Chapter 74

“Your Majesty, have you been well?”

“Come in.”

Early that morning, Yuwon went to see the Emperor in person.

“So, you said you wished to receive the payment for our last bet?”

“Yes, I have finally decided on the wish Your Majesty agreed to grant.”

“You haven’t forgotten that I said I would grant only a wish that I can accept, have you?”

Yuwon answered with a relaxed smile.

“How could I forget that? I remember it clearly.”

“Speak.

What do you want?”

“I would like to be introduced to a skilled blacksmith. Would that be possible?”

“That is your wish? Something like that is hardly difficult. Are you truly planning to use your only wish on something so trivial?”

The Emperor made a face as if he truly could not understand.

“He is not just any skilled blacksmith. I want the very best.”

“Could it be that you…?”

“Yes, it is exactly the ‘could it be’ Your Majesty is thinking of. I want the master of the nameless seal.”

Across the continent, there were swords bearing the seal of the unknown maker, their creator unidentified.

Each and every one of them was a peerless blade that none could rival.

Yuwon wanted the nameless blacksmith who inscribed that seal.

“That will be difficult. That man is not someone who obeys simply because I order it. Even if I were to threaten to take his head for refusing an imperial command, he would not do anything he does not wish to do.”

“Are you saying it is impossible?”

“Yes, it is impossible.”

The Emperor’s answer was firm.

“Did Your Majesty not say just now that using my wish on something trivial would be a waste?”

“If the person you want is that ‘nameless one’, the story changes. What exactly do you intend to make that you seek him?”

“I only intend to have a few swords made for myself and my people, along with some armor.”

“With what you have now, you should lack nothing. Are you planning to start a war?”

“If I wanted to, it is not something I could not do. Weapons and armor are items originally meant to be used that way, are they not?”

Yuwon continued, unbothered by the Emperor’s displeasure.

“During this recent Subjugation Mission to the South, someone once again attempted to take my life and attacked me. Of course, I survived and stand here unscathed, but I no longer plan to simply sit still and defend myself.”

“Do you think I will just sit and watch as my sons fight and destroy one another?”

“My enemies have attacked me time and time again, intending to kill me, and if I had lacked the strength to protect myself, I would not be standing here now. Did Your Majesty truly think I would wait forever, merely defending against my brothers’ attacks without acting?”

At Yuwon’s fearless answer, the Emperor raised his voice.

“Are you now calling your own brothers ‘enemies’ even in front of your own father?”

“Does that bother you? I wanted to live quietly. But my brothers would not leave me alone. So, in order to survive, I struggled and eventually stood on my own two feet. Even Your Majesty cannot forbid me from calling an enemy what he is.”

“You insolent…!”

“I was merely a coward who became a Prince only to survive, but I learned the truth during this Subjugation Mission. I now truly desire to become the Emperor.”

Yuwon raised his head and looked straight into the Emperor’s eyes.

The Emperor’s deep blue eyes, like the vast ocean, and Yuwon’s cold blue gaze, resembling the frozen winter sea, crossed in the air and shattered silently.

“I have prepared myself to stain my hands with blood. So it is time for Father to do what you believe is right.”

The Emperor, reluctantly, gave Yuwon the location of the nameless blacksmith, and Yuwon immediately set out to find him.

‘To think that the master of that famed seal was living this close….’

The man Yuwon sought lived in a small village not far from the Capital.

Yuwon stopped some children play-fighting with sticks on the road and asked for directions.

“I’m looking for a smithy in this village. Could you tell me where it is?”

“A smithy? What’s a smithy?”

“Hmm… it is a place where someone hammers iron to make things like swords or shields.”

“There’s no place that makes swords or shields in our village… But there is a place where someone hammers iron. Old man Rohan on the hill is always hammering iron.”

“That old man Rohan sounds like the one I am looking for. How can I meet him?”

“If you go up that hill all the way, you’ll see a small cabin before the mountain starts.”

“I see, thank you. This is for helping me find the way. Buy something tasty with your friends.”

In such a small village, it was never good for a child to suddenly receive a large amount of money.

Yuwon crouched to the child’s eye level, rewarded his kindness, and headed toward his destination.

‘Rohan… Rohan, was it….’

Following the hill path exactly as the child said, a small cabin came into view.

‘That must be it.’

A cabin built right beneath a small mountain.

A smell of iron, out of place for such a hut, wafted from within.

Yuwon sensed a faint presence inside—something so subtle few besides him would notice.

‘He is inside.’

Without hesitation, Yuwon approached the cabin and knocked on the tightly closed door.

Knock, knock, knock—

“I have come seeking Master Rohan. Are you inside?”

The person within the cabin did not even come out and coldly drove Yuwon away.

“No such person here.”

A voice like iron scraping.

With that harsh, irritated tone mixed in, it was unpleasant to hear.

Still, Yuwon, recognizing he was an uninvited guest, spoke again politely to coax the man inside.

“I apologize for arriving so suddenly. Please spare me a moment of your time.”

“You say you’re sorry while doing something you know you should be sorry for? Barging in like this—you must be some noble brat with a bit of strength. I can already guess what someone like you wants, but forget it. Even if a blade were at my neck, I do not do anything I do not wish to do. So stop wasting your time and go back!”

“Then, when should I come again so that I may meet you?”

“It will be useless no matter when you come back. It will only waste your time, so go back.”

‘Why are all master craftsmen like this….’

He had seen such people in his past life as well.

They all wielded their glorified skill like a blade, molding others as they pleased.

He had thought this time might be different, but it was the same.

‘The problem is that there are always many like this among the truly gifted….’

Those who had devoted their entire lives to a single craft and reached the very pinnacle of their field.

Among them, there were always a few whose personalities were twisted in some way, but Yuwon knew extremely well how to deal with such people.

‘Still, I can tell what kind he is. Persuading a stubborn craftsman like this is easy.’

Still standing before the cabin door, Yuwon raised his voice on purpose, speaking loudly enough for the man inside to hear.

“Ah… I was thinking of making armor out of scales that repel mana, but I suppose that won’t be possible….”

Flinch!

He sensed movement from inside the cabin.

It was a tiny reaction, but Yuwon noticed it.

‘Of course he would waver. This is something a master who prides himself as the best has neither seen nor heard of.’

Rohan was surely listening intently from behind that door.

Yuwon drove the wedge in deeper, this time even turning away as if he were leaving the cabin.

As Yuwon walked farther away, his voice naturally grew fainter to Rohan’s ears.

“I had high expectations since it’s something brought from the Southern Great Jungle, but I guess I’ll have no choice but to compromise and entrust it to just any workshop… I wanted to leave it with the best, but maybe those random amateurs will only ruin the materials.”

This time, no sound came from the cabin.

Rohan, afraid of missing even the smallest faint word, held his breath and focused entirely on Yuwon’s not-quite-muttering.

Step, step—

Yuwon’s footsteps grew farther from the cabin.

He did not need to wait long.

When Yuwon had gone about twenty meters away, the cabin door—something that seemed like it would never open—suddenly swung open.

“Y-You there! Don’t go, come inside for now! Let me hear the rest of what you were saying!”

A rude, unannounced guest turned into a VIP in an instant.

‘I knew it.’

Yuwon, who had been walking away, smirked and turned back.

“I am Yurion Aphahiel. I heard many stories about you from Father.”

“Ah…! Of course! I thought I’d seen you somewhere! You’re Yulaios’ son!”

The seventy-year-old old man, Rohan, nearly bald, welcomed Yuwon warmly.

Shockingly, the blacksmith Rohan treated Yuwon casually even after recognizing who he was.

More astonishing still was how he called the Emperor ‘Yulaios’ as though speaking of a neighbor’s kid.

‘As expected… just as the rumors said.’

Blacksmith Rohan.

Though he used the name Rohan now, he had changed his name more than ten times over his seventy years.

‘One thing is certain—he likes changing names and never stays in one place for long. An unpredictable old man.’

“Except for being pale, you look exactly like Yulaios did when he was young. Yulaios is still doing well, yes?”

“Of course. I paid him my morning respects just today.”

“Heh heh. To think that brat not only had a child but now that child is this grown… When he strutted around saying he would become Emperor, I thought he’d get stabbed and die any moment….”

“He became Emperor.”

“Yes, yes. He wandered the battlefield wielding my greatest masterpiece, the Nameless Sword, and then one day, he showed up before me saying he had become Emperor. Truly ridiculous. That snot-nosed brat, becoming the Iron-Blooded Emperor, ha!”

“….”

Though getting Rohan to open the door had been easy, conversing with him was an entirely different challenge.

It had been a long time since Yuwon had met someone who rambled solely about themselves.

“That scoundrel Yulaios… my entire life, I tried to forge a blade surpassing the Nameless Sword he got from me for pennies. I failed every time. As one grows old, only the tricks and handiwork improve. Before I die, I wanted to craft a blade that would finally crush his nose, but now I’m too old. My soul is withered. No matter what I make, it ends up as merely a well-made sword. Pursuing technique alone turned me into a machine—one that produces soullessly flawless blades.”

Of course, the swords Rohan called soulless failures were, in truth, masterpieces of the highest caliber.

The so-called failures bore the seal of the unknown maker and spread across the continent, and those blades caused countless murders—nations had once even started small wars over a single sword.

This eccentric old man muttering before Yuwon was, despite appearances, a human who had reached the very pinnacle of blacksmithing craft.

The Nameless Sword that Yulaios had taken from him—no, acquired at a laughably low price—was his life’s greatest masterpiece.

It stood shoulder to shoulder with the First Emperor’s White Lion Sword and General Geiorn’s White Dragon Sword, weapons said to be forged by legendary fairy blacksmiths.

“Let us stop talking about the past, Master. Please look at what I brought. You won’t regret stopping me.”

“Ah, ah. Yes. Let me see. Take it out.”

“I warn you beforehand—you may be surprised.”

“Boy, I’m nearly seventy. Whatever you’re about to show me, I won’t faint from shock, so take it out.”

“Very well.”

Yuwon pulled out his subspace bag from his coat and took out the beast’s scale.

“Subspace?”

“Yes, it seems you’re less surprised than I thought.”

“Well, it is surprising that something from children’s tales—those stories of monsters and fairies wandering the continent—actually exists, but at this age, one becomes detached.”

When Yuwon placed the beast scale before him, Rohan, who had been so talkative, fell completely silent.

With narrowed eyes, he examined, poked, and touched the scale for a long time.

Yuwon stood quietly by his side, making sure not to interrupt.

After about ten minutes—

“It truly doesn’t let mana through?”

“I’ve checked it more than a dozen times.  If you do not trust me, I can demonstrate right now.”

“No, that’s enough. You don’t seem like someone who would lie about something like this. So what you want is armor using these scales?”

“Yes, I am hoping for a light and comfortable full plate mail utilizing the scales.”

The legendary blacksmith Rohan and the eccentric old man Rohan were the same person, yet seemed completely different.

The moment work came up, conversation became far easier.

“That, I can do. It’s not even difficult.

I want to take this on. I don’t know where you got something so rare, but… will you entrust it to me?”

“Why else would I be here?”

“Good. Then one more thing.”

“…?”

Yuwon expected what Rohan would ask, yet pretended otherwise and listened.

“You brought snake leather, but where are the snake’s fangs?”

“…I have those as well.”

“Give those to me too. Even if it costs the last of my soul, I will forge for you a blade that will shatter the nose of that Nameless Sword your father took from me.”

It was exactly what Yuwon had hoped for.

There was no reason to refuse.

“I will entrust everything to you. But could you grant me one request?”

“The one who stamps the Nameless Seal is offering to craft you a sword out of goodwill, and you would impose conditions?”

Yuwon, who negotiated even with the Emperor, had no reason to fear one eccentric old man.

He smiled faintly.

“If you are going to forge it anyway, wouldn’t it be acceptable to make two or three more swords capable of surpassing the Nameless Sword?”

“Hah, hahahaha! Yes! Exactly! My courage shrank because I failed to surpass my childhood masterpiece all my life! Fine, good. I will gladly accept that request!”

The moment the one who stamped the Nameless Seal—the living legend—accepted Yuwon’s commission.

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