WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

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◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 034

──────

Because I Only Speak the Facts

* * *

Before we left for the imperial palace.

A question suddenly crossed my mind.

'If she's taking me to the banquet, does that mean she intends to reveal who I really am?'

Making gear, say, or enchanting it, that sort of thing.

Would it really be alright to show off that kind of ability in front of people?

Curious what Dolores actually intended, I asked her carefully before we left.

"Maman, does that mean I'll be revealing what I actually do?"

Dolores answered the question with a soft smile, explaining it calmly.

"That... depends on who you're speaking to."

"Depends on who..."

"Mm-hm."

She looked at me steadily and asked in return.

"Lionel. Why do you suppose nobles are given their titles?"

"I'm not sure."

Their family's achievements?

Their wealth?

I turned over a few possible answers, but none of them felt quite certain.

When I couldn't settle on one, Dolores raised a finger and tapped it lightly against her own lips.

Then she gave a slow wink.

"It's the weight of one's words."

"The weight of words."

"That's right."

Her voice softened.

"The higher someone's standing, the more responsibility and weight follows every single word out of their mouth."

"......"

"That's why people like that never pass words along carelessly. Rather than blurting out what they hear, they hold it close and turn it over again and again."

The greater the ripple a single word can cause, the heavier that mouth becomes.

"Those who think they've earned status but never manage to grow into the weight that comes with it, their mouths are the lightest and the most dangerous in the world."

If I understood her right...

Revealing my identity was fine, the real question was who I revealed it to.

In front of the half-hearted sort, it would end up as gossip and invite trouble.

But in front of someone who truly stood at the top,

their mouth would be heavy enough that it would be fine.

"So, Lionel, if you ever truly mean to show someone your ability..."

"please, choose someone who can bear that weight."

I resolved to keep that in mind.

* * *

Could the woman in front of me really handle that truth?

Of course she could. What was I even asking.

There's hardly anyone in the Empire who outranks her.

Dolores letting me come so readily probably carried the meaning of that whole conversation too.

"There's something you want to say, isn't there?"

"Yes."

I looked straight into the Princess's eyes.

[You might need to look away for this, big brother...]

I think I'll be fine.

This could read as a show of trust.

Sometimes not breaking eye contact is actually the better move.

Up close, her face came into view.

Small, delicate frame... she looked older than me, though.

Her complexion, tinged with illness, was pale, and her wrists were thin.

And yet, oddly enough, that paleness only lent her an air of mystery.

I suppose you could call it a face that turned frailty into atmosphere.

Though in the end, it's looks that let you turn every last flaw into "atmosphere."

"Your Highness seems to have a deep appreciation for jewelry."

"...That's a sudden thing to say. Did my jewelry really stand out that much?"

Instead of taking it at face value, the Princess went straight for what I actually meant.

She didn't seem interested in dragging the conversation out either.

"Yes. The necklaces both Your Highnesses wore caught my eye more than anything else at the banquet."

"They're quite fine pieces of jewelry, certainly."

"...Fine, they are."

I quietly pushed back against that.

"There's something a lot of people overlook."

"What's that?"

"Those who carry swords, or other weapons, put in constant effort to learn how to use them properly."

I let my gaze drift naturally to the necklace at her throat.

"Yet for some reason, people seem to think jewelry is something you're simply done with once you put it on."

"......"

"Jewelry, too, unquestionably has a proper way it should be worn."

The Princess's eyes widened slightly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that if it keeps being used this way, calling it a good piece of jewelry would be a bit of a stretch."

Having come this far, there was no reason left to keep talking in circles.

I was counting on her standing to vouch for me now, Duchess Dolores's, to be precise.

"...It's a bit late, but allow me to introduce myself properly."

I placed one hand over my chest and bowed my head.

"Under the shelter of House Dolores, entrusted with the making and care of gear,"

Then, slowly raising my head again,

"...I am the blacksmith, Lionel."

"...A blacksmith?"

The Princess's brow furrowed.

There had to be more than one thing about this she couldn't wrap her head around.

Not just my age, but why some human of all things would even claim to be a blacksmith.

Most human blacksmiths had disappeared long ago, after all.

It didn't matter, though.

I had one weapon that was absolutely certain, and it doubled as proof.

Dolores herself.

Simple, when you thought about it, someone who'd risen to Duchess wouldn't keep a kid like me at her side without a reason.

Let alone bring me along personally to an imperial banquet.

That fact alone should have already forced the Princess to reconsider how she rated me.

And-

"The Moonlight Essence Necklace, and the Sun Rising Pendant."

"...You know their names."

Her eyes wavered the moment those two names left my mouth.

A basic appraisal could tell you a piece's name and its grade.

A more skilled, deeper appraisal could even reveal its Origin Script.

But since these were Unique Equipment, that necklace was the only one of its kind in the world,

and the instant I said its name exactly,

the Princess would have no choice but to hold off on judging me,

since neither of those two pieces had ever once been mentioned anywhere in the community, meaning neither had ever been made public either.

"Have you ever, by any chance, thought something like this?"

"......?"

"That this pendant, instead of healing your body..."

I paused for a beat, then added quietly.

"...seems to be doing you harm instead."

The Princess didn't flinch, not even slightly, and no trace of emotion showed on her face.

Quite the poker face... don't tell me she genuinely hasn't suspected a thing-

[No, big brother]

[Her pupils jumped for a second, just barely]

I nearly let out a sigh of relief.

Yuna's read on it.

That necklace already sat uneasy with her.

In that case, this time.

"And yet, no matter how you look at it, there's no evidence anywhere that it's doing you harm, so you can't bring yourself to take it off either, you just keep wearing it."

"......"

"Because even an appraiser, and probably a physician too, would tell you there's nothing wrong with it."

I kept talking while gauging the woman in front of me.

"If I had to guess..."

This woman, whatever else she was, was imperial royalty.

"Since childhood, Your Highness must have had to keep anything harmful to your body at a distance. And you must have been taught how to tell the difference."

The Princess listened quietly to what I was saying.

"And yet, strangely enough, even while some part of you sensed this necklace wasn't doing you any good, you never went so far as to take it off."

"......"

"Because every single indicator, aside from your own gut feeling, has been telling you it's fine."

"......"

"Your instincts kept warning you, but there was no visible evidence for it. Your Highness values evidence, so trusting a mere hunch didn't seem reasonable, and so you've spent all this time forcing yourself to look past that nagging unease."

I paused for a beat to gather my next words.

Because this thing pretends to do its job too. Putting on a show of healing the wearer while it lulls them into a false sense of ease.

Once the essence runs dry, it shows its true colors.

The Sun Rising Pendant, well, call it a victim in all this.

"And in fact... when you first started wearing the necklace, you probably even felt your body grow a little lighter. Or, well..."

- Flinch.

At those words, the Princess's shoulders twitched.

I finished, my voice low.

"Your Highness kept thinking of the sincerity behind the gift, didn't you, feeling like taking it off, even for no real reason, would betray that person's feelings, so you kept wearing it regardless."

Maybe she just couldn't bring herself to betray the feelings of whoever had gifted her a fine 4-star piece of jewelry.

Or maybe it was someone who mattered a great deal to her.

In the end, her instincts kept warning her, but there was no evidence to back it up.

And in truth, both pieces had seemed perfectly fine right up until their essence ran completely dry.

Just as I was starting to feel like the lead of some detective story alongside my assistant, Kim Yuna,

the Princess, who'd been watching me in silence, finally spoke.

"...Go on, then."

Her expression showed no great sign of wavering.

But at this point, I had to take that as an admission.

"I do enjoy a good conversation. But I'd rather not waste any more of Your Highness's precious time."

I added with a faint smile.

You find getting tangled up with other people tiresome and dull, don't you.

You only came over because you were curious about the Duchess's kid.

But now I'm telling you something interesting, aren't I?

'If she's at least somewhat aware of her own instincts.'

No need to drag this out.

Spelling out every last detail would only kill the mood.

"Could you give me just one chance?"

"A chance?"

"Hand the pendant over to me, just for a moment."

"......"

The Princess's eyes narrowed.

Of course they did. We'd barely even met, and here I was asking her to hand over something she wore on her own body.

And an imperial piece of jewelry besides, just handed over without a second thought.

"I'm well aware of how rude this is."

Not looking away, taking her gaze head-on,

"Still, seeing it once will be faster than a hundred words."

She studied me for a long moment.

Weighing me, and weighing me again...

When your life is on the line, you can't help but become a different person.

"There's more than one or two things about this I don't understand."

"I understand."

- Slide.

"I do hope this doesn't end up reflecting badly on the Duchess..."

She raised a hand to her throat.

That would never happen.

This was my specialty. I was confident.

- Click.

The Princess's hand undid the clasp, and the pendant was held out to me,

and it was around then, I think,

that I noticed every eye among the young nobles filling the banquet hall had already turned toward us.

The moment my hand touched the pendant.

- Ding!

Out of nowhere, a notification popped up on the Tower's interface.

[...?!]

[The Sun's Scion, the god who governs the sun. 'Solau' has become aware of your existence!]

[『I didn't believe it when I first heard word of it. Truly astonishing.』]

Wh- what is this.

The sudden message froze me for a second, but-

'Solau? Isn't he the one this pendant belongs to?'

Why would he, of all people, notice me...

Given the situation, I forced myself to act unfazed and took the pendant from her.

Whatever Solau or whoever wanted right now didn't matter.

I got straight to my feet.

"...You're not about to just make a run for it, are you?"

"I'm not exactly fast on my feet."

Where I was heading was something I'd already had my eye on for a while now:

a small potted plant tucked into a corner of the banquet hall.

A single small foliage plant sat rooted in that pot.

The reason this pendant could draw vitality from a human to replenish its essence...

was because a human being carried that much life force to begin with.

Especially as a member of the imperial family, she'd have countless things topping up her life force, elixirs, medicine, all of it.

But what if the target wasn't a human, but some vanishingly small living thing instead?

Not even a plant rooted outdoors, at that.

Just something stuck in a pot, barely clinging to life in a corner that didn't even get proper sunlight.

Maybe someone remembered to water it once in a while, whenever it crossed their mind.

If a plant like that was the target... there was no reason this would take long to confirm.

"What are you doing right now?"

She had less patience than I expected.

Instead of answering, I stopped in front of the plant.

'Sorry about this.'

- Coil.

I wound the Sun Rising Pendant around it,

then blocked the plant from the nobles' view with my own back.

In that instant.

─────────────────

[Special Effect: Lunar Eclipse]

[Begins absorbing the vitality of the wearer.]

─────────────────

[Warning! The wearer's life force has reached a dangerous level.]

[Immediate removal warning, immediate removal]

─────────────────

One, two, three.

How many seconds had passed?

- Hiss...

A single leaf sagged, drooping downward, limp.

Just one, at first.

- Rustle.

Next, two leaves darkened to black,

- Hiss...

a third, then a fourth.

The leaves withered one after another, sagging weakly downward.

The plant, green just moments before, began turning ash-gray in an instant.

"......!"

The Princess sucked in a breath.

For the first time all day, her composure cracked.

──────────

[Immediate removal advised.]

[Immediate removal.]

[Immediate remov-]

──────────

Before the warning could even finish.

- Crackle.

The plant finished first.

Insane thing, this, even looking at it twice.

The plant, leaves and all, had dried out completely.

Every bit of it drained dry in just a few seconds.

Keeping the plant hidden behind my back, I quietly unwound the pendant,

- Crumble...

then held it back out to the Princess.

Standing up to meet her eyes, she, a good hand's-span taller than me,

looked back and forth between the withered pot and my hand.

"Didn't I tell you?"

I gave her a faint smile and echoed my earlier words back to her.

"If you don't know how to use it, calling it good jewelry is... a bit of a stretch."

"......"

The Princess couldn't manage a single word,

her face bleached white as she kept glancing between the ruined pot, fine just moments before, and me.

"...How is this possible, there was no magical trick involved...."

It was a good while before the Princess finally managed to speak.

I couldn't use magic to begin with, so what kind of magical trick could I possibly have used?

This was a hundred percent real.

Anyway, I really wished someone would take this necklace off my hands.

Having watched the plant get sucked dry, the Princess looked reluctant to even take the necklace back.

And here she'd been so unwilling to hand it over just a minute ago.

Standing around holding the Princess's necklace,

more and more eyes were starting to drift our way, enough that it might be better to just move somewhere else entirely.

The Princess and the Prince were fine, but I really didn't want anyone else seeing this.

"Your Highness, how far can you trust me now?"

"......!"

In that instant, her eyes went wide, as though she'd realized something.

"Don't tell me my brother's is the same...!"

"Ah......"

I gave a slow nod.

"If anything, his,"

"......"

"will be even worse."

Because I only speak the facts.

You know the famous saying, don't you? The truth is always one.

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