Chapter 9 - Dispute.

After heating the iron until it became incandescent, I grabbed the hammer and began striking it with force, but with great care. My body was basically moving on its own.

Despite having a lot of game-related knowledge, I had never done this before, so what was making my body move with such mastery were the memories of this body. I could do it so well that even I was surprised.

After some time, the iron began to take the shape of a one-handed longsword. The blade gradually formed, becoming thinner and thinner. I was very careful not to leave any deformities on the blade.

“You’re doing this very well. That’s surprising.”

“I told you I can do this really well. Did you think I was lying?”

“I know you know how to do it, but it’s been a long time since you forged anything, hasn’t it? Now let’s see if you can temper the blade properly. I want to see if you can significantly increase its durability.”

“...”

I said nothing and picked up the basin filled with oil, placing the blade inside it. I carefully controlled the blade’s temperature and repeated the process several times, taking great care.

I heated the blade to a very high temperature and then cooled it using oil. It’s a very risky process where I could easily make a mistake, but fortunately, I didn’t make any errors.

When I finished, I analyzed the blade.

[ Sword ]

[ Material Used – Iron ]

[ Attribute – None ]

[ Magic Conductivity – B- ]

[ Attack – 936 ]

[ Durability – 2400/2400 ]

‘Ah… I forgot something.’ I need to use a monster item to create a magic sword. It’s basically a rule of this world. However, I didn’t do that… This is just an ordinary sword.

Hephaestus, who noticed my mistake, sighed. “Huff~~ You only realized that now?” She smiled mischievously at me, practically mocking me.

“You noticed a long time ago, didn’t you?” I said with a bitter smile.

I looked at the blade, which still needed to be polished and finished. I hadn’t even made the handle yet. ‘Should I finish this?’

“You should finish that sword. You can edit it later. Even if it’s not a magic sword, it’s a decent one.”

“Decent… That’s basically trash,” I replied. “No adventurer would use trash like this. If people found out I made something like this, they’d lose the respect they have for me.”

“Come on, don’t exaggerate that much. Do you want me to finish the job for you?”

“It’s fine. I’ll take care of it.”

“Good.”

Hephaestus sat down and continued watching. Noticing that she wasn’t doing anything, I said, “There’s more than one furnace here. Why don’t you forge something now?”

“You’re using my hammer.”

“I’m not using it anymore.” I walked over and handed her the hammer with a smile. Hephaestus looked away.

“I don’t want to do this…”

“Come on, come on, you can do it. Why don’t you forge a high-level magic sword and teach me how I should do it? I’ll watch everything closely!”

“There are no items here to make magic swords. I didn’t bring them with me.”

That was true. There weren’t any in storage. That’s probably why I forgot something so simple.

“It doesn’t matter. Make a normal sword like mine. Let’s see if you can create something better than my sword.”

“Are you challenging me?”

“Of course I am! My wife won’t disappoint me and run away, right?”

“Don’t irritate me!” Hephaestus snorted as she grabbed the hammer.

I gave a satisfied smile and returned to working on my sword.

‘She’ll definitely forge something better than this. I just wanted to irritate her a little.’

####

While Hephaestus was forging her sword, I finished polishing my blade and sharpened it properly. Now all that’s left is to make the handle. There’s no need to make anything too elaborate. ‘This sword is basically a katana.’

It’s a sword ordered by the Takemikazuchi Family. Could it be a sword for Mikoto?

By the time I finished the handle, Hephaestus was already hammering the iron. She did it much more effortlessly than I did. It almost seemed like she had more strength than me, since she could swing the hammer more efficiently.

Terrifying.

Finally, I finished and checked the blade’s stats.

[ Sword ]

[ Material Used – Iron ]

[ Attribute – None ]

[ Magic Conductivity – A ]

[ Attack – 1,536 ]

[ Durability – 3700/3700 ]

After I finished the sword, its stats increased considerably, but even so, it was still a mediocre sword. It wasn’t something I should be proud of. Hephaestus noticed that I was done and turned toward me.

She was drenched in sweat, her shirt soaked.

“Finished? Let me take a look.”

She set her blade aside, still glowing red, and picked up my sword. “It’s a very good sword. Don’t feel bad about it.”

“I’m not feeling bad. I’m actually quite satisfied. And you? Aren’t you going to continue?”

“Ah, right.”

“I’ll clean this ,” I said.

“Sure. You’d better prepare yourself, because I’ll punish you when I win this challenge.”

“Punish me? What do you intend to do?” I smiled mischievously.

“It’s a surprise,” Hephaestus replied before returning to work.

I grabbed a cloth and began cleaning the blade. While doing so, I activated my Editing skill to make a few modifications to it. Hephaestus would probably notice that I used my abilities, but who cares?

This will be fun.

‘I won’t make any drastic changes for now. Let’s increase the attack and durability. I’ll also increase the magic conductivity. I won’t turn it into a magic sword yet.’

Come to think of it, isn’t it strange for a non-magic sword to have a magic conductivity stat? Is it possible to use magic with a normal sword?

I searched my memories for information, and it really is possible. However, the sword’s durability drops drastically when magic is used with it. I see. ‘Probably the higher the magic conductivity, the less damage using magic will cause to the blade.’

Still, honestly, it doesn’t make much sense to buy a normal sword just to use magic with it.