I looked at the forge and got hit by a wave of nostalgia. The amount of time I spent hitting a hammer against metal; the times I hit the hammer against the face of the anvil only to find out it was incredibly bad. The number of weapons I made, the failures, the successes I experienced... My lips trembled and my eyes got somewhat watery, I wiped them off quickly before the dwarf had noticed. I wanted to do it, I did, except I was uncertain. The feeling of doing something that I shouldn't do... It was haunting me... I had to think of something ⁠— an excuse, an enabler to allow me to do this.

“Girly are you okay?” The dwarf asked with slight worry.

“... Yes.” I quietly answered as I was indulging in my thoughts.

'An excuse… something...' I looked back at the forge and got to thinking. 'Was there really a problem with smithing? Was there a problem with my identity? I am pretty careless most of the time. I have always been like that ⁠— ignorant, not a care in the world, and now I am thrown here, having absolutely no idea what to do. Would it be bad if people found it who I am? Would it be bad if they thought about something else? Could I do something about it?'

I started biting my finger as I desperately thought, I was insecure and naive. I am still the same, but was it what I wanted? Once again, I have companions, I have close people that care about me. Was being selfish bad? No, that doesn’t matter. I just want to be happy with them, I can’t keep lying to myself ⁠— ignoring everything that happens and pretending everything is fine. It’s already too late to think about ‘What will happen?’ it already happened, I just did not want to think about it. Crafting a dagger on a whim, going on subjugations and here I am trying to keep a ‘low-profile’. Laughable. In the end, people already took notice of me, it doesn't matter if they notice any further. It's not like I can avoid it forever. Besides, nothing bad can come out of smithing.

I steeled my heart and looked back at the forge with unwavering eyes. It was time, no more running away, no more lying to myself; just being myself was enough. I am sorry Aizen, I might not go to the academy with you anymore… Well, it's probably better in the long run anyway. I can't see myself pretending to be a mage for a while, it sounds impossible.

“GIrly, are you sure you are fine?”

I nodded in response and looked at the dwarf fixedly, he was taken aback as he took a step back; it was normal. I had been looking at the ground with a hard expression for the past five minutes, but I was sure now. This is what I wanted to do. People watching? Who cares, ill-will? It will be dealt with. I will deal with whatever problem surges. With those thoughts in mind, I smiled and looked back at the forge in general. I was ready to tackle this.

“I will be borrowing some Iron.”

“Don’t you want Mithril?”

I shook my head. “No, I want to make a dagger but I don’t want to replace yours,” I said with confidence, it almost sounded aggressive. However, the dwarf just laughed.

“I like that spirit! I had started to believe you forgot how to smith there! I knew you had it in you; even though I was obliged to explain everything, I thought it was unnecessary and I was right." He smiled. " Now show me your finest work!” he encouraged with joy. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He offered me his hammer. “You can’t do smithing without a hammer, you don’t seem to be carrying anything after-all.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I declined with my hand. He was taken aback as I walked towards the forge and opened the chest. I looked inside, it had one more Mithril ingot, a few other metals and finally Iron. I started carefully looking at the hefty iron ingot, looking for the finest and purest ones. Imperfections could surge during smelting after-all. The dwarf curiously watched me as I nit-picked the iron.

Finally, I chose my ingot and took it out of the chest.

“A fine choice.” the dwarf commented on the background. I looked around just to see if there was anything. I saw a lot of metal rods. I knew it was what I needed, the dwarf for some reason did not use one for the dagger he made me. But the use for the rod I was thinking of was just preference and did not affect the final product. I grabbed one of the rods and simultaneously placed the ingot on the flat part of the anvil or known as the table. I could mess it as much as I wanted!

“Oh? Using a rod? Interesting!” The dwarf interrupted my joy.

‘Just shut-up already old man…’ I mumbled in annoyance.

I almost threw the ingot into the furnace and didn't chisel it, I had almost forgotten just because of the old man. I wanted to fuse it with the metal so I had something to hold on to; not wanting to use tongs; it was the only option I had. I borrowed a random chisel and looked at the ingot one last time.

“Doubting yourself?! Well, of course, you don’t have a hammer!” I sighed again, he interrupted me yet again! Annoyed, I stuck my hand inside my cloak and took out my smithing hammer. The dwarf paused and blinked a few times, he looked at the hammer before recovering.

“Oh… To think you are always prepared like a true smith. I am proud of you.” What’s wrong with this dwarf. “That’s quite the fancy hammer you got there, I don’t even recognize the metal,” he added.

I sighed again as I began making a hole with the chisel. I also threw the tip of the metal rod into the furnace. I managed to make a small hole and I fitted the rod into the ingot. I was pretty sure it wasn't the way to go about doing it, but well... I kind of just wanted to start the real thing already. I peened the rod into the ingot somewhat forcefully.

"Oi girly, I thought you know how to do it!" The dwarf seemed annoyed but I just shrugged. Who said there was a manual to do this type of thing anyway. One drawback to doing this was that I was literally going to need to waste extra metal if I wanted to keep the type of metal consistent throughout the blade. It was just more of an... uh, nit-picky thing than anything else. Once peened I threw the entire contraption into the furnace.

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I watched and waited, the dwarf did so as well. However, instead of being focused on the metal inside the furnace he paid closer attention to my movements and my expression. It was annoying but I still had to concentrate on the metal ⁠— I sighed not being able to do anything about it.

“Ey, girly. Don’t forget the metal!” He added after my sigh.

“I know!” 'How annoying could he get!' I grumbled as I watched the furnace.

It took a few minutes but the metal was shining in a nice orange color. I clumsily grabbed the rod with my left hand before removing it in a hurry. I had forgotten it was hot… I grabbed the rod with my gloved-hand this time, it was my dominant hand so it was kind of awkward because I was used to doing it with my off-hand. I thought about what to do with the rod; I had to hammer with my dominant hand after-all. And said hand was being occupied by a metal rod. I thought for a second and moved it to the anvil.

“Dwarf, do you have a spare glove for my other hand?”

“Dwarf?! I will have you know my name is Alron!” he sighed. “Where is the other pair of that fancy glove you are wearing?” he questioned in suspicion.

“I don’t have it, do you have another glove?” I dismissed him and asked again.

Surprisingly he sighed and tossed me another glove, it landed on the ground. I frowned but the old-man was pouting. ‘Was it because I called him dwarf? How childish...’ I put on the glove as I complained; leaving the metal resting over the anvil. The ingot was heavier in spite of having a counterweight so it stayed atop of the anvil without much problem, gravity is pretty useful and amazing!

With a now protected hand I gripped the rod, it felt warm, as opposed to scorching hot. I carefully looked at the iron, however, the dwarf seemed to have thought I was doing something else.

“Doubting yourself again?! Well, of course, if you don't know what you are doing it makes sense!" I expressionlessly looked at the dwarf. "Why are you looking at me like that? I am just offering feedback... Kids these days..." What was wrong with him?

I grumbled again, but I could not waste much time. Unfortunately, the iron was starting to cool down and I had to stick it into the furnace again. After reheating it the dwarf made some annoying comments but I chose to ignore him. He was worse than me, he was voicing every, single, complaint…

I attentively looked at the reheated iron and thought about what type of dagger I wanted to make. I decided to make a generic hilted dagger. I did not want to make it as thin or as sleek as the one he made me. After deciding I began hammering with moderate force, I did not want to dent the metal or ruin it. A pleasant metal ringing sound started to resound throughout the area.

“That’s a nice technique.”

I ignored the dwarf and continued as harmonious sounds resonated and reverberated in my ears. It was pleasant and felt almost like a trance. It was one of my biggest joys. The dwarf was about to comment on something but he looked at my smile and decided to not say anything. The metal was flattening and becoming thin it was also becoming harder and stiffer, I reheated it once again. It took a few minutes; I placed it on the anvil again.

It resembled a thin rectangle with a stick stuck into it. I had to give the blade a handle so I laid it on its side and started hammering it close to the rod. Flattening it and making it thinner in the process. Once that was done, I had to do the general shaping of the blade.

I started hammering the edges and various parts of the rectangle until it became rounder and eventually had a single pointy edge. I was hammering with full concentration, I was delicate to not deform the malleable metal. I was only seeing my movements and the anvil, everything had turned into darkness, it was like some sort of state. However, I knew that it was a good thing; allowing me to focus with inhuman precision and accuracy.

I looked back at my dagger-shaped metal brick and nodded in satisfaction ⁠— putting away my hammer and placing the metal contraption atop of the anvil. That was finally done, now I needed to move into the next step, well it had already begun ⁠— cooling it down. I decided to go back to sitting on one of the chairs, I did not forget to keep my hammer with me. It was special.

The dwarf came over to me, he had shiny eyes but his expression carried a lot of doubt and curiosity. He was looking at me differently.

“Em. Girly, what’s your name?”

“Yami,” I nonchalantly answered.

He thought for a second.

“Yami, your skill is admirable, probably better than mine.” he sighed in defeat. “You remind me of someone,” he added, however, I became confused.

“Who could that be?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? The master craftsman has a disciple.” I stiffened. “Anyways, this girl was really amazing you know?” Girl? Could it be?

“D-Did this girl carry a rapier by any chance?” I trembled with hope.

“... No? What type of smith could or would carry a rapier?” he dismissed me giving me a weird look.

I sighed. I couldn’t help but look at the ground with disappointment. Well, it can’t be helped, I got my hopes up just because of her gender. Now that I think about it, the first time I heard about the so-called disciple was with Ari and she only called her ⁠— ‘really talented smith’ Hmm, I wonder.

“Girly, are you alright?”

“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about her gender, don’t worry about it,” I said with a wry smile. However, the smith thought about this for a second.

“Well, I don’t know if it's a ‘she’ or a ‘he’, hard to tell…”

“Eh?” I was confused by his insecurity.

“Well, she or he, whatever you want to address the disciple as. Is a prideful person that takes pride in her work, however… Well, let’s just say it resembles the capital’s Guildmaster.”

I thought for a second and couldn’t recall ever meeting the Guildmaster from the capital, only the elf but he wasn’t the Guildmaster. If he is saying it’s hard to distinguish her then…

“Kind of like Dan?” I asked hoping he knew him.

“Oh, you know his name? Not many people do!” he laughed.

“Eh…” He was the Guildmaster?! “B-But, wasn’t he just a simple scout employed by the adventurer’s guild?” I asked in confusion.

“... Oh, so that’s why he went into a ‘business-trip’ that explains some things…” the dwarf muttered in realization. “Looks like we are derailing the topic. Well, now you know a bit about the disciple, she is pretty relaxed and overall, a skilled smith. Although I wonder if what he said about the master craftsman was true…” he silently said, however, this also spiked my curiosity.

“What kind of things did she say?”

“Well, things like ⁠— He used dragon fire to smith things. “ I stiffened. “But, that was the most believable part, then she said he could break a mountain with a swing of his hammer and stuff like that…”

“Ehh…” What’s wrong with my ‘disciple’?!

“Anyways, girly, you might want to get back to your dagger. Looks like it’s ready to grind,” he added as I had an internal panic attack. Snapping me back into reality. I could worry about my ‘disciple’ for as long as I want, but I won’t get answers about her unless I meet her. There was no use worrying about her ridiculous claims.

“Dwarf, is there a way to meet the disciple?” I asked in curiosity as I headed back to the forge. I head some grumbling for a second.

“I heard she is returning to the capital in a month or so.” A month? I guess I could wait. I will be able to do a lot of smithing in a month’s time anyway, I don’t think we are leaving the capital any time soon, unless of course, Aizen decides to blow-up the academy for whatever reason. I am sure she wanted to blow it up yesterday anyway.