it.

But he didn't.

Maybe out of respect for a bratty kid like me, or maybe he'd simply understood what I meant.

- Click.

We paid our respects and walked across the empty hall.

But something felt strange.

Even after we'd turned the corner and were no longer in the Emperor's sight,

- Click, click.

Dolores walked silently beside me, saying nothing,

her face utterly blank.

She wasn't holding my hand. She had, on the way in.

I looked up at her face. Was she angry?

Was it because I'd refused? Should I have accepted instead?

Turning that worry over, I passed the end of the corridor and went through the door.

- Creak.

- Thud.

The door closed behind us,

and just as I carefully opened my mouth,

"Um, Maman, I..."

- Whirl!

"......Wha-?!"

Before I could finish,

- Swoop.

Dolores swept me straight up off the ground and wrapped her whole body around mine.

She pressed my face hard against her chest,

- Thump, thump.

and from her racing heartbeat, I could feel exactly how tense she was, despite the calm look on her face.

Then,

Dolores whispered quietly.

"...Tozar's Thunder Hammer."

"Yes."

"Didn't you say it wasn't a forging hammer?"

"Um..."

I answered with a small laugh.

"Who knows? Used well, maybe it could be, after all."

- Thump, thump, thump.

Dolores's heartbeat still showed no sign of settling.

She met my eyes.

Seen up close like this, her eyes felt a little different than usual.

Gentle as ever, but

"......."

there was a faint heat flickering somewhere inside them.

- Peck.

Then,

she pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

"...I almost,"

The arms wrapped around me tightened again.

- Tight...

"...I thought you were going to be taken from me."

Having said that, Dolores went down the banquet hall's steps.

"...Duchess?"

"Who's that in her arms..."

The pillar that had been shielding us was gone now, and every eye around us turned toward us, but

"Let's go home."

Dolores paid it no mind at all.

"Sounds good."

I answered,

- Thump, thump, thump, thump.

and her heartbeat only quickened further.

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