I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With - Chapter 85

WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

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◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 85

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Rumors of Blacksmith L, the Grand Duchess's Smith

* * *

Yeomhwa decided to stay at our estate for a while.

The Grand Duchess's estate did have good air, after all, and she could recuperate here until her gear was finished.

Plus I'd need to check in with her about her needs from time to time.

Except there was one small problem....

"Don't come within ten meters of the workshop."

"Aww."

"...That's a house rule now."

Huh, guess we have a rule like that now.

"What about bringing him snacks?"

"...I'll handle that myself."

"Aww."

Ever since the whole exclusive-contract business, Dolores's guard radar had shot straight up, and she'd started keeping a close eye on Yeomhwa.

And then, right at that moment,

"Hmm, wait... are you jealous, Elysia?"

Yeomhwa asked, finger pressed to her lips, wearing her most alluring expression.

For a second even I nearly fell for it, but.

"Nowisnotthetimetobetalkingaboutjealousy,I'msayingtreatLionellikeacraftsmanandnotachild.Justbecauseyouhiredablacksmithdoesn'tmeanyouwalkinandoutofhisworkshoplikeit'syourownhouse.Ifheneedssomethingfromyou,he'llcomeandvisityouhimself."

"I'm sorry."

"It's Dolores."

"Yes, ma'am, Dolores."

Thoroughly put in her place, Yeomhwa apologized fast.

Yeah, I'd snapped back to my senses too. Dolores, best girl.

Though honestly, Yeomhwa seemed genuinely satisfied with how the Ether Circle performed, so it wasn't like I was in a bad mood about it either.

Still, well... at least I could say I was glad she liked it that much.

Dolores had flinched a bit too, watching the Recursive Incantation in action with her own eyes.

Once I'd sent the two of them off, I tried heading back to the workshop, but....

Dolores followed me.

"Do your best again today, Lionel. Tell me if you need anything, and tell me if there's anything you want to eat, too."

"I don't need anything else. I'm just glad Dolores is home."

- Flinch.

My words made Dolores flinch.

Her next climb up the Tower was scheduled to resume next week. This week was a break, for various reasons.

"...Should I not go, Lionel?"

Dolores asked carefully, but.

"You should go when it's time to go."

My answer was nope.

"...Okay......"

Of course I liked having her around, but business is business.

Keep going, Dolores.

- Click, click.

Dolores slowly circled my workshop once.

She didn't seem quite ready to leave right away.

And then, right at that moment,

- Creak.

She suddenly opened the wardrobe....

"Oh."

"......?"

Dolores's whole body went stiff.

There were supposed to be four pieces of underwear hanging in there.

But right now, only about two remained, since the rest had gone to the Queen of the Faraway Wind Spirits.

"................."

"Ah, someone asked for it, so I gave it to her."

"...Who?"

"There's a spirit queen, well, how do I even explain this...."

I was spinning the staff, wandered into the spirit realm, and ended up giving her a set along the way?

"No, never mind, Lionel. You made it, it's not really my business to know... to know."

- Creak.

Dolores quietly shut the wardrobe door and turned to me with a smile that said nothing at all was wrong.

"Work... work hard, all right? Though not too hard."

She said that and left, but....

- Stagger.

She stumbled once, right before walking out.

She nearly clipped her shoulder on the doorframe on the way out, but made it out of the workshop without further incident.

Were those a set she'd been particularly attached to?

There hadn't been any sign of that, so I hadn't known.

I supposed she'd been content just admiring them with her eyes, since she couldn't actually wear them, but those pieces were already gone.

What's given is given.

I sat down at my workbench and started sketching out ideas for Yeomhwa's gear.

"Something that helps recover her mana circuits, while also....."

Something that could blend naturally into her fighting style.

What would work, I wondered.

From the footage I'd seen of her before, and just now too, Yeomhwa manifested a gun through magic and fought with it.

Honestly, I didn't know the first thing about magic, so I had no idea how that actually worked, but....

"What about an auxiliary weapon?"

From what I'd seen, three pieces of gear made up the bulk of a build's total percentage.

The main weapon, an auxiliary weapon, and an emblem.

The emblem concept was a strange one, but it counted as gear all the same.

I'd read somewhere that before assembling a full loadout, you were supposed to put ninety percent of your budget into those three.

So this time too, that was probably the direction to take.

"I'll need to have a talk with Yeomhwa about this."

Strip her whole setup down, look at the weapon, the emblem, and the auxiliary weapon, and fix whichever one was the weakest link.

[Um, big brother, though.]

Right at that moment.

"Hm?"

[Take a look at this real quick.]

A blue window popped up in front of my eyes.

Well, the usual spot. The Inner Tower Community.

[I found something pretty interesting]

Since Yuna crawled the place every single day, she'd let me know whenever something new came up.

"What is it?"

The place Yuna had pulled up this time was....

"The promising-climber community?"

People who hadn't officially started climbing the Tower yet, but had finished training with a climbing squad and were about to begin....

or promising up-and-comers from various families about to enter the Academy, that kind of place.

So basically, it's a bit like where people watch high school baseball or youth league prospects early and fan out over them.

Some family had produced a once-in-a-generation talent, someone had incredible gear, someone was already famous before even enrolling, that sort of thing.

Communities like that existed everywhere.

And the top post right now was....

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[✪][The gear the Grand Duchess Dolores's child brought to the social today]

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The Grand Duchess Dolores's child....

Hmm....

"Fuck, that's Ruby."

I clicked into the post right away.

There were even photos uploaded with it.

It was some kind of social gathering for the Academy hosted by the Imperial family, and right in the middle of it, Ruby stood holding her weapon, looking absolutely majestic.

"That looks great."

Mm, mm, so proud of her. So cute too, she photographs so well.

But what was the actual problem here?

Scrolling down a bit further....

A few more photos showed up, a group shot, some scattered candid shots taken from a distance in between.

Other promising up-and-comers were visible too, and every single one of them was decked out in gear that looked impressive.

Of course, I felt like throwing up. It all looked terrible.

But everyone's eyes were completely fixed on Ruby's Totality.

Ruby seemed to be soaking up the attention, resting her staff across both shoulders, arm hooked over it, confidently munching on chocolate....

"...Is she doing the Monkey King pose?"

If Dolores had seen this stance, she'd have thrown a fit.

Thankfully the one who'd gone along was Sebas, and since Sebas couldn't win an argument with Ruby, he could only stand back and watch.

Dabbing sweat with a handkerchief.

"Heh heh."

Well, whatever. Not like it's my problem.

Scrolling further down brought up the actual body of the post.

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Best gear I've seen watching prospects, hands down

And you know how nobles never tell each other anything when you ask about gear, right?

But apparently when someone asked, she said it was 4-star f*ck ㅋㅋ

So Dolores was apparently busy getting her own gear sorted for her comeback, and still bought something like that for her kid

This year's social's main character, confirmed ㅋㅋ

Heard she's raising a boy too, kind of excited to see him

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Not bad, honestly.

Ruby was never really the type to shy away from showing off.

The comments were really where it was at, so I checked those.

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[SproutMan]: 4-star Unique Equipment? Did the young lady say that herself?

└[Anonymous1]: apparently someone asked and that's what she said

└[SproutMan]: no way the Duchess's family would lie about that, so it's def real

[Anonymous2]: heard some baron's heir was flexing a full set recently, guess they'll shut up now ㅋㅋ

└[Anonymous3]: why does a dumbass piece of shit like you even live? they're doing better than you

└[Anonymous2]: ...... why are you mad at me...?

└[SproutMan]: you a baron or something?

[Anonymous5]: heard the young lady didn't say much either, just said "Blacksmith L made it for me"?

└[Anonymous3]: anyone know who Blacksmith L is? dm me if you do

└[Anonymous5]: no clue ㅋㅋ

└[Anonymous3]: get lost then

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"Blacksmith L."

Yeah, that's right about the line Dolores and I had agreed on.

Talk about it, show off if she wanted, but stop right there and no further.

Ruby really does listen well.

[This was just to show you the general mood....]

[Here's the real point, big brother.]

"Mm."

Yuna pulled up the next post.

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[✪][Pretty sure the Grand Duchess Dolores's household really has recruited some ridiculous blacksmith]

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Sharp title.

"Ooh...."

I read straight into the body.

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So the weapon the young lady brought today got confirmed as 4-star Unique Equipment, and the maker's apparently "Blacksmith L"....

And this isn't actually the first time.

Rumor has it that last year the Princess showed up wearing new accessories at the palace too, and people are speculating that might've also been Blacksmith L's work.

And this board doesn't talk about it much, but the climber board is literally nothing but Dolores talk lately, you know that right?

Since her comeback Dolores has apparently started using some kind of instant-step technique, and honestly it doesn't add up as a skill she just learned, most people are saying it's gotta be a gear effect.

Up until now I figured these were all just separate rumors floating around, but with that weapon getting shown off today, the picture's finally coming together.

Pretty sure the Grand Duchess Dolores's household quietly brought on a blacksmith without telling anyone outside.

Supplying the Imperial family too.

Getting Dolores her own new gear too.

And now making the young lady a 4-star piece too.

That's all "Blacksmith L," and all three are the same person.

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"Wow, that's pretty good."

The guesses lined up surprisingly well.

Of course the Silver Palace isn't actually something I made, that was an enchant, but still, working off this little information, this is impressive.

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And here's something I got separately....

So the fact that someone can even make 4-star gear at all doesn't make sense to begin with, right?

So factoring in the skill level, the carving style, the crafting method, and so on....

Word is Blacksmith L's gotta be a master craftsman at least a hundred years old.

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"?"

I read that last line over again, but.

"...A hundred years old?"

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

Well, they missed the most important part completely, but....

it was probably the best guess anyone could've made.

Honestly, the only people who even know I'm the one making all this are the Imperial family's people....

and like Dolores said, the Imperial family's never been the type to spread word around.

So everyone else had to just guess based purely on the results.

Honestly, rather than the conclusion that some kid had made it, given that the kid was just a newly adopted heir being groomed,

the conclusion that some separately recruited master over a hundred years old had made it was far more reasonable.

"Not bad at all."

I didn't know when it'd actually happen, but someday I planned to open my own workshop and take commissions from people there.

And here I was, building up a name before I'd even opened the doors.

"...Guess it's noise marketing, then."

Famous, but nobody actually knows who I am.

That's a pretty good spot to be in.

"Thanks, Yuna. Let me know if anything else comes up."

[yep]

Thinking about the workshop I'd open someday, I closed the community window.

"Guess I should go find Yeomhwa, then?"

Time for the real in-depth interview.

So, what kind of gear do you want?

I got up from my seat and headed for the mansion.

* * *

"...Glad she's doing better, at least."

A woman's voice came through the Inner Tower's comm system.

"Yeah."

Dolores was filling Camilla in on Yeomhwa's condition.

That she was doing much better now, and that it hadn't been the Meridian Affliction they'd been worried about after all.

The bracelet had been the problem.

As for Camilla... it was still a bit early, so Dolores didn't bring up Lionel.

That was something to discuss properly later, telling someone a secret was a separate matter entirely.

She only mentioned that there'd been a problem with the bracelet.

"I'm planning to have her recover at my estate for a while."

"Tell her to keep the seaweed strips on properly. I packed her ten of them."

"Okay."

The seaweed strip Yeomhwa had stuck to her forehead was one of Camilla's own particular remedies.

Knowing Yeomhwa, she'd definitely try to skip wearing it out of laziness, so she'd need reminding often.

"...Well, I'll leave it there, then."

"...Dolores."

- Flinch.

Dolores, about to hang up, stopped.

"Hm? Mm?"

Dolores had actually been called out by Camilla once before.

Nothing complicated.

It was about Lionel.

Things like telling her to just wait five years, that time passes faster than you'd think, that sort of thing had come up before....

"...It's not that, is it?"

"Wh-what?"

"...You're taking good care of him, right?"

Taking good care of him?

Of course she was, of course she was taking good care of him....

Protecting him well from outside forces, sure, but....

Somehow it didn't feel like that was what Camilla's question actually meant, but, well.

In the end Dolores lowered her head and answered in a voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm... not sure what you mean, but I'll protect him, and I am protecting him...."

"...........Okay, take care."

Camilla hung up the call at that.

Dolores slowly went back over what she'd just said herself.

'...I'll protect him.'

Why? That wasn't a lie, was it.

Dolores had a duty to protect Lionel from outside forces.

Lionel was far too young and far too remarkable....

"Haah...."

In the end she stopped thinking about it.

Right then.

- Ding.

An Inner Tower DM came in.

Followed by....

- Ding, ding, ding.

"......?"

The notifications kept coming, one after another.

These days, even families and climbing squads did their contact through DMs, so.

─────────────────

[House Berheim, Marquis]

........ To sum it up, we'd like to request additional patronage and a commission from Blacksmith L, currently under the Grand Duchess's household's sponsorship.

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[White Night Climbing Squad]

........ To put it simply, please arrange a meeting with Blacksmith L for us.

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And so on....

Dressed up in formal language, but dozens of messages carrying essentially the same request had already started piling up.

It had to be Ruby's doing.

Of course rumors would spread after she went and showed off gear that ridiculous.

"........."

Countless families and climbing squads were already reaching out toward Lionel.

"A hundred years old...? What is this even about."

Already worn down from Camilla's grilling just a moment ago.