While Julian watched Byron and Mystia disappear from the Blacksmith Guild's main hall, Theraldine and Valyr had stayed near Julian's private workshop in the meantime. Thinking to each other that the Guildmaster still had more things to say to them, they recalled the words Julian told them before they left.
"Hey, Theraldine." Continuing to wait for Theraldine's father to appear, Valyr decided to strike up a conversation with the young woman, his mind recalling what had transpired earlier.
"What is it?" Oblivious to what was going on in the young man's mind, Theraldine looked back at Valyr, slightly curious.
"Sorry," said Valyr in response, causing the young woman's expression to swiftly turn into that of confusion.
"Sorry? Sorry for what?"
"For what happened earlier," Valyr clarified, the sight of Theraldine with tears in her eyes still vivid in his mind. "Believe me when I say that I wasn't expecting to forge an artifact. At most, I was only going to forge an artifact replica that was considerably better than yours."
"Huh?" Though she listened to the young man's explanation, Theraldine remained confused, still having no clue as to why he was saying sorry to her. However, after repeating Valyr's words over and over in her head for a bit, everything eventually clicked into place, finally allowing Theraldine to realize what he was trying to convey.
"Why say sorry over something that you had no control over?" Theraldine asked Valyr, her brows slightly furrowed. "Well... if you think about it from another perspective, you had total control over the entire thing, it's just that luck decided to shine down upon you during the duel."
Letting out a sigh, she continued, "If anything, you shouldn't feel sorry for what happened earlier. So what if I felt a bit discouraged at giving it my all and it still being not enough? That just means that your skill in blacksmithing is far greater than I initially expected it to be."
"And I prefer it that way, to be honest."
"Huh?" This time, it was Valyr's turn to be confused.
Wondering what had caused the young man to say those words, Valyr looked at Theraldine, only to see that the somewhat forlorn expression she had earlier from losing the forging duel was now completely gone.
Instead, what replaced it was an expression filled with burning passion and unyielding determination, her eyes staring darts at Valyr as if he was the prey she was going to hunt.
"With this forging duel now over, I don't have any more doubts of your worthiness to be the representative of the blacksmiths in this upcoming Four Pillars' Inheritance," said Theraldine, grinning soon after. "However, that doesn't mean I accept the fact that I'm behind you in terms of skills."
"From this point onward, my view of you has changed. Not only will I consider you as a friend and comrade, but also as a rival to aim towards," she continued.
"I will strive to become better than you in every aspect of blacksmithing, no matter what. I swear to the heavens that there will eventually come a day where you'd be the one watching me soar to the skies instead of the opposite."
"I definitely don't mind the challenge, if that's what you're asking." Seeing Theraldine's renewed conviction of becoming a blacksmith better than him, Valyr gave her a toothy grin. "Though I'm sure it'll be a long time before you even become on par with me."
"You..." Glaring daggers at Valyr in response to his words, Theraldine's anger was cut short as she noticed her father making his way to where the two of them stayed.
"I apologize for making the two of you wait for so long." Bitterly smiling as he waved at the two of them, it did not take long for Julian to stand in front of the two with a proud smile. "First and foremost, I just wanted to tell you that you two have done great in the forging duel. You two have definitely shown everyone the capabilities of the finest the Blacksmith Guild's younger generation has to offer."
"Especially you, Valyr." Looking at Valyr for a brief moment, Julian then shifted his gaze towards his daughter. "Apologies, Theraldine. Mind if you leave the two of us alone for a bit? We'll talk about it at home later."
"Ah... alright then." Though slightly disappointed that she could not be included in the conversation, Theraldine faintly nodded, asking Valyr to add her to his friend list before they left.
Ding!
[Theraldine Pyrrhia (Lvl. 40) is now your friend.]
After making sure that the two of them were in each of their friend lists, it was only then did Theraldine finally leave Valyr and Julian off on their own, prompting the smile on Julian's face to be replaced with a stern expression.
"Just like what I've let you experience earlier, I have a ton of questions to ask you, Valyr. Especially after taking a look at that artifact of yours," said Julian. "However, before all that..."
"Let me just say that you've definitely done the Blacksmith Guild a great service this time around." Patting Valyr on the shoulders, Julian gave him a warm smile. "With what you've shown everyone, the Blacksmith Guild's reputation in the kingdom is going to increase significantly."
"Though, it would be more correct to say that Ylvar's reputation as a blacksmith would begin to increase significantly." Julian chuckled soon after. "It's definitely a relief that you had your disguise skill activated. If not, I'm pretty certain all hell would break loose."
"Aside from that, you're now a legend in the making, Valyr," he continued, staring at Valyr in the eye. "As someone who has forged an artifact at the peak of Rank 2, you're already considered to be an elite among the elite. In case you didn't know, there are only a handful of people who have created artifacts of their own at the same level of strength at you, fewer if we're talking about those at a lower class rank."
"Anyways, enough compliments for now. I could go on all day and I still probably wouldn't run out of things to say about your performance in this duel." Deciding to shift the topic, Julian's expression became serious once more. "How about we move onto the questions I've been wanting to ask you all this time?"
"First off..."
"What kind of future did you see while making the artifact?"
