Fun Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord (Novel) - Chapter 122 - Orichalcum Weapons

Chapter 122 – Orichalcum Weapons

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When I drew the twin blades from their sheaths and showed them to the dwarves, all of them widened their eyes.

“…It really is an orichalcum sword. And one in a shape I’ve never seen before…”

“…Habel. Could that perhaps be something a human made?”

The dwarves muttered among themselves, and in the end called the name of the dwarf standing in front. The dwarf called Habel nodded while still looking this way.

“…That’s right. There’s no doubt a dwarven furnace was used, but the one who forged it was a human smith. If there were a furnace capable of refining orichalcum, there should definitely have been a dwarf there. True, you do hear rumors now and then of dwarves who lived in human countries and worked as smiths, but there are hardly ever eccentrics like that.”

When he said that, Habel shot me a sharp glare.

“…In other words, that weapon is a fake with no dwarven soul in it. Even if you get your hands on a dwarven furnace, if there isn’t a dwarf there, then you won’t get dwarven weapons.”

After spitting that out in a low voice, Habel started walking toward us.

“Just because the material is orichalcum doesn’t mean anything if the one forging it is second-rate. We dwarves grip the hammer from childhood and refine iron. We become able to forge copper, iron, silver, and mithril all to the highest level possible, and then we start to hear the voices of metal.”

So saying, Habel drew the sword he carried from its sheath. It was a thick longsword. It had to be quite heavy, but Habel handled it lightly.

“Only then do the weapons and armor we make finally start to carry a soul. Out of those dwarven smiths, the one best at handling metal melts the orichalcum, forges it, and even carries out the quenching before it finally reaches completion. Humans just pour melted metal into a mold and let it harden, right? I can’t help but feel sorry for the orichalcum used for something like that.”

Tracing a finger along his blade, Habel muttered that. I nodded and raised my own twin swords in front of my face.

“It’s certainly said that forging is better than casting. Iron is melted in the furnace and stripped of impurities, then separated again into suitable and unsuitable parts. Then only the metal in the best condition is melted once more in the furnace. Training and folding are repeated again and again, and when it comes to quenching, you test the temperature and amount of water or oil through trial and error to identify the best state… A smith is probably a job only someone who refuses to compromise can do.”

As I said that, I showed my agreement by quoting knowledge and lines I had read in manga. Since I had thought Japanese swords were cool, I had looked up how they were made in manga and on the internet.

I had only said it because I wanted to show off a little that I knew something, but the dwarves blinked and stared this way.

“…You’re skinny, but you’re not a dwarf, are you?”

“I’m human.”

I denied it with a wry smile. Unexpectedly, the dwarves seemed to recognize me as someone with smithing knowledge. However, Dee, who had kept his arms folded and quietly watched until now, instead got angry at Habel’s way of speaking.

“What kind of tone is that toward Lord Van, the lord of this town!? Do you want to be cut down, bastard!?”

With Dee furious to a dangerous degree, the inside of the Adventurers’ Guild fell into an uproar.

“H-Hey, Mister Dee snapped!?”

“O-oi!? You Bacchus lot! Apologize right now!”

At the panicking adventurers, Habel and the others shrugged provocatively and snorted.

“We’re from the dwarven nation. Why do we have to let some noble from another country throw his weight around? Besides, don’t go mocking us just because we’re short, big guy. You think you can beat me?”

With that, Habel complained to Dee while holding his sword, with the kind of energy you’d see in a delinquent manga.

The very next instant, Dee took the greatsword he carried in both hands and brought it down from overhead. A hard metallic sound rang out, and before anyone realized it, the huge greatsword was right in front of Habel’s face.

Habel’s eyes bulged, but in less than a second he noticed that his own sword had already been severed.

“…W-What!?”

Taking one uncertain step, then another backward, he stared at the sword cut cleanly in two at the middle.

“W-What an arm…! No, that cross-section isn’t just the skill of the swordsman…! Oi, big guy! Who forged that sword of yours!?”

He shouted and thrust the broken sword toward Dee. In response, Dee drew himself back upright while returning his sword.

“This sword was made by my lord, Baron Van Nei Fertio! The very man you just mocked!”

When Dee answered in a roar that seemed to strike the gut, the dwarves’ eyes went round as saucers.

“W-What did you say…!? H-He’s still just a child, isn’t he!?”

“No way!”

“I’m not falling for that!”

The dwarves made a huge racket. Smiling awkwardly, I spoke to Habel.

“Um, could you hold that sword one more time?”

“W-What? Wh-what are you going to do…?”

Though confused, Habel followed my instructions, and I adjusted the position in detail.

“Straight up, in front of your face. Ah, that’s good. Stay just like that.”

“H-Huh? What the hell is with you people…?”

Because it made so little sense, Habel was starting to get a little scared. For some reason the people around us had also gone quiet with a tense air about them, so I decided to finish quickly.

“All right, don’t move now! Here I go!”

After calling out brightly, I swiftly swung the twin blades. Rotating with my whole body, I cut upward with the right hand, then the left.

The blade portions of the twin swords were made to cut by drawing, like Japanese swords. So to display their sharpness to the fullest, it was necessary to cut while letting the blade slide.

That was why my movement was specialized toward rotating with my whole body and accelerating in sequence through shoulder, elbow, and hand to produce a sharp slash.

This time there was almost no sound at all.

When I turned once and faced back toward him while sheathing the blades, Habel’s sword had been split into three, and everything but the hilt fell to the ground.

“…Huh?”

Still blank-faced, Habel stared at the sword whose blade was now gone.