Morkan was a name familiar to Barom Romero. He knew Morkan was someone who had worked for a long time in the iron mines, and he even heard that he was appointed to be the safety officer there this year.
Certainly, he was a person who could be trusted, and as Jacob himself brought him here, it meant he deserved to be here.
Thus, Baron Romero asked calmly, “I see. Were you there with Roman when the accident happened?”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Tell me in detail what happened at that time—How Roman behaved when the accident happened, why he suddenly felt an interest in the safety of iron mines, and also tell me whether it is true that he came up with the solution on his own. I want to listen to the truth without any lies or exaggeration.”
“I understand.”
Morkan bowed, and as he was someone who had experienced the man known as Roman Dmitry, similarly as Hans had, he spoke his mind.
“The accident occurred about a week after Young Master Roman joined to work in the mine. A worker was injured in the collapse of the mine, and I, who was present there at that time, ordered the rescue of the worker in a safe manner, according to the manual. However, Young Master Roman had different thoughts. He decided to save the worker by himself. Instead of letting us all take the risk, and even despite all of us trying to stop him, he moved to save the worker who had fallen down. That is the truth, Lord. No one forced him to do it; no one even asked him to. It was a simple decision the young master decided before we could even process it.”
Just as Hans had said, all because Roman carried the name of Dmitry, he took the risk to save him.
Thinking of his son, who went into the dark underground alone, Baron Romero grasped the chair’s handle tightly.
“Actually, I didn’t know the reason why the young master came to the iron mine. However, after treating the wounded myself, I realized how pathetic and foolish I was as I saw the young master say that he would solve the problem of the iron mine. The young master had no ulterior motives. As the eldest son of Dmitry, he wanted to experience firsthand the hardships the people were facing. Thus, I spoke about the safety issue, and the young master went so far as to say he was responsible and would solve it.”
Indeed, it was thrilling for him. Just seeing him save one worker, Morkan fell in love with Roman. Thus, even though Roman had a purpose, he believed that what he was saying was for the benefit of the people of Dmitry.
“From start to finish, the way the safety issue was solved was all the young master’s idea. If we are talking about what kind of person he is, I would say that he is the kind of heir of Dmitry that I would trust and follow blindly.”
That was the truth. Even though his head was bowed, his unshakable voice proved that there was no lie in his words.
“…I see.”
Now, Baron Romero had heard everything he wanted to hear. Thus, he sent back the men who had arrived here on his orders.
‘Not a single one says that Roman is not suitable to be the successor of Dmitry.’
The people of the iron mine were now taking Roman’s side.
When Morkan was speaking, even the Baron felt like Roman might become someone important soon.
Honestly, to the workers of the iron mine, Roman was already Dmitry’s successor.
Baron Romero felt troubled at the tables that had turned. Everyone wanted Roman to be the successor, but that didn’t mean everything had already been decided.
The Master Blacksmith—The most important one’s opinion was still left.
A few days ago, the blacksmith was working in front of the scorching flames of the hearth like any other day.
“Master.”
“Go on.”
“Items have arrived in the name of Young Master Roman Dmitry. Should we take them?”
Roman was a taboo word among the blacksmiths. Everyone tried not to say the name as much as possible, but they had to report it to Master Hendrick as items had arrived in his name. The blacksmith was nervous, but Hedrick reacted differently than he thought he would.
“Take them.”
“…Uh?”
“Are you deaf? I said take them.”
“Ah—Yes!”
The blacksmith ran hastily. However, as there was a lot of iron, he couldn’t carry it all by himself. Thus, several more blacksmiths had to go and help him. Thus, the forge was soon full of iron for weapons and armor. It wasn’t an amount that could be consumed in a day or two. Considering his personal feelings for Roman, he had to reject it, but Henrick looked closely at the iron.
“Look at this. How long was he training?”
It seemed to be for those who followed Roman. Actually, he wanted to refuse this. But recently, his feelings for Roman had changed. After hearing about the incident in the mines from Jacob, Roman seemed a little different to him. And once he thought about it, he realized it wasn’t Roman’s fault that they had arguments in the blacksmith’s shop days ago. He showed an easygoing attitude, and from Roman’s point of view, it was natural to be angry. Thus, he now felt bad.
He wanted to relieve the feeling by doing what he was asked to, so he carefully inspected the items that had arrived.
Nevertheless, the issue still remained on how to make Roman satisfied.
Hendrick, who was checking the iron piled up in the smithy, was shocked when he saw a sword that was left out.
“…T-this! What is this?!”
He was sure that what he had just seen was a famous sword that couldn’t be commonly found even on the entire continent.
Hendrick was a craftsman. As someone who worked with blood and sweat in the forge for decades, he understood the value of such things at a single glance.
“Where did you get this?”
He looked at the sword in the light. The twinkling light glided down the blade smoothly, and the grip was gentle. The strength of the blade as he tapped it felt quite strong. Although it could be said that it was the best sword on the continent, it was difficult to find such a thing, even in Dmitry’s estate.
Above everything else, there was something else Hendrick admired a lot.
‘Its reaction to mana is unusual.’
Ironically, it shone brightly with darkness when it was in the light. That meant that it had the ability to receive the energy in nature, mana, which proved it was different from other ironworks.
A very long time ago, the standard of a great sword was just one that would simply cut something and was strong, but once Emperor Alexander opened up the possibility of humans becoming Aura Swordsman, everything changed. The basic performance of the sword was accepted as something natural, and it was only complimented as a famous sword based on how well it accepted the mana in the surroundings.
Hendrick then took the sword to the flames. He knew that weapons with excellent mana responsiveness would cause huge changes even when they were just brought into the range of flames.
And now,
Whoosh!
Fwoosh!
“…?!”
The flames engulfed the sword astoundingly. To be precise, the flames which should have been burning all around showed the tendency to burn only a specific path as if they were being dragged down by a gravitational force. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been dramatic even if someone described it as the flames being wrapped around the sword.
However, even without infusing mana, the effect was this good. It was clear as crystal that this was something that would fill any Aura Swordsman with ecstasy.
‘How can such treasures be there in this world?’
His heart pounded quickly. Hendrick prided himself on being the best on the continent for his iron handling skills. However, doing something like increasing mana reactivity was entirely another matter.
How the hell was such a thing made?
Seeking to fulfill his curiosity as a craftsman, he approached the guy who had brought the weapon and asked, “This sword—Whose is it?”
He knew it, too, that this was Roman’s request. Who else could be the master of the sword, then? Still, he had to confirm it. Thus, the blacksmith said, “…It belongs to Young Master Roman. After recovering all weapons and armor of the soldiers, he entrusted the sword to me. Is there some problem? If there is, I will go and return it to the young master right now.”
“No, there is no need.”
Roman—That name stuck in his mind. Where could he have gotten this sword from? With Dmitry’s wealth, he could have bought it for a vast sum of money. Then who made it?
Observing the numerous questions in his head, Hendrick came to a conclusion.
‘I should directly ask him about this sword.’
He didn’t want to speak to Roman, but now, he felt greedy and wanted to bow his head first.
And to meet Roman, he first had to finish his request. So, without any results, he can’t go to him and ask about the sword.
Hendrick yelled, “Call all the blacksmiths we can afford. We must finish this work in a few days!”
In the smithy, the words of Hendrick were the law. From that day, the blacksmiths didn’t see the sun until the work was finished.
Clang!
The blacksmith poured the ironworks onto the floor. At the sight of iron shining as if it were new, Chris jumped up, genuinely surprised.
“Is it already finished? I thought it would take at least 2 weeks since that was the equipment of 30 people.”
“…So did I. I thought it would take 2 weeks, but Master Hendrick had something else on his mind. He brought in all the blacksmiths who could be afforded and stuck them to this work,” said the blacksmith, trembling. The last few days were truly hell for them. They weren’t forced to work at night as it was difficult, but they instead had to work from sunrise to sunset in the forge daily.
They couldn’t even enjoy their few breaks. Their master put a loaf of bread in his mouth and ran away to work, so how could those below him eat in a relaxed manner?
And after working 3 days straight, they finally saw sunlight again.
“Ask Young Master Roman later why Master Hendrick had to rush us like that.”
“Sure,” Chris said while nodding. He then glanced to the side where Roman and Hendrick were talking. Hendrick had a blank expression. He looked tired from working as well, but his eyes were burning and seeking something.
“Roman. Where the hell did you get this sword? Just who made this sword?” Hendrick asked right away, wanting to know the answer to his question. Even though Roman was standing before him, he couldn’t hide his annoyance. He quickly wanted to hear who had made the sword.
Seeing that look, Roman smiled.
‘As I thought.’
Roman knew Hendrick would react like this. The artisans were always the same. Whenever they saw an attractive object, they would always react just like Hendrick, no matter what their relationship was like.
Then, Roman gave him the answer he had already thought about.
“It isn’t a sword I got from someone else. It’s a sword I made.”
“…What?!”
Hendrick’s face was dyed with shock. What he had just heard was quite a shocking remark that he hadn’t even dared to imagine in the past few days.
