That was what he said, but Thorin felt a trace of unease.
Business lately really had been strange.
In the past, the knight lords of the Holy Human Race would line up at his shop to order weapons and have their armor repaired. Dwarf-made goods were sturdy and durable, recognized as hard currency across the Terra Continent.
But over the past fortnight, business at the smithy had plummeted.
Never mind new orders-even the number of people coming in for repairs had dropped by seventy or eighty percent. Several times, he had seen those knights on the training grounds fiddling with oddly shaped black iron rods, as well as steel boxes that could move on their own.
"I heard them say it has something to do with a kind of technology called 'Great Xia.'" The apprentice scratched his head, struggling to recall the terms he had overheard.
"Great Xia?" Thorin's brows knotted together.
He had heard those words so often lately that his ears were practically growing calluses.
He vaguely knew that these were reinforcements the Elves had found in another world.
Some time ago, the Pope had even used the Astral Portal to bring them to the vicinity of the Elves' Emerald Leaf City.
But reinforcements were reinforcements. What did they have to do with smithing?
Could their weapons possibly be better than battle-axes forged by Dwarf hands?
Even Thorin found the thought laughable.
What a joke!
Was there any race in this world that understood steel and flame better than the Dwarves?
"Hmph, a bunch of ignorant longlegs. Some novelty must've dazzled them." Thorin spat into his rough hands and picked up his hammer again.
Clang!
Another hammer blow fell, but his mood was clearly off, and his aim strayed a little.
The cheers outside the city grew louder