"Wooo!" Hearing the crowd surrounding the stage loudly cheer in response to his question, the smile on Julian's face widened as he suppressed the urge to laugh there and then.
Taking a look at both Valyr and Theraldine for a bit, who were currently checking to see if any of the equipment they might be using had any faults with them, Julian soon gestured towards the audience to become silent as he began to introduce the two.
"To my left is not only the greatest daughter a father could ever have, but is also one of the greatest talents to ever be a part of the Blacksmith Guild." Beginning his introduction of Theraldine, Julian gestured to the audience to look towards his daughter, who still looked to be oblivious of what was currently going on. "Being a part of the same Pyrrhia clan as me, she has inherited the clan's strongest forging art and has made a name for herself within the Algerie Kingdom as the Queen of Forge's Flames."
"With that, I introduce to you, Theraldine Irideus Pyrrhia!"
"Wooo!!!" With the crowd loudly cheering once more in response to Julian's introduction, the entire main hall was filled once more with noise as some of them began to talk about the feats they could recall that Theraldine had done.
However, whilst the crowd was still in the midst of cheering for Theraldine, there was one specific group within that crowd that cheered louder than the rest, the words they exclaimed instantly making those surrounding them look at them with a hint of disgust.
"You've got this, Queen!"
"We, the Crimson Azure Knights, shall support you till our dying breath!"
"What's a forging duel for someone like the Queen? She'll defeat her opponent no problem!"
"Hey. If you don't mind me asking…" Taking notice of the outliers among the crowd that were cheering for the two of them, Valyr briefly stopped what he was doing and turned his head to look at Theraldine. "Do you know them? It seems like they're cheering on for you."
"I do." Nodding in response, Theraldine let out a slightly exasperated sigh, showing Valyr how she felt about the cheers. "Ever since I started to gain a reputation in the field of blacksmithing, a group of people within the Blacksmith Guild that admired my craftsmanship decided to band together in support of whatever I did. As you've heard from their screams, they call themselves the Crimson Azure Knights, even though they don't really do any combat at all."
"In other words, you've got a fan club going on." Hearing Valyr say these words, Theraldine thought about it for a bit before nodding in agreement.
"Pretty much."
"Have you tried asking them to not do something like that?" While the thought of the Crimson Azure Knights made Valyr think about his plans of creating an organization of his own once he was stronger, the young man threw a question at Theraldine that followed his original train of thought.
"I've already tried." Theraldine bitterly smiled. "But rather than agree to it and disband, they instead began to praise me with even greater fervor, saying how I've taken note of their presence or something along those lines."
"Yikes." At those words, Valyr slightly shuddered. From what the young woman had just told him, the Crimson Azure Knights to him now seemed more like a fanatic cult that revolved around Theraldine instead of a normal fan club.
With his curiosity regarding the outlier in the audience satisfied, Valyr soon returned his attention back to the equipment he would be working with, with the materials he and Theraldine had requested for the forging duel arriving whilst Julian continued to chat with the crowd in order to give the two of them more time.
"Since your true identity is quite the special topic, I'd suggest you give me a name you want me to use to introduce you." Just as he had begun to assess the quality of the items he had gotten his hands on, keeping it in mind as he thought about modifying part of the blueprint's steps, a notification sound resounded within Valyr's mind, informing him that Julian had sent him a message.
"Hmm…" Reading through the message he had received, Valyr pondered over the question for a bit. "Do you only need a first name, or should I also give a last name as well?"
"It's all up to you," Julian messaged in response. "Of course, if you want me to use Valyr, I'd be glad to do so. However, I'm sure that neither I nor you want to see the consequences of doing something like that."
"That's definitely a given," replied Valyr. "I guess Ylvar would work."
"The fake name you used while talking with that old man from the Spearman Guild, huh. Got it." With their conversation ending there, Valyr returned his attention back on the materials he would use in the forging duel, while Julian began introducing the young man to the audience.
"As for the one on my right, unlike my daughter right here, this young man does not seem to be that impressive."
"After all, if I were to ask you as to who he was, would you be able to answer?" Hearing this question being asked by Julian to the audience, Valyr wryly smiled, feeling a bit hurt from the words the man had spoken.
Seeing almost the entire audience shake their heads in response to the question, a faint smirk appeared on the middle-aged man's lips as he continued. "To no one's surprise, all of you pretty much said no to my question. However, even though he may be unknown to everyone of you, his skills as a blacksmith are, in many ways, on par with Theraldine right there. The Blacksmith Guild can attest to that."
In response to the words Julian had spoken about Valyr's skill, a few groups of people began to murmur with one another, doubting the former's words, even though he was the Guildmaster of the Blacksmith Guild. Nevertheless, Julian did not mind, instead finding it somewhat amusing as he knew that not only he would probably be surprised with what Valyr might do…
But the audience as well.
"Though I've mentioned earlier that this forging duel is a brief glimpse into the greatest talents of the Blacksmith Guild's younger generation, it's also a way for everyone to see if our young friend here has the skills to indeed be considered on par with Theraldine."
"With all of that being said…"
"Let us begin."
