“What are you talking about… Kalekan…?” The prince clutched his fist. His eyes gained a small light of hope all based on the man’s words.
“I apologize for hiding it, prince!” Kalekan instantly knelt down with his head bowed.
“What! What are you apologizing for!” The prince was startled; his hands shaking.
“Fated Prince of the dwarven kingdom, Prince Nokrim, named after the God of Earth, I present to you my only disciple and the Star Blacksmith.” Kalekan’s head stayed low.
Silence filled the room with one stone-stilled man and two panicking people. “What! Has your pride become bloated sir Kalekan?! I can understand your love for your disciple but to use the title of the “Star Blacksmith!” Your arrogance knows no bounds!” The prince yelled at the top of his lungs, his anger could be seen in his eyes and a weird red aura surrounded his body.
“Daranda… take the things from the vault.”
“Hmph!” Daranda smiled at the opportunity for a lifetime, this was finally her moment, her moment to get out of the house! Yeah, it wasn’t the best goal, but it was her goal.
Daranda didn’t talk any further and ran straight out of the room.
“Sir Kalekan! Explain yourself!” He ignored Daranda.
“Prince… please understand I won’t dare sully the name of the Star Blacksmith, once she brings the artifacts that she had made, you would understand.”
“Artifacts? How old is she?”
“Seventeen.”
“Seventeen! Stop lying to me sir Kalekan! What is-” Nokrim stopped his words and the weird red aura that surrounded him quickly dispersed. His hair jumped from his skin and his eyes flickered from fear.
A great energy was coming from outside of the door. It wasn’t the feeling of an enemy, but it was the feeling of overwhelming power that scares you just from it’s existence.
Kalekan stood up instantly. “Shit!” He immediately went out, and Nokrim followed, “Where are you going!”
“Did you make more!” Kalekan yelled at Daranda.
“Uh…”
“Sir Kalekan-” The prince paused, he stared at the box filled with artifacts.
“Well, I created more when you were out…”
“I was only out for a few minutes!”
“Well, it took a few days, but I could make one by doing a little bit every time you leave.” Her eyes looked to her side.
Kalekan’s nostrils flickered and Daranda closed her eyes and squished her face.
“Hah…” Kalekan sighed. “It’s okay, at least at this moment we can use them.” Kalekan turned around to the prince. “Do you understand now, prince?”
“Ye…s…” Norkrim was left speechless in awe.
***
A few months had passed since Kalekan learned about the existence of demons, and he finally revealed himself back to the world with a disciple who would save that very thing.
Once Kalekan had stopped his life as a hermit in the mountains, he went back to his real house; a mansion.
“Whoah! You had a house like this!? And we lived in that shithol-” Her head met another fist.
Kalekan had met with the other officials of the Dwarven Kingdom and introduced her adoptive daughter as his disciple.
With these news heard through out the kingdom, Daranda’s life had completely turned upside down.
“I need more iron and dualit ores!” She yelled at her attendants.
Inside a giant smithery with a collection of forges laid along the walls, only she worked, and the rest were her errand boys.
“Okay ma’am!” A man responded. “Tsk, she thinks so might of herself just cau-” he whispered while biting his nails- then an iron chunk hit his head, and fell to the ground.
“Fire that guy! Whoever fucking doubts my abilities will get fired for fuck sake! What’s the point of being jealous you bitches!” She yelled.
After her arrival to the outside world, it really wasn’t what she wanted, but still, she was finally able to use the smithery on her own accord. But soon, that life was gonna continue to change.
“Father!” She screamed.
“I’m home…” Kalekan scratched his neck.
“Hmph! You just leave me in this house and tell me to make swords. What a bad father.” She pouted.
“You don’t get how hard it is in this world! You’re still too young!”
“Uhuh!”
“Well, anyway, have you accustomed yourself to the house yet?”
“Well no, duh! This shit is way too big!”
“Hahaha! Can’t live the life of a princess?”
“What!” She grabbed her father’s clothes by the neck. “Don’t tell me you’ll offer me as a bride!”
“That’s a joke! Let me go!”
Daranda dropped her father and started to walk. “You’ve gotten way too strong in just a few months.”
“Hehehe.”
***
But even with such a change in environment, there was still one thing that stayed the same.
“The fuck is this shit?”
“Uh… are you saying you need more?”
“...”
“...”
“Are you stupid!” Kalekan broke the desk. “Of course I need more you idiot!”
“Sir Kalekan don’t let me remind you! This is for the army! For your own country! I will deposit the rest later! Just accept this now!”
“Get out!”
“Kalekan!”
“Get out!” Kalekan stood and shook the ground.
“Tsk, you’ll hear from the king later, Kalekan, your shithole.”
“...”
The man walked out of the room and Daranda walked in. “You could have just given it to him, the king ordered them. I made it for the king and you’re just going to… not give it?”
“Daranda, I’ve taught you many times, if your costumer don’t pay the full price, tell them go out.”
“This is my stuff! You have no right to treat this like how you treat your shit! I made this for this sole purpose and you will just not let it!”
“Daranda! Stop!”
“What stop! Stop what! Stop to complete the reason I’ve worked so hard for!”
“They will just come back! They have no choice!”
“I know you’re not doing this for the money! But just why! Why!”
“...”
“Agg! Just going quiet again! Fine! I’ll leave!”
The door slammed and Kalekan fell to the chair. His arm shook uncomfortably for minutes and his body stood still for an hour.
***
A hero’s story doesn’t start in childhood, or well at least most of them, and there is a reason. The hero only ever becomes the protagonist for two reasons, one is when they are called upon an adventure, and the other is once they reach rock bottom.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
In a hallway, Kalekan stood in front of the door. “I have to go.” A few seconds pass. “The army is in need of my strength…” Kalekan inhaled and bit his lips. “I… if I… don’t come back.” He gulped. “Remember what I taught you, even if just the most important thing.”
Kalekan stayed quiet for a few more seconds. “Just remember…” Tears started to fall down his cheeks. “Never ever… throw give your abilities to the people for free, even if it sounds mean, even if it is for the better, never, ever, ever.” Kalekan wiped his face. “Ever, think that getting used is for the better good.”
Kalekan turned around. “I love you Daranda, my only daughter.”.
***
At the north of the continent, at the front of war. “Sir Kalekan! It is good to see you here.” A man bowed.
Kalekan dropped down from his horse. “It is my honor, what is the current situation?”
“Right now, Zelar is taking charge of the war.”
“Zelar? What is he doing here?”
“He was dispatched here before you because the King had thought that you needed to nurture Miss Daranda more before ever risking your life.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, why are two of the Three Masters dispatched to the same area?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean!”
“Ahh! It’s cause this is the only field of war.”
“What?”
“The demons had declared their attack every time, after a few months, they had never lied, there was no point dispatching in another area.”
“That’s stupid!”
The man ducked in fear. “The information had never been wrong! We had already gone through 5 battles!”
“And have we won any?”
“No…”
“I knew it. These fucking demons…”
“...”
“They dare to announce where they are attacking? What type of bullshit is that! They dare try to underestimate the Dwarven Kingdom!” Lightning formed around Kalekan, and soon he jumped and flew to the sky.
“Where is Zelar at?”
“At the white tent.”
Kalekan disappeared instantly and left a trail of lightning that struck a line directed at the white tent.
The “Three Masters” of the dwarven kingdom weren’t only blacksmiths. To even gain a prestigious title that is ranked third in the hierarchy of the entire kingdom, only below the King and the Fated Prince, one couldn’t just be good at using their hammer.
Of course to a country that specializes in the crafts of metal, it was an obvious necessity to be good at it, but that wasn’t the only requirement. All of the “Three Masters” were not only renowned talents at metallurgy, but were also high-ranking generals of the army.
The Master Of Artifacts, also known as the greatest swordsman of the kingdom.
The Master Of Infrastructure, also known as the right-hand man of the king, is the main strategist of the kingdom.
And lastly, the Master Of Iron, also known as the best mage of the kingdom, the lightning Archmage.
The ground shook from a loud burst. A man entered from outside of the tent and started to demand an explanation, “Zelar, what is going on here? I have discarded any information about the ongoing war, but I hear we are losing?! And not only that, but five different times!”
“Ah… Kalekan… my sword brother… come sit down, let’s not go on and on about your anger issues.”
“I have no anger issues, I am just incredibly mad.” He said with no deafening pressure.
“Well, sit down. Go and get outside of the room first, Kael.” The man beside him bowed and walked out.
“Where is the desk?”
“What desk?”
“The desk for the strategy? Anything? I don’t know! You’re the strategist here!”
Zelar took a deep breath and stood up from his chair. “Kalekan, my sword brother, I’m sorry but, I never wanted to draft you into this war… but if I don’t, we can’t buy enough time…”
“Buy what enough time? Are you just giving up?!” Kalekan stared and smashed his chair.
“Yes.”
“Wha- Wha- Ah- I can’t. What is this shit Zelar, what is this. The man who led the kingdom to own half of the continent is now giving up? Where is the man I followed have gone to? Where is the man who always had a plan? No hate to Arthur, but you! You were the one who brought this kingdom up from the ground!”
“And I’m the one who will slowly bring it down.”
Kalekan couldn’t yell any longer as he looked at his friend's face.
“Follow me, you will understand better if you see it for yourself.”
“No. No. Don’t tell me.”
Zelar walked to the back of his desk, opposite the entrance. With a slow gesture at the blinds, the two walked in. “Sorry Kalekan, but I’ll have to die last, the brain is the lifeblood of a body.”
“...”
On the ground lay a dead man, it was no ordinary man. It was none other than the Kingdom’s greatest swordsman; one of the three masters had died.
***
One year later.
“Thank you!”
“No problem. You still have a lot on the book!” She teased.
“Hahaha! I will definitely pay soon!”
“Next!’
A man entered with a white robe and a pouch full of gold.
“Oh, sir Tal, the orders are all good, you can just take 'em all.”
“Well thank you! Here are some of the payments from the last one and here is the new one.”
“You are racking lots of debt you know.”
“And you know the kingdom is in dire need, money is really just running out, sorry miss Daranda.”
“No, no, it’s okay.”
“Well thank you again!”
Daranda stood up from her chair and closed her door. It was the last deal of the day, night had come, and there were no more customers.
She let out a huge sigh and went back to the pouch of gold the man had just left behind.
“30 Gold Coins, that’s 2 less than before.” Daranda stared and bit her lips. She let out another sigh and laid back on the chair. “Sorry Father, I have fallen way too kind, I guess you were right, it’s just your yelling always made me deaf, hahaha!” Tears fell.
She sniffled back her snot. “Hah… welp, I wonder when I can act like you. I mean I yelled at you so many times, how can I even do that to them too?”
“Ah, I’ll just let it be, money isn’t a problem, why am I even worrying about it? I just have to work for this kingdom to survive.” Daranda stood up and blew the fire out of a candle on the desk.
Daranda was young, she was really far too young and inexperienced about the world. Whether you understood the meaning of this story or not, at least listen to this one more time. It wasn’t, a dwarf should be arrogant, but it was “why”, and why?