Youngest 024

24

---

I headed to the smithy with the lord.

The lord’s hobby was weapon development.

His sole pleasure was in drawing up designs himself, commissioning their creation, and then delighting in testing the finished products.

‘Well, considering how many of his designs are now in actual use, maybe it’s not entirely a hobby.’

One of the main enterprises of Zevert was the weapons business. Arms crafted from the high-quality ore mined around the territory were renowned across the continent.

‘The shields that could block Dark Beasts were especially prized.’

And in recent years, with war sweeping the continent, business must be booming whether they meant it or not.

“Wow, it’s huge.”

“It’s likely the largest in the Empire.”

True to its reputation, the smithy boasted an enormous scale.

Exaggerating only slightly, it looked like a small village.

“Welcome.”

We entered the largest of several buildings. The owner greeted us with little enthusiasm.

The stifling heat of the forges rushed over us. Clang, clang. The irregular hammering of metal rang out.

“Hand it over! My weapon!”

The old rascal—no, the lord—roared.

The shirtless owner, pipe in mouth, cast us a sidelong glance.

A young man with brown hair tied back carelessly, his face and arms marked with soot, looked surprisingly young.

“…Did you have another one in your old age?”

Thud. A large hammer dropped to the ground.

“Still lacking, as always.”

“Oh?”

The owner bent down to look at me, eyes glinting with curiosity.

“Put out the fire,” the lord said, displeased.

The owner’s lips jutted out in a sulky pout.

“Telling me to put out the fire in a smithy…?”

Cough, cough.

Suddenly a gust of wind sent the pipe smoke wafting over.

The lord clicked his tongue and abruptly scooped me up, setting me down on the other side of the room.

“Can’t you put it out right now?!”

“Oh.”

The owner seemed to only just realize he’d been holding the pipe.

“Er, sorry about that.”

He waved the smoke away with his hand.

“So, who’s this? Don’t tell me you’re… his gr—”

Clang. The lord gently kicked the hammer aside.

“Do you really live under a rock? Come to think of it… it’s about time to clear this place out, isn’t it?”

“This anvil is a no, my forge is a no, everything’s a no!”

“Then quit your nonsense and hand me my sword!”

The owner shook his head vigorously as the lord bellowed.

“You cranky old geezer…”

“I heard that.”

“So your hearing’s just fine! Should I be relieved?”

“Little punk, I swear—”

Hmm, it was hard to tell if they got along well or not.

Still, the way the owner acted so nonchalant around the lord meant he was no pushover himself.

He crashed about for a bit, then pulled a sword from somewhere with a triumphant flourish.

Crash—he swept aside a table and laid the sword atop it.

“Mmm!”

The lord’s eyes sparkled as he gazed at the blade.

“I still need to hammer it a few more times, but the jewel-forging in this region’s more troublesome than I expected…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to use Ephiron for the hilt?”

“Perhaps. But the way Ephiron catches the sunlight isn’t ideal.”

The two adults had launched into a full-blown discussion of weapon craftsmanship. Slipping out as quietly as I could, I tried to withdraw.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

So much for sneaking away.

“Just want to look around for a moment…”

“No! Do you realize how dangerous it is here?”

“Then I’ll wait outside!”

The lord looked between the weapon and me, clearly torn.

“I’ll behave!”

I put on my best model-child expression. The owner, who’d been watching, wiped his nose thoughtfully and interjected.

“If you’re bored, want to try hammering?”

“Pardon? Hammering? Me?”

“Or maybe watch the quenching process… Ah, or how about picking out a pretty piece of iron to keep?”

“Stop giving the kid ideas!”

“…? That’s what I enjoyed most when I was that age.”

The owner was honestly bewildered.

“That’s how you ended up a weapons-obsessed lunatic!”

“Hah, was that… supposed to be a compliment?”

“It was not a compliment!”

Yes, definitely not an ordinary fellow.

“Hehe… I’ll just step outside for a bit.”

I quietly slipped out of the smithy.

Outside, a familiar face was waiting.

So that’s why the lord let me go so easily—he knew a guard knight would be accompanying me.

“Sir Leon—wait, I mean, Senior Leon!”

“…It’s been a while.”

Sir Leon, with his blue hair, looked down at me. For a moment, a strange emotion flickered in his stern eyes.

“It’s been a while! Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Why haven’t you joined the knights even once…”

“Hm?”

“Ahem. Never mind.”

I tilted my head, puzzled, but started walking again.

Sir Leon followed behind.

“Where are you going?”

“I want to check out that place over there!”

I pointed to a small shop near the smithy.

As expected, just as I’d seen on the map.

There was a gemstone shop!

“Ore shop?”

“Is that not allowed?”

“Well, it’s right next door, so I suppose it’s fine…”

“The lord will be a while. Right, sir?”

“Ahem, I suppose there’s no helping it.”

Sir Leon gently took my outstretched hand.

After relaying a message to another knight nearby, we headed for the gemstone shop.

“Wow, so sparkly. It’s beautiful.”

The shop appeared empty; perhaps the owner had stepped out for a moment. I looked around excitedly.

Naturally, my feet stopped in front of the display case lined with magic stones.

Each one had its own shape and color.

A smile crept onto my lips.

‘Of course—since they’re constantly hunting Magical Beasts here, there’ll be plenty of magic stones.’

Magic stones were obtained by defeating Magical Beasts, or by mining certain veins.

Of course, their quality varied wildly; the ones that possessed the greatest power came from beasts slain in battle.

Just like game items.

In any case, if you processed a magic stone—or magic gem (though, in my view, the two were very different)—it became a magic artifact.

‘Put simply, these stones are the key material for magic artifacts.’

Naturally, ordinary people couldn’t just craft magic artifacts on a whim.

‘When I lived in the Mage Kingdom, I used these stones to make magic artifacts myself…’

Our kingdom used to import these stones.

Though we had some deposits of our own, Zelox’s magic stones were the finest in quality.

Maybe because this rough land teemed with vicious magical beasts.

‘And the artifacts made this way were resold across the continent.’

“Ah.”

My eyes widened as I browsed the display.

‘I found it. The barrier stone.’

A translucent violet gem filled my view.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

“Sir, sir!”

I tugged at Sir Leon’s sleeve.

“There are so many violet stones here. What are they for?”

I asked, pointedly, as if fishing for information.

“They’re nearly useless. Their color is unique, so they’re sometimes used to decorate sword hilts, but they’re heavy and not very practical.”

“Really?”

I picked one up, holding it to the light. Not a single flaw—remarkably pure. This was quite a specimen…

“There’s little demand for them because there are almost no uses.”

That wasn’t true.

It wasn’t that there was no demand; rather, no one knew how to utilize the stones, so no demand could arise.

‘After all, I’m the only one in the kingdom who knew how to craft artifacts using barrier stones like this.’

I gripped the purple gem tightly.

‘This is it.’

A way to protect myself. A way to protect Mister Leviathan.

‘I’ll create a barrier covering all of Zelox with this stone. Like the Mage Kingdom—a shield that will never break.’

The Mage Kingdom had been an impenetrable fortress for a thousand years.

No one could invade it, no attack could pierce it.

To outsiders, it must have looked like the mages simply cast powerful protection magic, but the real reason was the system of barrier artifacts embedded throughout the land.

Ancient magic artifacts, filled with sigils long lost to this world…

‘I can do this.’

I was born with every magic sigil in existence engraved in my mind. Whether ancient or modern sorcery, it made little difference.

The problem was more practical than magical…

‘For this, I’d need to buy a huge quantity of these stones…’

To protect all of Zelox, massive quantities would be required.

Letting out a small sigh, I noticed Sir Leon’s gaze from beside me.

So deep in thought, I hadn’t noticed the broad shadow falling behind me.

‘I’ll need a secret lab to make the artifacts, too…’

Could I really pull it off?

I exhaled once more.

“Hey, little brat, what in the world are you doing here?”

But it wasn’t going to be easy… Never mind a secret workshop—right now, I didn’t even have…

“Any money…”

“…”

“…”

Grit.

“Hm?”

Startled by the chilling sound of someone grinding their teeth, I looked up.