Holding the blade in his hands, Genichi suddenly lifted his head and looked at Tsubaki Collbrande.
A complicated emotion flickered through his pitch-black eyes.
"This blade isn't cheap, is it?"
He asked casually, but there was already certainty in his tone.
With his eye for things, he could tell at once that this sword was anything but ordinary.
That peculiar sense of density. The balance, like it fused with his arm the moment he gripped it. The faint forging patterns flowing beneath that dark gray surface.
Everything about it screamed that the craftsman behind it was a master.
And yet a blade like this had been tossed into a corner of the storeroom and left to gather dust.
Which meant one of two things.
Either it had a fatal flaw… or its price was absurd.
When Tsubaki heard his question, a trace of surprise flashed in her lone eye. Then the corner of her mouth lifted into something between a smile and a smirk.
"Price?"
She waved it off like it didn't matter. "Price isn't important. What matters is, can you afford it?"
Genichi was silent for a moment, then looked down at the blade again.
The sword was long and straight, with only the slightest curve. It was closer to a katana in style, but longer than a traditional one, somewhere between a one-handed sword and a two-handed blade.
The grip was wrapped in dark ray skin. Rough to the touch without biting into the hand, and it sat in his palm perfectly.
He tapped the blade lightly with a fingertip. The sound that came back was low and lingering, a sign the material was far denser than ordinary steel.
"I like it," Genichi said.
Then he looked up, meeting her lone eye directly.
"But I can't buy it."
He said it plainly, without the slightest attempt to hide it.
It wasn't that he truly couldn't afford it. Demeter's money was more than enough to cover a blade like this.
What made him hesitate was something else.
The weight.
Even with his LV.2 physique, it still felt heavy in his hands.
Not the kind of weight that made it impossible to swing, but a "solid" heaviness, the kind that came from extreme density.
In the right hands, a weapon like this would be terrifying.
But that "right hands" part mattered.
Which raised a problem.
How could a LV.1 rookie adventurer possibly wield something this heavy?
Genichi realized that if he took this blade, it might expose his real level.
Tsubaki might not have noticed yet, might not know he was only registered as LV.1, but if he walked out with this weapon and swung it while claiming to be LV.1…
That was basically a confession that he was hiding his status.
And with Tsubaki's standing and connections in the forging world, she could find out who he was with a few casual questions.
If that information leaked…
If it reached ears it shouldn't…
Genichi didn't want to take that risk.
No matter how much he liked the blade, he couldn't bring it with him.
He extended the sword back toward her, holding it carefully.
But—
"It's fine."
Tsubaki's voice stopped him.
A playful glint flashed in her lone eye.
"This blade. Five hundred thousand valis. Take it."
Genichi's hand froze in midair.
He lifted his head and stared at the one-eyed forge-master in shock.
"Five hundred thousand?"
Disbelief crept into his voice.
With the materials and craftsmanship on this blade, even five million would have been a fair, honest price.
If it went to auction and met a buyer who truly understood what they were looking at, it could easily be bid into the tens of millions.
Five hundred thousand…
That was basically giving it away.
"Can I ask why?"
Genichi didn't accept immediately. He held her gaze, calm but serious.
He didn't believe in free gifts from the sky.
Especially not one this unreasonable. Things like this always had a reason behind them.
Tsubaki looked at him, the curve of her mouth lifting a little more.
That smile carried a mix of appreciation, memory, and a hint of self-mockery.
"This blade," she said.
She took it from him and gently stroked the dark gray steel. For once, her voice held a trace of emotion. "It was my second piece."
Genichi paused.
Second.
Then what was her first?
This was Tsubaki Collbrande, the strongest forge-master in Orario beneath the gods, the "one-eyed master smith."
And this… was an early work?
"I was young back then," Tsubaki continued. "I'd only recently become a forge-master, and my head was full of naive ideas. I thought I could melt every best material into one weapon."
Her voice carried a faint, dry amusement.
"I figured as long as the materials were good enough, and I used enough of them, the weapon would automatically be the strongest. So I threw every rare ore I could find into the furnace. If I could get my hands on it, in it went."
Genichi listened quietly, his eyes on the blade.
"And then?"
"And then?" Tsubaki let out a soft chuckle. "Then I got this blade."
She raised it in front of her eye, the dark gray steel reflected in the molten glow of her gaze.
"The materials really were good. And there really were a lot. But because there were too many, and too mixed together, their properties clashed during forging. They rejected each other."
"In the end, I barely forced them to fuse… and that created a fatal flaw."
Genichi frowned.
"A flaw?"
"Yeah."
Tsubaki nodded, her tone so calm it was as if she were criticizing someone else's work.
"This blade can't be repaired."
Genichi's expression shifted slightly.
"Repairs cost too much?"
"It's not about cost."
Tsubaki shook her head. "It's impossible to fix. The materials are too varied. Each one has a different melting point, different ductility, different quenching requirements."
"The moment you get a chip or a crack, the only way to repair it is to reheat and reforge. But the moment you heat it, those conflicting properties clash again."
"And the whole blade is ruined."
She paused, something complicated passing through her lone eye.
"In other words, once this blade is damaged, it's over. Completely. It's not like other weapons that can be reforged, reground, repaired. This one has only one life."
Genichi fell silent.
Now he understood why a blade made with such luxurious materials and such high craftsmanship had ended up abandoned in a storeroom corner.
For an adventurer, repairability mattered.
Dungeon fights were unpredictable. Even the best weapon could take damage when it collided with a strong enemy.
If a single chip meant the weapon was finished, its usable life was too short.
Especially against monsters with terrifying defense.
"So I tried selling it for a while," Tsubaki said. "Couldn't move it. So I tossed it into the storeroom. Didn't take up space. I kept it as a souvenir."
She lifted her head and looked at Genichi. This time, her lone eye held a more serious light.
"Then today, I saw you. And I heard what you asked for. High durability. Hard to damage."
The corner of her mouth lifted.
"This blade may be impossible to repair, but as long as it doesn't break, it's more durable than most weapons out there."
"The density and strength formed by those top-tier materials… ordinary weapons can't compete."
Genichi didn't speak.
He waited for the real reason.
Tsubaki held his gaze for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
That smile held a little helplessness, a little relief, and something she didn't put into words.
She paused, then her tone turned earnest.
"Because it's my early work. It's a failure. It has a fatal flaw."
Her eyes lowered to the dark gray steel, softening slightly.
"But it's been sitting in that storeroom collecting dust since the day it was forged."
"For a weapon, that's just too sad."
She looked up at Genichi again.
"And you're the first person in years who's taken an interest in it."
"Everyone else either sneered at it, complained it was too heavy, or skipped over it without even looking. Only you picked it up and actually examined it."
"So…"
Tsubaki held the blade out to him.
"I thought… if it goes with you, maybe it'll get a decent ending."
Genichi looked at her in silence.
Then he lowered his gaze to the blade.
The dark gray steel still didn't shine under the dim light, like a stubborn stone forgotten in a corner.
But he knew what kind of edge was hidden inside that stone.
"Five hundred thousand valis," Tsubaki said again.
"Take it. If one day it breaks, then it breaks. Don't mourn it. Don't try to fix it."
"Because at its core, it's a failure."
She paused, and the corner of her mouth lifted.
"But if it never breaks…"
"Then let it stay with you."
"Keep walking with it, all the way."
Genichi was silent for a long time.
Then he reached out and took the blade.
"…Thank you."
He said it quietly.
Tsubaki waved a hand and turned toward the exit of the storeroom.
"Alright, alright. Save the thanks. Go pay at the front. Once you've paid, it's yours."
Her back vanished through the storeroom doorway.
Genichi stayed where he was, looking down at the blade in his hands.
The dark gray steel remained silent.
And yet it felt as if it were waiting for him.
Waiting for someone willing to carry it… and keep going.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]