Blacksmith's Apprentice

Over the course of several days, William, who could be described as "cunning as an old fox," managed to deduce the misunderstanding Sunderland and her companions held about him through subtle probing. A high-ranking dragon walking the mortal realm? That was quite the joke, but he certainly had no obligation to clarify such a delightful misunderstanding.

However, William did not deliberately disguise or conceal this misconception. Coupled with several days of testing, the female magistrate seemed to have grown suspicious of his identity. Chen Jinyang clearly sensed that Sunderland's attitude toward him had turned cold over the past two days. She even used the excuse that it was more appropriate for an elf to teach the elven language to dismiss the previous arrangement for him to tutor Mishaer, leaving him both angry and speechless, unable to find a rebuttal.

The tables had turned; Aelf, the Moon Elf girl who had always been in a subordinate position to William, suddenly felt like a "liberated serf singing a song of triumph," and she began to put on airs. "Beg me! Beg me! Hehehe!" The elf girl, her little tail practically wagging in the air, circled Mishaer triumphantly, her bright eyes fixed greedily on the Horn of Kor atop the little girl's red hair.

"I won't! Mishaer won't beg you!" The little girl, clutching her head with both hands, pouted and refused to yield.

"Come on, beg me! As long as you're willing to give me this helmet, I'll teach you the elven language! Tee-hee!"

"No! I don't want to learn any elven language from you! You hateful long-ears! Don't you dare lay a finger on my treasure! The 'Crown of Victory and Glory' (did she change the name again!?) will absolutely never fall into the hands of a green-eyed elf!" The little girl was completely unmoved by the elf's temptation, striking the pose of a protagonist from a knight's tale who would never bow to evil forces.

"You infuriating little brat! Who are you calling long-ears and green-eyes? Are you giving me the helmet or not?" The slightly embarrassed and angry elf began preparing for a violent seizure.

"I won't give it to you!" Determined to defend her "treasure" to the death, the little girl dodged away, and the daily routine of the Horn of Kor tug-of-war began once more.

William shook his head helplessly as he walked out of the house. Given the hostile stance between the two little ones, it seemed his plan to learn the mainstream culture of this world had temporarily fallen through. However, there was still a more pressing problem to solve: food. Because he had been wary at the time, he had decisively refused the massive fortune of tens of thousands of gold coins from the Habel Family. Now, William could be said to be penniless. Especially since the female magistrate had stopped playing the fool and providing free meals these past two days, the family—plus an idle elf—could only rely on the food remaining in his bag of holding.

William and Alos found old Sailu, the person they were most familiar with in Mirabar, and entrusted him to help sell all the furs they had accumulated, save for the Winter Wolf pelt. Dozens of animal skins of various sizes sold for a total of only six or seven gold coins. Conversely, the two bottles of strong acid and one bottle of alchemist's fire, which Elrago had once dismissed as worthless, fetched over twenty gold coins, leaving a certain someone's jaw on the floor.

One might ask what twenty gold coins are worth. Put it this way: the price of a chicken is equivalent to two pounds of wheat or one pound of hard bread, costing two copper coins. One gold coin is equal to ten silver coins or one thousand copper coins. In other words, twenty gold coins could buy ten thousand chickens, twenty thousand pounds of wheat, or ten thousand pounds of hard bread. A cow, which is extremely important to a farmer, costs only three to five gold coins. From this, one can see the immense value of the fortune Elrago had offered, as well as the potential strength of the Habel Family, which was in no way inferior to an average small kingdom.

Of course, this gold, silver, and copper currency system was only suitable for the several allied powers in the North; many towns or states outside the alliance did not recognize it.

Sitting in the hall of the Iron-Forge Inn, drinking thick soup, William felt a pang of regret whenever he thought of the fortune he had refused. Why had he been so impulsive? Even keeping a fraction of it would have been better! At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about filling his stomach like this. Looking at the four freeloaders—oh, and adding old Sailu who had come to sponge a meal—watching these gluttons wolfing down their food, he couldn't bring himself to be cruel. This was high-quality golden toasted bread; one silver coin could only buy two pounds of it. He simply couldn't force the little ones to gnaw on that hard, rough, cheap black bread that was comparable to stone and mixed with bran and sawdust.

The "house-husband" who wanted to cry but had no tears could only turn his grief into appetite, transforming into a "gluttonous monster" even more ferocious than the rest, devouring the food on the table with renewed vigor.

More painful than supporting one big eater was having two more big appetites to feed. To avoid running out of resources, William had to find a way to earn money to support the family. As a mining center, Mirabar had three things in abundance: merchants, miners, and blacksmiths. Based on old Sailu's suggestion and his own considerations, William decided to find work as a blacksmith first and then plan from there.

Mirabar was a famous city of blacksmiths, but strangely, the vast majority of the workshops that should have been bustling with activity were currently silent.

William followed old Sailu into a shop that still had a bit of noise. The shop had no name, only a pair of smithing hammers hanging outside. A stocky, one-eyed dwarf with a black-gray beard reaching his back was busy at a workbench, drenched in sweat and holding a hammer. He ignored the two humans entering, continuing to strike the red-hot metal block on the anvil with a monotonous rhythm.

The temperature inside the smithy was much hotter than outside due to the high-heat furnace. Old Sailu approached the dwarf and shouted, "Master Singers! How are you?"

The fierce-looking one-eyed dwarf glanced at William, who was standing behind, with his only gray-brown left eye, and muttered indifferently, "Oh! It's little Sailu. What do you need? If there's nothing, don't disturb me!"

Old Sailu looked back at William, feeling a bit awkward, and pointed at him, saying to Singers, "Master! This is a good lad from my village, William! He hopes to find an apprenticeship here."

"Apprentice? Hahahaha!" Singers widened his only eye and laughed mockingly. "A human willing to apprentice with a blind dwarf like me? Have gnomes started growing beards?" The one-eyed dwarf put down his work and jumped onto the platform, attempting to occupy a superior position to look down on the visitor, but William's tall stature rendered the dwarf's action futile; the young human was still half a head taller than the dwarf standing on the workbench.

This fierce-looking dwarf was extremely sturdy, and from his weathered, rough face, one could vaguely discern his poor attitude toward life. Singers Macluff had lost an eye, but he had no intention of filling the empty socket, simply covering it with an eyepatch. Half of his beard was missing, replaced by a large scar on his right cheek, showing at a glance that he had suffered a severe injury in the past.

"Ha! Little guy without a beard! You should go find those blowhard metallurgists and alchemists! Not come to apprentice at the smithy of a dwarf as stubborn as a rock. Ignorant human! Go find your experts! You are not welcome here!" The one-eyed dwarf refused him with extreme bitterness, finding it uncomfortable to tilt his head to glare at William.

Although he didn't know why this dwarf was hostile toward humans, it didn't stop William from buttering him up a little: "Everyone here says the one-eyed dwarf Singers is the best blacksmith in Mirabar! Of course, I have to apprentice with the most excellent dwarf!"

At this moment, no one noticed that old Sailu, who had led the way, had already quietly slipped away.

One-eyed Singers was quite pleased with William's flattery, but he still huffed and puffed, saying, "Slick little guy! Sweet words are as useless as a gnome's beard! Hmph! The perfect fusion of metal's hardness and flexibility? Nothing but absurd, unbridled nonsense! If the magic to strengthen metal isn't a secret guarded by Dumathoin, then it simply cannot exist! None of them are bearded dwarves, yet they dare to claim they understand metal better than dwarves! There is no joke in the world funnier than that!" William could only offer a wry smile, listening half-comprehendingly to the dwarf's rambling, complaint-filled vent.

"The Marquis actually believes the nonsense of those charlatans! He'd rather chase after non-existent alchemical formulas than increase manpower to open new veins and expand production! His head must have been kicked by a rothé! The 'Glimmerstone' Council actually listens to these boring scams! Aglanse, that good-for-nothing! Bah! This guy who has abandoned dwarven traditions and Dumathoin! It seems over a hundred years of leisure have made him completely forget Dumathoin's teachings!"

William, who had been enduring the dwarf's verbal bombardment, had to interrupt his complaints and asked loudly, "Master Singers! May I ask if I can be an apprentice here?"

A flash of light appeared in the eyes of the one-eyed dwarf, who was still intoxicated by his own grumbling. He said, somewhat unsatisfied, "Damn it! Oh! Since you were introduced by little Sailu, just work here for a while! Go! First, move these iron ingots to the room on the lower level! Ignorant Erastu! What a bunch of fools! Being played like puppets! Even the stupidest dwarf is smarter than them!"

William hoisted the iron-forging box next to the anvil. The box was heavy, but William could still carry it. He followed the one-eyed dwarf, who had jumped off the platform with his mouth wide open in surprise, down the stairs on the other side and into the room beneath the floor. This was another smithing workshop, though no one was working inside.

"You're a strong lad with some muscle! Starting tomorrow, you'll follow me down to mine ore. Remember to bring lighting tools! I don't want you getting lost in the dark mines on your first day!" After putting down the box, Singers instructed William, who was preparing to leave.

Walking out of the one-eyed dwarf's smithy, old Sailu was waiting for William not far away. He said to William, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Old Singers has a strange temper, but his blacksmithing skills are truly excellent! William! Although I don't know why you've changed so much, please take care of Alos and Mishaer! I'm returning to the village tomorrow!"

William bowed in thanks, "Many thanks, Mr. Sailu, for all the care you've shown us siblings in the past! If there is anything William can do for you in the future, just say the word!"

Originally, such words coming from a youth would have been quite inappropriate, but William said them with great resonance, for he was truly grateful for the kindness Sailu had shown them.