The Master Blacksmith led Noel to a separate room where the Master Blacksmith worked. The room was quite spacious, considering it was only for one person. The tools lying on the table were excluding Spiritual Energy, showing that each tool was a Spirit Tools that could create a better quality items.
Despite such an extraordinary tools and room, the Master Blacksmith calmly headed to the huge table in the corner and started pushing away the tools on it.
"Take your material out. I need to inspect it more."
"Father?" Rick narrowed his eyes, not understanding why his father suddenly acted this way after reading the letter.
However, Noel still took out the item since he was the only person that could work with this material. He laid down the wood on the table and said, "This is the material."
The middle-aged man lowered his head and inspected it. He observed the material, touched it gently, poured some Spiritual Energy before asking, "What kind of equipment do you want from this?"
"I want something thin, but sturdy enough to protect me. It's like an armor that I can hide underneath my clothes."
The middle-aged man thought for a moment and said, "That's possible. The material is quite sturdy and its ability to channel the Spiritual Energy is splendid. The armor is thin, so we need to rely on the Spiritual Energy to reduce the damage to your body… As long as you don't mind the pain coming from every blow, I can make an armor piece with this."
"I've gotten used to pain." Noel nodded, agreeing to him.
"Alright." He paused and observed Noel.
"What's wrong?" Noel narrowed his eyes and stepped back as if he was being seen through by this guy.
"How in the world someone like you killed an Ancient Demon?"
"!!!" The ones who got shocked wasn't Noel alone but also Rick and Rica.
"What did you say? Ancient Demon?" Rick was dumbstruck by this revelation. He perfectly knew what kind of existence the Ancient Demon was. Noel was strong but not that strong to handle an Ancient Demon.
"If we're talking about Ancient Level Demon, they're supposed to be a Demon that can destroy an entire kingdom, right?" Rica sucked a cold breath, looking at Noel as if looking at a monster.
"I am sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about." Noel immediately played dumb and regained his calm.
The Master Blacksmith fell silent for one minute before saying, "Well, I guess that's fine with me."
He suddenly moved to the other corner and picked up a pickaxe. While resting the pickaxe on his shoulder, he turned to Noel and said, "Alright. Come with me then. Let's go to the mine not far from here."
"Father?" Rick and Rica were confused because mining wasn't supposed to be his job.
"What? I do whatever I want just like you!" The middle-aged man glared at them.
"…" Rick and Rica felt embarrassed after that glare.
"See? I have asked you to become a blacksmith like me, but both of you choose to become a merchant. Do you want to be rich so much? Money is not everything. If you want to be rich, you can also gain it by becoming a Master Blacksmith, but don't be too fixated on it."
"We're not fixated with money! Becoming a merchant is like a calling for us!" Rick answered, raising his voice.
"Then, what are you planning to do with all that money? You can't spend it if you're dead. Give it to your children for inheritances? Spoil your children with money? Those children will be too spoiled in the future and ruin the family too by spending a lot of money without care. Instead of money, why don't you become someone good in this life? I might not be rich, but look at the village, it's brimming with people and the villagers are happy!"
Rick couldn't reply to his statement. He didn't even know why he would become a merchant other than the fact that he was just good at it.
Rica could only lower her head, not participating in this conversation.
"Instead of piling up money, why don't you use your ability to make the others around you happy? That's how I've been living this whole life and it's the reason why people like you so much. Even if I need to reject the riches and other things, I still have the need to become a good person." He sighed and walked away, disappointed.
Rick and Rica hang their heads low.
Meanwhile, Noel was stuck in between. On the one hand, he was grateful that the two siblings brought him to their father. On the other hand, he needed to follow him because he needed the equipment.
Noel looked at them back and forth, wondering what to choose. Suddenly, Rica, even though she was still looking down, pushed Noel gently as if telling him to follow her father.
Noel sighed and decided to left the smithy with their father.
They walked out with a back door so that they didn't meet any person on the way.
While crossing the small forest, the Master Blacksmith opened his mouth. "My name is Roel. What is your real name brat?"
Seeing that no one was here, the Master Blacksmith thought he could get to know Noel's real name, but Noel shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Sir."
"So, that's how it is. It seems that you have a hard life." The Master Blacksmith sighed.
When Noel observed his emotion, it looked like he had empathy and sympathy to his children. This affection made Noel feel that there was another ulterior motive from his action.
However, it wasn't his place to ask, so he remained silent.
The middle-aged man also felt Noel's gaze and was thankful for his consideration. But still, he looked up and sighed, asking, "Sorry that you had to witness a family bickering. It was supposed to be a secret, but I ended up making a fuss with it. I am a bad parent, ain't I?"
